Feb 16, 2010

2009-2010: A season of ‘If onlys’?

Barring a drastic run of results for everyone at the top of the table, the 2009/10 season will be looked back on by Liverpool fans as a disaster. Come the end of the season, most fans will be saying “if only…” to a number of a scenarios as Liverpool push for 4th place, having challenged for the title last year.

‘If only’ Xabi Alonso hadn’t been sold to Real Madrid – perhaps one of the main reasons for our disappointing season; but the damage was done the previous season when he was pimped out to fund the purchase of Gareth Barry. While the performances of Lucas have improved drastically, he is a totally different player to Alonso and doesn’t get the ball moving better than the departing number 14.

‘If only’ Alberto Aquilani wasn’t injured for ages, and wasn’t under so much pressure to perform the minute he stepped onto the pitch. Arriving with a big price tag and massive boots to fill, Alberto has seen his season hit by injury setback after setback; and once he fit he was pushed to the bench in place of Gerrard (against Wolves). It is fair to say next season will be the one where we can get a proper look at him and decide if he’s up to it or not.

‘If only’ Torres, Gerrard, Benayoun and Johnson weren’t all injured; we might have won games that we lost or drew. It has been glaringly obvious how much we have missed these key players (as any team would if they lost their main stars), but our backup players aren’t up to scratch.

‘If only’ we had a decent back up striker in place of Torres. Voronin and N’Gog were our second fiddle players upfront, and while one has been turfed out (Voronin); N’Gog’s inexperience showed against Arsenal when he was through against Almunia only to delay his shot and get tackled by Gallas. Voronin never really got going in a Liverpool shirt, and while staunch supporters will go “what about the game against Besiktas” in which Voronin actually played well; strikers cannot dine out on one performance for ever. His inept display against Lyon opened up everyone’s eyes to his true level of performance.

‘If only’ decisions had gone our way – see Tottenham away (1st game of season) in which we were denied penalties, and of course against Arsenal away in which Fabregas clearly handled Gerrard’s free kick. If only Fellaini had been shown a red card in the derby, or Pienaar had been earlier. There has been and will be decisions that went in our favour that perhaps shouldn’t have done, but it is always the ones that aren’t given that are scrutinised.

‘If only’ Rafa had more money to spend during pre-season and the January transfer window. We managed one signing; the free transfer of Maxi Rodriguez during the January window, largely down to funds available. Had he had more money to spend, we might have got decent cover in the positions needed, rather than having to make do and hope for the best.

All these are all eclipsed by the biggest ‘If only’ of all:

‘If only’ Hicks & Gillett hadn’t plunged the club into debt, lied to supporters/David Moores, had started work on a new stadium, had backed Rafa in the transfer market, and of course, if only they had sold the club rather than trying to milk every penny from it first.

20 Comments
  • jb

    My biggest “if only” for this season which was supposed to be ours is

    IF ONLY RAFA WASN’T GIVEN A NEW CONTRACT LAST SEASON period. From here then a new manager would have come in and the ” may bes “can follow as:
    may be Alonso would have remained.
    May be voronin would have been sold earlier
    may be a new quality striker would have come in.
    may be kuyt wouldn’t have been preferred to lead the line
    may be lucas would have played far fewer games
    may be the little money we had would have been better spent
    may be Gerald would have played in CM instead of Lucas
    may be we would be playing attacking football
    may be we would be leading the EPL table by now
    may be ——-
    ————- etc

    and may be i wouldn’t be posting this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • http://anfieldred rouman

    well done jb, but for now its maybey we had finish 4th. because i for one could not go threw a season like this one again. and maybey next season we will all get what we want, but for now lets all give the team are full backing… and just MAYBEY we might finish 4th…………

  • George

    Yes I agree with all that, especially if we played attacking football. Look at absolutely any Liverpool video or DVD of the 70′s, 80′s and even up to a few years ago, that is what this club was about – playing attacking football, not giving others a chance to settle, pressuring mistakes etc, etc. Now we score most of our golas through mishits, scuffs and so on. I long for the volleys of Ray Kennedy and Terry Mc, the skills of Kenny and Kevin and Digger Barnes, the finishing of Toshack and so on. Of course those days are long gone but we have very little on our current payroll ( FT of course and PAHECHO!!!!) who can give us some hope that those days will ever return. I certainly believe that no club arrives here afraid of the This is Anfield sign. Perhaps Umriea might… Let’s hope so!!!

  • Kev j

    How ya doing george why have we stooped so low just the one goal against romanian minnows!! its a joke ngog well what a pile of crap he really is! kuyt is worse! im just STUNNED how he gets a game every week and why the fuck did rafa leave it so long to put pacheco on he could clearly see from the first half it wasnt working and yet he carried on! i think im going to stop watching us play its getting me down no end! the side that was put out is very strong and yet we struggled to break them down if anyone thinks we will win this comp they have another thing coming! i still cant believe we are playing like a league 1 side! i have no hope 4 us on sunday! why the hell did rafa have 3 defenders on the pissing bench again! ill never no! im hoping and praying that prick is gone in the summer i cant keep watching this dross under that useless twat i still think J.B and i are right that rafa is doing this on purpose it was like debrecen all over just the one scabby goal we must be the biggest laughing stock going we have stooped so low we cant surley get any lower im glad pacheco had the assist for useless ngog pacheco has to start v’s man c on sunday but we all know that his 2nd boyfriend lucas will be back in the CM on sunday ill be glad when this season is over coz i cant bear looking at that useless fucking manager again!!!!

  • otleyred

    Liverpool FC under Senor Benitez – “football” – but not as we knew it !

    Like you Kev I find it bloody astounding that this man get’s away with it – if any Rafaelite believes this is progress they should be sectioned.

    Ngog is a lad trying his best as our lone striker – not good enough, not sure he ever will be but the sight of bringing him off and playing with no strikers to bring on Lucas with 5 minutes to go against a village side from Romania beggars belief.

    After 46 years with the same bird the thought of this loser being in charge come August is giving me nightmares – it cannot get any lower in terms of football quality – the taactics are completely wrong.

    Paella Brain is quoted in the paper as saying “when you lose your striker you will suffer” – do we really pay this clown money to come out with that.

    When you lose A striker you rely on the OTHER striker (s) dickhead – its you Rafa that chose to play with one recognised striker in the entire squad for the whole of the season. Please resign asap – clueless.

  • Kev j

    How ya doing otley? the man c game is the final straw! how much of this utter shite have we got to put up with from the KO loser boy was hoping for a draw! we haven’t got no passion at all its all negative and its down to one man and that is benitez,what the fuck do we do in training or do we meet up every weekend and play football coz thats what it seems like,gerrard isnt bothered i cant remember a season like this one he’s having what happened to the old stevie g taking the game by the scruff and winning us a game single handedly that isnt there this season,and why o why do the fuck lucas and kuyt still get in the 11 i DO NOT KNOW! those 2 should be given free transfers they are abyismal i wanna know why the fuck rafa keeps doing this to us? playing a shite side on purpose again aquilani was on the bench and came on for the last 4 mins!!!!!!!!!! and why didnt rafa put torres on ten mins earlier??? im sorry guys but if your fit enough to be on the bench then your fit to play?! every game we’ve played this year has been negative i haven’t enjoyed watching us play at all this season and again its down to one man! the yanks need to act now this fcuking loser needs to be shown the door? i hope we dont get 4th then hope and pray that loser fucks off and takes the useless crap shite with him im not looking forward to the unirea game i fell asleep last time with the utter crap footy we was playing that isnt the liverpool way since that loser has been here its never been the liverpool way and it never will be until that loser fucks off ONE PISSED OFF REDS FAN YNWA REDMAN FOREVER C’MON THE BOARD SACK THAT TOSSER!

  • George

    Couldn’t watch the game from Oz Kev. Did Pach get a start please? (or was he at Melwood `working hard’!!). I did however see some of the Fulham/Birmingham game. Danny Murphy was absolutely brillliant running the middle of the park, directing traffic and superb vision. Who did he remind me of? Yep – Xabi. the man for my money who we are missing more than anyone this year. Gerrard writes in his book that he was gutted when Murphy was released. I know he’s been around the traps since leaving us but he can still turn it on. Unlike Aquiliani (and it’s not Aquilani’s fault) but Murphy would have played out each 90 mins. We have wasted so much f…ing money over the past few years, we really have. Like you Kev I cannot understand this season. We thought it would be the one. A nightmare more like.

  • http://anfieldred rouman

    hi george, no paco was not playing, i went to the game and it was what it was a bore draw. benny should of had a pen but he tried to stay on his feet, which he done and the ref let it go. thats what you get for being honest. but a draw was a fair result. as for murphy yes rafa should not have let him go but him and stevie were and still are best mates,and rafa wanted alonso which ive no complaints about. but murphy is better than a lot of players we have brought in. aqualani will not do much till next year he needs time he has not played enough in 2 years. the same as maxi next season is when they should come in to there fore (hopefully) yes i too cannot wait for the season to end its been that bad for many reasons and it all needs to be sorted before next year..

  • otleyred

    The Man City game was shocking from both teams – but let’s be honest Benitez did not want to know – he set out for a draw.
    The players look pissed off, the morale is at an all time low with the squad.
    Hick, Gillett and above all Senor Benitez are ruining this Club.
    Benitez has to go first – in reality we are close to 7th – possibly 4 points above the mighty Everton !
    Bloody shocking from start to finish since August.

  • Kev j

    Yep ur right george pacheco wasn’t even on the bench so me thinks he was at melwood working hard! its just ridiculous isnt it of all the other good players at his disposal he keeps playing the main shite one’s lucas,kuyt,ngog & babel why? when neither of them are good enough 4 LFC and yet lucas has made over 100 appearances 4 us! scoring just the one goal? many of top managers in the prem would of persivered with lucas & kuyt 4 maybe a dozen games and then would of left them on the bench or shipped them out but oh no not rafa he seems to think these 2 can win us a football match?! im just dumbstruck how he’s still here i really am this is one of the biggest mysterys,every game we have played this season we have been average at best, i really hope the yanks wake up and get rid of this clown once and for all if he’s still with us next season then there has to be serious questions answered! rafa out he’s HOLDING US BACK
    YNWA REDMAN FOR EVER!

  • Criticalmind

    You are right benitez set the team for a draw the moment lucas was included in the team, even the guy himself was looking frustrated by his inability to play football, so why the fuck did the tinker choosed to let him on the field till 85th mins?? Are we facing a new episode of rotation policy again?? Rafa was right not to have given babel a place in the team for the past few months.. But why the hell didn’t he sold him???

  • Kev j

    Just seen the side for the unirea game and yet again there is no pacheco not even on the bench (he must be at melwood working hard again!) and yet again the loser has gone with 3 defenders on the bench! is there any point to that!

    And again he’s started with ngog! torres is on the bench but its proved time and time again this season that ngog isnt up to the job! what has the prick got to lose in playing pacheco from the start how else is he going to get the match practice! it will be another boring game again with the likes of ngog,lucas & kuyt in the side its enough to make anyone fall asleep and shout at your tv coz they play shit and bring nothing to the side! i just want rafa out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • George

    Well Kev we made it (just!). Lille next which will be harder. (I actually was surprised that we got past Unirea). I think Lille have got a kid who is supposed to be the next superstar (can’t think of his name). But we had Babel who was supposed to be the next Henry. I rest my case!!!! I’ve given up hoping that Pachecho will be even on the bench. You can only wonder what he thinks of it all. We are in a catch 22 situation, the more we win the more likely we are going to be stuck with Benitez next year. The only good thing about my week was the mancs losing at Goodison. Just as long as they don’t get their hands on that PL trophy!!!!

  • George

    I won’t make any comment about Torres selection for Spain in a friendly. FFS – we are wrapping him in cotton wool and nursing him through and then he is apparenty fit enough to play for Spain. As I said it needs no further comment!!! Can anyone tell me if Skrtel’s injury is the same as the one which Agger had? If so, given the time which Daniel was on the sidelines, we can’t bank on Martin playing again this season.

  • http://anfieldred rouman

    hi george, not sure about skrtel we will know soon how bad it is. but this gives kelly a chance now he done well on thursday the greek fella is still on a one match ban so he can,t play on sunday. big sam has been shouting the odds saying we can beat liverpool anywere and at any time. for a man who plays alehouse football, his mouth is as big as his mates fergie. ho goes on to say he is a top manager? yea i laughed too he,s had one decent job at newcastle and they sacked him, yes he slagged of rafa big time , but at least rafa has won things even in spain, and rafa has had jobs he will never see. ca,t stand fergie,s bum chum..

  • George

    Yes I saw Allardyce when the Newcastle fans were yelling `You don’t know what you’re doing’ at him. Not a good look and I reckon it’s the worst insult a manager can have. Really hoping the boys go well today. Give `em a cheer from me!!!

  • George

    I’ve just seen we have signed a kid from QPR. A few weeks ago we let Butchmann go to Fulham. I would so like to know what goes on (if anything!!) in the minds of te backroom staff.

  • Kev j

    Yes george we have signed raheem sterling an atticking MF i dont know much about the kid but is he going to be another kid with a big future goes in the youth set up and never to be seen in the first team!

    And as for fat sam alardyce who the hell does he thinks he is this crap is coming from a manager that hasnt won a major honour at all he’s what u call a NO FRILLS manager useless,so lets hope torres and co can shut that sad excuse of a manager up!

  • http://anfieldred rouman

    hello all, after the game, what a wanker that big sam is. his team tried to kick the shit out of liverpool, we deserved the win blackburn just play the long ball and yes it did upset us at times but that fat twat sent his players out to just fuck us up. we plated some good stuff mash was superb at full back, little rodgrigez was good too. it was a game we needed the points from and we got them. and blackburn ? like there manager shite..

  • topscout

    Hi Lads,

    I need your help, its very important. if anyone knows the email address for our owners, can you please let me know a-sap or their contact numbers please.

    Thxs again

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