As Liverpool prepare for a return to the Champions League after a five-year absence, Sam Drury looks at the similarities between the Liverpool of 2008/09 and the current crop....
Monday 15 September 2014 18:31, UK
It is five years since the famous Champions League music was heard blaring out of the Anfield sound-system.
On the last occasion it preceded a dreary dead rubber against Fiorentina. Rafa Benitez’s side were already out and, despite leading at half-time, their Italian opponents turned the game around in the second half with Alberto Gilardino scoring a last-minute winner.
It summed up what had been a disappointing group stage for Liverpool in what proved to be a dreadful season.
So when Liverpool take on Ludogorets at Anfield on Tuesday it is unlikely that many home supporters will be looking to their last Champions League campaign for much inspiration.
However, heading into the 2009/10 season just as there were this, there had been high hopes. In fact there were a number of similarities between the Liverpool of five years ago and this season's side.
Runners up previous season
Liverpool had finished runners up in 2008/09 with a deadly attacking duo striking fear into opposition defenders. It all sounds very familiar.
In 2008/09, after years of finishing comfortably in the top four, Liverpool finally looked ready to make a genuine title challenge. This was, after all, a team containing Pepe Reina, Jamie Carragher, Javier Mascherano, Xabi Alonso, Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres all arguably at the peak of their powers.
They did not disappoint and lost just twice all season in the league. However, it was an inability to turn draws into wins against sides set up with the sole intention of settling for a point that ended up costing them.
The expectations and the number of established top-class players may have been very different for Brendan Rodgers’ team last season but the outcome was the same, in fact Liverpool came even closer to the title with his attack-minded side.
Star player heads to Spain
As such there was an expectation and anticipation among Liverpool fans that their side could go one better the following season. However, those hopes were tempered by the loss of one of their key men.
Gerrard and Torres may have been seen as the driving forces for Liverpool in 08/09 but behind them, pulling the strings, was Alonso. The Spaniard may not have received quite the same amount of plaudits as his more attacking team-mates but there was no doubt he was equally important to the team.
So when he was sold to Real Madrid ahead of the new season, the supporters were understandably concerned about how he could be suitably replaced. As it turned out, he was not, certainly not for a number of years.
The comparisons with the departure of Luis Suarez to Barcelona over the summer are clear. While Alonso did not score the goals or create the headlines of the Uruguayan, his importance to the team was certainly comparable to that of Suarez.
Optimism after Italian arrival
With an influential player, both on the pitch and in the dressing room, gone, the need for a new face to reassure the fans, not to mention fill the void in the playing squad, is clear.
Both five years ago and this summer, Liverpool looked to Italy to find their replacement. Alberto Aquilani was the man selected in the summer of 2009. The then-Roma midfielder was a different type of player to Alonso but there was no doubting his talent.
He's got all the qualities. He's 6ft 3ins, he's quick, his touch is terrific and he can score goals.
His £20m signing was met with approval by the majority of supporters but the news that he would not be fit to play for a number of months was less well received. It was a gamble and after three years on the club’s books, 18 appearances, two loan spells back in Italy and just one goal it is hard to describe the move as anything other than a failure.
This time around, the risk taken by Liverpool is not over the player’s fitness or whether he can adapt to the style of play but his behaviour. Mario Balotelli’s reputation, rightly or wrongly, goes before him wherever he goes. The off-field antics have been dismissed by his new manager, all that will concern him is how he performs on it.
It is early days but so far, despite the best attempts of Aston Villa to rile him up, the striker has been on his best behaviour and has shown signs that he is willing to work hard for the team as well. As with Aquilani, there is no questioning his footballing skill and so if he stays motivated and avoids the disciplinary problems that have hampered him in the past, Liverpool will be confident Balotelli can become a success rather than emulate his fellow countryman.
Shaky start to the new season
Having come so close in the previous campaign, there was the expectation of a similar effort among the fan-base in 2009/10 in particular.
Two wins and two defeats in the opening four matches followed with a home loss to Aston Villa by far the most frustrating result for Liverpool.
It is certainly too early to be writing Liverpool off, just as it was in Benitez’s last season at the helm, but it does put that bit more pressure on the Merseyside outfit to perform in their next few games.
The return of the Champions League will no doubt be a welcome distraction and an opportunity to find form after an uncertain start.
Group stage starts with debutant at Anfield
There is also the fact that Liverpool start their latest European adventure at home to a minnow making their debut in the Champions League group stage.
Back in 2009, Debrecen were the visitors to Anfield, eager to make their mark. On that occasion Liverpool came in to the game on the back of back-to-back victories, away at Bolton Wanderers and at home to Burnley.
They were well on top against the Hungarians but it took a solitary Dirk Kuyt goal to give them the three points. Despite numerous chances to add to their lead, the score remained 1-0 and Debrecen made it a nervy last few minutes for the home side.
Rodgers will be hoping that the similarities stretch to the result against Ludogorets on Tuesday but will be hoping that the scoreline is rather more comfortable against the Bulgarian champions, especially as they are set to be without their two first-choice goalkeepers.
Key differences
From Gerrard and Torres to Sturridge and Suarez, Alonso to Suarez, Aquilani to Balotelli and Debrecen to Ludogorets – five years on the similarities are there for all to see but fortunately for Liverpool supporters, there are also a number of significant differences.
As Benitez’s side prepared to take on Debrecen in September 2009, the club was embroiled in a battle between former owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks and the fans who so desperately wanted them out.
The relationship between the manager and the owners had long since broken down and given the off-field distractions, the performances of the previous season were quite remarkable. In hindsight, to expect similar again was unrealistic although pundits as well as fans anticipated just that.
The strain of having to deal with boardroom politics as well as ‘training and coaching’ the team for another season eventually proved too much for Benitez in his sixth year at Anfield. That he was denied the funds to bring in the players he believed would help move Liverpool on again and challenge for the title further hindered him. The success of the previous season had, to some extent, covered up the underlying issues at the club but it never took much to bring them to the surface.
In contrast, the Liverpool that enters the Champions League this season is as harmonious as it has been in a decade or more. FSG saved the club from the imminent threat of administration and, nearly four years on, the club is financially stable and, despite an unconvincing start to this season, moving in the right direction on the field as well.
Rodgers has been far from flawless in his time as Liverpool boss, concerns over the defence persist, but he has worked wonders in turning a team dangerously close to mid-table mediocrity into a side that came within two points of the Premier League title.
The next challenge he faces is taking that team into Europe’s premier club competition and proving that it is where they belong once again.
The Liverpool of 2008/09 may bare distinct similarities to the present-day side but in many ways they could not be more different. The sides may have arrived at much the same point but the current crop must now prove that while their counterparts of five years ago were on the wane, they are only just beginning their climb.
