Best Moment: In March Liverpool thrashed Real Madrid in the Champions League and Sunderland, Manchester United and Aston Villa in the Premier League scoring fifteen and conceding a solitary goal. It was breath-taking stuff and such a shock after watching Benitez become more controlling and more defensive over the course of his reign. But at some point he decided that his team could - and needed to - take the shackles off and they responded. Boy, did they ever!
Best Transfer: Not selling Xabi Alonso to Juventus was like a transfer. His partnership with Mascherano in Liverpool's engine room was the platform on which Gerrard, Torres, Kuyt, etc, ran. The pair won balls in midfield and turned that into attack with a single pass. It was fast and deadly, and was a key to Liverpool's late season success.
Worst Transfer: On the flip side, there's a book waiting to be written about the Robbie Keane transfer. And how someone decided that Dossenna was a nine million pound player is beyond me. He had some good moments, even scoring a few goals in a purple patch mid-season. But that was as a substitute on the left-wing. He was simply a defender who couldn't defend. And with Aurelio and Insua at the back and Riera and Benayoun on the wing it certainly doesn't seem like money well spent on a third choice player at either position.
Biggest Disappointment (injury): Sometimes the obvious ones are true. Torres and Gerrard played a third of the season together. And while Phillipe Degen never did make an appearance this season, it's the loss of Liverpool's big names that that pose a real "what if".
Biggest Disappointment (non-injury): Any striker not named Torres. N'Gog. Babel. Keane. Full of potential, and they did get their chances this season. But do any of them compare favorably to Carlos Tevez as on option off the bench or in case of injuries? Or even Niklas Bendtner? A little more depth at striker and perhaps some of those disastrous draws against the league's smaller teams could have yielded three points instead of one.
Best Start: By default I'm going to give this to Albert Riera. He looked like he cared (which he never seemed to do at Manchester City) and gave Liverpool balance on the left flank. He wasn't spectacular by any means but he did have some flashes of skill. However he faded down the stretch and lost his starting place to Benayoun.
Best Finish: Yossi Benayoun and Dirk Kuyt were real keys for Liverpool in the season's run-in. Seemingly given more freedom in Benitez's attacking regime they flourished and each began scoring regularly. Gerrard also had an amazing run in this new system but it was these two nominal wingers that really showed some unexpected class.
Biggest Achilles Heel: Any striker not named Torres (see above) and the notion that Benitez was too controlling and too risk averse to let his team play to their true potential over the course of the season. They ended so strongly, and while that gives hope for next season it does make one wonder how he got it so wrong for so long.
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