1998–99 Liverpool F.C. season

Liverpool

1998–99 season
Chairman	David Moores
Manager	Roy Evans 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
← 1997–98 1999–2000 →

During the 1998–99 English football season, Liverpool F.C. 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 French national 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 quit 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 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 was transferred to Benfica on 7 March 1999 after almost 10 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 for five years.

The season hadn't started badly, with a 2-1 win at Southampton followed by a goalless 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 games, level on points with Aston Villa, while title favourites Arsenal and Manchester United were fifth and ninth respectively.^[1]

However, their lead of the Premier League was lost in their fifth game 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 quest, where they beat FC Kosice 3-0 in Slovakia. 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 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 and now occupied 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 of Spain on away goals in the UEFA Cup second round.

The Football 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 by 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 Premiership 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 10th 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 Rovers and Tottenham Hotspur kept the Reds in contention for European qualification with three games to go,^[9] but a draw at home to Manchester United and a defeat at Sheffield Wednesday meant that a 3-0 home win over Wimbledon on the final day of the season wasn't enough for anything higher than seventh place - meaning that 1999-2000 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
1	Manchester United (C)	38	22	13	3	80	37	+43	79	1999–2000 UEFA Champions League Group stage
2	Arsenal	38	22	12	4	59	17	+42	78
3	Chelsea	38	20	15	3	57	30	+27	75	1999–2000 UEFA Champions League Third qualifying round
4	Leeds United	38	18	13	7	62	34	+28	67	1999–2000 UEFA Cup First round
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
10	Leicester City	38	12	13	13	40	46	−6	49
11	Tottenham Hotspur	38	11	14	13	47	50	−3	47	1999–2000 UEFA Cup First round 1
12	Sheffield Wednesday	38	13	7	18	41	42	−1	46
13	Newcastle United	38	11	13	14	48	54	−6	46	1999–2000 UEFA Cup First round 2
14	Everton	38	11	10	17	42	47	−5	43
15	Coventry City	38	11	9	18	39	51	−12	42
16	Wimbledon	38	10	12	16	40	63	−23	42
17	Southampton	38	11	8	19	37	64	−27	41
18	Charlton Athletic (R)	38	8	12	18	41	56	−15	36	Relegation to 1999–2000 Football League First Division
19	Blackburn Rovers (R)	38	7	14	17	38	52	−14	35
20	Nottingham Forest (R)	38	7	9	22	35	69	−34	30

Updated to games played on 16 May 1999.
Source: Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
¹ Tottenham Hotspur qualified for the UEFA Cup as League Cup winners.
² As Manchester United qualified for the Champions League, their UEFA Cup place as FA Cup winners defaulted to Newcastle United, the losing finalists.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.
P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points

Results Summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
38	15	9	14	68	49	+19	54	10	5	4	44	24	+20	5	4	10	24	25	−1

Source: 1998-99 FA Premier League table

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38
Ground	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	H	A	H
Result	W	D	W	W	L	D	L	D	D	W	L	L	L	W	W	L	L	W	W	W	D	W	L	W	L	D	L	L	W	D	D	L	L	W	W	D	L	W
Position	2	4	1	1	2	3	4	5	7	3	4	8	11	9	8	9	12	9	9	7	7	6	6	5	5	6	7	9	8	8	9	9	10	9	8	7	8	7

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

Squad

^[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 GK David James 2 DF Rob Jones 3 DF Bjørn Tore Kvarme 4 DF Rigobert Song 5 DF Steve Staunton 6 DF Phil Babb 7 MF Steve McManaman 8 MF Øyvind Leonhardsen 9 FW Robbie Fowler 10 FW Michael Owen 11 MF Jamie Redknapp 13 FW Karl-Heinz Riedle 14 MF Vegard Heggem 15 MF Patrik Berger 16 FW Sean Dundee 17 MF Paul Ince

No. Position Player 18 MF Jean Michel Ferri 19 GK Brad Friedel 20 DF Stig Inge Bjørnebye 21 DF Dominic Matteo 22 GK Tony Warner 23 DF Jamie Carragher 24 MF Danny Murphy 25 MF David Thompson 26 GK Jorgen Nielsen 27 MF Haukur Ingi Gudnason 28 MF Steven Gerrard 29 DF Stephen Wright 30 DF Djimi Traore MF Jamie Cassidy DF Gareth Roberts

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 DF Jason McAteer (to Blackburn Rovers) 12 DF Steve Harkness (to Benfica)

No. Position Player MF Danny Williams (to Wrexham)

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	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 [13]	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	Total		Premier League		FA Cup		League Cup		UEFA Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
1	GK		David James	33	0	26	0	2	0	0	0	5	0
19	GK		Brad Friedel	16	0	12	0	0	0	2	0	1+1	0
Defenders
3	DF		Bjørn Tore Kvarme	8	0	2+5	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
4	DF		Rigobert Song	13	0	10+3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	DF		Steve Staunton	40	0	31	0	1	0	2	0	5+1	0
6	DF		Phil Babb	30	0	24+1	0	1	0	0	0	3+1	0
14	DF		Vegard Heggem	36	2	27+2	2	1	0	1	0	4+1	0
20	DF		Stig Inge Bjørnebye	31	0	20+3	0	2	0	2	0	4	0
21	DF		Dominic Matteo	23	1	16+4	1	1	0	0	0	1+1	0
23	DF		Jamie Carragher	44	1	34	1	2	0	2	0	6	0
Midfielders
7	MF		Steve McManaman	31	5	25+3	4	0	0	0	0	3	1
8	MF		Øyvind Leonhardsen	13	1	7+2	1	0	0	1	0	1+2	0
11	MF		Jamie Redknapp	40	10	33+1	8	2	0	0	0	4	2
15	MF		Patrik Berger	41	9	30+2	7	2	0	1	0	6	2
17	MF		Paul Ince	41	9	34	6	2	1	2	1	3	1
18	MF		Jean-Michel Ferri	2	0	0+2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
24	MF		Danny Murphy	4	0	0+1	0	0	0	1+1	0	0+1	0
25	MF		David Thompson	18	1	4+10	1	0	0	2	0	2	0
28	MF		Steven Gerrard	13	0	4+8	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Forwards
9	FW		Robbie Fowler	35	18	23+2	14	1+1	1	2	1	5+1	2
10	FW		Michael Owen	40	23	30	18	2	2	2	1	5+1	2
13	FW		Karl-Heinz Riedle	40	6	16+18	5	1	0	0+1	0	2+2	1
16	FW		Sean Dundee	5	0	0+3	0	0	0	0+1	0	0+1	0
Players transferred out during the season
4	MF		Jason McAteer	22	0	6+7	0	1+1	0	2	0	3+2	0
12	DF		Steve Harkness	11	0	4+2	0	1+1	0	0+1	0	1+1	0

Top scorers

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

References

External links

• 1998–99 Liverpool F.C. season at LFC History