Liverpool: Post Season Thread

[ChrisDR1968]

We got by this season with around 14 first team players (which is incidentally about the same number of players Paisley used on average each season for most of the 9 glorious years he was manager).

If we enlarged that to 20 players who can come in and out of the side in rotation next season is that enough to challenge for trophies on multiple fronts?

[TheElephantMan]

If we can upgrade our weaker players and add some quality to the bench then yes we should be good enough to challenge for trophies.

[Alex]

As a guide, Man City used 21 different players for the Champions League. So the figure of 20 isnt far off.

We need 6 more. Which I think is doable, providing we sell the right players and make some cash.

[red g]

I hope I'm wrong, but I can't see Suarez still being here at the start of the season. We have CL football, he seems quite happy and he is idolised by the fans. I just think that the lure of Spanish football will be too hard for him to resist if a concrete offer that matches our valuation comes in for him.

I think there will have been a gentlemans agreement or even wrote into contract that he could go if we didn't get CL but we did so can't see us entertaining any bid and that includes world record figures.

Ps The lure of CL footy at Anfield is to hard for him to resist to

[Muddled]

Is this the right thread for this? I think it is:

EDIT: Damnit.

Can a mod please put these figures into a table format, please?

The cost of individual errors

Team Errors leading to goals Errors leading to attempts Errors leading to attempts and goals
Opta

1
Liverpool
14
29
43

2
Arsenal
10
26
36

3
Man City
11
12
23

4
Chelsea
4
7
11

We made 14 individual errors that lead to goals, Chelsea 4.

Guess which manager of which club called out their player for being less than committed to the club ...

[G]

We give teams too many chances looking at that, especially compared to City. Just as well the opposition only took 14 of them

[The_weatherman]

As a guide, Man City used 21 different players for the Champions League. So the figure of 20 isnt far off.

We need 6 more. Which I think is doable, providing we sell the right players and make some cash.

Our core players are Mignolet, Johnson, Agger, Skrtel, Sakho, Flanagan, Gerrard, Lucas, Allen, Henderson, Coutinho, Sterling, Sturridge, Suarez.

We have Borini and Suso coming back and maybe Ilori. Then there is Enrique, maybe he'll return?

Adding Lallana, CB, FB, CM and another attacker of good quality and I think we'd have a very exciting squad. Can't wait for next season

[The_weatherman]

We made 14 individual errors that lead to goals, Chelsea 4.

How many of those did Skrtel commit?

[Fierce]

How many of those did Skrtel commit?

13.8

Regards
Chris

[Yozza]

13.8

Regards
Chris

[Yozza]

Thought this was hilarious...

Ameobi ‘dumbfounded’ after Liverpool red

SHOLA Ameobi says he was “dumbfounded” to be sent off on what was likely to be his final appearance for Newcastle United.

The striker saw red at Anfield yesterday moments after Liverpool took a 2-1 lead on the Premier League’s final day.

Referee Phil Dowd showed the 32-year-old two bookings in quick succession for dissent, and Ameobi apologised to his team-mates and the fans for being sent off.

However, he insists he was not abusive towards the official, and says he was sent off for simply asking a question.

Ameobi told Newcastle’s official website: “You can’t make up the way I was sent off. I still don’t know why it happened.

“I was given a first yellow card for dissent, but for the second one I’m ready to take the restart when the referee has called me back.

“He told me to stop showing dissent, so I told him that I was allowed to plead my case.

“I asked him ‘are you going to send me off for trying to plead my case for my team?’ and he said ‘yes’.

“I’ve asked a question and been sent off for that. I’m dumbfounded by it.

“People who know me know I don’t swear and that I am not abusive.

“If this is my last game for Newcastle then it isn’t the way I would have liked to go out. I’m quite upset by it.

“If it is my last game, I wanted to go out on a high and we were doing great for an hour.

“I’m disappointed in myself for putting myself in that situation in the first place, but in the heat of the moment when decisions aren’t going your way you get frustrated.

“I’ve apologised to my team-mates and would like to apologise to the fans because they were here cheering every single one of us on.”

[Yozza]

Former Liverpool midfielder Craig Johnston says the Reds can be proud of themselves this season

Former Liverpool FC midfielder Craig Johnston says the Reds can be proud of the season they have produced - despite missing out on the Premier League title yesterday.

He told TalkSport: "(They were) So close. My heart goes out to them and especially Stevie G.

"What a brilliant sport, what a brilliant league and what a brilliant year.

"They have exceeded my expectations.

"They should be very proud of themselves. The city should be proud and they have done us all proud.

"But don't forget they should have won it. A few weeks ago they played City and they beat City."

Johnston revealed that his former team-mate Kenny Dalglish tipped the Reds for title success earlier this year - and everybody laughed at the Liverpool legend for saying so.

Dalglish ever so nearly had the last laugh and the Australian says Liverpool have been "sensational" along the way.

He explained: "Funnily enough I was in the Bahamas in November. I invited Kenny Dalglish, Alan Hansen and Graeme Souness for a golf tournament. We were sitting around having some beers afterwards and everyone was saying "who's going to win the league?"

"We went round the table and finally it came to Kenny and he said Liverpool and we all laughed.

"We all laughed at Kenny.

"He said it, and we all said put some money on it but he didn't put his hand in his pocket!

"(They played) sensational football but it always worried me that they were exposing themselves at the back."

Johnston admits that Liverpool wouldn't have been allowed to throw away a three goal lead in his day and says the current side must remember their defensive duties.

Asked whether the likes of Hansen and Souness would have allowed the Reds to throw away a lead, he said: "They wouldn't have, never in a million years.

"We would have shut up shop. The Scotsmen would have torn us apart if we'd have been too offensive and not concentrated on our defensive duties."

[Yozza]

Comment: A ton up for Rodgers' Reds - but next season the scales need to balance

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/comment-ton-up-brendan-rodgers-7106366

LFC were devastating at one end bur deficiencies at the other must be addressed

Close, but there was still one big, fat Cuban cigar for Brendan Rodgers to puff on. A century of goals in a Premier League season. No league title, no ecstatic celebrations, no running round Anfield with the cup – just the remarkable statistic of becoming only the third team to score a ton in the Premier League era.

The last Liverpool FC team to score 100 goals in a season wore walrus moustaches, brylcremed centre-parts and played in the Second Division when Queen Victoria was still on the throne.

The two Daniels – Agger and Sturridge – made it 100 and then 101 for the campaign yesterday.

That’s a measure of the phenomenal – some may say cavalier – attacking intent of the Reds this season.

And if goalscoring really is the hardest part of football, it points to a productive future for Rodgers’ thrilling side.

The counter to that staggering statistic, however, is the half-century of goals shipped at the other end – a Premier League record four of them in a single season from the flailing boots of Martin Skrtel as a result of yesterday’s horrible own goal.

And he has been considered Liverpool’s most dependable defender this season - despite what Chris says

The uneasy balance between swashbuckling attacking and wide open defending was evident at Anfield again yesterday, as Liverpool had to come from behind to finally defeat Newcastle.

They did, but until a Rodgers half-time reshuffle, it looked highly unlikely.

That Skrtel slice was the 50th goal Liverpool have shipped this season – an alarming 18 of them at Anfield.

The last Reds team to concede 49 in a league campaign boasted Rigobert Song and Vegard Heggem as full-backs for much of the campaign – with Phil Babb, Dominic Matteo and a past his best Steve Staunton making up the frequent centre-back partnerships.

That was 1998/99 – when such defensive debauchery saw Gerard Houllier’s side finish seventh and prompted the purchase of Hyypia and Henchoz.

The Reds used nine defenders that season in Premier League matches.

This term, Brendan Rodgers has used 10.

And the uncertainty the Reds boss has about his defensive set-up was underlined once again yesterday when Daniel Agger was recalled for his first start since March – then Aly Cissokho was introduced at half-time for Jon Flanagan. There was no obvious improvement in clean-sheet keeping, even against a team which had scored just five goals in its last nine games – three of them against relegated Cardiff.

After Skrtel’s own goal it might have been even worse, Simon Mignolet forced to make a superb block from Yoan Gouffran who had sliced clean through Liverpool’s porous rearguard.

Liverpool clearly need better defenders in their squad next season, while the balance between attack and defence also needs addressing.

The +51 goal difference that yesterday’s victory clocked up was one better than Liverpool’s previous Premier League best of 2008/09.

That was previously Liverpool’s best attacking campaign, too, a healthy 77 goals plundered.

But the dramatic difference is that in that campaign they conceded a miserly 27.

The work on addressing that imbalance will already have started – although it’s a little disconcerting to read the first name linked is another – albeit excellent – attacking player in Southampton’s Adam Lallana.

But before all the analysis and recriminations, the rebuilding, the what might have beens and what might still be, we should also pay tribute to a remarkable transformation that has seen Liverpool go into the final game of the season with a league title still up for grabs.

The Kop recognised it.

The name “Brendan Rodgers” boomed out around Anfield many times yesterday, paying a deserved tribute to the transformation which has seen Liverpool soar from seventh to genuine title contenders.

The impact by the Northern Irishman has been immense.

Rodgers characteristically deflected the praise on to the supporters – and spoke of one particular fan called Ben who sent a pre-season letter which struck a chord with him.

“I read a letter to the players on the first day of the season from a supporter who told us about getting into the top four and the pride he has in the club,” explained Rodgers. “He wrote not to think about fourth, but to think about winning.

“Probably at the time the players and some of the staff thought the letter was a bit far-fetched, but I truly believed that we could progress. I read the same letter back again today and all the words that went back into the players’ minds from today were the same as the beginning of the season and I think the word that came out of it was belief. I believe that we can be up here challenging.”

Liverpool have challenged all season. Twelve wins in 14 matches at the pressurised part of the season is a phenomenal return.

And even yesterday, when minds were clearly distracted and deflated for long periods, Liverpool continued to challenge.

The pressure Rodgers had hoped to heap on Manchester City was punctured by Skrtel’s slice which handed Newcastle the lead.

Skipper Steven Gerrard had started the afternoon dredging up the memory of Olympiacos, Istanbul and the West Ham Cup Final in his defiant programme notes.

The difference on each of those occasions was that Liverpool’s fate was in their own hands.

A giant-sized bubble-blowing favour was needed from West Ham at the Etihad, and it soon became clear it wasn’t coming.

In the age of I-phones, twitter and SkyGo, every fan inside Anfield was aware of just what was happening up the East Lancs Road at the Etihad.

And while there were no roars from the home crowd to pass on news of a West Ham helping hand at the Etihad, the Newcastle fans made sure the Reds players out on the pitch were aware of Samir Nasri’s first-half strike.

But Liverpool regrouped and went again.

Steven Gerrard, the man mocked by the visiting supporters, produced two typically incisive free-kick deliveries and the two Daniels finished them off.

Liverpool completed their century.

Not a league title, not an unexpected celebration – but a significant consolation which suggests that that shortest but hardest step of all maybe can be taken next season.

If only those defensive deficiencies can be shored up...

[Muddled]

How many of those did Skrtel commit?

Not sure mate, I’ve just half-inched it from the BBC website. I’ve done a quick Google, but I couldn’t break it down any further.

If you tend to agree with Chris and LFC~History, 14. If you tend to side with DanPerkins, zero.



EDIT: Fierce is all over it.

[Yozza]

What we learned: season review of a campaign which got Reds fans dreaming again

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/what-learned-liverpool-fcs-201314-7097663

The Reds are Premier League’s great entertainers

They put five past a bewildered Arsenal, stunned Spurs 5-0 at White Hart Lane, silenced Old Trafford in a one-sided show of strength and left Everton reeling with a dizzying display of derby attacking play.

This has been Liverpool’s most prolific season in more than a century - and the goals have rained in from all angles.

Home and away, the Reds hit the back of the net with remarkable regularity, forging a reputation as one of Europe’s most entertaining sides.

They surpassed their previous best goals haul in the Premier League era with eight matches still to play, casually knocking in six goals at Cardiff to cancel out the home side’s three.

That tendency to ship goals at the other end of the field has meant it has never been dull watching the Reds this season. It has given their matches guaranteed box office value.

Manchester City might have won the race to hit 100 Premier League goals last week, but the Reds were quick to follow them and their matches have averaged 3.97 goals per game this season - the highest figure in the top flight.

It is only the second time in Liverpool’s history that they have reached three figures in the league - and you have to go back more than 100 years (to 1895-96) to find the only other occasion when it happened.

But the numbers only tell half the story. The Reds have set about their opponents with a style and swagger reminiscent of the club’s all-conquering teams of the past. Rodgers has injected pace and verve into Liverpool’s play, evolving the slower passing game which was the hallmark of his Swansea reign and early days at Anfield.

The Reds are devastating starters - as Arsenal found out to their cost in February when they lost 5-1 at Anfield, having been 4-0 down inside the first 20 minutes.

“I've been going to Anfield since the mid-60s and I can’t ever remember a first-half performance like it,” purred John Aldridge after the game. “I couldn’t believe what I was watching.”

He wasn't the only one rubbing his eyes in disbelief.

Brendan Rodgers worked wonders with his squad

The Reds boss squeezed every last ounce of talent out of his players this season.

To take the title race to the final day of the campaign was a testament to Rodgers' coaching ability, especially when you consider the fact that rivals Chelsea and Manchester City are two of the richest clubs in world football.

Three players stand out as examples of how the Irishman has made the best out of his resources - Jordan Henderson, Raheem Sterling and Jon Flanagan.

Rewind to the start of the season, and Henderson was still widely regarded as an expensive flop having failed to prove his worth following a £16m move from Sunderland. Sterling was a prodigious if wayward talent in danger of losing his way before his 19th birthday, while Flanagan had gone more than a year without making a first-team league appearance.

What a difference a season makes.

Henderson was honed, becoming a key component of the Reds’ midfield and forming an effective alliance with Steven Gerrard. While his ability to seemingly cover every blade of grass is legendary, the former Sunderland man also improved his passing game and regularly topped the Reds’ passing charts. He averaged 57.9 passes per game at an accuracy rate of 87.1%. Tellingly, the Reds picked up just four points from a possible nine when Henderson served a three-match ban for his sending off against Manchester City, proof of just how integral he now is to the team.

Sterling started the season by being chastised by his manager for certain off-the-field issues - and ended it by being hailed by Rodgers as the best young player in Europe.

What a turnaround. He upped his goals tally from two last season to nine this, with five assists proving he can create as well as score. Rodgers has turned the 19-year-old into an attacker with the world at his feet.

As for Flanagan, he went from Anfield outcast to one of the first names on Rodgers’ team-sheet as the campaign progressed. The right-footer made his first Premier League appearance in 18 months at Arsenal in November, playing at left-back. He earned a post-match round of applause from his team-mates for his performance in the derby later that month, and memorably volleyed in his first Liverpool goal at Spurs in December. After the turn of the year, he became a permanent fixture at left-back as the Reds won 11 league games in a row, leading to Rodgers to compare the 21-year-old to Steve Nicol.

The journeys Henderson, Sterling and Flanagan went on this season are emblematic of how Liverpool as a team improved beyond all expectations under Rodgers. It was achieved through a mixture of hard work on the training pitch, vision and ability.

Steven Gerrard is still a Premier League powerhouse

The Reds skipper will celebrate his 34th birthday later this month - but his quality endures.

The SAS rightly garnered many headlines for their goalscoring exploits, but Gerrard remains the pulsing heartbeat of this Liverpool side, its leader and on-field general.

He featured in all but five of Liverpool’s Premier League fixtures, scoring 13 goals and claiming 13 assists.

In 16 years at Anfield, Gerrard has been a marauding midfield force - but his role was reinvented midway through this season as Rodgers dropped him into a deep-lying role in front of the back four. It was a switch designed to get the most out of Gerrard’s experience and laser-guided passing ability, while also preserving his ageing legs.

“It’s a special type of player who can play that position,” said Rodgers in January after Gerrard passed his holding midfield audition in a 5-3 victory at Stoke. “You need to have charisma and leadership qualities to play in there. You need to have the love of the football. You need to want the ball – you have got to be the guy who opens up the game for the team.”

Questions over whether Gerrard was suited to the role were raised after a shaky display at home to Aston Villa, but those early teething problems were soon overcome and, by February, the Reds had started a winning Premier League run that would take in 11 matches and fire them to the top of the table. Gerrard was centre stage.

But football can be a cruel game and, in a sad twist towards the end of the title race, it was a slip from the skipper which allowed Demba Ba to race through and score Chelsea’s first goal in their 2-0 win at Anfield last month.

It was a sorry late chapter in an otherwise superb season for the Reds talisman.

Anfield dared to dream once more

The team coach ground to a halt on Anfield Road; the players, previously staring at their smart phones, looked out of the window. More than a thousand Liverpool fans had congregated to greet the arrival of the players before the evening game against Sunderland outside the stadium with flags, banners, songs and smoke filling the air.

The Reds had the chance to move to second and just two points off the top of the Premier League – and did so with a 2-1 win. But most significant was how the crowd greeted the players, both before the game and throughout the 90 minutes.

It continued on to the following Sunday. The team bus was greeted by even more supporters and the Kop was full long before kick off. In the sunshine against Spurs, Anfield buzzed and remained loud for 90 minutes. As Liverpool moved to the league summit, all previous panic ended - the crowd had decided to go along for the ride with them.

Who could blame them? They were watching Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge, one of the best strike partnerships the Reds have ever witnessed, scoring 52 goals in the process. Their partnership was exciting and infectious to those who watched – the duo were having fun, so too those who witnessed it.

And so the Kop became louder, brighter and bolder than it has been in years. They even took up extra-curricular activity, hanging banners at Melwood during training sessions with slogans to surmise the season. Make Us Dream and We Go Again – a season in six words.

Anfield became colourful, noisy, passionate. The supporters were supporting a team in the midst of an 11-game unbeaten run, a side that spent 59 days on top of the Premier League; after five years of relative mediocrity, of league finishes no higher than sixth, this success lubricated their voices and gave them something to believe once more.

Make us dream? They're not ready to wake up just yet. We go again? The Kop will be going again next season, for sure.