Liverpool Story — May 2013

Hello friends, it’s the last month of the season now! At the end of April we were nearing a Premier League title win and had got into the final of the Champions League, where we were to face Man Utd. We only needed a couple of wins to secure the League title, so I wanted to do it early and rest players for the Man Utd match.

The first game of the month was at home to Wigan, and I expected us to win the match. I rested Gerrard, Silva, and Sanchez bringing in Adam Brown, Stewart Downing and Jack Wilshere. I was rewarded right away, Wilshere crossed for Brown to head home after just 3 minutes. Torres doubled the lead after Brown’s fine through ball, and grabbed his second soon after volleying in Brown’s free kick. He had to wait until the 68th minute to complete his hat-trick, he skipped past two tackles and slotted in, a fine way to score his 3rd.

The next game was the one that could win us the title, we travelled to Newcastle and a draw was all we needed to secure the league again. The big players all returned bar Gignac, who had a minor injury. Niklas Danielsson, his replacement opened the scoring with a fine header from Silva’s cross. Unfortunately Silva was injured in the build up but thankfully his injury was only a small one. Torres then scored his 4th in 2 games with a crisp finish into the bottom corner from Gerrard’s pass. We were now well on course to secure the title and the players were playing with real confidence. Stewart Downing, on for Silva, tapped in after a mistake from the goalkeeper and Gerrard completed the scoring before half time with a powerful effort. The final whistle went without any further incdents and we had won the league again! I was pleased and now players could be rested for the final two league games, before the Champions League final.

The final two league games were against Aston Villa and West Brom. The first of the two was the Villa game, and we were away at Villa Park. I rested alot of players and one of the players who came in, Adam Brown gave us the lead with a cool finish after good build up play from Wilshere and Danielsson. We had to wait until the 57th minute for another incident, Carlos Cuellar fouled Roman Vavilov and was sent off for two bookable offences. We doubled the lead not long after, Vavilov slotted in after a good run. Torres, on as a sub, scored our third with a powerful finish from Gerrard’s pass. Ashley Young pulled one back late on but it was meaningless and we had secured another victory.

The final Premier League game of the season was a home tie against West Brom. I sent out a young and weakened team again, and Martin Galvan put us ahead in the 25th minute with a nice finish after a good move. We couldn’t hold on though, and James Morrison grabbed a point for them on the stroke of half time with a powerful shot that beat Areola.

The final game of the season beckoned and it was of course, the big one, the Champions League Final versus Man Utd. I sent out my strongest team in a 4-5-1 formation. The team was: GK — Reina, DR — Johnson, DCs — Otamendi and Jourdain, DL — Insua, DMC — Mascherano, MCs — Gerrard and Aquilani, AMR — Sanchez, AML — Silva and ST — Torres. We started off brightly but Wayne Rooney powered them into the lead in the 35th minute. I was beginning to panic and thought it was going to slip away from us, but in the 75th minute Gignac, on for Aquilani, glanced in to equalise for us. We started to dominate from that point onwards, but we couldn’t find a winner and the game went into extra time. The match then became more even, but in the 105th minute Fernando Torres ran onto a through ball and, as defenders closed in on him, lobbed Foster from 25 yards to give us the lead. There was to be one final chance for them but Rooney’s shot cannoned off the post and straight to Reina. We held on though and we had won the Champions League for the first time under my managment! I was very pleased and Torres’ goal was a worthy winner, it truly was a fantastic goal.

I was delighted, so were the board, the fans were jubilant and the players were also delighted. It was declared a proud day for the fans and the club, and everyone was really happy with the result, especially as it was over an arch rival.

Here is the final Premier League table of a very successful season for us. We won the league by a clear margin, although it wasn’t as big as last season.

I will now do a short analysis on the 2012-13 season, a season in which almost every player has contributed in some way.

Here are the top five players, by average rating:

1. Fernando Torres — League 7.61, Overall 7.49

2. Andre Pierre Gignac — League 7.39, Overall 7.44

3. Anthony Anderson — League 7.34, Overall 7.37

4. Steven Gerrard — League 7.33, Overall 7.31

5.  Adam Brown — League 7.77, Overall 7.29

Here are the top five goalscorers:

1. Fernando Torres — Overall 45 (4) apps, 37 goals — League 32 apps, 27 goals

2. Andre Pierre Gignac — Overall 31 (17) apps, 34 goals — League 34 apps, 21 goals

3. Steven Gerrard — Overall 47 (7) apps, 17 goals — League 35 apps, 16 goals

4. Alexis Sanchez — Overall 32 (6) apps, 7 goals — League 24 apps, 5 goals

5. David Silva — Overall 45 (6) apps, 6 goals — League 34 apps, 5 goals

Fernando Torres won the Premeir League Golden Boot, 1 goal ahead of Jay Rodriguez (Burnley).  Torres also won the Player of the Season award, with Gerrard second and Gignac third. The awards were completed for us as I won the Manager of the Season.

Transfer Targets and Positions to Improve

I am already prepearing for next season and plan to improve some areas of the team that have been weakest. Stewart Downing has never really impressed me and with Axier Kortadi a promising left winger, he will be sold. Kortadi will be used as understudy to Silva, and hopefully I can get decent money for Downing. I may also decide to bring in another right winger but at the moment it looks like it will be quite a quiet transfer window for us.

That’s all for now folks, we have five international fixtures in the off season so hopefully we can win those and I will now be looking out for transfer buisness.