FM2010 - Season 2009/10

And so ends my first season in charge of Liverpool. Season 2009/10 has come to a close and overall, its been a good year. If nothing else, at least we finally managed to get rid of Hicks.

The dreams of Liverpool fans the world over are finally realised

Premiership
Unfortunately, the story from the first half of the season continued as my team maintained their good run of games against top opposition while struggling to beat "lesser" teams. In addition to beating Tottenham (which I talked about last week), we also managed to beat Man Utd and get a great win against Arsenal.


At this point, I'm pretty sure that everyone is wondering how Arsenal managed to lose this game. They controlled the game from start to finish, scored an early goal and even had a man up late in the second half. And then they missed the penalty. That gave my players some hope and some damn fine counter-attacking play saw us score two goals to get the win!

Unfortunately, we weren't able to beat Chelsea. I intended to play that match with a heavily defensive mindset. I figured that with the number of older players at Chelsea, they would tire late in the match. All I had to do was hold onto the ball and force them to chase after it (with Chelsea being at home, they would feel that they have to attack) until they got tired at which point, I could start my own attack. All was going to plan until Lampard scored with an absolute screamer of a free kick and after that, their players stopped chasing after the ball.


As you can see, Chelsea defended well which meant that I was restricted to long shots.

That defeat by Chelsea was probably critical considering the final league table.

So, so close.
Also - lets all laugh at Spurs! :D

Cup form
The board expectations for my Liverpool squad were to reach the final of the FA cup and the semi-final of the Champions Cup.

I managed to get to the semi-final of the Champions Cup where I went up against Real Madrid. Unfortunately, Real Madrid then proceeded to give me a masterclass in attacking football. My team were not only beaten but completely humiliated 4-0 away from home. Unfortunately, the home leg wasn't much better as they completely controlled the match until late in the second half when they went all out defence. The only consolation was that we managed to score two late goals by throwing everyone forward and ended up winning the home leg 2-1.

As you already know, we were knocked out of the FA cup by Man Utd in the fourth round at which point, I made the League cup a priority. Fate would give us a chance at revenge against Man Utd as we came up against them in the final of the League cup. It was a chance that my team would grab with both hands!


woohoo - silverware in my first season in charge! I can only imagine how furious Fergie must have been at being completely outplayed

The squad
Lastly, here is a summary of my squad as at the year end.




As you can see, Stevie G was easily the best player in my team. 18 goals and 14 assists mean that he was my most important attacking player and was also the most consistent player over the course of the season.

Torres was a huge disappointment. He had constant injury problems throughout the year and, although he started 28 games, the reality was that in a lot of those games, he wasn't really match fit. In addition to all that, he also suffered a huge dip in form in the second half of the season. Frankly, 13 goals is pathetic for a player of his standing.

On the other hand, David N'Gog has been a revelation. Can you believe he was my top scorer! He got into the team primarily because Torres was spending so much time injured and, other than a dip in form midway through the season, he did a fantastic job considering his age.

Key themes
World Class Striker - my team desperately needs a world class striker. Torres is spending way too much time injured and I just can't rely on him to be there when I need him. I already have my eye on several candidates and if Torres isn't careful, his status in the squad is going to drop fast.

Injuries - my team have been blighted by injuries this year. There were several times over the course of the season where I had to play players from my reserves because there was literally no-one in the first team who was fit to play. Hopefully, this is only a one-off. Although I fully expect injuries to be an issue in future seasons, with a bit of luck, it won't be as bad as it has been this season.

Reserves - the injuries also highlighted another serious issue with my Liverpool squad. I have absolutely dreadful players in the reserves and under 18's and anytime I fielded one of them, it was a serious weakening of the tam. With the exception of 1 or 2 players, none of them have any potential worth talking about. In addition to a world class striker, I seriously need to buy in a crop of young up and coming players (particularly with the requirement next season that I have 8 players who trained in England).

Conclusion
Overall, I have to say that its been a good year. I managed to get some silverware and meet board expectations in the Champions Cup and the Premiership (in fact, if it hadn't been for the injury crisis, I may even have been able to win it this year). Granted, the board were upset that I got beat in the 4th round of the FA cup but they did acknowledge that it was Man Utd who knocked me out.

Considering that we got new management midway through the year and that those American losers are no longer in charge, I might even get some transfer kitty to buy a world class striker and win next year.

The future is bright. The future is Red.