Spring Break
Liverpool in trouble this season
Jon-Paul Roche
Issue date: 11/3/09 Section: Sports
A name that has been synonymous with English football almost since the inception of the Football League is Liverpool FC. (The Football League included the entirety of English football until 1992, when the Premier League was formed, displacing the First Division.) The club has won more trophies than any other English club, including a joint-record 18 league championships, which they share with Manchester United, and an English-record five European titles.
Liverpool maintained a stranglehold on England's First Division for the majority of the 1970s and '80s, winning 11 league titles and finishing second best six times in the 20-year period. Success was not limited to domestic competition, considering an eight-year period from 1977 to 84 when the Reds secured the European Cup (now the UEFA Champions League) four times. In seemed to be nothing but downhill for the Merseyside club. The completion of the 2008-2009 season marked 19 years since Liverpool has won the league and although it's still early, it's hard to see it not becoming 20 at the end of this season.
After a shaky start in the league, losing two of their first three matches, Liverpool seemed to be getting on track to a successful season, putting together a stretch of four straight league wins. But, since that brief winning streak, the Reds have lost three out of their last four matches, placing them sixth in the league, the worst they've been since Aug. 29.
Liverpool has been less than impressive in the UEFA Champions League this season as well, a competition in which they usually perform very strongly. As previously mentioned, the club has captured the European title five times, more than any other English side, most recently in 2005.
With an opening 1-0 win against Hungarian side Debreceni VSC, Liverpool looked to be business as usual. But consecutive losses to Italian club AFC Fiorentina and French side Olympique Lyonnais have left Liverpool with a very daunting task just to escape the group stage.
Liverpool maintained a stranglehold on England's First Division for the majority of the 1970s and '80s, winning 11 league titles and finishing second best six times in the 20-year period. Success was not limited to domestic competition, considering an eight-year period from 1977 to 84 when the Reds secured the European Cup (now the UEFA Champions League) four times. In seemed to be nothing but downhill for the Merseyside club. The completion of the 2008-2009 season marked 19 years since Liverpool has won the league and although it's still early, it's hard to see it not becoming 20 at the end of this season.
After a shaky start in the league, losing two of their first three matches, Liverpool seemed to be getting on track to a successful season, putting together a stretch of four straight league wins. But, since that brief winning streak, the Reds have lost three out of their last four matches, placing them sixth in the league, the worst they've been since Aug. 29.
Liverpool has been less than impressive in the UEFA Champions League this season as well, a competition in which they usually perform very strongly. As previously mentioned, the club has captured the European title five times, more than any other English side, most recently in 2005.
With an opening 1-0 win against Hungarian side Debreceni VSC, Liverpool looked to be business as usual. But consecutive losses to Italian club AFC Fiorentina and French side Olympique Lyonnais have left Liverpool with a very daunting task just to escape the group stage.
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david moyes
posted 11/05/09 @ 9:31 AM EST
Liverpool are sh*te
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