2006/7-A mid-point review of the Premiership season

19 games in and it is the right time to assess the season so far. For the first time in quite a few years we have played all 19 other teams in the first 19 games of the Premiership season.

As I pen this article we lie in 3rd place, same position we ended last season. We are 13pts behind the leaders Manchester United, a gap that was as big as 15pts last week. There is no hiding from the fact that being 13pts off the top is a major disappointment and a far from ideal scenario in a season when most of us expect a good shot at the title by the Reds. A slow start, especially away from home, was the cause of this once again. It took the team ages to get a win on the road and after 5 defeats and 2 draws they have finally won 2 on the trot. Is it a change in fortunes? We will wait and see. With Blackburn and Spurs away coming up next week we will have a better idea.

34pts from 19 games is our tally. If we look at last season’s gross total of 82pts from 38 games it means that we are 7pts short of the equivalent point tally we’d expect to get a similar finish. In fact after 19 games last season we were on 41 pts, meaning that if we are to do as last season and perform equally in the second round we will end up with 68pts, a massive 14pts short of last season. That is however simplifying things as one must take into account the games we actually played and see how we are faring in comparison to last season. Taking game by game one can be more accurate. For the sake of this exercise I have replaced Birmingham with Sheff.Utd, Sunderland with Watford and WBA with Reading. The different results achieved this season are:

1.   A loss away to Everton compared to a win (-3pts)
2.   A loss away to Bolton compared to a draw (-1pt)
3.   A draw home to Blackburn compared to a win (-2pts)
4.   A draw home to Portsmouth compared to a win (-2pts)
5.   A win away to Charlton compared to a defeat (+3pts)

That would put us 5pts below what we achieved last season, slightly better but still not. The team needs to maintain it’s current run of form in order to approach last season’s point total. Gaining more than just 1pt out of 6 at home to Chelsea and Man U would be a good start. Those are also direct encounters and the ones that will influence the table most. One could also say that champions Chelsea are currently 7pts short of what they achieved at this stage last season and that it is Man U’s excellent start to the season that is making our record look bad compared to last year. Can Man U keep up this run? Only time will tell. They have to play Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal away, this after only gaining 4pts out of 9 from the 3 home games against these teams.

There are positives to take at this stage despite all that is written above. The team has not conceded a goal in the last 7 games. In fact the last goal conceded stretches back to over 10hrs of football ago, away to Arsenal. The current home run is the best Liverpool have had in 15yrs and together with Chelsea, the best home record of the season. The team is also unbeaten at home in the league since the 4-1 defeat to Chelsea last season. 2006 has seen Liverpool never lose at Anfield in the league.

As we head towards the busy Christmas period there is a lot to look forward to. Despite the stuttering start it seems as if certain problems are being ironed out. New signings are finally settling in. Bellamy is scoring freely whilst Pennant and Gonzalez are proving to be good options down the wing. Aurelio has been injured or disappointing most of the time whereas Kuyt has been an instant hit. The major revelation so far has been Daniel Agger. Whilst not exactly a new signing he only clocked up some 4-5 games in the Premiership last season. This year he has ousted Hyypia from the side and has looked very composed. Last year's stars are also finding their form and it is good to see Gerrard and Alonso score a few of late.

2007 will be a very interesting year. There is the DIC takeover and the January transfer window which will surely affect things on the field in the very near future. Let's hope for a great 2007............starting off with a great second part of the 06/07 EPL campaign!