It’s over, sunset on 2010/11!

Posted by

Looking back at December 2010, most Liverpool fans would have loved to go to sleep and wake up this evening, May 22nd 2011, with the Premier League season finally over. We’ve witnessed an eventful nine months: new owners, two managers, a Kop idol leaving, two Kop idols born, lads bursting predominantly out of the Academy, and the Reds languishing embarrassingly in the meanders of the relegation zone to a rampant resurgence that has seen the Club finish a respectable sixth place finish …………!

Today I feel like dwelling a little into the hypothetical and therefore I would like you all to take a quick look at the two tables below, the Hodgson and the Dalglish tables! The first eight lines of the tables are facts, the ninth and last line are hypothetical from the ‘what if’ category.

Hodgson

Played: 20 games

Won: 7 (6 home/ 1 away)

Drew: 4 (2 home/ 2 away)

Lost: 9 (2 home/ 7 away)

Goals In Favour: 24 (17 home/ 7 away)

Goals Against: 27 (8 home/ 19 away)

Goal Difference: -3

Points: 25 (1.25 average points per game)

End of Year Finish with this trend: 48 points +/- (8th)

Dalglish

Played: 18 games

Won: 10 (6 home/ 4 away)

Drew: 3 (2 home/ 1 away)

Lost: 5 (1 home/ 4 away)

Goals in Favour: 35 (20 home/ 15 away)

Goals Against: 17 (6 home/ 11 away)

Goal Difference: +15

Points: 33 (1.83 average points per game)

End of Year Finish with this trend: 70 points +/- (4th)

Take a good look and judge for yourself! Make your own assessment. These tables tell us the obvious and the less obvious. They tell us that the squad decided to set the pace as soon as Dalglish took over. They tell us that even though it is universally agreed that the squad needs strengthening in quality and depth, at the end of the day it was not such a shabby situation as we were led to believe.

It is evident that we played the first 20 games with the handbrake still pulled but then once we got that sorted we gathered momentum and we shot up the table. It is vital here to keep in mind that in the second part of the season we lost Gerrard, Agger and Kelly to long term injuries, Johnson was on the treatment table for a good spell, as well as Aurelio. Carroll was and perhaps still is a bit away from what can be considered a sustainable fitness. This added handicap inflates the resurgence of the Reds from remarkable to phenomenal.

I therefore wish to salute Kenny Dalglish, Steve Clarke, Sammy Lee, all the coaching and medical staff, FSG, and the players, for giving us something to smile about again! We finish the season with a good taste in our mouths; we finish the season with a sense of satisfaction that tells us the worst is behind us.

Last but not least, I would like to thank all Liverpool supporters that have showed their frustrations when these were deserved, but which ultimately stuck with the team and the Club through a very difficult nine months. Bring on 2011/12!

13 Comments

  1. It’s amazing to consider that we were in threat of relegation in December, and finished 1 place above where we did last year. It’s a true testament to the changes that KK and Steve Clarke have brought to the squad. It also puts Rafa Benitez’s reign in perspective, he finished 7th without the heavy injuries we’ve endured. If Hodgson wasn’t such a p***y in away games and even 5 of those losses had been made into 3 wins and a tie, we’re pushing Arsenal hard for 4th. Considering the ups and downs, again, an amazing achievement by Kenny and staff. I’m not smart enough to know exactly how much investment in what positions we really need, and some of the names tossed around are hysterical. Aguero? Seriously? I’d be much happier throwing that kind of money at Mata and Ashley Young! Fill 2 positions we desperately DO need to fill instead of 1 position we don’t need another star striker for. I’m sure KK knows all that, and we’re going to buy smart and dump some of the dead wood he inherited. Next season should be interesting (and please dear God don’t buy Enrique! he’s not quality!).

    YNWA

  2. So Braga? Aston Villa? Man United? That huge board takeover?

    Oh sorry, your donning rosies again. Every big game this season we bottled it. Europa League, last day of the season, FA Cup; all bottled.

    See you next season, if you get your head out of Dalglish’s tooshie for that long.

    1. You also forgot to mention Blackpool’s double on us, the humiliation at West Ham, the lost at West Brom. Loosing at home to Wolves….! No one said it was or will be perfect dude! Get real!

  3. Well said! An epic season that ultimately epitomises the ingrained passion of the club and it’s burning desire to succeed. Bring on 2011/12!

  4. Really? Prat – I see YOU forgot to mention doubling Chelsea, getting a point away at Arsenal with what amounted to a Tiny Tots 11, Battering United at Anfield, destroying City with ANOTHER Youth filled selection and the blitzing of Fulham at a recent bogey ground of ours. ALL of which I can guarandamntee you would NOT have happened had Hodgson NOT gone. See? I can be selective to make MY point of view seem better and ME seem harder to – D*ckhead. Now f*ck off with your so called ‘facts’ and return when you’ve got a half-decent argument that won’t humiliate you. Not that THAT will happen anytime soon…………

  5. Good analysis Tonio
    I can´t see why people have to put their point using such language

    Mr Redshadow. Sometimes you have to leave out information in an article unless it would become unreadable.

    Why not send in one yourself and see if you can do better because despite the tone and insults of your comment you are right and it is worth stating.

    YNWA

    1. Thanks Shaun. In all fairness Redshadow was having a go at ‘Really?’ who actually is a known character on here but today signed with a different nick! My article did not include details as the facts portrayed say it all. The tables which show the performances under Hodgson and Dalglish say it all. I will not say Hodgson is rubbish, I think it was more a case of not being accepted by the players first and the fans second, but I will deal with this aspect in a separate post next week.

  6. Does anyone not feel that Liverpool gave up on the last two games fearing entry to the europa league would do more harm than good, or were the team just too tired.

    1. Pete, there is NO doubt in my mind that the last two games gave a strong hint we wanted to avoid the Europa League. There is also little doubt in my mind that the Club will concentrate all it’s efforts in going for the PL title. No, at least, we have one excuse less with no european competition.

  7. I dunno how we can consider if KK and SC were at the beginning we would be there, Saint Suarez didn’t come til January. Too many variables. Just how important I think Suarez is to us now and the years to come I guess.

  8. Think back to August!, H+G/Hodgson etc. If someone said we would end the season higher than last season after such chaos we would have taken it!

    1) FSG
    2) Debt-free
    3) Money to spend
    4) KK and Clarke
    5) Academy stars aplenty
    6) Anfield expansion?
    7) Warrior kit deal at £25m a year……

    Are these not reasons to be very confident in our future????. The football is so much better and we are lucky to have avoided the EL as Spurs will discover next season!!!!!

  9. Shaun? I apologise IF my words caused undue offence however as Tonio Bone correctly pointed out – They were aimed ENTIRELY at Really? and his almost certainly DELIBERATE misrepresentation of the facts earlier to make us appear far worse than we have actually been during a very decent attempt at making a fist of qualifying for Europe in the second half of the season. People like THAT prat Really however? Fools who lie & omit facts in order to make THEIR points or chosen facts sound unarguable and better than what they are or any possible counter argument? Let’s just say that idiots like that Make my blood boil and then some – Hence the explosion – Which again, apologies for to all bar the fool who was it’s target.

    FWIW? I think IF we get a few good players to rebuild around a very decent core (who lets not forget HAVE qualifed for the CL 8 times in the last 10 years)? Then there’s NO reason why we CAN’T get back in the Top 4 – Money spent by interlopers like City, Spurs et al notwithstanding – As United showed re the Title? It’s EXPERIENCE of that sort of thing that counts and I believe that IF we act quickly to preserve it? We still retain the advantage in that respect. As to the title? We’ll have to see but I feel it’s telling that in ALL the seasons since 1990-1991 (the last when the League Title was our SPECIFIC target and within our compass at winning)?

    Well, since then – It’s telling we’ve fallen some way short of a League Title in all that time and aimed consistently in and around it rather than outright AT it much to the delight of fans of the other 91 lesser clubs who aren’t us & the Gentlemen (I think not) of her majesty’s press. Just Maybe we should aim for it and IT alone as Man U did in 1992/93 when THEY had almost no European games and look what happened there- they went out of the 2 cups early as well and had ONLY th title to worry about for 4 months or so and THAT was the foundation of all that followed leading ultimately to the abomination that we saw at Blackburn Saturday last.

    No, IMO? Our 2 decade Title Famine was NEVER a question of money or players only that stopped us getting the league back IMO over all those years (forget not that we used to regularly break transfer records and spend MORE than the Mancs through the 90’s) The REAL problem? Was quite clearly one of MENTALITY and something we got VERY badly wrong – put Rafa or Kenny in charge of Roy Evans 1996 sside? And they WOULD have won the league that year and Kenny could probably have delivered it in 2009 as well – I’ve no question in my mind on either score there.

    Anyway, hopefully that’s ALL in the past now and the man in charge now as manager knows and WILL address THAT better than anyone for that IS his job as of now. In short? They used to say that the formula for winning the league was almost bottled and kept at Melwood each season – It’s up to Kenny to get that back and if anyone will? HE Can and it’s a testemant to my faith in him that I don’t think he’ll come remotely close to failing at that given enough time.

    I’ll finish by saying about Kenny a bit of my Own opinion on him; I think Yes, he IS that good a manager and I’m fortunate enough to remember us with the likes of him, Joe Fagan and Sir Bob in charge before – Kenny is the last of that line and every bit as good as them – He WILL get us back to what we were then (awesome on the pitch doesn’t BEGIN to describe us back then) In fact? Kenny will take us Right to the top & given enough time? We’ll STAY there under him to; I have no fears on that oone at all. Kenny is our king and WILL recreate his kingdom and WILL the rest of English football pay for the last 2 decades and then some………

    There you go Shaun and the others who commneted – Other than Really? whose opinon I don’t CARE about. Hope THAT can explain my position a bit better than last night’s passion & anger fuelled rant. See what you think..

Comments are closed