Next year in Anfield

Liverpool supporters should enjoy the next four hours, because I strongly suspect they will be the last the club spend, this season, at the pinnacle of the Premier League. Although I have frequently criticised Rafa Benitez and his side, I have to acknowledge that topping the table in May, even for twenty two hours, represents the type of progress which defined the club’s aspirations at the start of the season. Of course fans will ruefully remember points carelessly cast away as the team spluttered to home draws against teams which it was expected to beat. Indisputably, though, the manager has managed to iron out inconsistencies as 2009 has progressed.

2008-09, then, will have to serve as a dry run for Liverpool’s ’big push’ in 2009-10. I tend to agree with the Observer’s Paul Hayward that the team’s spine is its strength and the positions around this core should form Rafa‘s focus when the transfer window reopens. I read with apprehension reports that the manager still views Gareth Barry as his main summer target. Surely Xabi Alonso has proved, beyond all doubt, that he is the fulcrum of Liverpool’s passing game? At full back, left wing, centre forward and even centre back, improvements or more strength in depth would be welcome. Central midfield is, I would contend, the team’s strong suit.

I fully expect the title’s destination to be confirmed by the time Liverpool visit West Brom next Sunday. However, on the back of his team’s strong challenge, Benitez has consolidated his position at the club’s helm. He faces his most vital summer. To continue to improve league form must be every manager’s goal and next season the only room for improvement will be to lift the trophy.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Football fever in Russia

Russia Blog is getting excited about Euro 2008. Indeed it is drawing parallels between Guus Hiddink and Peter the Great in terms of successful Russo-Dutch exchanges of expertise. Meanwhile, in Moscow, fans have been taking to the streets in order to celebrate the national team’s achievements.
Read more

A Return to sense and sanity: a guest post by Dr Phil Larkin

Dr Phil Larkin returns to provide a thoughtful post on the rise of Sinn Fein in the Republic. A RETURN TO SENSE AND SANITY: THE “RISE” OF SINN FEIN IN THE IRISH REPUBLIC Every so often certain sections of the media, Irish and British, seem to “lose the run of themselves” in relation to a particular issue. For a sector of the Irish media (north and south of the border), the current cause for hysteria is the seemingly unstoppable rise of Sinn Fein within the body politic of the Irish Republic, a frenzy fuelled by the recent referendum campaign on the EU Fiscal Reform Treaty. If one were to believe all that has been written over the last few weeks, we would see Gerry Adams as alternatively the next Taoiseach or Irish President, Sinn Fein forming a majority in the Dail at the next election, holding all the cards to Ireland’s political future in their hands. Every utterance that a party figure makes is hailed by some as a piece of profound political wisdom, and there appears to be no
Read more

Walker loada rubbish

Former BBC employee Brian Walker has overrun Slugger O’Toole lately with countless poorly structured, poorly written posts. It is possible quickly to recognize and avoid these by subjecting each Slugger piece to a cursory inspection and identifying those which feature characteristic lack of paragraphing and a tenuous grasp on the technicalities of linking source articles. Although I generally evade Walker’s posts by this method, occasionally (and unfortunately) I have persevered and found that their content is as unrewarding as the style in which they are written. Today, for instance, I inflicted upon myself Brian’s thoughts on a mooted Fianna Fail / SDLP merger . In actual fact, he is right to welcome news that the Southern Irish party has dropped this proposal from its agenda; however, the logic by which he arrives at this conclusion is parochial nonsense. To summarise, Walker believes that pursuing realignment with larger parties, whether they are from the rest of the UK or fro
Read more