As this season draws to a close it's inevitable that 95% of articles will relate to this topic so I thought to get my oar in first. I made some predictions at the start of the season http://www.not606.com/entry.php/312-MITO-s-Rant-my-prediction-for-the-upcoming-season-(part-i) and i then got carried away with the rest of use for about a month. The rest: The usual shocks and amazing, refreshing runs happened during the year but it is amazing how things do play out to a pattern of sorts. what do I mean by that? well usually 90points wins the title, 70 gets 4th and 40 means you beat the drop. This year City and Utd have run away with the league and can get 89 points. The others are struggling to get to 70 and amazingly 3rd will not get 70 this year (arsenal?) Yet again the survivors will be on 40 points at the bottom. So how did i do? Utd were as predicted and could yet win it. Chelsea fell apart and city had the defense i predicted, i called yaya as the keyman but their forwards surprised me and they may well win it. The relations at the club came as no shock and i do think this nearly cost them everything. I had said the cups would go to the top 6 and while lfc are not top 6 they ought to be so i'll cheekily claim that one. I had said Swansea and Norwich and QPR would struggle but two of them were a breath of fresh air. Blackburn are indeed relegated but sadly wigan are not... there's always next year. Liverpool FC We are what we are I guess. There's no denying the table as many a pundit would say. 70 points was our target and we failed miserably to get anywhere near, as did most other sides. However digging into it the frustration apparent in most fans has a logical base to it. LFC stand right now on 52 points, one behind everton with one to play. the sad truth is that's nowhere, certainly in relation to 89 points that will win the thing but its even 18points off of 4th. That 70 points can be broken simply into two buckets, home and away. if you win about 13 at home games out of 19 and win 9 away from home you will get 70 points. Tottenham have a record of 12-3-3 at home this year. Last year LFC had a record of 12-4-3 at home despite the terrible time we had.... isn't that amazing? I have to say its no wonder LFC fans are frustrated by a team who win 6 times at home and throw 4th away by just being awful against sides they should trash week in and week out, never minding the big boys who come. A Carling cup win and an FA cup final are great things a cup double would have been even better but one suspects the tale told by the league also revealed itself in the finals. Weak kneed players who only got what they deserved. I can only conclude that love it or hate it you were on the edge of your seat most of the season. Great days, bad days, jubilation and depression. I think that's what football is all about personally and i think I appreciate the good much more than the sort of plastic fans i see wearing various shades of blue or red on this site.
For many reasons, this league campaign was alot of fun and exciting. Teams beating anyone, shock results, amazing draws and top teams getting hammered throughout. As a Liverpool fan I'm disappointed with our final placing in the league, but optimistic about progression despite this, given the glimpses of what we've seen this year. The year really isn't as bad as it could have been with Carroll taking long to settle, Suarez suspended, Adam injured, Lucas injured, Gerrard injured, goalkeeping bans, etc. Really. Not that bad. We have alot to build upon. We're not City or Chelsea, we'll take time (2/3 years) to improve to a top team again. I'm happy with what I've seen and happy to wait it out. I hope the PL remains as closely contested as it has done this season. Was exciting as a neutral but damn scary at times as a Pool fan! Guess that's why we love it
