It’s OK to have conflicting thoughts ahead of Liverpool’s next three fixtures against Southampton, Real Madrid & Manchester City…
I’m fascinated with the concept of ‘doublethink.’
This is an idea developed by George Orwell in what may be my favourite ever book Nineteen Eighty-Four. It’s the principle of believing in two different ideas at the same time even though they are diametrically opposed. In the book, the all-powerful regime run by ‘Big Brother’ sells itself as a safe and secure democracy when in fact it’s a brutal and barbaric dictatorship which routinely removes all civil liberties. The people live with this and believe in both.
In a footballing context it’s also possible to believe two different things. This is the one I’m living with at the moment.
- It’s very early in the season and though we have a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League, we shouldn’t get carried away and start banging on about winning it when there’s so much football to play. Five points can be wiped out in two games. City and Arsenal have had bad weeks and there’s nothing to say that we can’t have one too so let’s not get too excited.
- We’ve got a five-point lead, City and Arsenal have had bad weeks, everyone’s taking points off each other apart from us and we just keep winning and winning so let’s all get very, very excited about all this indeed.
Conflicting approaches maybe but I’m comfortable with both. I’m both cautious and giddy at the same time. Who could not be after that City result?
Leagues aren’t won in November but, at the same time, you can be excited about what is to come in May. Emotions don’t begin at the final whistle on the last day when all eventualities are settled.
It’s too early to think about May. Many prefer to think about the next game or the next handful of games.
That doesn’t always work. Only a few weeks ago we were all wincing at the prospect of playing Chelsea, Leipzig and Arsenal within seven days. The club safely negotiated that with two wins and a very hard won draw in London.
‘Just get past the next three and we’ll see where we are.’
Well, let’s start here. The next three are Southampton away on Sunday and then the small matter of two of the biggest teams on the planet – one in terms of history, the other in wealth.
It’s important not to discount the Saints. Yes, they’ve won one game all season and currently sit bottom of the league, but we’ve been here before. In February and March 2009, the Reds comfortably beat Real Madrid both home and away in the European Cup—something we could only dream of at the time. In between the ties, they went to the Riverside Stadium to face lowly relegation-hunting Middlesbrough. We’d only lost one league game all season and were odds on to take the points in a title challenge. We lost 2-0. You can’t take this stuff for granted, but it’s easy to do so when you’ve got Madrid and City on the horizon.
The next three games, regardless of who they are, will always be the hardest. Southampton will be as tough as City. Not necessarily in terms of the competition but in terms of nerves and getting the job done. Look what happened at Forest. We can’t do that again.
Important, yes, but I can’t get Madrid out of my head. We have to beat them. Not because of the importance of the Champions League table as the entire setup was created to make sure that both clubs qualify, but because Madrid do my head in. Three points in a dead rubber at Anfield won’t go any way to right previous wrongs (and there are plenty of them of late), but it will tell us a little more about how far this team can go. We may be top of that mad league and Madrid in 18th, but I just want to beat them for the sake of history. I also want Trent to snarl at the away end as he walks off the pitch. That’d be nice.
But of all those three games the final one means more. It shouldn’t but it does. City at Anfield. Liverpool v Manchester. The game (if Southampton goes to plan) where we either step away from them or they bring us back in.
Speaking of holding conflicting opinions in your head and believing in both, I think both Madrid and City are the most important games out of the three. As are Southampton. Treblethink.
Isn’t it great though? That we get to do this. That spare thinking time lands on a fixture in the future. Banger after banger after banger. It’s like the perfect album. Huge start, massive second song and a stronger one after that. Liverpool seldom have an Octopus’ Garden to skip past in the Abbey Road of the season. Sorry, Ringo.
Southampton is the same as City because the points are the same.
Or, at least, that’s what I think.
