Trying to stay in the moment is difficult. Because of the constant advancing of time, before anything really has the chance to be savoured it is gone. It’s why we cherish photographs so much. They are a visual representation of a place in time.
Another effect of this is the constant progression of hypothetical actions. This is especially true in a professional sense, for those that do not look ahead are forever at risk of being left behind. Because we don’t know what will happen, based on probability and the information at hand it then becomes nigh on impossible for our brains not to run off into the distance and not seek out a single solution but to travel down the road of any number of multiple destinations.
Every year there are days on the calendar we look forward to purely on the basis of what happened before. The idea of attaching any extra significance to an event or period of time that hasn’t happened yet is established firmly in either reliving old glories or an attempt at correcting the mistakes of our past. Most of these situations are personal, but there is one that appears universal.
While there will always be certain exceptions; everybody looks forward to the summer.
Like most things that are deep rooted within us, the love of this time of year stems from childhood. School holidays – in addition to actual ones – led to seemingly infinite possibilities. It was our best chance to get out and explore the world at large, whether it was a case of having and endless playtime or being taken away to some far flung land by our parents. This is before you factor in the sunshine, although that’s not so much of an issue in England.
As May turns to June and spring to summer, a seed of hope is planted. The football season has only been away for a few weeks but – in the absence of a major tournament – it’s sometimes two weeks too long. As players begin to be added to the squad, that hope should begin to bloom but all too often as of late, Liverpool Football Club have had some pretty bad harvests.
He may be the default position for misery around Anfield but it begins with Roy Hodgson. It’s the LFC equivalent of the word schadenfreude; there really is no other way to evoke such despair, which is somewhat symbolic given how everyone else would have reacted to us at the time.
With each passing year, the picture of a smiling Hodge as he unveiled Joe Cole, Milan Jovanovic and Danny Wilson becomes even more incredulous and this is even before you get to Paul Konchesky.
That’s not to say that things then were anti Hodgson or even Pro Rafa, at the time everyone was desperate for it to happen. Much in the same way that if you close your eyes and flap your arms in an attempt to fly kind of fashion, but still it wasn’t exactly a exciting start to the campaign that was to come.
Flash forward a year and the enthusiasm could not be faulted. Everything on that front had been completely reversed. King Kenny was back in charge, there were new owners at the helm and with a large influx of cash and signings made over the summer maybe now things could start going in the right direction.
Game one of 38, a Seb Larsson sucker punch drained it away in a single blow. A win at Arsenal the following week did counter that nicely, but at home certainly, a tone had been set and an oppurtunity missed.
By the time summer came around again, there was another regime change that would come with it. It was Brendan Rodgers who would be tasked with getting Liverpool back up the table and who promptly had the rug pulled from underneath him in the form of two massive obstacles.
The first; having to play both Manchester clubs and Arsenal in quick succession so early on meant that there was no chance for any momentum in terms of points to build and secondly perhaps the most calamitous end to a transfer window since its inception.
For the first time in a long time, Liverpool aren’t playing catch up; they’re setting the pace. It’s a speed nobody should expect to maintain throughout the season, and the last two games have already proven that won’t be the case, but is one that could certainly carry the team through to the end of the year.
Barely before the dust had begun to settle on Carra’s boots than all the talk was of the manner in which business was being done. Toure, Aspas, Alberto, Mignolet; all sorted in quick succession. Then the fixture list was actually kind to the club for a change and allowed for a chance to really fly out of the blocks. In years past it’s been easier said than done for Liverpool to take such an opportunity but that they have done. Three played, three wins, three clean sheets. If there was any room for negativity to climb in through the window, the arrivals of Victor Moses, Tiago Ilori and Mamadou Sakho helped slam it shut.
A home defeat to Southampton takes some of the gloss off the start, but Liverpool were never going through the entire season unbeaten anyway.
So now here we are. The sun has quite literally shone on Liverpool during the close season. A good start does nothing but build a platform to push onward and it is still going to take a lot of hard work and effort to continue that narrative. In the meantime however, it feels good to simply sit down and enjoy the moment.
To watch Steven Gerrard imperiously guide his national team while Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge blossom before our very eyes. The smiles are there and whether that be due to the good start or simply because Kolo Toure has become the ultimate cult hero in the blink of an eye.
Even when the sun goes down and the seasons change, there’s a real impetus there now that Liverpool will not go with it.
