1998–99 Liverpool F.C. season

Liverpool
1998–99 season
Chairman David Moores
Manager Roy Evans and Gérard Houllier (joint managers until November)
Gérard Houllier (from November)
Stadium Anfield
Premier League 7th
FA Cup Fourth round
League Cup Fourth round
UEFA Cup Third round
Top goalscorer League:
Michael Owen (18)
All:
Michael Owen (23)
Home colours
Away colours
Third colours

During the 1998–99 Liverpool F.C. season, the club competed in the FA Premier League (known as the FA Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons). Following are the results of the 1998–99 regular season for the English football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside.

Season summary

The appointment of former France national team head coach Gérard Houllier as joint manager alongside Roy Evans was seen as Liverpool's best chance of making a title challenge, but Evans did not enjoy the partnership and resigned in November to leave Houllier in sole charge.

Despite Michael Owen's brilliant form, Liverpool were unable to mount anything like a title challenge and seemed to be a side in transition following the appointment of their new head coach and adapting to a new style, which saw new signing Rigobert Song arrive and the likes of Jason McAteer and Rob Jones leave, along with the club's longest serving player Steve Harkness, who joined Benfica on 7 March 1999 after almost ten years at Anfield.

By January, the side was reshuffled but the failure of the club to retain the services of Steve McManaman, transferred to Real Madrid at the end of the season in a deal labelled as the Bosman scandal of the season, hurt the club financially. Performance wise, their seventh-place finish was not enough to attain even a UEFA Cup place, as well as being the club's lowest finish in five years.

The season had not started poorly, with a 2–1 win at Southampton followed by a 0–0 draw at home to the previous season's double winners Arsenal and an impressive 4–1 away win over Newcastle United just days after the Tynesiders had sacked former Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish. September began with a 2–0 win over Coventry City which saw the Reds top the table after four matches, level on points with Aston Villa, while title favourites Arsenal and Manchester United were fifth and ninth respectively.[1]

However, Livepool's lead of the Premier League was lost in their fifth match after they lost 2–1 at West Ham United. They travelled to Old Trafford for an encounter with fierce rivals Manchester United on 24 September, but lost 2–0. They were now fourth in the league, while United were third, unfancied Derby County were second and Aston Villa now led the league.[2]

15 September saw the beginning of the club's UEFA Cup campaign, where they defeated Slovakian side Košice 3–0 away in Košice. A comprehensive 5–0 win in the second leg booked Liverpool's place in the next round.

October was a mixed month for the Reds, who crushed Nottingham Forest 5–1 in the Premier League at Anfield but were held to draws by Chelsea and Everton and ended the month with a 1–0 defeat at Leicester City which saw them still restricted to fourth place. However, they were now six points behind leaders Aston Villa – who had a game in hand – and more than a quarter of the league season had now passed. Manchester United were now one point off the top, while Arsenal had re-emerged as contenders for the title they had won the previous season, now occupying third place. Derby County's challenge had fallen away as they slipped to mid-table.[3]

There was positive news on the European scene that late autumn as they edged past Valencia on away goals in the UEFA Cup second round.

Liverpool's League Cup quest began well with a 3–1 home win over Division Two leaders Fulham in the third round, but ended in the next round with a 3–1 home defeat to a Tottenham Hotspur side who were recovering well from their dismal start to the season since the appointment of George Graham as manager. The first half of November was a disaster for the Reds, who lost at home to both Derby County and Leeds United. However, the month ended on a higher note as wins over Aston Villa and Blackburn Rovers lifted them back up to eighth place.[4]

Liverpool's dreams of European glory were ended on 8 December 1998 when they suffered a hefty defeat to Celta Vigo in the UEFA Cup third round. The Reds had stuttered in the league early in the month and a 1–0 defeat at Wimbledon on 13 December saw them occupy 12th place in the league.[5] However, three straight wins saw them rise to seventh by the end of the year.[6]

By the dawn of the new year, Liverpool's last hope of silverware was in the FA Cup. They had an easy start in the competition, travelling to Vale Park for a third round tie with Division One strugglers Port Vale, coming away 3–0 winners. However, their hopes of glory ended in the fourth round when they surrendered a 1–0 lead in the dying minutes to lose 2–1 to Manchester United at Old Trafford. Their dismal league form that month saw them draw 0–0 at Arsenal and lose 2–1 at Coventry City, though they had some wry consolation in the form of a 7–1 hammering of strugglers Southampton at Anfield, in a match that saw Robbie Fowler score his 100th Premier League goal. They were now sixth in the league, now being led by Chelsea, who were eight points ahead of them with a game in hand.[7]

Spring brought a similar pattern of results, and by 21 April, they had slid down to tenth place in the league with even their UEFA Cup qualification hopes looking slim. They needed a good run of results to even finish eighth, the lowest position they had finished in since their current spell as a top flight club began in 1962.[8]

Wins over Blackburn and Tottenham kept the Reds in contention for European qualification with three matches to play,[9] but a draw at home to Manchester United and a defeat at Sheffield Wednesday meant a 3–0 home win over Wimbledon on the final day of the season was not enough for anything higher than seventh place, meaning the 1999–2000 season would be Liverpool's first season in five years without European football.

Final league table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
5 West Ham United 38 16 9 13 46 53 −7 57 1999 UEFA Intertoto Cup Third round
6 Aston Villa 38 15 10 13 51 46 +5 55
7 Liverpool 38 15 9 14 68 49 +19 54
8 Derby County 38 13 13 12 40 45 −5 52
9 Middlesbrough 38 12 15 11 48 54 −6 51
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
Results summary
OverallHomeAway
PldWDLGFGAGDPtsWDLGFGAGDWDLGFGAGD
38 15 9 14 68 49  +19 54 10 5 4 44 24  +20 5 4 10 24 25  −1
Results by round

Round1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132333435363738
GroundAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAAHHAHHAH
ResultWDWWLDLDDWLLLWWLLWWWDWLWLDLLWDDLLWWDLW
Position24112345734811989129977665567988991098787

Source: 11v11.com: 1998-99 Liverpool results
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Players

First-team squad

Squad at end of season[10]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
1 England GK David James
2 England DF Rob Jones
3 Norway DF Bjørn Tore Kvarme
4 Cameroon DF Rigobert Song
5 Republic of Ireland DF Steve Staunton
6 Republic of Ireland DF Phil Babb[notes 1]
7 England MF Steve McManaman
8 Norway MF Øyvind Leonhardsen
9 England FW Robbie Fowler
10 England FW Michael Owen
11 England MF Jamie Redknapp
13 Germany FW Karl-Heinz Riedle
14 Norway MF Vegard Heggem
15 Czech Republic MF Patrik Berger
16 South Africa FW Sean Dundee[notes 2]
No. Position Player
17 England MF Paul Ince
18 France MF Jean-Michel Ferri
19 United States GK Brad Friedel
20 Norway DF Stig Inge Bjørnebye
21 England DF Dominic Matteo[notes 3]
22 England GK Tony Warner[notes 4]
23 England DF Jamie Carragher
24 England MF Danny Murphy
25 England MF David Thompson
26 Denmark GK Jorgen Nielsen
27 Iceland MF Haukur Ingi Guðnason
28 England MF Steven Gerrard
29 England DF Stephen Wright
30 Mali DF Djimi Traoré[notes 5]

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
4 Republic of Ireland DF Jason McAteer[notes 6] (to Blackburn Rovers)
12 England DF Steve Harkness (to Benfica)
No. Position Player
Wales MF Danny Williams (to Wrexham)

Reserves

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
England MF Jamie Cassidy
No. Position Player
Wales DF Gareth Roberts

Results

Pre-season and friendlies

Date Opponents H / A Result

F–A

 Scorers
24 July 1998 Crewe Alexandra A 3-1 Murphy 64', Matteo 65' Kvarme 67'
27 July 1998 Randers Freja A 1-1 Riedle 79'
29 July 1998 Rosenborg A 0-2
31 July 1998 St Patrick's Athletic [11] N 3-2 Berger 12', Riedle 29', Murphy 37'
1 August 1998 Leeds United [12] N 2-0 Berger 56', Owen 57'
4 August 1998 Inter Milan [13] H 2-1 Ince 29', Harkness 76'
8 August 1998 Celtic A 1-0 Leonhardsen 36'
17 March 1999 Boulogne A 1-2 Berger 13'
18 May 1999 Sunderland [14] A 3-2 Fowler 39' (pen.), Redknapp 66', Ince 77'

FA Premier League

FA Cup

League Cup

UEFA Cup

First round

Second round

Third round

Statistics

Appearances and goals

No. Pos Nat Player TotalPremier LeagueFA CupLeague CupUEFA Cup
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Goalkeepers
1 GK England David James 330260200050
19 GK United States Brad Friedel 16012000201+10
Defenders
3 DF Norway Bjørn Tore Kvarme 802+50000010
4 DF Cameroon Rigobert Song 13010+30000000
5 DF Republic of Ireland Steve Staunton 40031010205+10
6 DF Republic of Ireland Phil Babb 30024+1010003+10
14 DF Norway Vegard Heggem 36227+2210104+10
20 DF Norway Stig Inge Bjørnebye 31020+30202040
21 DF England Dominic Matteo 23116+4110001+10
23 DF England Jamie Carragher 441341202060
Midfielders
7 MF England Steve McManaman 31525+34000031
8 MF Norway Øyvind Leonhardsen 1317+2100101+20
11 MF England Jamie Redknapp 401033+18200042
15 MF Czech Republic Patrik Berger 41930+27201062
17 MF England Paul Ince 419346212131
18 MF France Jean-Michel Ferri 200+20000000
24 MF England Danny Murphy 400+10001+100+10
25 MF England David Thompson 1814+101002020
28 MF England Steven Gerrard 1304+80000010
Forwards
9 FW England Robbie Fowler 351823+2141+11215+12
10 FW England Michael Owen 4023301822215+12
13 FW Germany Karl-Heinz Riedle 40616+185100+102+21
16 FW South Africa Sean Dundee 500+30000+100+10
Players transferred out during the season
4 MF Republic of Ireland Jason McAteer 2206+701+10203+20
12 DF England Steve Harkness 1104+201+100+101+10

Last updated: 15 May 1999
Source: Competitions

Top scorers

Competition Result Top scorer
Premier League 7th England Michael Owen, 18
UEFA Cup Third round Czech Republic Patrik Berger, 2
England Robbie Fowler, 2
England Michael Owen, 2
England Jamie Redknapp, 2
FA Cup Fourth round England Michael Owen, 2
League Cup Fourth round England Robbie Fowler, 1
England Paul Ince, 1
England Michael Owen, 1
Overall England Michael Owen, 23

References

  1. ↑ http://www.liverpool-mad.co.uk/footydb/loadgen.asp?day=09&month=Sep&ssnno=128&teamno=342
  2. ↑ http://www.liverpool-mad.co.uk/footydb/loadgen.asp?day=24&month=Sep&ssnno=128&teamno=342
  3. ↑ http://www.liverpool-mad.co.uk/footydb/loadgen.asp?day=31&month=Oct&ssnno=128&teamno=342
  4. ↑ http://www.liverpool-mad.co.uk/footydb/loadgen.asp?day=29&month=Nov&ssnno=128&teamno=342
  5. ↑ http://www.liverpool-mad.co.uk/footydb/loadgen.asp?day=13&month=Dec&ssnno=128&teamno=342
  6. ↑ http://www.liverpool-mad.co.uk/footydb/loadgen.asp?day=28&month=Dec&ssnno=128&teamno=342
  7. ↑ http://www.liverpool-mad.co.uk/footydb/loadgen.asp?day=30&month=Jan&ssnno=128&teamno=342
  8. ↑ http://www.liverpool-mad.co.uk/footydb/loadgen.asp?day=21&month=Apr&ssnno=128&teamno=342
  9. ↑ http://www.liverpool-mad.co.uk/footydb/loadgen.asp?day=01&month=May&ssnno=128&teamno=342
  10. ↑ http://www.footballsquads.co.uk/eng/1998-1999/faprem/liverpool.htm
  11. ↑ 1998 Carlsberg Trophy
  12. ↑ 1998 Carlsberg Trophy final
  13. ↑ Coppa Pirelli
  14. ↑ 100th Football League Championship Challenge match

Notes

  1. ↑ Babb was born in Lambeth, England, but also qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland internationally and made his international debut for the Republic of Ireland in 1994.
  2. ↑ Dundee was born in Durban, South Africa, but also holds German nationality and would make his international debut for the Germany B team in March 2000.
  3. ↑ Matteo was born in Dumfries, Scotland, but was raised in England from the age of four and represented them at U-21 and B level before making his international debut for Scotland in November 2000.
  4. ↑ Warner was born in Liverpool, England, but also qualified to represent Trinidad and Tobago internationally and would make his international debut for Trinidad and Tobago in February 2006.
  5. ↑ Traoré was born in Saint-Ouen, France, but also qualified to represent Mali internationally and would make his international debut for Mali in 2004.
  6. ↑ McAteer was born in Tranmere, England, but also qualified to represent the Republic of Ireland internationally and made his international debut for the Republic of Ireland in March 1994.
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