After completing the ReadLiverpool writers’ predictions piece, I decided that I wanted to have a closer, slightly more biased look at what our season has in store. Everyone likes a prediction. Predict this team, predict this score-line, it’s all good fun. But the point of a prediction is to go ahead and try and be accurate. It’s often stooped in competition. This person has predicted this, but I think that will happen. When you’re right, you gloat. When you’re wrong, “I wasn’t arsed anyway lad,” everything is competitive. That’s good sometimes.
But trying to guess a team’s actual final league position can often take the fun out of the sport. I said that we would finish fourth on this site’s prediction piece above, but as editor Ben Smith suggested after submitting the piece, why had none of the writers backed us to finish top? Well, it was because we all wanted to be right. Chances are we won’t finish top and we’re also writing for a Liverpool-centric website, so we need to be a little optimistic. Realistically optimistic. That’s probably why we didn’t predict finishing first. Sometimes as supporters we will be hypercritical. We’ll beg for the heady heights of finishing fourth, but if Rodgers came out and said the same we would all be claiming how “FSG aren’t ambitious. Get Rodgers out!”
“Bill Shankly wouldn’t stand for this, first or nothing!” and so on. To an extent, I agree. It would never be nice to see a manager say how our aspiration is so finish only three places behind top stop, but in public he has little choice. The best idea for Rodgers would be this: be non-committal in public and demand a title challenge in private. Aiming for first and falling short is only likely to produce a finish closer to top than it is to fourth place. It is basic physiological thinking. Why lower your expectations of your players and give them an excuse to fail?
So much is made of footballers turning up to a club without loyalty, without excessive passion for the cause. This thinking is naïve. It is not a travesty. A lack of loyalty should be expected and accepted. Allowed, even. They are there to do a job. We don’t like this idea, but it’s true. There are plenty of office jobs, bar jobs or any other jobs for that matter that people perform to the best of their ability, but go home each night and switch off and forget about until they’re next in work. Would you call these people shithouses for not being passionate about pouring pints or setting up spreadsheets? No. They probably do their best. But this is because it’s demanded of them.
Give someone the chance to be the fourth best sales person in the team and they’ll lower their standards. Less work for the same money – sounds great! Don’t give our players the chance to take this attitude. Fans and pundits this pre-season have been at pains to stress how bad Lovren is for the club, and how fantastic Sakho is when he plays. Granted, this is true.
Yet last time we played in the Premier League, vs Stoke City away, Sakho was a disgrace. The way he let his head drop would not be taken in any other profession in the world. Some of you lads turned up to a dead-rubber game, paid nearly £100 for the day and this bloke didn’t give a toss about the shirt. His attitude was “Head down, get out of this then I’m on my holidays for a month,” this type of behaviour is unacceptable. And I bet Rodgers feels Sakho needs to earn his trust after that performance. And part of me thinks he would be right.
Before tomorrow’s game let’s aim to win the league, because football is crap any other way. We’ve got three title winners, three Brazilian internationals, England players coming out of our ears and a lad who two nations want to represent them. Ibe is that good, countries are fighting for the honour of having him play for them. We’ve got a defence at least as good as United’s, a midfield that’s better and more strikers than them. They’re amongst the favourites to win the title and according to some we’re finishing fifth? Hang on a second, I’m not having that.
Mourinho has said previously that you can’t stagnate, you need to improve and evolve, even after a title win. They signed a striker who was absolutely awful last year and a reserve goalkeeper who will not challenge Courtois for a starting birth. So basically, Chelsea have stood still. Not only is this disrespectful, but it is stupid. Arsenal are my favourites for the title, but they’re also Arsenal. They signed a great ‘keeper but they always have a chance to fuck it all up because every year they have the ability to be really Arsenal. And we’re letting them be considered for the title, but not us?
Manchester City have made a couple of good signings, but their defence is an issue as they’ve not really strengthened it. Kompany was poor last year and Mangala is a nutcase. The rest of their defence is ageing and they haven’t strengthened their midfield or forward line enough. Sterling will probably be top five in the world eventually, but right now he is just a good signing. And a shithouse. Yet we’re scared of these? Brendan Rodgers should be standing in the dressing room of each game giving our players an ultimatum. The outfield player who runs the least stays in training longest the following week.
You may not be at the races every game, Benteke may not score in five games, Coutinho could go off the boil but this doesn’t mean they can’t run around. Tackling, harrying and being a general pain-in-the-arse to anyone they come across. Running around is under-rated. I would kill for a Dirk Kuyt in his prime right now. I would love Craig Bellamy. I want lads who run, try and snap. These are things that can be done on a game-by-game basis by anyone. Lambert, God love him, had a terrible time last year but he never once wasn’t running. He looked like he was running in quick sand, granted, but he wanted to play for Liverpool really, really badly. Does Sakho? Because I’ll be honest, I reckon Lovren does.
Rodgers should be telling the lads that whoever wins the most tackles will get a slap-up meal in Bem Brazil, then he’ll get the ale in at Alma de Cuba. Because making tackles is what every footballer should be able to do. You’re a professional. If you’re crap at it then learn how to do it. It’s simple.
Tackling and running, it’s underrated. If you can tackle and you can run, then you’re going to get chances. You’re going to get the ball more than the other team, and you’re going to score more goals. Forget tactics for a minute, forget anything else, running, pressing and tackling will win you games. It will also make teams not want to play you. This can win you games before you even turn up at the stadium on a Saturday afternoon. Like what happened in 2013-14 and like Manchester United played for 20 years under Fergie. If you’re doing what teams hate, creating chances and tackling and running, you’re going to win most of your games. If we aim to do this, aim to win the title then whatever happens we may just end up surprising a few people. Forget what people are predicting and go out there and win the title. Win the tackling and the running. Win the chances created and win matches. If we do all of the above then I predict one thing: I predict a riot.
