2005/06 Season Review

Another season, another trophy. We also improved a lot in the league, and depends on how well Rafa can improve the team, we will be a serious challenger for the title. Now the team has some steal in it especially at home and we have the tag of "difficult to beat" attached. Next season will be even more challenging and let's see if we can win the big thing finally.

Player Rating (Games played, Minutes played, Goal scored/conceded, Assists/cleansheets, MoM, Rating)

Goalkeepers:
Carson: 4G 360M 6GC 1CS 0MoM 6.13
Dudek: 6G 459M 4GC 2CS 0MoM 6.60
Reina: 53G 4821M 34GC 30CS 2.5MoM 6.75

Reina was the number one in the post and did his job very well, with 30 clean sheets in his bag. He imposes a sense of security to the defenders. Although he may lost focus at times (especially the Birmingham away league game and the FA Cup Final) but in general he did very well.

Although Dudek lost his place to Reina he still played well whenever he is called up. Carson did not have any big progress at all and had eventually loaned out. One of them may be leaving this summer.

Defenders:
Agger: 4G 360M 0GS 0A 0MoM 6.63
Carragher: 57G 5154M 1GS 2A 6MoM 6.94
Finnan: 52G 4556M 0GS 7A 1.5MoM 6.65
Hyypia: 59G 5205M 2GS 0A 2.5MoM 6.64
Josemi: 12G 832M 0GS 0A 0MoM 6.39
Kromkamp: 17G 764M 0GS 1A 0MoM 6.45
Medjani: 1 unused substitute
Raven: 1G 90M 0GS 0A 0MoM 6.00
Riise: 52G 3906M 4GS 5A 2MoM 6.74
Traore: 24G 1396M 0GS 0A 0MoM 6.25
Warnock: 30G 1940M 1GS 0A 1MoM 6.33
Whitbread: 3G 216M 0GS 0A 0MoM 6.33

Carra once again lead the defenders, and together with Reina, Hyypia, Finnan and Riise formed our best defensive lineup. This lineup played 18 times with 13 cleansheets and 7 goals conceded - 3 of them in the FA Cup Final and 4 game with 1 goal conceded and an impressive 14 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats. Agger and Kromkamp are bought in as backups and performed OK, and Warnock also did well in the second season, with a high in the Fulham game that he scored his first goal for us. For the others, Rafa will be looking for buyers as he had already bought a few young defenders.

Midfielders:
Alonso: 47G 4087M 5GS 8A 7.5MoM 6.88
Andersen: 1 unused substitute
Barragan: 1G 12M 0GS 0A 0MoM
Gerrard: 53G 4238M 23GS 17A 16MoM 7.19
Hamann: 32G 2222M 0GS 1A 0MoM 6.60
Kewell: 41G 2757M 3GS 3A 1MoM 6.78
Le Tallec: 2G 148M 0GS 1A 0MoM 6.50
Luis Garcia: 50G 2936M 11GS 6A 6MoM 6.72
Potter: 7G 400M 0GS 0A 0MoM 6.42
Sissoko: 45G 3417M 0GS 2A 1.5MoM 6.84
Smicer: 16G 504M 1GS 0A 0MoM 6.21
Zenden: 17G 1095M 2GS 2A 0MoM 6.60

Gerrard is no doubt the best midfield and he is miles apart from the others. But then Alonso and Sissoko also did well as well, and Harry Kewell returning to his best (although he was hurt by another injury in the Final). Luis Garcia and Zenden (before his injury) also played well in the wings, and Hamann a rock in the central whenever he is called upon. For the others, they may see the exit door soon. Rafa has also keen in improving this area and a right winger will be high on his agenda, although he may still play Gerrard and Luis Garcia there as well.

Attackers:
Baros: 2G 38M 0G 0A 0MoM 6.50
Cisse: 54G 2873M 19GS 6A 3.5MoM 6.69
Crouch: 49G 3294M 12GS 7A 4MoM 6.76
Fowler: 16G 857M 5GS 1A 3.5MoM 6.93
Morientes: 46G 2947M 9G 5A 2.5MoM 6.56
Sinama-Pongolle: 16G 538M 3GS 0A 1MoM 6.63

We still need to bring in some players in this department. Despite scoring 19 goals Cisse is still likely to be offload if we have a good offer for him. Nando just did not perform to his level for two years and will most likely out. Cisse was good, but he is never a 20-goal striker for us. Rafa did his master-stroke and bring back Fowler, and his performance are just marvelous. Expect a lot of changes here.

Players of the Season (1) Gerrard 7.19 (2) Carragher 6.94 (3) Alonso 6.88. This is exactly the same as last season, as the three players played consistently well. Momo also played well as well and will be serious challenger for the top 3 post. And Fowler... if he can maintain his form for the whole season, the league title won't be far away from us.

Forward Plans
Rafa had rewritten history and became the first Liverpool manager to bring in trophy in his first two seasons. Now he is going to challenge himself by winning another trophy in the third season - this time the league championship. In analyzing the result of the season, we were slightly better in facing teams from 6th to 20th, but we did very poorly against the other top 5 teams, especially away. We definitely need to improve here. It will be difficult, but if Rafa can bring in a few players to complete his game plan, and if we can maintain our form in the league and improve in facing the top teams, anything is possible.