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Liverpool could be nervously looking over their shoulder, Sam Allardyce deserves more credit and Leeds aren’t chokers after all

Liverpool may be a long time gone

While Chelsea, 8-0 victors over Wigan Athletic, cavorted around Stamford Bridge with the Premier League trophy, Steven Gerrard, whose Liverpool side had shambled to a 0-0 draw at relegated Hull City, was scrambling through a mini-pitch invasion at the KC Stadium as a few overamorous Tigers fans attempted to cop a feel or make off with his captain’s armband. It was a finale somehow befitting of Liverpool’s season and not exactly the finale that the England midfielder would have pictured.

Arguably the crucial self-destructive period in the Reds’ campaign came between the end of September and Christmas when they picked up 12 points from 11 games (fewer, for example, than Portsmouth), although inconsistency has blighted them throughout – Rafael Benítez’s side won four games back to back in August and September, but won consecutive league games only three more times after that early spurt.

The only solution is an overhaul. Seventh is their lowest league finish since 1999 (and it’s a ‘depth’ they have plunged to only three times in the past 44 years). The team that ended the last season of the century under Gérard Houllier – Friedel, Staunton, Song, Matteo, Carragher, Berger, Redknapp, Ince, Leonhardsen, McManaman, Riedle – was rapidly broken up, the Frenchman spending over £30m the following season in an attempt to reinvigorate the club. Though it didn’t get them much closer to the title (they were 25 points off the pace in 1998-99 and 24 in 1999-00) it did at least bring a return to the top four.

The problem for Liverpool is that Benítez is unlikely to have even that fairly paltry sum (in Premier League terms at least) to spend this summer. With Manchester City revving up for another spree and Tottenham, already a better team than Liverpool, likely to be bolstered by an influx of Champions League money, those at Anfield may be nervously looking over their collective shoulder next year. If the season had started at Christmas, Everton would be third …

Sol Campbell shouldn’t go to the World Cup

Though it’s an indictment of the very average seasons endured by the likes of Joleon Lescott and Matthew Upson that Fabio Capello should even be considering England World Cup recalls for Jamie Carragher and Sol Campbell, the latter’s display yesterday should put the final nail in that coffin.

The Arsenal defender creaked against Fulham – and should have given away a penalty when compounding his heading error and grappling with Clint Dempsey in the box. It was always going to be an outside chance anyway, but Gary Cahill, Phil Jagielka or Michael Dawson have all done more to earn their chance.

Spurs may be in the Champions League but they’re still Spurs

Whisper it, but the Fiver might have got it wrong. Tottenham Hotspur really are still funny. Which other team could qualify for the Champions League and, in the same week, become the first team since West Ham in February to get beaten at Burnley? The last visiting team to concede four at Turf Moor? Bristol City, almost exactly a year ago.

Sam Allardyce deserves a bit more credit

Last summer the writing seemed to be on the wall for Blackburn. Rovers had finished 15th, as bad as it has been for them in the Premier League since relegation in 1999, and it had taken a Sam Allardyce escape act to save them from the drop. Roque Santa Cruz left for Manchester City, Stephen Warnock high-tailed it to Aston Villa, the reliable Andre Ooijer headed back to Holland and PSV Eindhoven, Tugay called it a day. Even perennial superbsub Matty Derbyshire took himself off to Olympiakos.

Yet Allardyce has turned his team around and steered them into 10th. Yes, 10th, ostensibly hardly the sort of finish to prompt the popping of champagne corks and ticker tape parades, but for a club of Blackburn’s side (and, more importantly, wealth) a real achievement. Despite the relative flop of last summer’s big purchase, £6m Nikola Kalinic, who has mustered two league goals all season, they’ve ended up level on points with Birmingham, and if Alex McLeish deserves a huge amount of credit for leading Blues into the top half on the back of promotion (and he does), then Allardyce deserves a bit too.

It can be eye-pokingly painful to watch at times, but in a league where cash, money and dosh are the holy trinity, the Rovers hierarchy will be more than happy to overlook aesthetics. “The difference those results make is four places in the league and four times £800,000,” Allardyce said yesterday. “That’s a big difference to our limited budget.”

Leeds United aren’t the chokers we thought they were

3 January 2010 was a good day to be a Leeds fan. United sat eight points clear at the top of League One with a game in hand on second-placed Norwich. They’d lost just once all season and, to top it off, Manchester United had just been vanquished at Old Trafford in the FA Cup.

But between the turn of the year and the start of April, 16 games yielded just 15 points. That run destroyed any hope of claiming the title and they went into Saturday’s final game of the season needing a win to be sure of clinging on to automatic promotion and returning to the division they departed through the trapdoor in 2007.

On Saturday they went down to 10 men – Max Gradel having utterly lost the plot – and then 1-0 down against Bristol Rovers three minutes into the second half at Elland Road, just as Charlton took a 2-0 lead at Oldham. At that point, with Millwall and Swindon drawing, the Addicks were heading for promotion. Jon Howson equalised at Elland Road, but just after the hour Gordon Greer’s own goal put Millwall 2-1 up, the Lions into the promotion places and sparked a mini-pitch invasion at the Den.

That might have been that. But within seconds Jermaine Beckford, the beneficiary of a horrendous goalkeeping error, bundled in the decisive Leeds goal and brought rapture to West Yorkshire. So Leeds aren’t chokers after all. The Championship’s top 10 next season is not an impossibility.

Premier LeagueLeague OneLiverpoolSol CampbellTottenham HotspurSam AllardyceBlackburn RoversLeeds UnitedJohn Ashdownguardian.co.uk

• Liverpool manager covering-up deficiencies, says Allardyce
• ‘I don’t like him and the feeling is probably mutual’

Sam Allardyce claims Rafa Benítez’s criticism of him is a cover-up for how bad Liverpool are and claims the Reds have all but blown their chance of finishing in the top four.

Benítez last week mocked Allardyce’s behaviour and Blackburn’s style after their match at Anfield, suggesting that the European champions Barcelona were going to model themselves on Rovers: “He is a model for football all around the world. I am sure he is a model for behaviour and for kids all around the world. I am sure Barcelona are thinking of copying this style now too.”

But the Blackburn manager has hit back by claiming he has managed to get under the skin of Benítez and that the Liverpool boss was just covering up for how badly his team played despite the Reds’ 2-1 win.

“It was a good cover-up by Rafa because he knows how bad his side were and that was repeated against Wigan on Monday night,” said Allardyce. “He’s got personal with it for many, many years now. That’s why I don’t like him and the feeling is probably mutual. I don’t get personal with him; I get into him and under his skin, yes, but that’s all part of the game.

“The tit for tat between me and Rafa will probably go on until one of us is no longer a Premier League manager. I’ve managed to psyche out one or two here and there and that’s how the Premier League has evolved over the last 20 years. But no, Pep Guardiola has not been in touch yet.”

He also believes Liverpool’s result at Wigan leaves Benítez’s side unlikely to finish fourth and qualify for the Champions League.

He added: “The last time one of the big four didn’t finish in the top four it was Liverpool – Everton got that spot – and I think this time it looks pretty difficult having lost against Wigan. They are having to rely on other teams slipping up now.

“They have a wealth of experience and that may be a telling factor when the nerve ends start jangling. We saw what happened to Tottenham a few years ago with the famous ‘poisoned lasagne’ scenario – which was obviously never the case – and they let it slip.

“But I think it might be more difficult for Liverpool this time around because there are more teams involved. There’s Manchester City, Aston Villa and Tottenham in there and if Everton keep rolling on you might be surprised to see them making a late run.”

Meanwhile, Vince Grella will miss Blackburn’s match at Tottenham on Saturday due to a calf injury picked up in training but David Dunn is available after coming through a reserve match without any problems.

Sam AllardyceBlackburn RoversRafael BenítezLiverpoolPremier Leagueguardian.co.uk

Rafael Benítez spoke tentatively of a “turning point” following Liverpool’s win over Everton last weekend, but Blackburn served notice against Chelsea in midweek of just how difficult it may be for the Reds to turn derby success into sustained momentum. Rovers’ victory over Carlo Ancelotti’s side in the Carling Cup, albeit on penalties, showed just how dangerous Sam Allardyce’s side can be. “They are going to have to play well, because we are at home and our home record is fantastic,” said Allardyce’s assistant, Neil McDonald. John Ashdown

Venue Ewood Park

Tickets £28-38 (0871 222 1444)

Last season Blackburn 1 Liverpool 3

Referee M Atkinson

This season’s matches 11 Y48, R0, 4.36 cards per game

sportingbet odds Blackburn 7-2 Liverpool 7-10 Draw 12-5

Blackburn

Subs from Brown, Salgado, Grella, Dunn, Emerton, McCarthy, Jacobsen, Hoilett, Van Heerden, Olsson, Kalinic

Doubtful Andrews (calf), Dunn (calf), Olsson (virus)

Injured None

Suspended None

Form guide DLWWLL

Disciplinary record Y21 R1

Leading scorer Dunn 5

Liverpool

Subs from Cavalieri, Aquilani, Aurélio, Riera, Kyrgiakos, Babel, Skrtel, Voronin, Degen, Spearing, Dossena, Ayala, El Zhar, Kelly, Eccleston

Doubtful Babel (ankle), Kelly (ankle)

Injured Torres (hernia, 9 Dec)

Suspended None

Form guide WDDLWL

Disciplinary record Y18 R3

Leading scorer Torres 10

Match pointers

• These sides have met 15 times in the Premier League at Ewood Park, with five wins each and five draws

• However, Liverpool have lost only one of their last 21 league meetings with Blackburn at home or away

• Blackburn have conceded fewer goals at home in 2009 (13) than Liverpool have at Anfield (15)

• Liverpool are averaging the most passes per game in the Premier League (513)

• Blackburn have been caught offside more times (52) than any other team in the division

Blackburn RoversLiverpoolPremier Leagueguardian.co.uk