2010-11 EPL Preview: Liverpool

This is not the badge of a mid-table side.

The English Premier League (suck it, Barclays!) season is just around the corner, so we here at UF are giving you everything you need to know about all 20 teams with our award-winning analysis. And no, we haven’t really won any awards, but neither has Arsenal in five years and people still seem to care about them.

Official Name: Liverpool Football Club

Nickname: Reds. “Liverfourth,” and “Liverseventh,” [ed note: Don't forget Seventhpool] are not widely recognized.

Home Colors: Red. But they actually began life long ago wearing Everton’s blue and white. But that was long ago and really only worth bringing up to tweak LFC-supporting friends.

Trophy Case:
English First Division: A record (shared with Manchester United) 18 championships. First in 1901, and notably a phenomenal run of 11 championships in 18 years from 1973 until 1990.
European Cup/Champions League: 5 of ‘em. 1977, 1978, 1981, 1984 (that’s 4 in 8 years, folks) and Rafa Benitez’s Miracle in Istanbul in 2005.
FA Cups: 7, most recently in 2006 when they broke the hearts of West Ham.
League Cups: Again, 7. Most recently in 2003.
Doubles and Trebles: Many. I’m making myself sick here. Hold on…I know!
Premiership Titles: None. Nada. Zilch. It’s been 20 full years since Liverpool won the League and the Premiership ain’t that old.

2009-10 League Finish: Liverseventh.

2009-10 Average Home Attendance: 42,864 (45,362 is capacity)

2009-10 Cup Finishes:
League Cup: After beating Leeds away 1-nil in the Third Round, Lost to Arsenal away in the Fourth Round, 2-1
FA Cup: In the Third Round Proper, drew Reading away 1-1 before losing the replay 2-1 at Anfield. Ouch.
Champions League: Gaining only 7 points in 6 matches, Liverpool crashed out of Group E behind Fiorentina and Lyon.
Europa League: After the CL crash, they gave a good run before losing in the Semis to Atletico Madrid.

One of these players was also a good Liverpool manager.

History: Perhaps the most storied club in England, Liverpool were founded in 1892. Interestingly, a real estate dispute in their early years resulted in Liverpool claiming Anfield from the older Everton FC. Liverpool won their first championship a mere 9 years after formation and won a further four titles before relegation in the late 1950s.

Manager Bill Shankly led Liverpool to its first famous run of three League titles, 2 FA Cups and the club’s first European Cup, all between 1963 and 1973. Shankly was succeeded by assistant Bob Paisley. Paisley proceeded to better Shankly by winning a total of 21 trophies in his 9 years in charge.

In 1985, under Paisley’s successor, Liverpool played Juventus in the European Cup Final at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels. Before kickoff a fence separating the two fan bases failed and Liverpool supporters charged the Juventus support. The resulting crush collapsed a retaining wall and  killed 39 people, mostly Italian. In the resulting furor, English clubs were banned from European competition for five years.

After Heysel, Kenny Dalglish took over as manager. Dalglish led the club to 3 League Titles and 2 FA Cups in his 6 seasons in charge. However, during this time tragedy struck Liverpool a second time. At the 1989 FA Cup Semi between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough, 96 Liverpool supporters were crushed due to overcrowding and poor ground management.

After Dalglish the Silverware became more sparse. Graeme Souness, Roy Evans and Gerard Houllier achieved little of Liverpool-worthy note between 1991 and 2003. Liverpool friends might point to a treble won by Houllier. You might ask them exactly what trophies made up that treble.

In 2004, Rafael Benitez took over as manager. In his first season in charge, Liverpool finished 5th in the League yet managed a stunning run to the Champions League title capped by a comeback win over AC Milan on penalties. The following year, they similarly came from behind to beat West Ham in the FA Cup in Cardiff, again on penalties. Liverpool supporters understandably fell hard for Rafa. However, perennially poor League form and lack of further honors, along with Benitez’s showy tactics and squad management, bumbling transfer management, and overall arrogance made last season’s seventh-place finish untenable. Rafa departed this past summer and was replaced by Fulham’s Roy Hodgson.

Team Legends:
So a Chelsea supporter gets to start this fight? Sh*t. Anyway, I’ll give you five…

Kenny Dalglish. Playing with LFC from 1977 until 1989, the Scot scored 169 goals in 501 appearances. He won 7 League titles, 3 European Cups and 5 domestic cups. At the end of his playing career, he was England’s first player-manager. In 6 years as manager, he won 3 League titles and 2 FA Cups. The man defines “legend.”

Ian Rush. Kenny’s strike partner from 1980 to 1987, the Welshman returned to LFC from 1988 to 1996. Rush scored a whopping, and record, 346 goals for Liverpool. He’s also the FA Cup all-time leading scorer, record League Cup goalscorer (shared with Geoff Hurst) and all-time Welsh international goal scorer. Yet Ned calls Darren Huckerby a legend. Please.

Ray Clemence. This English keeper played for the club for 15 years, holding the first team spot for 11, while also making 61 appearances for England. Clemence won 5 League champion medals, 3 European Cup medals and 2 domestic cup medals.

Kevin Keegan. An English footballing legend, Keegan scored exactly 100 goals in 323 appearances between 1971 and 1977. Keegan came up as a middie but was moved to striker and, in fact, yielded his Liverpool striker spot to Dalglish upon leaving for Hamburg. Keegan also scored 21 goals for his country in 63 appearances and went on to a checkered career as a manager.

Steven Gerrard. Current Red Talisman. I personally think he’s an overrated, selfish sh*t who distorts Liverpool’s play. Wait, did I say that out loud?  But you have to hand it to the lad. A native Merseysider, Gerrard has only ever played for Liverpool from the youth program on up. He’s been first-team since the 2000-01 season and Captain of Liverpool since 2003. Everything in the current Liverpool team flows through Stevie. In all seriousness, he’s a massive talent who has played his entire life for his home-town club.  Has to be Top Five for LFC, to my mind.

Touch the sign. Touch it!!!!

Gaffer
Roy Hodgson. Most recently Roy guided Fulham to the Europa League final. Fulham!  He also led Switzerland to its only success of note (in the 1990s) and had stints with Inter, Blackburn and Udinese. Liverpool represents Hodgson’s 17th managerial gig.  Any number of European clubs point to Hodgson’s tenure with pride.

Hodgson is widely respected. After the tumult of the Benitez years, most observers view Hodgson as a wise successor. His no-nonsense, simple tactics.  His technical approach and team-centered motivation.  The man runs every practice.  Every drill.  And his players love him. It would seem to be exactly what Liverpool need to re-gather themselves.

Transfers In:
Joe Cole
Milan Jovanovic
Danny Wilson

Transfers Out:
Yossi Benayoun
Albert Riera
Javier Mascherano (assumed but not done)

Key Players:
As always, Liverpool’s attack runs through Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres. However, the addition of Joe Cole adds an intriguing attacking option. Will Joe play behind Torres, or wide as he did at Chelsea?

Overcoming the loss of Mascherano depends upon Alberto Aquilani’s play in front of the defense. Will the Italian both stay healthy and steady the space behind Gerrard?

Otherwise, can Hodgson get full flower from the likes of Glen Johnson, Dirk Kuyt, Ryan Babel and, even, Lucas Leiva? Certainly, David N’Gog has shined in the preseason. It’s sometimes easy to forget how much promise pervades so many on this squad. It is not hard to imagine several of them coming good once freed of Rafa’s indecision and mindgames.

Rising Stars: Liverpool are thin in terms of proven performers.  But they have compelling young prospects that have brought an air of optimism to Anfield…

Dani Pacheco. A 19-year-old product of Barcelona’s youth program, Pacheco has training ground technical flash and has impressed with Spain’s U19s.  His countryman, Benitez, only subbed him on 7 times last year.  But Pacheco would appear to supplement Torres as a second striker.  You don’t have to ask a supporter twice to get them going on Pacheco.

Jonjo Shelvey. Purchased in May from Charlton, this 18-year-old midfielder cites Steven Gerrard as his inspiration.  He may well take Stevie’s spot one day.

Danny Wilson. Only 18 years old, Wilson was purchased from Rangers.  He had worked his way into the Ranger defense and was awarded every Young Scottish Player of the Year Award.

You know you want to go…

Stadium: This is Anfield.  As I said, Liverpool stole this place from Everton and have never played anywhere else.  Nevertheless, Anfield is small compared to the larger Premiership grounds.  This leaves LFC at a revenue disadvantage.  Plans for a new, larger home at nearby Stanley Park have never come to fruition.  Nevertheless, if you love football you dream of going to a match at Anfield.  It will be a sad day when they tear her down.

Tactics!: I’m going to put Joe Cole up behind Torres. As a Chelsea guy, I love Joe.  And I think that he and Roy brought him to Liverpool to create.  Let’s throw Kuyt and Jovanovic wide.

Play Gerrard and Leiva (who I do think is underrated) in the middle.  But Aquilani coming good would make them better behind Gerrard.

In the back, Liverpool have a number of interchangeable pieces.  Aurelio, bizarrely released and then reclaimed, is a good left back but with injury troubles.  Glen Johnson charges forward from the right but leaves space behind.  Skrtel, Carragher, Agger, and Krygiakos will vie for time in the middle, with Agger able to play wide.

In goal, Pepe Reina is one of the best keepers in Europe.

Question Marks: Can Leiva or Aquilana bring the stability that Mascherano is likely taking with him?

Who else will Roy sign, perhaps with the Mascha money?

Can Steven Gerrard’s free-lancing style fit in Hodgson’s disciplined shape and tactical style?

Can Torres stay healthy?

Is the squad deep enough for League, Cup and Europa play?

Ah, who am I kidding? The elephant in the room is the ownership question. Americans Tom Hicks and George Gillett have brought the club to the brink of a debt collapse. As of this writing, the Chinese government and other interests are making approaches for the club through its Royal Bank of Scotland debtholder.

The single biggest key to Liverpool’s success, to my mind, is settling unsettled ownership. It costs them transfer flexibility, it freaks out the support and hometown media, and it distracts the squad. Liverpool need to move on from the the Bickering Broke Americans and start on the road, any road, to their future.  The clock is ticking.  Without a transaction, RBS will take over in October.  RBS is owned by British taxpayers due to the bailout.  Imagine the headlines.  One has to think cooler minds will avoid that fate.

Prediction: Writing this preview, I’ve talked myself into optimism for Liverpool.  I like Hodgson a lot. The Londoner may well be the man to bring out the best in these players.  And I think that the squad sets up better than most believe.

But in the clear light of day, I don’t think that they can make it back to the top four from seventh with a new manager and a relatively unchanged and still thin squad. Chelsea and United remain too strong.  Arsenal will improve.  I think Manchester City have bought too much real quality and that Mancini is underrated.  Spurs remain a very compelling story.

Call it sixth for Liverpool with deep Cup run.  Screw it, I’ll give them the FA Cup.  More importantly, however, England’s most storied club may well be on the cusp of a turnaround.  And that, I think, will matter more to the Kop than Champions League football next year.