The cup competitions in England are one way for a club to get their hands on some silverware where otherwise they might not have the chance. They are also a great opportunity for beleaguered managers to ‘trick’ their team’s owners into thinking they are doing a decent job – it has worked for Arsene Wenger for the past decade after all!
Football is a funny old game, that’s well documented, and the scenarios that often play out when 22 men kick a bag of wind around can still shock and surprise a century or more after the beautiful game’s creation.
It’s an odd thing to say, but Liverpool’s 0-5 defeat at Manchester City was entirely undeserved. There, we said it.
It has been a mercifully quiet couple of weeks in Liverpool, and we say mercifully because the transfer window has closed and Philippe Coutinho remains, for the time being at least, a Red.
Why do clubs wait until transfer deadline day before conducting major business? It’s hard to say with any clarity, and realistically there is no logical explanation for it.
For anybody who witnessed it, Liverpool’s 4-2 win over Hoffenheim on Wednesday evening was memorable for a couple of reasons, and while qualification for the Champions League proper was the obvious highlight it has to be said that the Reds’ attacking play was as exciting as it has been in decades.
It wasn’t the most devastating of displays, but the fact that Liverpool were able to claim their first win of the Premier League campaign on Saturday, while resting players ahead of this clash with Hoffenheim, is pleasing.
In a week that started in unconvincing fashion courtesy of the worrying 3-3 draw with Watford, business rather picked up for Liverpool in midweek with an excellent midweek victory over Hoffenheim.
Well, that was disappointing. With all of the excitement, anticipation and suspense of the new football season, you can’t forgive Liverpool fans for feeling a little deflated after the 3-3 draw at Watford.
The anticipation of the new football season is usually enough to have even the most pessimistic of football fan trembling with excitement at their team’s chances. For Liverpool, the prospect of seeing the likes of Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Daniel Sturridge, Adam Lallana and new man Mohamed Salah all linking up in red shirts is mouth-watering.