When Does Transition Become Stagnation and Confusion?
If you are a Liverpool supporter I suspect the following numbers: 19, 30, 37, 9, 21 and 19 do not figure on your lottery tickets. Those are the points that the club has finished behind the Premiership champions from 2002-3 to their current deficit behind Arsenal.
Before Christmas I heard Alan Green telling listeners to 5LIve that Liverpool supporters would be happy if they finished only 6 points behind whoever becomes Champions for 2007-8. At the present rate of point gathering they will be happy if they only finish 6 points behind Everton. Liverpool are a team in transition we are told. Well back in August we were being told they were going to be Champions - based on the signing of Fernando Torres.
Why is it that Liverpool are allowed the excuse of failure as being caused by this state of 'in transition.' Arsenal have lost Henry, Pires, Reyes, Llungberg, Cole, Lehmann and Bergkamp from the last time they won the Premiership in 2004. Manchester United have added Hargreaves, Tevez, Nani and Anderson to the side that won the title last year, Chelsea have brought in Alex, Anelka and Belletti. Somehow they have still managed to stay at the top and actually increase their dominance over Liverpool.
One of the sad facts/statistics of the Premiership years is this: In 1989-90 when Liverpool won the league it took their total of Championships to 18, the nearest challengers in terms of titles won were Arsenal (9) and Manchester United (7), fast foward seventeen years and Liverpool are still on 18, Manchester United are now on 16 and Arsenal are on 13.
If you watch Liverpool these days you not only don't know who is going to be picked, you don't know who is going to play where and how the team is going to play. An awful lot of money seems to have been spent on players who are not only poor quality for Liverpool but not really good enough for the Premiership - Harry Kewell, Andriy Voronin?
It's interesting to read a players perspective on things, Jamie Carragher, one of Liverpool's home grown players, says that he wouldn't swap his Champions League medal for a league winners medal - three maybe but not one. He also stated three years ago that it would take Rafa Benitez three years to get Liverpool into the position where they could challenged for the title. Well in the three full years that Benitez has been in charge Liverpool have been 37, 9 and 21 points behind - they are currently 19 points behind Arsenal.
Perhaps Benitez really does think that Champions League football is the real measure of greatness and is happy to sacrifice the tradition of winning domestic leagues in favour of winning the 'big one'. Having struggled to beat Luton and Havant and Waterlooville (that's two clubs in total not three if you aren't familiar with English football) they have today lost 1-2 at home to Barnsley in the F.A Cup Fifth Round. This weeks Champions League match against Inter Milan, an Inter side who are again far ahead of the competition in Italy, becomes another pressure match for Liverpool. So far this season each time they have been under pressure in Europe they have come away with a victory, if they can knock Inter out over two legs I would have to say it would be a greater achievement than that famous victory in Istanbul three years ago.
4 comments:
Very interesting, Paul. It must be really frustrating being a Liverpool fan at the moment.
I think with Kewell it's a failure to regain form after injury. Voronin doesn't strike me as a bad player but just one who hasn't quite got the quality to be able to bring back Liverpool's former glory. IMHO, Gerard Houllier bought quite a few players like this : good ones, but not great ones.
I know the answer to Liverpool's problems; stop me watching their matches. Simple. Duncan (a life long Liverpool fan)banned me from watching them several seasons ago because every time I watched them, they lost. I was happy to keep him happy but the last couple of months (!) I decided that if I want to watch a match I will and yes, they have lost every single one that I have watched. He says I am doing it deliberately!
It has also been pointed out that Liverpool started winning trophies again be it league cup, fa cup, uefa cup, champions league etc not long after Duncan and I got together. Now we are splitting up there doesn't appear to be any sort of trophy in sight! I fully expect them to be playing Walsall in the championship the season after next!
Oh the irony!
I really enjoy reading the mailbox on Football365. Liverpool didn't win the match in Istanbul - they won a penalty shoot-out.
My oldest brat was at SB for the boring 0-0 draw against Liverfluke last Saturday week. I won't repeat here the chants that he told me were sung.
"They" talk about the Top Four. Firstly, Chelsea have really only been in the top four for about 5 years and yet to hear people on 5 Live go on about it you'd think they'd been up there for 15 years or more - they haven't been! Liverpool are NOT a top four team.
606 at the weekend is becoming totally Liverpool-centric to the point of complete boredom. Alan Green on Saturday (always extremely defensive) and then Spoony on Sunday - ho hum.
Sorry - probably veering widely off-topic!
I hope Rafa stays at Liverpool; and I know that Everton fans hope that too - no-one wants anyone who actually knows what he's doing to step in do they?
Mags you are not alone in thinking you've cursed a footabll team. Back in the 1950's my dad used to go to see West Ham every week and decided that after he started courting (great old fashioned word) he take my Mum. Every time my Mum went they lost, so Mum stopped going and West Ham won the old Second Division title in 1958. Mum started going again and they lost! She has only been once since then and won't watch them on TV in case they lose.
Sarnia - Rod Liddle made a great comment about that 0-0 draw, in light of the Premierships plans for world domination. I think Rafa needs to pick his best side for every game. Players these days have the best diets, the best training facilities and the best pitches to play on ever. Look at Chelsea last weekend they started with the intention of winning and then taking players off, Liverpool started with the priority of Wednesday's game first.
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