After getting beat by an extra motivated PSG side in the week, Liverpool were reminded they were a scalp before another cup final…
DURING the halcyon of Liverpool’s 2018-2020 success, a mural of the team was painted on Bold Street in the city centre.
This was commissioned and designed by sponsor Nivea. It was a temporary gesture, a nod to the pride felt in Jürgen Klopp’s conquerers.
It didn’t go down well with everyone. One Evertonian compared Bold Street to the Shankhill Road – ridden with sectarian propaganda which required boycotting – in their worldly view.
It was a reminder of the blinding ridiculousness which can envelop football. That we are now connected to the wildest opinions, conspiracies and nonsense by virtue of persisting with social media for community, work or perhaps more sinister reasons.
We – the Liverpool we – are not exempt. Scroll for long enough and you’ll see the abstract Liverpool purporting profiles spouting the worst kind of shite imaginable.
Tuesday night was another reminder that we are once again one of, if not the biggest scalp in world football currently. Paris Saint-Germain were good value for the outcome. They had talked without inferiority present in the build up, but the result showed us they were less than certain of winning at Anfield. They hoped more than believed.
That will be the case on Sunday and as an ever-increasing 20th league title looms. Sometimes, hope wins. Liverpool need heartache and setback even at their peak, because that is how this game works.
The sense of osmosis around what Liverpool is to our opponents, to fans and social media is happening while we endure taunts of mediocracy about the team and the crowd. Arsenal want to tell us we’ve been handed a title. Visiting supporters tell us Anfield is a myth. It’s all very tiresome.
Our lived reality on Tuesday, or against Nottingham Forest and perennially at Goodison Park is that Liverpool are the biggest kill in town.
This will probably help win us the title. Everton, Leicester, West Ham and Tottenham will hope, but not really believe, they can get anything against this team. Killing their hope kills the result.
We endured this for all of Manchester City’s dominance. We could watch teams run on adrenaline into a lead only to unravel the minute they stopped for breath and context smothered them.
This week has felt like a waiting game. Tuesday still smarts and you’re left thinking about how Jarell Quansah will perform at Wembley. When Alexander Isak keeps you up nights and the potential of Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle repeating itself holds on by a thread, it’s easy to rise to whatever bait is left on the hook.
It’s maybe easier to accept that this team is once again the most feared in the land and continent. That the name of Liverpool rings loud and true and, most importantly, Arne Slot and his players are walking the walk of such a reputation.
In 2022-23, we watched Liverpool teams rock up at Wolves and Brighton and not acknowledge the crest on the shirt. Not realise they were potentially the best day of thousands of peoples lives. The best 90 minutes of Craig Dawson’s career.
This hasn’t happened too often, but then neither has winning the league. Getting to game 38 and knowing that you’ve won the long race. The true acid test. Top of the league and top of the perch will feel so very sweet if it comes.
I can’t tell you to ignore the timeline. It’s riddled with artificially toxic actors who wish to create conflict and conspiracy in every aspect of life, including football.
I’ve learnt to ignore it. I’ll find myself there once a week at most. A couple of minutes of chest-pounding anxiety and worsening mental health reminds me this is a law of diminishing returns. It simply isn’t worth my time, but that’s just my frame of reference.
This remains less about banter becoming information wars, or the usual tribalism that engulfs the space. Football has always had its bad traits.
It’s about what comes when you’re a really good football team. You might see Sunday as just another final, but Liverpool could be part of the greatest day in recent Newcastle history on Sunday. It’s important to hold on to it. It’s important our players and manager keep it close.
The rest is noise. Even when it’s as ludicrous as it currently sounds.
However you can, try to rise above.
Buy Dan Morgan’s book ‘Jürgen Said To Me’ on Klopp, Liverpool and the remaking of a city…
