12 Oct 2009

LIVERPOOL FC - The good, the bad and the ugly

It's only 8 games into the new league campaign but it's already been a rollercoaster of emotions for Liverpool fans. New Liverpool-Kop writer JODY DANIELS takes a look at the highs and lows of the season so far.

LAST SEASON: 38 Games, 25 Wins, 2 losses, and a club record haul of 86 points, resulting in the tightest English Premier League race for years.

Fast forward five months to...

THIS SEASON: 8 Games, 5 wins, 3 losses and a somber 15 points, leaving The Reds dangling precariously in 6th position, 6 points behind leaders Chelsea; 4 behind current champions Manchester United and below Manchester City and Arsenal, who each have a game in hand.

Cue a flurry of disappointed outbursts from fans across several websites, with pundits and other soccer “experts” already writing-off Liverpool’s chances of winning their first league title in 20 years.

(Sigh)

You’d think by now we would be accustomed to the media creating a storm and sensationalizing every little incident around Liverpool FC,

Nevertheless, this latest international break couldn’t have come at a better time.

It allows Rafael Benitez and his coaching staff to reflect on the team’s latest stumbling block to glory and (hopefully) right the wrongs. It has also grated the club's International players to a bried reprieve from the fan/media criticism over the comparatively poor start to the season.

Hopefully, these players will return unscathed and refocused after they assist their nations’ qualification drive for the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa.

“When you walk through a storm, hold your head up high”

Below I have summarised the Good, Bad, and Ugly of Liverpool’s Premier League campaign so far.

Let’s flip it around and begin with...

The Ugly

Unlucky and inconsistent are two words that quickly come to mind when reviewing Liverpool’s performance – especially regarding the 3 losses.

What is most haunting about the games against Spurs, Villa and Chelsea is not that Liverpool lost but the manner of the losses.

The loss against Tottenham Hotspur could be forgiven as it was the opener; the players were probably rusty and the tactics were probably wrong – or maybe Harry Redknapp just got his tactics spot on and his players were more desperate to win and prove a point.

That loss should’ve provided key lessons about our tactics and team selection – lessons that should’ve been noted and taken forward.

The loss against Aston Villa at Anfield was a shocker. Just the 3rd game of the new season; The Reds looked disparate, and never pitched up for the game. The Villains were clearly hungrier to win.

Herein lies the ugly problem.

The battle at Stamford Bridge further highlighted the players’ lack of urgency and indifference in the second half.

After conceding the goal to a mistake in midfield, Liverpool never responded – there was no real drive to equalize; there was no anger at being down to another title contender; Liverpool seemed clueless at how to respond, and made Chelsea seem better than they really were.

Where is the passion? Where is the resolve? Where is the proof that backs up those bold proclamations of running for the title this season?

League champions are consistent and fight for every point in every game, its best that Liverpool players remember that going forward.

The Bad

Fairweather fans combined with biased media “analysts” have resulted in a potent combination, piling needless pressure onto the Liverpool players.

The performances of some individuals have hardly been up to scratch, especially against Fiorentina and Chelsea. Hopefully that was just a little bad patch that every title challenging team suffers at least once a season.

Too much criticism of Rafa and the players.

This does not help the team’s confidence; not only do they have to face the dismay and wrath of fans every time something goes wrong, but the team is literally torn to pieces by the blood-thirsty anti-Liverpool media-mob, which further fuels the pessimism of too many fans.

Instead, let’s be quick to show our support to the players and coaching staff, and not be quick to side with the critics. With our continued backing, through the good and the bad, the team’s confidence and performance can only improve.

The Liverpool players know how important winning the league title is to the fans, they don’t need more pressure. However, Liverpool FC is too big a club to go trophyless for as long as it has now. If they fail to deliver some silverware this season, then Liverpool players cannot complain if fans call for major changes.

3 losses in 8 league games

Liverpool has 15 points from 8 games; not the greatest, but is it all that bad?

Manchester United didn't have the best start last season, achieving a mere 4 wins in their first 8 games. Interestingly, they had also accumulated only 15 points at that stage, but not many people were arguing that their title challenge was over as a result.

The record books might be against Liverpool because we lost 3 games in 8 games, but that does not mean The Reds are out of the race. It just means the remaining 30 games will be even more important.

The Good

“At the end of the storm is a golden sky.”

Incredibly, there is some good to all of this.

1. Liverpool will return with a stronger squad after this international break, or at least Rafa will have more options.

Daniel Agger, will hopefully have recovered from all the issues that have plagued him, and be available to add strength to our ailing defence.

Alberto Aquilani is reportedly making progress and should soon feature in the first team, which should provide more stability and impetus in midfield.

2. There are a massive 30 games remaining in the Premier League after the international break. That’s 90 points on offer; 90 points available for the taking.

Even if Liverpool only wins 24 of those 30 games, they will still have accumulated more points (minimum of 87 points excl draws) than last season. The purpose is to win as many games as possible and end the season stronger than they began it – Liverpool’s fate rests in their own hands.

3. Thus far, each time Liverpool has approached a game with the intent to attack and win, it usually resulted in 3 points; and The Reds do look dangerous when they play with the fortitude of champions.

“walk on, walk on with hope in your heart, and you’ll never walk alone”

Liverpool FC, if you want to be crowned English champions at the end of the 2009/ 2010 season, play to your strengths, deliver consistent performances and “You’ll never ever walk alone”.

Jody Daniels is a South Africa-based Liverpool fan

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12 comments:

  1. <span>"Too much criticism of Rafa and the players.

    This does not help the team’s confidence; not only do they have to face the dismay and wrath of fans every time something goes wrong, but the team is literally torn to pieces by the blood-thirsty anti-Liverpool media-mob, which further fuels the pessimism of too many fans"</span>

    Dare I say this is one of the sites which does exactly this? And don't feed me the critical realism line.

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  2. Fair point.  I personally disagree that it has that much impact on players.  They are professionals and their paid shedloads to take the criticism.  they certainly lap up the praise when it's proffered, do they not.  if they can't hack (deserved) criticism then they should toughen up.

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  3. Fair point.  I personally disagree that it has that much impact on players.  They are professionals and they're paid shedloads to take the criticism.  They certainly lap up the praise when it's proffered, do they not? The door swings both ways, and if they can't hack (deserved) criticism then they should toughen up. Or get a job out of the public eye.

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  4. Crticism and praise each has its place. As supporters of Liverpool FC pining for the RED to win the league title, we have an obligation to do both to ensure the club continues moving forward. However, swinging too far in either direction could be detrimental - blindly idolising players/ LFC staff just massages egos when players/ the team should remember they're only as good as their last performance. Criticism can only be good and constructive when done with the objective of looking for improvements to be made, its not positive when done with a menacing spirit desiring to crush players' self worth or self esteem.

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  5. Good point about 30 games to play - the title is still definitely a possibility, and the team more than capble of winning 24 games. we havent really got out of 2nd gear yet, and I genuniely believe that Aquilani will be a major boost for the team.

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  6. re the Man U comparison - they didn't have a great start last season but it was nowhere near as bad as ours.  We've lost 3 of the first 8 league games; united lost only 2 of their first 25 last season.  Big difference.

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  7. But the same number of points at the same stage of the season, so different how? it's points that matter, not defeats.

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  8. I think the comparison is just based on accumulated points which is 15 & for the first 8 league games. If you just look at the number of defeats for the first 8 games then yeah their start was nowhere near as bad as ours but if you look at the number of wins we are better.

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  9. You aren't comparing like with like here. Besides, they lost more games than we did last season and still won the league.

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  10. LFC LA, we had zero defeats at this stage last season - and went a further three before we lost to Spurs. Using your logic, we should have been touted as winners-elect last term - but we weren't. The general concensus was that Manyoo had a slow start, but would soon get into high gear. Why is that not what is being said about Liverpool now?

    Don't forget, Manyoo and Chelsea haven't really strengthened their squad, and each are not looking world-beaters - so we should expect to see both faulter, or at least hic-cup, at some stage. There is the chance that they will cancel each other out.

    Jody highlights a very simple point, in that under Rafa, we've gotton stronger as the season rolls on. So chin up!

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  11. Rafa should stop being stubborn.Play Gerrard with Masch in the middle and drop Lucas and Liverpool will have the balance again.Ample evidence has been seen so far this season.

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  12. i have a feeling Rafa gets some pay when he plays that lazy Brazilian. sometimes patience pays but success is long overdue.  

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