Both in football and in life, there is no fixed point to which we might one day arrive at. There are differing levels of joy and accomplishment that everybody hopes to attain, and though it takes great perseverance to get there, it can all disappear in an instant.
Those that remain constantly successful must change and adapt as circumstances dictate over time. For the many that are not yet where they want to be, the journey is even harder.
Progress isn’t something that can be measured in a straight line.
Liverpool are at a point where right now where the attacking areas look to be finally firing and suddenly the defence is as leaky as it has been in years. Complications rise up from unexpected areas and solutions can be just as fortuitous.
On the field and in terms of the standing in English football, these are the worst of times that Liverpool Football Club has faced for many a year. That’s not meant to sound critical, but rather establish how things are right now. Champions League football – once a minimum requirement – is now all but a feint possibility.
We must learn to accept our position, but never accept it as our fate.
Liverpool Football Club didn’t fall away from greatness, it was held over the edge and then finally pushed.
Rafa Benitez did his best to dig his heels in and prevent this descent, Kenny Dalglish and FSG re-established some footing, so at the very least nobody is staring down at the abyss we were confronted with a couple of years ago.
Still, there now remains a mountain to climb simply in order to return to where Liverpool was but five years back. In an industry where a week is a long time in football, think how much damage can be done in that length of time.
Watching the way teams react to conceding a goal tells you a lot about the individual and team mentality. When there’s nothing left to lose Liverpool often come roaring back. Hulk’s goal at Anfield last week should have been enough to completely kill the tie but that was never going to happen. The problems occur against a team which has no business taking the lead in the first place. For years now, Liverpool have had this flaw with which they allow underdogs to dictate terms to them; it’s one of the reasons they’re so good when they are in that role.
Though it’s loathsome to hold them up as the perfect model, whenever someone scores against Man United the players are downright indignant. There’s an immediate backlash, which almost inevitably leads to them being level if not even leading before long.
Because this has been a concern for some time, however, both our players and fans as well as the opposition are fully aware of it. Coupled with the long-standing profligacy issue and you have the perfect storm.
Both identifying and acknowledging weakness is healthy and important for those that want to become better.
Unfortunately, right now Liverpool – both on the pitch and in the stands – are caught in a holding pattern. Whenever the signs are recognised, there is panic. West Brom at Anfield is the perfect example. The way things played out in the mind transmitted themselves onto the pitch like a horrifying self-fulfilling prophecy.
Right now, the problem isn’t so much that things can go wrong, it’s the acceptance that when there are a few indicators it then becomes inevitable. To win, sometimes a team or an individual has to be defiant, even in the face of what is in their very nature. Only then will these struggles with fragility start to become addressed.
For John W. Henry and Brendan Rodgers, the plan was to start again.
“Year zero”, it had been christened, and most fans bought into the idea of having a completely clean slate and starting again. The problem is that as a concept it’s completely untrue. It would have particular resonance were the playing staff entirely new but for the most part it was the same faces that had underachieved last season.
Discarding the last two years is to ignore all that which worked in the previous regime and much more importantly forget about the problems that so badly needed fixing. You can’t go into a situation with the same components and expect a completely different result, no matter how well they are put together.
In spite of the longing disappointment that surrounded Liverpool in the league last season, Kenny Dalglish did a better job with the team than he’ll ever likely get credit for. Even with that being said, the reminders of a once great footballing empire can be seen all over his face.
What Liverpool needed was something new.
The need for a fresh start, to forget how far the club had fallen, that was much more important in terms of managing short and long term expectation. However this current incarnation of Liverpool FC will be judged, it would do more harm than good to hold it up against the ghosts of the past.
Times change and people move on.
Steven Gerrard, Pepe Reina, Martin Skrtel, Jamie Carragher and Lucas Leiva were all present in the 4-1 victory over Manchester United. On the flip side, Jonjo Shelvey, Martin Kelly, Daniel Agger and Lucas again all played some part of the team that was dumped out of the League Cup at Anfield to Northampton Town. Those two games represent both the apex and nadir of Liverpool’s recent past.
The Northampton game is now over two years old. Year zero may have had a nasty side-effect in papering over the cracks from last season but it was necessary to lay down a marker and move on from the turmoil and in-fighting that’s gone on over the last few years.
Brendan Rodgers has come in and put his individual stamp on the team, yet the goal is so that a few years down the line a collective identity will be so strong that that the presence – or absence – of one man will not imbalance the team.
Last year, Lucas Leiva’s disappearance led to an almighty collapse in form, and there’s something to be said of the Liverpool team that contains Daniel Sturridge and the one that does not.
Wherever the club ends up finishing in the league, there is much hard work still to do.
Many believe that the quality of players Champions League football would attract to Anfield will help with the problems in consistency. If anything it’s the other way around. If Liverpool can find that consistency, top four football will not be far behind.
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