At the end of another long, dramatic season for Liverpool, This Is Anfield’s contributors voted for their 2023/24 award winners and gave an overall rating.
The season threatened to be legendary at one point with a quadruple seemingly possible, but the campaign ended in anticlimactic fashion.
Who stands out in the various categories in This Is Anfield’s end-of-season awards?
Here is what our contributors think…
Matt Ladson
Player of the season: Alexis Mac Allister
Young player of the season: Jarell Quansah
Most improved player: Harvey Elliott
Goal of the season: Alexis Mac Allister vs. Fulham
Biggest disappointment: Defeat to Atalanta and thus failing to even make the Europa League final.
Overall season rating: 3
Jack Lusby
Player of the season: Alexis Mac Allister
Young player of the season: Harvey Elliott
Most improved player: Jarell Quansah
Goal of the season: Dominik Szoboszlai vs. Leicester
Biggest disappointment: Thiago‘s fitness.
Overall season rating out of 5: 3
Joanna Durkan
Player of the season: Virgil van Dijk
Young player of the season: Jarell Quansah
Most improved player: I’m torn between two but going to say Caoimhin Kelleher, who took his unexpected chance.
Goal of the season: Alexis Mac Allister vs. Fulham
Biggest disappointment: How we crumbled at the most crucial point of the season – those two Man United results absolutely killed us.
Overall season rating out of 5: 3.5
David Lynch
Player of the season: Virgil van Dijk
Young player of the season: Jarell Quansah
Most improved player: Harvey Elliott
Goal of the season: Alexis Mac Allister vs. Fulham
Biggest disappointment: Another season being derailed by injuries.
Overall season rating out of 5: 4
Sam Milne
Player of the season: Alexis Mac Allister
Young player of the season: Harvey Elliott
Most improved player: Jarell Quansah
Goal of the season: Alexis Mac Allister vs. Fulham
Biggest disappointment: So much of our downfall at the end of the season being self-imposed.
Overall season rating out of 5: 3.5
Henry Jackson
Player of the season: Virgil van Dijk
Young player of the season: Harvey Elliott
Most improved player: Jarell Quansah
Goal of the season: Alexis Mac Allister vs. Sheffield United
Biggest disappointment: The mentality on show in both Old Trafford games. So weak there, time and time again.
Overall season rating out of 5: 3.5 seems about right – three would feel harsh but it doesn’t warrant a four.
Adam Beattie
Player of the season: Alexis Mac Allister
Young player of the season: Harvey Elliott
Most improved player: That’s a really tricky one but I’d probably have to go for Jarell Quansah in terms of the jump he’s made in one year.
Goal of the season: Alexis Mac Allister vs. Fulham
Biggest disappointment: The two results at Old Trafford.
Overall season rating out of 5: 3.5
Chris Williams
Player of the season: Alisson
Young player of the season: Jarell Quansah
Most improved player: Alexis Mac Allister
Goal of the season: Alexis Mac Allister vs. Sheffield United
Biggest disappointment: Darwin Nunez and April’s weak mentality.
Overall season rating out of 5: 3 and the League Cup win saved it from being a 2.
It was a promising-looking season that was ultimately let down by a mental collapse, on the field and in the dugout, with the title in our own destiny and the Europa League final easily achievable.
Karl Matchett
Player of the season: Virgil van Dijk
Young player of the season: Jarell Quansah
Most improved player: Joe Gomez, but Caoimhin Kelleher definitely deserves mention.
Goal of the season: The combination of Wataru Endo and Trent Alexander-Arnold vs Fulham
Biggest disappointment: Trent Alexander-Arnold, individually. Collectively, an absolute shambles defensively and offensively in the final three months points to really poor preparation/coaching/mentality/drive.
Overall season rating out of 5: 3. For eight months, domestic form was better than expected, but the last two months are almost worth a minus two. A cup win saves it.
The results
Overall, we’re going for Mac Allister as Player of the Season, with Van Dijk a close second.
The best youngster was between Elliott and Quansah, so we’ve decided to give Elliott the Young Player of the Season award while Quansah gets the Most Improved prize.
Goal of the season goes to Mac Allister for his sublime outside-of-the-boot strike against Fulham on December 3, a match littered with contenders for the award.
Overall, we’re giving the season a rating of 3.5 out of 5. Had the season stopped in April, we could have been looking at full marks, but late collapse has put a significant dampener on the mood.
