Poll Results: Best Win of the Season

The blogger vote was marginally closer, but as if the poll winner would be anything other than a romp over United. Romps over United better are Christmas, Easter, Hanukkah, and Presidents' Day all rolled into one.

You can find the previous four results at Liverpool Offside (Worst Loss), Anfield Asylum (Performance of the Season), Paisley Gates (Goal of the Season), and two posts down on this site (Young Player of the Season).

Gareth of Well Red:
Liverpool 3-1 United (h): Hating Liverpool defines United fans, that's why they skulk this earth. So they win No.19 and what do they do? Sing about us, make banners about us, attend our games and contact us on the internet with all manner of illiterate abuse. How about celebrating what you've achieved, lads? Their Chitty Chitty Bang Bang of a squad may have limped over the line this time, but they don't like losing to us. And this wasn't just a defeat. This was a pants pulled down and arse whipped in front of the world defeat. When Suarez danced through half their team to tee up a tap in for Dirk you can bet their die-hards were screaming like Nani. Wonderful.

James of Unprofessional Foul:
Liverpool 1-0 Chelsea (a): I'll always take a United thumping whenever they arrive, but in recent seasons, we've found Fergie's title-winning lot rather easy to solve. That single-goal victory at Stamford Bridge set a tone of self-belief at the club that was nigh-on impossible to ignore and, considering that we got to duel head-to-head with our former idol so soon after his cold, calculated heel turn, I learned that it was possible to experience unbridled joy and life-affirming schadenfreude in a single 90-minute sitting. Heck, I'd take those kind of salt-the-earth performances over yet more sparring with United any day of the week.

steven. of Paisley Gates:
Liverpool 3-1 United (h): Call me when spanking United isn’t top of the Best Win List. Seriously, call me. It’s one of the signs of the apocalypse and I want to stock up on Cheesy Poofs before the sky implodes.

nate of Oh You Beauty:
Liverpool 3-1 United (h): You only won the league because every other team was somehow worse than your squad of aging mouth-breathers and staff of bent referees, and Liverpool gave you a five-month head start by hiring a lost London pensioner as manager. This match was just a fleeting glimpse of your future. Enjoy 19 while you can.

Ed of Liverpool Offside:
Liverpool 1-0 Chelsea (a): Rarely does the involvement of one player completely alter the atmosphere surrounding a match, but Liverpool's trip to Stamford Bridge in early February was almost all about Fernando Torres. The craziness of January reached its apex when Torres was eventually sold to Chelsea, giving way to one of the most tense build-ups to a match that I can remember--the mere thought of Torres scoring a goal against Liverpool less than a week after leaving was horrifying. From a Liverpool standpoint, though, the fears were never realized, as Kenny Dalglish and Steve Clarke had Liverpool as well prepared for a match as they were all season. Jamie Carragher rolled back the years, Daniel Agger delivered the elbow that spawned a thousand Twitter profile pictures, Lucas completely bossed the midfield, and Raul Meireles added to his hot streak with the winner. As explosive a match as Liverpool were involved in all season, and a win that, despite the narrow margin on the scoresheet, was as comprehensive as they come.

Amy of A Football Report:
Liverpool 5-0 Birmingham (h): Granted, I'm mainly plumping for this game over some other sparkling displays because I was sitting somewhere in the Main Stand that day, close enough to the pitch to see grass fly as John Flanagan made a scintillating run up the wing, close enough to see the veins in Carra's neck expand—you get the picture. The win over United was stunning—and obviously, brings with it some minor bragging rights and lovely pictures of Fergie looking as if someone's poured his last bottle of Bordeaux down the kitchen sink. Against United, we were at our epic, motivated best. But it's teams like Birmingham that we have traditionally faltered against. Usually, we'd be lucky to score two goals—let alone five. In a sense, Birmingham rolled over and played dead at Anfield - but teams have done that before and yet escaped with more flattering results.

Poll Results: Young Player of the Season

Today, a celebration of the wonder that is Martin Kelly, more than doubling the vote of his closest contender despite being injured since February. Tomorrow, we'll have results for Goal of the Season on Paisley Gates in the morning and Performance of the Season on Anfield Asylum in the afternoon (all times relative to me, which means US Eastern Time).

Below you'll find justification for why some of the bloggers and our guest editors voted the way we did.

Amy of A Football Report:
Martin Kelly: Months and months of declaring Glen Johnson a shit, right-sided Ashley Cole-wannabe who would have trouble dealing with Emile Heskey, let alone the more agile attacking players of the Premier League, eventually paid off when his wife went into labour (falsely, you could tell he really just didn't want to be penned in by Giggs) on Kenny's first day. That ludicrously refereed FA Cup match at Old Trafford. Step in Martin Kelly, long heralded as the next big, Scouse thing and it was clear why. Giggs and Evra were so well taken after by the 21 year old that, at some point, seemingly unnoticed, Sir Alex Ferguson replaced them both with Howard Webb (and sadly not even Kelly is a match for him). Of course, that wasn't Kelly's first game, nor would it be his last, and he's impressed in the patches he played before, and consistently ever since. Flanagan is obviously hot on his heels, Spearing's been quietly morphing into Danny Murphy with somehow even less hair, and even Jack Robinson made Theo Walcott look like a schoolchild (which, incidentally, is how he always looks) – I believe that children are the future, but for me, Kelly's rise and rise is the blueprint for the others to aspire to.

Gareth of Well Red:
Martin Kelly: A young player. A locally-born player. When either gets near the first-team, it sparks extra excitement among the fans. Spending £30million on a proven world superstar is one thing, but there's something special - something pure - about a raw rookie mixing it with the big boys and proving his worth. Kelly, 21, and born in Whiston Hospital, just like Steven Gerrard (and, er Joey Barton), has done just that. Many that have passed through Anfield have been tipped for the top before quickly falling by the wayside. Kelly though, isn't one to freeze in the spotlight. If anything, the bigger the occasion, the better he's played. Powerful, pacy and assured, he's proved to be a match for anyone he's faced - and that's included Chelsea and the Mancs. And for all the talk of Liverpool needing better crossing quality in the side to feed the forehead of Andy Carroll, look no further than Kelly, he whips in a mean ball. If he can steer clear of injury, Kelly has a long future at Liverpool.

nate of Oh You Beauty:
John Flanagan: I'll be the contrarian. Martin Kelly is so six months ago, if not last year. What have you done for me lately? Shut down Samir Nasri? No problem. Knock your captain and defensive mentor unconscious? Whatever. Somehow get called for a penalty-that-clearly-wasn't by a suspiciously incompetent referee with your team already behind? Brushed off his shoulder like errant dirt. Yeah, Flanagan's the money pick. So money.

Noel of Liverpool Offside:
Martin Kelly: For the past 18-odd months, it's been Martin Kelly who has looked most likely to break the drought and become a difference maker out of the academy. And while the second half of the season may have brought a whole slew of other possibilities to the table—from the likes of Spearing, Flanagan, and Shelvey through even younger prospects such as Jack Robinson, Conor Coady, Andre Wisdom, and Raheem Sterling—Kelly remains the safest bet to become a difference maker for the club moving forward. When next season rolls around—along with likely squad-wide reinforcements—it is Kelly and not the other candidates who will be competing for time in the first eleven. That isn't a fluke: It's entirely down to how well he played throughout much of the second half of the season. So maybe some day it will be another of the current crop of kids who is the bigger star, but right now the only certain name based on this year's showing is Kelly, and that makes him Liverpool's clear Young Player of the Season.

Sam of Anfield Asylum:
Martin Kelly: While Spearing and Flanagan had nice turns, only Kelly looks like he'll be in the first 11 when things kick off next season. So he'd have to be the most important. Gets forward just about as much as Glen Johnson, but doesn't appear to be on quaaludes in his own half as Johnson frequently does. Never awed by any of the big guns he saw. Sadly, fullback is just about the last priority on any team's list, but at least we have it settled.

steven. of Paisley Gates:
Martin Kelly: He’s young, he’s local and he’s going to be a hero. Martin Kelly was forced into Roy Hodgson’s squad due to injury and only an injury was able to force him out. Young Flanagan, Andy Carroll and Jay Spearing were all good shouts for this category but Kelly has run away with the picnic basket on this one. Cool as a cucumber and ten times as tasty, this young Scouser has us all coming back for seconds.

Poll: Player of the Year

This actually isn't a guest post. I wrote it. It's kind of sad I feel the need to point this out.

After a week of this nonsense, I reckon yet another introduction's unnecessary. Don't worry, there's only one more week left. On Monday, we'll start revealing the results, starting with Young Player of the Year on Oh You Beauty. And because I'm sure you're starting to get sick of us, we'll have some guest commentary for each of the categories from Mike Georger of Avoiding the Drop, Amy Quinn of A Football Report, Gareth Roberts of Well Red Magazine, and James T of Unprofessional Foul.

Also, I probably shouldn't have stolen my own thunder by over-writing certain entries for Performance of the Season, seeing how three of the five candidates are in both categories. C'est la vie. Stop me if you've heard this one before...

In alphabetical order, lest I be accused of any biases:

Dirk Kuyt: Poor during the Hodgson era, but at his best with Dalglish. Which pretty much sums up Liverpool. Kuyt, more than any other player, is very good when the team is very good (see: 2008-09 or Netherlands in the World Cup), and fairly bad when the team is fairly bad. Four goals from August through December, 11 since the New Year – which ties his highest single-season goal return in a Liverpool shirt. His hat-trick against United and archetypal false nine performance at Chelsea create the inference that Dalglish just has him playing in his "correct" position as striker. Yet by my count, since the King was rethroned, six of his goals have come when playing up front, with five as a midfielder. Penalties (of which he has four, and never seems to miss) are evenly split between the two positions. And even when Kuyt's playing poorly, he brings more to the team than he takes away. He thrives in big games. He tracks back incessantly, running himself into the ground for 90 consecutive minutes. He's Liverpool's top scorer and is tied with Meireles for most assists. It's no surprise Kuyt's one of the first names on the team sheet under every manager he's played for.

Lucas Leiva: Less than a year ago, Lucas was the favorite scapegoat of more than a few Liverpool fans. The manager who brought him to England was ignominiously fired. He nearly had been pushed out the door during the summer by an incompetent managing director attempting to play fantasy football. And he was initially replaced in Liverpool's starting XI by Christian Fucking Poulsen. No matter. Every single one of those slights was added inspiration, and the 24-year-old (yeah, still just 24) was consistence personified while everything else around him crumbled to dust. Only Reina and Skrtel have more appearances this season. Now under Dalglish, the Brazilian's remained an ever-present – starting 21 of the King's 22 games – and is the midfield hub where Liverpool's attacks begin and the opposition's go to die.

Raul Meireles: His absence against Tottenham, and Liverpool's subsequent loss, demonstrates just how valuable Meireles is to the team. Noel wrote an excellent summation of that importance earlier this week (and I'm not just saying that because he organized this blog carnival); I could crib this paragraph's text from that post alone. Even Liverpool's set plays were dramatically worse without him. The summer's sole transfer success (Shelvey and/or Wilson don't count yet), he's played everywhere in midfield this season. Arguably a jack-of-all-trades yet a master of none, I'm still not sure of his best position, at least in the Premier League. But there's no arguing Liverpool look a different team without his clever vision, nose for assists, work ethic, intelligent movement, runs into the box from midfield, and ability to hit some absolutely gorgeous volleys.

Pepe Reina: Another season with at least 50 appearances (well, 50 after Villa). Another season with 20 or more clean sheets (14 in the league – only Hart and Cech have more). Despite a season and a half where the defense routinely tried to one-up its previous hilarious mistake, Reina reached his 100th league clean sheet in his 198th start, a 3-0 win against Villa on December 6, faster to the mark than any keeper in Liverpool history. I've said it so often it's losing its meaning, but he has no peer in the Premiership. A wholly complete goalkeeper with fewer flaws than the Hope Diamond, and possibly one of the most hilarious footballers ever. That Reina recently restated his intention to remain with Liverpool was the best summer news we could have desired.

Luis Suarez: Boy, Liverpool must have been really terrible for a player who's only made 12 appearances to show up in the best-of-season debate. Well, yeah, they kinda were, but Suarez is also just that good and has been just that important. Four goals and five assists – impressive numbers for a recently-acquired Premier League neophyte – don't close come to telling the whole story. He's turned Liverpool into an entirely different team, and his adaptation was instantaneous. Yes, there are other factors (wave to Dalglish and Clarke), but Liverpool haven't had a player like him in far too long. Nowhere near as unidimensional as the previous goal-scoring menace, Suarez can do things with the ball at his feet other players aren't even clever enough to dream of. He's a Tasmanian Devil wearing cleats coated in super-glue, capable of dismantling four consecutive defenders to set up a crucial opener or scoring from an angle so acute it's almost obtuse and definitely obscene.

Previous Polls:
• Young Player of the Season
• Signing of the Season
• Best Win
• Worst Loss
• Performance of the Season
• Goal of the Season
• Flop of the Season

Poll: Flop of The Season

This is a guest post from Sam of Anfield Asylum.



Once again my cheerful nature leads me to tackle a wonderful subject, this time about just which player wasted the most time and money we’ll never get back. The fact that there are so many contenders for this award on Liverpool alone this season lets you know just how bad it was at times.

There can be something enraging about a bad footballer. In every other sport he would at least return to the bench at some point. Baseball players only get a four at-bats a game and maybe a couple hit to them in the field. American football players are only out there half the game at most and how often do they get the ball? Basketball players rotate in and out. Hockey players take shifts that last less than a minute. But football? They’re out there the whole time. You get to watch them break down moves or make defensive mistakes the entire game. You go queasy whenever the ball even moves to their side of the field. You know they’re going to get involved. Sometimes you’re pretty sure that if you could reach through the screen and murder them, you would. And with some of these cases, who would convict you?



These are the worthy nominees for Flop of the Season:

Joe Cole: Like many, I actually had high hopes for Joe. He didn’t cost a transfer fee (but is on exorbitant wages), he seemingly had something to prove after being a spot-starter for Chelsea, and he was going to be deployed more centrally, a role he had been crying out for for over a decade. Here was a genuine in-the-hole player. Then he got sent off in the first game against Arsenal and hasn't made an impact since. As Roy panicked, becoming less and less likely to give chances to an off-form player of questionable fitness, Cole became restricted more and more to the bench. That is when something wasn’t falling off of him and landing him on the treatment table. By the time Kenny took over, Cole was a ghost — or perhaps just out back having a smoke. A rarely used substitute, Cole has only been around to provide goals late in games already decided that we’re all kind of embarrassed by. In the end, then, this season was just another sad chapter in perhaps the greatest case of unfulfilled promise English football has ever produced, because there was a time when Cole looked like he was going to be truly special. If there's even the remotest chance of that still happening, it's hard to believe it will be with Liverpool.

Milan Jovanovic: Rafa's final attempt in a long series of efforts to discover a difference maker on the cheap didn't turn out a whole lot better than those who had come before, Jovanovic had it tough as the guy who brought him to Anfield wasn’t the manager when he finally arrived. Some ropey performances in South Africa didn’t exactly fill anybody with hope that he could be more than a serviceable squad player, and when he did get on the pitch he kind of just ran around a lot. He didn't pass or shoot much, and he usually wasn't particularly good at it when he did, while he usually ended up getting dispossessed at the first challenge. Though he did add to Liverpool's ever burgeoning bald guy contingent. He may have been cheap, and at least he did try to run around a bit, but that he hasn’t been seen in ages is probably a good thing.

Paul Konchesky: It would be easy to laugh about Konchesky's case if it wasn't easier to cry about it. A curious buy, as everybody seemed to agree that the absolute best Konchesky could manage would be average, what should have been a squad player for a club like Liverpool was thrust into a more prominent role when it was discovered for the thirty-seventh time that Fabio Aurelio was indeed only made of fairy dust and dreams. In the end, though, Konchesky couldn't even manage average, becoming the only Liverpool player I've seen booed by the Anfield faithful and cheered when he was substituted—and I lived through the Titi Camara and Erik Meijer era. Though his mother calling Scousers scum on Facebook probably had something to do with those jeers, it was Konchesky himself who was single-handedly responsible for points lost at White Hart Lane and St. James Park, points that could have had Liverpool chasing a Champions League spot instead of on the fringes of Europa League qualification. He was slow, not especially skillful, and at times showed the footballing brain of a small cantaloupe. The day he was sent off to Forest will rank up there with first kiss in happiest days of my life.

Christian Poulsen: Need a midfield stopper? Why not spend £5M on an aging Dane who was deemed too slow for Serie A? Nobody actually knows if Poulsen can tackle because he can never quite get there in time to show us. As for passing the ball, half the time his attempts to do so ended up looking like a painting by Peter North. Compared to Javier Mascherano, the man he was nominally replacing, it was a drop in talent a bit like stepping down from the Champions League to the Championship. His was a signing that should have been a fireable offense on the spot, but with Paul Konchesky coming along soon afterwards it certainly wouldn't be the only such offense made in the Transfer market by Roy Hodgson and Christian Purslow.

Previous Polls: (you can still vote/vote again)
• Young Player of the Season
• Signing of the Season
• Best Win
• Worst Loss
• Goal of the Season
• Performance of the Season

Poll: Worst Loss of the Season

This is a guest post from Sam of Anfield Asylum. To make things more complicated – and to actually make you visit all four blogs – four different polls will be running today. You can find Best Win of the Season on Liverpool Offside, Goal of the Season on Anfield Asylum, and Individual Performance of the Season (written by yours truly) on Paisley Gates.



Hello there, my name is Sam and I help waste people’s time and send the economy even more into the dumper by trying to eradicate production ever so slightly with my contributions at Anfield Asylum.com. Because of my sunny disposition, I’ve been selected to write the poll for worst loss of the season. Come open a vein with me!

Liverpool 0-1 Wolves: As horrific as it was, and it’s seriously two hours I’ll probably be regretting on my deathbed, it did have the bonus of being the game that cost Roy Hodgson his job. Yes, Liverpool did win after this and Hodgson was fired after Blackburn, but there was clearly no coming back after this. Thanks to postponements because of actual winter hitting England (and not their Chicago-spring that usually comprised their winter), Liverpool hadn’t played in 14 days. And the last league game before that was the insipid loss to Newcastle. So we’d gone almost a month without seeing the Reds play well, and this wasn’t it. Liverpool only managed three shots on target against a Wolves side that usually was about as welcoming as the girl who finishes second for prom queen. Stephen Ward finally put the dagger in the 56th minute after some comical defending, and the Reds wouldn’t have scored if the game were still going. Also happened to be the first time Wolves won at Anfield in 27 years, so that’s nice.

Manchester City 3-0 Liverpool: Hey, remember when we still had hope under Roy? It came after a pretty scrappy draw with Arsenal. After being down a man for the entire second half and a glorious Ngog strike it was only not a win because of a rare Pepe Reina cock-up. So most of us were optimistic that things would go well. Ngog had added to his tally from Europa qualifying against the Gunners, and we were really hoping he might become, like, an actual striker. So did Roy, who punted him up in tandem with Fernando Torres. And the two of them played like the other had hit on their girlfriend. Gareth Barry opened the scoring in the 13th minute, which was approximately the last time he successfully kicked a ball forward the rest of the year. His goal is particularly galling because it could be argued that Rafa’s inexplicable and infuriating pursuit of him that eventually led Xabi Alonso to stick two fingers up to Benitez and head off for Madrid, which is just about where the collapse started. Tevez tallied twice in the second half, and once again Liverpool couldn’t manage three passes in a row or leave their own half. Whatever optimism we had then was surely snuffed out by the time Tevez buried a penalty in the 68th minute.

Everton 2-0 Liverpool: Losing to our neighbors to leave us in the relegation zone. Watching Sotirios Kyrgiakos thrash about. Never threatening. This is pretty low.

Stoke 2-0 Liverpool: Heading into this game, the Reds actually were stringing together some performances that we’re at least a tad above corpse-level. There was the Steven Gerrard Tour De Force against Napoli, followed by the win at home over Chelsea. A midweek 1-1 draw with Wigan didn’t exactly bring anyone to tumescence, but with the heavy fixture congestion we kind of brushed it off, figuring a win at Stoke would have brought a points haul from these three games of seven was more than acceptable. Yeah, that didn’t work. Ricardo Fuller, who I’m sure is in the team photo for worst striker ever in the Premier League, scored from about a yard out early in the second half, which I think is the only distance he can manage. Kenwyne Jones ended it in the final minute, but the match was long gone before that as once again a Hodgson-led side couldn’t find competence with a guide dog and a flashlight. We really lived through this?

Blackpool 2-1 Liverpool: Hope again. Kenny Dalglish had taken over and though his first match was an FA Cup exit at the Theater of Prawns, there were at least some signs of revival. Kenny had us playing a higher line, the players seemed to care again, and we actually thought about getting into the opponent’s box. It started so well, with Torres scoring in the 3rd minute. But Gary Taylor-Fletcher, who looks like he turned up fresh from picking fights in the pub with smaller guys, equalized just nine minutes later. D.J. Campbell provided the winner in the 69th minute, and Dalglish was fully aware now of the task at hand.

Previous Polls:
• Young Player of the Season
• Signing of the Season

Poll: Signing of the Season

This is a guest post from Grubb of Paisley Gates. For American readers: he's Australian; that's why certain words are spelled the way they are. It's not a mistake.

One of my least favourite football phrases, guaranteed to make my teeth grind, is the age-old chestnut about football being "a game of two halves." Maybe I resent its patronising, stating-the-obvious tone, or the ritual and meaningless way it's slipped into half-time punditry. Maybe I despise the way it has become clichéd and boring, ranking alongside "football is the real winner today" in terms of overuse, and rivalling "the magic of the FA Cup" for sheer stupidity.

However this season has honestly been a season of two halves.  Sloppy, unambitious and 12th in the league during early January, Liverpool have metamorphosed into a fluid, attacking side in the second half of the season, storming up the table and back into contention for Europe: a comeback of such remarkable proportions that it's only been bettered by Jesus and Istanbul.

Each candidate for our Signing of the Season poll has played a significant part in revitalising Liverpool's form and fortunes since those dark January days. Please vote for the candidate you think has been the best signing in the poll widget and we will collate the results next week. Remember you can vote once per day, so feel free to come back and vote again tomorrow if you so desire.

Without any further ado, the Signing of the Season candidates:


Raul Meireles celebrates his newly balded head

Raul Meireles
The only player from our list to have joined the club at the beginning of the season, Liverpool's new number four endured a difficult start to his LFC career. With the team stumbling collectively as they tried to implement the rigid, organisational style of previous manager Roy Hodgson, Meireles struggled to integrate into his foreign surroundings. While it was clear from the beginning he was hard-working and intelligent with the ball, Meireles took time to adapt to the physical nature of Premier League midfield battles, and was often guilty of pulling out of contested tackles. With Hodgson unsure of Meireles best position, the Portuguese schemer was shunted out into unfamiliar territory in the wide midfield areas, and consequently looked out of his depth.

But as he acclimatised, Raul Meireles began to show his true worth. His outstanding stamina was acknowledged when he was named the fittest player in the Premier League, averaging 8.1 miles every game. Now a regular contributor at both ends of the field, Raul Meireles leads the team in chances created (58) and interceptions (65). He has also scored 5 goals and provided 5 assists - a very good contribution from midfield.



Luis Suarez: I just can't get enough

Luis Suarez
One of the most eagerly anticipated attacking signings in my time as an LFC supporter, Luis Suarez finally joined Liverpool after 3 tense weeks of negotiations between LFC and his previous club Ajax. After scoring as a substitue on his debut against Stoke City, Suarez has gone from strength to strength in his short time at the club. Ambitious and enthusiastic, Suarez has demonstrated the never-say-die attitude Liverpool fans adore in their players, combining his tenacity with flair and skill beyond anything Liverpool have seen in the modern era. His assist for Kuyt's opener against Manchester United at Anfield was one of the finest pieces of play I've seen from a Liverpool player, beating Rafael, Michael Carrick and Wes Brown before slotting through Edwin Van Der Sar's legs for Kuyt to smash the ball home.

Suarez has contributed 4 goals and 3 assists from his 11 starts, but his key strength has been the movement, skill and awareness that brings the best out in his team mates. Maxi Rodriguez in particular seems to be benefitting from the space that Suarez and his 'mayhem' creates.



Andy Carroll does his best Joe Cole impersonation

Andy Carroll
Liverpool's most-expensive-ever signing at £35M, Andy Carroll joined the club in a last-minute merry-go-round switcheroo at the end of the January transfer window. With fans grieved by the treachery of F***nando Torres, it was difficult to get a grasp of just exactly what Liverpool had received for their money.

A physical centre forward, Carroll exceeded expectations in his debut Premier League season with Newcastle, amassing 11 goals in his 19 games - not a bad record for a previously untested 22 year old. However his Liverpool form has been less remarkable. Signed while nursing a minor injury, Carroll has taken time to recover his fitness, and shown only brief glimpses of his undoubted talent: while his brace against Manchester City helped ease some of the question marks, it will take sustained  success in order to justify his massive transfer fee. With his fitness continually fluctuating, and the team seemingly unsure of how to integrate him without sacrificing the quality of their play, one can only assume we will see the best of Andy Carroll in the years to come.



Can you top this smile?

Kenny Dalglish
January 8, 2011. That was the day the tide turned. Roy Hodgson's strict adherence to an inflexible system of play had yielded scarce fruit, and fans' frustration with the dire football and the endless stream of pathetic justifications had hit an ugly, sour note. Owners FSG, true to their word, listened to the fans, and acted swiftly, installing club legend Kenny Dalglish as the interim manager. Never has a managerial choice been more perfectly suited to a club, throughout the history of football.

An inspirational figure, Kenny had captured the hearts and minds of Liverpool fans before, as both a player and a title-winning manager. More than any other, he embodies the 'Liverpool Way' beyond mere football. His fluid pass-and-move tactics may have reinvigorated the playing staff, but it is the restoration of club values and the dignity with which he conducts every element of his job which has reignited the passion of the fans and the hope we have for a glorious Red future. His appointment has been such a raging success in every aspect, that Director of Football Damien Comolli admitted it was a 'no-brainer' to award him a 3 year contract last week, and secure the short term future of Liverpool FC as they seek to re-establish themselves amongst the elite teams in the Premier League once more.

If any man can make it happen, that man is King Kenny Dalglish.

Please remember to use the poll widget above to vote for your Signing of the Season, the more votes the merrier!

-Grubb-

Previous Polls:
• Young Player of the Season

Poll: Young Player of the Season

Note from nate: This is a guest post from Noel of Liverpool Offside. There will be a few guest posts over the next two weeks, and I'll actually have some guest posts on other blogs. Plus polls. Lots of polls. Everybody loves polls. Noel will explain, in great detail, below.


Liverpool's season ending position may not be mathematically decided quite yet, but with Sunday's loss to Spurs, the club moves into the uncomfortable position of needing to rely on others if they are to have any chance of improving their final standing. Still, it's been a heck of a ride, this roller coaster of a year that's gone from fears of relegation and administration to dreams of Champions League qualification and future glory, and with the end at hand and Liverpool having moved as high up the table as they'll be able to manage on their own it seemed fitting to gather together with some of the best regularly updated Liverpool blogs on the net for a season ending extravaganza, one that will take the next two weeks to look back at of some of the year's best and worst.

With the help of all of you, of course, wherever you may be reading this.

Today we kick things off with the Young Player of the Season vote and a look back at the kids who have made a difference for Liverpool this year. As for who exactly we are in this whole production, we're The Liverpool Offside along with (in alphabetical order) Anfield Asylum, Oh You Beauty, and Paisley Gates. Over the next few days you'll see further poll questions across all the participating blogs and written by each of those taking part, and along the way we hope that if you aren't already aware of them you'll take a look at what they have to offer and, if it's to your liking, consider adding them to your bookmarks, to your RSS feed, or to whatever else it is that kids these days add things they like to on the internet.

But that's not the end of it. We've also been lucky enough to get a few great guest editors to come on board and help when it comes time to start wrapping things up along with the results next week. First off we've got Amy Quinn of A Football Report, along with Mike Georger of Avoiding the Drop, and James T of Unprofessional Foul. For those who don't know them, they're three of the most knowledgeable Liverpool fans out there, and they're a big part of what makes the three sites they write for amongst the best places to go to on the internet for your general football needs. Then, last but certainly not least, Gareth Roberts, editor of top Liverpool fanzine Well Red Magazine, has also agreed to help us out when it comes time to sort through the tea leaves. Many of those who have already found their way to sites like this will know about Well Red, but for those who don't it's well worth your consideration if you've started to take this whole Liverpool Football Club thing a bit seriously.

But much of that's about next week. For now, then, it's on to the matter at hand:


John Flanagan: The young fullback wasn't expected to feature for Liverpool at all this season, and with other academy players being talked of far more often, it will perhaps have been a surprise to some that he found himself involved at all. However, after a disastrous stretch that saw Liverpool with no healthy fullbacks in the first team squad and a match against West Bromwich Albion that saw a backline consisting of four center backs perform horribly, the 18-year old found himself thrust into the limelight as he produced a confident display against Manchester City the following week and has started every match since without looking especially out of place. All told, he has started in and played six games in his young Liverpool career, and has received three yellow cards on eight fouls committed.

Martin Kelly: After a 2009-10 season that saw Kelly on the verge of Next Big Thing status, the arrival of Kenny Dalglish in January and the departure of Paul Konchesky on loan to Nottingham Forest saw the academy product become the first beneficiary of Liverpool's lack of depth at fullback. Forced to start nearly every match from there on out, Kelly performed admirably in a right fullback role, growing increasingly comfortable bombing up and down the flank after an at times slightly shaky start going forward that gave lie to his history as a center back. Until his unfortunate injury against West Ham United brought a premature end to his season, Kelly had started 18 matches along with coming on as a substitute once. He had one assist and three yellow cards on 14 fouls committed over the 19 games he participated in.

Jonjo Shelvey: Brought in from Charlton Athletic in the summer transfer window, the versatile midfielder made 4 starts in the Europa League for Liverpool and a further 16 substitute appearances across all competitions, registering a single assist. In those games he filled in everywhere from outside midfielder to second striker to fullback, often appearing calm and at least confident if never quite spectacular. Nonetheless, his versatility and cool head made him Dalglish's first option off the bench for an extended stretch, until he too was sidelined by injury, returning to action towards the end of the campaign to register his one assist on a cutting pass to Luis Suarez against Fulham that showed hints of the playmaking ability that had caught the eye of Liverpool scouts in the first place.

Jay Spearing: In the 2010-11 season, Spearing recorded 14 starts, three substitute appearances, and one assist across all competitions as he established himself rather unexpectedly as an at least valuable squad player for Liverpool. While in the past many assumed an eventual move to a lower league side was on the cards for the diminutive midfielder, after a strong finish to the season the questions are more along the lines of if, should his personal development continue – not to mention his promising partnership with Lucas in midfield – he might even be able to secure a larger role for the club moving forward. Having received almost as much game time in 2009-10 (though with the bulk of it coming in the Europa League and cup competitions), his sudden rise following Steven Gerrard's injury is a textbook example of a player seizing the opportunity he's been given and making something for himself when there were few expectations. In recognition of his newly-elevated role with the club, the now 22-year old local product signed a new contract at the start of May.

¹ And if you really want everybody to know what you thought, the polls are open to be voted on once per day. So you can come back tomorrow and read all the above awesomeness one more time. And also vote again.