KENNY'S 2008-09 SEASON REVIEW
Kenny Dalglish 04 June 2009
Although we may not have collected any silverware, Liverpool enjoyed a good 2008-09 campaign.
There was a great deal of improvement in many different areas of the football club over the course of the season and that augurs well for the future.
Off the pitch, the relationship between George Gillett and Tom Hicks appears to have improved, as has the owners' rapport with Rafa Benitez, which, significantly, led to the manager signing a new contract with the club.
Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres and several other key players have also agreed to extend their contracts, so away from the field a lot of good work has been done. The whole club appears to have genuine stability now and that is obviously very positive.
I feel our excellent run at the end of the season reflected the solidity at the club. I believe this steadiness, allied with the fact the players showed a real determination to try and win the title, helped us kick-on in the final stages of the campaign and embark on that incredible goalscoring run.
I can tell you, it's always best for a player to know his club is on a stable footing.
Moving to on-the-field matters, and although in the end we just missed out on the title to Manchester United by four points, Liverpool can justifiably be pleased with their efforts.
We finished with the best goal difference in the league, a feat we haven't achieved for a long time, as well as the highest number of goals scored and fewest defeats.
In addition, we also won a highly impressive 13 games away from Anfield in the league and another big plus was our fantastic record against the other members of the so-called 'big four', with only Arsenal taking points off us.
However, the 14 points we dropped at Anfield ultimately proved to be crucial and is clearly an area Liverpool will be looking to improve on next term.
Some fans will be looking back now and pointing to certain games we failed to take all three points in, but every single team in the league can do that. I don't believe there is any point in thinking about fixtures we should have won because the fact we never will still remain.
We should not lose sight of the many positives that can be derived from the season, and if we can repeat our away form next season and reduce the number of home draws, then we'll give ourselves a fantastic opportunity of winning the title.
Staying with domestic matters, and we were knocked out of the cup competitions pretty early on, which was a disappointment.
While the Carling Cup is seen by many as a tournament to blood your younger players in, for me the FA Cup remains a significant competition that adds great value to the season.
It has perhaps lost its importance to some clubs, but I don't understand that. Watching the final last Saturday, I couldn't help but recall what an absolutely unbelievable occasion it is to experience.
In saying that, however, the most important two competitions are the Premier League and the Champions League, so you can understand why teams will sometimes rest players in the cups.
We fared better in Europe, but despite a heroic effort from the team, we were eliminated from the Champions League by Chelsea.
I still believe it was unfortunate Javier Mascherano was suspended for the first leg of that quarter-final tie at Anfield. We lost 3-1 on the night and he was a big miss for Liverpool in midfield. I can't help but wonder whether things would have turned out differently if Javier had been available.
Although we did not go all the way to Rome this year, such is our pedigree in Europe that I believe all the teams in the competition will be hoping to avoid Liverpool next season, in both the group stage and the knockout phase.
Overall, season 2008-09 was an encouraging one for Liverpool and a really pleasing aspect for me was how exceptionally well several of our players performed individually over the course of the campaign.
Pepe Reina was fantastic yet again and so close to another 'Golden Gloves' award, whilst Jamie Carragher and Martin Skrtel continued to excel in defence.
Yossi Benayoun made some vital contributions when called upon, including that magnificent header in the Bernabeu, and, after he overcame his injury troubles, Fernando Torres found form towards the end of the campaign and still managed to end up with a remarkable tally of 17 goals to his name.
Then, of course, there is Steven Gerrard, who won the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year award - a really prestigious honour for any player.
It's fair to say he probably would have rather had a league title winners' medal in his hand than a Footballer of the Year award, but no one should ever underestimate the value of winning an individual accolade, particularly one as important as this.
Stevie thoroughly deserved the award in my opinion. He's been outstanding not only this season, but for many years at Anfield and hopefully many more to come, and when you consider he was forced to endure spells on the sidelines due to injuries, it makes his tally of 24 goals in 44 appearances even more exceptional.
In saying that, while it's always important to keep your best players fit, it must be remembered that Stevie only played for 20 minutes in the victory over Manchester United at Anfield last September, while Torres didn't play at all.
This tells me Liverpool are capable of winning important games without them, and although it's obviously better to have the two of them on the pitch, Liverpool are far from being a 'one man band', I can assure you.
Still, like any close season, Rafa will be busy this summer, but at least this year he has more time to identify the targets he wants.
Rafa will probably also look to move a couple of players on, and he's already lost one in the form of Sami Hyypia, who was a tremendous servant to Liverpool Football Club.
During his decade with the club, Sami always conducted himself with a lot of dignity and I'm certain everybody will join me in wishing him all the very best at Bayer Leverkusen.
I'm sure Rafa's already thought long and hard about how he will replace Sami, and whilst Liverpool already have a very strong squad, I think it will be even stronger by the time the new season comes around. And being in the title race will have given the current crop of players the genuine belief they can stay the course.
There will be a lot of teams worrying about us and I firmly believe we'll be even closer to clinching the title next season.
Finally, I'd like to take a moment to talk about the recent Hillsborough Memorial Game at Anfield.
It's right and proper that we always respect the families of those who died at Hillsborough, and I think the fans did that by turning up in their thousands on a wet Thursday night.
ITV 4 received twice as many viewers than they had anticipated for the game. They got over 800,000 tuning in to watch the match live and this shows the respect people have for the Hillsborough families.
All of the players who took part agreed to do so willingly and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. It was great to meet up with all the lads again and the banter was definitely in full flow.
The Anfield dressing room was always a special place - you don't get anywhere in football without a successful dressing room - so it was brilliant to experience all the old camaraderie again.
As for my goal on the night, well I think it was very well taken!
In seriousness, Alan Stubbs took a bit of a dive to let me score - it's a shame he never played like that when he was at Everton - but it was still a special moment for me to score at the Kop end once again.
All in all, the Memorial Game was a great success and a fantastic occasion for all.
Great read this, absolutely spot on and sums up the season we have had.
Now, what is YOUR season review?
