Charlie Klein
Almost a year ago exactly fellow scribe Justin Thrift and I debated the merits of the English Premier League. He argued that the fact that the top four positions in the league had been held by the same four teams since 2005 made the league predictable. And he was quite right predictable. That is, until this season.
The championship will be won with the least number of points since the 2002/2003 season in which Manchester United won it with 83 points. And for the first time since 2005 the Premier League will have a new edition to its top four. Tottenham Hotspur or Manchester City will play Champions League football next season. We have witnessed a renaissance within the Premier League. And it has been beautiful to watch.
Speaking of beautiful, last week's Chelsea versus Liverpool match at Anfield was one of the more disappointing matches I've seen for some time. As a foreigner, I've been led to believe by the English press that Anfield is supposed to have one of the best atmospheres in European football. Last weekend one could hear a pin drop even in the Kop End as Chelsea's supporters provided all of the noise. On that day at least, the eleven Liverpool players walked alone at Anfield.
Liverpool fans ought to be embarrassed with themselves. I have heard many LFC supporters claim that they have the best support of any team in England. That clearly is not the case. Just like their team, they have absolutely no class or pride. Having finally lost their shot at fourth this season, both fans and team alike gave up on the remainder of the 2009/2010 season.
I do not think I saw a single Liverpool player run hard for that entire match. They were perfectly happy to sit in their own end and hope by some sort of luck (the likes of which they had not enjoyed at all this season) that Chelsea might fail to score. And this did not happen. Steven Gerrard gave Didier Drogba the pass of the season, and the big Ivorian could do nothing but put Chelsea up for good.
Liverpool have a lot of work to do if they have any ambitions of playing Champions League football in the next few years. Everyone (myself included) believed that it would be Arsenal that would suffer the greatest from Manchester City's new ownership, but it has been Rafa Benitez and not Arsene Wenger who has suffered a tumble out of the Champions League. While his French giggle annoys me to no end, Wenger deserves a bit of credit for leading a group of young players to third place in the league.
One of the funniest events of last summer's transfer window was the utter jubilation on the part of Liverpool fans after their club handed Rafa Benitez an undeserved three year extension. I was not the only one to find Liverpool's second place finish and 86 points last season a bit over embellished. They had been out of the title race last season for some time and gained ground on United once United had established a firm grip on the trophy.
With the renewed faith in Liverpool's chances of winning their first ever Premier League trophy, Benitez did very little to improve the squad. Alberto Aquilani, his 20 million euro signing, has played a minimal role in this year's campaign. For Liverpool to have any chance at Champions League qualification next season, Benitez or whoever is in charge has to invest heavily in the club.
Last season was an aberration. This team has gone on with only two world class players (Torres and Gerrard), who both could depart this summer or next if the situation at the club does not improve. The amount of money that Benitez has squandered on players who were not worth it is starting to come back to haunt the club. Benitez spent 34 million pounds on two players who have combined for 42 appearances in all competitions. Some return on an investment if you asked me.
With the richest family in the world backing Manchester City and the newfound success of Tottenham Hotspur, I would not bet on Liverpool making it back into the top four for the next few seasons. But hey, at least they'll never walk alone right?
Liverpool's loss will be Tottenham or City's benefit. And that will make for one hell of a match tomorrow. If pressed to pick one team over the other, I would have to go with Manchester City. As much as it pains me to say it, I think they have enough attacking talent to cover for the loss of Shay Given in net. If the Aston Villa game is anything to go off of, City have more than the required talent to beat Tottenham tomorrow. I will, however, be sitting at my computer tomorrow hoping that Spurs manager Harry Redknapp has one more rabbit to pull out of that magic hat of his. If that man could lead Portsmouth to an FA Cup trophy, he can do anything.
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