In spite of actually winning a trophy, in the shape of the Carling League Cup, Liverpool's season can only be described as dire. The Reds ended up in eighth place, their lowest finish since they last won the title a generation ago. Expectations were high at the start of the campaign, with club legend Kenny Dalglish returning at the helm after taking over from Roy Hodgson last season at the turn of the year. Dalglish had managed to steady the ship and guided the Reds to a sixth place finish. He was given a generous line of credit by the club's American owners, bringing in Stewart Downing, Charlie Adam, Jose Enrique and Jordan Henderson for big money to add to the signings of Luis Suarez and of course Andy Carroll in January. Craig Bellamy also returned for a second spell at the club on a free. Liverpool began the season at Anfield with a 1-1 draw, the first of many, with Sunderland. After a resonably good start, which actually took them to top spot after four games, their season headed irreparably south, due mainly to their inability to win consistently at home, particularly against lesser sides. While the Reds held their own against top sides like Manchester Utd, Chelsea or Manchester City, the likes of Norwich, Swansea, Blackburn and Stoke all came away with points from Anfield this season. In all, the Reds won only six of 19 home league games this campaign. They had a good run of form in January which saw them dominate Manchester Utd and Manchester City in Cup competitions to progress to the later stages. They needed extra time and penalties to see off Cardiff City in the final of the Carling Cup at the end of February. This win came in the midst of dreadful run of results in the league which put paid to any hopes they had harboured of a top four finish. Ironically, this run was ended by a late goal by Andy Carroll at Blackburn in mid April. The former Newcastle hitman had struggled all season to find the net and was hardly given a chance, with few starts. Luis Suarez remained a fixture in the attack in spite of himself having a barren run midway through the season. Dalglish had lost Brazilian midfield organiser Lucas early in the campaign and stuck to a set up that never really worked throughout the season, with Jordan Henderson playing in a defensive role in behind Adam and Gerrard in midfield. Stewart Downing, along with other big money signings, didn't really rise to the challenge. Charlie Adam missed most of the second half of the campaign due to injury while Steven Gerrard's season never really got off the ground due to recurring injury problems. Dirk Kuyt, another fan favourite, was often overlooked by Dalglish, along with Maxi Rodriguez. Meanwhile, at the back, Jaime Carragher gracefully faded in the background, leaving Martin Skrtel and Danny Agger the keys in central defence, with Glen Johnson and Jose Enrique at full backs. With many players under performing and a manager spending most of his time criticising referees, Liverpool had a season to forget, losing the FA Cup final to Chelsea and ending up behind City rivals Everton. It was made even more sour by the very unsavoury Suarez-Evra incident, which the least that can be said of is that it was handled ill advisedly by Dalglish. He was unceremoniously sacked by American owner John W Henry at the end of the season and, in spite of his status as Liverpool legend, few, in truth, disagreed with that decision.
