The Moments That Shaped Liverpool’s Decade 2010-2020 by Nathan Brennan

2010 – Hodgson Reign & Financial Turmoil

This decade began off the back of some of the worst news any Liverpool fan will dare to remember, and that is that Roy Hodgson had been hired as the manager of Liverpool Football Club off the back of club legend, Rafa Benitez’s sacking by Hicks and Gillet. The first season of the decade started out as what could have potentially been the last, as Liverpool were being threatened with financial liquidation due to the mismanagement by their American owners at the time. Luckily, they were saved from the clutches of death by Fenway Sports Group, who remain our owners to this very day.

Hodgson’s era was summed up in two games in 2010, those being Liverpool losing at home to newly-promoted Blackpool 1-2, as well as losing infamously against League Two side, Northampton Town, who went on to finish a lowly 16th in the 4th tier that season, a result that haunts Liverpool fans to this very day. This was also the time in which Roy Hodgson’s famous quote of Liverpool being “Not too big to go down” was spoke into existence, which best sums up the situation that Liverpool began the decade in.

2011 – Fernando Torres, Luis Suarez and Jordan Henderson

2011 had not gone much better for the club, as it began with Liverpool’s star player, Fernando Torres being sold to hated rivals, Chelsea for a then-record £50million. Despite Torres being blatantly on the decline at Anfield, it still is a departure that draws trauma from Liverpool fans to this very day knowing what El Nino and the club had done. However, this was followed up with the signing of Luis Suarez, who joined in the same month, as he was signed by new manager Kenny Dalglish, Luis would go on to embody what Torres once brought to us as fans, despite him going on to cause us a lot of turmoil himself later down the line. Jordan Henderson also joined in 2011, and at the time, this was not something to have butterflies about, but looking back on it now, it is definitely one of the major signings by the club this decade as he has gone on to lift the Champions League, Super Cup and Club World Club in 2019, with a potential first Premier League title around the corner in 2020. Liverpool finished the 10-11 season in 6th place despite the disgraceful beginning, however that position does flatter them when you consider how far they were behind Arsenal in 4th.

Further on in 2011, Liverpool had one of its more shameful and regrettable points with the club backing the controversial Luis Suarez wearing shirts against Wigan in December of 2011 after the forward was fined and banned for eight games for racially abusing Patrice Evra on the pitch two months prior.

2012 – Cardiff 2012

Liverpool had made it to the League Cup final in 2012 and won their first piece of silverware in seven years at the time, and despite it being ‘only the League Cup’, it felt amazing, as Liverpool ensured themselves as the club with the most amount of League Cup wins in this decade on that night against Cardiff City. An FA Cup final was unfortunately lost not long after in that season, prior to an 8th placed finish in the league, with Kenny Dalglish being sacked as manager as Everton finished above Liverpool for the first time in a blue moon. Soon after, Brendan Rodgers was brought in as manager to replace Kenny Dalglish.

2013 – Coutinho and the Beginning of Suarez’s Problems

Coutinho makes it into this as he shaped the future of this club in more ways than one(more on that later), but he embodied what Rodgers wanted at the time, a creative Messi-esque player to control the creativity of his midfield, and this showed as Liverpool’s second-half of 12-13 was much better than their first-half despite a 7th place finish. Lastly for 2013, Suarez makes the headlines again as he bites Branislav Ivanovic before receiving another hefty ban that followed into the coming season, this was followed up by Suarez requesting to leave the club to join Arsenal prior to the infamous £40mil + £1 bid. 

2014 – Title Charge, Iconic Wins and Bottomless Lows

Under FSG and Rodgers, Liverpool had managed to make it big in 2014, ahead of schedule, as they mounted the club’s first title charge in five years. Convincing Suarez to stay whilst having one of the most talented attacking teams in the league led to iconic wins against Arsenal in February 2014, with a 5-1 win at Anfield, that would be used as a BT Sport advert not long after, and of course, one of the most emotional wins of the decade, with that heart racing 3-2 win against title rivals Manchester City in April 2014.

Of course, the moment that seemed destined to shape Liverpool’s decade was *that* slip and Crystanbul, these two moments that have hindered Gerrard’s Liverpool legacy somewhat from an outside perspective as Liverpool’s two decade wait for a first Premier League title dragged on. Despite this, 2014 was the year in which the club had qualified for the Champions League for the first time in five years with a comprehensive 2nd place finish in the league, which was huge for a club that had won the competition five times. However, more Suarez controversy followed as he had bitten for the second time, this time chowing down on Cheillini in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. This led to an 8-month ban from the sport for Suarez, which was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Liverpool, as he finally got his expected move, six months after signing a long-term deal at Liverpool, Suarez joined Barcelona for £65million, which left the club in a sense of limbo quality wise.

2015 – Gerrard’s departure, Rodgers’ Sacking & Klopp

Liverpool had followed up a 2nd place finish, with a Summer of unconvincing signings, disastrous results in the following months, which compiled into a disappointing 5th place finish in the league. This was the time in which Liverpool also got absolutely thrashed by Stoke City 6-1 in Steven Gerrard’s final game for the club.

Ah yes, this was also the year the greatest player to ever play for the club bowed out as Gerrard had his farewell game at Anfield in the backend of the 14-15 season, an emotional time for many, me included.

Later in 2015, after another Summer of investment which had not paid off, FSG had sacked Brendan Rodgers, leaving the club in a temporary state of turmoil and confusion once again. However, during this time, the club brought in renowned manager Jurgen Klopp, which for me, was the defining moment of this decade as the German stated ‘We must change, from doubters to believers, now’. Months of inconsistency followed as it became clear this was not a Jurgen Klopp side, despite this, a memorable win that showed what was to come in the years following came with a 1-4 win at the Etihad against Manchester City in the final month of 2015.

2016 – League Cup & Europa League Final

2016 showed potential for success, but also heartbreak as two finals for Jurgen Klopp in half a season in charge, which were unfortunately lost, showed some hope. One of the greatest Anfield nights, where Liverpool did the unthinkable in a tear gushing comeback against Klopp’s old club Dortmund in the Europa League Quarter Finals, a penalties defeat to Manchester City in the League Cup final, followed by a lowly 8th placed finish, which was overshadowed by a collapse in the Europa League final against Sevilla. Despite the pain, it was clear that more big days like this were to come under Jurgen.

2017 – Back in the Big Time

In Klopp’s first full season at Liverpool, he brought the club back where it belonged, the Champions League as the club finished 4th with a memorable 3-0 win against Middlesborough on the final day of the season sealing the club’s qualification to the competition with an iconic strike by then, new signing Wijnaldum and a brilliant free-kick from Coutinho.

In the following season, things were iffy, as Coutinho faked an injury and submitted a transfer request in an attempt to join Barcelona, however, he remained at the club and the fact that Liverpool got absolutely destroyed by Spurs as Dejan Lovren was axed off the pitch in the first-half. This 4-1 thrashing awoke a sleeping giant, as Liverpool would go almost three months unbeaten following it.

2018 – Coutinho, Virgil and Kyiv

2018 started off with the inevitable as Coutinho left to join Barcelona for £140million, however, those pains were soon soothed as Liverpool flexed their financial muscle for the first time truly in the decade, with a world-record fee for a defender in the signing of Virgil van Dijk from Southampton for £75million. Liverpool went on to produce an incredible performance in both legs in the Champions League Quarter Finals against Manchester City, with Chamberlain’s Gerrard-esque strike at Anfield. However, this was followed by an unbearable low, as Karius’ blunders undid all of his progress as Real Madrid beat Liverpool 3-1 in the Champions League final in Ukraine.

This pain was soon forgotten as players that were not consistent enough such as Karius, who had been mentally damaged from his mistakes in the final, and Emre Can, who was refusing to sign a new contract both left the club for Fabinho, and a then, world-record fee for a goalkeeper signing of Alisson Becker, who was known as one of the best goalkeepers on the planet. The funds of Coutinho had funded Liverpool’s rise to becoming one of the best teams on the planet. Liverpool ended the year in contention with Manchester City, miles ahead of the rest of the pack, a far cry from the Liverpool who began the decade.

2019 – Champions of the World

2019 finished with a record 97 points finish in the league, losing one league game in the process. However, despite this, Liverpool finished second due to Manchester City again. This disappointment did not last long however, as the club completed the greatest comeback at Anfield ever, as they overturned a 3-0 deficit against Barcelona to show Coutinho and Suarez what they were missing, which would go on to conclude to the club winning their 6th Champions League trophy and became European Champions for the first time in 14 years, as Jurgen Klopp got to show his achievements with Liverpool to the world’s eye as he and his side beat Spurs 0-2 in Madrid. 19-20 Began, with Liverpool reigning in more trophies, winning the Super Cup against Chelsea and the Club World Cup against Flamengo, as Liverpool’s redemption ark of the decade had been completed, with the next decade certain to begin better than the last did.

Pokemon Sword & Shield Review – A Husk of What Pokemon Used to be – Review

Pokemon Sword and Shield, I chose Shield. When these games were first announced, I was probably the most excited I’d been for a Pokemon game, especially with the news of Pokemon Home still being a positive, at the time at least. I had not bought a new generation on launch day since the original Black and White games, and in my opinion, since Black and White, there has not been a truly great Pokemon game. So, my expectations were high, knowing that this was the first real Pokemon game on the Switch, and with the addition of Home, it was come to expect that I’d be able to send all my Pokemon from the DS games, to the Switch.

New Pokemon –

As for the actual game, what is always most important in a new generation is mostly the new Pokemon, and for me, upon seeing the Pokedex leak a week before release, I was far from pleased with the designs, but upon playing the game for myself, I have come to the opinion that it is mostly a mixed bag when it came to the Pokemon designs. There were some of the best Pokemon designs ever, in my opinion, with the Toxel and Dreepy line, as well as Pokemon like Appletun, the Rookidee line and more, however, there was also a majority of just lazy designs and ugly designs, with Pokemon such as, every single final evolution of the starters being an embarrassment, Obstagoon, Grimmsnarl and Grapploct just to name a few. However, most Pokemon games do have a mixed bag when it comes to design, so I suppose you could choose to look on the bright side of this generation when it came to designs.

(Source: https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1627260-pokemon-sword-and-shield)

The Story –

The story of these games looked promising, as since generation 5, we have not had a really encapsulating story in a Pokemon game, but with characters such as Leon, Sonia and Marnie, this one seemed promising… nope. This story was one of the weakest the franchise has ever put together, and yes, I know the game is made for kids and that the story is not expected to be God of War levels of depth, but come on… there was practically no twist, no real character depth and Marnie played a useless role effectively despite seeming like one of the more interesting characters, and with no real distinct evil team throughout the game (I am not counting Team Yell, I never want to hear or see that embarrassment of a team discussed ever again).

The story left a lot to be desired with how easy the entire game is, being massively over-levelled and demolishing every segment, gym, trainer, whoever in my path without even breaking a sweat, continuing the trend of Pokemon games being incredibly easy to the point where it is boring. As for your rival, he is not Hau levels of bad and annoying, but he is not one of the best, that is all I have to say on him.

(Source: https://www.adventuresinpoortaste.com/2019/08/08/marnie-the-rebellious-new-rival-from-pokemon-sword-and-shield/)

Dynamax and Raids –

The big new feature of Pokemon generation 8 was Dynamaxing, and to be fair, it seemed terrible, but upon trying it, I thought it fitted quite well, however, whoever designed the offline trainer’s Pokemon for the max raids needs to be outted and sectioned, why on Earth did they think “You know what, I think players could really use a Solrock who only uses Cosmic power, or an Eevee who only uses Helping Hand, or, a Wobbuffet who LITERALLY cannot even attack”, and with searching for online players being somewhat impossible unless you have a group of four friends readily available to join beforehand, you are effectively forced to team up with these atrocious offline players with their useless Pokemon.

(Source: https://dotesports.com/pokemon/news/dynamax-should-be-banned-competitive-pokemon-sword-and-shield)

Wild Area and Graphics –

The wild area was also one of generation 8’s big selling points, and with it, it encapsulates almost everything wrong with generation 8. From downright disgusting textures on almost every single area within the wild area, to not even being able to be connected to the internet when in it due to the lag becoming completely unbearable with other “players” vanishing and teleporting around the area randomly with no real sense of direction.

The wild area was a great idea, and something that should be worked into future Pokemon games, just not like this, this was embarrassing and Pokemon should be ashamed at what was produced through the wild area, the textures were disgraceful, utterly disgraceful for a AAA game in 2019, and I cannot stress that enough.

Speaking of textures, the graphics were expected by fans to be massively upscaled for years now, and with generation 8 that has not changed, barring some exceptions like Ballonlea town, and some other distinct areas, the game looks like a slightly upscaled 3DS game, and with my opinions on the graphics in the wild zone being clear, Pokemon needs to seriously buck up their ideas. I am not sure if the game looks this way due to rushing on Gamefreak to have the game out within the year, and if that is the case, then Pokemon should not be an annual product, to begin with. I know Pokemon can be a Breath of the Wild experience graphically, it is the highest-grossing franchise of all-time, and despite it wanting to pretend it is some unknown indie game, Pokemon is a AAA title that is battling it out with the big boys, and thus, should take their games more seriously and with a lot more effort.

The National Dex and Complacency Mentality –

Now, the most controversial point of any Pokemon game to date, the National Dex. I want one. I think it is a piss-take quite frankly that there isn’t one, especially with Game Freak literally lying to our faces about improved animations and completely new animations entirely taking up too much time. Once again, if Game Freak do not have the time to add all Pokemon into the game, then why on Earth are they releasing these games annually?

There was nothing in Sword and Shield that showed me that there was not enough time to add all Pokemon into generation 8, or at least a larger fraction of them, and even at that, the Pokemon they did add are just ridiculous, whoever thinks of using Maractus or of Vannilite, Diggersby, or Wingull? Whoever made these decisions on what Pokemon go in the dex is ridiculous and once again, the decision to not have every Pokemon in the game is still so far invalidated by what I have witnessed throughout the game.

This accepting mentality by Pokemon fans, as seen with how much abuse you would receive if you dared to complain to Pokemon about the National Dex on Twitter, is just baffling. These fans that accept the low effort, the lack of Pokemon, and mainly the lack of any real drive, are just plain and simple, deluded. “Be happy you are even getting a Pokemon game” I was tweeted this on several occasions, Pokemon have toyed with our minds so much that fans genuinely feel privileged to receive these games, they see it as a passing gift.

These are NOT gifts, these are full-priced, AAA games, and such, we, as full paying customers who are shelling out a lot of money for PRODUCTS, should demand higher quality from this billionaire company. As long as people sit around and accept the bare minimum from Game Freak and Pokemon, that is what we will get. As long as Pokemon fans continue to treat these games as free gifts, and not full-priced products, then we will receive the lowest possible effort acceptable for a Pokemon game.

I know a lot of what I said has been negative, and despite this, I really enjoyed parts Sword and Shield, but that is purely, that as a Pokemon fan, I will always enjoy a Pokemon game, however, I long for the days of generation 3, 4 and 5, where you can finish a Pokemon game and not only enjoy it, but be enthralled by it, and realise that the developers put every last ounce into their product. Sadly, I think these days are long gone.

Pokemon Sword & Shield – 4/10 

Joker – Review

Joker, probably the most anticipated movie of the year since its reveal trailer.

Coming into Joker, a lot was made of Joaquin Phoenix and whether he could live up to what has seemed to be an impossible height of Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the character in The Dark Knight in 2009. Since Heath’s death there have been a few Joker’s now, with Jared Leto probably being the freshest in people’s mind following suicidal squad, or the most forgettable giving how cringey his performance was.

This seemed to fit, all of it. Joaquin seemed to perfectly portray in the trailers at least, what the Joker should be, a deranged, troubled, but fittingly deserving psychopath. In the movie, it was shown clear.

The main thing this portrayal of Joker had over past ones, was the movie’s ability to show a back story to the character, which allows the audience to immediately connect with a character more(and yes, I am aware I just said the audience somehow connects with a murderous psychopath).

The beginning of the movie seems slow, and dragged out, but not to its detriment, with every tiny detail being soaked in by the viewer, creating intense and dramatic emotions, something which few movies have left me feeling. The scene on the train probably being that first, “holy sh*t” moment of the movie, where Arthur finally breaks that barrier and stands up for himself, unfortunately for him, to the detriment of three men’s lives. The adrenaline and pure shock as to what has just occurred is exhilarating and terrifying at the same time, an odd but welcomed combination for viewers.

The many back-story details and questioning left throughout the film gives it a further level of dimension, with many, many details and sub-plots being left up to viewer interpretation.

Just to clarify, as I come to the end of the review, that scene where Arthur(Joker) kills Murray live on air, and despite the sheer terror of the situation that has occurred, he just remains smug on his seat, with his leg rapidly jittering showing his pure adrenaline and excitement for what has just occurred(Also I was delighted when he killed Murray, I hated him). That scene will go down as the most tense and adrenaline rushing scene I have ever seen, and after seeing the full movie twice now, it gets ever better the second time.

I won’t spoil the full ending, but I feel it isn’t the end for Joaquin as Joker, hopefully not anyways, as he is the closest to Heath Ledger there has been, and probably will ever be, with his stellar, mind-blowing performance that genuinely left me in an existential crisis.

The Joker is clearly DC’s main character, and with Joaquin leading the role, they have something huge if they can make the most of it. Joaquin does deserve an Oscar, and I doubt many who have seen the movie would be shocked If both he and the movie won many, many awards as all-round, the entire movie is stellar.

Overall, Joker is definitely the most thought-provoking and adrenaline rushing movie I have ever seen, and maybe even the best movie I have ever seen to date. I give it, 10/10. Perfection.

Rating – 9.5/10

What Became of Liverpool’s 13/14 Second Place Finishers by Nathan Brennan

What Became of Liverpool’s 13/14 side that took Manchester City to the wire?

The 13/14 Premier League season is one that will haunt Liverpool fans for the rest of our lives but will also be the most quotable season in recent memory outside of the Jurgen Klopp era. However, not many players from that squad in 13/14 have stood the test of time and remained at Anfield throughout the following six years. In this piece, I will be looking into detail at what became of every player in that squad of 13/14’s careers and where they ended up in 2019.

To start things off, we will start with the goalkeepers. Simon Mignolet had just signed at Anfield for a then, high-fee for a goalkeeper, especially one from Sunderland in a deal worth £9million with another £2million rising depending on various appearance achievements and clauses. Mignolet came in expected to be the challenger to Pepe Reina, who had been the club’s most famous keeper in the Premier League era, but with Reina’s drop off in form in recent years, he was shipped out whilst Mignolet took the number one spot. It seemed like the perfect transfer and like Mignolet would go on to become a club legend when he made a double penalty save on his debut in the dying embers of the opening game of the season at Anfield against Stoke, but despite his continuous starts that season, it became clear that Mignolet was not a perfect goalkeeper and had an error or two within his game. Mignolet was the clear first-choice for his first season at the club as the Reds went on to finish a point behind Manchester City in 2^nd place in the Premier League with him playing every single Premier League game for the club but with only 10 clean-sheets to his name that season, whilst failing to become Belgium’s number one that Summer in the world-cup as Courtois established himself.

In his second-season, Mignolet needed improvement but fans were still on his side, especially after such a positive previous season for the club, and with the side being in a state of transition following the sale of Luis Suarez to Barcelona and the incoming of several first-team players, the squad needed to hit the ground running. Mignolet and the squad had a very disappointing season, and Mignolet had made more clean-sheets(13) in less appearances (36) and he also had improved his errors leading to goals in the Premier League with him lowering that state to one compared to the previous season’s incredible high of 6. 14/15 was also Mignolet first taste of Champion’s League football, sadly that ended in disappointment as Liverpool were knocked out in the group stages in a group that the Reds were expected to at least qualify from despite facing Real Madrid, in this group a moment that became notorious in signifying Mignolet at Liverpool was his embarrassing performance against Ludogorets, this was the season where the manager’s hand was forced with Simon and he was dropped for two games in the Premier League for Brad Jones, most famously for the game against Manchester United where Robin van Persie exposed Jones and really pinpointed the fact that Liverpool had some serious goalkeeping issues.

15/16, Mignolet had now been at the club for three years, and an established first-team starter, but with Brad Jones being incapable of challenging Mignolet, good ol’ Brendan decided to bring in former Premier League goalkeeper Adam Bogdan who had his contract expired at Championship club Bolton, and admittedly, I backed Bogdan, which is one of my biggest shames and delusions to admit to this very day, but despite this, Bogdan was realistically expected to be a worthy challenger to Mignolet for the starting goalkeeper spot. This season came with Mignolet’s errors leading to goals start rising again. Eventually, Brendan Rodgers was sacked in after a 1-1 draw at Goodison Park after heavy investment in the Summer and Jurgen Klopp took the reigns in October, and with two weeks of thinking to do over the international break, Jurgen decided to stick with Mignolet as his number one, which he eventually would have to swap for Adam Bogdan as he gained his Liverpool debut at Christmas in place of an injured Simon Mignolet, however, this swap did not last long as Bogdan conceded straight from a corner on his debut as Odion Ighalo and their mascot ran riot at Vicarage road, Mignolet was back in between the sticks. Mignolet went on to play in the only two finals he played in, in his Liverpool career, losing both in the League Cup to Manchester City on penalties and losing to Sevilla in a bitter collapse against the Spanish side. But with Klopp in charge, and with his assurance throughout the season that players like Mignolet were good enough, surely Mignolet had nothing but positives in the future ahead at the club?

16/17 rolled along and Klopp’s faith in Mignolet was evidently fading, as he brought in highly-rated German goalkeeper Loris Karius. Mignolet was lucky to start the season as Karius broke his wrist in the weeks leading up to the Premier League opener, so Mignolet kept his starting place for several months until Karius had recovered and gained Klopp’s faith. This was Mignolet’s first real threat to his starting spot at Liverpool since he had joined, but luckily for Mignolet, Karius was making catastrophic mistakes in his debut months since returning from injury, in which he was dropped after a huge backlash from media and pundits over the German’s performances. Mignolet went on to have a solid enough season with his errors leading to goals dropping again to only one and with him getting a clean sheet in every three games, it seemed the challenge of Karius had somewhat improved Mignolet as he went to make huge saves in games against Stoke away, West Brom away and Watford away all toward the final run-in of the season, as Klopp and the Reds had gained their spot back in the top four that season, and evidently had it not been for Mignolet in several games, that Champions League place would not have been obtained.

In 17/18, despite Mignolet’s relatively solid start to the season and his huge previous season, he was dropped suddenly by Klopp as the German fancied giving Karius another chance to redeem his past mistakes, Mignolet became the clear second-choice for the first time in his Liverpool career and with Karius being fantastic and pivotal in getting the club to their first Champions League final in over a decade, it seemed to spell the end for Mignolet, with him only making nineteen Premier League appearances that season and Klopp’s project kicking into overdrive, it seemed that the club was leaving players like Mignolet behind, even despite Karius’ infamous Champions League final mistakes, it was not enough for Mignolet to have his Liverpool career revived. And with the turn of the New Year in 17/18, a 5-0 win at Anfield against Swansea City would prove to be Mignolet’s final Premier League game for Liverpool as he would fail to be Belgium’s number 1 in the 2018 World Cup in spite of Courtois once again, with also him failing to register a single appearance the following 18/19 Premier League campaign despite Karius’ departure, he would then be sold to Club Brugge back in his homeland for £7million rising to £9million, after 155 Premier League appearances for Liverpool since 2013 with 55 of those appearances having earned clean-sheets. Now at 31 years of age and a Champions League winners medal to his name, Mignolet has kept two clean sheets in his opening three games for Club Brugge and with him being the most expensive goalkeeper in Belgium, it is clear he carries some expectation with him.

Now, as I said, this is rather long, having read that first piece on Mignolet you may have felt this was a summary of Simon Mignolet’s Liverpool career, but no, we still have an entire first-team squad to speak of.

Moving on to the first-choice right-back and what Rodgers had been quoted saying was the best right-back in the Premier League at the time, was Glen Johnson, who, unlike Mignolet had been a staple in the Liverpool back-line since his big-money move from Portsmouth for £18million in 2009. Coming into 13/14, Glen had his group of fans who made it their priority to hate him, after many years of mediocrity after he failed to be consistent since joining Liverpool. With him being the first choice right-back in 13/14, he didn’t get any goals but did pick up two assists, he scored one own-goal but despite his critics, he had zero errors leading directly to goals throughout the whole season. He was part of a very shaky Liverpool defence who was slammed for its inability to keep the ball out of the back of the net. Glen made 29 appearances in 13/14. He was named in the 23 man squad for England in the 2014 World Cup and gained an assist as he crossed the ball into Wayne Rooney as he scored against Uruguay to pick up his first World Cup goal for his country.

Coming into 14/15, despite the positive season for the club, it wasn’t so positive for Glen who seemed to have his future spelt out for him with the loan signing of Javi Manquillo who was a young, bright and talented right-back, and despite cracking his head open to get a winner in the first-half of 14/15, which seemed to prove the constant claims of laziness and not being bothered for the club wrong, he was dropped for Manquillo before Javi was surprisingly binned from the first-team come Christmas, which is where Glen picked up the bulk of his 19 appearances that season onward. Despite regaining his first-team place, it was clear that the manager and staff were not fully confident on Johnson being the first-choice right-back for much longer at the club as he was let leave on a free transfer at the end of the season where he went on to join Stoke, becoming their first-choice full-back.

In 15/16, Glen was Stoke’s clear first-choice in his position, making 25 appearances and picking up three assists as the club finished a solid 9^th. In 16/17, it was clear things were becoming stale at Stoke, even despite Johnson making 23 appearances, with zero goal contributions, the fans had become fed up of finishing 9^th every season, and with dwindling performances and disappointing going backwards in finishing 13^th that season, Mark Hughes’ head was on the chopping block for Stoke fans coming into the next season.

17/18 was a clear decline for Johnson, as he made a just 9 appearances in the league, even despite a change of manager in January. Johnson would go on to be released by Stoke at the end of the season following confirmation of their relegation to the Championship spelling a bitter end to his time at the club. Johnson is now retired and has appeared on talk-shows and sports news publications such as TalkSport.

Moving onto the first of the two starting central defenders, was Mamadou Sakho.

Sakho signed for the Reds from PSG in 2013 for a fee of £18million, in what was seen as a huge coup for the club at the time with Sakho being an ever-present for PSG over the years. Sakho was plagued by injury during his first season at the club, but was described by manager Rodgers as a “beast” and despite his injury record, he quickly became a fan favourite. Sakho’s injuries hindered him to just 19 appearances in the Premier League in that famous season, but he would turn out to be a very important figure in that Liverpool team as he played in that heroic 3-2 win against Manchester City in April 2014. He scored his first Liverpool goal in December of his first season against West Ham, a header. A season filled with ups and downs for Mamadou, but he was definitely seen as a positive investment by the club going into 14/15.

His second season was also no stranger to injury and controversy as Sakho stormed out of the stadium amid hearing that he would not feature against Everton in the Merseyside derby, he would later apologise for his actions on that day. Sakho would be a key man however when he was available as Rodgers’ side gained momentum in the second-half of the season in the 5-3-2 formation with Sakho being the linchpin of that back three. Despite this being another progressive campaign for Sakho, he was hindered to just 16 appearances, less than his first campaign for the Reds.

In 15/16 Sakho had began the season as a backup to Dejan Lovren who had joined the previous Summer from Southampton for £20million. Sakho eventually regained his starting place once Jurgen Klopp came into the club and was one of the German’s go-to men in defence. He also signed a new long-term deal at the club this season, but despite this, he couldn’t keep himself injury free, which was becoming a clear issue, with him picking up an injury that would rule him out for two whole months. This season became the season where Sakho became a cult hero and also the season where his Liverpool fate was sealed. Heroic performances against Dortmund in both legs of the club’s Europa League tie, whilst also scoring against Everton at the Kop end in the meantime, before doing a sprint to the bench to celebrate with another cult hero in Kolo Toure seemed like it had finally all clicked for Sakho at Liverpool…until Sakho had been tested positive for using a fat burner substance after the Europa League tie against Manchester United, he was then banned from all footballing activity for a month, this entire case was dismissed when it was revealed that the substance Sakho had used was not actually on the banned substance list. Despite this, it was too late for Sakho, Liverpool had lost the Europa League final in which he would have started, and he had been missing from the line-up for pivotal games due to this investigation, all the progress he had made in a Red shirt had been undone, as well as him missing out on a chance to represent his country in the Euros in his homeland of France, which would have surely devastated Sakho. In the Summer pre-season training when it was revealed he had been sent home from the camp after he had failed to follow the squad guidelines in holding up flights due to not arriving on time, and also turning up late for squad meals. This had pushed Klopp over the edge with Sakho and he was demoted to train with the youth teams, he would never play for the club again.

Sakho played youth team football until that January where he was loaned out to a then managed Sam Allardyce Crystal Palace, where he hit the ground running. He had become *the* fan favourite at Selhurst Park and at the end of his loan joined Palace in a deal worth £24million with a further £2million in add-ons. Despite all of this, Sakho still had his fans at Liverpool who felt this sale was detrimental to the quality of the Liverpool squad. However, this loyal fanbase he had at Liverpool would soon vanish when Sakho celebrated on the bench when Christian Benteke scored at Anfield against his former club Liverpool in the following 17/18 season, this disrespect shown by Sakho had vilanised him for Liverpool fans. Throughout the rest of his Palace career it has been similar to his Liverpool career, a linchpin and crucial member of the backline who has struggled to remain fit and has been plagued with several injuries, one of which he has just returned from at the start of the 19/20 season, and at 29, it is hard to see him overcoming a fitness problem which has hindered him his entire playing career.

Sakho’s centre-back partner and an ever-present in an ever-changing Liverpool backline in 13/14 was Martin Skrtel. Skrtel had his most famous season at Liverpool in 13/14 with 7 goals that season in the Premier League as a defender, these included a brace in a 5-1 win over Arsenal and a crucial backwards flicking header in that historic 3-2 win over Manchester City. Skrtel was not immune to criticism though, with his error-prone defending and inability to position himself and read the game being obvious, none more than ever in the famous “Crystanbul” where Skrtel infamously ran directly out of position to leave room in the open for Dwight Gale to get the third goal for Palace on that night. Despite a shaky season defensively for Skrtel, he kept his place in 14/15, going in as the club’s first choice centre-back.

In 14/15, Skrtel made 33 appearances in the Premier League and only managed the one goal this time around. Skrtel also captained Liverpool in a 1-0 loss to Real Madrid during this season.

In 15/16, Skrtel remained first-choice again, with him signing a new contract at Liverpool, even with Klopp coming in Skrtel was his first-choice defender. Skrtel scored a famous volley in a 1-4 win at the Etihad at Christmas time, whilst also getting injured in the season which kept him out of action for almost two months. Skrtel’s time at Anfield would seem obviously over however when he came on at half-time in a game at St. Mary’s in which Liverpool were 0-2 up when he came on, he went on to have a diabolical performance as Sadio Mane netted a second-half hattrick for Southampton as Liverpool threw away their lead and lost 3-2. This game is the exact game in which fans had had enough with Martin Skrtel.

Jurgen Klopp decided he was to be shipped out to Fenerbahce in Turkey for £5million, during this time Skrtel played 31 games for Fener and was a staple of their first-team. He would later be offered a chance to join Barcelona whilst at the Turkish club but he turned down the chance due to the playing time he was being offered.

Skrtel had remained at Fenerbahce until 2019, when he announced his international retirement. In the Summer of 2019 came probably the most bizarre moment in Skrtel’s career as he joined Champions League newcomers Atlanta in Serie A, not even after making a single appearance for the Italian club he had his contract terminated in what was reported to be the causing of a falling out with the coach at the club. He later joined Basaksehir in Turkey on a free transfer and that is where he is currently playing his football.

At left-back, there were several options to go with, with Jose Enrique making a handful of appearances, Aly Cissokho being a new signing at the club on loan and Jon Flanagan emerging from the academy, but the latter made the most appearances to we will leave the former until the post-first-team analysis.

Flanagan made his first start in 18 months after injuries to Glen Johnson and Jose Enrique ensured that Liverpool’s usual defence was in a crisis. Flanagan made his first start in 13/14 in a game away at the Emirates, where Arsenal fans officially decided that with Ozil and co. they were guaranteed to win the title despite it being only early November. Just over a month later Flanagan scored the famous “even Flanagan has scored” goal as his first goal for the club with a volley in off the bar in a thrashing of Tottenham Hotspur. Flanagan was a revelation in defence for Liverpool for the remainder of the season and seemed like one of the only Liverpool defenders who was assured and did not have a mistake in him, and with him being scouse, he had all the backing of the fans.

However, Flanagan’s Liverpool fairytale was cut short and missed almost two years of football threw injury. His almost guaranteed England and Liverpool career seemed lost, despite him returning in 2015 with a contract extension at the club. However, once Flanagan did return, it might have been under new management in Jurgen Klopp, but it seemed the German still fancied him, with him being captained for the first time in that collapse at St. Mary’s and him also signing another three year contract extension. However, the following season in 16/17 it became clear that Flanagan needed consistent first-team football and with a failed loan move to Burnley, Flanagan was deemed not good enough. Once he returned to Liverpool, his career had gone further down the rabbit hole with him being arrested in December 2017 for an assault on his girlfriend in Liverpool City Centre, this erased all good thought Liverpool fans held Flanagan in.

In January 2018, fans were demanding Flanagan’s contract be terminated for his disgusting actions the previous month, but Liverpool decided to loan him to Championship club Bolton until the end of the season when his contract expired and he was subsequently released from his boyhood club without making even 100 first-team appearances at a time where he was expected to spend his career at the Reds.

However, in 2018, Flanagan was offered a chance to redeem his career by fellow scouser and former teammate Steven Gerrard who had taken charge at Rangers in Scotland, however, it has been more of the same at Rangers for the scouser with him struggling to remain fit and having multiple surgeries since his arrival in the North.

With the first section of the team being done, it is time to move on to the famous “diamond” midfield that set Liverpool alight in 13/14, with the don of that midfield being Liverpool legend, Steven Gerrard. I do not think Gerrard needs much of a summary, as we all know his past and present. Gerrard had arguably the best season of his career in 13/14 and definitely his best season in his new deeper role that he had found himself in. Gerrard bagged 13 goals and 13 assists and that was with him missing several weeks out during the festive period through injury. 13/14 is probably the most famous season in Gerrard’s career for all the wrong reasons, as his famous “this does not slip now” quote against Manchester City returned to haunt him as he slipped to let Chelsea Demba Ba through on goal to put Liverpool’s title hopes to bed, along with further capitulation against Crystal Palace the following week. Despite all this, this was still easily one of Gerrard’s best seasons in the league in which he had dominated for over a decade.

In 14/15, Gerrard was alerted by Rodgers that his playtime would have to start being managed due to his age and fitness. Gerrard was knowingly and openly vocal about his disappointment with being left on the bench against Real Madrid, in the clubs return to the Champions League. He later announced that he would be leaving Liverpool at the end of the 14/15 season in January 2015. Despite this season being marred by the team’s shortcomings, several first-team flops and Gerrard’s departure, he was the club’s top scorer come the end of the season with 9 Premier League goals even with his obvious and rapid falling in fitness and capability to keep up with the pace of the league at times. Gerrard’s Liverpool career came to an end at the end of the 14/15 season with him being sent off after 38 seconds against Manchester United, and then more notably losses against Crystal Palace in his final home game, and Liverpool most infamous and embarrassing Premier League result in a 6-1 thrashing against Stoke, in which Gerrard scored.

Despite announcing that he would be joining L.A Galaxy in the MLS in January 2015, Gerrard wouldn’t make his MLS debut until July. However, Gerrard was hinting at a 2016 retirement throughout his time at Galaxy, and in 2016, Gerrard announced his retirement from professional football. Since retiring, Gerrard has returned as a coach at Liverpool, before leaving the club again to take up the managerial position at Rangers, he has also created his own water company “Angel Revive” and had his own Amazon documentary titled “Make Us Dream”.

Gerrard has currently been the manager of Rangers since 2018 and is now in his second season at the Scottish club.

In the central roles of midfield was Liverpool’s new Brazilian maestro who had set the team alight during his previous 6 months at the club when signing in the previous January for a measly £8million. Coutinho was Liverpool creative spark in the diamond midfield in 13/14. However, he did miss two months through injury between September and November this season, but once returning assured he was key in the team with a goal against Everton in the Merseyside Derby. This was the season that made Coutinho, with him scoring that famous winner in the 3-2 win against Manchester City in April. He made a total of 33 appearances with five goals and seven assists in the league from a deeper, more central position.

Coutinho went into 14/15 with a lot of pressure on his shoulders, his fellow South American Suarez had just been sold, and with Sturridge struggling to remain fit, the omen fell upon him and Raheem Sterling to be Liverpool’s talisman for the foreseeable future. Phil rose to that pressure with him starting the famous “cut-inside and whack it” technique he has since become so famous for, as well as him being shortlisted for both Premier League Player of the Year and Premier League Young Player of the Year, despite losing in both categories to Eden Hazard and Harry Kane.

In 15/16, Coutinho kicked the season off to a flyer for himself with a long-distance last-minute screamer on the opening day against Stoke City, an assist in his second game for Benteke’s winner against Bournemouth but ultimately it all went sour once the team were hammered at home 0-3 against West Ham, where Coutinho was sent off for a challenge on Mark Noble. Once Jurgen Klopp came in, Coutinho and Firmino became the unstoppable Brazilian duo, despite this, Coutinho was kept out of action for over a month come the second half of the season and returned to score an unbelievable under-the-wall free-kick in the FA Cup against West Ham, but went on to lose in extra-time. Coutinho seemed to fans that he would be destined to go on to become a Liverpool legend when his late equaliser in the League Cup final against Manchester City was met with a hysteric celebration and Phil jumping in to celebrate with the crowd, Liverpool went on to lose this final too. That wouldn’t be the end of the cult-hero goals for Phil however, with him scoring against Manchester United, in a 4-0 win against Everton at Anfield and scoring in the historic 4-3 comeback against Dortmund where he did the famous Gerrard “lift the crowd” celebration. He was also nominated for the Young Player of the Year in for the second season in a row.

Going into 16/17, Coutinho was *the* man for Liverpool. Their talisman, their best player by a country-mile, but he lacked that world-class consistent edge, however, this season it was all about to step up a gear for the Brazilian.

He started the season with a wonder free-kick against Arsenal followed by another in the second-half. Coutinho had been pivotal in Liverpool being top of the Premier League after eleven games for the first time since that famous 13/14 season. He suffered an ankle injury in November which kept him out of action for a month and a half, he also signed a new contract at the club that January with him also becoming the all-time top Brazilian scorer in the Premier League with a then record 30 goals.

17/18 became the true turning point in Coutinho’s career, with him accused of faking injury throughout the Summer in an attempt to force through a move to Barcelona, followed by submitting a transfer request to Liverpool to move to the Catalan club, which Liverpool seemed to reject as he was forced to stay for the foreseeable future. Coutinho continued to play for the club once the transfer window closed and went on to have the best form of his career in the first-half of the 17/18 season, with him captaining the club for the first time in a 7-0 win over Spartak Moscow in which Coutinho picked up a hattrick. Conveniently, Coutinho had suffered another injury in the leadup to the opening of the January transfer window, and days later he was being announced by Barcelona having registered 21 goal involvements in his last 20 games for Liverpool and settling himself comfortably as the best in his position on the planet.

Coutinho joined Barcelona in January 2018, for £142million if all clauses were met, this made him the second-most valuable transfer of all-time, behind fellow Brazilian Neymar. Coutinho scored his first Barcelona goal a month later whilst also scoring in a historic 5-1 win in the El Clasico, this initial spell at Barcelona had gone well for Coutinho and finished with him earning a La Liga winners medal as Barcelona won the league. After being crucial to Brazil in the 2018 World Cup, Coutinho returned to Barcelona, however, his first full season in Barcelona would not be as kind to him as his initial 6 months. Coutinho struggled for game time and would rarely play 90minutes for the Spanish giants, it seemed pastures were not always greener abroad for Coutinho, and that became the case when despite him winning another La Liga, his real ambition of lifting the Champions League had been crushed by his former club Liverpool, who embarrassed him and Barcelona 4-0 at Anfield in the Champions League semi-final as Coutinho had to sit and watch Liverpool win their 6^th Champions League trophy in Madrid as he presumably dreamt of what could have been.

In 19/20, Coutinho’s future had become uncertain, with him being offered to Tottenham and Arsenal on loan, and in a potential swap deal involving Neymar to PSG. Ultimately Coutinho was reported to have wanted to return to Liverpool, and despite Barcelona giving Liverpool first-choice in his potential transfer, the club rejected the opportunity to bring him back. Coutinho ultimately joined Bayern Munich on loan with the German Champions having the option to sign him at the end of the 19/20 season. Coutinho has since made his debut for Bayern Munich.

Next is the only member of the 13/14 squad who remains a consistent first-team member. Jordan Henderson was off the back of a season where he had been told he could leave to join Fulham after only a year at the club, but Henderson had rejected the chance to join Fulham in order to fight for his dwindling place at Liverpool. Henderson surprisingly won back his place at Anfield and became an ever-present in Liverpool’s midfield during their title charge with his box to box abilities proving crucial in such a high-octane Liverpool midfield. Henderson went on to make 35 starts, playing every game in which he was available for, missing only three games through a suspension in which he picked up through a tackle on Samir Nasri in the dying minutes of the 3-2 win over Manchester City, this red card proved how crucial Henderson was as his presence was sorely missed in the three games he had missed. Henderson was also appointed vice-captain at the end of the 13/14 season following Daniel Agger’s departure from the club.

Henderson, despite being vice-captain, captained the side on many occasions in 14/15, as Gerrard was benched or injured. Henderson would also sign a new long-term deal at the club during this season and would go on to be appointed captain of Liverpool Football Club following Steven Gerrard’s departure in the Summer of 2015. However, in 15/16, Henderson suffered multiple injuries and revealed that he had an incurable condition known as plantar fasciitis. Henderson struggled to remain fit under Rodgers and was injured for quite a while during the time period in which Klopp had taken charge, yet the German kept Henderson as his first-team captain before he got injured again in the second-half of the season.

Henderson’s fitness somewhat improved in 16/17 as he earned Premier League Goal of the Month for his top corner scorcher against Chelsea in a win at Stamford Bridge. However, Henderson had not managed to shake off his many critics by this point with social media labelling him as average and that he would struggle to start for most Premier League clubs in the top-half.

Henderson signed a further contract extension in 2018 at the end of a campaign in which he was crucial in the team returning to the elites of Europe as they flukely lost in the Champions League final against Real Madrid.

In 2019, Henderson had the most defining season of his career as he captained the club to their first Champions League win in over a decade as he lifted the trophy in Madrid in a win against Tottenham. This Champions League win ensured that Henderson had finally proven his critics wrong and that after all this time, he was capable of being Steven Gerrard’s successor at Liverpool and placed himself upon the famous captains of Liverpool Football Club. Henderson has currently remained fit since and is an ever-present in Liverpool’s midfield in 19/20 as he hopes to captain the side to another successful Champions League campaign and another title charge against favourites Manchester City.

13/14 was the breakthrough year of one of the world’s best players in 2019, Raheem Sterling. Sterling was a teenager who had been immensely rated at Liverpool and thus, was given a chance to play in the Premier League consistently despite his young age. Sterling scored his first Premier League goal in December of this season as he got a goal against Norwich City. Sterling would finish this season as Liverpool’s Young Player of the Year and would be shortlisted for Premier League Young Player of the Year as he grabbed nine goals and 5 assists from the tip of Liverpool’s midfield diamond. He was also named in the 23 man squad for England for the 2014 World Cup.

In 14/15, extra pressure was placed upon Sterling to improve his delivery, as Luis Suarez’s sale, along with the injury record of Daniel Sturridge and the failure of Liverpool’s new striking recruitments meant that Rodgers had decided to try and convert Sterling into an all-out forward. Sterling’s conversion was a clear issue but despite this he netted seven goals and got seven assists in the league and was named as the European Golden Boy at Christmas time. Sterling went on to be nominated for the Premier League Young Player of the Year for the second season in a row come to the end of 14/15. However, Sterling had been spotted smoking a shisha pipe and also presumably using balloons to inhale nitrous oxide, this began to contribute toward a bad public image and then during 2015 also, Sterling had turned down a contract offer worth £150,000 a week. Brendan Rodgers came out and publicly shamed Sterling’s representative Aidy Ward at the time for wrongfully informing Sterling to turn down the deal and then do an interview with the BBC regarding the situation. Aidy Ward then gave an interview to the London Evening Standard stating “I don’t care about the PR of the club and the club situation, he definitely isn’t signing. Not for 700, 800 or £900,000 a week”. This prompted Sterling to be demoted to the bench near the end of 14/15 and he was most notably booed in his final game as he warmed up on the sidelines against Stoke City.

Liverpool rejected two bids from Manchester City in the Summer, whilst Sterling had requested to be left out of Liverpool’s pre-season tour, and also did not turn up for two days of training due to illness. Sterling later signed for Manchester City for £50million, which was, at the time, a record fee for an English player. Sterling featured regularly in his first season, with him picking up a hattrick for City in a win against Bournemouth in October. However, an injury in ruled Sterling out for two months in which, upon his return, he struggled to regain his place in City’s starting lineup.

In 16/17, Sterling had gained major criticism for his lack of a finishing touch as he struggled to break the ten goal barrier again in his career under what seemed a struggling Guardiola side who scraped into the top four on the final day of the season. It was reported in the Summer of 2017 that Sterling could even be offloaded as he was not part of Guardiola’s plans. During the Summer of 2017 after the Grenfell tower disaster in which 71 people had tragically died, Sterling contributed a substantial donation toward the cause. This was the beginning of Sterling re-cooperating his public image.

In 17/18 however, Sterling had recovered. He scored 18 league goals and 11 assists as he had found that finishing touch that had been the bane to his career for years. Sterling had finally reached his potential and was a world-class wide player. This season was a career high for Sterling at the time.

Sterling was also named in the 23 man squad for England for the 2018 World Cup in which England reached the Semi-finals whilst Sterling had taken up somewhat of a public figure in England in a fight against racism in sport.

By 18/19, Sterling had redeemed his decision to join City, with League Cup and Premier League winners medals to his name, it seemed that it was the perfect fit for Sterling under Guardiola. Sterling scored 18 goals and got 10 assists in 34 Premier League games as City pipped Liverpool to the title with 98 points. Sterling was consistently reaching the peak numbers expected from truly world-class forwards now. Sterling won the Premier League, League Cup and FA Cup in a domestic treble-winning season for Manchester City in 2019. During this season also, Sterling ended a run that had haunted him of 27 games for England without a goal when he scored twice in the Nations League against Spain. He would then go on to get his first hattrick for England in 2019 against Czech Republic.

Sterling is currently playing sensationally for Manchester City in 19/20 with five goals in four Premier League games, and a hattrick to his name already so early on in the season.

The first of the two most famous players from that 13/14 side is Daniel Sturridge. Sturridge had been at Liverpool 6 months after signing for what was a bargain deal the previous January from Chelsea. Sturridge continued his 12/13 form into the 13/14 season, and with Luis Suarez banned for the first 8 league games, the pressure to provide the goals fell on Sturridge’s shoulders. You wouldn’t have thought there was pressure, as Sturridge hit the ground running, earning the first Premier League Player of the Month award. Sturridge also went on to become the first Liverpool player in the Premier League to score in both seven and eight consecutive games. Sturridge’s form in 13/14 made him a contender for the Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year awards, as he finished the season with 21 goals in 29 games in the league, only behind Luis Suarez in the race for the golden boot award.

In 14/15 however, would begin the downfall of Daniel Sturridge’s Liverpool career. Sturridge had consistent injury problems that combined to him missing close to around five months worth of football, and despite him scoring on his return to the team in January, Sturridge would not go long without injury when he had a hip surgery in March which would rule him out for until September of the next season. Liverpool fans were calling out for Sturridge during this time as the team continued to struggle to score goals.

In 15/16, Sturridge missed the start of the season as he was recovering from that surgery, he eventually returned and bagged two goals against Aston Villa with one of them a monstrous volley from an angle that made Liverpool fans dream at the idea of what could be with Sturridge’s return. However, this fitness once again would not last long as he missed huge chunks of the season through further injuries but despite this, Sturridge finished as Liverpool’s top goalscorer with thirteen goals.

16/17 sparked the obvious beginning of the end for Sturridge as Klopp’s preference to Firmino became clearer. Sturridge struggled to start games and generally was only used as a substitute during this season scoring a measly three Premier League goals. Sturridge’s appearance would decrease even further in 17/18 with him only making five starts in the league, getting two goals. Come January of 17/18 Sturridge was not happy with his playing time and joined West Brom on loan, this was a complete failure as an early injury ruled him out for the majority of his time at the club as West Brom were relegated from the Premier League.

Sturridge returned to Liverpool that Summer, and despite speculation of him being offloaded, he stayed for the final year of his contract. Sturridge started four games as Divock Origi came back into the fold of the Liverpool squad, dropping Sturridge to the third choice in the pecking order of strikers. Sturridge scored some important goals, however, with a last-minute curler at Stamford Bridge to rescue Liverpool a point, and an opener against PSG in the Champions League group stages. Despite this, Sturridge obtained a Champions League winners medal to end his Liverpool career on a high note, leaving many with a bitter taste in their mouths of what could have been for Sturridge at Liverpool had he remained fit. Sturridge was banned during the Summer for breaching betting rules regarding his brother and a potential 2018 January window move to Sevilla. Sturridge was banned from football for two weeks and received a fine of £75,000

Sturridge joined Trabzonspor in Turkey in 19/20 on a free transfer.

Now, onto the star of the team and the league and arguably the world in 13/14. Luis Suarez, started the 13/14 campaign with an eight-game ban for a bite on Branislav Ivanovic from the previous season in a draw against Chelsea. Despite missing the opening eight games…Suarez managed 31 league goals and 12 assists in thirty-three games, and not a single one of those 31 goals was a penalty. Could you imagine the records he would have had had he not missed those opening eight games? Suarez was the first player to achieve these Messi and Ronaldo level of numbers and somehow was not listed for the Balon D’or against that duo. Suarez was easily the best in the world at several points in 2013 and 2014 for Liverpool, and come the end of the season, he won the PFA Player of the Year and then he set off for the World Cup with Uruguay in which Suarez famously could not hold back his urges once again and bit Cheillini in Uruguay’s group match against Italy. Many speculate that this stunt was to force Liverpool’s hand in selling Suarez, as the previous Summer Suarez had performed similar antics in an effort to force through a move to Arsenal. Suarez received a six-month ban from football for the bite and Liverpool soon after sold him to Barcelona for £65million, which still feels painfully cheap.

In 14/15, it would take Suarez til October to make his Barcelona debut due to this ban from the sport, but it seemed a fairytale, as his return was in time for the El Clasico against Real Madrid. This fairytale was not to be though, as Barcelona lost 3-1. Suarez had to wait eight La Liga games for his first La Liga goal for the Catalan club. However, this dry patch did not last long once Suarez got going. Suarez finished the season with 25 goals and 20 assists in all competitions and a La Liga, Champions League and Copa Del Rey winners medal to ensure that Suarez was a treble winner in his first season in Spain. His duo Messi and Neymar combined with him to make 122 goals, the most ever scored for a trio in Spanish history.

Suarez started his second season off in red hot form, scoring in the Super Cup against Sevilla to close Barcelona’s first trophy of 15/16. He went on to score a brace against Real Madrid in a historic 4-0 win for Barcelona. Suarez also became the first player to score a hattrick in the Club World Cup and was named the Player of the Tournament as Barcelona won the competition. Suarez scored four goals in February against Valencia, he then went on to score four more and assist three against Deportivo in La Liga two months later, and three days later scored a further four goals against Sporting Gijon, making him the only player to score four goals in consecutive games in Spanish history, he also became the only player in the history of Barcelona to reach 35 goals in a single season. Suarez sealed La Liga for Barcelona and won both the Pichichi Trophy and the European Golden Shoe, becoming the first to do so since 2009 outside of Messi and Ronaldo. Suarez was performing to the levels of the best player in the world and had set new standards. Suarez had scored 14 goals in his final 5 La Liga games of the 15/16 season. The trio of MSN finished the season with 131 goals, breaking their previous season’s record.

In 16/17, Suarez made his 100^th appearance for Barcelona, with him boasting 88 goals and 43 assists in those 100 appearances…Suarez had established himself as the best striker of his generation, and truly generational footballer. In 17/18 Suarez scored in a game which ensured that Barcelona held the longest unbeaten run in La Liga history of 39 games. In 18/19, Suarez scored a hattrick against Real Madrid, making him the only Barcelona player to do so beside Romario. However, during this season Suarez had been criticised on social media by Barcelona fans as they called for something new despite Suarez’s numbers. Suarez was also part of that lineup that was hammered at Anfield and since then had been the most vocal on the impact that the result has had on the team and the club as a whole.

As of 19/20 Suarez has made a substitute appearance for Barcelona in La Liga, and continues to be part of the Barcelona elite.

Now, the first team is complete, we move on to the squad players of the 13/14 side.

Brad Jones was Liverpool’s usual second choice ‘keeper, but with the Australian failing to make a single appearance in 13/14, we move onto 14/15 where he made three appearances due to a dip in Mignolet’s form. These three games were marred by some of the worst goalkeeper I have ever seen. Jones was released from Liverpool at the end of the season and joined Bradford, despite his new club, he was released in October when his contract was terminated by mutual consent.

Brad joined NEC in Holland on a six-month deal in January 2016 and despite the club wishing for him to stay beyond his initial deal, he opted to leave amidst offers from other clubs.

In 16/17, Brad Jones joined up with former Liverpool teammate Dirk Kuyt as he won the Eredivisie and the KNVB Cup to help the club to its first title in 18 years. Jones then signed a further two-year contract extension at the club.

Jones continued in goal the following season and then opted a move to Saudi Arabia to join Al-Nassr on a two-year contract. This is where he is still playing today as the club’s first-choice ‘keeper.

Daniel Agger, who was Liverpool’s vice-captain in 13/14 had his final season at Liverpool that season. He made just 16 starts after injuries and being out of favour with Brendan Rodgers ensured he would struggle to establish himself. Agger scored on his last game for Liverpool on the final day of the season with a header from a Gerrard free-kick against Newcastle. That Summer, he was sold to Brondby for £3million despite better offers from around Europe.

Agger played in Denmark for two years before announcing an early retirement at 31 at the end of his contract. Agger has been quoted saying that his body was unable to keep up with football at the end of his career due to the injuries and injections he had received to play through the pain throughout his career at Liverpool. Agger and his family moved to Marbella in Spain and started a sewerage company name KloAgger. Agger has also been a part of raising money for several charity foundations and is occasionally a part of the squads for the Liverpool Legends games. Agger is a legend to the Liverpool fans despite his early retirement, he even has the famous club song You’ll Never Walk Alone tattooed onto his body.

Aly Cissokho is one of the most infamous Liverpool players of all-time, not for any real reason other than the fact he didn’t know how to kick a football. The excitement was met when Cissokho joined the club on loan in 2013, but that same excitement vanished once the fans and everyone associated with the club realised Aly didn’t know what a football even was. He made 12 starts and 15 appearances in total during his one season at Liverpool.

Aly then went on to play for Aston Villa in the Premier League for the following season and helped the club reach the FA Cup final, however that forthcoming Summer, he was loaned to Porto.

With the incoming of his former manager Remi Garde, he was recalled to Villa, and played once available in January. In 2017 Aly joined Olympiacos on a six-month loan from Villa, however at the end of his loan, he returned to Villa. That Summer he signed for newboys in Turkey, Malatyaspor and played for a year until joining another Turkish side in Antalyaspor for an undisclosed fee where he is currently still playing and was their first choice in 18/19.

Jose Enrique had been a mainstead at the back for Liverpool since signing from Newcastle, however, 13/14 began the start of a long during of injuries for the Spaniard. He played just eight times in 13/14 and just four of those were starts. However, Enrique did last at Liverpool until the Klopp era two years later despite having only made 12 appearances in that time. Enrique became notorious on Twitter for playing FIFA and became somewhat of a meme amongst Liverpool fans. Enrique captained the club in his final game against Exeter in 2016 under Klopp and was later released from his contract at the end of the 15/16 season.

Enrique signed for Spanish second division side Real Zaragoza, and played the rest of the season for the club, however, he was forced into retirement a year later due to a continuous knee injury.

Since then, Enrique was diagnosed with a rare brain tumour called chordoma in 2018, however recently in April, he was thankfully given the all-clear.

Martin Kelly failed to start a single game in his final season for his boyhood club Liverpool and thus moved to Crystal Palace in search of first-team football. He was a starter in his first season at the London club but since then has failed to nail down a consistent season-to-season first-team spot and has only managed to return as their first-choice right-back this season due to the sale of Wan-Bissaka to Manchester United. He has been part of a steady Palace backline so far in 19/20 and has started all four of the clubs Premier League games.

Having joined on a free from City to be Carragher’s replacement in 13/14, Kolo Toure played more games than anticipated over his three seasons at Liverpool, securing himself cult-hero status for his stellar performances at times. Kolo most notably was monstrous in the Europa League for Jurgen Klopp in 2016 and also played in the final of that competition. He scored his first and only Liverpool goal in a 0-6 win against Aston Villa in 15/16, which was a moment that went down in Liverpool history. He since went on to play for Celtic, winning the SPFL and also became a coach at the club under Brendan Rodgers, he is now side by side with his former Liverpool boss at Leicester City.

Joe Allen struggled for starts in a settled Liverpool midfield in 13/14 and became most known for his sitter miss in the derby against Everton. Joe Allen continued to struggle for starts for the following season but played stellar when chosen by Klopp in his final season and became a legend somewhat for his long-hair and beard look that suited his Pirlo nickname. Klopp wanted to keep Allen at Anfield but he chose to move on in search of consistent starts at Stoke City in a £10million move. Allen was brilliant for Stoke in his first season despite the club’s downward spiral and despite their relegation in 17/18, it was clear that Allen was one of the few players who seemed too good for the Championship. Despite this, the Championship is where Allen plays his trade currently, still for Stoke who has struggled to bounce back since their relegation with many players, including Allen on huge wages for a Championship club.

Lucas Leiva made 27 games in 13/14, with him bouncing back from his huge injury blow several seasons previous. In 14/15, his game time continued to lower under Rodgers as he only made 20 appearances this time around. However, in 15/16 with the incoming of Klopp who seemed to quite fancy Lucas in midfield and as a make-shift centre-back, he made 27 appearances, though still not being a guaranteed starter. In 16/17, Lucas once again was not a starter and most played when called upon in defence, however, he went out on a high as he helped the club finish in the top four before being sold to Lazio in cut-price sale as the Brazilian respectfully asked to leave for more first-team football. Lucas got his wish as he made 50 appearances in all competitions in his first season at Lazio. He was also notably one of Serie A’s best players as he won the Supercoppa Italia in 2017 and has since won the Coppa Italia in May of 2019, he has also won Lazio’s Player of the Year in both of his seasons at the club and has been playing at the level of some of the best defensive midfielders there are on the continent right now.

Aspas was a new signing in 2013, signing for £15million from Celta Vigo off the back of a prolific campaign in Spain, and after a prolific pre-season too for the Reds, he seemed to be a smart signing. However, Aspas ended up one of the biggest flops in Liverpool’s history with him failing to score a single goal in 14 league games, and being the causing of Chelsea’s second goal in the game that killed our title hopes with his hilariously bad corner which has still since been memed to this very day. However, clearly, Aspas is not as bad as his Liverpool stint states, as he left the club at the end of 2014 on loan to Sevilla, where he also failed, but it is upon returning to Liverpool in 2015, where he was sold to Sevilla, who sold him straight back to his former club Celta Vigo in the same day where he regained his form. Aspas ended the season as the league’s top-scoring Spaniard with 19 goals, something he would top again in the following season with 22 goals, only behind Messi, Ronaldo and Suarez in the scoring charts. Aspas had earned a call to the Spain squad in the meantime also, and with Celta sitting in 9^th in 18/19, Aspas got injured for three months, during this time without Aspas Celta had fallen down to 18^th in the table and were battling relegation. They survived, and Aspas signed a further contract extension at the club until 2023.

The final member of this squad was Chelsea loanee Victor Moses who was brought into the club after the Nigerian struggled for game time at Stamford Bridge. Moses had a similar fate at Liverpool making just six starts with just a single goal. Moses has since spent time at Stoke and West Ham on loan before being brought into the fold by Antonio Conte at Chelsea to give his career a resurgence at rightwing-back. Moses was a phenomenon during the 16/17 season, one which nobody would have seen coming and he played a key role in Chelsea winning the Premier League title, he would have continued this form in his following season as Conte remained in charge, and he won the FA Cup. However, once Conte was sacked at the club, it was clear he was not fancied under Sarri as he failed to start a single league game under the Italian. As of now Moses has joined Fenerbahce for 19/20 and registered a goal and an assist on his debut for the Turkish giants.

Anyways, that concludes the in-depth look to what became of Liverpool’s 13/14 squad. A season and team that will live long in the memory of Liverpool fans for good and bad reasons.

 

References:

Mignolet:

–https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/liverpool/10142422/Liverpool-sign-Sunderland-goalkeeper-Simon-Mignolet.html

–https://www.the42.ie/adam-bogdan-liverpool-debut-to-forget-2513037-Dec2015/

–https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/simon-mignolet/profil/spieler/50219

 

Johnson:

–https://www.premierleague.com/players/2148/Glen-Johnson/overview

–https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glen_Johnson

 

Sakho:

– https://www.premierleague.com/players/4796/Mamadou-Sakho/overview

– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamadou_Sakho

 

Skrtel:

– https://www.premierleague.com/players/3404/Martin-Skrtel/stats?co=1&se=42

 

Flanagan:

– https://www.premierleague.com/players/4129/Jon-Flanagan/stats

–http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11669/9476546/liverpools-jon-flanagan-ruled-out-for-months-after-knee-surgery

–http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/185620-flanagan-seals-new-liverpool-contract

–http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/flanagan-captain-liverpool-fc-today-11067815

–http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/first-team/230395-liverpool-confirm-flanagan-joins-burnley-on-loan

–https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/first-team/304212-emre-can-jon-flanagan-liverpool-fc

–https://www.footballscotland.co.uk/spfl/scottish-premiership/jon-flanagan-suffers-rangers-blow-16868002

 

Gerrard:

– https://www.premierleague.com/players/1575/Steven-Gerrard/overview

–http://www.latimes.com/sports/soccer/la-sp-galaxy-steven-gerrard-20150107-story.html

 

Coutinho:

– https://www.premierleague.com/players/4525/Philippe-Coutinho/overview

– https://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/32472834

–https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/pfa-young-player-year-tottenham-7745910

–http://www.skysports.com/football/news/15117/10830610/liverpools-philippe-coutinho-is-the-top-scoring-brazilian-in-premier-league-history

–https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/dec/06/liverpool-spartak-moscow-champions-league-match-report

–http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11669/11198411/philippe-coutinho-transfer-to-barcelona-agreed-liverpool-confirm

–https://fcbayern.com/en/news/2019/08/press-release-contract-signed-coutinho-completes-move-to-fc-bayern

 

Henderson:

–http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/170805-henderson-confirmed-as-new-vice-captain

–http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/188441-henderson-appointed-liverpool-captain

–http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11669/10089575/jordan-henderson-reveals-heel-injury-has-no-cure

 

Sterling:

– https://www.premierleague.com/players/4316/Raheem-Sterling/stats

–https://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/apr/18/pfa-player-of-the-year-award-shortlist-gerrard-lallana

–http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/rodgers-raheem-sterling-been-offered-8608794

–http://www.espnfc.com/liverpool/story/2381200/brendan-rodgers-slams-raheem-sterlings-advisers-over-interview

– https://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/33161310

– https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/33497488

 

Sturridge:

–https://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/apr/18/pfa-player-of-the-year-award-shortlist-gerrard-lallana

–http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11668/9286998/pfa-unveils-team-of-the-year

– https://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/32650670

– https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/37771013

– https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42867615

–https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/first-team/352914-lfc-thank-sturridge-and-moreno-for-reds-contribution

– https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49031533

– https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49426271

 

Suarez:

– https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30483708

–https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jun/06/barcelona-luis-suarez-lionel-messi-juventus-champions-league-final

–http://www.fcbarcelona.com/football/first-team/detail/article/luis-suarez-scores-first-ever-hat-trick-in-club-world-cup

–http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/88/spain/2016/04/30/22983522/35-and-counting-suarez-joins-messi-in-elite-club-of-la-ligas

– https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/36293793

–https://www.fcbarcelona.com/football/first-team/news/2017-2018/match-report-fc-barcelona-2-1-valencia-cf-record-breakers

– https://twitter.com/optajose/status/1056593371316346880?s=21

 

Jones:

– https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34651347

–https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jan/05/australia-and-former-liverpool-keeper-brad-jones-signs-for-dutch-side-nijmegen

 

Agger:

– https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36488982

 

Cissokho:

– https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/35135508

–http://www.yenimalatyaspor.org.tr/default.asp?ym=haberdet&hid=684%7Ctitle=Yeni

– http://antalyam.com/antalyaspor-bu-kez-aly-cissokhonun-pesine-dustu

 

Enrique:

–https://web.archive.org/web/20160616145923/http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/news/news/2016-17/jun/100616-premier-league-clubs-submit-retained-and-released-lists.html

–http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/ex-liverpool-defender-enrique-finds-11857545

– https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47942648

 

Aspas:

–http://www.thisisanfield.com/2015/06/report-sevilla-sell-iago-aspas-straight-back-to-celta-vigo/

–http://www.farodevigo.es/celta-de-vigo/2017/05/22/empate-despedir-berizzo/1683925.html

–https://www.sport.es/es/noticias/laliga/asi-esta-pichichi-laliga-2017-2018-6648041

–https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2019/apr/01/tears-and-cheers-as-iago-aspas-returns-to-save-celta-vigo-again

–https://www.marca.com/en/football/spanish-football/2019/04/17/5cb73329468aeb6b598b45ad.html

Plato’s Moral and Political Philosophy

Plato was one of the first philosophers of a new era, where it became popular amongst a distinct group of individuals to think for themselves and create their own theories regarding the reasoning behind the world around us. This mindset would lead to Plato coming up with a lifetime of theories and ideas, in this essay I will be discussing a few within the topic of morality and politics.

Plato had many ideas and theories but probably one of the more well-known ones was his allegory of the cave, the idea of this theory is that a few men are chained up within a cave for their entire life, and all that they have ever seen of the world is shadows moving in front of them due to a fire being lit behind them that casts shadows onto the walls. One prisoner escapes, and witnesses the outside world for the first time and is in awe at what he has seen. In his excitement, he returns to his fellow men who still remain chained up in the cave and explains to them what he had witnessed. They don’t react in a positive manner, however, and believe that the outside world has made the freed prisoner insane as they choose to continue to believe all they have ever known.

This story is to show that Plato himself felt like the freed prisoner, amongst a society of lesser people intellectually than himself, who all choose to be content within their ignorant mindsets. The Allegory of the Cave is a political sided opinion coming from Plato as it deals with societal issues and the mindset of people who have been almost brainwashed into believing to follow the general curb of what is believed to be fact.

Further points of this come from other people’s interpretations “Likewise, we may acquire concepts by our perceptual experience of physical objects. But we would be mistaken if we thought that the concepts we grasp were on the same level as the things we believe” Marc Cohen. S. (2006) Allegory of the Cave.

Throughout his lifetime Plato came up with many theories which would help us understand where he leaned on the moral scale, as well as him showing why others were as moral or immoral as they are. Probably the biggest example of Plato trying to explain the morality and immorality of others is with the Ring of Gyges, a story where a man named Gyges finds a ring that turns him invisible, and he has to decide between many immoral and moral choices now that he knows he can get away with them, such as murder or stealing large amounts of money from an expensive party that he sneaks into which is filled with very wealthy people. Or, as interpreted by others, maybe the reason Gyges has such a conflicted opinion on whether to commit good deeds and bad deeds is that if he were to commit good deeds when invisible, nobody would be able to give him credit, so if nobody would hold him accountable for his good deeds, then why should they with his bad deeds? Morrissey. C (2016). Plato’s Ring of Gyges: Power & the Divided Self. With the general public, we would all commit immoral deeds, but what deters us from committing them is the idea that we know we will be caught, which leads us to believe, would we all commit murder, theft, or would we spy on our most idolised celebrities as long as we knew they would never found out or if we knew we would never be caught? This ring analogy shows us that Plato was trying to convey whether morality is a human trait indoctrinated within our conscious or whether we are all immoral but just don’t have the capabilities of getting away with it.

Another thought of Plato’s would come within the theory of Forms. The idea that as humans, our souls are all connected to this perfect realm that has the ideal form of everything we could have ever known, a bit like heaven, but not? The reason, we as humans know what “perfection” in every category looks like in our heads in many categories such as beauty, athleticism, or manufacturing despite it being impossible for us to ever have witnessed perfection in our world, shows that our connection to this perfect realm of perfect forms is where we draw our subconscious images of “perfection” from. This perfect real is also where our souls were before we were born and it will be where our souls go once we die. This soul is what makes us human, and it will be our ever-lasting being that will live on beyond our body, which is just a casing to withhold the soul during our lifetime. This is Plato’s opinion regarding forms and why we as humans have all opinions on what is “moral” or “perfect” despite it being impossible for anybody or anything to ever be completely moral or perfect. People cannot be educated on Forms or thought the idea of the forms however, as this can only be recalled from the mind of each individual who is connected personally to this realm, not through teaching, as, perfection mentally cannot be taught. Macintosh. D. (2012) Plato: A theory of Forms | Issue 90 | Philosophy Now.

Speaking of perfection, in terms of love and human relationships, Plato also had an opinion, regarding platonic love, which means a deep, loving relationship with another person which involves no sexual contact. Plato felt this form of relationship or bond with another person is the deepest form of love or relationship you could create with somebody. This shows his morality scale in relationships as he feels an emotional connection with somebody is a lot more important than a physical attraction to that person. 

Plato had a self envisaged idea of a Utopian society, the ideal world in which it would upon his moral ideas and political ideas. Plato believed women could rule and lead in this society, but that would have little bearing as Plato can be seen as slightly hypocritical at times considering he had compared women to children in terms of how they are mentally on a scale. Plato wanted this Utopia to be ruled by “philosopher kings”, he regarded himself and fellow philosophers to be somewhat higher on a spectrum mentally than people within the general population, which I guess could make Plato come across as somewhat of an elitist. “Plato thought mainly that his Utopian society should be ruled based on knowledge and ideas(which philosophers such as himself possessed) rather than actual power. Matassa. G. (2013) Plato’s Argument for Rule by Philosopher Kings.

Plato created the rules of which this society would be based upon, and a class system which would keep the entire society in uniform to their roles. He came up with the myth that everybody was born with their body composed of one of three metals, bronze, silver and gold. Bronze would be the people who were born and destined producers of society, such as merchants, blacksmiths, farmers etc… Silver would be the soldiers or noblemen who fought for the land and would represent the society’s army and lastly gold would represent the leaders or kings of Plato’s Utopian society, people such as himself, who were higher on the intellectual scale than the rest. Obviously, a class system such as this one suggested would never work as it would require incredible amounts of control over the society to stop people stepping outside of their assigned metal category. Plato wanted no music or theatre within his Utopian society, as he didn’t like the idea of people stepping out of uniform or expressing themselves artistically. “The Republic as a whole is a powerful dominance of philosophy. To that end, The Republic as a whole is a powerful integration of philosophy, religion, education and politics, and its argument for the political suppression of most art follows from that integrated system” Hicks. S. (2012) Plato On Censoring Artists – A Summary.  This level of immense control of society would create a toxic atmosphere and would also doom it to fail, such as any dictatorship would. This idea of Plato’s perfect society shows where Plato himself leaned politically in terms of how he himself would want things ran if he had his way with it.

In conclusion, Plato had many differentiating opinions regarding his moral and political philosophies. Despite his rare hypocritical views, Plato was a man of many views and paved the way for his views and ideas to be re-interpreted into many of the areas of society we see today.

 

 

Reference List

– Marc Cohen. S. (2006) Allegory of the Cave. Available at: https://facultywashington.edu/smcohen/320/cave.htm (Accessed: 10^th of October 2018)

– Morrissey. C (2016). Plato’s Ring of Gyges: Power & the Divided Self. Available at: www.theimaginativeconservative.org/2016/04/platos-ring-of-gyges-power-divided-self.html (Accessed: 10^th of October 2018).

– Matassa. G. (2013) Plato’s Argument for Rule by Philosopher Kings. Available at: https://www.e-ir.info/2013/04/17/should-philosophers-rule/ (Accessed: 10^th of October 2018)

– Macintosh. D. (2012) Plato: A theory of Forms | Issue 90 | Philsophy Now. Available at: https://philosophynow.org/issues/90/Plato_A_Theory_of_Forms (Accessed: 10^th of October 2018)

– Hicks. S. (2012) Plato On Censoring Artists – A Summary. Available at: www.stephenhicks.org/2012/01/21/plato-on-censoring-artists-a-summary/ (Accessed: 10^th of October 2018).

The Problem With Evil in the Context of Religion and Arguments for and Against God’s Existence

There have been many reasons for and against why God does or doesn’t exist that have been argued over hundreds of years, without anybody ever coming to a definitive answer, in this essay I will be discussing some arguments for and against the existence of God and why evil in the world is an issue when spoken about in the context of religion.

One of the first real significant arguments for God’s existence and the first one I’ll be discussing here is Anselm’s Ontological argument. Anselm was a monk from around the year 1000A.D and he was dedicated to proving God’s existence to others or, “fools” as he called them himself. Anselm wrote to an unnamed “fool” in a letter that had this argument written in it. Anselm’s argument consists of showing that everything we know and think consists in two mindsets, the mental and the physical/real. He then proceeds to say that the only thing that can make the “perfect” version of something, better, is if it was in reality. He then goes to say that even atheists can agree that if God were to exist, he would be the “being than which no greater can be conceived”, thus showing that the only way God could be better is if he existed in both mind and reality, but as God can’t get any better as he’s “perfect”, then God MUST exist in reality, according to Anselm. (Himma. E. K. (n/a). Anselm: Ontological Argument for God’s Existence)

Anselm’s arguments is one of the smartest and most well thought out to date, but obviously, it still has its flaws, as shown when Anselm received back from a fellow monk named Gaunilo, who believed in God but thought Anselm’s argument had some major loopholes and flaws, with his parody of Anselm’s argument otherwise known as the “perfect island argument”, where Gaunilo suggests that he can imagine the perfect island, with the perfect everything, thus that island MUST exist, which sort of derails Anselm’s entire argument for God. However, Anselm just replied to Gaunilo saying that he’d missed the point of his argument. (Mcgill. J. (2006). Gaunilo’s reply to Anselm)

However, there were issues regarding God existing, as if God were to exist and if he were the all-seeing, all-caring, all-loving being we imagine him as then why would he allow such horrendous actions and scenarios to occur in the world in which he created? This issue with evil in the world is one of the biggest arguments that atheists use when disproving God’s existence, however, that was until a philosopher named Augustine of Hippo gave a solid argument to validate this logic. Augustine believed that the reason we lived in a world filled with evil despite God’s flawlessness and apparent ability to fix everything, is to protect the free-will of humans. If God were to fix everything for us and make us all perfect, then he would simply be taking away the one factor that makes us human, our free-will (Luke. (2018) St. Augustine of Hippo on Free Choice of the Will). However, there were arguments against this, such as people wondering why God would allow natural disasters to occur or torturous diseases to children. Augustine explained that to make up for the inequalities in the human lifetime, God would give special rewards to those who have suffered severely whilst alive on earth. Thus, to make up for the lifetime of suffering, God would reward those who have suffered more than those who had lived a happy, lovely life on Earth.(Offner.K.(2017) Augustine on Heaven and Rewards). However, the argument against this would be that despite God’s flawlessness, this would make him come across as quite a bias and unequal and simply using bait to excuse all the bad caused within people’s lives.

However, there was further arguments for God’s existence from believers such as Aquinas, from the 13^th Century. He posed such theories such as the necessity for there to be a “first mover” when discussing the existence of the universe as he tended to believe that something cannot come from nothing, thus this “first mover” must be God, who is the unmoved mover who sits outside of time and set the universe into motion, as if he was flicking the first domino in a set of dominos that set off a chain reaction whilst not having to move himself. (Mcgill. J.(2006) Aquinas’ first and second ways). The argument against that in modern times would come in the form of The Big Bang Theory, but some religious people would argue that God was the creator of The Big Bang itself as nobody can prove what was before The Big Bang and also the fact that God himself is a non-physical entity, therefore he can move without moving himself, making him the perfect candidate when it comes to contemplating what existed prior to the universe’s creation. Aquinas also believed that for our universe to exist, it had to be created by an intelligent designer, as beings and nature this complex and fitting couldn’t simply be existent just by chance? (Chaberek. M.(n/d) Aquinas on Evolution and Intelligent Design) This is an argument used by many religious people even today in the modern world and it holds some substance as it is quite unbelievable to look around at our world and imagine that all of it is just a lucky lotto win rather than someone who purposely set out to create everything intelligently and intently.

The final philosopher I will discuss comes in the form of the French, Rene Descartes. A slightly more modern philosophy who had many ideas when it came to existence and God. Descarte’s main idea and way of thinking came in the form of the method of doubt, the idea that you should doubt everything around you and accept that you know absolutely nothing about anything. The only thing Descartes knew he could be certain about was the fact he was thinking, and that he could think about thinking. This, therefore, proved that he himself existed, as if he were not existent, he wouldn’t be able to think. This prompted the iconic quote from Descartes, “I think therefore I am”. (Lacewing. D. (n/d) Descartes and the method of doubt) The only flaw in Descartes thinking could come within his idea that if you can have a clear and distinct thought of something, then it must exist or be true, he uses this argument to debate God’s existence similarly to how Anselm did.

Moreover, the problem of evil within religion is a topic that will forever be debated back and forward between believers and non-believers and there will always be intelligent thinkers such as the men I’ve mentioned to come up with well thought out arguments for and against the existence of God.

 

 

 

Reference List –

– (Himma. E. K. n/a. Anselm: Ontological Argument for God’s Existence. Available at: https://www.iep.utm.edu/ont-arg/. Accessed on: 25^th of November 2018)

– (Mcgill. J. (2006). Gaunilo’s reply to Anselm) Available at: https://www3.nd.edu/~jspeaks/courses/mcgill/201/gaunilo.html. Accessed on: 25^th of November 2018)

– (Luke. (2018) St. Augustine of Hippo on Free Choice of the Will. Available at: https://owlcation.com/humanities/St-Augustine-of-Hippo-on-Free-Will. Accessed on: 25^th of November 2018)

– (Offner.K.(2017) Augustine on Heaven and Rewards) Available at: www.cslewisinstitute.org/Augustine_on_Heaven_and_Rewards_Full_Article. Accessed on: 29^th of November 2018)

–  (Mcgill. J.(2006) Aquinas’ first and second ways). Available at: https://www3.nd.edu/~jspeaks/courses/mcgill/201/aquinas-cosmological-argument.html. Accessed on: 29^th of November 2018)

– (Chaberek. M.(n/d) Aquinas on Evolution and Intelligent Design) Available at: https://aquinas.design. Accessed on: 29^th of November 2018)

– (Lacewing. D. (n/d) Descartes and the method of doubt) Available at: PDFcw.routledge.com. Accessed on: 29^th of  November 2018

Spiderman: Far From Home – Review

I went into Spiderman: Far From Home expecting an exciting, enjoyable Spiderman movie like Homecoming, nothing special but something good and enjoyable nonetheless, little did I expect to see such an amazing movie unfold.

The story of Spiderman: Far From Home seemed somewhat confusing to me from the trailers as I didn’t quite understand how they were going to incorporate the “travelling the world” situation and Mysterio being a hero. However, this was all made very clear for the grand scheme of the plot very early on.

The story progresses quickly but has a lot of detail crammed in and with the superb acting and character writing, you are able to understand what each character is about in this movie from the very beginning.

The acting was superb, some of the best I have seen, besides Tom Holland being his usual perfect Spiderman embodiment, I thought Jacob Batalon was one of the stars of this movie this time around with his parts being absolutely hilarious, most notably when he sat next to Betty on the plane and asked her if she played PC games only for them to go on to become that cringey, hilarious relationship within a few hours, they both were hilarious and brilliant throughout.

The overall comedy in the movie was executed perfectly and I truly found myself laughing on many occasions with many characters, such as when Peter “accidentally” called in an orbital drone strike on Brad Davis, the sheer drama of the situation was hilarious. As for Zendaya in this movie was fantastic too, she as an actor needs to get the praise she deserves as her scenes with Tom perfectly encapsulated that awkwardness they both are meant to have as their characters, which if performed wrong can be quite the uncomfortable watch, she was fantastic. Jake Gyllenhaal and Samuel L. Jackson, Samuel was the usual Nick Fury we’d come to expect but Jake definitely lived up to the hype of him being given the role of Mysterio, with his acting being brilliant, thrilling and just all-round fantastic, that coupled with a brilliant plotline for Mysterio made Jake one of the best performers in the movie.

I expected the whole “next Iron Man” schtick to be quite a flop of a plotline but I was surprised to see how perfect Tom Holland and Spiderman is to fill that role of Tony Stark whilst also ensuring that Tony Stark’s legacy doesn’t just be thrown away, the scene that convinced me Peter Parker was the right fit was when Happy was watching Peter proudly assemble his own suit whilst Led Zeppelin played in the background(just like the actual Iron Man movies), and there was just this goosebump moment watching that take place, that Spiderman as a character had finally matured and taken up that heavy role.

As a whole, the film was perfect, with a lot at stake and a lot of character development that also made Spiderman into a more deep and promising character for the future. I would also just like to give a shoutout to the special effects team who worked on the illusion scenes for when Mysterio trapped Spiderman in the illusions, it was similar to the amazing CGI work in Dr.Strange and for me was one of the most exciting and best-made parts of the movie.

My only complaint is not really a complaint, and that is with the final scene, it left me with so much anticipation for the next movie, wondering what negative repercussion will happen as a result of Mysterio leaking Spiderman’s identity internationally whilst also framing him as the bad guy in this entire situation, it left me with a racing heart knowing Marvel are gonna leave me on a cliffhanger like that for at least another year.

Overall, this is the best Spiderman movie to date and has further shown why Tom Holland is the best Spiderman there has been and is the perfect candidate to take over from Robert Downey Jnr. I really cannot see any true flaws.

RATING – 8.5/10

Detective Pikachu – An All-Round Delightful and Unforgettable Experience for Pokemon Fans – Review

Coming into Detective Pikachu, I suppose being an avid Pokemon fan all my life did not benefit me in the slightest as maybe I had raised my expectations way too high ever since the announcement of the movie. I had not been this excited for a movie in my whole life, barring EndGame maybe, which definitely did not lend Detective Pikachu any favours with a cinematic masterpiece like EndGame being the last movie I had seen before seeing this Pikachu movie, which left Detective Pikachu with an impossible follow-up act to go upon.

The start of the movie with Tim and his random friend catching the Cubone was “cute” I guess, but it definitely had that “cringe anime live-action” vibe to every piece of dialogue that was mentioned and it started to make me fear for the rest of the movie, but I was wrong and despite the next few scenes being very rushed with little detail put into them, it all was forgiven once we got to the main event…seeing Pikachu in that apartment, it lived up to the hype. Ryan Reynolds as Pikachu was everything I had hoped for and his one-liners and all-round persona as Pikachu was something completely new for Pokemon but it worked so so well and made me fall in love with that portrayal of Pikachu.

Following up that point, the plot continues and Tim and Pikachu go to an underground fight arena, where there is a Blastoise fighting a Gengar, which was perfectly portrayed and to be honest, I was expecting to see more Pokemon V Pokemon action like that throughout the film, however, I can only really recall two or three occasions where we got to see actual Pokemon action throughout the movie, which I guess I can forgive as the film is about a certain narrative and not just Pokemon fighting as a whole.

Prior to the fight club, there is a part which we saw in trailers including Mr. Mime and it had me in tears laughing, Mr.Mime was hilarious and the scene was perfect, absolutely perfect, I would almost want to rewatch the movie purely for that scene with Mr. Mime. Another Pokemon that I did not come into this movie with any significant affinity to was Psyduck, but after seeing that movie it made me want to own a Psyduck of my own, which I never expected to be saying, but Psyduck and Pikachu were the life of the movie for many points for me personally.

The CGI was sensational, all the Pokemon looked fantastic, which was a slight concern of mine when the movie was first announced given that video game movies that go live-action have a history of not getting the design right…not hinting at any movie, in particular, *cough cough*. But, the Pokemon looked amazing, and that was perfectly shown when they did a close up on a Bulbasaur’s face and I can honestly not think of any words to do it justice other than the fact I was left in complete and utter awe at how fantastic the Bulbasaur looked in live-action.

However, despite all the praises I have given this movie so far, it is far from perfect. Within the movie, there is a tonne of cringe lines and acting from the human actors whilst the movie did lack a wide variety of Pokemon, which I can forgive for how good of a job they did with the Pokemon that was within the film. A story that wouldn’t blow you away but wouldn’t leave you disappointed also had a lot of plot holes to accompany a poor ending where the Pikachu that we had spent the whole film getting to know and love, ends up returning to its regular Pokemon state, which does not reward the viewer whatsoever when you spend a whole movie getting attached to the first personification of a Pikachu only for it to be returned to its blank state in the end. Also, I love Ryan Reynolds but him being Tim’s dad made zero sense and seemed extremely forced.

Detective Pikachu is the best Pokemon and video game movie ever made and left me leaving with more happiness than disappointment, it is a fantastic movie with a catalogue of brilliant moments that I won’t ever forget as a Pokemon fan.

Overall Rating – 7.5/10

Jordan Henderson – An Under-Appreciated Career by Nathan Brennan

Since joining the club in 2011, Jordan Henderson has been a staple in every edition of Liverpool side we have seen. Under 3 managers, and being seen as good enough to be captain under two of those managers, Henderson has amassed 226 appearances at the club and a total of 300 appearances in the Premier League if you add his Sunderland career into the mix, on paper, it would make you wonder why he is so hated and abused. He made his debut for Liverpool against his boyhood club Sunderland, in what was a depressing 1-1 draw to the lesser club. Henderson scored his first goal for the club not long after with a striker against Bolton Wanderers at Anfield a few weeks later. After a pretty lacklustre season, where he was mostly wasted out on the right-hand side of midfield, notably in the game where he won his first and, as of now, the last trophy for Liverpool, when the club beat Cardiff in the 2012 League Cup final, he came off just before the hour-mark in that game after playing poorly on the right of midfield. He later played the full game against Chelsea in the FA Cup final at Wembley, where Liverpool unfortunately lost. Henderson struggled for consistency, especially being played out of position and despite being young at the time, this is where a majority of fans’ distaste for him comes from.

Henderson’s Liverpool career was almost over as he was told by Brendan Rogers the following season that he was free to join Fulham. Henderson has spoken about this and claimed it was devastated to be told so bluntly that he was not needed. However, he decided he would rather fight for his place at the club rather than move down the league, which he does not get enough credit for doing. It was clear this would be an uphill battle In the 12/13 season for Jordan as he started the first 4 Premier League games on the bench without getting off of it, in those games Liverpool had 0 wins, including a 3-0 pummeling on the opening day to West Brom. Henderson did manage to improve his goalscoring output this season, however, scoring 6 goals, three times the amount he managed in his debut season. He also managed to gain most of his appearances this season in a central role, rather than being wasted out wide.

At this point, you would not be blamed for seeing Henderson as a flop or labelling him as “not good enough for the club”, but 13/14 came and Henderson had become a new man. He started all of the first 13 games in the Premier League, and played the entire 90minutes in all of them, in which Liverpool had only lost three times, a significant improvement on starts to past seasons, and this was no coincidence, with Henderson being deployed in a box-to-box role in a midfield that included Coutinho and Gerrard, where Henderson was the energy and winner of the ball in the tiki-taka movement that Rogers wanted to play. Henderson had done it, he had changed around his Liverpool career and become an immovable force in one of the most exciting teams in the league. The season went on and Henderson only did not play 90minutes ONCE before the famous and emotional win against Manchester City, where he got sent off in the final moments for a challenge on Nasri, little did we know in the heat of the moment just how much of an impact Henderson’s absence would have on the remaining games of the season.

Henderson was suspended for Norwich away, where it went relatively unnoticed of his absence, however, when Chelsea came to town, it was obvious. In a first half where we struggled to maintain any form of energy or press, Liverpool struggled, that was further emphasized when *that* goal happened. Liverpool went on through that game crying out for some energy in the midfield, some initiative, and without Henderson’s box-to-box capabilities, it was futile. Jordan ended the season with 90minutes against Newcastle where we won. This was Henderson’s breakthrough season, he had become a vital cog and the go-to vice-captain in the absence of Steven Gerrard or Daniel Agger.

14/15 came, and without Luis Suarez, Daniel Sturridge and a squad of inconsistent performers, Henderson was one of the few who seemed consistent. Gerrard was not getting the same level of game-time as the previous season and Henderson was the clear choice for captain in his absence since Agger had been moved on in that previous Summer. Henderson played every game of Liverpool’s Champions League barring the 1-0 loss away to Madrid and once again was hugely significant in the league, despite the team’s inconsistencies. Henderson picked up the first injury of his Liverpool career this season and missed Liverpool’s brief Europa League campaign through this. Henderson established himself as the only leader starting consistently in the squad in this season, with many of his starts, especially in the second-half of the season, included him wearing the captain’s armband.

However, 15/16 came and so did Gerrard’s day to leave the club that adored him so highly, Henderson was now the official captain of Liverpool Football Club, and taking over from Gerrard, it was always going to create controversy that a guy who is from Sunderland, who was almost binned a few seasons previous is taking the armband from the club’s greatest ever captain.

This agenda against Henderson was fuelled even more when he picked up an injury 3 games into the season when he injured his heel, he then suffered a fractured metatarsal straight after and missed 11 straight league games where the side had dropped points way too often and were struggling after another Summer of heavy investment. Jurgen Klopp came in for Rogers during Henderson’s injury absence and did not get to play for the German until a win against 1-0 Swansea. Henderson then had seemingly recovered from his horror show of injuries that had tainted his start to the season and he had become a starter and captain for one of the world’s great managers, Jurgen Klopp. However, disaster struck the captain again as he tore his knee ligament leading up to a game against Stoke, this would ensure that Henderson would not play again for the rest of the season until the final game, which was a depressing 1-1 draw against West Brom.

This season was the turning point for Liverpool fans, it had been two years since we’d seen Henderson excelling, and despite there being huge positivity about the team under the new manager, Henderson wasn’t included due to him missing the majority of the season through injury. With him remaining captain through all of this, the fans built up an agenda against Henderson and it was back to him being “not good enough”.

Henderson started the 16/17 season being a starter and captain for Klopp, as the club had a decent start to the season, however, when the team did show it’s frailties again in games such as the 2-0 loss to Burnley or the infamous 4-3 against Bournemouth, Henderson was the clear scapegoat for the fans. This hatred was building, to a boil. It didn’t help when Henderson once again had his season cut short when he injured his foot in February, which ended his season. So, as the team progressed under Klopp, Henderson continued to be left out through injury, building and building upon the hatred that the fans were having for him pointlessly.

Then came 17/18. Henderson was still captain and seemed fit again, the club had an iffy start to the season where we lost 5-0 to City and 4-1 to Spurs, and guess who was the scapegoat whenever the club dropped points again? You guessed it, Henderson(and Lovren admittedly) and when Henderson picked up another injury in December which kept him out until the end of January, it seemed that the fans had finally had enough, saying Henderson is unfit, untrustworthy and mediocre when it came to actual footballing ability. Henderson was hated by almost all of the fanbase, which for a captain to be hated is quite rare.

Despite the club’s run in the Champions League, the midfield was still labelled as a weak point, mainly because of Henderson, despite his leadership and passion throughout that whole campaign in Europe being the best it’s ever been, it was clear that no matter what Henderson did, he was always going to be on the wrong end of the stick in the eyes of the fans, I mean, he leads the team to the Champions League final for the first time in 13 years, and the fans still found a way to complain about him.

Despite a superb season from Henderson, fans were calling for him to be replaced by the incoming Keita and mocking Henderson as “finished” when the news broke of Fabinho’s arrival at the club. Despite these two huge purchases, Henderson has been one of the best performers this season and it is so blatantly obvious how much worse we are when he isn’t in the team, which was clear even earlier in the week against West Ham. He links the team together, stabilises the midfield and squad, he always has.

Henderson is a brilliant footballer and a superb leader who has been the scapegoat of the Liverpool squad ever since he joined the club. It is time we come to our senses and support our captain rather than jumping on fickle bandwagons just because he is not hitting them top bins from 40 yards like Gerrard or spraying it 60 yards across the pitch like Alonso. Henderson is told to play the simple role he plays, so he plays it, he does it well and he always will, because he is a good professional, good guy and most importantly, a good footballer who was treated wrongly due to unfortunate injuries and circumstances throughout his career. And at 28 years of age, there are still many years left in him to perform at the level he does consistently.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 – Review

Prior to release, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 received probably the most media attention and hatred of any COD game to date. So, does the game warrant the mass amounts of backlashed it received? In this review I will go over the good and the bad of the game.

The Pass –

The idea of the pass is good in theory, keeping all the player base together without splitting it, but the insanely high price of this season pass is a joke. To pay €60 for a game and then have to pay ANOTHER €50 on top of that at launch for basically just map packs, is a joke. Companies like EA even release their map packs for free, and they are the biggest money scroungers of them all in this gaming industry. Activision needs to sort this season pass bullsh*t out and start releasing the map packs for free.

Campaign Controversy –

Prior to the beginning of Black Ops 4’s life cycle, one of the biggest controversies came when it had been announced that there would be no single-player campaign for the first time in Call of Duty history. This news spelt negativity for Activision and people backfired, however, to be honest, not many people have played or put any significant thought into the campaigns since Ghosts if we were to be perfectly fair and honest, so why did we all suddenly act like we care now about the campaign all of a sudden? In the end, it was made clear that Blackout replacing the campaign was a one-off thing and it will resume as normal in the next game, so it was not that catastrophic.

Multiplayer gameplay –

Here we fall into the best side of Black Ops 4, the multiplayer. It has been years for me personally since I have gone out of my way to play multiplayer on a COD game consistently, but BO4 has made me do that. The gameplay is fun and fresh, the hit detection and weaponry feel amazing(as always with Treyarch), my only negatives would come from within the flashing or some specialists such as the Ajax for example, where you are left with almost 0 chance of winning a gunfight when hit with a 9-bang or when you are spotted by the paralysing seeker. I think it would have been smarter for there to still be a chance of winning the gunfight even when shocked or flashed, like in old CODs.

However, all these huge positives and minor negatives for COD get somewhat withered away when it comes to the cancerous micro-transactions. Activision will use the excuse that the player can just “play the game” without spending any money to keep on top of the tier system, but in reality, they specifically designed it to take so long to travel through the tiers so that their customers would give in to spending their money. 90% of the rewards for going up a tier are laughable, especially when you think that people are spending ACTUAL real-life money on some of these items.

I have no doubt that the developers and people designing the game put so much effort and hard work into the gameplay aspects of this game, only for it to be torn away by the greedy tycoons at the top of the Activision spectrum who just cannot help but to try scrounge every ounce of money from the game’s fan-base as humanly possible.

Blackout Mode –

Probably the most non-surprising surprise in COD history came within the inclusion of Blackout mode, Call of Duty’s take on Battle Royale, I mean, did we really expect Activision to take a pass on this Fortnite hype train? The mode is the best Battle Royale I have seen or played, however, it is Battle Royale, which means it becomes boring and repetitive very quickly. But, I will give credit where credit is due, it is decent with friends and better than Fortnite. My only main huge criticism is that the mode is not free to play from launch, like most Battle Royale games, however, there has been rumours that this could change sometime this year.

Zombies –

I wish I could write one word here and that would be it. That word would be “bad”. I miss the days of Zombies having a slight easter egg-type back story, but the priority being on the simplicity of surviving and having fun. Now, they focus way too much on all these tasks throughout the maps, whereas it should just be a Black Ops 1 or World at War feel, where there are perks, pack-a-punch and surviving, that should be it. I wouldn’t say this game has ruined zombies single-handedly because I think that rot began years ago. Hopefully, they return to their roots in the future…

Conclusion – 

I know this review probably emphasises the bads more than the goods, but that is purely because of how huge the bads are. But, if you ignore the stingy micro-transactions and game-play changes in Zombies mainly, Black Ops 4 is one of the best COD games of all-time and can include hours of competitive or plain fun. To the developers who worked on this game, congratulations, you did amazing. To the Execs at the top of Activision, I hope you someday wake up and realise video games are not just a market for you to take advantage of and that it should be a respected art form.

RATING: 7/10

Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu & Eevee – Review

Hey all, another game review from me, a “slightly” different genre of game this time round in comparison to my first game review, God of War. This time around I’ll be discussing the new Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee games, for the Switch. I am an avid Pokemon fan for those who don’t know and have played Pokemon every year since Diamond and Pearl released over a decade ago. Anyway, I bought the Pikachu version so I can only discuss my opinions from that point of view, but I don’t think there are many differences so let us get straight into it!

The Pokeball Plus Accessory –

If you’re like me and are a sucker for all things Pokemon, regardless of price, then you probably forked out the extra €45 (depending on where you’re from) for the Pokeball Plus with the game. The ball was advertised as revolutionary in the advertisements of the game and Nintendo were going HARD in the hype for this thing. To be honest, it isn’t worth the €45 unless you can afford it. The ball is practically good, it does its job as a controller and is exceptionally better than the joy-cons when trying to actually catch Pokemon in-game. The rewards for walking your Pokemon in person through the ball are good too, as you can receive plenty of rare candies and levels through it.

However, a big fault is the downfall of Pokemon’s cries, unless you have Eevee or Pikachu in the ball, you’ll hear pretty much the same robotic 8-bit cry every time. This really emphasised how badly Pokemon really need to step up their game and include all the actual cries of the Pokemon in-game for future releases. The ball also smudges incredibly easy and dust can build up underneath the analogue pretty consistently too, which is quite annoying considering I suppose it’s supposed to be in your pocket when walking with it? It can be quite upsetting to see the glowing whiteness of the ball slowly turn smudged. However, I would overall say this is a good thing to have if you are a consistent fan of Pokemon, despite the ridiculous price tag.

Cut Scenes in-game –

Pokemon has never exactly been known for its perfect high-quality cut-scene production value, but, in this game they are fantastic, however, there are barely any of them considering how amazing they look and how much they can actually make you love your partner Pokemon. If they had included as many cut-scenes in this game as they did in the Alolan games, then this would have instantly brought the cinematic quality of the game upwards by ten-fold. I am not sure why there were so few cut-scenes considering you’d think Pokemon would want to be showing off the hardware capabilities of the Switch in every capacity. However, I digress that what cut-scenes they do have, they look fantastic, I just wish there was more.

Music –

If there’s one thing Pokemon have never gotten wrong, it’s music. This game features some of the best music in the series, and although it isn’t up there with the battle of Giratina in Platinum or the battle against Cynthia in Generation 4, there are some fantastic recreations of Lavender Town’s traditional music, as well as Cerulean City having some soothing music to play alongside in the background, the battle against the Champion is also pretty exhilarating despite the lacklustre nature of the battle itself (more on that later).

Landscape and Graphics –

The graphics in Let’s Go are obviously the best graphics we as fans have ever witnessed from a Pokemon game, and although it isn’t nothing we haven’t seen, bearing the fact it is basically the graphics of Pokemon Sun and Moon played on the unreal engine, I think it still deserves praise. The cities are visually stunning, as well as the overall atmosphere of everything in the game. The colours of everything are vibrant and bounce off the screen, especially when the Switch is placed in docked mode. However, despite all this praise I have given it, I still will always personally prefer the traditional looks of Gen 4 & 5. But, maybe I just have my nostalgia glasses on too tight.

Your “Friendly Rival” –

I knew from the minute he was introduced as your “friendly rival” I would hate this character. This “friendly rival” trope has been the trend with Pokemon over the last few games. I don’t think the game developers understand that making a rival friendly is just going to make us all not care about the character whatsoever.

The whole idea of a “good rival” stems from rivals such as Blue, a rash, overconfident rival who is so cocky that he decides to try and one up you in every capacity, or N, who yes, I am aware wasn’t your direct rival in the Black and White games, but for me personally, he felt like the true rival in those games over the duo of Bianca and Cheren. This type of rival, one you can hate but also relish the battles against and appreciate their development is what should be a constant in Pokemon games, not these rivals such as the one in Let’s Go or Hau for example. These aren’t rivals, they are lackies who annoyingly follow you around and offer you everything they own in order to gain your acceptance as if they are some sort of slave. This needs to change.

Difficulty –

This has been a large topic over the last few games, since X & Y for me in particular. The difficulty in Let’s Go is just as shameful as the last few games, as you can breeze through the entire game without even losing a single battle(such as I did). I remember when it would take me a month just to purely beat Cynthia in Generation 4 or how it took me several days to beat Lance in Heartgold and Soulsilver. I mean, you can do a direct comparison in this game. Lance in Let’s Go is the equivalent of a deceased frog in comparison to Lance in Heartgold and Soulsilver.

I haven’t gotten around to fighting Red or the Master Trainers yet, at least they provide some sort of a challenge, but when it comes to the main story, it is way too incredibly easy, especially considering ALL your Pokemon level up at all times, which leaves every team you use incredibly over levelled no matter who you come up against. I think it is about time Pokemon included a difficulty option for players as the difficulty in these games is just getting ridiculously childish and easy. And no, I won’t accept the argument that “it’s a child’s game”, that doesn’t mean it should be easy, unless kids today are more incredibly challenged than what I had first thought. Generation 4 and 5 were also “children’s games” by that measure, yet I got through them just fine and still find some challenge within them today. So no, that is no excuse.

Catching Mechanic –

I understand the inclusion for this in the game and don’t particularly think it was a bad change. I think the idea to have all wild Pokemon visible on the screen is absolutely perfect and I hope that remains in every Pokemon game for the rest of my life. I also think the catching mechanic is particularly efficient when shiny hunting, which is always a positive. I just think the legendary battles, in particular, were so incredibly lacklustre compared to how they were in old games. Kids whose first game will be Let’s Go will never understand the adrenaline rush of getting a Rayquaza in Soulsilver down to 1HP, Paralysing it and still struggling to catch it for almost an hour. This game had such amazing cut scenes for the legendaries and then just completely dumped on that. I think the catching mechanic is an okay change, but it really has ruined the special occasion of catching legendaries as a whole.

Story –

If you’ve played Generation 1 then you’ve played Let’s Go. The story is boring at times and once again, easy. The only real excitement was when you face Giovani as the final gym battle, and even at that, it isn’t that exciting. I will forever miss the days of stories such as Platinum and Black and White. With exciting characters with deep backstories.

Post-game –

Pokemon is known for its incredible post-game inclusions, most reputably, Heartgold and Soulsilver’s travel to Kanto, and the Delta Episode of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. This game, however, boring. A few legendaries and then that’s it. I think the master trainers are definitely an okay addition for something to do after you’ve completed the main story but overall, there isn’t much going on.

Overall –

Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee are an average Pokemon game, I think people will like it and enjoy it, as have I. I have over 60hours played in total as of now and think it is quite an enjoyable experience, but an enjoyable experience and a thrilling one are two different things. I think the game is okay and will bring in many new Pokemon fans, but it is obviously nowhere on the same scale as some of my favourite Pokemon games such as Diamond, Pearl and Platinum, Black and White and Heartgold and Soulsilver. I think there is a need for a huge step up in every department I’ve mentioned for the next game, whether that be Gen 8 or a Sinnoh remake(I would be delighted with either). I am just hoping this game is a filler for the time being and the true Pokemon on Switch experience is coming next year. That’s it, that’s my thoughts on Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee.

Final Rating Rating – 6.5/10

Super Mario Odyssey One Year On – Review

Firstly, I just want to start this piece by getting something off of my chest. Super Mario Odyssey is the greatest Mario game of all-time, with the Mario Galaxy series coming in a close second place. And with the game approaching the one year anniversary of its release this month, I thought it’d be fitting for me to discuss what I found brilliant about the game.

So…what makes Odyssey the greatest Mario game of all-time? Today I will be summarising that in a few central topics(And yes, I am aware it has been quite a while since the game originally released)

The Switch –

The first topic I want to discuss is the console which Odyssey was specifically made for, the Nintendo Switch, and having played the game to completion, I can say easily, that the Switch is probably the biggest reason behind this game’s feel and success. Everything about the game feels perfect and fluid and the graphics of the game are absolutely breathtaking for a Mario game, which of course wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for the Switch. For that reason alone, the Switch is just a key component in why this is the greatest Mario game of all-time in my opinion, but obviously, there are other factors of the game that go towards this argument.

Game Diversity –

Now, I know this is a common factor in almost every Mario game, but I feel another huge factor that goes into the appeal of Odyssey is the diversity in gameplay and surroundings. Whether it be starting off in an eerie cap kingdom, riding through a desert on a statue-bull thingy or the absolutely mind-blowing visuals of New Donk City, there is something for everybody to be blown away by, and that constant new experience around every corner keeps the game fresh and immune to going stale or becoming repetitive, which can be a common factor in most games that are released nowadays. But this is something Mario as a franchise has nailed down to perfection in almost every game belonging to the series, the ability to keep the game fun and exciting to play. I think this aspect is another main reason Mario Odyssey is amazing, but this could also be applied to most Mario games.

The Shop & Collectable Purple Coins –

Oh my word, the shop. The shop within the game is the most genius thing Mario as a game has ever conjured up, and I know there have been inklings of exchange within Mario games of the past before but never to this extent. The shop within this game is designed beautifully to stand out perfectly in every diverse setting within the game and the theme song when you enter the shop is perfect and upbeat and takes you away from whatever objective you were trying to take on during the general game. The shop also adds a lot of motivation for players to continue playing once they’ve completed the game, as the post-game consistently adds new and more expensive items(which means more gameplay to try and obtain enough coins for said items).

Along with the golden coins comes probably the second most genius thing ever introduced into a Mario game, and that is the collectable purple coins. The purple coins are fun, well spread throughout the game and have a healthy abundance to give the player something extra to pursue and also gives brilliant opportunities to purchase some extra cool items and collect all the shop items within the game. The only criticism I could have about the coins is maybe they didn’t add enough or add enough items you could purchase with these coins in comparison to the abundance amount of items you can purchase with the gold coins. But overall I think the shop and the purple coins give the player so much extra to do once they have completed the main game and gives a significant amount of extra playtime.

The Story –

The ending and overall storyline of Odyssey is the generic “Bowser captures Peach, Mario tries to save her” schtick, however, the inclusion of the new variant bosses and the ending where you escape with Bowser using Cappy, it brought joy to my heart. The music throughout the game was beautiful, and that is most evident in the final musical performance in New Donk City, and during the end of the main story where you try to escape the desolating world with Peach as Bowser. It ups adrenaline, it makes you feel submerged in the moment and makes you feel like the entire game was worth playing to get to that exact moment. It was truly amazing and beautiful.

Cappy –

Every Mario game has its new additions, whether that be the cloud in Galaxy or the giant and mini mushrooms in New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo DS. But, I don’t think there has ever been an addition as bold and out-there as Cappy. Cappy made the game feel open, there was no ending to what Mario could have done with this addition, from the T-rex to the onion-guys. It was amazing, it left every avenue open and made you feel like this Mario world had other creatures in it other than Mario. It rejuvenated the Mario franchise for me, after years of lacklustre additions or little to no new ideas at all. It was genius, and whoever came up with the idea for Cappy in this game deserves a huge pay-rise.

The Post-Game –

Lastly, admittedly it may not be the most riveting, surprising thing ever, but the post-game for Mario Odyssey is fantastic and provides an incredible amount of depth that has never been seen before within a Mario game, from the sheer hundreds of moons to collect, to the purple coins or collectable items or clothes, there is so much incentive for the player to return back to the game even after the main story has been finished, and even to this day, the game continues to be updated with new costumes and items to collect.

Overall, as a game, Odyssey is beautiful, creative and most importantly, fun. I can say I will struggle to ever be as enthralled in a Mario game as much as I have with Odyssey. And despite it being a year this month that the game was released, I and many others still continue to find a reason to return. It is a classic already.

Overall Rating – 8.5/10

God of War (PS4) – Review

God Of War, a game that has come out within the last few weeks and the next instalment for the illustrious line of games that the God Of War name has produced throughout the years. But is the game really amazing? Can the game reignite that compelling feeling of emotion and excitement that has been missing from gaming for so many years? I certainly think it can and did and in this review I will look to capture why God of War is my favourite game ever-made, as of now.

Story – 

God of War had the passion and guts behind it to not follow the tradition of the series with the characters. It follows Kratos and his son, Atreus, as they attempt to try and spread their deceased spouse and mother’s ashes atop the highest peak in all the realms whilst avoiding and attempting to survive the malicious threats to their life from the Norse gods along the way.

Although this has been mentioned to death as of now, the moment I knew this game was something special happens within the first hour. Kratos’ home is approached by Baldur, and the single line ‘Leave. My. Home.’ is enough to send chills down someone’s spine before the best and most cinematically intense boss fight breaks out right at the very beginning of the game, setting the bar for the ambition this game has very early-on.

Characters to the World and Their Effect and Relation to the Player –

God of War does an amazing job at making the world seem alive. When you are off doing your adventure, it genuinely feels like you can imagine Freya continuing her daily life within her home, or as you are attempting to traverse through Hel, you can feel Baldur within Hel too trying to find you, even though he is not in plain sight.

God of War does the best job I have seen at making every single character in a video game feel valued and important. There isn’t a single character that provides little opinion or feeling toward the player, everyone’s personality is completely fleshed out and complex.

Kratos’ Character Evolution – 

Although controversial to some players, the development of Kratos from a God-massacring and rage induced lunatic to a calm and educational father-figure is one of the most genius transitions of character in history. Kratos’ character change allows for you to be more relatable to the God, creating a sense of fatherhood for not just himself but also for the player as Kratos seeks to attempt to become closer to his son.

Kratos may be doomed to be haunted by his past and forever be a monster, but his dealing and acceptance of that fact is something which grants him with strength, and although that past may haunt him, he still has the ability to better himself to stop Atreus going down down the same path that he did with his family.

Atreus and Player Bond –

As the game continues on its path, you really do begin to sense a ‘The Last of Us’ feel from it, where you can sense that the developers of the game really did try their hardest to allow for Atreus to naturally grow on us as players and make us feel a connection to the boy on the same level as Kratos does. The anger and brutal nature of Kratos’ past allow the moments where he shows indirect admiration for his son, along with humorous moments, without forgetting his level of standards and discipline that he has for him to hold so much more weight when they do occur. This game is the only occasion in which the bond created for a side-character almost matches that of Ellie in The Last of Us. Atreus’ slides are your slides, his maturation is your maturation, he successes and failures feel as though you had a play in them.

Visuals and Scale – 

Personally, there hasn’t been a game as of now that has matched the detail and sheer feeling of awe that God of War has produced. Moments such as being attacked by an electricity dragon inside of a mountain will forever be etched into my mind.

God of War has always been a game with awe-inducing graphics for the time, with large scale moments such as that of the initial encounter with Jormungandr being something of a common place event in most games. However, this game sets a new level when it comes to the detail and graphical heights that are at play.

Voice Acting and General Acting –

The voice acting and general acting, especially if you have ever witnessed the documentary produced by Sony on the making of this game is unmatched in the gaming world. Performances from Christopher Judge are on another level as Kratos, whilst my personal most admired performance comes from Jeremy Davies as Baldur. However, I praise all those involved with all characters, as they created one of the most efforted and authentic feeling games to-date.

The End Goal – 

The end goal is something that holds the most weight in God of War from the beginning, but by the end, after everything Atreus and Kratos have gone through, it just feels like the cherry on top of what was a bigger and more complex narrative than simply scattering ashes atop the highest peak in the realms. The development and character progression of all involved in the story is something to behold, and there is simply too many iconic and memorable moments throughout the story to even begin to quote.

All I can say is that for the ending when Kratos is revealed amongst the mural and Atreus is revealed as Loki, nothing in gaming has ever sent more chills down my spine than that exact moment. All I can say is that I really cannot wait for the next game to see how all of that plays out.

OG God Of War –
Just when original fans of the series might have thought that the blades would not make a return, finally something significant happens in this field when the boy falls sick, which triggers the story to take a twist, which leads to one of the most iconic cinematic scenes within the game, as you see Kratos travelling down the stormy river, alone, being spectated by Athena and eventually arriving at his home, only for him to uncover and rap the chains of the fire blades around his wrists again, which would signify the idea that no matter how much he tries, Kratos can never live a different life, he will always be bound by the ghost of Sparta and he can never change his vengeful ways. This scene of him reacquiring his old blades puts everything about his personality changing so significantly into perfect context also. This storyline is told perfectly, although happens definitely way too far into the game as I feel many players wouldn’t have the will power to drag themselves through the hours of Dragr fights and mini-boss battles.

Conclusion –

I haven’t felt like this for a long time, probably since The Last Of Us, where once the game ends, I feel like part of my life has been taken away from me. I hope they do not leave us waiting for the next God Of War game, as I feel I would probably die from withdrawal. This was a fantastic game and has some of the best storytelling and visual effects I have ever witnessed in gaming. I suggest that everybody plays God Of War and experiences this as it is truly jaw-dropping and something to behold that can genuinely enlighten your life.

Final Rating – 9.5/10

Who Should Liverpool Sign To Become Genuine Title Contenders? By Nathan Brennan

It has been over 25 years now since Liverpool last won a title, and coming into Klopp’s third full season, Liverpool should be starting to push on, especially considering when he first joined he gave the cocky comment of us having won “one Premier League title in this time” in reference to his first four years in charge. So, for Klopp to achieve this, where should he improve his side?

Between The Sticks – Liverpool for years now, ever since the tail end of Reina’s Liverpool career, have been struggling to find a long-term goalkeeping option to stand between the sticks on a consistent basis. Throughout this time, we have had Simon Mignolet as the most recognisable number one keeper, with Loris Karius being the only genuine threat to the Belgian’s Liverpool career.

For years Liverpool would ignore Mignolet’s errors and inconsistencies in goal, as we strengthened in other areas of our squad, despite it being plainly obvious that goalkeeper is a clear area in which Liverpool needed to massively invest in.

Liverpool brought in Loris Karius in the Summer of 2016, and despite his shaky start to his Liverpool career, he has now dumped Mignolet out of the number one starting position and looks to be improving more and more as the games go by.

So do Liverpool need a world-class goalkeeper A.S.A.P this Summer? I do not think so, as long as Karius continues to prove his doubters wrong. However, if Mignolet does leave, I think it would be obvious that a second-choice keeper would have to come in to give Karius the competition he needs. Some options for this second option in goal would be :

Alban Lafont – The young 19-year-old keeper has broken through into the Toulouse first-team in recent seasons, having made 30 appearances this season for the French side, and although he would most likely not be ready to be a guaranteed starter at a club as big as Liverpool, I feel a young, talented back-up option in Alban Lafont would be a fantastic investment.

Kevin Trapp – A German keeper who joined PSG with great expectations, having failed to get the game time at the French side, making only 10 competitive appearances this season, I’m sure coming into the prime of his career at 27 years of age, he would be open to getting a second chance at a big team like Liverpool.

In The Centre Of Defence

Another area of Liverpool’s woes in recent history has been their options at centre-back, and despite bringing in Klopp’s number one target, van Dijk for £75million from Southampton in the January window, I don’t think the Reds should be done there when it comes to options at centre-back. I think Lovren needs to be moved on, proving time and time again that he clearly doesn’t have what it takes to be a consistently good defender. Which would leave us with Matip and van Dijk as the only real clear options to start at the back on a consistent basis. This would mean Liverpool would most definitely have to bring in one, if not two other options in central defence.

– Toby Alderweireld
– Jamaal Lascelles
– Maxime Le Marchand

Toby Alderweireld does seem like a bit of an extreme stretch but with just a year left on his contract at Spurs going into the next season, and rumours circulating that he won’t be tempted into renewing his deal at the London club, it wouldn’t be a complete fantasy for several Premier League clubs to come sniffing for the Belgian centre-half.

Jamaal Lascelles has been solid at the back this season for Newcastle, and despite him being more of a back-up option if he were to come to Liverpool in the Summer, I think he’d be a decent option to have. A shining diamond in a poor Newcastle side, Lascelles still has his best years to come and is captaining a huge club like Newcastle already in his career despite only being there for a few seasons. I mean, if Rafa Benitez instantly appoints you to captain then you know you’re doing something right, surely?

Maxime Le Marchand, a name I’m sure not many would have thrown into a hat full of names that could be coming into Liverpool this Summer, but Le Marchand has been solid at the back for Nice, not so much this season, as Nice’s standards have dropped. But, last season, Le Marchand was a key figure in a solid Nice backline as he helped the club qualify for the play-off stages of the Champions League, a huge achievement for a club of Nice’s stature. Le Marchand is by no means young, turning 29 within the next year, so he isn’t the long-term solution but as a backup option, he could be good for Liverpool to have within their ranks.

Defensive Midfield –For years Liverpool has lacked a ball-winning midfielder or a straight-up defensive midfielder, someone who is natural to that role at the least. The last of these ilks were Xabi Alonso and Lucas Leiva, Alonso who left to join Real Madrid and Lucas who was sold to Lazio last Summer, where he is now flourishing, although Lucas had several restrictions about his play. Liverpool needs a more smooth, silky footballer who is also capable of doing the dirty work, especially if Emre Can is to leave on a free transfer this Summer, which is looking more and more the case.

– Jorginho
– Wylan Cyprien
– Wilfred Ndidi

Liverpool have been linked with several defensive midfield options in recent weeks, Jorginho and Ndidi being the most popular of the bunch, Jorginho, who plays his football for Napoli and has not yet committed to either of his eligible countries, Italy or Brazil, is a very capable footballer, who is very well suited to a high pressing play and can calmly dictate the tempo of midfield, however, he would be incredibly expensive, especially if he were to commit to Brazil for this Summers World Cup and play well within the tournament.

Wylan Cyprien, a name Liverpool haven’t been linked with as of yet, and not an option that many people discuss when talking about potential incomings at Anfield especially when it comes to dynamic midfielders in Nice *cough* Seri *cough*. However, he has been hindered with injuries at a young age, having returned from a knee injury which kept him out of action for Nice for 10 months, where he scored a magnificent free-kick upon his return. But, before his injury, he had scored 8 goals in 29 games for Nice as they were(at the time) in contention for the Ligue 1 title. Wylan can play in an 8, in the 10 roles and has even featured in wide positions on rare occasions for Nice in the past, and at just 23 years of age, his best years are certainly ahead of him.

Wilfred Ndidi, another African is just what Liverpool fans would love right about now given how much of a success the last African brought into the club has been. Ndidi has not been a world-beater at Leicester, but he has all the components needed to become one of the best box to box or defensive midfielders in the world if utilised and played within a team that can help him reach his full potential. Within an average Leicester team, Ndidi has still managed to look a star. However, given that Leicester will most likely lose Riyad Mahrez this Summer, it will be very difficult to pry another of their top talents away from them in the same transfer window, especially if Ndidi were to put his name on the map for Nigeria at Russia 2018.

Overall – I don’t think Liverpool need to improve in many areas, especially upfront if we can manage to keep Salah, Mane and Firmino fit for next season, all three could rotate in
and out of each other’s positions, so I don’t necessarily think it is urgent for Liverpool to sign attacking reinforcements this Summer, although I can also understand why some of our fans would think we do. I think Liverpool’s main focus should be on their back five and pumping some proper quality into our lacklustre midfield.

If these steps are taken and Liverpool get the men who can push this side onwards, along with the addition of Naby Keita from Leipzig, then I genuinely think we could contend for the title next season, and maybe win it within the near future if we can
somehow manage to build something special and stop our best players from wanting to leave.