From the Kop
For Liverpool Football Club to be sitting in 5th place, three wins away from an assured place in European competition next season is, frankly, incredible, given the start to the season we have had. Remember early in the season when we were sitting in 19th of all places? Remember us being unable to budge out of mid table for a couple of months? For any club to recover from that position to where we are now is a feat we should be proud of.
I want to demonstrate just how good our form has been this second half of the season. Below is a depiction of how the league table would look today if it was reset on the 5th January*. Liverpool would be sitting in second place, with the second-highest goal difference.
Table ----> http://thekop.liverpoolfc.tv/_Look-h...23/173471.html
I chose the 5th January because it was from this point on that Kenny Dalglish took over. I’m not trying to be cruel to former boss Roy Hodgson here because I think he is a great manager and did the best he could with the club. The reality is a bunch of factors contributed to the fact that our first half off this season was – let’s face it – awful. But Kenny’s arrival back at the helm was undoubtedly a major turning ponit for our season and so it’s a fair point to choose for this exercise.
I would go further though in saying just how remarkable this turnaround in form and performance is. The second half to our season has been far from easy. We’ve had plenty of injuries to players who would usually by in the first team or close to it (e.g. Gerrard, Carragher, Agger, Johnson, Aurelio, Shelvey, Kelly, Carroll, Cole – and I’ve probably missed a few). We’ve had the disappointment of going out of Europe and while it’s great to have our new strikeforce of Carroll and Suarez, new players can take time to adjust and settle, so that also carried a risk.
The point: in 2011, we have been one of the best teams in the Premier League, despite all the challenges we’ve faced.
But we’re still three matches away from the end of the season and for me, 6th place is about as much use as 10th or 14th. Where we are now means European football next season and a big step forward for our club, looking to return to the top as fast as possible. Let’s play out our final fixtures like we’ve been playing since January and take our place in Europe again next season.
YNWA
*Just to be clear, the way I constructed this table was by subtracting the games played, points won and goal difference from the Premier League table as it was on the 5th January from the current table, and then sorted the results the way the league table normally would.
For Liverpool Football Club to be sitting in 5th place, three wins away from an assured place in European competition next season is, frankly, incredible, given the start to the season we have had. Remember early in the season when we were sitting in 19th of all places? Remember us being unable to budge out of mid table for a couple of months? For any club to recover from that position to where we are now is a feat we should be proud of.
I want to demonstrate just how good our form has been this second half of the season. Below is a depiction of how the league table would look today if it was reset on the 5th January*. Liverpool would be sitting in second place, with the second-highest goal difference.
Table ----> http://thekop.liverpoolfc.tv/_Look-h...23/173471.html
I chose the 5th January because it was from this point on that Kenny Dalglish took over. I’m not trying to be cruel to former boss Roy Hodgson here because I think he is a great manager and did the best he could with the club. The reality is a bunch of factors contributed to the fact that our first half off this season was – let’s face it – awful. But Kenny’s arrival back at the helm was undoubtedly a major turning ponit for our season and so it’s a fair point to choose for this exercise.
I would go further though in saying just how remarkable this turnaround in form and performance is. The second half to our season has been far from easy. We’ve had plenty of injuries to players who would usually by in the first team or close to it (e.g. Gerrard, Carragher, Agger, Johnson, Aurelio, Shelvey, Kelly, Carroll, Cole – and I’ve probably missed a few). We’ve had the disappointment of going out of Europe and while it’s great to have our new strikeforce of Carroll and Suarez, new players can take time to adjust and settle, so that also carried a risk.
The point: in 2011, we have been one of the best teams in the Premier League, despite all the challenges we’ve faced.
But we’re still three matches away from the end of the season and for me, 6th place is about as much use as 10th or 14th. Where we are now means European football next season and a big step forward for our club, looking to return to the top as fast as possible. Let’s play out our final fixtures like we’ve been playing since January and take our place in Europe again next season.
YNWA
*Just to be clear, the way I constructed this table was by subtracting the games played, points won and goal difference from the Premier League table as it was on the 5th January from the current table, and then sorted the results the way the league table normally would.
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