Liverpool’s Carling Cup victory, a catalyst for success or just a cup win?

Liverpool’s Carling Cup victory, a catalyst for success or just a cup win?

Sunday’s dramatic but unconvincing Carling Cup win against Cardiff City. Although filled the Liverpool faithful with extreme joy, following their very first trip to the new Wembley, after a 6 year silverware baron spell, still left a lot of questions yet to be answered.

As per usual, a Liverpool cup final was intense, exciting and dramatic until the very end. And as usual, they came out triumphant. But the performance against a supposedly inferior Championship side left a lot to be desired.

Then again, at the end of the day a win is a win, and sometimes it’s not how you win, but the fact that you have won and the trophy is in the cabinet. You could put the performance down to the intense pressure of playing for Liverpool with their huge history and being overwhelming favourites, expected to win.

A lot of players were playing in their first cup final ever, let alone for Liverpool, so no matter the circumstance, this has to go down as a great achievement. After all Arsenal lost the Carling cup final last season to Birmingham and since then, they have struggled. Many say that was the turning point. It’s only the end of February and their season (in terms of silverware) is over.

So it was an important victory, now the vital thing for a club like Liverpool is to kick on and progress from here. Yes, this was an achievement, but they cannot rest on their laurels and revel in this cup win for too long. A club with the statue of Liverpool should be aiming for bigger and better things.

With that being said, Kenny Dalglish needs to take advantage of this to attract some more quality into the side. Its high time Liverpool mustered a serious challenge for the Premier League title. If he thinks this squad he has assembled is good enough then he is surely mistaken.

In the Cup final, it was and has been evident throughout the season that scoring goals has been a problem. At Wembley they had 35 attempts and scored 2 goals, that is a very poor ratio and the problem is this is not a one-off. A new striker has to be a priority. Liverpool lack a supreme goal scorer, something they have become accustomed to over the years.

They also lack some real top quality wingers, especially if they want to get the best out of Andy Carroll. Although Stuart Downing was named man of the match, he has had a poor season for me, Jordan Henderson who has been playing on the right was awful in the final and he has also not showed me much. Although not a winger, Charlie Adam has also flattered to deceive this season.

If you look at the past League winning sides of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and even Manchester City this season, the thing they had/have is quality and competition for places. There were/are at least two quality players for every position on the pitch; this is where I think Liverpool need to improve.

Liverpool only have one left winger in Downing at the club, where is his competition? Yes players like Bellamy and Maxi can play there, but they are both right footed. I am not a fan of players playing on the opposite flank unless they are of the quality of Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.

Likewise on the other flank, I don’t see any real wingers, yes Kuyt, Henderson, Maxi, even Bellamy and Gerrard can play there, but again none of these players are actual wingers. In a tight game, or when the opposition play players behind the ball, wingers are needed to stretch the play, create space and get behind the opposition. This is why Liverpool have drawn 8 games at Anfield.

Although Liverpool has done well on the defensive side this season, Lucas is their only real defensive midfielder. To challenge for the title, and play in Europe like they will hope to be next season, more quality in this position will be needed.

These are the key areas I feel Liverpool need to look at. The achievement of winning the Carling Cup after no silverware for 6 years, can not be taken lightly. The players must be given credit, but as stated previously, this should be taken as a stepping stone to bigger and better things.

Failure to progress from here could be a big disaster, I believe all it takes is a few small adjustments, combined with some key purchases to see that progression materialise. In football, time does not stand still, so Liverpool need to capitalise now and cannot afford to make anymore mistakes…..Only time will tell if they are on the verge of another dynasty or this was just a good but lucky cup victory.