You lot know the script by now. I write about how fantastic it is to be a Liverpool fan and how much we have to look forward to and how great this team is, which hasn’t been that hard lately. There’s something that’s been playing on mind though and I need to get it off my chest. You see, I tend to use this column as therapy. It’s my safe place where I can vent but, as a naturally optimistic person, most of that venting turn into gushing.
I’ve seen enough in the past few games to worry me though. It may seem a bit facetious to moan about a side that is two weeks away from playing in a Champions League final, however I can’t help it. Our league form is not great and the fact we are in a Champions League final seems to be papering over these cracks. Excuses have been made and I will probably get a lot of shit for writing this, but the facts are that if you want to win trophies then excuses aren’t good enough. Liverpool need to improve before we play Real Madrid in Kiev on 26th May.
We might be dominating possession but the old habits seem to be creeping back in. We are failing again to break teams down and find a way through. Mohamed Salah has been marked out of the past games and looks leggy. It is understandable that these lads are tired, I get that, but this is the business end of the season. Any team that aspires to win big competitions, possibly multiple competitions in a season, needs to push through these tough times. It was always going to be the case that fatigue would set in at some point given the tempo at which we play football. What is worrying though is our inability to find a way through it.
All the above is subjective of course and people may have a completely different opinion to me. Alas, I am but one man in a sea of opinions. What you cannot argue with though is this; Liverpool have not won a league game since 8th April – that means we are without a league win in three league games. In that time we have scored just two goals and have conceded two goals in the last ten minutes of a game to gift a point to the opposition. We have failed to beat the bottom two sides in the division and allowed Chelsea to cut our ten point lead over them to just two points going into the final weekend of the season.
Honestly, someone tell me you aren’t worried because if you do I will call you a liar. Saying we have Kiev on the brain isn’t a good enough excuse. This happened a couple of years ago when we reached the Europa League final in Basel against Sevilla. In that instance we only managed to win one of our last four games and ended up finishing eighth in the Premier League. We also went onto be beaten by Sevilla.
Things aren’t all bad. There is a Champions League final on the horizon. We finally have players, effective players, coming back from injury too and just at the right time. We still seem to pretty solid at the back. Even though we were beaten on Sunday by Chelsea they still failed to trouble us at the back. Dejan Lovren in particular put in a pleasing performance. We also seemed to terrify the life out of them, which is always nice to see. Real Madrid have also lost this week and blamed it on our upcoming clash, so maybe ‘final fever’ is catching.
I am probably being overly harsh and very negative. A lot of people are going to say “get on this knobhead having a go” or “call yourself a red, get behind your team”. Well I say fuck you! This team is better than it is showing at the minute, it has proven so over the course of this season. Things have to improve though if we are in with a shout of beating a Real Madrid side who are born winners, who have win this competition for three of the past four years. We can’t go into this game low on form and confidence.
Brighton are next up and they are due a pasting. They are also flying high after beating Manchester United on Friday night and booking another season in the Premier League, rendering their defeat to Manchester City almost acceptable. But we need to batter someone. Beating Brighton on Sunday is the minimum requirement, giving a good twatting would be preferable.
I hate being a moaning bastard, never let me do this again. We’ve got a European Cup to win and I want to have a good time. Fuck it, ALLEZ, ALLEZ, ALLEZ…
