There are multiple ways to play football. There are multiple systems which work as frameworks for teams to promulgate a club’s, it’s locality’s and a country’s cultural heritage – simply by the way the team plays.
I’m not a local Liverpool lad, nor am I English. Far from it, I’ve grown up in a cricket frenzy locality where you need to have a knack of wielding your bat adroitly to score; and learn how to cleverly maneuver a smaller ball beyond enemy lines – but let’s not get there. As fate would have it, as clichéd around the world back then (except India), I fell in love with the beautiful game. A crueler sport of sorts, one which has been killing me every week recently.
I’ve been a Liverpool supporter for the best part of the last decade – I’m a fairly young fan. I’m also 23 – as your fairly astute mathematical mind can estimate, Liverpool football club has never won the league since I landed on planet earth. I saw Gerrard lift the Champions’ league, I saw Gerrard lift the FA cup, I saw Gerrard lift the community shield, and I saw Gerrard lift League Cup – and in all these instances, through all the games and competitions, I’ve held my head high because I felt connected with the club. Even through the adversity as Hicks and Gillette, and Hodgson, ravaged and toyed with my beloved club – some intentionally, some cluelessly, the club stood together. I’ve prayed along-with the entire world as we relentlessly pursue justice for the 96, and we shall continue to do so until we finally get it. I would be lying if I say I follow Liverpool only for the football they play.
Liverpool football club was never about results for me. I am well aware of the fact that we’re the most decorated club in England and at a point of time in history, we’ve played some of the most amazing football the world saw and perhaps, will ever witness. Maybe my words won’t be able to do enough justice to the generations of teams and the elegant football which has graced Anfield in the 70’s and the 80’s. The quality was astronomical during the heydays of Shankly, Paisley and Dalglish; and fans who lived through it were truly privileged to witness beautiful football firsthand, football which captivated plaudits and admirers from around the globe.
However, massive achievement in the past does not entitle you to a better future; just look at Man United. You’re only as good as your last game. So I have never dreamt of glory days ahead. When I started watching Liverpool, they didn’t exactly play swashbuckling football week-in week-out; maybe they played the brand of football I wanted to see once every 2-3 weeks but when they did, they did ever so beautifully. Every week, I simply looked forward to watching Liverpool play, the Liverpool way. It was about the connect I felt with the club – its mind, body and soul; its football, its culture heritage, its history.
These men in red were playing on my behalf, pursuing a cause I truly believe in. Liverpool Football club was escapism from the drab reality that we live in. The biggest compliment I can pay to Brendan Rodgers’ XI is that we have finally found our identity on the pitch. This season, we’re playing exactly the kind of football which resonated with my soul – even more consistently now. Exhibition football, exactly how I wanted to see it back then. It’s was my genre of music – the timeless mythical, poetry in motion which we’ve all heard about – only that it feels real now.
Liverpool vs Chelsea
There is no doubt in my mind that there was only one team playing football on this occasion, I have no hesitation to call Mourinho a tactical genius. However, to call his game-plan on this matchday as a tactical masterclass is pure debauchery by people who have been Jose admirers for a long time. I love Mourinho, I think he is a genius but I fail to understand how people can term Chelsea’s latest victory over Liverpool at Anfield as another tactical masterclass. It was not. It was a win. A win which showed great determination to sit in your own penalty box for 90 minutes but it wasn’t a tactically outwitted victory.
As a Liverpool fan, you should be disappointed that we didn’t get a result but you shouldn’t complain at all with the way Chelsea played. As a football game, Chelsea managed to stifle Liverpool: reduced the space for Sterling to run behind the defence and between the channels, had virtually 8 defenders on 2 of our fairly obvious major threats – Suarez and Coutinho; and capitalized on a misfortunate Gerrard error. Chelsea won 3 points on the day fair-and-square.
Jose gets results and Jose gets trophies. I won’t be complaining a bit about how he does it, and neither should you complain about how Chelsea are doing it. Ultra defensive mindset of playing football is nothing new – you admire a team who has the grit and determination to defend through 90 minutes; only if the team was a team like Sunderland or Stoke who don’t have access to a £100m+ transfer kitty to buy the caliber of players Chelsea have in their squad. Time wasting from minute 1 was a new low, especially for a professional team with a world class manager.
That said, if Liverpool employ similar tactics, you should be downright infuriated about it. It would defeat the entire purpose of the season that we’re having; of the passion, art and purity of football that is flowing through the veins of Liverpool football club at the moment; a performance like that would have been a blot on the exquisite painting we’re creating.
There is nothing to feel bad about the way we played. We’re a fairly young side and absolutely inexperienced at the tail-end of the season. I’ve never seen us top of the table in May, and look at where we are now! Our performance against Chelsea was filled with more anxiety and nervousness rather than cowardice. We took the game to Chelsea who have a better squad. Even on the day, Chelsea still had a squad which was more expensive (£112m vs £105m) and filled with more seasoned internationals than us. Henderson was out due to suspension and Sturridge was injured. You could argue that Chelsea had players out too but hey, Liverpool have a 14-man squad! We don’t have depth Chelsea has and hence, the option of a second-string team. Our lineup this season has been pretty predictable.
It’s not easy to muster 11 wins in a row with the squad we have at our disposal. They expectations were raised to carry the run-in to the end of the season but our squad lacks depth to innovate beyond a point. As harsh as it sounds, this is the ground reality. Rodgers’ coaching methods are brilliantly effective and we should be supporting his ideologies to innovate and evolve even further rather than asking him to be cautious for games like these – how exactly do you play for a draw? Our vision has to echo Shankly’s if we’re to go back to being the best – to build Liverpool into a bastion of invincibility.
“Liverpool can rest assured. Goodison will be the toughest place for City to travel this season, that is for sure.”
– Martinez
From the outset, it looks like we’re at the mercy of our city rivals Everton to do us a favour tonight. City do have a bad record there – 1 win in the last 15 attempts. If not Everton, someone else next week. The good thing is City are expected to win the league this season after having a net spend of £103.2 million as compared to Liverpool’s meager net spend of £20.3 million.
Side note: Chelsea FC have a net spend of £53.1 million. Consider the fact that they sold Mata for £37.1 million. Imagine the experience and quality of players they have brought into their squad.
We’ve already achieved our season objective of Champions’ League qualification and it isn’t a false dawn anymore. Brendan Rodgers is the best thing to have happened to Liverpool FC in the past few years. Let’s just pull our socks up, focus on our last two games, chant until our throats go sore to support our beloved team because the men in red have given us plenty of reasons to be happy this season and we’re unabashedly proud of the way we’ve played.
Irrespective of how City fares against Everton – on Monday night against Crystal Palace, we go again. Come on you redmen!
Gaurang is a part of the @Football_P family. You can follow him at @TheTotalLFC
