Whelan: Reds facing long wait
The Anfield and Ireland legend was among Reds fans in the Crossbar pub in Mullingar on Sunday to see the last rites performed on their teamâs title hopes as Manchester City were crowned champions.
Whelan had always hoped against hope but, deep down, never really thought that the current Liverpool side were the stuff of champions.
And when the wheels finally came off against Chelsea, he knew it was all over.
âI was never so down as a Liverpool supporter as after the Chelsea game,â he says. âI did not like the way Mourinho went about the whole thing but he did a job completely. That result basically killed if off for me.
âI think we were all, the ex-players, hoping that they would win it. The team was playing well and youâre thinking âare they good enoughâ when, in your heart, you know they are not really good enough to go on and win the championship. But you just hope that they will do it after all these years.â
For Whelan, his old clubâs Achilles heel was their goals against record in what was otherwise a freakishly productive season.
That and a shortage of truly top quality players.
âThey were great going forward but they did concede a lot of goals,â he says.
âBarcelona did it by going to try and score more goals than the opposition but I donât think Liverpool can do it. They donât have the players that are good enough defensively to do that.
âI am not just talking about the back four. You need your midfielders to help out and I donât think Gerrard, Allen, Coutinho or Lucas were very good at defending. Gerrard is okay when he sits in there and passes it but defensively they need more in front of the back four.â
Whelan also thinks that Liverpool lacked on-field leaders of the kind he played alongside when the club was the dominant force in England and the Dubliner was picking up one European Cup, six League, three FA Cup and three League Cup winnerâs medals.
âGerrard is the one you are looking at as the leader and after the win over City, you could see the way he reacted,â says Whelan. âBut you are also looking to your Skrtels and your Aggers and you donât see them on the pitch grabbing people like Graeme Souness would have done in his day or a Kenny Dalglish or a Phil Neal. They donât seem to have that many. But I donât think that was the reason (why they did not win title), I just donât think they were good enough all round. They just donât have the players. I feel they over-achieved to finish second and be in there on the last day with a chance of winning it.â
Now Whelan is concerned Liverpool will struggle to replicate this seasonâs effort next time around.
âI would bet that Daniel Sturridge will never score 21 league goals again,â he says. âSuarez is not going to score that many goals in every season. Brendan Rogers said they need six players to go into the team. I donât think heâs stupid and he knows what he needs when they have Champions League football and still have to try to challenge for the league title.
âLiverpool are still playing catch-up on all the top teams, the Citys and the Chelseas. It is going to take years to get the players in and build the team because we have fallen behind over the last ten years, more and more.
âSo this is when you need to win it, when you are so close. With three or four games to go, I thought this would be their best chance for a long, long time.
âNow, he needs to get lot of players in to fill the squad, like City, or like Mourinho did at Chelsea with two good players in every position. And will Brendan Rodgers have the money?
âThereâs a lot of building still to be done and I donât think it can be done in a year.â
* Ronnie Whelan was speaking at his old club Home Farm FC to launch the 2014 Irish Football National Draw with âŹ200,000 worth of prizes for clubs and leagues. Prizes, licences, promotional materials and tickets are organised by the FAI with all proceeds from ticket sales go directly to clubs. For information and to order tickets * www.fai.ie/draw
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