{"id":58,"date":"2015-05-26T17:44:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-26T17:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/?p=58"},"modified":"2015-05-26T17:44:00","modified_gmt":"2015-05-26T17:44:00","slug":"liverpool-fc-end-of-season-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/liverpool-fc-end-of-season-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool FC: End Of Season Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seriously?!<\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s be honest, it\u2019s been a poor season. It wasn\u2019t exactly the type of season anyone would want to write home about before<\/em> the Reds lost 6-1 away to Stoke, but sufficed to say that result has left a bad taste in the mouth.<\/p>\n

So the idea of doing some End Of Season Awards seems a little bit like being asked to judge a \u2018fart in an elevator\u2019 competition: Unappealing and hardly likely to get anyone overly excited.<\/p>\n

Yet the truth is that the players gave it their all. The manager, despite what some might say, did everything that he could to see Liverpool be as successful as possible. The season was a washout, but it wasn\u2019t because of an intentional collapse or failure.<\/p>\n

Therefore it\u2019s only fair that those that gave their blood sweat and tears to the Liverpool shirt this season are rewarded with a thank you. And that thank you is here in the form of our inaugural Awards. Let us know if you think we\u2019ve got it wrong anywhere!<\/p>\n

Young Player Of The Year<\/h2>\n

There are a number of entrants for this particular award. Especially given that FSG have deliberately employed a tactic of using youth as much as possible. Players like Lazar Markovic, Emre Can, Alberto Moreno, Philippe Coutinho, Raheem Sterling, Jordan Ibe and Jerome Sinclair have all made appearances in the first team this season, and all of them are under 25.<\/p>\n

Sinclair and Ibe haven\u2019t had enough of an impact to win this award, though they have done enough to mean that Liverpool fans should be excited about them as prospects in the coming years.<\/p>\n

Likewise neither Moreno nor Markovic have been particularly impressive for the Reds, with both finding their positions in the starting line-up to be rather limited.<\/p>\n

Emre Can and Philippe Coutinho are the standout candidates, with both having been excellent throughout the year. Yet Can\u2019s performances fell away a little bit towards the end of campaign, with Rodgers\u2019s decision to play him out of position doing him no real favours. As for Coutinho, we\u2019ve got another award entirely in mind for him.<\/p>\n

\"By<\/a>

By Biser Todorov (Own work) [CC BY 3.0 (http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div>That only leaves one player as a serious candidate for the Young Player Of The Season Award and, given the behaviour of his agent in recent weeks, we\u2019re not sure he\u2019ll be an entirely popular one: it\u2019s Raheem Sterling.<\/p>\n

Say what you want about Sterling\u2019s agent, Aidy Ward, to say nothing of the player. He\u2019s not exactly endeared himself to supporters over the last few months, with his refusal to sign a new contract whilst also saying it\u2019s not about the money leading to many supporters feeling that he\u2019s something of a money grabber and a traitor.<\/p>\n

Yet it\u2019s on the pitch that it really matters, and it\u2019s on the pitch that he\u2019s continued to perform. This season he\u2019s played up front, behind the striker, on the wing and as a wing back. Sometimes he\u2019s even had to play all of those positions within the same game.<\/p>\n

Statistically he\u2019s up there with the best of the best at the same age. Here\u2019s a look at the chances he created in the season he turned 20 when compared to compared to Messi, Ronaldo, Bale and Silva at the same age:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Player<\/th>\nGames<\/th>\nChances Created<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Messi<\/td>\n28<\/td>\n40<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ronaldo<\/td>\n33<\/td>\n49<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bale<\/td>\n23<\/td>\n39<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Silva<\/td>\n34<\/td>\n40<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sterling<\/td>\n35<\/td>\n75<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Now chances created aren\u2019t the same as assists or goals, of course, but the stats are still impressive \u2013 especially when you consider that Liverpool have been without a main striker for most of the season and decidedly poor for pretty much all of it.<\/p>\n

Like him or not, think he\u2019s money grabbing or not, there\u2019s no denying that he\u2019s a top quality footballer. For that reason, Raheem Sterling is our Young Player Of The Year.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Player Of The Year<\/h2>\n

Such is the nature of Liverpool\u2019s poor season that there\u2019s barely even a shortlist for this one. Can has impressed, but has hardly been superb. Mamadou Sakho has been excellent when he\u2019s made it onto the pitch, but his hissy fit during the derby and his injuries throughout the season mean that he\u2019s just not been consistent enough to win it.<\/p>\n

Simon Mignolet managed to shake off a terrible start of the season to come within a whisker of the Golden Glove, yet there\u2019s always a fear that he might regress to his former self and you certainly wouldn\u2019t want to bank on him when the pressure is on.<\/p>\n

\"By<\/a>

By Dean Jones (Flickr: Coutinho Goal) [CC BY 2.0 (http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div>And then there\u2019s Philippe Coutinho; the Brazilian wonderkid who the Liverpool players nicknamed \u2018David Blaine\u2019 because of his mesmerising footwork; the player that most people think the Liverpool team should be built around in the future. Is there a more serious option for the award than him?<\/p>\n

When he was named in the Team Of Year by the Premier League there was an \u2018amusing\u2019 tweet doing the rounds that pointed out he\u2019d scored 4 and assisted 4 \u2013 the same as the Manchester United \u2018flop\u2019 Falcao. It was a tweet that summed up the problem with modern day football supporters \u2013 it\u2019s all about the flash and not about the substance. Fans nowadays have no time for nuance; they have no understanding that a player may just offer more than goals and assists. Of course we\u2019d like to have seen more of both from the youngster, but that doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s been unimpressive this season.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s been the impetus behind Liverpool\u2019s best performances and the player that offers the clearest hope of success next season, which is why Philippe Coutinho is our Player Of The Year.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Goal Of The Season<\/h2>\n

As we\u2019ve just said, Philippe Coutinho may well need to score more goals before he becomes a truly great player, but that doesn\u2019t mean that the ones he has scored have been lucky in any way. In fact, he could have a Goal Of The Season competition all to himself.<\/p>\n

With just 52 goals from 38 games, it shouldn\u2019t be overly difficult to narrow down the best of the lot of them. Yet somehow, even amongst the doom and gloom and without the joy of watching Luis Suarez play Norwich, there have been a number of absolute corkers this season.<\/p>\n

Here are our contenders:<\/p>\n

It seems an age ago now, but remember that game against Tottenham when Alberto Mereno won the ball back from Andros Townsend well inside the Liverpool half at White Hart Lane, before running the length of the pitch and smashing it past Hugo Lloris? It wasn\u2019t just a great goal; it was a signal of intent and a promise of things to come. A promise that went undelivered, sadly. Still, what a goal.<\/p>\n