Date published: Friday 17th July 2020 10:06
Send your thoughts on what Liverpool should be called instead of the Invincibles or Centurions to [email protected]
While I was at pains to point out that the mail wasn’t a dig, perhaps I lacked the eloquence to put the points in perspective without sounding like a jerk. It certainly doesn’t help that we live in an age where any attempt to raise a different angle or the flip side of a situation is instantly resisted aggressively. The You-are-either-with-us-or-against-us mantra is narrow and immature.
Liverpool were brilliant but they didn’t reach any particularly notable milestone. Sarah cited Ancelotti’s Chelsea and I’ll give you City’s 98-point campaign last season. Now that’s a total that Liverpool might still not make or, at best, better by one point. But the major reason why we still talk about that City achievement is because of it’s recency; after all they were the defending champions and references are inevitable. But even now, it is already absent in conversations of the greatest season because as ridiculous as it was in terms of points, we’ve seen a better one. And in years to come, it would be merely a footnote or a point to emphasize the brilliance of the Centurions. At least they also won an unprecedented domestic treble; that will live longer in memory and fare better in, say, 20 years time than the most consecutive home wins.
As a Liverpool fan, I think I can offer a compromise so we can move on. This is the best side I have ever supported and what they have achieved is beyond my wildest dreams, but it feels a bit anticlimactic and much more could have been achieved. But, it’s more than most fans of most teams will get in terms of silverware and achievements so don’t worry, we’ll all be fine even if we don’t get 100 points next season. The media need a story so worry about our form now trickling over into next season can be their headline.
As an aside, I think the statistical comparison between Liverpool’s and Arsenal’s first few games under new managers was a case study in the obsession with statistics being used to tell the story we want to tell. Look, we get it, Arteta has a philosophy, but whatever it actually is I couldn’t tell you based on that performance and others this season. The team was gifted two goals and credit to them for taking the chances served up on a plate (and certainly you have to press to put yourself in the position in the first place), but let’s not pretend Arteta wouldn’t be under serious scrutiny if he was an unfortunate manager without a philosophy.
Early doors this season, I had a mail published which sought to explain why City were simply not firing on all cylinders. I suggested that it simply wasn’t possible to maintain both the physical and mental tempo that Guardiola, and now Klopp, demand for three seasons in a row. I posited that, after winning a domestic treble and accruing 100 points in the process, the City players must have heard every inspirational speech Pep had in his locker, as well as every hair-dryer rant.
Liverpool FC have just won the one thing their supporters have yearned for after thirty years and, after that milestone has finally been reached, I’m wondering if Klopp now has the same problem. How does he keep motivating his team when the ‘job’s done’?
Of all the professional football players out there, only a relatively small number get to play regularly in the Prem. And of those, fewer still get to play regularly for the top teams of the time. In July 2020 that’s Liverpool and City. My point is that, even then, I’m not sure you can expect either teams to keep up this record-breaking run for three seasons in a row. Not unless we start sniffing the kind of stench attached to those that used to compete in the Tour de France that is (God forbid).
Accordingly, and whilst they might be bookie’s favourites, and coupled with a whole host of other factors, (transfers, sackings, Acts Of God) it would be nonsense to suggest that only Liverpool and City could win the League next season.
Arteta and OGS are not in the same league as Klopp. I will happily offer up an apology after they’ve won the league and delivered B2B Champions League finals winning at least one.
When you’ve got as passionate and dyed in the wool ManU pundit as Rio saying it’s a blatent error then guess what, it is!
The Premier League must find a way of detaching Stockley Park from the PGMOL (?) or this farce will continue.
Watching the palace/united match on BT and their referee in the studio said that VAR won’t get involved In the palace penalty decision just before half time because it isn’t clear and obvious……..
but they will Spend 3-5 minutes trying to figure out if someone’s toe nail is off side even though it’s not clear and obvious.
Can anyone explain this to me as it seems a massive flaw in the VAR system……..
Surely in performing a stepover, Zaha has stepped over the ball, leaving it behind?
If he’s left it behind him, it’s surely not a tackle from behind. Lindelof has tackled the ball in a legal position for him to do so, won it and therefore there’s no penalty to be awarded?
That’s my take on the decision and I’m no referee so I’m not saying my view is 100% right. I know there are nuances. I just find it hard to believe that there’s a clear and obvious error in not giving the penalty and VAR should have reversed the decision.
Because the importance of qualifying for the CL at this time, in these conditions, for this manager and the players feels like it would be all the motivation anyone could ever need. But watching this United XI leads me to believe that sports scientists are onto something.
United were lethargic, sloppy, timid and a step slow to everything. It was a totally different performance against pretty meek opponents than what we saw just 10 days ago. And that’s the point, footballers can’t play this much, at this level, this frequently. United will not qualify because their best XI players simply can’t play 4 matches in 11 days.
Can any well travelled mailboxers give their opinions on how the sports media differs from country to country?
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