2008/09 Season Review

Another season with no trophy nor final, but the team is definitely improving. We finished the season with 86 points which would win us the league in other seasons, and we only lose two league matches all year round. But the draws against lower teams, especially at home, were crucial. Nevertheless with the experience gained this season we will be much better equipped and we will win the league next season.

In Europe we did very well up to the last 16. In Quarter Final we drawn Chelsea again. Although we lost 1-3 at home in the first leg, we did our best to try to win the game and we almost did it. In the FA Cup we drawn our neighbor in the fourth round and it took 210 minutes to separate the two teams out. Good luck to the Toffees in the Final.

We ended the League Cup run rather early. We drawn Spur after we beat Crewe, but Spur seems to be our bogey team as we lost to them twice within November.

Player Rating (Games played, Minutes played, Goal scored/conceded, Assists/cleansheets, MoM, Rating)
Goalkeepers
Cavalieri 4G 360M 6GC 1CS 0MoM 6.13
Gulacsi 2 unused substitutes
Reina 51G 4650M 38GC 25CS 3MoM 7.08

Reina is again the first choice and he almost won the Golden Glove the 4th time. Cavalieri is also reliable when he is called upon.

Defenders
Agger 26G 2087M 2GS 1A 1MoM 6.94
Arbeloa 43G 3872M 1GS 3A 0MoM 6.81
Aurelio 33G 2432M 3GS 6A 1MoM 6.98
Carragher 54G 4819M 0GS 1A 3MoM 7.05
Darby 2G 27M 0GS 0A 0MoM 6.39
Degen 2G 157M 0GS 0A 0MoM 5.96
Dossena 26G 1769M 2GS 0A 0MoM 6.50
Hyypia 19G 1359M 2GS 0A 3MoM 7.20
Insua 13G 1060M 0GS 0A 0MoM 7.05
Kelly 1G 9M 0GS 0A 0MoM 6.50
Skrtel 30G 2681M 0GS 2A 0MoM 6.91

Central defense is our strongest area with 4 top class center backs. Carra lead the bunch with the most games / minutes played and the best rating. We also have three left backs challenging for the spot and Rafa has many options. However there is not much choice for right back with Arbeloa the only viable option as Degen is injured and Darby still too young, and at times Carra needs to play there as cover. In terms of attack the defenders need to improve as there are only 10 goals scored whole season, with Aurelio leading with 3. One thing worth mentioning is that although Hyypia did not get too many games, whenever he is called upon he is giving us 100%, as can be seen in his high rating and amount of MoM.

Midfielders
Alonso 47G 3726M 4GS 6A 6MoM 7.16
Babel 42G 1639M 4GS 5A 0MoM 6.56
Benayoun 42G 2506M 9GS 6A 8.5MoM 7.15
El Zhar 19G 455M 0GS 1A 0MoM 6.39
Gerrard 44G 3527M 24GS 11A 14MoM 7.61
Kuyt 51G 4340M 15GS 10A 2.5MoM 7.19
Lucas 39G 2011M 3GS 4A 1.5MoM 6.81
Mascherano 38G 3212M 0GS 2A 2MoM 7.13
Pennant 4G 247M 0GS 2A 0MoM 7.05
Plessis 5G 291M 1GS 0A 0MoM 5.92
Riera 40G 2643M 5GS 4A 0MoM 6.86
Spearing 2G 30M 0GS 0A 0MoM 7.03

Stevie G once again stands out and his 24 goals scored is really impressive. Alonso was rumored to be sold but he stayed and proof Rafa wrong with excellent performance all over the year. Kuyt excels in the right midfield position with 15 goals and 10 assists behind him. In the middle Mascherano also performed consistently as he rans all over the pitch. The most impressive revival has to be Benayoun. He scored 9 goals with 6 assists and had been the best player from February onward alongside Stevie G. Rafa will have a challenge to identity where to put him in the lineup next season.

Attackers:
Keane 28G 1780M 7GS 5A 3.5MoM 6.87
Ngog 19G 589M 3GS 1A 0MoM 6.51
Torres 38G 2789M 17GS 6A 7MoM 7.15
Voronin 1 unused substitute.

Torres is still our main striker and despite getting injured and out for a while, he still managed to score 17 goals and has now scored 50 in two seasons. Robbie Keane is a disppointed purchase but Rafa was quick to cut loss. Voronin may not have a future here, but Ngog is quite impressive and will feature more next season.

Players of the year (minimum 2505 minutes)
(1) Gerrard 7.61
(2) Kuyt 7.19
(3) Alonso 7.16
(4) Benayoun 7.147
(5) Torres 7.145
(6) Mascherano 7.13
(7) Reina 7.08
(8) Carragher 7.05
(9) Riera 6.91
(10) Skrtel 6.86
(11) Arbeloa 6.81

Team 7.01. It is a good increase above last year's average of 6.89. The team is heading towards the right direction and we need to be more consistent especially at home. We cannot afford to draw so many games at home again.

Goal conversion
We have 975 shots this season, 26 more than last year despite playing 4 less games. However we scored only 106 goals vs 119 last season. This is probably due to Torres injured for a longer time. In defense we allowed 503 shots (last year 491) but we conceded only 46 goals vs 50 last season. Once again we did better in Europe, but we may find ourselves struggled in the league especially when the other team played 9-0-1.

Match of the season
(1) 3/22/09 vs Aston Villa 8.06
(2) 10/26/08 at Chelsea 7.94
(3) 3/10/09 vs Real Madrid 7.88
(4) 3/14/09 at Manchester United 7.84
(5) 12/28/08 at Newcastle United 7.71

Worst match of the season
(1) 2/28/09 at Middlesbrough 5.64
(2) 11/12/08 at Tottenham Hotspur 5.68
(3) 8/13/08 at Standard Liege 5.90
(4) 4/8/09 vs Chelsea 6.20
(5) 4/21/09 vs Arsenal 6.40