Ok, so we didn't win any trophies this season. But it's not the end of the world, and looking back over this season, there's plenty to be thrilled about. In the recent past, we've had difficulties scoring goals, winning away from home, and beating the other members of the big four. That has all changed this season.
As a team we've been scoring goals for fun (even without Torres for most of the season) and remained solid at the back. Whatever mental blocks the players had away from Anfield, are well and truly gone. We did the double over both Chelski & Man Utd, and Arsenal were lucky to have drawn twice with us.
The lads have proven that they're credible title challengers and will have gained considerable confidence from all of this. Over the years, we've become accustomed to thinking that 'next year' will be our year, but this time it's different as the potential is genuinely there. 'Next year' really could be our year.
19 comments:
Paul, you have raised some excellent points in this article. Its hard to imagine how we could not win the league with a goal difference of +50 (providing we can beat Spurs by 2 goals this week), ony losing 2 games and taking 14 points off the other top 4 sides. As we all know it was careless draws against Stoke, Hull City and Wigan as well as a terrible away performance against Middlesbrough that has cost us.
I want Rafa to buy Tevez and Barry, but to KEEP ALONSO. It would be pointless getting Barry if you ship Alonso out. Shit, he was our best player this year (along with Stevie G). Also Rafa PLEASE BUY TEVEZ, break the bank if you have to. He would be absolutely awesome, I am sure of it.
Give us those 2 players and LFC will be unstoppable next season.
Excellent points, but I hate that it's always next season.
It should have been this season. We were ahead by a country mile and then we blew it this season. I feel Rafas ego was partly responsible for some of this (Keane, Parry etc).
As Scott says we need those 2 players who can help make us unstoppable next season.
Oh the irony of it all ! We conquer all our fears/problem areas and then we turn around and f**k up the one thing we are normally great at ! Anfield has always been a bastion for us and we threw away loads of points at home. What a waste.
@Scott D - yeah I like the idea of buying Barry and keeping Alonso, but Rafa is going to have quite a challenge keeping all our midfielders happy. I'd also like to see Tevez & Silva at Anfield next season, but I think that would be streching the transfer budget quite a bit, not sure we can afford them all.
@Dummy - hmmm, Rafa has rubbed me the wrong way a few times this season, but overall I'm still glad he's our manager and the right one to take us forward (I hope).
@Roger - I like to think of it as a mere blip. No doubt the lads can sort out their performances at Anfield next season.
Next year ? Im still depressed over this year !
@Paul. I think you have touched on what most fans feel.
If we win next week our points tally will be higher than 15 of our title wins. So it is a title winning tally. Also we will have the least losses for Premier League non-champions. 7 of our draws have come when Gerrard or Torres were not playing. Statistics never tell the whole story though.
If that perfectly good goal against stoke wasnt disallowed then it may have set a tone against our performances against lesser teams. Ridiculous to think that our defeats have come against relegation fodder 'boro and Spurs in a game we utterly dominated. I was livid after the spurs game as we over-elaborated too much.
This is something we learnt later on the season and we have improved immensely in this area recently. Our wins have come in the last 10 mins which is an encouraging development.
We also have done well in the mini league of top 4 teams (top by a mile) will we replicate this next season ??
What is indisputable now is that the media/money/marketing bias has distorted the Premier League now that Man Utd can buy success on tap. (Berba etc) long term this has implications in that competition is eliminated. This Man Utd side is not the best ever in history yet they may get 90 point on the strength of their squad.
At the start of the season I did not think we were strong enough to win the league and this has been the case as our squad lacks depth. Credit must go to Rafa for stretching our abilities to the full.
I think the Keane fiasco / Barry saga ultimately cost us. To think we spent £20m on a player that cost the same as Arshavin just puts it in perspective.
The fact Rafa controls transfers now fills me with optimism and compare the squad now with 2004 and there is vast improvement in all areas so this summer will be very interesting indeed.
I hope Rafa throws himself in addressing the weaknesses and it is not an exaggeration now to say we are 2 or 3 players short from the title.
@GoldenLiverbird - I'm trying not to dwell on 'what ifs' from this season, but like some of the examples you gave, we were so close at times. All it would have taken is a little nudge here or there, and we could have won.
The politics side of things is something which I really hope will remain a thing of the past. Now that Rafa has more control, things should run a little smoother.
As for our form against the top 4, I see no reason why we can't replicate that kind of form next season, and win 3 or 4 of those games and draw the remaining ones. I just can't picture us losing against any of them :-)
I meant I'm not sure we can replicate our near perfect form against the top 4 next season and this season was an opportunity missed. @Roger summed it up
This means we have to go for less draws and it is possible with our form as potential champions as long as our squad is bolstered. Hopefully 2009-10 was a dry run for our first Premiership.
@GoldenLiverbird - yeah it's an opportunity missed, but at the same time it's gonna give the lads the kind of confidence needed to go on and win it next year.
I really believe we can reproduce that kind of form, I honestly do.
I also wouldn't be surprised if we manage to go through the entire league campaign unbeaten :-)
2008-09 not 2009-10!! You see I'm thinking ahead already ;-) Never mind the what ifs!!
We win no.19 and the rest is history and Sir Fungusface dies a embittered man in a bed soaking of cheap Bell's Whisky...
@GoldenLiverbird - I thought there was something a bit odd about your previous comment, but couldn't quite put my finger on it until you pointed it out ;-)
Hi Paul, I must admit that I found this season very frustrating for many reasons but mainly due to the fact that we didn't lose the title we gave it away and if Rafa does not deliver the goods next season I am going to be forced to fire him. I agree the two big highlights were breaking Chelsea's unbeaten run and lets get this straight for the record books we didn't beat ManUre (twice) we whipped their asses. As for silverware I suppose we can claim we won a piece of the Worldcup (a handle maybe?) if one considers how many Liverpool players were in the Spanish side and the fact that Torres scored THE GOAL!:.......hell am sounding desperate or what.
The next couple of months is the period I don't look forward to, every couple of weeks I am going to see a report saying "Liverpool to sign Messi" or something similar then a report saying he is going nowhere, this is followed by a report quoting Rafa as saying he is "Happy he has signed Serge Poplonski" .....who the hell is he I ask...two days later you find out he is a 13 year old from Poland...hell it drives me mad!
@Bruce SA RED - ouch, yeah i know we gave it away, it annoyed me for quite a while, but what's done is done etc etc
The next couple of months are going to suck as you say, me thinks I'll focus more attention on the up and coming youth kids (& some other stuff) at LFC instead of some of the more farcical transfer rumours which always surface each summer.
Look on the bright side, you've got the FIFA Federations Cup in South Africa to tide you over. Torres (I mean Spain) will be playing in Rustenburg, Bloemfontein, and probably Jo'burg also !
@bruce sa red
FYI Torres scored the winning goal in the EUROPEAN Championships. Thought you would know this as World Cup 2010 is in south Africa next year?
@Golden LiverBird good point, also Gerrard and Torres only played 13 times together this season! The media and other teams are unaware of this fact. If all goes well next summer , signings and injury wise during the season youd be stupid to rule LFC out which most people seem to already have done.
Paul... I was having a bad couple of days since Manure won the title for we really had a chance this year.. Thanks for the article though it really is what we feel, also I would like to thank all the true liverpodlian bloggers who participated in speaking out and sharing their thoughts on myanfield.net, they are all great.. This is what I love about out club, it has the best fans in the world. I cant wait until I go to Liverpool on my vacation and enroll my boys in the summer academy; I'm teaching my sons the Liverpodlian way of life...
Now coming back to our team, lets hope Rafa doesnt sell the wrong guys, I mean I cant imagine Rafa selling Alonso. Maybe Dossena, Lucas, Reira, Degen, Vronin, Itanjade are enough to get us 2 strikers and 2 midfielders with trusting new talents who proved their worth like Spearing, Hammil, Nemeth ... etc.
I personally like Babel despite his lack of some experience but if he wants to sell him, still its better than selling alonso..
I just hope that Rafa in next season makes a plan to use the 2nd team for the Carling Cup and a mix in the FA cup and keep the 1st team for the league and champions league. HE should have enough man power to achieve this.
Moreover if King Kenny joins the staff then thats a massive lift for the team morale.
If he works on this and he manages to get proper funding then I dont think we will ever say NEXT YEAR..
Thats all for me I just hope Carragher takes it easy with the guys in Spurs game; we need to kick their butts and return a favor they did for Manure this year.
Cheers
YNWA for life!
@Tawfiq The Red - I completely agree that we've got some of the best fans in the world. I especially love that visitors to this blog, literally come from 190 different countries !!!
When you say that you're enrolling your boys in the summer academy, do you mean with LFC ??? That's gonna have to be an incredible experience for them :-)
We're bound to see several players being shipped out and a couple of senior players being signed, as well as some more youth talent. As ever I'm excited to see who will be leaving / joining LFC over the summer.
Like yourself, I really want to see the 2nd team (youth players) used for the Carling Cup & FA Cup, allowing our 1st team to focus on the big ones ;-)
Me too Paul, regarding the Summer Academy, YES its LFC!!! Already my boys are Stevie fans & they have LFC kits & they watch every game with me.. Whenever we score we go crazy at home :)..
They enjoyed our demolition to Manure, well this is normal for any liverpodlian, isnt it???
Cheers mate, hope to have a positive blog after our spurs match..
YNWA!
I read somewhere that the 13 away wins has equalled a 104 yr old record!
Is that for Liverpool or all clubs ?]
I didn't think we hit top form for a combination of reasons particularly at the start.
So if we do this next year we will be far more dangerous as we have shown that we are better than the expected points tally of 86.
a few more "perfect" additions i.e the right legs for the table which Keane wasn't! then we could see a ruthless red machine next year.
It was very pleasing to see us playing football reminiscent of the 80's and NOT one credit from the media. It is very shocking how deep the anti-Liverpool bias is.
@veritas red - as I understand it, it's just an LFC record (a very impressive one though).
I reckon it'll take a couple of Premiership trophies within the space of a few years to convince the media to cut us some slack.
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