I haven’t written anything much about Liverpool’s form this season. Having seen the hero’s return last year, fulfilling the dreams of twenty years, I didn’t want to jump in too early to the ranks of the twittering classes who were questioning the form of the 2011 batch of signings, commenting that Andy Carroll can’t even run like a proper footballer or saying that Luis Suarez is actually quite naughty. I found the Suarez affair thoroughly depressing for a number of reasons, but it didn’t make me rush to my keyboard like the rest of the moronic inferno.
Last season I managed a couple of quite detailed match reports, but I haven’t been going to the games lately – I can’t afford it. What I do know is that we’ve been missing last season’s best player, Lucas, and that I rarely enjoy watching Liverpool asuch while Carroll is on the pitch as when he is off it, a feeling which reached its numbing nadir with his despicable dive at Newcastle yesterday. I also know that I won’t shed any tears if either Damien Comolli or Ian Ayre, or preferably both, are swept away from the heirarchy for their ineptitude in their signings and in their handling of PR, respectively.
I know too that we were top of the form table at around this time last year(click to see that table), that we are bottom of it now (see below), and that the team that Kenny was picking last Spring would have battered the team that’s playing now. I know that shrewd punters are making a lot of money from betting against Liverpool in league games at the moment, just as much money as they made when Woy’s wisible incompetence began to tell last season. They know that it’s always worth looking at the form tables, but especially at this time of year.
On Match of the Day Two last night they showed a form table from 1st of January to 1st of April, with Liverpool languishing among the April fools, second from bottom. They occupy the same position in my own table here, which is for the last 8 weeks only, but I think my table shows the committed punter even more about the state of play in this apparently unpredictable league. It shows clearly who will be champions, and probably who will finish second and third. It shows who will finish bottom and it shows one other team who will surely go down. It shows 3 Lancashire teams who are battling doughtily to stay up and one other midlands club that is plummeting alarmingly and is certainly worth an 11-1 punt for relegation.
It shows that apart from that 3-0 game at Anfield last month, Everton have been decidedly un-distracted by the cup, and might well be in the Europa League next season whether or not they get to Wembley. At the moment I wouldn’t back against them to accomplish either of those goals.
My table also begins the week that Cappello was sacked from the Ingerlund job – Spurs’ fortunes since then have been well documented, but this table makes their slide down from outsiders for the title down to just a 50-50 chance of a CL qualifying tie even more starkly obvious.
April is the cruellest month, and can bring a chilling reality check in all kinds of ways. But it’s also a good month for shrewd punters. I’m putting my money where my mouth is and my bets today based on such form tables are: the tricast of 1st. United; 2nd City; 3rd Arsenal; QPR to go down; Wigan to stay up. An outside bet of just a few quid on Villa to go down, because the odds should be 4 0r 5-1, not 11-1, though I tghink in all probability Blackburn will be the third team to go down with the already doomed Wolves and with QPR.
Meanwhile I’m afraid that Liverpool will qualify for Europe through their cup exploits only.
| P | W | D | L | CS | FtS | F | A | GD | Pt | PPG | ||
| 1 | Manchester United | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 17 | 3 | +14 | 21 | 3.00 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 7 | +9 | 18 | 2.57 |
| 3 | Manchester City | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 6 | +6 | 14 | 2.00 |
| 4 | Everton | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 13 | 1.86 |
| 5 | Fulham | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 7 | +3 | 12 | 1.71 |
| 6 | Wigan Athletic | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 6 | +2 | 12 | 1.71 |
| 7 | Newcastle United | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 11 | -1 | 11 | 1.57 |
| 8 | Bolton Wanderers | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 11 | -3 | 9 | 1.50 |
| 9 | West Bromwich Albion | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 9 | +3 | 10 | 1.43 |
| 10 | Chelsea | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 10 | 1.43 |
| 11 | Blackburn Rovers | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 10 | -1 | 10 | 1.43 |
| 12 | Swansea City | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 10 | -1 | 9 | 1.29 |
| 13 | Stoke City | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 7 | -1 | 8 | 1.14 |
| 14 | Sunderland | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 13 | -4 | 8 | 1.14 |
| 15 | Tottenham Hotspur | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 11 | +1 | 9 | 1.12 |
| 16 | Norwich City | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 10 | -2 | 7 | 1.00 |
| 17 | Queens Park Rangers | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 13 | -3 | 7 | 1.00 |
| 18 | Aston Villa | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 9 | -5 | 5 | 0.83 |
| 19 | Liverpool | 8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 12 | -4 | 4 | 0.50 |
| 20 | Wolverhampton Wndrs | 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 24 | -18 | 1 | 0.14 |
Because It's Much More Important Than That 