LIVERPOOL legend Phil Neal declared last week that two domestic cups would make for a fantastic season at Anfield. You do not have to be a Liverpool fan to know that this season has been described as anything but fantastic by supporters and media. With the Carling Cup secured, the Reds main focus turns to Saturday when they return to Wembley to face a resurgent Chelsea, in the clubs first FA Cup final since the classic 2006 match against West Ham. The game at the weekend may prove key in deciding how successful this season has been.
Looking back over Liverpool’s recent seasons, a clear indication is given in regards to whether or not this has been a successful campaign.
2007-2008
With what was the biggest signing of that summer, Rafael Benitez opted to bring Spanish whizz kid Fernando Torres to Anfield. After scoring on his home debut, El Niño went on to score 33 goals in all competitions for the Reds. A respectable 4th placed league position and a semi-final Champions league defeat at the hands of Chelsea more than made up for poor domestic cup performances.
2008-2009
A season in which Liverpool were real title contenders going into the last month of the season. Finishing second to rivals Man United was made somewhat easier by securing an amazing 4-1 victory at Old Trafford in March of that year. With yet another defeat to Chelsea in the Champions League, this time in the Quarter Finals, and extremely poor showings in both domestic cups, another season went by without any silverware.
2009-2010
In a disappointing season for the mighty Reds, a 7th placed finish in the Premier League was the outcome. Reaching the semi-finals of the undesirable Europa League was the highlight of what was to be Rafa Benitez’ last season in charge at Anfield.
2010-2011
After the departure of Benitez, popular manager Roy Hodgson took charge of the club. New signings included Joe Cole, Paul Konchesky and Christian Poulsen. The first half of the season was poor, with a new manager trying to find his feet within a club who had a special connection with the previous manager. Hodgson was eventually sacked at the start of 2011 and current manager Kenny Dalglish stepped in. With Fernando Torres leaving for Chelsea, Dalglish bought in Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez in an attempt to change the clubs fortunes. At the end of the season, Liverpool finished 6th in the league with yet again no silverware to speak of.
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When reviewing the previous 4 seasons, Phil Neal’s comments seem slightly more believable. No trophies, no final appearances and dismal performances in the FA Cup and League Cup have made for some pretty mediocre seasons at Anfield.
The obvious frustration at the league position this season is warranted. 8th position in the league is just not good enough for Liverpool. The chance of finishing in 7th is still a possibility and would be made even sweeter if the overtaken side was Everton. The Carling Cup victory was a good achievement which also guaranteed European Football next season, albeit in the Europa League. Finally, to reach an FA Cup final despite poor performances in the league, is testament to the teams approach of the domestic trophies.
So is Phil Neal right? Well, no. This season cannot be described as fantastic, that’s simply not true. What can be argued is that should the club win the FA Cup this weekend, this season will not stand out as disastrous but simply fade into the mediocrity of recent campaigns.
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How can this be classed as a successful season,Neil?, when we are a joke of a team, at this present time!.
Beating Cardiff on penalties, and after extra time, does not count as a great achievement, does it?.
Your mate KD is residing over the worst record, in Liverpool’s history, doing even worst than Hodgson, in the league, and you call that a successful season?.
KD should do the right thing, and RESIGN, come end of the season!!!.
I would argue that if LFC win the FA cup then it is a good springboard to move on from. A decent achievement.
NOPE…stats don`t lie…we will end up with the worst league finish in well over 50 years…longer than most supporters have lived..the EPL and a top 4 finish(as desired by John W Henry at seasons` start)was our target this year…the EPL over 38 games is how you gauge the success of LFC…NOT cup comps,which are more often than not won by luck.Liverpool`s lucky,yes lucky,penalties win over Championship side Cardiff,being a prime example.This is NOT a springboard to move on from.
At Anfield…LIVERPOOL…YES THAT`S LIVERPOOL,WON 5 GAMES,SCORED 20 GOALS AND HAVE DROPPED 30 POINTS thus far…come on Phil Neal,you call this successful at was once a fortress that was/is Anfield?,you remember Phil,where teams feared coming to play Liverpool.I`ve supported LFC for 40 years,always will,disregarding a lucky win on pens in Carling Cup,even if we won FA Cup,this season has been another hugely dissapointing one.I have been waiting for over 20 years to win an English Premier League title,this is the trophy most people would want us to win…only then,will LFC have had a successful season…I hope I don`t have to wait another 20 years TO ONCE AGAIN SEE LIVERPOOL CROWNED CHAMPIONS OF ENGLAND!!!
The sad thing is that lots of ex reds r excepting mediocrity and that’s been excepted by the current Lfc players as well. Neal is not the only one. R Houghton said few weeks ago that it doesn’t matter if we finish tenth in the league. It’s sad and annoying at the same time that you hear that this is been an excellent season. One thing I would’ve liked to know is would they come up with this crap if the mngr was somebody else and not their mate KD. How can anybody except this as a good season. Finishing below everton and Newcastle in the league. The crap some the ex reds come up with is unbelievable. But we as a fans of our great club have duty not to except the mediocrity and for the good of the club I hope he resigns at the end of the season as I would hate to c him get the sack.
Like i said below Bekim, misplaced loyalty. This bunch of ex-players does not or choose not to realize that by supporting a mediocre manager that expectedly produces mediocre or rather disastarous results damages the club, although KD is a friend of theirs.
RH is now England manager, yes the same guy we panned not too long ago. He was removed from LFC for bad results. Does KD have a better league record than him? If KD is sacked, no WHEN KD is sacked from LFC, do anyone of you see the Enlish FA or Scottish FA or even any FA for that matter, rushing to appoint KD? Why no? Is he not a “great” manager? Or maybe because they can see when KD is not able to live out of someone else’s effort, he would produces crappy results like his time in Celtic and Newcastle?
It’s a duty of all LFC fans to reject mediocority and for those of you who accepts this just to help out a friend at the expense of this great club, please stop associating with the club in any manner.
NO NO NO. Struggling for top 10 automatically means a bad season, regardless of the cups. Have we really sank this low from the days of… Phil Neal etc. etc.
Phil is just more interested to help his friend than the club.
Just Misplaced loyalty James.
Phil, are you trying to change the definition of the word “Fantactic”?
In one season alone :
1) We had a winless run that dates back to 1953.
2) May have less points than when we were last relegated.
3) Even if we win our last home game, we would only won a grand total of 6, less than when we were relegated.
4) We are going to have the least points when the Premier league begins in 1992.
We are breaking records alright but all the wrong ones.
We won one 2nd rate cup (lets be honest here) by barely beating a 2nd div side and yes we are in the FA Cup final (which we would have a hard time winning as there is this small matter of beating a team that just conquered Barca and KD unexplainable preference to start with Carra) but these cup runs only papers over the crack.
The fact is we are a pathetic team run by a pathetic manager who made us a pathetic team in the first place by insisting to pay above the odds for pathetic players (barring Suarez and Enrique). The league does not lie, we all know it. Only KD and his fans (that include you Phil) pretends otherwise.
NOOO, THIS IS NOT A FANTASTIC SEASON, but a rather dismal one. You can win as many FA or CC cup you want but you won’t get into the CL. This is where the elite belongs and why top players wants to join you and where we can make a few extra $$$ to sustain ourselves and continues to invest in top players.
Oh and for those of you who says the extra money is not important, LFC had just announced a loss of 50 mill for last year. The last i checked we do not have a Roman or Sheikh to sustain our losses.