THE final Premiership fixture summed up Liverpool's season. A slow start which picked up in the middle, dipped, but finished in style.
Interest in this game was somewhat subdued when news of Manchester United's second goal filtered through from a strangely unresponsive away section.
By the time Xabi Alonso was stretchered off with an ankle injury which looked more serious than it may be, there would have been few complaints if Graham Poll had picked up the ball and called it a 0-0 draw.
To Liverpool's credit, they turned up in the second half and secured three points which accurately confirm Rafa Benitez as the most successful Anfield boss since Kenny Dalglish.
Not since Barnes, Beardsley and Aldridge were destroying defences on a weekly basis have Liverpool won 82 points in a season, and even the greatest men in red never had a freak show as monstrous as Chelsea to contend with.
The final league table suggests Liverpool were involved in a title race far more than they ever were, but to finish within nine points of the Holy Grail during what is still essentially a period of transition is an achievement which, in its own way, is every bit as commendable as the feat last May.
It's taken Benitez two years to accomplish what's been managed by his club just twice in 17 seasons. Namely, reaching the 80 point mark.
Victory also set a club record. Not even Shankly, not even Paisley, not even Fagan, and not even Dalglish saw their side win 11 games on the trot.
It speaks volumes for the standards currently being set that many players, and the manager, could be seen expressing disapproval a goal was conceded, thus ending the bid to beat the club's clean sheet record in a season.
If Liverpool are running around Cardiff with the cup in a week's time, the disappointment of conceding to Ognjen Koroman will soon evaporate.
