Trending Topics

      Next match: LFC v Brighton [Premier League] Sun 31st Mar @ 2:00 pm
      Anfield

      Today is the 28th of March and on this date LFC's match record is P26 W11 D3 L12

      November Nightmares

      Read 858 times
      0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
      lfc across the water
      • Needs a Klopp hug...Rafa's Number 1 fan...VAR has no faults Promoter
      • Forum Legend - Fagan
      • *****
      • Started Topic

      • 3,833 posts | 701 
      November Nightmares
      Nov 24, 2014 11:24:03 am
      With the clocks going back, November is a key month in the football season. However at this club, it has often proved to be a jinx month where campaigns and seasons have been destroyed, coaches fired, and cup competitions lost. So why is it that November games seem to be a problem for us? Why did they end in such heartache? Lets take a look at the records down the years.

      1988:

      Millwall turn up at Anfield for the first time ever and take a point. Wimbledon later come here as we look for revenge for the cup final. They get a point with a last minute equaliser. After 3 games, Arsenal are finally seen off in the League Cup with a last minute Aldridge header. The campaign lasts just one more week as we collapse before half time at West Ham. The points lost in the league were just as costly as in the last game of the season.

      1989:

      As regimes collapsed across Europe, our defence join in too at the beginning of the month, at QPR and at home to Coventry. The brought forward league game at Hillsborough is our first visit there since the cup semi final. The defeat is our third in the 5 games in the month. Sheffield Wednesday were relegated, while the return game at home to QPR saw us wrap up No. 18 in April.

      1995:

      The grandfather of all November collapses. 4 defeats from 5 bring just one point, losing the derby at home, together with 2 losses to Newcastle at home and away in the last minute, hit our league hopes hard and go out of the League Cup at home. The 23 game unbeaten run that follows almost retrieves the damage in May.

      1997:

      Robbie Fowler scores the first goal of the month on our first visit to Bolton's new stadium. He later gets sent off and we leave with just a point. In the UEFA Cup, a 0-3 loss last month in Strasbourg isn't retrieved at home. And then there is Barnsley. Hapless newcomers Barnsley turned up here as the laughing stock of the league, unable to score, win, and leaking goals like a sieve. They duly win 1-0, and our season peters out.

      1998:

      With joint coaches in charge, a stuttering start of the season falls apart in November. Derby, Spurs, and Leeds all win here in consecutive games. The Spurs game sees the end of Roy Evans time here 2 days later. Gerard Houllier loses his first game against Leeds and then lose at Celta in the UEFA Cup. The away goal scored over there isn't enough to help retrieve the deficit at home. It would be 2 more years before we're back in Europe.

      2002:

      4 years on, November starts brightly as West Ham's dire run at our place stretches to 38 years, and we go 7 points clear at the top for 24 hours. Within 2 weeks, the advantage is wiped out as a record-busting woeful Sunderland side pick up a point, while Gerard goes to Middlesbrough looking for one but doesn't get it. In the meantime, we go 3-0 down to Basle at half time in the European Cup, and go out of the competition at the first group stage. Fulham collect 3 points against us too. Our next win is at Southampton in January, our next home win is in March, and far from winning the league, a loss at Chelsea on the final day sees our 14 year winless run there continue and out of the Top 4 spots as the punishment. 

      2009:

      With meltdown on and off the pitch already underway, November sees little change. Winning in Budapest against Debrecen cannot prevent us going out of the European Cup after just 5 games. Home draws against Birmingham and Manchester City either side of the international break do little to lift the feeling that the roof is caving in. By the end of the season, it well and truly has. Hoping to lose to Chelsea so our league title record is preserved that bit longer, we're well outside the Top 4, looking for a new coach and owner, and weeks from administration. Nobody really saw this coming 20 years ago.

      2010:

      The UEFA Cup finalist and League Manager of the Year is in place. Unfortunately little has changed on the pitch. Within weeks, fans have already made up their mind on Hodgson and want us to lose more games. Lucas gets sent off at Stoke as they end our 5 game unbeaten run, Spurs come from behind in the last minute to beat us for the 4th time there in a row. Wigan come from behind to get a point, and we draw the mancs away in the cup. By then, Roy is history.

      2013:

      2 leads are thrown away in the derby, as we scramble a late point. Another 3 points are secured in a stroll at home to Fulham. That is as good as it gets though. A cave in at Hull next month sees us drop 8 points from 12, and leaving  us with too much to do in the run in.

      2014:

      Shades of 1995 again as 4 defeats in a row leave us in the bottom half of the league and scratching our heads how they happened, and what we need to do to put it right. Like last year, all the points won and lost count in May. By the time we play Palace in our last home game of the season, we'll know how much the run hurt us in the end.

      Quick Reply