A SUNDAY 12pm kick off has got to be one of football’s worst ideas.
We’ve heard Jürgen Klopp continually gripe about it in the past, including last season when The Reds played Everton at 12.30pm.
“I would at least like to have seen it put on at a normal time and not at breakfast,” he said.
He’s got a point, hasn’t he?
Yesterday’s game was always going to be flat atmosphere wise, and so it proved. When so much of human life is geared towards a big Saturday night what does anyone expect?
It might work for someone watching a telly somewhere but when the spectacle is reduced and “the product” diluted, what’s the point?
Of course Fulham fans did what any away contingent would do and questioned the location of the “famous atmosphere” at Anfield but it was alright for them, they’d been up for hours to make the trip north… (I’m joking, that’s another reason why it’s farcical).
Away from the scheduling though, there is a wider point about the collective mindset here. As concerns about Liverpool’s play — and number of goals scored compared to Manchester City — continue to seep into supporter conversations, perhaps there is a need to flip the focus onto ourselves for a moment.
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Klopp has made it clear from day one that Liverpool at its best includes the fans. And few would disagree.
The manager wants a partisan atmosphere, a rabble collectively asking why it is now the longest run for 16 years without a league penalty at Anfield, a crowd spurring our players on, putting theirs off and in general playing a part in the occasion to lift it beyond 22 men and a ball.
Home is where the heart is, or it should be and right now Liverpool are in a title race. Yet it’s all a bit shrug of the shoulders rather than clench of the fist.
Home records are where challenges are built and more needs to be made of the fact that Liverpool are unbeaten in L4 in the league since April 2017.
That’s all of last season and all of this one so far. It’s alright that, isn’t it?
It might be “early” to be thinking about topping the league, and Manchester City’s FFP-busting machine skews perception. But this Liverpool side is a good one. A very good one. And it’s turning it on regularly at the most important ground to do so.
The chicken-egg argument will inevitably rear its head in this conversation — would better performances and more goals lift us to another level in the ground? Maybe so. But, equally, would an angrier, louder, more passionate noise help the performance and the number of goals?
When Liverpool have been blood up, guns blazing, punches swinging under Klopp it’s felt right. The ground has rocked at times. Under this manager this very debate has waned. Famous atmospheres haven’t been a thing of the past or a figment of the imagination. Borussia Dortmund, Manchester United, Manchester City, Roma and more — fans have proved that modern football hasn’t ran away with Anfield’s soul.
But what about the humdrum and the week by week? Bottom of the league Fulham when people are rubbing sleep from their eyes was always a big ask. Next up, though, it’s the derby. Sunday again, this time 4.15pm. Instead of excuses, we should bring our A-game. Make it loud, make it proud, bring the flags and banners and take the time to learn the words to the Virgil van Dijk song.
Some are sniffy about all this but the manager isn’t and neither should you be. And if you’re on that pitch what is going to make you run one more time, harry again, chase that lost cause? Is it a stale and silent ground where you can hear the players shouting or a ground fired up to push for the end result we all want?
Football will unfortunately never give us 11 Andy Robertsons and sometimes you have to hold a player’s hand. Who didn’t love his willingness to leg it when many would have left it yesterday? That there’s a cheer and a song to follow for the most basic of tasks shows the way for the rest. This is what we want to see, lads.
Liverpool have — more often than not — been doing the business for over a year at home. Can those who click through the turnstiles always say the same? A slightly spoilt, taking it all for granted vibe isn’t conducive to the performances we pray for.
We could be watching one of the best Liverpool sides in decades here, should results continue to be clocked up as they are — one that could potentially outscore the points total of any Reds side in the Premier League era, and even the great 1987-88 side (which played more league games in a season than this one will).
It will be December when that shower turn up at our home. So when Liverpool run out, come let us adore them.
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Monday on TAW, my favourite day. Another great piece here Gareth.
Fantastic read that. That kick off time was so wrong that I fell asleep during the Manc derby match in front room. Keep going Redmen YNWA
I’d happily sing Virgils song for 90 minutes. If the team played as bad as that crowd Sunday then we’d be calling for their heads.
It’s not just Anfield, some aways are as bad. The response in Belgrade, and to a lesser extent Huddersfield, to a partizan home support was flat and subdued.
I agree mate. We seem to have lost any sort of consistent noise-making culture within the fan base. Some of it goes on in pubs but at games it’s rarely there except the very biggest European matches.
Tooo many draws at Anfield last season. Need to turn those around this time.
Have to agree, our atmosphere is naff in the ground far too often. We are spoilt and have forgotten how to make it an experience for ourselves to enjoy the game by being a big part of it all. We should make it a party atmosphere regardless of who we are playing.
I am not much of a Theater person, but I watch how certain shows see the audience participating without having to be asked. they already decide they are going to have a ball from the onset. Same with concerts. Recently went to see Prodigy at the Liverpool Arena. Was already up for this before the start and despite being sober I still had a ball. It was always how I saw match days both home and away.
So this one is down to our support and why they feel they can’t make this an occasion that they too can enjoy regardless is anyone’s guess. As mentioned on another article. i went to a League One game the other day. Footy was basic, but the atmosphere was fantastic from both sets of supporters and this was all game. The thing was that both sets of fans truly went out to enjoy themselves and they truly did… It has to be said, we are just miserable bastards in our ground and it now makes you wonder if the idea of the Spanish big 2 to go to the States to have a game or two might be the answer. You watch us playing friendlies all round the World and there’s an amazing atmosphere before the game, during and afterwards. Playing at Anfield persistently just seems to be us becoming lazy and spoilt with getting to see our heroes regularly. If all of a sudden this is infrequent then some would make it a bigger occasion. Lets start to embrace everything we have. A wonderful stadium. A fantastic team. A world class manager and when we want it, the greatest supporters on the planet.
Lets get vocal again at games regardless of what is happening on the pitch.
Bob Paisley`s only pre match instruction was to get the fans on the edge of their seats by flying out the traps in the very 1st minute. I can remember the kop every game being magic. But there are also other variables which test our powers of enthusiasm, such as when Mourinho and whatever Club he`s at decides to park the team bus!! And MAN U was always the biggest game of the season. There`s the endless live TV footy and most of it these days is shite anyway because of the very boring manner in which most away teams setup to play nowadays.
Na, we need to face up to the fact that footy has changed forever, and ask the question can LFC be a bit more imaginative at lunchtime games and arrange some form of pre-match entertainment to get the crowd jump-started from their slumber?
But ultimately, when the Lads on the pitch get going the fans in the stands react to a similar level of intensity to what`s on show. Its like Newton`s Laws of Physics and the equal and opposite forces being directly proportional and all that stuff……. Na, uncle Bob`s Law makes much more sense. As soon as the Ref blows his whistle the players just fly at the opposition like last season and play JK`s Blitzkrieg footy!! And there you have it. Are we not so close to emulating Paisley`s Champions Teams and the Glory days which are just around the corner!!? Come on you Red Men!! We just need to keep the faith and pile the pressure on Pep and Man City by keep winning 2-0 every game, that will be enough for Pep to start looking over his shoulder, because he defo already has this thing about Klopp being his nemesis. YNWA
I go to the match quite often. European aways more. I was speaking with some of the home and away lads and they were saying they often sell their tickets to blokes they know who from come from Scandinavian places.
There are so many people in the stadium going to see what the Anfield atmosphere feels like. But the problem is a lot of these people dont know the chants. So you basically have a stadium half full of people wanting to experience the atmosphere but in reality there is very little, due to the fact a lot of locals are selling their seat to tourists for large sums of cash. This is largely to an extent one of the main issues..
How about they just don’t take these tickets up in the first place and let the locals who are desperate to go and see our Club play, instead of fleecing people for money. It is already a costly experience without touts making even more on the face value.