(The following article was published in the Marathi magazine 'LokSabha' on January 25, 2019. Images for article were not sent by the writer.)
Every time I read about the Liverpool 2013-14 season; I’m left in disbelief. Even thinking about it gives me goosebumps. As a fellow supporter of a club myself, I hope what happened with Liverpool that season, would never happen with my team.
While Only 3 games remained in the Premier League and them to be crowned as the Champions of England as they were fixtured against Chelsea at Anfield. Three minutes added to the end of the first half. Liverpool players themselves were waiting for the half time whistle to blow. They were passing the ball in their own half to not lose the possession. Sakho to Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard, a comfortable horizontal pass, inside his own half. On any other day, that pass wouldn’t even have the slightest of importance but, who knew that pass would give Gerrard the nightmares of his life. Gerrard slipped and so did the Premier League from the hands of Liverpool.
Had that story ended there, would have still been less agonizing is what I feel if I look at this story as how a Liverpool fan would see. The events that followed just made Liverpool live in delusions. A pure catastrophe at Selhurst Park in London, a night of bewilderment and distress as Liverpool blew away a 3-goal lead. Even after trailing by 3 goals at half time, Palace scored 3 in the second half to finish the game on equal terms, snatching two valuable points from Liverpool. The match was coined as Crystanbul after their own heroics of Istanbul, a hard mockery.
They couldn’t even celebrate their win on the last day at the office, as in this brief time, the League was snatched away by Manchester City. It was more as if Liverpool had gifted it from their own bare hands. Liverpool finished two points behind the League winners Cityzens.
5 years later, Liverpool once again are top of their game. But the big question that arises now is, ‘Is this really Liverpool’s year?’ The fans have had to change their statement ‘this is our year’ to ‘the next year will be our year’ midseason quite a few times now, but this really can be Liverpool’s year. the reasons are pretty evident.
The promise they show this season is second to none. Not even to Manchester City, who have arguably the best squad in the whole of Europe, and who look just too good in England. It hasn’t been very long since their Champions League Final loss, and the scars of Kiev are still very vividly evident. Since then although, better times seem to be coming for Liverpool.
If attack is the best form of defence, then Liverpool are the perfect example of it. Their attack has always been fierce. From Fernando Torres to Luis Suárez, and now Mohamed Salah. Names changed, but Anfield never felt the scarcity of goals. By scoring the most goals in his debut season, Mohamed Salah won ‘The Premier League Golden Boot’ and ‘The Premier League Player of the Season, and announced his arrival at Anfield in front of the whole world. Before being coined as ‘The One Season Wonder’, Salah again proved his worth and showcasing his talent, silenced the critics. But the Liverpool attack is not all about him. Everyone dreads the fearful Mane-Firmino-Salah trio.
The best quality of these three is their All-round ability. Their attacking work rates are pretty high and without a doubt in the company of the very best, but along with that their pace and dribbling skills are exceptional, qualities many notable strikers lack. Jurgen Klopp’s tactics favours their styles of play very well, and extract the best of the performances. But ‘The Normal One’ isn’t just famous for his tactics and attacking football. He is most famous for his passion for the game. His passion and emotions cannot be compared with any other manager. Klopp had won the Bundesliga- the German League, in the 3rd year of his rein/ spell at Borussia Dortmund. Fun fact, this is his third year serving as the manager of Liverpool!
But Liverpool’s biggest weakness has been their defence. Rightly know as the Robinhood of the Premier League, the Reds gave more consistent performances against the mighty ‘Top 6’ of England, and somehow dropped points against the minnows. Excluding the last season, The Reds have consistently conceded more than 50 goals in the English top-flight last couple of seasons. In this spell, Liverpool has never managed a Top-3 finish. However, from the defensive outlook, this season without a doubt has been Liverpool’s best. They have conceded the least goals in the league, and all the success can be credited to their most honourable commander, Virgil Van Dijk. He has been a solid rock at the back and his partnership with Dejan Lovren has been very reassuring. Liverpool have been blessed with a young talent in form of Joe Gomez, who hasn’t put a foot wrong this season. The promising 21-year-old centre-back is well capable of exploit space and play out wide in the defence line. Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold are Liverpool’s first choice full backs and currently the best in the Premier League at their positions. They are respectively 26 and 20 years old. In this way, the Red Merseyside have the perfect mixture of young promising talent and experience. The King of this defence is the Brazilian, Alisson Becker.
The difference between a quality goalkeeper and a World-Class goalkeeper is tremendous. A quality shot-stopper helps you qualify for a particular tournament, putting in some good performances and help to keep the challenge for some respectable time period. Whereas, a World-Class keeper helps you win the tournament. And every Liverpool fan would totally agree with the statement. After watching Loris Karius make those two horrifying mistakes and the highest point of the biggest stage of European football, the whole of Reds was heartbroken missing out on their 6 champions League title. His exit was inevitable. In July 2018 marked the arrival of the 26-year-old Brazilian, the coolest and the most stylish goalkeeper the world is witnessing right now. Liverpool’s this season’s defencing record has been more than impressive, not only conceding the least number of goals, but also have kept the most number clean sheets. These two stats rightly reflect how strong and dependable Red’s defensive wall is. Sir Alex Ferguson had rightly said, ‘Attack wins you games, defence wins you titles.’
But its not the only theory on which football runs upon. It is often said, ‘The team which rules the battle in the midfield, rules the game. And no wonder everything is falling in Klopp’s favour. Liverpool’s midfielders have been purely phenomenal this season and have released all the tension of Jürgen Klopp’s neck, carrying the team on their shoulders, executing their responsibility rather nonchalantly. Liverpool Boss has many options in the midfield. Although it is witnessed that he is not a big fan of the rotation policy, the German has done enough justice giving ample amount of playing time to his bench too. Obviously, no one would want to make changes in a winning side, but Jürgen Klopp has done it rather regularly, and his 2nd choice midfielders haven’t let him down. Liverpool signed Naby Keita and Fabinho in the summer transfer window, who have added immense amount of quality and versatility to the midfield. They have played huge roles for their former teams and have impressed Klopp and all of Anfield and proved their quality. They have shown everyone that even if they are given regular ball time, Liverpool’s momentum wouldn’t lower. Bringing the focus to the regular starters, the likes of Jordan Henderson, James Milner and especially Gini Wijnaldum are having the time of their lives. Klopp going with a trio of these three even after having ultimate FIFA coins is no more than a joke, but it does not fail to signify the amount of confidence he shows in them. Henderson and Milner have made more than 300 and 500 appearances in the English top flight respectively. But it’s the man from The Netherlands who has impressed the most. 28-year-old Wijnaldum's contribution might hide from the naked eye, but old Kloppo and all Red fans are well aware of the impact he has been making all season and that is why every time he is taken off the field, whole of Anfield is filled with chant of his name, showing their love and respect towards the midfield powerhouse.
Jürgen Klopp has splashed some money alright, and he is rightly getting the results. Even after paying huge amounts of transfer fees, all the players that have come in Liverpool in recent years, seem a ‘Pure bargain’. This mainly includes two of the most important protagonists of the drama Liverpool have been putting up, Alisson Becker and Virgil Van Dijk. The 6’4 Holland captain is the most expensive defender in the history of football. Liverpool broke the transfer records, signing him from Southampton last year in the Transfer Window for 75 million pounds. While the Brazilian and ex- AS Roman Alisson is the second most expensive goalkeeper in the world. The Red-Merseyside had to count 66.8 million pounds to complete his transfer from AS Roma. Questioned were raised on their transfer prices, but in no time, they proved their worth and proved the world that they are worth every penny. Addition of Xherdan Shaqiri to the squad gave them a fourth attacking option. How Liverpool managed to bring him to Anfield paying just 13-and-a-half million pounds, is beyond bizarre. The Switzerland international’s versatility makes him capable of exploiting himself in the midfield as well, just as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who has been out of action for nearly a year now due to a multiple ligament damage to knee, and is expected to make his return in Early March. Once he joins the side, Liverpool will sure breathe fire, if they already aren’t.
Taking a glance at Liverpool’s Champions League journey, till now it has been nothing but pure nervousness as Liverpool nearly made an early exit from the Group stages. The Merseyside qualified for the group of death which included Napoli and Paris Saint Germain, they had their hearts in their mouths when they lost to the group minnows Red Star Belgrade. How do you explain their qualification for the knock out stages from the ‘Group of Death’ even after losing to a Serbian side without the concept of luck? Now they face whom could be said as the favourites for the tie, the German giants, Bayern München. No doubt Jürgen Klopp will be having a special eye on the tie as he faces his old rivals, and the boys will play out of their skin to beat them.
Liverpool will do everything to keep their European challenge alive. But to be honest, any Liverpool fan would be more overwhelmed to be crowned the Kings of England by winning the Premier League, rather than win the UCL and crowned as the Kings of Europe. Surprisingly, not surprising.
Liverpool won their last League title in the year 1990. Funnily not for Liverpool fans, the English League hadn’t even got the name ‘The Premier League’. Liverpool is one of the best clubs in England and also the World. But one must consistently prove themselves and live up to the hype to be called The Best, and needless to say, Liverpool have been largely unsuccessful doing it. They are the only team to bottle the league after heading the Points Table at Christmas in the past 10 years, twice. They know the feeling, they have been here before. Not to jinxed it, they look stronger than ever, and it looks as if, after 28 bitter seasons, they will surely go all the way and actually win the League this time. Gerrard’s slip surely hurts more than Karius’ mistakes, and Liverpool wouldn’t want to repeat it, letting the title slip again. Now all we want to see is, will Liverpool be change ‘The next year’s curse’ to ‘This year’s boon’?
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