Sunday 18 March 2018

Friends Like These

Loose lips sink Premierships.  Ask any Arsenal fan about William Gallas at St. Andrews and they won't come back to you with an anecdote about the time he shot five under par.  From a Liverpool perspective it should be no coincidence nor surprise that what is projected onto a team becomes their ultimate fate. Many a side has arrived at Anfield with lofty aspirations only to leave with unforgettable battle scars; irrespective of their quality in relation to ours.  The power of the mind has an incredible way of bridging gaps when it comes to talent, no matter how large.

This is not a rallying cry for what is sure to be an absolute blockbuster tie against Manchester City.  There is no doubt as to the heights they are to reach this season. Something equally established is our ability to destabilize them.  Of all the sides left in the competition, no-one is more aware of the potential knock out punch that Liverpool currently possess than the side that will be crowned champions of England but felt it the hardest.  They know it and so do we. As ever, the games will be played very much on the preconceptions as they will be on the pitch.

Setting the Champions League aside powers a perpetual motion machine.  We can't leave the league alone if we want to do all this again next year.  There's no doubt that competing amongst Europe's elite this season may have an impact as to whether we get the opportunity to do it again.  The league is not settled – nor will it be comfortable - until the mathematics have ruled out another of the four into three. In the space of seven days, we've gone from looking above to fearing below and back again.  This is where Liverpool appear to have been given a reprieve. From the most unlikely of sources. A man who rankles and boils our blood as if it were his only goal. It's not even the first time this season he's done it.  Twice he's allowed Liverpool to breath. To draw breath where others would do everything to extinguish it. In fact, the sheer defensiveness of Jose Mourinho may very well be the key to ending Liverpool's league season on a high.  Which is pretty much the opposite of what he's supposed to do.

Four points from two games represents a very good haul.  The man himself would aggressively assert in a press conference that managers before him have done worse.  Snide references to Alex Ferguson aside, let's take a closer look. The game at Anfield came at a time whereby United were in a really good place.  This feels like a million years ago now but there was a time whereby the title was actually up for grabs and it appeared a Manchester power struggle would be the theme of the season.  At the time, we'd not started particularly well and even the merest glance at the LFC defence would result in a goal. United rolled up with the chance to put some real doubts into Klopp's plans for the season.  To sew the seeds of superiority when the opportunity presented itself. In the end, the game finished goalless. Liverpool grew in confidence as it wore on. The rest of the season followed suit.

The same weekend one half of Manchester failed to put the foot down, the other half put seven past Stoke and won by five.  If ever opposing philosophies were encapsulated in a single weekend of fixtures, this was it. In theory, perhaps the risk was to great for Mourinho to lose at Anfield and inject some momentum into our season was too much.  But in having no interest in going for the win, his hand was already tipped. In an increasingly competitive league whereby supposedly six teams are vying for the title, you can't let a rival off the hook like that.

Fast forward to today.  Barely even a week after we went down 2-1 at Old Trafford.  The fact that there was so much confidence going into such a crucial game says a lot about the overall mentality of the club right now.  That is only emphasised by the reaction at the final whistle. Certain clubs can spin out of control with a single loss * cough * Arsenal * cough * but the idea that you can find a certain amount of comfort in those final few minutes – strength even – comes from the attitude displayed on the pitch.  Retreating completely and trying to hold out can work if you've drilled a side effectively. Ultimately - no matter how attacking a side is - you have to have it in yourself to see it through if you're ever going to win anything.  That being said, you can't then complain when it blows up in your face. Football management is so often about playing the odds. Sometimes you do things that work in the moment that wouldn't necessarily work over a period of time.  That's what the best managers do. Doing it every time however, makes it more of a crap shoot. It won't work every time. Hell, it didn't work even a few days later.

Five points.  The gap between Man United right now and Liverpool in the race to become an ultimately unforgettable runner up to Man City's monumental winners.  Last Saturday's result should have been irrefutable, insurmountable. Back in 2014 once LFC had put five past Arsenal there was no doubt as to who would finish above who. When there is such an obvious instance to present superiority then the obligation becomes as important as the result.  Manchester United following up their victory with a confident advancement into the quarter finals of the Champions League would have very much put the boot down.  Though they may say the first part through gritted teeth, the rest should still be as firm. “City have won the league but second is ours. We're next up. We're the ones that will fight them”.  As it was, they failed to meet what was even the minimum of requirements.

Liverpool failed to beat Sevilla twice.  The key factor in the rankle of those results is the fact that they could easily have won both of those games, twice over.  We can brush over a single result. There is no need to look down at the pit of despair that awaits for the one remaining side that has a legitimate chance of making the Champions League next season.  From having to look behind us, we have our heads turned again; by the most unlikely of sources. Mourinho's reaction to their elimination has only further emphasised the gap in potential trajectories.

The intensity of the fire of our hopes and dreams may ultimately come back to burn us.  We are carried along the wings of a Liverbird gassed up on momentum and hope. Pessimism is fine.  Pragmatism works. Until you can't move beyond their constraints. The cliché about living like a lion for a day rather than a lifetime as a mouse exists for a reason.  The fact that our closest rival wants to continue to talk down his chances and rather than roar chooses to squeak should only embolden us.

Belief sometimes comes from the most unlikely of sources.  Strength can be found in that. Things are about to get a hell of a lot more intense.  The key is to take everything forward. Don't look back. That's how you fall. The fact is, all season we've been shown the path forward from our biggest rival.  Whatever fate awaits us in Manchester, we've already been given enough confidence. Enough to push forward and finish the job.

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