As we approach the end of 2019, we are reaching not just the end of the calendar year, but also the dying embers of the decade. With this in mind, I thought I’d write a piece to summarise Liverpool’s decade. I’ve seen a lot of teams, moments and players of the decade-based stuff, so I’ve gone for something different.
Source: liverpoolfc.com
The A to Z of Liverpool’s 2010s. For every single letter in the alphabet, I have picked something to do with Liverpool’s decade. Some were easier than others, and for most there were multiple options to pick from. This will be a two-part series, with this article going from letters A to M, while the second part, which will be out in a few days, will run from N to Z.
So let’s get on with it – we’ve got ten years to get through in only 26 letters!
A is for… Anfield
The decade kicked off with a major talking point about the club’s future: should we stay at Anfield or build a new stadium on Stanley Park? Upon acquiring the club, John W Henry and Tom Werner stated that they would prefer to stay put, and to redevelop Anfield. Work on the Main Stand expansion began in December 2014 and was complete by the start of the 2016/17 season, increasing the stadium capacity by 8500. As well as a higher capacity, the expansion project brought a new, wider tunnel, better technical areas and all-new changing rooms, transforming and modernising Anfield in time for Liverpool’s first game in the new-look ground – a 4-1 win over champions Leicester. With plans in place for an Anfield Road expansion in the near future too, maybe the 2020s will see our wonderful home improved once again.
B is for… Barcelona
Source: liverpoolfc.com
The most famous game of the decade saw Liverpool overturn a 3-0 deficit from the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against a Barcelona team which boasted a fearsome front line of Lionel Messi and former Liverpool duo Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho. An early goal from Divock Origi – who replaced the injured Mohamed Salah – gave hope, before a quick-fire brace from substitute Gini Wijnaldum drew the Reds level on aggregate. A genius corner from Trent Alexander-Arnold was bundled home by Origi for his second, and Liverpool held out for the greatest of wins and booked their place in the Champions League Final. The images of the players lining up as the Kop serenaded their heroes with You’ll Never Walk Alone will stick with us all forever, as will the memories and stories of that night that we’ll have to tell. The Nou Camp was also the destination of three departing South American Liverpool starts this decade: the aforementioned Suarez and Coutinho, as well as Javier Mascherano.
C is for… Chelsea
There’s been an FA Cup Final in 2012 and a League Cup semi in 2015, Chelsea narrowly coming out on top in both encounters., though Istanbul was the setting for Liverpool beating Chelsea on penalties in the Super Cup in August 2019. There’s been major clashes in the league too – just eight months ago the Reds defeated Chelsea 2-0 at Anfield to keep their title hopes alive with goals from Mo Salah and Sadio Mane. Jürgen Klopp’s first league win at Liverpool came in West London – coming from behind to win 3-1 with a brace from Philippe Coutinho and a strike for Christian Benteke. Liverpool were primed for the title with three games left in 2014, before Jose Mourinho turned the tide with a 2-0 win, largely courtesy of the Steven Gerrard slip. There have been six players to have played for both this decade: Yossi Benayoun, Raul Meireles, and more famously Salah, Daniel Sturridge and the £50m man Fernando Torres. In Rafa Benitez, the Reds and Blues have also shared a manager in the last ten years.
D is for… Dortmund
Until Barcelona rocked up to Anfield in May 2019, Liverpool’s awe-inspiring 4-3 win over Borussia Dortmund in the Europa League quarter-finals in 2016 was on a seemingly unstoppable procession to being the most memorable Reds match of the decade. I remain convinced that we’ll never see a better rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone, but the noise was soon coming from the away end – Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang had the Germans two goals up in nine minutes. Divock Origi – who had scored in the first leg – reduced the deficit when he finished off a lovely flowing move, but a sweet finish from Marco Reus looked to have extinguished Liverpool’s fire. A curling strike from Philippe Coutinho and a header from Mamadou Sakho levelled things, but Dortmund were still due to progress on away goals. Deep into added time, James Milner produced a pinpoint cross onto the head of the much-maligned Dejan Lovren, who buried it home for one of the greatest nights in Anfield’s history. 20 months earlier, the two clubs played a pre-season friendly at Anfield, which the Reds won 4-0, including a goal from Lovren, ironically. Who knows how important that seemingly meaningless friendly was in convincing Klopp to join Liverpool?
E is for… Europe
Liverpool’s love affair with European competition has been a theme of particularly the second half of this decade. Rafael Benitez tasted heartbreak as an Atletico Madrid side featuring David De Gea and Sergio Aguero narrowly ended the Reds’ Europa League hopes at the semi-final stage. The next few years of the 2010s brought about as much success on the continent as Theresa May: a mixture of Roy Hodgson and Kenny Dalglish could only get as far as the last 16 of the Europa League in 2010/11, defeated by Portuguese outfit Braga, while Brendan Rodgers’ debut campaign in 2012/13 ended a round earlier, losing on away goals to Zenit. We even failed to qualify for either European tournament in 2011/12, a feat that was repeated in 2013/14 and 2016/17. Rodgers had Liverpool back in the Champions League in 2014/15 but a pathetic group stage exit was followed up with an early departure from the Europa too. The arrival of Jurgen Klopp saw a glorious run to the Europa final in Basel in his first season – featuring wins over Villarreal, Manchester United and the dramatic one over Borussia Dortmund. Unfortunately, Liverpool were beaten by Sevilla on the night, but two years later they were in the Champions League Final – the greatest stage of all. More on the two consecutive finals later…
F is for… Finals
Liverpool reached eight finals this decade, achieving victory four times. The Reds’ six-year trophy drought ended with a penalty shootout win over Cardiff in the 2012 League Cup Final after a 2-2 draw – coming back from 1-0 down to lead, thanks to Martin Skrtel and Dirk Kuyt, before being levelled late on. Liverpool couldn’t repeat the Wembley win a few months later, as Chelsea won 2-1 in the final of the FA Cup, despite a second-half goal from Andy Carroll. Four years after, Man City were victorious in Jurgen Klopp’s first final at Liverpool and won the 2016 League Cup on penalties, rendering Philippe Coutinho’s very late equaliser in vain. Klopp soon had Liverpool in another final – the 2016 Europa League. Sevilla ran out 3-1 winners, despite a gorgeous early goal from Daniel Sturridge. In 2018, the Reds were in the Champions League Final in Kiev, though it was another loss on the big stage – two horror errors from Loris Karius, an unbelievable goal from Gareth Bale and an early injury to Mohamed Salah combined to earn Real Madrid their third consecutive title. The Reds were back in the final the following year and took on Tottenham, winning the game 2-0 and securing a sixth Champions League. More on that later. The UEFA Super Cup in Istanbul was next on the agenda and it was another English side who were in the way – Chelsea. A penalty shootout win after a 2-2 draw meant that another piece of silverware was heading to Merseyside, before recently triumphing in the Club World Cup after a 1-0 win over Flamengo in the final to be crowned world champions.
G is for… Gerrard
Even though Steven Gerrard’s best form in a red shirt was undoubtedly pre-2010s, there were still some great moments this side of the decade for the captain and he remained an inspirational leader on the field. A hat-trick in the Merseyside Derby in March 2012 – including a sumptuous first goal – was a particular highlight. No one can forget the massive role he played in 2013/14’s title charge – big late winners at Fulham and West Ham, as well as a pair of penalties at Man United and the opening goal in the derby – heroic. Yes, the slip is what everyone thinks of, which is a huge shame. As much as his exit 12 months later was a little overdue in my opinion, I will never truly forgive the players who were so guilty of letting Gerrard down on his final stand – embarrassed 6-1 at Stoke – a record defeat in his last ever game. Now manager of Rangers, Gerrard has taken some of Liverpool’s young players on loan, after previously working as U18s coach at Anfield, identifying Trent Alexander-Arnold and Herbie Kane as stars of the future. I wish his departure had been sweeter. Still the all-time Liverpool legend.
H is for… Henderson
Source: liverpoolfc.com
Succeeding Gerrard as skipper of the Reds was Jordan Henderson, taking over the role in August 2015. The ex-Sunderland player grew dramatically under Brendan Rodgers after a tough start under Kenny Dalglish which nearly saw him depart for Fulham in the very early Rodgers days. Rodgers utilised Henderson as a box-to-box midfielder and he became one of the Northern Irishman’s most important players in the 2013/14 title challenge; indeed, to many, Henderson’s suspension from the last three games of the season was just as costly as Gerrard’s slip. He continued his great form in 2014/15, before being awarded the armband. For the last four seasons he has been a mainstay of the central areas, being adaptable as a six, an eight, and has even done shifts on the flanks too. Lifting the Champions League trophy in 2019 felt like the biggest moment in his career so far. A player who gets a lot of criticism, but one who would do anything for the club and deserves all the respect possible from his fans – it means everything to him to be Liverpool captain. No one has played more games for Liverpool this decade than Jordan Henderson.
I is for… Individual awards
Three Liverpool players have won the PFA player of the year this decade – more than any other club. Luis Suarez was the first to pick up the honour for his magical 2013/14 season which yielded 31 goals and 14 assists in 37 games – unheard of. 2017/18 saw Mohamed Salah win the golden boot after 32 Premier League goals and a total of 44 goals and 16 assists in all competitions, in the Egyptian’s debut season in red. Salah became the second player in red this decade to be crowned player of the year for his sensational Premier League campaign, before retaining his golden boot for a second successive season in 2018/19, sharing it with Sadio Mane and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. This was a season which also saw Virgil Van Dijk win the player of the year award for his freakishly good performances, helping Liverpool to a record 97-point season. Sadio Mane and Philippe Coutinho can perhaps feel a little hard done by not to have been recognised with individual awards, while the likes of Alisson, Fabinho, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson could be picking up gongs in the near future too.
J is for… Justice
The 2010s haven’t just been about football for the people of Liverpool, for after nearly 30 years of fighting and campaigning, it was ruled in April 2016 that the 96 people who died at Hillsborough in 1989 were unlawfully killed. While recent events mean that justice might not have been entirely served, the April 2016 ruling was a turning point and felt like there was finally a degree of closure. A few weeks earlier – the day after the famous win over Dortmund in fact – the last ever Hillsborough memorial service took place at Anfield. 15 days later, a jury came to the verdict that the fans were unlawfully killed and had no blame attached to them. It had been a tireless 27-year-long battle and the longest jury case in British legal history, but Margaret Aspinall and her army of supporters had done it. This was the greatest victory that any team in Merseyside achieved in this decade.
K is for… Konchesky
To summarise Liverpool’s decade in all of its fullness, we must pay a short visit to 2010 when Roy Hodgson took charge at Anfield after Rafa Benitez’s departure. One of Hodgson’s signings was Paul Konchesky, a left-back he knew well from his time at Fulham. It seemed a sensible, if unspectacular, signing. It did not pan out that way. Konchesky will go down as one of Liverpool’s worst ever signings. He became the poster boy for the Hodgson era – Liverpool fans now barely mention Hodgson without then mentioning Konchesky – the association between the two of them is so strong. Hodgson made some other very poor signings, including Milan Jovanovic and Christian Poulsen, but Konchesky is the one he will always be remembered for. A defender who had no positional sense and a genuinely astonishing lack of pace, he departed on loan to Nottingham Forest after 18 games for Liverpool in January 2011, before being sold six months later to Leicester. Unfortunately for the ex-Charlton, Tottenham and West Ham player, it is his short spell and attachment to the worst time in Liverpool’s history that will always be most people’s immediate reaction to hearing his name.
L is for… Lucas
Source: liverpoolfc.com
Forever the unsung hero during his time at Liverpool, the Brazilian endured a really difficult start to his Anfield career, but by the time the new decade came around, he had firmly established himself as an important first-team player. Only Jordan Henderson has played more games for Liverpool this decade than Lucas, who had written his name into Anfield folklore upon his departure in 2017. A cult hero who was a fine player too, Lucas’ love for the team shone through every time he played, and on the ultra-rare occasions he scored, all hell broke loose. I’ll never forget the moment when, at 4-0 up in the Merseyside derby in 2016, Lucas took a shot from distance that went a mile wide, prompting Klopp to burst into hysterics of laughter. Or the time he scored in a pre-season friendly at Fleetwood and looked fuming about the fact that Klopp playing him further forward had actually worked. What a loveable player.
M is for… Madrid
And now it’s time to reflect on our trip to the Bernebau in the 2014/15 Champions League group stage when Brendan Rodgers elected to bench Philippe Coutinho, Steven Gerrard, Jordan Henderson and Raheem Sterling for Real Madrid away, instead starting the likes of Joe Allen, Lazar Markovic and Fabio Borini. Nah, of course this is the time to talk about the greatest triumph of this decade: the 2019 Champions League win. The Reds got past Barcelona in sensational circumstances to book their place at Atletico Madrid’s stunning Wanda Metropolitano stadium. Liverpool faced Tottenham, who had defeated Ajax in a similarly dramatic semi-final. The final itself was actually a very dull affair, bookended with a very early penalty from Mohamed Salah and a very late clincher from Divock Origi. The actual match may not have been particularly memorable, but it was still one of the best days in Liverpool’s history, and the scenes and memories at the end of the game will live with us forever. We are the champions, the champions of Europe.
That brings to an end the first part of my A-Z of Liverpool’s decade. Keep an eye on @LFCFansCorner and @daykind19 on Twitter for the second part in a few days!
Daniel (@daykind19)
Daniel Daykin
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I loved reading this; looking forward to next part 👍