Liverpool’s season-ending meltdown was completed at the Britannia Stadium where Stoke won 6-1 to inflict the Reds’ heaviest defeat for 52 years while notching their biggest home victory over the Merseysiders in over a century.
Brendan Rodgers insisted on Friday he was 150 per cent sure he would be manager next season despite his side missing all the targets Fenway Sports Group set him back in August.
But eight points from their final nine matches indicate a collapse of epic proportions, and performances like this one are just the sort which owners take notice of.
Rodgers’ end-of-season review with FSG’s high-ranking Anfield representative Mike Gordon should be an interesting one next week.
Read more:
– Richard Jolly: Steven Gerrard, Liverpool’s last 20th century player, stood out as if from a different era
– ‘His character is unquestioned’: Brendan Rodgers says Raheem Sterling hasn’t earned Liverpool fan ire
The shambles of a failing campaign was encapsulated in 45 minutes with Mame Biram Diouf scoring a brace, with Charlie Adam, Jon Walters and Steven Nzonzi also on target before the interval - the first time Liverpool had conceded five first-half goals in top-flight league since 1976 against Aston Villa.
Steven Gerrard pulled one back on his last appearance for the club but substitute Peter Crouch made it 6-1 late on.
If Rodgers thought he had problems with Raheem Sterling, whom he left out the starting line-up for the first time in over three months after a week of headlines about his contract, this underlined the extent of the issues he has to address in the summer.
Stoke tore their visitors apart and the folly of playing Emre Can as a makeshift right-back over recent weeks was finally brutally exposed as Marko Arnautovic gave him such a torrid time he was replaced at the break along with left-back Alberto Moreno.
The reasons for recognised right-back Glen Johnson not even making the squad were known only to Rodgers but the England international will probably have been grateful.
Johnson is out of contract next month and destined for another club, tweeting earlier in the day: “A big thank you to all the people out there who have genuinely supported me through the last six years. #200 #NewChapter.”
Also leaving in the summer is captain Gerrard. A hero of so many fantastic performances in a 17-year professional career with the club, this was a terrible way for him to sign off.
Stoke’s 23-minute onslaught began when Arnautovic set up Adam for a long-range drive which Simon Mignolet could only parry into the path of Diouf.
The Potters striker doubled his tally with a swerving strike which Mignolet should have done much better with before Can’s miserable afternoon - mercifully cut short - got worse when he inexplicably headed a cross back to his goalkeeper only for Walters to nip in and score at the second attempt.
Adam Lallana’s penalty appeal after a Geoff Cameron challenge was Liverpool’s only real threat and Stoke responded with Adam firing in a low left-footed drive and Nzonzi curling a 25-yarder into the top corner.
Stoke celebrated their end-of-season party with chants of ‘Easy’ and ‘You’re getting sacked in the morning’ to Rodgers, who stood alone in his technical area.
If home fans, who taunted substitute Sterling with songs about being greedy after the 20-year-old turned down a £100,000-a-week contract, could not believe what they were seeing, Liverpool’s 2,805-strong travelling support was incredulous.
They, too, had let Sterling know their feelings with boos and numerous angry gestures as he walked past them on the way to the tunnel both before kick-off and half-time.
Gerrard at least gave them something to cheer in the 69th minute when the captain raced through to slot past Asmir Begovic, back in the team after being rested for Jack Butland recently, for his 186th goal in his 710th game.
But former Anfield striker Crouch headed in to inflict Liverpool’s heaviest defeat since losing 7-2 to Spurs in 1963.
While Rodgers has huge changes to make, things are progressing nicely for Mark Hughes, who has now recorded back-to-back top-10 Premier League finishes for the first time in the club’s history.
Hired to bring about a different brand of football after the Tony Pulis years, he has seamlessly made the necessary alterations without affecting the club’s effectiveness.
The scoreline in no way flattered them as they exploited Liverpool’s weaknesses to the full with wide men Arnautovic and Walters providing the penetration ahead of Nzonzi as the midfield powerhouse.
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Company profile
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COMPANY PROFILE
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Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
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Investments: Grants/private funding
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The bio
Studied up to grade 12 in Vatanappally, a village in India’s southern Thrissur district
Was a middle distance state athletics champion in school
Enjoys driving to Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah with family
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WHAT IS GRAPHENE?
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were experimenting with sticky tape and graphite, the material used as lead in pencils.
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If you go
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Lowest Test scores
26 - New Zealand v England at Auckland, March 1955
30 - South Africa v England at Port Elizabeth, Feb 1896
30 - South Africa v England at Birmingham, June 1924
35 - South Africa v England at Cape Town, April 1899
36 - South Africa v Australia at Melbourne, Feb. 1932
36 - Australia v England at Birmingham, May 1902
36 - India v Australia at Adelaide, Dec. 2020
38 - Ireland v England at Lord's, July 2019
42 - New Zealand v Australia in Wellington, March 1946
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Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia