Could it be Liverpool’s year?
They say all good things must come to an end, and Liverpool fans are hoping their team’s ending of Chelsea’s 86-match home unbeaten run heralds the start of a new golden era of their own.
The league win at Stamford Bridge was a long time coming for Liverpool and although both managers were reluctant to overplay the result after the game, it has sent a shockwave through the rest of the Premiership.
Could this be Liverpool’s year? It didn’t look too hopeful for them a few weeks ago, what with the off-field issues surrounding the American owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks and the usual dissenting voices unhappy with Rafa Benitez’s tinkering with the team and seeming inability to win the league. The euphoria of beating Manchester United was followed a week later by a goalless draw against Stoke at Anfield, and it appeared the frustration of the past few seasons was set to be repeated. That seems however to have been a isolated blip as Liverpool have won six of their seven games since then and now sit three points clear at the top of the Premiership.
The spine of the team is looking impressive. Reina, Carragher, Gerrard and Torres are formidable and even without the Spanish frontman, they could have won by a larger margin on Sunday. The acquisition of Riera has added much needed width on the left, Kuyt is ever willing and hard working while Keane now seems to have found his feet.
The owners have stuck with Benitez and that managerial stability could now be paying off in terms of the Premier League. His tactics were spot-on against Scolari and his team responded with a committed performance. The return of Sammy Lee as assistant coach in May has brought back a touch of the old boot room feel and the former Bolton coach is already fulfilling his brief of helping Benitez make the same mark on the league as he has on the European stage.
All the pieces of the jigsaw seem to be in place but Liverpool are still vulnerable to injuries to key players, while there is always the spectre of the American owners’ debt in the background. If they can stay lucky in terms of injuries and suspensions and Benitez continues to focus his energy and the players’ minds on on-the field issues, it could be their year. They must now ensure they follow the win over Chelsea with three points against Portsmouth on Wednesday.
By Louise Moran, a sports writer who blogs about football betting on betfair.com
I for one think everyone gets way too ahead of themselves with these early season declarations.
First of all, Liverpool faced two teams in Chelsea and man U who were decimated by injuries and while controlling the flow of both games failed to create any real clear cut chances. It took a deflection to score the only goal against Chelsea and they were gifted a goal by Giggs indecisiveness and yet ANOTHER deflected pass that lead to an own goal by Brown. So that goes to show theyve hardly showed they can TRULY beat these two teams and showed that byt the following weeks draw with Stoke.
And secondly, while they have a solid balanced(probably the 2nd best team with the players that most compliment eachother out of any other team if not the best) I hardly feel they have a squad of comparable quality to those of Chelseas and Man Uniteds both in depth and sheer class because apart from Torres and Gerrard I dont see any other real game changers on the team.
So if anything, teams will have figured them out by december/january(cut off Alonso from the game and you stop the heartbeat of all their forward moves) and what youll most likely see is them pull an arsenal but much earlier and then once Man United gets their 1st choice midfield back and starts gelling as does chelsea youll see them move up. Like that old sayign goes, the cream always rises to the top.
recent history dictates that liverpool falter around new year. i honestly mean it when i say a point yesterday for chelsea would have been worse for other premiership contenders than 3 for liverpool, as liverpool always have/had stupid slip-ups, throwing away their results.
Kudos to Liverpool on results to date. But the emphasis is on results not performances. They don’t have the overall quality to match Utd or Chelsea over 38 games. The gap is not significant and both of the main contenders have had significant injury issues to date.
Utd and Chelsea will battle it out when it gets down to the wire but I think Liverpool will be involved much longer than they have been in recent years.
I’ve also never seen their fans take a more balanced approcah to things. They’ve been bitten once too often maybe.
liverpools Year,, u gotta be kidding.
never will.. never will be..
top of the table now.. jus wait till dec end.. u will see where they will be.. 5-9 points behind the league leaders..
happened last yr, the yr before..
so keep the kites flying..
Remember the English league is the most competitive in the world, it took Alex Ferguson a few years to win his first title and Rafa is learning year by year what it takes to do so. There is no reason why Liverpool cannot be champions this season or next. The main problem for Liverpool is the ownership issue which is makes Rafa’s performance all the more laudable.
Man U’s main problem is Sir Alex’s retirement and much as I like “Big Phil” I think it will take him a season or so to acclimatise to English football.If any club are underachievers it has to be Arsenal.
I think Liverpool have started the season brilliantly in ending Chelsea’s unbeaten record, but call me a skeptasist, I am still not convinced that they can win the league. They might me good enough to break into the top two this year, but they lack enough cober at the back.
If you ask a Liverpool fan who should partner Carra at the back, they would just take a long pause. They still lack another world-class defender. If you ask me Rafa should dip into the market, first thing in January and look for a world-class defender like Sergio Ramos and Gattuso, but it would take a lot of money and a lot of pursuation to bring them to Liverpool.
I also think that like Arsenal the year before, they will carry on like this uptil February or March, and then the injuries will start to kick in and they will begin to drop points and end up losing the title by a matter of points.
The key to winning any league or trophy is buying enough world-class players to keep you going to the end of the season, so you have some players left, when most of them are out with injury.