Liverpool FC: Crunch Period for Reds Facing 10 Games to Shape Their Season

"

Hopefully we are ten games from greatness. We're still in contention to win the title and the Champions League. The vision is to win both.

"

So spoke Gerard Houllier, three months shy of 10 years ago.

Times have changed since then for Liverpool, more than once. A roller coaster of ups and downs has seen fans climb to the highest highs of 2005 and 2006 with major cup victories before plummeting to the depths of 2009 with Hicks and Gillett and the following year's on-field fiascos under Roy Hodgson.

Once again, Liverpool face a series of 10 massive matches.

Greatness may not be the end result of doing well in these games, nor victories in the Premiership title race or the Champions League, as was hoped to be the case back in 2002, but they will indeed provide a sound indication of just how far along the right path the Reds have travelled in the past 12 after the two years of mediocrity—and worse—that came before it.

Getting back to the top of the Premiership and challenging Champions League is, of course, where the Reds want to end up, but they first face the major challenge of actually getting back in Europe's top competition, as well as building continuously to have a side capable of resisting the powers of England's top two sides at present, the red and blue halves of Manchester.

Over the next three weeks especially, we will get more than one chance to see just exactly what is required to reach those levels.

So what about these 10 games?

Manchester City home and away in the League Cup semifinal is the first thing that comes to mind.

Every great journey starts with a single step, and the first step the Reds need to make is contending for major honours again, starting with the smallest of them all on the domestic stage, the League Cup.

Houllier's side began with it back in 2001 prior to their six-haul of trophies, and Rafa Benitez also took his team to the final before the 2005 Champions League win.

We'll ignore Hodgson's exit from the competition at the hands of Northampton as par for the course, but if Kenny Dalglish can lead his men to Wembley at the first time of asking, save for the FA Cup defeat to Manchester United on his first day back in the job last term, then Kopites everywhere can at least be reassured that Liverpool are heading in the right direction.

With Championship duo Cardiff City and Crystal Palace set to battle it out for the other Final place, the winners of the Liverpool-Manchester City semifinal will naturally fancy themselves as favourites to add silverware to the cabinet on the big day itself.

Before the end of the month Liverpool also get to renew rivalries with the other half of the city, with an FA Cup fourth-round tie at home to Manchester United.

Luis Suarez will still be suspended for that game, but the Premier League fixture at Old Trafford, just two weeks later, will likely see him face a hostile home crowd following his return.

If cup glory is on the agenda for Liverpool this season then the FA Cup represents just as good a chance as the League Cup if they can get past United, with holders City already out.

Liverpool have drawn with both Manchester sides this season, and arguably should have won both times, though City also handed out a lesson in the art of finishing in the return match recently.

Any good results in these four matches will not only show that the Reds are on the right path, they will significantly boost the Reds' chances of silverware and improve team spirit and belief, both equally important parts of the team-building exercise.

By the time the United fixture in the league rolls around, the Reds may also have made additions to their playing squad following the closing of the transfer window—but for that we'll have to simply wait and see.

Quite aside from those four massive matches, the Reds also face six other ties of paramount importance, in the Premier League.

Points on the board will be all-important over the remainder of January as Liverpool seek to stay in contention for a top-four place, with the visit of Stoke City to Anfield being followed by trips to relegation-threatened Wanderers duo Bolton and Wolverhampton.

With Manchester City-Tottenham and Arsenal-Manchester United set to do battle during the same period, a single win could make significant differences to the top-four situation.

A run of three wins on the bounce, coupled with other clubs'—yes, I'm talking about Chelsea mainly—indifference to consistency, could have a dramatic effect on Liverpool's league placing.

And then we reach February.

Going into that particular month in good form is pretty much a must, both individually and collectively, as the Reds face consecutive Premier League fixtures against Tottenham (home), United (away), Everton (home) and then, in March, Arsenal (home).

That three of these four games are at home should give the Reds an advantage, especially with goals at Anfield suddenly easier to come by in the last couple of games.

Avoiding defeat against the Gunners and, obviously, beating geographically-close rivals will go a long way towards showing what Liverpool are capable of this year.

Should the Reds make the League Cup final, the game will be played out on the weekend Liverpool are due to face Everton—so one big game gets postponed, and another, more significant, takes it place.

Come the end of this sequence of games, in a best-case scenario Liverpool will have a trophy under their belt, be in the final eight of the FA Cup and really pushing hard for a top-four place, if they aren't there already.

Three points isn't all that much to make up.

There could even be a new addition or two in the squad.

If things don't go the Reds' way during these 10 matches...

Well, how does two seasons with no Europa League football sound?

Liverpool aren't 10 games from greatness right now, but they might just be 10 games from looking pretty damn good.

* Note that should Liverpool make the fifth Round of the FA Cup, the tie will be played around the 18th February, before either the Everton Premier League game or the potential League Cup final.