My first Liverpool related
post after a very long time will be about Liverpool FC 2011-2012 season review.
These reviews are from different source, I don’t own them. If you see your
photo/words that you want me to take down, mail me and I’ll do so.
Liverpool had mixed fortunes during the season; they enjoyed
success in the domestic cups, winning the League Cup for
a record eighth time – also their first
trophy since 2006 – and reached the FA Cup Final, where
they lost to Chelsea. By virtue of winning the League Cup, Liverpool qualified for the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League.
However, the club's league form was indifferent and they finished 8th, their lowest league finish in 18
years, resulting in Kenny Dalglish being relieved of his duties on 16 May
2012.
Season Review
(It’s gonna be long and wordy,
but you take some time to read, you will find that it is actually quite
interesting)
Pre-season
Liverpool began their pre-season schedule with a fixture against Guangdong Sunray Cave on 13 July as part of their tour of China, with Liverpool narrowly winning
4–3. Christian Poulsen scored his first Reds' goal, David N'Gog and Andy Carroll grabbed one each and 18 year-old debutant Conor
Coady also got a goal, with the new signing Charlie Adam featuring for 45 minutes.[2] On 16 July 2011, they
continued their tour of Asia when the played the Malaysia All-Stars XI team.
They won the game 6-3 despite a number of defensive errors. Charlie Adam scored
his first goal from the penalty spot, Maxi Rodríguez and David N'Gog both got braces and Dirk Kuyt also scored to round off the victory. On 23
July, they travelled to the KC Stadium to play Hull City where they lost 3–0. The
game saw other summer recruits Jordan Henderson, Stewart Downing and Doni make their debuts. They later played against Galatasaray in Istanbul on 28 July and lost 3–0
again. Next, they played Valerenga away on 1 August and
drew the game 3–3. Daniel Agger hit a brace and Andy
Carroll scored the other. They played their final pre-season game on 6 August
at Anfield against Valencia, winning 2–0. Andy Carroll and Dirk Kuyt were on the
scoresheet, although the latter's shot appeared to take a deflection off Sotiris Kyrgiakos before rolling into the net.
August
Liverpool started their Premier League campaign on 13 August, at home to Sunderland. The match finished 1–1, the Liverpool goal coming
in the 12th minute from Luis Suárez from a Charlie Adam free kick. Suárez had
missed an early penalty which he had won after being brought down by Kieran Richardson, firing the ball over the bar from the spot. Andy Carroll had a goal ruled out before
Sunderland equalised in the 57th minute with a volley from Sebastian Larsson. Jordan Henderson made his full Liverpool debut against his former club, with Adam, Stewart Downing and José Enrique also making their
debuts, even though the latter had signed just a day previously.
Liverpool played their second league match against Arsenal on 20 August at the Emirates Stadium. Liverpool won the match 2–0, taking
advantage of Arsenal's worries on and off the pitch. The first half saw
Henderson and Carroll go close for Liverpool with headers, with Pepe Reina not even troubled by the hosts. In the second
half, Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong received a second yellow card after a dangerous tackle on Lucas. The visitors' first goal came in the 78th minute after
Arsenal's young centre-back Ignasi Miquel's attempted to clear the ball, only for it to
strike Aaron Ramsey in the chest and looped
over Wojciech Szczęsny.
Substitute Luis Suárez wrapped up the points in the 90th minute, when Raul Meireles squared the ball to him
to tuck it under the oncoming Szczęsny. The 2–0 win was Liverpool's first
victory at Arsenal since 2000, when a Titi Camara goal won the game for Liverpool.
Liverpool then faced a League Cup tie at Exeter City. Liverpool won 3–1, Suárez scoring in the 23rd
minute and unselfishly setting up other two for Maxi Rodríguez on the 55th minute and substitute Andy Carroll on the 58th.
Liverpool faced Bolton Wanderers at Anfield. Liverpool won by the same margin of 3–1 with
Henderson and Adam scoring their first goals for the club, Martin Škrtel also scoring with a
header from a corner by Adam. This win saw Liverpool as overnight leaders of
the Premier League for the first time since 2009.
September
Liverpool then traveled to White Hart Lane to play against Tottenham Hotspur.
Spurs, by Luka Modrić, took an early lead, and Liverpool had trouble
getting into the game. After 28 minutes, Charlie Adam received his second yellow card, and was sent
off. After half time Liverpool got more into the game, but after 68 minutes Martin Škrtel received his second
yellow card, and reduced Liverpool to nine players. After two minutes, Spurs
had scored two more goals, and in injury time, Emmanuel Adebayor sealed the game 4–0 to Tottenham, Liverpool's
worst defeat to Tottenham since 1963.
October
Liverpool faced their local rivals Everton at Goodison Park and won 2–0. Jack Rodwell got sent off in the first half. Liverpool made
benefit of the numerical advantage and scored twice in the second half through
Luis Suárez and Andy Carroll, who scored his first league goal of the season.
Liverpool then hosted the newcomers Norwich City and drew 1–1. Bellamy scored in the stoppage
time of first half. Substitute Grant Holt scored in the second
half to make the score 1–1. Liverpool created a lot of opportunities throughout
the game but was denied by the Norwich defense and goalkeeper and the match
ended in a draw.
Liverpool then faced Stoke at Britannia Stadium in the fourth
round of League Cup. Stoke City took the lead in the first half thanks to a
goal from Kenwyne Jones. Luis Suárez, however, scored two second half
goals to give Liverpool the win and they made it to the quarter final of the
League Cup. This was Liverpool's first win after going a goal down since
January.
Liverpool then faced West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns. Charlie
Adam scored a ninth minute penalty to give Liverpool the lead after Suárez was
brought down. Andy Carroll scored at the end of first half to make the score
2–0 in Liverpool's favor.
November
After the 2–0 away win at West Brom, Liverpool then had a match at
home to Swansea City, which
finished a disappointing 0–0 draw. Liverpool once again had several chances but
they still couldn't get the ball past Swansea keeper Michel Vorm, who made some world class saves.
After the international break, Liverpool had another league match
away to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge,
the game finished 2–1 to Liverpool for their third consecutive win over the
Londoners. Neat play from Craig Bellamy and Luis Suárez set up the first goal
for Maxi Rodríguez to give the Reds a 1–0 lead before the interval. 10 minutes
after half-time Daniel Sturridge leveled for Chelsea for 1–1 until late on in the 87th minute
full-back Glen Johnson had a great run at goal and netted the winner to
make it 2–1.
Liverpool then faced against league leaders Manchester City at Anfield. A header from City defender Vincent Kompany gave City a 1–0 lead, but then the celebrations were short-lived
as Charlie Adam's strike going wide was touched into his own net by Joleon Lescott for an own goal. There
were no other goals in the second half but City substitute Mario Balotelli was sent off for a second yellow about 15 minutes after coming off
the bench. Liverpool had a couple of chances against 10-men City but no chances
were taken and the game finished 1–1.
Only two days after the Manchester City, Liverpool had a League
Cup quarter-final tie against Chelsea. This time both, of the former Liverpool
players, Raul Meireles and Fernando Torres, started whereas last time they both came off
the bench. There were no goals in the first half but in the 58th minute, Maxi
Rodríguez broke the deadlock from close range from Bellamy's pass for 1–0. 5
minutes laterMartin Kelly headed in to make it 2–0 with his first goal for
Liverpool. But this victory resulted in a serious injury by Lucas Leiva, who ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)
after colliding with Juan Mata, and he was ruled out for the rest of the season.
December
Liverpool's first game in December was an away match to Fulham at Craven Cottage which the Reds won 5–2
seven months ago. Liverpool pushed in the first half with Jordan Henderson
hitting the post, but nothing came off and it was 0–0 at the interval. In the
second half Liverpool went down to 10-men due to a controversial sending off
for Jay Spearing for a challenge on Moussa Dembélé. Fulham
made them pay as Clint Dempsey scored from close range
off of a rebound in the 85th minute to win it for Fulham.
The Reds next had another league game against Queens Park Rangers at Anfield, which Liverpool won courtesy of a
Luis Suárez header in the early stages of the second half. This win ended a run
of four poor draws at home since they won 3–1 against Bolton Wanderers.
Their next league game was against Aston Villa at Villa Park. The Reds won
2–0 with goals from Craig Bellamy and Martin Škrtel.
Liverpool's next fixture was an away tie against eighteenth-placed Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium. The game ended
as a goalless draw.
The next match was against Blackburn Rovers at home. Blackburn took an early courtesy of a
Charlie Adam own goal during the end of the first half from a corner. Liverpool
equalised with a Maxi Rodríguez header early in the second half. Liverpool put
tremendous pressure on Blackburn's defence in the dying moments of the game,
but were unlucky not to get three points thanks to some resolute defending by
the away side. The game ended 1–1.
Just a few days later Liverpool played their last league game of
2011; a home tie against Newcastle United.
Needing a win to keep up with their pursuit of a Champions League spot, Liverpool started the game off by going a
goal down against the run of play; an unfortunate Daniel Agger deflection putting Newcastle in the lead in the
25th minute. The Reds responded almost instantly when Craig Bellamy pounced on
a loose ball in the box three minutes later to equalise. In the second half,
the Reds dominated play. Craig Bellamy scored his second from a fantastic free
kick, and returning captain Steven Gerrard completed the scoring with a fine
finish in the 78th minute.
January
Liverpool's first game of 2012 involved a daunting trip to league
leaders Manchester City. This was
also the first of three games against the league leaders scheduled for January.
The hosts had not lost a single game at their home ground in the Premier League
all season. Liverpool started brightly but were unfortunate to go a goal down
thanks to a Sergio Agüero strike early in the
first half. The Reds eventually lost the game 3–0 after some fine Manchester
City finishing. Their second game of the year was an FA Cup third Round tie against Oldham Athletic at Anfield. Liverpool eased past the opposition
by winning 5–1. Stewart Downing and Jonjo Shelvey were amongst the
goalscorers for the Reds, netting their first ever competitive goals for the
club. On 11 January 2012 saw Liverpool face Manchester City for the second time
in an away Football League Cup semi-final; the first of two legs to be played
this month. After a convincing defeat the previous week at the same ground,
Liverpool produced a fantastic defensive display after captain Gerrard had put
them in front in the 13th minute from the penalty spot. They ran out 1-0
victors and condemning Manchester City to their second defeat in their last two
games, as well as their first home game without scoring a goal. On 14 January
2012, Liverpool drew 0–0 at home toStoke City, followed one week later by a 3–1 away loss to Bolton Wanderers,
which manager Kenny Dalglish branded Liverpool's
worst performance since his return. With this in mind, it created added
pressure for the return leg of the League Cup semi-final against Manchester City. Liverpool
has number of chances to scored, but excellent goalkeeping by Joe Hart kept them out and they fell behind twice. Their
efforts eventually came to fruition, however, with the game ending as a 2–2
draw, with Liverpool winning 3–2 on aggregate and reaching Wembley for the first time since
1996 and the new Wembley for the first time. On 28 January 2012, Liverpool
faced Manchester United in the FA Cup Fourth Round at home. Liverpool started
the scoring with Daniel Agger early on in the first half. Park Ji-Sung netted one to create the
equalizer. Substitute Dirk Kuyt netted a final one, defeating Manchester
United. Next, the Reds faced Wolverhampton Wanderers away. Andy Caroll, Craig
Bellamy and Dirk Kuyt were on target, ending the match 3–0.
February
The beginning of February saw the return to action of Luis Suárez following his
eight-match ban. Due to their involvement in both domestic cups, Liverpool
played only two league games in the month of February, a 0–0 draw against
Tottenham Hotspur, and a 2–1 loss away at Manchester United, where Suárez
scored late on to provide a consolation goal. Liverpool went on to face Brighton & Hove
Albion at Anfield in the fifth
round of the FA Cup, a game they won 6–1 thanks to goals from Suárez, Carroll,
Gerrard, Škrtel, and two Brighton own-goals. This saw them through to the sixth
round, where they were drawn against Stoke City. Liverpool's
last game of the month was the 2012 Football League
Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, held on 26 February 2012. The game finished
1–1 after 90 minutes, and 2–2 after extra time, with Liverpool prevailing 3–2
in the subsequent penalty shoot-out. This won Liverpool the Football League Cup for a record eighth time in their history, as
well as ending a run of six years without a trophy.
March
Following victory in the League Cup, many predicted that Liverpool
would be able to produce momentum that would take them towards Champions League qualification. Their league campaign began to
falter however, with a first home defeat of the season to Arsenal after a last
minute Robin van Persie goal gave them a 2-1 victory, followed by a scrappy 1-0 loss away
at Sunderland. Three days later, Liverpool faced Everton in the second Merseyside derby of the season, this time at Anfield. The game also marked the
400th league appearance of Steven Gerrard for Liverpool, and he
scored a hat-trick to give Liverpool a 3-0 victory. Liverpool would go on to
secure a place in the FA Cup semi-final by defeating Stoke City 2-1 at Anfield,
with goals from Luis Suárez and Stewart Downing. Despite these successes, Liverpool were
unable to revive their faltering league campaign, seeing a 2-0 lead turn into a
3-2 defeat at Loftus Road to QPR and losing 2-1 at
Anfield to Wigan, both of whom were teams fighting relegation. This gave
Liverpool a league record of 5 defeats in 6 games.
April
Liverpool began April with a 2–0 loss away at Newcastle United,
marked their sixth defeat in seven league games, officially their worst run of
league results in 59 years.[8] This saw pressure begin
to mount on manager Kenny Dalglish, as Champions League qualification had become
all but impossible for Liverpool for a third successive season. The defeat also
saw Liverpool's first-choice keeper Pepe Reina — also the only player to start every game under
Dalglish and played every minute of all competitive matches this season —
receive a three-match ban after being sent off. This gave Doni his first competitive
appearance for Liverpool, in a game the following week at Anfield against Aston
Villa, which ended in a 1–1 draw. The following week Liverpool faced Blackburn
away, in a remarkable game which saw Liverpool go 2–0 up through two goals from Maxi Rodríguez, only for Doni to be sent off for a foul in the
penalty box, requiring Liverpool's third-choice keeper Brad Jones to replace him, and also become Liverpool's only
goalkeeper for the FA Cup semi-final. Jones' first contribution for Liverpool
was to save the penalty given by the foul. Blackburn then hit back twice
through Yakubu,
beforeAndy Carroll headed a winner in added
time, securing Liverpool's first win in the league for almost a month. Four
days later, Liverpool faced Everton at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final. Liverpool went into
the semi-final trailing Everton in the league by one point, with many tipping
Everton to beat Liverpool in a major semi-final for the first time in over a
century. Nikica Jelavić gave Everton a 1–0 lead
in the first half, with Luis Suárez equalising in the second
half. The game looked to be heading towards extra time before Andy Carroll
scored a second headed winner in as many games in the 87th minute, sending
Liverpool through to their first FA Cup Final since 2006 - where they defeated West Ham - and also their second cup final of the season.
They will face Chelsea in the Final at Wembley
on 5 May 2012. If they win this year's FA Cup Final, they will
enter the group stage of 2012-13 UEFA Europa
League directly without the
need to enter the 2012-13 UEFA Europa
League Qualifying Rounds.
However, the last-gasp win over their local rivals was not enough to see
renewed momentum in the league campaign however, as despite firing 30 shots on
goal, Liverpool lost 1–0 at home to West Bromon
22 April. They ended the month with a win however, after Luis Suárez scored his
first Liverpool hat-trick to seal a 3–0 win away at Norwich on 29 April.
May
Liverpool began May with a 1–0 defeat at home to Fulham, giving the Reds their 4th defeat
in 5 games at Anfield. On 5 May 2012, they were defeated by Chelsea 2–1 in the FA Cup Final. Three days later the two teams faced each other
for a Premier League meeting. Liverpool went out strong in the first half
recording three goals in the first 30 minutes of the match. The first goal was
a sensational run down the line from Luis Suárez and he crossed it in where then Michael Essien
would score an own goal. Soon after, a ball played back from Ivanović to John Terry faulted as Terry fell and Jordan Henderson ran onto it and scored it with his dominate foot with a great
finish. Four minutes later a far post corner from central midfielder Jonjo Shelvey was headed by Andy
Carroll to Daniel Agger and resulted in a 3–0 lead over Chelsea after the first
half. Within the second half Chelsea scored off of a Florent Malouda set piece outside the 18 yard box and chested in from Brazillian
internatiomal Ramires. Later in the second half, Ross Turnbull kicked it to clear it and bluffed it and Jonjo
Shelvey trapped it and made a sensational finish to secure a final 4–1 win for
Liverpool.
In the final game of the season Liverpool faced an away trip to Swansea and suffered a 1–0
defeat.
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