So at this stage it is firmly established that answer to the blog's question is absolutely nothing. That's right Liverpool fans. Have a good think now and try and pick out one positive aspect of this season. well? You couldn't do it could you? I didn't think so. In a season full of despair, injuries, poor and performance the only thing its given Liverpool fans is a realistic view that the team is simply not good enough.
So since the last post which was somewhat optimistic as the side beat Benfica to progress to the semi finals of the Europa League, Liverpool have shut the door on success town and instead find themselves sitting in land of those averageness. Kind of like the Match of the Day 2 analysts. You know who they are, and realize that they are trying but you just know it's never going to happen for them. The first indication that Liverpool would salvage nothing came in the game just after the Benfica win when they took on Fulham. The game was literally 90 minutes of Liverpool taking shots. Fulham's players, bar the goalkeeper may as well have stayed at home with a cup of tea and some jaffa cakes watching Casualty. Then the wins at West ham(3-0) and at Burnley(4-0) gave some hope but had they not beaten the two there is a good chance there is a good chance there may have been mass protests/suicides on behalf of the Liverpool fans. Not literally of course, just to clear up the fact that I'm not making light at suicide, merely that Burnley's football this season makes one kind of ashamed that they enjoy football.
It is difficult to criticize Burnley however, when the game against Athletico Madrid showed the potential Liverpool had to be truly everything thats wrong with football. They mixed the no effort, no technique, no excitement with almost no football(pretty difficult to carry out in a game of football but they were close) in a way that would seem similar to the defensive Italian 'hard to break down' structure apart from the fact that the defense was as flimsy as Djibril Cisse's leg(the one that kept breaking, I'm sure the other one is strong as an ox). Not to mention the fact that the Athletico goal was as poor as they come, as the ball struck former Man Utd man Diego Forlan on the shoulder as he tried to header it and the sat up for an easy finish. The hope that the 2nd leg in Anfield would prove a very different game. Liverpool did improve but really shot themselves in the foot (which is kind of a bad thing as you obviously need your foot in football). Instead of finishing off the game before extra time, they drew, forcing extra time and scored within five minutes of the restart. Leaving many of us with the the puzzle of ''WHY FOR THE LOVE OF SHANKLY DIDN'T THEY DO THIS BEFORE EXTRA TIME''. As expected the already exhausted Liverpool team were unable to keep Athletico out and Diego Forlan's 2nd goal of the tie put Athletico through to the finals. Livepool just ran out of steam. And the substitutions really did not help the cause. The introduction of El Zahr and Degen proved the shocking lack of depth in the Liverpool squad. Finally the last home game of the season with title challengers Chelsea led to the official 'Nothing can be salvaged' status at Liverpool F.C. The idiotic rumours that Liverpool wanted to lost so that Man Utd would have less chance of winning the league were almost seemed realistic as they took on Chelsea. A bright start from the players showed the potential for an exciting and important game. But when Chelsea scored the first goal the game seemed to be over. It seemed they felt there was no reason to try anymore. And ultimately became a bore. Finally todays 0-0 draw at Hull made watching paint dry look like a laser show in a strip club on Valium whilst listening to the Prodigy's song 'Firestarter'. Steven Gerrard's one exciting effort that clippped the post in the 90th minute was about all Liverpool fans could cheer for. Apart from one of the worst seasons in a long time being finished.
So what exactly caused this horrendous season!? A mixture of poor management, low quality in the squad, problems with the owners and overall a lack of heart. I know this gives the blog a kind of Wizard of Oz vibe but its true. Crucially the team lacked any creativity in the midfield. Lucas and Mascherano are both defensive and with Stevie G playing off the striker, there was no decisive passing coming from the center, there was simply no way Liverpool could hope to play anywhere near the standard of last season. The sale of Xabi Alonso damaged the club. Aquilani was brought to the club injured and unfit. He therefore could not be the immediate replacement. Lucas coming in to replace Alonso was not working and even when Aquilani had recovered, Lucas was still favoured. This left Gerrard and Torres isolated up front. In the few games Gerrard returned to the middle of the pitch, there was more creativity. By the time he had been dropped back however, the season was almost lost and Gerrard really looked like he was fed up. The whole story is easily seen when you compare the 50 points dropped this season compared to the 28 last season. So next season Liverpool fans will be expecting a huge improvement. Huge changes will need to be made and the purchase of new and worthy players is vital. In particular a striker, a winger( perhaps 2) and a left back. Progression is needed. The biggest clubs have a mixture of financial backing and excellent management. This year both of these aspects have been questionable at Liverpool.
So now as the final whistle goes at the final disappointing Liverpool game of the season and many of the players and perhaps the manager say their farewells, 'What can be salvaged' will also bid thee farewell.
Thanks so much for reading and for the nice words on the blog. Its been a bit of a difficult season, and incredibly hard to write about but keep optimistic and don't give up on the team. Perhaps ,one day, the owners will sell the club to a decent and wealthy Liverpool fan who will bring instant success to the club. And maybe we will look back on this season and laugh. Or maybe it would be better to just block it out, pretend it never happened.
Also Congratulations Chelsea, thanks for stopping those Man Utd scallywags from beating our record. Perhaps someday in the not to distant future Liverpool can be the club to stop our rivals taking our record rather than leaving it to other clubs.
I shall leave you with an inspirational Shankly quote that will hopefully be said to the players and perhaps wake them up next season!
Shankly: ''A lot of football success is in the mind. You must believe you are the best and then make sure you are.''
Cheers for the last time, Dec
