What a season! This should be a season of transition. Although we missed out the 4th place and exited the FA Cup in the 3rd round in a dreadful way, we were in the League Cup Final and won the Champions League Final! Whether we will be able to defend the title is still unknown at this moment, but chances are, we will. After all, this is a competition about money, and without the defending Champion, UEFA will be under severe pressure from the sponsors.
Although we win the big thing, Rafa is honest enough to admit that the season is not good enough. And I remember a few years ago Carra said he would feel embarassed to win the Champions League without winning the Premier League first. So now we have to win the league. Of course, perhaps we may need a few years before we can win it, but at least we need to close the gap. And in doing so Rafa will need to break the team.
Player Rating (Games played, Minutes played, Goal scored/conceded, Assists/cleansheets, MoM, Rating)
Goalkeepers:
Carson: 5G 450M 4GC 1CS 1 MoM 6.80
Dudek: 41G 3780M 36GC 15CS 2.83MoM 6.65
Harrison: 12 unused substitute
Kirkland: 14G 1260M 15GC 3CS 0MoM 6.61
Luzi: 2 unused substitute
Dudek played most of the game in the second half and still had his ups and downs. The up is no doubt the CL Final, which made him a memeber of the Anfield Hall of Fame. The downs are the blunders vs Portsmouth and Manchester United. He may not be a consisent player, but I do believe Rafa should keep him.
Carson played 5 games and shown some promising sign. His high of the season is the Juventus game. Although he conceded a goal but his performance was no doubt very good.
Kirkland, with so much hope on him, was once again injuried. It would be tough to keep him now, given he did not progress well enough since he joined us, and now that Carson joined it will do no good to him as both will be fighting not only the Liverpool #1 jersey but also the England #1 jersey as well. Chances are he will be sold.
Harrison and Luzi were both released. Good luck to them.
So we only have 3 goalkeepers and one of them may be sold. As such Rafa will bring at least one goalkeeper in. Rumor is that Reina of Spain is joining. We'll see.
Defenders:
Carragher: 56G 5080M 0GS 2A 13.8MoM 7.11
Finnan: 52G 4048M 1GS 0A 0.5MoM 6.65
Henchoz: 4G 390M 0GS 0A 0MoM 6.88
Hyypia: 49G 4367M 3GS 0A 0.5MoM 6.81
Josemi: 23G 1714M 0GS 2A 0MoM 6.21
Pellegrino: 13G 1002M 0GS 0A 1MoM 6.17
Raven: 3G 233M 0GS 0A 0MoM 6.00
Traore: 42G 3118M 0GS 1A 0MoM 6.38
Whitbread: 4G 390M 0GS 0A 0MoM 6.63
Without doubt Carra is the best defender of the season. Hyypia, despite all his critics, performed better in the second half of the season and scored 3 goals. Finnan was a consistent player but need to improve, and Traore is still very inconsistent.
Rafa will probably buy a quick center back to play along Carra. Hyypia will still command a place, although he will probably play less games next season. And don't be surprised to see new full backs on both side next season - may not be necessary to be in the first team immediately, but will be there to challanege Finnan and Traore.
Midfielders:
Alonso: 31G 2469M 3GS 4A 2MoM 7.00
Biscan: 35G 2000M 2GS 2A 3.5MoM 6.69
Diao: 14G 766M 1GS 0A 0MoM 6.00
Foy: 1 unused substitute
Garcia: 44G 3559M 13GS 6A 3.5MoM 6.82
Gerrard: 43G 3685M 12GS 6A 11.3MoM 7.16
Hamann: 43G 3057M 1GS 7A 2MoM 6.74
Kewell: 31G 2051M 1GS 4A 0MoM 6.26
Le Tallec: 7G 310M 0GS 1A 0MoM 6.50
Nunez: 27G 1406M 1GS 0A 0MoM 6.22
Partridge: 2G 30M 0GS 1A 0MoM 7.00
Potter: 10G 543M 0GS 2A 0MoM 6.33
Riise: 57G 4656M 8GS 10A 3.5MoM 6.82
Smicer: 16G 504M 1GS 0A 0MoM 6.21
Smyth: 1G 50M 0GS 0A 0MoM 6.50
Warnock: 30G 1402M 0GS 2A 1MoM 6.43
Welsh: 7G 352M 0GS 0A 0MoM 6.30
To be honest Gerrard's form dipped a lot in the second half - the worst is of course the League Cup Final. He admitted that as well. Now that he should be signing for next season I hope his mind will be more focused. Garcia was probably the best midfielder in 2H and scored many great goals as well. Xabi was very good as well and he will also form the nucleus of next season. Riise' form dipped little bit in the second half but he still had a good season. Not sure about the future of Hamann and Smicer, but even if they have played the last game for us they will have no regrets for they have scored in the biggest game. But I will expect Didi to stay.
For next season, Rafa would build the midfield amonst Gerrard, Alonso, Riise and Garcia. He may bring in a holding midfielder (Hargraves?) and right midfielder or attacking midfielder as well. Despite the sticks on Kewell Rafa did rate him very high, so don't be surprised to see him around next season. And we should give Nunez some more time as well.
Attackers:
Baros: 45G 3144M 13G 3A 4MoM 6.88
Cisse: 25G 1367M 5GS 1A 3MoM 6.90
Mellor: 16G 854M 5GS 1A 0MoM 6.65
Morientes: 15G 1178M 3G 1A 2MoM 6.43
Owen: 1 unused substitute
Sinama-Pongolle: 26G 1146M 4GS 0A 3.5MoM 6.94
This is the department that need a big rebuild next season. Baros' form dipped significantly in the second half and only scored 2 goals in the second half. He said Valencia is after him, and if so, let's wish we can get Aimar in return. Cisse and Nando are affected by injury and short of match fitness. So we will see a different Cisse and Morientes next season. The question is really how Rafa play them, especially whether it is a 4-5-1 or 4-4-2. We may see another attacker joined us as well.
Player of the season: (1) Gerrard 7.17 (2) Carragher 7.11 (3) Alonso 7.00. Despite his dip in form in 2H Gerrard still had a very good season and scored a crucial goal in the CL Final. Carra is very consistent but just lack a bit of flashes like a goal. And Xabi, we may even finish 3rd if he is fit for the whole season.
Forward plans
So for next season our target will be the League. Let's try to challenge at least 2nd place. But with Rafa the magician, any thing can happen.
We may probably see 3-4 new players in. With the plan to advance pre-season to end of June, and we may probably experience less injuries with a fitter squad, the next season would be a even better one.
No comments:
Post a Comment