The eagerly anticipated return of the Premier League went with….well, a bit of a whimper, actually. The lack of a crowd will always impact upon the atmosphere of historic and bitterly-contested games like the Merseyside derby, and Liverpool’s 0-0 draw with Everton was a fairly tepid affair – unsurprising, really, given the circumstances.
“Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it’s much more serious than that.” Those were the words of the great Bill Shankly, and while said with tongue firmly in cheek there is a resonance of truth in the statement.
Well, dreams of an incredible double will have to be put on hold for another season. The defence of our Champions League crown came to a bizarre end against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night in a 13 minute spell in which Liverpool completely unravelled.
Crisis, what crisis? It’s amazing how quickly so-called desperation can be extinguished with a simple win in football, especially when other results go your way and you can, in theory, secure the Premier League title with weeks to spare.
Three defeats in the space of a fortnight is absolutely far from ideal. But anybody predicting the downfall of Liverpool FC based upon this spell of 14 days does so rather prematurely – there really is no reason for Reds fans to panic.
It was almost inevitably going to happen, wasn’t it? Any hopes of the perfect ‘invincibles’ season came to an end as Liverpool were downed by red-hot Watford on Saturday evening. Given the Hornets’ recent form to say their 3-0 victory was a surprise would be something of an understatement, but Nigel Pearson rallied his troops and they delivered an epic display.
At times this season Liverpool have taken the easy road to glory: beating opponents with a stellar demonstration of attacking, aggressive football and bludgeoning plenty of goals in the process. And at other times….well, things haven’t quite gone so swimmingly.
As expected, Atletico Madrid were at their ‘horrible’ best in the 1-0 win over Liverpool o Tuesday night. They pressed, they harried, they were hard in the tackle and they displayed all of the trademark spoiling tactics we have come to expect from a Diego Simeone side.
Patience is a virtue in many walks of life, and especially so in football when trying to break down a dogged opponent. Thankfully, Liverpool have that in abundance – as they showed in the narrow 1-0 victory over Norwich on Saturday, and they will need to showcase it some more on Tuesday when they take on the masters of the dark art of ‘spoiling’ football matches: Atletico Madrid.
There’s that old saying in life that a change is as good as a rest.Well, as far as Liverpool FC, a rest has been more welcome than ever. The winter break that most of the Premier League has enjoyed could not have come at a better time for the Reds, with Jurgen Klopp and his players having the best part of a fortnight off to recharge the batteries ahead of what will hopefully prove to be a historic conclusion to the campaign.