Last Year’s Record: 25 wins, 11 draws, and 2 losses. Liverpool scored more goals (77), had a better goal differential (+50), and lost fewer games (2) than any other Premier League team; unfortunately for the Reds, Manchester United won four more points on the table than the 86 they managed.
Transfers (In): Glen Johnson (Portsmouth-£18.5m), Aaron King (Rushden & Diamonds-Undisclosed), Chris Mavinga (PSG-Undisclosed)
Transfers (Out): Alvaro Arbeloa (Real Madrid-£3.5m), Astrit Ajdarević (Leicester City-Free), Paul Anderson (Nottingham Forest-£250k), Jack Hobbs (Leicester City-Undisclosed), Sami Hyypiä (Bayer Leverkeusen-Free), Sebastian Leto (Panathinaikos-Undisclosed), Jermaine Pennant (Real Zaragoza-Free)
Season Outlook: Last season was a season unlike any other for Liverpool. They lost a grand total of five games: one in the Champions League, one each in the FA Cup and Carling Cup, and twice in the Premier League. Yet, in spite of that fantastic showing, Liverpool walked away trophyless, instead watching Manchester United – a team they beat twice – tie their all-time title record.
Plain and simple, right now Liverpool are in the best position to win the league. It has absolutely nothing to do with them, of course; it’s just that the rest of the competition has fallen off. Consider:
- Manchester United has lost Cristiano Ronaldo, who provided something like 37% of their goals over the last three years, and they have yet to really replace him.
- Arsenal are selling players off and have yet to really supplement their side.
- Chelsea may threaten if Yuri Zhirkov peaks at the right time, but they showed their schizophrenia last season; a lot will depend on which Chelsea side comes to play.
Meanwhile, Liverpool lost their right back to Real Madrid while upgrading the same position with Glen Johnson. That’s a wash.
Of course, that’s provided that the situation stays where it’s at right now; chances are, that’s not going to happen. In fact, if you read this article on Tuesday you may find that it’s already outdated; Xabi Alonso has been on Real Madrid’s radar all summer, with speculation increasing daily that he’ll move. For a team that’s criticized for being all about two players – Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard – an exceptional amount of time has been spent worrying about what the Reds will do without Alonso. The midfielder gives the team a creative spark that Gerrard and Torres don’t always bring, and will definitely be missed when and if he leaves.
Javier Mascherano is in a similar vein. Mascherano is one of the best purely defensive midfielders in the world; where Alonso thrives on hitting incisive passes through to forwards, Mascherano’s bread and butter is preventing those passes from getting through. Because of that, the two make a fantastic pair; Alonso goes forward when needed, Mascherano stays back and cleans up the .garbage Benitez’s formation falls apart without Mascherano anchoring it, and there’s no replacement currenly on the roster (Lucas Leiva’s too raw and Damien Plessis is too young). Losing one of those players would be bad; losing both would be devastating.
That’s not to say that there aren’t other factors for this season. On the left wing, Ryan Babel appears to have finally started to realize some of his potential; he’s fit and ready for camp. Yossi Benayoun and Dirk Kuyt will handle the right side, and Gerrard – referred to as a “second striker” by Benitez recently – will resume his spot behind Torres. Defensively, Johnson will play where Arbeloa was playing; outside of that everything should be the same.
It would’ve been nice if Benitez had gone out and aggressively pursued a striker for depth; Torres, with an international schedule that’s had him play in the Euros and Confederations Cup in preparation for next year’s World Cup, is an injury waiting to happen. In two seasons – 2011 – he’ll finally get to rest during June. That leaves very little time for him to recover, and any small injury that needs time may be exacerbated. Striker depth is crucial, especially the other strikers on the squad (namely Kuyt and Babel) have been relegated to the wings.
On it’s surface, Liverpool’s schedule isn’t all that complicated until February, when they’ll play home to Everton and away to Arsenal and Manchester City in a span of three weeks. When you combine the six Champions League dates, however, it’s a little rougher than it first appears:
- September 19th – Away at West Ham.
- October 3rd – Away at Chelsea
- October 24th – Home against Manchester United
- November 7th – Home against Birmingham
- November 28th – Away at Everton
- December 12th – Home against Arsenal
All of those follow a group stage game, meaning that Liverpool plays half of their games against the Big Four, as well as a Merseyside Derby, on the Saturday following a Tuesday/Wednesday fixture. If Benitez were Ferguson, he’d probably whine about that.
When we submitted our picks a few weeks ago, I picked Liverpool to win the league. I based that less on moves that they’d made and more on moves that Manchester United and Chelsea hadn’t made; neither team had really signed an impact player, and Manchester United in particular seemed to have lost a lot more than they gained. The way I saw it, Liverpool hadn’t lost anyone from a side that had outscored everyone else last season, and Torres and Gerrard – as long as they’re fit – should be able to replicate their success this year. I’m a little worried about losing Alonso, but I still think that Liverpool will win the title this year; I think I’m alone on the staff in that respect, however, so I might be a complete homer.
