In this technological age with social media usage at an all-time high, almost instant post-match interviews from managers and players alike and the seemingly contagious ability amongst fans to think a defeat is catastrophic; it’s no wonder the game has taken a turn for the worst in regards to fan reaction and behaviour.
Long gone are the days where managers and players got a couple of seasons to settle in before being judged. I think some solid advice is if Liverpool lose; you’re best staying away from Twitter as you may resort to some exasperated eye-gauging.
If you’ve ever spent a match in work or unable to watch it for some reason and relied on Twitter for your source of information, then you’d know it’s a rude awakening in terms of the sheer maddening tweets.
This was the case on Saturday when Liverpool fell very short at Burnley. True, we didn’t deserve anything from the game and it was generally poor viewing from a Liverpool point of view.
81% possession and 26 shots amounted to nothing exciting at all as the majority were from outside the box after being stifled by Burnley’s tight rear-guard.
To be fair to Burnley, they played us perfectly, they scored two decent goals and counter-attacked when necessary; exactly what you’d expect from a newcomer to the Premier League. We just didn’t have the guile or creativity to break their resistance and for that, we didn’t deserve anything from the game. I think towards the end of the game we all just hoped Philippe Coutinho would provide some of his usual magic to break down Burnley but 9 of his 10 shots were either wayward or blocked and his demise summed us up completely.
It was a game where too many players didn’t show their true quality. Moreno was the scapegoat after the Arsenal game and it seemed like it was the captain’s turn to shoulder the brunt of it after the Burnley game after a less than inspiring performance. Henderson’s passing and general performance was pretty erratic but so was Coutinho’s and most of the team’s as we struggled to get in behind the Burnley defence.
The age of fan ‘depression’ is epitomised in a video montage of Jordan Henderson’s lacklustre passing going viral on social media. And while it is better to laugh than cry, as most fans wanted to come Saturday evening, unfortunately it’s considered normal nowadays for every single mistake to be picked up on and exposed to its fullest extent. Yet, people seem to forget that Hendo may still be finding his feet after a long lay-off due to injury from last season and may be suffering from a lack of confidence, but don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t excuse him completely for a poor performance but it just conveys the knee-jerk reaction of many fans.
Of course it’s natural to be annoyed when your team is stifled and the result is poor, especially after the euphoria of beating Arsenal a week previously, but I guess we have nothing to do but just accept that this behaviour from fans will not wither any time soon and will only fester.
But let us just remember that we have one of the best managers in the league in Jürgen Klopp and with him at the helm; days like those at Turf Moor won’t occur very often at all.
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