Liverpool FC season review 1988/89

[@GreigStott]

Liverpool showed so much character and mental strength to carry on after Hillsborough, this was a great team

[@hughesyplays]

So did Forrest

[@alanwalsh8371]

I remember all these matches like yesterday 😭

[@waynehigham6504]

I do myself mate

[@skiptoncoxy]

Literally remember every goal and every line of commentary!!

[@Themwerethedayss]

9:50 liverpool v spurs 17th Sept 1988. My first game standing on the kop aged 14. Remember it like it was yesterday. Best times best days!! Thanks for posting Dave.

[@DaveWallerLFC]

I've got a 25 minute video of highlights from that game if you want to see more: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iZ65d4Ccpd9kf9U

[@Themwerethedayss]

@@DaveWallerLFC Brilliant thanks I'll have a look at that!

[@jaysmith6327]

This was my 1st season as a kid...also the reason liverpool fc will always be my club...❤

[@anthonymooney8636]

The mental strength the players must’ve had to go through everything and still come so close to doing the double unbelievable you imagine in this day and age they would be called absolute Superman which they were.

[@simondelaney6483]

I remember buying this on VHS for half price. What a fightback to try and win the title. So many games near the end especially that last week after winning the cup in extra time. Breaks my heart still watching that last game. I remembering going to bed afterwards and not getting up the next day. My Ma was bringing me up soup the next day trying to get me out of my pit.

[@Eric-qu3mx]

The defense is definity an argument

[@edmundpower1250]

I wonder was there a victory parade around the city after the cup win v everton?

[@DaveWallerLFC]

There was a parade the day after the cup final.

[@jasondurent8805]

It just takes me back to a time when all I had to worry about was my team winning how times were about to change has you get older but not my love for Liverpool it's never change

[@dface6447]

I'm a 51 year old LFC fan from Sheffield,i saw my 1st ever game at a field when I was 7 n that was it YNWA,I was at the away match at Hillsborough 😊 remember it well,then of course the ⚽ didn't matter later,it was an unbelievable performance from us to do what we did that season 😢 YNWA ❤

[@mrkipling2201]

So unlucky not to win the league again. I have to say that hillsborough played a part in that.

[@MatteoSimeone22]

Oh my word....if we had played a bit more offensive in that last match we could have won the game. Arsenal were a bit lucky and took their chances while we looked too stodgy given that we knew mentally that we didn't need to win the game. it would have been the greatest double ever. What a rollercoaster season.

[@shane-irish]

If my sister was my brother

[@anthonymooney8636]

They played three games in six days they were absolutely shattered. Remember they played extra time at Wembley as well as Kenny said in the video it was an achievement to get that close.

[@PeterAnderson-z4y]

This was still a great team as most of squad was still intact except Mark Lawrenson and Craig Johnston retiring, and lan Rush returning. Only thing was a few injures club suffered.

[@shane-irish]

Just listening to amy lawence book on this as a liverpool fan i cried that night

[@of_doom_and_steel477]

The remarkable thing about this season is that, in February, Arsenal were at least as far ahead of Liverpool as Newcastle were (of ManU) in 1995-96. Whereas Newcastle had a 12pt lead at one point in 95-96, and still 9pts with a game in hand in mid-Feb, Arsenal were 15pts ahead of Liverpool in mid-Feb of 88-89 (albeit having played a game more), and then Liverpool won 13 of the next 14 league games and were in a commanding position for the final game of the season, only to throw it away ... EDIT: in fact, before drawing with QPR on 18th Feb 89, Arsenal were 14 pts ahead of Liverpool, having played the same number of games. So they had a better lead over Liverpool in 88-89 than Newcastle had over Man U at any point in 95-96.

[@DaveWallerLFC]

It's not directly comparable is it? Liverpool weren't second when Arsenal had that lead so they weren't that far clear. And Arsenal did (just) end up winning the league, unlike Newcastle.

[@of_doom_and_steel477]

@@DaveWallerLFC No. But the abiding general memory of 88-89 is of Arsenal just pipping Liverpool to the title, which obscures the fact that, prior to that final game, Liverpool had already pulled off a remarkable overhaul of Arsenal that was more impressive than ManU's overhaul of Newcastle in 95-96 ... except they then stumbled at the very last hurdle, when everything was in their favour, having already done all the hard work to put themselves in that position. I did already know that they'd been quite some way behind Arsenal during the third quarter of the season, but I hadn't remembered by just how much. That makes it even more of a shame that they couldn't get over the line, because it would have completed not only a second double but also the best ever points comeback to win a title.

[@DaveWallerLFC]

Would it have been better than 81/82 in terms of a turnaround? I don't know the points gap but to go from 12th on Boxing Day to win it was quite something.

[@of_doom_and_steel477]

@@DaveWallerLFC I don't have a chronological list of all the games played by all the top teams in 81-82, but I do have such a list of all Liverpool's and ManU's results, and the wikipedia entry for the season says that unfancied minnows Man City were top at the end of December (having just won 3-1 at Anfield), and that there were only 2 pts separating the top 5 teams. ManU were among the top 5 teams, and their record at that point was 18 games played, 9 won, 5 drawn and 4 lost, for 32 pts. That means that ManC could have had no more than 34pts. Liverpool's record at the same point was 17 played, 6 won, 6 drawn and 5 lost, for 24 pts. So they were 10 pts off the top at most, and probably had at least one game in hand on the leaders. It's likely that Ipswich, who were closer to the leaders, had more games in hand and were in the overall strongest position at that point, but there's no list of their results. From the new year onwards, Liverpool had much better results, with just the occasional loss, and so they would never have been more than those ~10 pts off the top. In the 81 part of the season, Liverpool had lost 2-0 away to Ipswich, 2-1 at home to ManU, 3-1 at home to ManC and 1-0 at home to Southampton (who led the table as late as the end of March, before a poor finish that saw them drop to 7th, 21 pts off the top). In the 82 part of the season, Liverpool beat Ipswich 4-0, ManU 1-0, ManC 5-0 and Southampton 3-2, and ended up as champions with 87 pts and a +48 goal-difference. Ipswich were 4 pts behind and ManU 9 pts behind, and ManC were 29 pts behind in 10th place with a -1 goal-difference.

[@DaveWallerLFC]

I have now found a table on the LFC history site. We were 6 points off the top with 2 games in hand! So the turnaround is possibly overstated, although Ipswich must have done well to take it to the last week of the season, given the run Liverpool had.

[@mrkipling2201]

Still savour our win on New Year’s Day Dave!!! It was small victories for us at United back then!!!

[@DaveWallerLFC]

Didn't it come out on a video calling it "game of the season" even though nothing happened for 70 mins?! (I'm still bitter!)

[@mrkipling2201]

Dave Waller I think it did. Should have been called the best 20 minutes of the season!!! And all we had back then was victories over Liverpool!! And that was the highlight of 88/89 for us, one of the most boring seasons I’ve had watching United. I think the low point was the game against Wimbledon at Old Trafford. A streaky 1-0 win in front of 23,000. And I was one of those crazy fans who went to that game!!

[@DaveWallerLFC]

Sounds like us under Souness.

[@mrkipling2201]

Dave Waller you were spoiled under your previous 3 managers especially paisley and Dalglish that there was always going to be a downturn. Same thing with us when fergie left. He spoiled us!!

[@shamarwalker9243]

How good was Peter Beasley???

[@MrRob2904]

Rushy was one of the best british strikers of all time

[@thanatdokduang2813]

My first season i’ve to know the red! When i was 9 years old.

[@anthonymooney8636]

We had so many injuries at the start of the season, and unfortunately the squad was becoming a little paper thin. Mike Hooper was an awful goalkeeper, who made a lot of mistakes terrible on crosses, and for a big man was very weak. He falls over half the time when someone nudges him.

[@StFidjnr]

Where's the race for the championship 1988/89 video

[@DaveWallerLFC]

I've never owned that video.

[@mrkipling2201]

StFidjnr it’s on KZbin. I had it when it came out and watched it so much I wore it out!!! Great video.

[@swkenny]

Don't care what anyone says Liverpool were by far the best team during those days, Arsenals "football" if you can call it that was complete & utter shit on a stick & that win that night was as jammy as it could ever get. What Liverpool did wrong that night was to try & close out the match too soon in a conservative manner which was not the Liverpool way at all with that particular team otherwise there's no way in hell they would have won that game let alone by 2 clear goals, no way. Maybe the horror of Hillsborough finally caught up with everyone that night because we were not ourselves, especially in the second half, as we allowed Arsenal to dictate the game which would normally never happen in a million years at Anfield & they were nowhere near as good with the ball as we were at that time, not even close. Their fans these days are a bunch of deluded fuckwits so watching them steal this title that night annoys me more now than it did back then.

[@MatteoSimeone22]

I agree. We should have bossed the game. We became too defensive in the 2nd half. Maybe it was just not meant to be in the end. Liverpool were the better footballing team, but the long-ball Gunners won it.

[@swkenny]

@@MatteoSimeone22 Yep totally agree!

[@anthonymooney8636]

Alan Hansen always said if the game was played on the Saturday like it should’ve been and we had to win the game we would’ve won it because the game was on a Friday night three games in basically six days was ridiculous

[@DaveWallerLFC]

The original rescheduled fixtures had the game down for the Thursday night, with the West Ham game on the Monday that week, so it would have been 3 games in 5 days. Moving them back a day was the league's compromise, but still ridiculous as you say.

[@shane-irish]

Yes but credit to arsenal for winning it

[@zzzaaa0990]

Different class,Liverpool were just majestic. John Barnes was awesome against man u/fa,should have had 2 penalties not one.14>1 Amen.

[@PeterAnderson-z4y]

Would have surely given AC Milan a game if was still in European Cup.

[@damirblazevic4823]

​@@PeterAnderson-z4y 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@shane-irish]

1:52:11

[@bazza-e9t]

Great team, dreadfully dodgy keeper.

[@DaveWallerLFC]

Grobbelaar or Hooper?

[@bazza-e9t]

Grobelaar, constant accident waiting to happen. Amazing he played in goal for you for so long.

[@DaveWallerLFC]

He lost one match that season.

[@bazza-e9t]

​@@DaveWallerLFC Still dodgy.

[@DaveWallerLFC]

Can't argue with that logic!

[@richybatty234]

Lucky Arsenal as usual ...

[@JohnJohn-zn8ib]

Lucky Arsenal as usual?, you sound like an idiot, Liverpool supporters and players thought Smith touched the ball, they must need glasses, Liverpool were lucky they got that far. Man United are lucky as usual too with the falling over of players for penalties, seems like lucky isn't common with you, Liverpool have been lucky many times and Man United, stop talking bullshit.

[@shaunswan157]

Mike hooper lost us the league that season worst goalkeeper Liverpool ever had

[@DaveWallerLFC]

That seems harsh and unnecessary. Hooper wasn't a world-beater but he was mostly solid. He also kept his place for a while that season after Grobbelaar recovered from meningitis, so he can't have been doing that badly. We've had far worse keepers since then.

[@anthonymooney8636]

Couldn’t agree more, he got caught out on so many free, kicks and crosses. He was awful for a big man he was very weak.