Best league result for 30 years

[llego]

Reposted with permission from another forum, thisisanfield.com. Thought it was really interesting.

 

Having recently read that this season's points total of 86 was our best ever in the Premiership, i thought it would be interesting to look back a little further & see how our points tally this season compared to those secured prior to the Premiership days.

 

What i discovered was pretty amazing - this season is actually our best 38 game average points haul since the 1978 - 79 season!

 

PLEASE NOTE - The points tallies listed below are not always the actual total points we secured in that season for a couple of reasons:

 

1. In a 40 or 42 game season i divided our total points won by 40 or 42 to get our average points per game for the season & then multiplied that by 38.

 

2. In the seasons when you got 2 points for a win i changed that to 3 points for a win.

 

I actually tracked all the way back to the 1963 - 1964 season (the first time that Bill Shankly won the league) & basically our points tally this season beats every single season for the last 45 years except for the 1978 - 1979 season.

 

Now i know that my scoring system may be a bit unfair on the pre-1981 Liverpool teams because in the days of 2 points for a win & 1 for a draw, a draw was actually viewed as a better result than it is these days, but it is still pretty amazing that our results this season under Rafa are better than all of those achieved under Dalglish, Fagan, Paisley & Shankly, except for just that one 1978 - 1979 season under Bob Paisley!

 

Season 38 game average points tally

 

2008 - 09 86

2007 - 08 76

2006 - 07 68

2005 - 06 82

2004 - 05 58

2003 - 04 60

2002 - 03 64

2001 - 02 80

2000 - 01 69

1999 - 00 67

1998 - 99 54

1997 - 98 65

1996 - 97 68

1995 - 96 71

1994 - 95 66

1993 - 94 54

1992 - 93 53

1991 - 92 57

1990 - 91 76

1989 - 90 79

1988 - 89 76

1987 - 88 85

1986 - 87 67

1985 - 86 79

1984 - 85 69

1983 - 84 72

1982 - 83 74

1981 - 82 78

1980 - 81 61

1979 - 80 68

1978 - 79 88

1977 - 78 73

1976 - 77 72

1975 - 76 75

1974 - 75 64

1973 - 74 71

1972 - 73 76

1971 - 72 73

1970 - 71 61

1969 - 70 64

1968 - 69 77

1967 - 68 69

1966 - 67 63

1965 - 66 78

1964 - 65 55

1963 - 64 75

 

Now i'm not trying to suggest that our current team is better than those of years gone by, after all we won the title in 13 of these previous seasons & we certainly didn't win it this season.

 

But i do think the totals illustrate that the team's results this season were something pretty special & the fact that they were achieved with our 2 best players either out injured or playing not 100% fit for a large chunk of the season makes them even more special!

 

The start of next season can not come quick enough for me!!!

[23_Carra_Gold]

Our current side,with one or two additions, is capable of great things.

[suley]

yes points wise it has been an amazing season... and to think at the beginning of this season there were still so many people saying rafa isnt good enough... i used to laugh when i saw those posts calling for rafa's head before the season had even begun...

i think if it were up to some of those so caled fans of ours to make the decisions... this club would be in the mess that newcastle is in right now.... where are those fans now? there just waiting for next season and if this team slips up even slightly, there heads will be popping up out of everywhere ready to point it out and magnify it by a 1000 times and say rafa isnt good enough....

 

fickle fickle fickle... what else can you say

[Red Nick]

Really stupid comparison IMO

 

Its how close you get to the champions that really matter than a points total,

 

Look at Man Utd 74 out ot 78 points against the bottom 13 teams would never have happened in the 90s let alone 80s. The premiership killed competion off for good. only 3 teams can win the title next season and that wasnt always the case when the season started.

[llego]

Really stupid comparison IMO

 

Its how close you get to the champions that really matter than a points total,

 

Look at Man Utd 74 out ot 78 points against the bottom 13 teams would never have happened in the 90s let alone 80s. The premiership killed competion off for good. only 3 teams can win the title next season and that wasnt always the case when the season started.

 

Well really, point total and how close you are to the champion are obviously related. I see what you mean that the league was more competitive and therefore lower totals won it ten or twenty years ago. But its still very interesting to look at the cycles these totals go in and note the definite upward trend of our "high seasons"- even in todays polarized league. So for example-

 

 

2009 86

2008 76

2007 68

2006 82

2005 58

2004 60

2003 64

2002 80

 

The shitty seasons are getting better and fewer, and the good seasons are reaching higher peaks. Of course the Rafa-Houllier change and all the personnel changes that went with it disrupt the continuity this comparison is based on, but still.

[bobhorse]

You would have to be blind or stupid not to notice the improvements made under Rafa every season

Because of the money that is in the premiership now the quality of the players playing in all of the teams is much higher than in the old Division 1 days. I don’t think that is in any doubt United have enjoyed the spoils of being able to out spend everyone else because of the extra revenue they get from Old Trafford Rafa has said over and over again that he can't compete financially with United or Chelsea but he will find other ways to compete

He has year on year upgraded players in his squad in DM he replaced Didi with Sissoko and Sissoko with Javi

Cisse and Pongol with Bellemy and Crouch and them with Torres and like wise through the squad

Some people have seen it as Rafa making mistakes in the transfer market but he cant not spend the money on player A last year and add it to this years and buy player B he wants for that position because he needs to have someone playing in that position this is why we seem to make improvement every year

If he had the backing to sign the players he wants to sign then we would have been champions long before now

But when he does get it 100% right and we win the Prem he will have a squad of players that can dominate for years

We seem to have always been just 1 or 2 players away every season but the difference is that we have never been so close to the champions and not only that, but done the double over them

Rafa knows that when teams put 11 men behind the ball at Anfield we need to have options that will be able to break them down

Rafa will sign players that will give him those options we hope and next year will be the start of something really special that will continue for years to come

[Hermes]

Really stupid comparison IMO

 

Its how close you get to the champions that really matter than a points total,

 

Look at Man Utd 74 out ot 78 points against the bottom 13 teams would never have happened in the 90s let alone 80s. The premiership killed competion off for good. only 3 teams can win the title next season and that wasnt always the case when the season started.

 

 

True. The top 4 are way ahead of the rest because of money earned in the Champions league, signing the best players/paying the highest wages. That's why the points total of the top teams is so high in the last few years.

 

We have to steam roll the mediocrity in the league when we face them, we can't expect to beat Chelsea and Man U home and away next season. Those points have to be made up against the rest.

[ToxtethTerror]

You could lose 7 games and still win the league in the old days because the lower level teams could still get results - the league is all about the big 4 now due to CL money. When you look at that way, we are not that special, we just have significantly more money than most teams in the league.

[sir roger]

You could lose 7 games and still win the league in the old days because the lower level teams could still get results - the league is all about the big 4 now due to CL money. When you look at that way, we are not that special, we just have significantly more money than most teams in the league.

 

Agree to an extent with the first part , and also add that the state of the pitches & the old pass-back law helped teams to get draws as well.

 

On the finance point , I accept we have more money than most in the Prem , but would say that we were well above-par in our Prem performance this season in that I reckon we are 4th wealthiest ( ignoring City as the cash came too late really for this season ).

 

I also note that the idiot at Newcastle paid roughly the same as the Yanks did for us ( price + debt wipe-out ) so it's not just cash that matters.

[Joe Le Taxi]

Really think that post is poor. Especially about where he divides the points when there were more games. It is just another pointless statistic. If you finish first you're a winner. If you finish second, you're nothing.