The January transfer window is half way through, and, after the past two windows saw Liverpool one of the most active participants, it's been surprisingly quiet for a side lacking both midfield steel and finishing touch who before the season began set a return to Champions League action as the minimum requirement.

Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

Editor's note: At the end of the 2010 season, we posted a series of season reviews of every Philadelphia Union player. Over the next several weeks PSP continues with a review of the 2011 season.

When Roger Torres joined the Union at the young age of 18 he was an exceedingly raw talent.

When rumors of Carlos Ruiz's imminent arrival in Philadelphia surfaced, PSP's Mike Servedio wrote, "Ruiz is known as a mixed bag, a temperamental striker who has had some big seasons in terms of goals in the MLS, but is just as well known for his flagrant diving. The Union could definitely use an experienced goal-scoring striker, with only three out-and-out strikers on the roster, but with Ruiz' reputation he might have to work to win over the Union faithful (myself included).

It wasn't all bad in the early going for Liverpool. The club was comfortably in the top ten in spite of the various struggles and unanswered questions, and there was a win in the derby over Everton despite Dirk Kuyt's first ever penalty miss for Liverpool to boost spirits. It might not have been the start fans had been hoping for after the way the previous season had ended, but it also wasn't the end of the world.

Featured image: Paul Rudderow

Editor's note: At the end of the 2010 season, we posted a series of season reviews of every Philadelphia Union player. Over the next several weeks PSP continues with a review of the 2011 season.

I saved Migs for my last player review of the season because really, what else is there to say?

Liverpool ended 2010-11 in fantastic form, perhaps even convincing those most hopeful that with a tweak here and a winger there a legitimate run at the title wasn't entirely beyond the realm of possibility. With summer signalling that Damien Comolli and Kenny Dalglish were more interested in rebuilding than refining, though, that hope faced up to growing fears about all the that could go wrong with a largely new starting eleven as the season began.

From fears of relegation to hopes for a top four finish, and from passive defensive football to pass and move thrills, the 2010-11 season almost ended perfectly for Liverpool after the rockiest of starts. But almost isn't the same as getting there, and the world rarely conspires to provide the ideal, storybook ending that might be hoped for.

The mood surrounding Liverpool may have improved with the return of Kenny Dalglish, but with a pair each of losses and draws to go along with four wins as he and the club entered March, that renewed optimism hadn't always led to results. At least, though, there was a widespread feeling that it had become a squad capable of turning the proverbial corner and going on a run if they could only manage to make all the pieces fit together.

There was hope. Hope in Dalglish's return. Hope in Suarez' arrival. Hope in the introduction of a more pleasing brand of football. And then, in a moment, it seemed to have all been ripped away.

People talked about the club being bigger than any one player, and they rationalised that things would be alright given that that particular player hadn't really made much of a contribution to any kind of success over the previous eighteen months.

In recent years, the January window's been relatively tame 2007 was maybe the most active, with Javier Mascherano and Alvaro Arbeloa among the names on the way in, and 2008 saw Martin Skrtel arrive with Momo Sissoko heading out. But 2009 brought only the exit for the recently arrived but underwhelming Robbie Keane, and 2010 had only Maxi Rodriguez arriving on a free with Andrea Dossena and Andriy Voronin leaving Anfield.

Editor's note: At the end of the 2010 season, we posted a series of season reviews of every Philadelphia Union player. Over the next several weeks PSP continues with a review of the 2011 season.

While much has been said about the arrival of Faryd Mondragon and its effect on the stability of the Union's defense, the arrival of Carlos Valdes has been just important.

Two weeks. Two weeks until the return fixtures begin. Two weeks until people start making resolutions they won't keep. Two weeks left in 2011. And so the time has arrived to look back on the last calendar year for Liverpool. A year for Kenny Dalglish, returned to lead his club after a lengthy time away.

There has been some talk of late about Jose Enrique, and in particular there have been questions asked as to whether his form has dipped after a flying start to the season that saw him make a strong case for being the league's best left back—and possibly even its best fullback. Previously we looked at his numbers for the club after the first eight games and felt that as he was the only player to be clearly amongst the top three in both attack and defense, the numbers appeared to fully support the idea that he was the best in the league.

Photo: Earl Gardner

Editor's note: At the end of the 2010 season, we posted a series of season reviews of every Philadelphia Union player. Over the next several weeks PSP continues with a review of the 2011 season.

Zach Pfeffer was signed as the Union's first Homegrown player before the beginning of the 2011 season at the ripe old age of 15.

Photo: Earl Gardner

Editor's note: At the end of the 2010 season, we posted a series of season reviews of every Philadelphia Union player. Over the next several weeks PSP continues with a review of the 2011 season.

Justin Mapp heads to Montreal after an inconsistent one-and-a-half year stint in Philadelphia.

For most, Charlie Adam had his best game in a Liverpool shirt against Chelsea, and so before moving on completely from Sunday's match it only seems right to at the very least acknowledge that. And considering this blog's fondness for statistics—not to mention the role stats play in the approach of Fenway Sports Group and Damien Comolli—an obvious point of interest seems clear: Is there anything obvious in Adam's numbers from the weekend that help to separate Sunday from most of what came before?

Football federations are clueless at best, corrupt at worst, and in other breaking news the sky is blue. At least when it's not overcast. Though even then it's probably blue above the clouds. Unless there are no planes flying overhead and so nobody to see it, because then you're getting into trees falling in the forest territory.

With a quarter of the Premier League season wrapped up, the unavoidable reality is that Liverpool hasn't performed up to the level that many fans had hoped they would. They haven't seemed especially poor perhaps, but clearly they haven't hit the sorts of highs they did in the second half of 2010-11 that had fans talking about the squad being a few tweaks away from legitimate contenders after finishing out the season with the third best record—and very nearly the second best up until stumbling through their final two matches—in the league under Kenny Dalglish.

If there's one thing most Liverpool fans would be able to agree on it's that left back Jose Enrique has exceeded expectations, and if the season were to end today he'd likely be named the club's player of the season. Still, it's been difficult to judge him objectively, at least from a strictly Liverpool perspective.

A season of two halves. The first half was relegation-threatened under Hodgson. The second half was brilliant under King Kenny. What a strange year!

Better late than never I guess, my review of last season...
Five myths about where it went wrong...
1) 'Arsene's management of the team is completely inept'
You know, I might have some time for people who say this - or similar things - if they'd been saying this in January and February.

This is the second in InTheStands' Transfermation series exploring the potential summer ahead for all Premiership clubs involved....this addition: Aston Villa

Where they stand:

Well, well, well, if I was an Aston Villa fan I would be sceptical – looking down the barrel at another mid-table finish.

Everybody thinks of one Charlie Adam. Whether they're optimistic about his seemingly inevitable transfer to Liverpool or not doesn't matter. Everybody thinks of the Adam whose raking passes picked apart the club he seems set to join when they met at Anfield, the Adam who scored from the penalty spot to help ensure he'd be remembered by the club he set his heart on, and not the Adam who managed a sorry 45% pass completion rate later in the season against Blackburn.

Manchester United have ended the season with a historic achievement, claiming their 19th league title and being top of England. To relive every game and every goal of Manchester United's historic...
Continue to the full story

Manchester United Season Review 2010/11: How the Premier League was won - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Manchester United secured their 19th league title recently. James, Chief MUFC Writer for writtenoffside.com, chronicles the highs and the lows of a another memorable season.

Reasons To Be Cheerful by Shubham Gael The season ended on a catastrophic note for the Arsenal fans. From quadruple to a double. From a double to the league title and from that to not even a guaranteed place in Champions League next season. But at least it's over. Never witnessed such an awful run [.

There are many Arsenal fans that may want to forget most of the second half of the season, but you have to remember that there were some fantastic moments as well, up to and including the win over Barcelona. Well if you want to see every single goal that Arsenal scored this season then you [...]

Down a dark, shady road I did wearily trudge

Daisies and sunflowers wilted under my touch

I walked a sad walk and hummed a sad tune

It seemed like unchecked night more than cloudy afternoon

-

It was with moist, red eyes and droopy, furrowed brow

That I navigated past people and the odd straggling cow

I had seen my nerves abused and my hairline recede

But to my sincere request The Lord did not accede

-

I buried face in hands as it began to mildly rain

The hopeless clowns had gone and done it again

-

Arsenal now seem to follow a set season template

Sunny August-iffy February-April irate

Veteran suicide artists in this London team reside

Who revel in sorrowfully falling by the wayside

-

This season's commencement saw me baring the pearly whites

Due to Theo Walcott hat-tricks and other surprising sights

November saw the fingernails chewed to naught

Losing to Newcastle and Braga- what absolute rot

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Things started looking up at the turn of the New Year

When Nasri and co.

And we'll finish out the week with cold pizza: two revamps of old infographics.
The first barely counts as a graphic, so we'll get it out of the way quickly. As I explained last year, I don't always agree with how Opta/BBC/ESPN/whomever classifies assists. So, just to be pedantic, I call it "Goal Creation" in the graphic's headline.

One year ago today, Christian Purslow sacked Rafa Benitez and the club began its nosedive into the abyss, descending from a stumbled-to seventh place finish towards Roy Hodgson, Joe Cole, Christian Poulsen, and Paul Koncheskey, while backroom battles brewed and potential suitors fell by the wayside.

For comparison, here's last year's version
versus club:
• Chelsea (1st --> 2nd) = +6
• United (2nd --> 1st) = 0
• Arsenal (3rd --> 4th) = +2
• Tottenham (4th --> 5th) = -3
• City (5th --> 3rd) = +1
• Villa (6th --> 9th) = 0
• Everton (8th --> 7th) = -5
• Birmingham (9th --> 19th) = +3
• Blackburn (10th --> 15th) = -1
• Stoke (11th --> 13th) = -1
• Fulham (12th --> 8th) = +5
• Sunderland (13th --> 10th) = +1
• Bolton (14th --> 14th) = 0
• Wolves (15th --> 17th) = -1
• Wigan (16th --> 16th) = -1
• West Ham (17th --> 20th) = -3
• Relegated/Promoted 1 (Burnley 18th --> Newcastle 12th) = -3
• Relegated/Promoted 2 (Hull 19th --> West Brom 11th) = -1
• Relegated/Promoted 3 (Portsmouth 20th --> Blackpool 19th) = -3
Better against most top sides, primarily Chelsea and Arsenal.

Results under Dalglish outlined in black.
Notice any differences?
12W-4D-3L at Anfield, outscoring the opposition 37 to 14. 5W-3D-11L on the road, tallying 22 while conceding 31.
Dalglish:
Home: 6W-2D-1L, 20 scored – 6 conceded
• 2.22 points per game, 2.

In other, less obvious circumstances, the ominous prediction in the banner would be something to be proud of given how accurate it turned out to be. After a dull 0-0 draw with Hull City to close out the 2009-2010 season, though, it was generally accepted that things couldn't continue as they had during a disappointing follow-up to the second place finish a year before.

Welcome to infographic week. Over the next five days, I'll have charts, graphs, and other visual lunacy in an attempt to further dissect the season that was. Today, Liverpool's league points week by week.
click for full size in new window
• Liverpool's points per game under Hodgson = 1.

How do you sum up that season? To the end of the universe and back. It turns out there's no restaurant there.
This everlasting gobstopper season really was two or three different campaigns rolled into one.
For the first 10 weeks or so, absolutely everything was on life support.

Now Messi knows what it's like to play against the best

In many ways, the season that has just ended is reminiscent of the previous few seasons. Starting relatively well, keeping up with cup and league challenges until the February/March period before fading away the rest of the season. We all love the good kind of repetition, the kind where we lift trophies every season but the one which just ended frustrates a lot of fans and supporters.

Player of the season. It's the final poll. The last question. The end to our attempts at gathering together with fellow bloggers, fans, followers, and supporters to look back at some of the best and worst of the 20010-11 Liverpool season. And let's be honest: This one was never going to be close.

The blogger vote was marginally closer, but as if the poll winner would be anything other than a romp over United. Romps over United better are Christmas, Easter, Hanukkah, and Presidents' Day all rolled into one.
You can find the previous four results at Liverpool Offside (Worst Loss), Anfield Asylum (Performance of the Season), Paisley Gates (Goal of the Season), and two posts down on this site (Young Player of the Season).

Along with Flop of the Season, the results of which will run tomorrow afternoon on Paisley Gates, Worst Loss represents what seems like something of a bygone era of the 2010-2011 season. Like those least impressive on an individual basis, none of the nominees here had anything to do with the second half of the season and are best left banished to the corners of your mind where you keep the memories of your failed attempts at combining hip hop and exercise.

The recent never-ending blog carnival can't spoil historic practice. While I'm sure you're sick of overwrought dissection of the season that was (and there will be more), a top 10 video of Liverpool's goals of the season is tradition around this parts. Also, you should go read the Goal of the Season results that Paisley Gates posted this morning.