Premier League - Countdown: Liverpool

Eurosport - Thu, 13 Aug 11:05:00 2009

Eurosport-Yahoo! continues its countdown to the Premier League season with a look at last year's runners-up, Liverpool.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 Champions League Liverpool Fernando Torres Steven Gerrard - 0

Manager: Rafael Bentiez

Last 10 Seasons : (1999/2000 to 2008/2009): 4/3/2/5/4/5/3/3/4/2

POSSIBLE STARTING XI:

Pepe Reina

Glen Johnson - Jamie Carragher - Martin Skrtel - Fabio Aurelio

Dirk Kuyt - Javier Mascherano - Alberto Aquilani - Albert Riera

Steven Gerrard

Fernando Torres

BACK-UPS FROM: Diego Cavalieri, Philipp Degen, Daniel Agger, Andrea Dossena, Emiliano Insua, Yossi Benayoun, Damien Plessis, Lucas Leiva, Ryan Babel, Nabil El-zhar, David Ngog, Andriy Voronin.

TRANSFERS:

In - Alberto Aquilani (Roma, £20m), Glen Johnson (Portsmouth, £18m)

Out - Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid, £30m), Alvaro Arbeloa (Real Madrid, £4.5m), Sami Hyypia (Bayer Leverkusen, free), Jermaine Pennant (Real Zaragoza, free), Sebastian Leto (Panathinaikos, £1.3m), Jack Hobbs (Leicester City, undisclosed), Paul Anderson (Nottingham Forest, £250,000), Adam Hammill (Barnsley, undisclosed)

POSITIVES: Last season saw Liverpool mount their first credible title challenge in years, and the partnership between dynamic captain Steven Gerrard and striker Fernando Torres has continued to strengthen. Their haul of 77 Premier League goals last term proved that Rafael Benitez is capable of fielding an attacking side after all. Despite several meddling comments from his agent, Argentine midfielder Javier Mascherano remains at the club. Right-back Glen Johnson was an astute purchase from Portsmouth, not withstanding his hefty price tag.

NEGATIVES: While Mascherano would have been arguably the greater loss, the departure of Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid will be felt. The Spaniard's masterful distribution from deep was fundamental to Liverpool's successes. Alberto Aquilani will take his place, but is a different type of midfielder, and the Reds may take time to adjust once the Italian is fit to start his Anfield career.

VERDICT: Benitez has not sufficiently strengthened his squad, with Johnson and Aquilani merely replacing Arbeloa and Alonso. Liverpool's fate will once again be heavily dependent on the fitness and form of Gerrard and Torres. 3rd.

Tony Mabert / Eurosport

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  1. good luck liverpool!!!!! i hope you win the tile and­ prove all the doubters wrong and you will also be able­ to buzz to the all the stuck up man u fans! lol soz­ united fans some of u are alright! but anyway im­ unfortunately not a liverpool fan even though i love­ them loadz im a relegated boro fan but will be chearing­ liverpool on this season! so the best of luck to­ liverpool and TORRES!

    From smiley123, on Fri 14 Aug 12:05PM

  2. Come on you Toffees, in Moyes we trust

    From phil, on Fri 14 Aug 10:40AM

  3. RYAN...Man Utds strongest team Van der­ saar(36)..Brown(28)..Ferdinand(30)..Vidic(27)..Evra(28)­ ..Valencia(24)..Scholes(31)..Carrick(27)..Nani(22)..Roo­ ney(22)..Berbatov(28) Total age(303)...Liverpools­ strongest team­ Reina(27)..Johnson(24)..Aurelio(30)..Carragher(31)..Skr­ tel(24)..Mascherano(25)..Aquilani(25)..Kuyt(29)..Gerrar­ d(29)..Reira(28)..Torres(24) Total age(196) so pretty­ much the same yet you main back ups are­ Foster(23)..Neville(34)..Evans(22)..Giggs(35)..Andersso­ n(23)..Hargreaves(28)..Owen(29) ours are­ Cavalieri(24)..Insua(20)..Agger(24)..Lucas(21)..Babel(2­ 3)..Benayoun(28)..Voronin(30)...AGAIN YOUNGER AVARAGE­ AGE....and before you go on about your youth team, our­ youth team have bettered yours consistently the last 3­ years and Nemeth, Pacheco and Kelly are far better than­ anything you have to offer.

    From resentdtox, on Thu 13 Aug 11:40PM

  4. Lads Lads Lads.... Why all the animosity....?­ Football starts back on saturday... Lets all­ rejoice...!!! We all talk sh#t coz this season we all­ know its a three way for the title. Liverpool, Man u,­ Chelsea. And non of us have a clue whos gonna win­ it.... Lets be honest..! It's gonna be a good one..­ C'mon the pool...!!!

    From delboy, on Thu 13 Aug 9:28PM

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    From daanstephens, on Thu 13 Aug 7:51PM
  6. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    3 seasons and won f==kall soon to be 4 scummy muppets­ ha ha

    From DAZGGMU-RED-LEGEND-OF-YAHOO, on Thu 13 Aug 5:56PM

  7. man u are chumps again!!!!no tevez no ronaldo equals no­ silverware

    From garycoyle1, on Thu 13 Aug 4:27PM

  8. powell m what did you win last season or season before

    From Jimmyrice man u are champs again, on Thu 13 Aug 4:14PM

  9. damnsoldja how can u say liverpool deserve it how can­ any team deserve it and why would it be good for­ english game explain your idiotic point

    From Jimmyrice man u are champs again, on Thu 13 Aug 4:13PM

  10. i am missing something riera is a rm kuyt is an st or­ atk rm so u have no lm

    From Jimmyrice man u are champs again, on Thu 13 Aug 4:12PM

  11. insua is big player this season pushing for heinze ­ place in south africa great shot pace and crossing­ ability my bet for one of the stars of season

    From garycoyle1, on Thu 13 Aug 4:12PM

  12. I agree more or less. But please consider that Alonso­ was not fit over a large part of last season, he simply­ missed a lot of matches, and Liverpool coped very well­ with his absence. Another plus: they reduced a but the­ squad width, they had too many players. A minus: I like­ Pennant, maybe because I remember the CL final against­ Milan, probably his best match ever. But in fact he­ played almost never last year.

    From Giovanni T, on Thu 13 Aug 3:54PM

  13. I hope this year Liverpool will be champions! They­ really deserve it now! And LFC's title win, would­ be doing good for the whole english football and­ league!

    From damnsoldja, on Thu 13 Aug 3:52PM

  14. lol...i am so happy to read so many manure fan sticking­ around the the real reds forum or news..like i always­ say... manure is really concern abt liverpool that­ kicked manure's ars** in the 70-80...and oops..no­ sorry..last season a double that I have no doubt­ especially when SG n Torres were not even in the team­ in that 2-1 defeat of the manure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!* see­ that infinitive !! the commentator was saying that the­ game mean more to fu*kie than anybody else....eat­ it...manure!!!

    From powellm, on Thu 13 Aug 3:52PM

  15. Concerned seems concerned...is he another UTD­ fan..sorry...hangon..thats worried that with all the­ cheating and help that they had last season(scared refs­ & linesman) the title will be coming down the east­ lancs road????? seem to remember we taught them a­ footballing lesson last season!!

    From Tim, on Thu 13 Aug 3:25PM

  16. To all man u. fans around the world, who might feel­ alone and sad before the eve of reality (new season)­ please find a soul mate by reading any Liverpool Blog.

    From michaelh, on Thu 13 Aug 3:00PM

  17. viva liverpool the best liverpool ha jigu l-ewwel

    From maurodrago15, on Thu 13 Aug 2:45PM

  18. aku k: away and build a mud house or something!

    From crispyduck, on Thu 13 Aug 2:44PM

  19. This article should have been called: "Premier­ League - CountOUT: Liverpool" hahahahahahaha!

    From crispyduck, on Thu 13 Aug 2:43PM

  20. liverpool will down to championship

    From yenzen_ho, on Thu 13 Aug 2:42PM
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