When Liverpool drew Blackburn away from home, we or just me found refuge in the fact that at least the unbeaten record in the Premiership is still intact and the wagon is thus still rolling. Just two months from that day, the scenario is completely different. Winter is now here, Christmas is past, a lot of happenings at the boardroom and a draw at the Riverside Stadium against Middlesbrough is only a fatal two points lost with no refuge to be soothe the disappointment. It’s January and the real target is a Champions League position rather than the title.
Talking about refuge earlier, the club at the moment is more looking that an asylum seekers place with refugee status still far away from the horizon. The trouble and squabbling at the very top coupled with the incessant media speculation has properly got to everyone now and it’s showing on the pitch. The first match after the first public outburst seemed to have brought the best out of everyone, running amok the black and white shirts representing Newcastle United, getting a 3-0 score-line in the process with the true star of the campaign so far, losing his scoring boots back at Melwood.
The adrenaline pumped then has well fizzed away and has been transformed to worry and uncertainty that together are shackling the player’s legs and the manager’s mind simultaneously. At times the display looked plain lethargic, that while watching from my temporary home in Melbourne at two in the morning made it very hard not to nod from time to time.
The tiny straw we can all clutch is the confirmation of Fernando’s class. His goal was once again on the superlative side of things, shooting outside the penalty area that still even two keepers would not have kept. The frustration of the whole match as yet, turned into one burst of sheer delight, admiration and realisation of what we have got in our hands.
At times, this is getting eerily similar to 2002/03 when the plot and foundations set in the previous seasons all got drowned off after the then manager’s health problems. Fernando Torres today seems to be replacing the Steven Gerrard of that season, as the only one really rising above the whole crisis and saving games single handedly. It was only the fourth round too that Liverpool got eliminated from the FA Cup in a replay at Anfield against a side from the Championship.
Hopefully next Tuesday against Luton, the tide is turned without the need of Torres and the possibility of this haunting similarity will be exorcised. No corner would yet be turned but at least the missing feeling of victory since Boxing Day would return, and the fragile confidence of a lot of the red men will be slightly boosted.
Talking about refuge earlier, the club at the moment is more looking that an asylum seekers place with refugee status still far away from the horizon. The trouble and squabbling at the very top coupled with the incessant media speculation has properly got to everyone now and it’s showing on the pitch. The first match after the first public outburst seemed to have brought the best out of everyone, running amok the black and white shirts representing Newcastle United, getting a 3-0 score-line in the process with the true star of the campaign so far, losing his scoring boots back at Melwood.
The adrenaline pumped then has well fizzed away and has been transformed to worry and uncertainty that together are shackling the player’s legs and the manager’s mind simultaneously. At times the display looked plain lethargic, that while watching from my temporary home in Melbourne at two in the morning made it very hard not to nod from time to time.
The tiny straw we can all clutch is the confirmation of Fernando’s class. His goal was once again on the superlative side of things, shooting outside the penalty area that still even two keepers would not have kept. The frustration of the whole match as yet, turned into one burst of sheer delight, admiration and realisation of what we have got in our hands.
At times, this is getting eerily similar to 2002/03 when the plot and foundations set in the previous seasons all got drowned off after the then manager’s health problems. Fernando Torres today seems to be replacing the Steven Gerrard of that season, as the only one really rising above the whole crisis and saving games single handedly. It was only the fourth round too that Liverpool got eliminated from the FA Cup in a replay at Anfield against a side from the Championship.
Hopefully next Tuesday against Luton, the tide is turned without the need of Torres and the possibility of this haunting similarity will be exorcised. No corner would yet be turned but at least the missing feeling of victory since Boxing Day would return, and the fragile confidence of a lot of the red men will be slightly boosted.
posted by jean paul at 4:33 am
1 Comments:
It's a sad indictment of how this season is going that I am now more interested in whether Man City, Aston Villa and Everton drop points than Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea.
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