The ten reasons why Liverpool FC are not 2008/09 Premier League champions
Manchester United’s win over Wigan means that they are now just one point away from regaining their Premier League crown, and given that they next face an Arsenal side with their minds already on a beach somewhere, it’s a fair assumption to think that they’ll get it. With this in mind, Mark Jones takes a look at the reasons why Liverpool are not ending the season as Premiership champions.
Credit to United - it is the best team in the division that wins the league title, but there remains a nagging doubt that this year, finally, it should have been Liverpool.
It was the Reds’ best league season since a second placed finish in 2001/02 and was the closest Liverpool have got to the trophy since the start of the Premier League era, but once again that Championship flag will be flying over Old Trafford next season.
Here, in no particular order, are the ten reasons why:
Home discomforts
When analysing the difference between United and Liverpool this season, and ruing those points that got away, Rafa Benitez is likely to look at the seven home games between November and February, from which Fulham, West Ham, Hull, Everton and Man City all escaped Anfield with a point.
The Reds lacked the inventiveness to get in behind their opponents (Gerrard and Torres started only one of the five together), with Fulham and West Ham holding out for clean sheets with comparative ease.
That old fighting spirit was evident in some games, such as coming from two goals down against Hull, but a lack of composure cost the Reds dearly. Only Bolton and Chelsea were beaten over the period, meaning that 10 points were dropped.
Had all been taken, Liverpool would be champions. Never has the two point difference between a win and a draw seemed so important.
Robbie Keane
First things first, the Irishman is a quality player, his short-lived stay on Merseyside shouldn’t detract from that, but sometimes things just don’t work out. Keane’s style often depends on slowing things down and playing with his back to goal, the exact opposite of what much of Rafa’s Liverpool is about.
Certain factors conspired against him. For example, Torres’ injuries strangled all hope of a strike partnership; but it became painful to watch Keane at times.
Lacking the confidence that his game so clearly depends upon, and carrying the immense weight of expectations - both his own and the supporters’ – on his shoulders, Keane was visibly shrinking under the pressure, choosing the easiest option every time and failing to express himself in the way that his tremendous talent allows.
Liverpool’s form in front of goal became markedly improved after his exit. Now back at Tottenham, it was a return home that benefitted all parties.
Stoke City
There is something quite likeable about sticking to your principles in the face of fierce criticism, which is why neutrals have been queuing up to praise Tony Pulis for keeping Stoke in the Premier League.
It’s an understatement to say that they are not pretty to watch, but their approach is pretty effective, and Stoke fully deserve their place in next season’s top flight, ahead of many clubs who have spent much more money than them.
Liverpool’s two goalless games with the Potters weren’t classics, and it could easily be argued that the Reds were unlucky in both - Gerrard had a goal wrongly chalked off early in the first clash, and hit the post late in the second – but defeat would have been harsh on Stoke in both.
Their direct approach might not be pleasing on the eye, but they play to their strengths, something that is as admirable as it is difficult to face.
‘The Spirit of Istanbul’
He gets talked about every now and again, the Spirit of Istanbul. The ghostly figure – half Gerrard’s whirling arms, half Dudek’s wobbly legs – frightens Liverpool’s opponents into believing that, once again, the impossible really is possible.
He was busy this season, turning draws into wins and scaring Chelsea to within an inch of their Champions League lives, but is there a darker side to the Spirit? Liverpool love being the underdogs, and played their best football of the season when they were chasing Manchester United at the top of the table.
Installed as title favourites at the beginning of the year, the Reds wobbled under the pressure, drawing their first three league games of 2009. While the media focused on Benitez’s comments about Alex Ferguson, the real problem lay with a squad of players not used to leading from the front.
A draw with Man City saw the Reds’ hopes written off in late February, with title obituaries being written after a defeat at Middlesbrough six days later. Liverpool went to Old Trafford as massive underdogs in a win or bust situation.
The Spirit got to work again, spooking Nemanja Vidic in particular, and kicked off the Reds’ best spell of the season; a spell that sadly came too late.
1-0 to the U-ni-ted
While Manchester United rightly received widespread praise for the success of their attacking football last season; this campaign has been based mainly on defence.
Between late November and early February United won an astonishing eight out of 11 games by one goal to nil, with three of those wins coming via late goals. Keeping clean sheets seemed second nature to them - they kept an amazing fourteen in a row – but this could often be put down the opposition not being courageous enough to attack the champions.
Turning goalless draws into wins however is a more admirable quality, and United were just doing enough to win every time. Football is a game of fine margins, and the proof that Liverpool are not too far away from deposing Ferguson’s men can be found in these games.
Andrey Arshavin
How close would Liverpool have got the title had the little Arsenal forward only scored three goals at Anfield? It’s impossible to tell, but on a night when Liverpool played their very own version of Russian roulette, the two points dropped ensured that the Reds had shot themselves in the foot.
Perhaps we should be grateful that almost all of our defensive mistakes were made in one game, to get them out of the way, and that stunning fighting quality was again evident in the fight back to claim a point, but Arshavin’s special feat is (hopefully) unlikely to be repeated for some time yet, and proved to be the most fatal of self-inflicted wounds.
Fernando Torres’ hamstrings
Of all the stats to come out of this Premiere League season, surely the most staggering is this; Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres have started just a third of Liverpool’s games together.
Sure, the Reds picked up some fantastic results with just one, or neither, in the starting line-up – beating Manchester United at home, Chelsea away and a famous win in the Bernabeu just for starters – but being unable to pair up arguably two of the top five players in the world is sure to affect performance.
Liverpool dropped fourteen points in the games that Torres didn’t start this season. Now of course its too simplistic – and plain wrong – to suggest that Liverpool would have recouped all of those had the striker been in the team, but its safe to assume that some of the fourteen would have been gathered had Torres’ goals been added to the occasions.
The forward hasn’t played on a losing Premier League side since the 3-0 loss at Old Trafford last March, and although his absence has seen the likes of Yossi Benayoun and Dirk Kuyt up their game, a fit and firing Fernando Torres is vital to Liverpool’s chances next season.
Federico Macheda
Torres had rocked United by robbing Vidic and clipping in an equaliser in March, Liverpool then floored their opponents thrice more that same afternoon, Danny Murphy and Fulham set the foundations shaking with a win a week later and Gabriel Agbonlahor almost brought Old Trafford crashing down when he put Aston Villa 2-1 up in early April.
Enter a young Italian that no-one had ever heard of. Ronaldo’s equaliser still meant that United would drop another two points, but Macheda’s late, late winner – coming just a day after Benayoun had done the same at Fulham, the defining ‘we’re going to do it!’ moment of the season – was as gut-wrenching a blow as any goal Liverpool have conceded in recent years.
With one swing of his right boot, the youngster had blown away all of the vulnerability of the previous weeks. United have won every game since. Other players may have contributed more to United’s season, but Macheda’s moment restored the swagger and confidence that was so clearly lacking.
The late, late horror show
Liverpool were rightly praised all season for their stirring comebacks and late winning goals. Middlesbrough, Man City, Portsmouth and Fulham were all beaten with the vital strike coming in stoppage time - with countless other goals coming late in the day – but the Reds were also on the receiving end of late drama.
Roman Pavlyuchenko’s stoppage time winner inflicted a first defeat of the season upon Liverpool at White Hart Lane (ironically on a day when they’d probably produced their best performance of the season up until that point); Tim Cahill headed a late equaliser in the Anfield derby when Liverpool switched off from a free-kick and Mido converted a late penalty after Wigan broke from a Liverpool corner to steal a point.
Obviously the pros far outweigh the cons when talking about Liverpool and late goals in 2008/09, and this may be nit-picking somewhat, but who knows what would have happened had the Reds held on to those five points that were dropped in the dying moments?
Ryan Babel
In an excellent season for Liverpool collectively, there were few disappointments, but one of them was undoubtedly Babel. After a very good first campaign for a young player in a foreign land, this was to be the season when Babel kicked on and elevated his game to a new level.
It didn’t happen. The signing of Albert Riera and the improved form of Yossi Benayoun admittedly limited his chances, but Babel simply didn’t produce when he needed to.
An unforgettable Kop end winner against Manchester United was the highlight, but the fact that that came in September tells you that there was little to speak of after it (although his display at home to Real Madrid on a rare 90 minute outing was encouraging).
With Keane’s troubles and Torres’ absence, Babel had the chance to establish himself as a top striker, but Benitez has always been reluctant to use him as one, now seemingly preferring rookie David Ngog in the position to his £11m signing.
Now reduced to the role of ‘impact player’ Babel needs to have more of an impact next season, if indeed he’s still at Anfield. It’s wrong to single out anyone for too much criticism, and there is a very good player lurking within the Dutchman, but whether we’ll ever see it in Red is doubtful.
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Liverpool shouldn’t be too downhearted at Manchester United’s success this season. The Reds have shown remarkable progress in a very short space of time. The 4-1 win at Old Trafford should blow away the inferiority complex that Liverpool often felt when facing their old foe, and the football they produced after that display was arguably their greatest of the Premier League era.
Liverpool are just as good as United now. The extremely odd behaviour of Alex Ferguson – desperately grasping at anything that can unstable or damage Benitez, a man finally not afraid to challenge him – suggests that he knows it too.
With a couple of additions, those small cracks ironed out and maybe Benitez slackening his grip on his team’s leash more often, there is a good chance that we’ll be discussing the reasons why Liverpool are 2009/10 champions on these pages in a year’s time.
Manchester United’s win over Wigan means that they are now just one point away from regaining their Premier League crown, and given that they next face an Arsenal side with their minds already on a beach somewhere, it’s a fair assumption to think that they’ll get it. With this in mind, Mark Jones takes a look at the reasons why Liverpool are not ending the season as Premiership champions.
Credit to United - it is the best team in the division that wins the league title, but there remains a nagging doubt that this year, finally, it should have been Liverpool.
It was the Reds’ best league season since a second placed finish in 2001/02 and was the closest Liverpool have got to the trophy since the start of the Premier League era, but once again that Championship flag will be flying over Old Trafford next season.
Here, in no particular order, are the ten reasons why:
Home discomforts
When analysing the difference between United and Liverpool this season, and ruing those points that got away, Rafa Benitez is likely to look at the seven home games between November and February, from which Fulham, West Ham, Hull, Everton and Man City all escaped Anfield with a point.
The Reds lacked the inventiveness to get in behind their opponents (Gerrard and Torres started only one of the five together), with Fulham and West Ham holding out for clean sheets with comparative ease.
That old fighting spirit was evident in some games, such as coming from two goals down against Hull, but a lack of composure cost the Reds dearly. Only Bolton and Chelsea were beaten over the period, meaning that 10 points were dropped.
Had all been taken, Liverpool would be champions. Never has the two point difference between a win and a draw seemed so important.
Robbie Keane
First things first, the Irishman is a quality player, his short-lived stay on Merseyside shouldn’t detract from that, but sometimes things just don’t work out. Keane’s style often depends on slowing things down and playing with his back to goal, the exact opposite of what much of Rafa’s Liverpool is about.
Certain factors conspired against him. For example, Torres’ injuries strangled all hope of a strike partnership; but it became painful to watch Keane at times.
Lacking the confidence that his game so clearly depends upon, and carrying the immense weight of expectations - both his own and the supporters’ – on his shoulders, Keane was visibly shrinking under the pressure, choosing the easiest option every time and failing to express himself in the way that his tremendous talent allows.
Liverpool’s form in front of goal became markedly improved after his exit. Now back at Tottenham, it was a return home that benefitted all parties.
Stoke City
There is something quite likeable about sticking to your principles in the face of fierce criticism, which is why neutrals have been queuing up to praise Tony Pulis for keeping Stoke in the Premier League.
It’s an understatement to say that they are not pretty to watch, but their approach is pretty effective, and Stoke fully deserve their place in next season’s top flight, ahead of many clubs who have spent much more money than them.
Liverpool’s two goalless games with the Potters weren’t classics, and it could easily be argued that the Reds were unlucky in both - Gerrard had a goal wrongly chalked off early in the first clash, and hit the post late in the second – but defeat would have been harsh on Stoke in both.
Their direct approach might not be pleasing on the eye, but they play to their strengths, something that is as admirable as it is difficult to face.
‘The Spirit of Istanbul’
He gets talked about every now and again, the Spirit of Istanbul. The ghostly figure – half Gerrard’s whirling arms, half Dudek’s wobbly legs – frightens Liverpool’s opponents into believing that, once again, the impossible really is possible.
He was busy this season, turning draws into wins and scaring Chelsea to within an inch of their Champions League lives, but is there a darker side to the Spirit? Liverpool love being the underdogs, and played their best football of the season when they were chasing Manchester United at the top of the table.
Installed as title favourites at the beginning of the year, the Reds wobbled under the pressure, drawing their first three league games of 2009. While the media focused on Benitez’s comments about Alex Ferguson, the real problem lay with a squad of players not used to leading from the front.
A draw with Man City saw the Reds’ hopes written off in late February, with title obituaries being written after a defeat at Middlesbrough six days later. Liverpool went to Old Trafford as massive underdogs in a win or bust situation.
The Spirit got to work again, spooking Nemanja Vidic in particular, and kicked off the Reds’ best spell of the season; a spell that sadly came too late.
1-0 to the U-ni-ted
While Manchester United rightly received widespread praise for the success of their attacking football last season; this campaign has been based mainly on defence.
Between late November and early February United won an astonishing eight out of 11 games by one goal to nil, with three of those wins coming via late goals. Keeping clean sheets seemed second nature to them - they kept an amazing fourteen in a row – but this could often be put down the opposition not being courageous enough to attack the champions.
Turning goalless draws into wins however is a more admirable quality, and United were just doing enough to win every time. Football is a game of fine margins, and the proof that Liverpool are not too far away from deposing Ferguson’s men can be found in these games.
Andrey Arshavin
How close would Liverpool have got the title had the little Arsenal forward only scored three goals at Anfield? It’s impossible to tell, but on a night when Liverpool played their very own version of Russian roulette, the two points dropped ensured that the Reds had shot themselves in the foot.
Perhaps we should be grateful that almost all of our defensive mistakes were made in one game, to get them out of the way, and that stunning fighting quality was again evident in the fight back to claim a point, but Arshavin’s special feat is (hopefully) unlikely to be repeated for some time yet, and proved to be the most fatal of self-inflicted wounds.
Fernando Torres’ hamstrings
Of all the stats to come out of this Premiere League season, surely the most staggering is this; Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres have started just a third of Liverpool’s games together.
Sure, the Reds picked up some fantastic results with just one, or neither, in the starting line-up – beating Manchester United at home, Chelsea away and a famous win in the Bernabeu just for starters – but being unable to pair up arguably two of the top five players in the world is sure to affect performance.
Liverpool dropped fourteen points in the games that Torres didn’t start this season. Now of course its too simplistic – and plain wrong – to suggest that Liverpool would have recouped all of those had the striker been in the team, but its safe to assume that some of the fourteen would have been gathered had Torres’ goals been added to the occasions.
The forward hasn’t played on a losing Premier League side since the 3-0 loss at Old Trafford last March, and although his absence has seen the likes of Yossi Benayoun and Dirk Kuyt up their game, a fit and firing Fernando Torres is vital to Liverpool’s chances next season.
Federico Macheda
Torres had rocked United by robbing Vidic and clipping in an equaliser in March, Liverpool then floored their opponents thrice more that same afternoon, Danny Murphy and Fulham set the foundations shaking with a win a week later and Gabriel Agbonlahor almost brought Old Trafford crashing down when he put Aston Villa 2-1 up in early April.
Enter a young Italian that no-one had ever heard of. Ronaldo’s equaliser still meant that United would drop another two points, but Macheda’s late, late winner – coming just a day after Benayoun had done the same at Fulham, the defining ‘we’re going to do it!’ moment of the season – was as gut-wrenching a blow as any goal Liverpool have conceded in recent years.
With one swing of his right boot, the youngster had blown away all of the vulnerability of the previous weeks. United have won every game since. Other players may have contributed more to United’s season, but Macheda’s moment restored the swagger and confidence that was so clearly lacking.
The late, late horror show
Liverpool were rightly praised all season for their stirring comebacks and late winning goals. Middlesbrough, Man City, Portsmouth and Fulham were all beaten with the vital strike coming in stoppage time - with countless other goals coming late in the day – but the Reds were also on the receiving end of late drama.
Roman Pavlyuchenko’s stoppage time winner inflicted a first defeat of the season upon Liverpool at White Hart Lane (ironically on a day when they’d probably produced their best performance of the season up until that point); Tim Cahill headed a late equaliser in the Anfield derby when Liverpool switched off from a free-kick and Mido converted a late penalty after Wigan broke from a Liverpool corner to steal a point.
Obviously the pros far outweigh the cons when talking about Liverpool and late goals in 2008/09, and this may be nit-picking somewhat, but who knows what would have happened had the Reds held on to those five points that were dropped in the dying moments?
Ryan Babel
In an excellent season for Liverpool collectively, there were few disappointments, but one of them was undoubtedly Babel. After a very good first campaign for a young player in a foreign land, this was to be the season when Babel kicked on and elevated his game to a new level.
It didn’t happen. The signing of Albert Riera and the improved form of Yossi Benayoun admittedly limited his chances, but Babel simply didn’t produce when he needed to.
An unforgettable Kop end winner against Manchester United was the highlight, but the fact that that came in September tells you that there was little to speak of after it (although his display at home to Real Madrid on a rare 90 minute outing was encouraging).
With Keane’s troubles and Torres’ absence, Babel had the chance to establish himself as a top striker, but Benitez has always been reluctant to use him as one, now seemingly preferring rookie David Ngog in the position to his £11m signing.
Now reduced to the role of ‘impact player’ Babel needs to have more of an impact next season, if indeed he’s still at Anfield. It’s wrong to single out anyone for too much criticism, and there is a very good player lurking within the Dutchman, but whether we’ll ever see it in Red is doubtful.
-------------
Liverpool shouldn’t be too downhearted at Manchester United’s success this season. The Reds have shown remarkable progress in a very short space of time. The 4-1 win at Old Trafford should blow away the inferiority complex that Liverpool often felt when facing their old foe, and the football they produced after that display was arguably their greatest of the Premier League era.
Liverpool are just as good as United now. The extremely odd behaviour of Alex Ferguson – desperately grasping at anything that can unstable or damage Benitez, a man finally not afraid to challenge him – suggests that he knows it too.
With a couple of additions, those small cracks ironed out and maybe Benitez slackening his grip on his team’s leash more often, there is a good chance that we’ll be discussing the reasons why Liverpool are 2009/10 champions on these pages in a year’s time.
Some of us were saying that 7 months ago.
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