Good Enough?
We have drawn four times at home already. With the score level against Hull at home, Javier Mascherano was taken off, only to be substituted by Lucas Leiva. In the meantime the twenty million signing Robbie Keane has spent most of the game warming up. A chance to build a four point gap over Chelsea has now been squandered. We are not good enough to win the league.
Only May will give the final verdict of whether Liverpool are good enough to win the league. Till now, we are good enough to be on top of the league. The table never lies. The stark reality of it has been hurting our eyes for years. The same stark reality of a table after seventeen matches can now be used to glee at. This is not a look from a different angle. This is the same view from the same angle, only with a different object at the focal point. All we asked for in the summer was a proper challenge for the top position. It is now us who are being challenged for the top spot.
The home record does leave questions. The familiar surroundings of Anfield has not lately bred confidence and swagger. It has bred doubts and over-trying. The away record is only second to Chelsea. The Achilles’ heel of Rafa’s first years has now been turned into a spring into his step. The sum total of the home and away record is the best we’ve had for years. To put everything into perspective, at this stage of the season, we are seven points better off than the last title-winning campaign. Things have changed since then. It could be argued the twenty-two sides were more evenly balanced back then. The so-called top four did not really exist. The cash afforded by the Premier League and even more Champions League football did not create the distinction between the haves and the have-nots.
Failure to win at home is rightly considered as the loss of two points. Equally we have won away from home, games that we didn’t have any right to win. We are sometimes getting blinkered too much. The draw against West Ham at Anfield was considered as almost as a catastrophe and a sign of not being good enough. The same side has just travelled to Stamford Bridge and got a draw again, this time after going ahead. Liverpool had six shots on target on the day against West Ham’s two. Today Chelsea managed eight, whilst West Ham managed the same as they did at Anfield. I can’t see Scolari claiming any massacre or feeling too hard done by.
Against Hull, Liverpool found themselves two goals down in twenty-two minutes. They leveled the score in no time. A comeback against the surprise package of the season has been watered down by the failure to get the three points. Maybe the frustrations of two consecutive draws at Anfield took its toll. I am the first to admit to feeling dejected straight after the final whistle.
This is a season that has so far given us more than we have been expecting. The undisputable star of last year is currently on the sidelines, and has been for the bigger part of the season so far. Liverpool miss Torres as much as a handle is missed from a mug. Sometimes we felt like getting burnt due to the lack of handle. The tea is still there though, and we should simply enjoy it on this cold December night.
We have drawn four times at home already. With the score level against Hull at home, Javier Mascherano was taken off, only to be substituted by Lucas Leiva. In the meantime the twenty million signing Robbie Keane has spent most of the game warming up. A chance to build a four point gap over Chelsea has now been squandered. We are not good enough to win the league.
Only May will give the final verdict of whether Liverpool are good enough to win the league. Till now, we are good enough to be on top of the league. The table never lies. The stark reality of it has been hurting our eyes for years. The same stark reality of a table after seventeen matches can now be used to glee at. This is not a look from a different angle. This is the same view from the same angle, only with a different object at the focal point. All we asked for in the summer was a proper challenge for the top position. It is now us who are being challenged for the top spot.
The home record does leave questions. The familiar surroundings of Anfield has not lately bred confidence and swagger. It has bred doubts and over-trying. The away record is only second to Chelsea. The Achilles’ heel of Rafa’s first years has now been turned into a spring into his step. The sum total of the home and away record is the best we’ve had for years. To put everything into perspective, at this stage of the season, we are seven points better off than the last title-winning campaign. Things have changed since then. It could be argued the twenty-two sides were more evenly balanced back then. The so-called top four did not really exist. The cash afforded by the Premier League and even more Champions League football did not create the distinction between the haves and the have-nots.
Failure to win at home is rightly considered as the loss of two points. Equally we have won away from home, games that we didn’t have any right to win. We are sometimes getting blinkered too much. The draw against West Ham at Anfield was considered as almost as a catastrophe and a sign of not being good enough. The same side has just travelled to Stamford Bridge and got a draw again, this time after going ahead. Liverpool had six shots on target on the day against West Ham’s two. Today Chelsea managed eight, whilst West Ham managed the same as they did at Anfield. I can’t see Scolari claiming any massacre or feeling too hard done by.
Against Hull, Liverpool found themselves two goals down in twenty-two minutes. They leveled the score in no time. A comeback against the surprise package of the season has been watered down by the failure to get the three points. Maybe the frustrations of two consecutive draws at Anfield took its toll. I am the first to admit to feeling dejected straight after the final whistle.
This is a season that has so far given us more than we have been expecting. The undisputable star of last year is currently on the sidelines, and has been for the bigger part of the season so far. Liverpool miss Torres as much as a handle is missed from a mug. Sometimes we felt like getting burnt due to the lack of handle. The tea is still there though, and we should simply enjoy it on this cold December night.
posted by jean paul at 8:28 pm
1 Comments:
Agree wholeheartedly with your analysis. We should be at least a win clear at the top by now and I think we probably would be if you know who were fit and playing regularly.
However the situation is what it is, and of course we have to make the most of it. At the start of the season how many of us would not have lept at the chance to be top of the league after 17 games? Although with Arsenal as the next game I fear we will face more lost points.
We'll see, I think when Torres does come back the whole team (except Keane) will get a bit of a lift and hopefully we'll go on a bit of a run. I used to think that it was the easiest position to be in as number 1, all you have to do is win your games (and not worry about anyone else), but perhaps the pressure is telling.
Russ
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