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Apr 16, 12 at 9:27amSeverance
On 5th July 2011, Liverpool opted to not give legend 'King' Kenny Dalglish the Liverpool manager's job on a permanent basis, instead opting for 25 year old Manuel Morales in a sensational move which shocked the whole of Merseyside and much of England as well. The young Panamanian had a big job on his hands, with a return to European football the first aim for the young man.
He came into Liverpool with very much his own ideas, scrapping Liverpool's usual tactics in place of a rather controversial 4-3-3 which would see Liverpool return to their pass-and-move roots. Many managers thought that this football was boring, others credited Morales for always moving the ball around. What no-one could deny was that it was working for Liverpool.
His first order of business was to re-shape the club in his own image as he began his search for a long-term career at the fallen giants. His first order of business was to completely alter his backroom staff, terminating 18 contracts by mutual consent, including a complete re-vamp of the club's scouting network. He also brought in 24 new faces to try and improve Liverpool's fantastic training set-up. He had youth coach Mark Hulse become a club fitness coach, but would lose him to Tottenham in March, but replaced him with reputable Italian Gian Nicola Bisciotti. He also released 10 youth players, with only Emmanuel Mendy going on to find himself a new club.
Liverpool already had a small squad and the releases had made it even smaller. However, Morales would only add 2 new faces during the summer. The club's new tactic would see Lucas Leiva occupy an Anchor Man role and with no real backup Mahamadou Diarra arrived on a free transfer. He was joined a week later by Chivas' highly-rated striker Erick Torres in a deal worth £3.4million. He also oversaw the £500'000 sale of Brad Jones to Wigan as well as Conor Coady, Andre Wisdom, John Flanagan and Jack Robinson leaving on loan.
The first half of the 2011/12 season went very well under the new management, although an opening day defeat at Norwich saw many people question the new manager's ability very early on. They went on to drop points against Chelsea and Man City in the first half of the season, as well as surprise defeats against Sunderland and Stoke and a disappointing 0-0 draw against Aston Villa. However, a 3-0 win over Manchester United was definitely something to savour. They also went on a good cup run, going out in the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup against Everton in a disappointing 2-0 defeat. Going into the new year though Liverpool were surprise title contenders.
In January Liverpool continued to try and improve their team, signing Fabian Delph on loan from Aston Villa and the signing of highly-rated Spaniard Isaac Cuenca following his release from Barcelona. They also allowed Maxi Rodriguez leave on loan for the rest of the season as they prepared for a title run-in.
Liverpool definitely struggled in the second-half of the season, with the small squad definitely telling as the season wore on. They drew 5 games which Liverpool fans would have definitely put down as wins, with Norwich, QPR, Fulham, Wolves and Aston Villa stopping them and those points would definitely tell by the end of the season. They also suffered defeats against Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester United, as well as defeat on the final day of the season at Swansea. They suffered cup misery again in the quarter-final of the FA Cup, this time a poor performance proving to be West Brom's delight. Despite the points dropped Liverpool fans could cheer big wins against Chelsea and Manchester City in the second half of the season as they finished in a very respectable 3rd place.
After a successful first season under the young Panamanian the Liverpool board offered him a new 5 year deal on £73'000 p/week, with the future looking very bright on Merseyside. For the new season, Morales would have to secure Champions' League football for a second successive season and saw him delivered a £30million war chest to ensure the continued development at Anfield.
With big-money moves all around England, including the £35million move of Eden Hazard to Chelsea and Tottenham paying Napoli £32million for clinical striker Edinson Cavani, Liverpool fans were hoping for a big money moves of their own, but they were to be disappointed. Morales began with removing the deadwood around Anfield, allowing Doni, Bellamy, Eccleston, Downing, Cole and Carroll to leave, as well as Diarra after just a year at the club. He would also later allow Gulacsi and Maxi Rodriguez depart, while allowing Cuenca join German giants Schalke 04 on loan for the season.
As for transfers in, Morales continued to look for young, exuberent players to fit into his tactic. Carlos Fierro and Adryan joined up with the club with deals agreed last season, while the bosmans of Jaaskelainen and Sanogo arrived to pick up numbers. He also brought in youngsters Jaap Lemmens from PSV and Robbie Cotton on a free transfer with Morales looking to secure the future of the club before the present. He did look at the lack of goals last season and tried to improve on it. Bas Dost, Chucho Benitez and Scott Sinclair came in, with the club lacking poachers and after Dirk Kuyt's 20+ goals last season, needed a target man to back him up. Fabian Delph had also clearly impressed on his loan spell and signed permanently, while young midfielder Marco Verratti signed from Pescara. Fans were definitely a little bit sceptical going into the new season, would these players see the club continue on their road to become England's dominant force once again?
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I think there'll be a league standing in the next few updates, I put one in after 10 games, then 19, then 30 and then end of the season. New update up in a sec 
