The season where Liverpool’s first tactical substitution was on average the latest after the opposition’s (2008/09), was the most successful league season the club has had in years. More relevant to this study, it was the year with the highest number of substitutions that turned losses to wins: six.
Apparently, you only have to play Steven Gerrard in central midfield and all problems are solved. If that was the case, why was the Reds’ worst league performance of the season at Wigan, with him in that very position?
In football, we are always searching the past to predict the future. But rather than suggest things definitely can’t happen – “so-and-so will never be good enough”, “Liverpool will never win the league under X manager”, etc – I like to look for examples that show things can change for the better
Following on from other work with Graeme Riley’s Transfer Price Index, this is the list of all of Liverpool’s Premier league signings, and how much they cost in “today’s money”. Subscribers can also download a PDF of the entire TPI database, which contains the signings of every club between 1992 and 2010.
“The Benefit of New Players” … The notion that individual signings take time to settle (or may never settle) is valid. And this may well be at the heart of why significant investment works so well, and leads, within 24 months, to trophies and higher league positions. The injection of new blood seems fairly essential to boost a team; but additional riches give more licence for a hit-and-miss strategy
Using TPI© to adjust the prices according to ‘football inflation’, the following table lists the price of the 50 most expensive Premier League transfers in “today’s money”: the Current Transfer Purchase Price (CTPP ©).
The following five players are the quintet who I believe to be the brightest prospects at the club, out of those who have yet to make a senior appearance, but who are at an age where a breakthrough in the next year is not impossible.
Expecting sense from Paul Merson is like expecting a foreign-language recital of Shakespeare from your dog. You watch and wait, but “it ain’t gonna happen, innit?”. For a second you think it might, then he turns and licks his balls. (The dog, not Merson.)
So what does it cost to achieve success in the Premiership? The following is an in-depth look at the costs involved in challenging for the title, and why, based on everything barring history and prestige, Liverpool have no right to expect to be any higher than 4th on any given season.
