2 CL Finals in Rafa's first 3 years, but we failed to make it this time. Lots of players will leave this season, and many more to join. It would be interesting to see the lineup next season, but no doubt Rafa will be trying hard to improve the team. And next season the focus will no doubt be to challenge for Premiership.
Our home record is good but we definitely need to improve our away form. At home we are on par with Manchester and Chelsea (MU: 47 pts; Chelsea: 43; us: 46; Arsenal: 42) but away from home it's a different story (MU: 42; Chelsea: 40; us: 22; Arsenal: 26).
Contrary to what other may be thinking, we are actually not that bad against the remaining of the top 5 (MU: 14; Chelsea: 10; us: 12; Arsenal: 15) but this year the problem is against teams from 6th place to 10th (MU: 25; Chelsea: 24; us: 12; Arsenal: 18). 5 points were lost against Everton, Portsmouth and Blackburn, and we still yet to win at Bolton. Another area to improve is against bottom 5 teams, where Manchester won all 10 matches, and we only get 23 points.
Player Rating (Games played, Minutes played, Goal scored/conceded, Assists/cleansheets, MoM, Rating)
Goalkeepers
Dudek: 6G 540M 13GC 2CS 0MoM 5.50
Martin: 5 unused substitutes
Padelli: 1G 90M 2GC 0CS 0MoM 5.00
Reina: 51G 4620M 36GC 26CS 6MoM 6.90
Reina has a very good second half and has the first team place firmly grabbed. 26 clean sheets this season is still very spectacular. Dudek finally called his day in Liverpool, and we wish you all the best. Padelli has an awful game against Charlton, and it is unlikely that his loan will be extended.
Defenders
Agger: 43G 3624M 4GS 3A 3MoM 6.87
Arbeloa: 14G 1067M 1GS 1A 0.5MoM 6.55
Aurelio: 25G 1487M 0GS 4A 0MoM 6.47
Carragher: 51G 4375M 1GS 0A 5MoM 7.03
Darby: 1 unused substitute
Finnan: 47G 4179M 0GS 8A 1MoM 6.69
Hobbs: 2 unused substitutes
Hyypia: 29G 2573M 3GS 1A 2MoM 6.59
Insua: 2G 165M 0GS 0A 0MoM 5.23
Kromkamp: 1G 90M 0GS 0A 0MoM 6.00
Paletta: 8G 579M 1GS 2A 0MoM 5.64
Peltier: 4G 344M 0GS 0A 0MoM 5.72
Riise: 48G 3880M 5GS 1A 0MoM 6.75
Roque: 1G 6M 0GS 0A 0MoM 6.00
Smith: 1G 16M 0GS 0A 0MoM 6.00
Warnock: 7G 413M 0GS 0A 0MoM 5.96
Carra leads the defenders will another impressive season. Agger has edged himself ahead of Hyypia and became the regular partner of Carra, and lead the defenders score board with 4 goals. Sami featured less in the second half (he was the leading defender during first half) but still managed to score 3. Finnan is another unsung hero and this year he has an impressive 8 assists recorded. On the left Riise made the position his own especially there were not too many challenges to him. Arbeloa and Aurelio both has an OK first season, but they need to improve a lot to challenge Finnan and Riise. And we seem to have less cover in center defense, so Rafa should try his best to hold Sami for at least one more season.
Midfielders
Alonso: 51G 3983M 4GS 2A 4MoM 6.84
Anderson: 1 unused substitute
El Zhar: 3G 50M 0GS 0A 0MoM 6.00
Gerrard: 51G 4256M 11GS 6A 8.5MoM 7.14
Gonzalez: 36G 1638M 3GS 0A 0.5MoM 6.28
Guthrie: 7G 218M 0GS 0A 0MoM 5.82
Kewell: 3G 77M 1GS 0A 0MoM 6.44
Luis Garcia: 27G 1680M 6GS 5A 1MoM 6.72
Mascherano: 11G 993M 0GS 0A 0.5MoM 7.04
Pennant: 52G 3132M 1GS 11A 1.5MoM 6.92
Sissoko: 28G 2013M 0GS 1A 2MoM 6.80
Zenden: 30G 1776M 0GS 2A 0MoM 6.35
Despite switching back and forth from central and right midfield, Stevie G continues to lead the team. Perhaps John Barnes is right in saying that we need to holding midfielder, ie, if Stevie G plays in the middle, we should play a 4-5-1 as otherwise we will run into trouble should he lose the ball. On the right Pennant surprised everyone by becoming the player who played the most game this season. And he finished with a respective score of 6.92. Xabi continues to be reliable in the midfield, and Mascherano proved to be a very good player and challenging Sissoko for the midfield position. As for Momo, he is trying very hard to gain back his position, but at times he tried too hard. He is still young and can improve dramatically. On the left both Gonzalez and Zenden have an average season and will leave. Kewell just come back in time for the Champions League final, and next season we need a healthy Kewell to start performing. The injury to Luis Garcia also proved to be crucial. We missed his decisive goals.
Attackers
Bellamy: 42G 2664M 9G 8A 8MoM 6.86
Crouch: 49G 2559M 18GS 9A 4MoM 7.05
Fowler: 23G 1033M 7GS 4A 3MoM 6.91
Kuyt: 48G 3631M 14GS 5A 7.5MoM 7.07
Sinama-Pongolle: 1G 1M 0GS 0A 0MoM 6.00
One problem of our team is the lack of goals. At times we created many chances but just failed to convert. Crouch lead the scoring board with 18 goals, and Kuyt came close with a good 14 goals under his name, 12 of which is in the league. Bellamy has an on-and-off season and managed 9 goals, and Fowler, despite playing much less, also had 7 goals.
Players of the season (2000 mins or above):
(1) Gerrard 7.14
(2) Kuyt 7.07
(3) Crouch 7.05
(4) Carragher 7.03
(5) Pennant 6.92
Rafa: 6.79. He needs to sort out the away problem and the lack of goals. Our goal conversion rate is dismal.
Goal Conversion
Goal conversion has been a problem. Throughout the season we had 895 goal attempts and scored 90 goals (10.1% goals/goal attempts), whereas our defenders had minimized the opponents to 444 goal attempts but still conceded 52 goals (11.7% goals/goal attempts). At home we are on par, with we scored with 11.6% g/ga whereas the opponents scored with 11.7%, but in away games our goal conversion is dropped to 7.8%, while the opponents still scored at 11.1%. The lack of goals, especially away from home, continues to hinder our chance of challenging the top 2.
Match of the season
1. 3/31/07 Arsenal (h) League (4-1) : 7.71
2. 5/1/07 Chelsea (h) Champions League Semi Final (1-0): 7.70
3. 12/9/06 Fulham (h) League (4-0) : 7.67
4. 2/24/07 Sheffield United (h) League (4-0): 7.66
5. 1/1/07 Bolton Wanderers (h) League (3-0): 7.62
Worst match of the season
1. 1/9/07 Arsenal (h) League Cup (3-6) : 5.02
2. 9/9/06 Everton (a) League (0-3): 5.36
3. 11/12/06 Arsenal (a) League (0-3) : 5.46
4. 4/28/07 Portsmouth (a) League (1-2): 5.48
5. 5/5/07 Fulham (a) League (0-1): 5.89
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