IT HARDLY counts as all that perceptive to point out that there are elements of fickleness when it comes to football analysis.
Indeed, as someone who writes a weekly article about one football team, I am reliant on a certain fickleness to continue to produce talking points worthy of writing about every seven days, and so for this week’s effort I’ll be referencing that very topic (whoa, how meta of you Dave… As is talking to yourself in your own article).
The particular reasons for feeling the need to address the issue were my own fault, really. I sometimes watch the Sky Sports debate show called, err, The Debate. A show that calls itself “compelling” and “insightful” in its own intro, so I’m not the only one who does it.
In fairness, it can be a good watch, particularly when presented by the excellent Kelly Cates and when perennial sense talkers such as Craig Bellamy and Liam Rosenior feature. Sometimes there can even be a temptation to bathe in the very fickleness that is usually such an irritant, like when they talk for 20 minutes about how Manchester United are in crisis after a draw with Wolves, just days after they were “back” following three consecutive away wins. They left themselves with nowhere to go once United lost to Derby County and West Ham (though that didn’t make those repetitive conversations any less entertaining to me, at least).
Unsurprisingly, my ire was drawn last week when the show featured the topic of Liverpool the day after the Chelsea defeat, and whether Jürgen Klopp HAS to win a trophy this season. Former Tottenham players Ryan Mason and Darren Bent tried their best to remain balanced, but essentially the conclusions from both were that, yes, Klopp HAS to win a trophy this season. And now that he’s carelessly been knocked out of the League Cup, it would make sense for him to prioritise the FA Cup, as again, he HAS to win a trophy this season, but that he’s unlikely to because the Chelsea defeat showed that the squad isn’t actually that strong, so come the end of the campaign he’ll be under pressure.
It all felt a little bit “we’ve been waiting to stick the boot into Liverpool after weeks of praising them”.
Funnily enough, very little of this kind of talk was around when Liverpool still boasted a 100 per cent record for the season less than a week ago. There had been some mention that more pressure was on for silverware given the amount spent in the summer, ignoring that every competition The Reds are competing in features at least some teams that have had significantly more squad investment over the last few years. However, it was the first indication that as soon as something wobbled at Liverpool, the foot would likely be on the throat, such is the price of previously being so heavily praised by all and sundry (well, most and sundry).
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Don’t get me wrong, I like it when the wider media and football populace are being complimentary about my team, and not only has most of the praise been deserved, it has been genuine as well. However, it inevitably comes down to the “build them up to knock them down” scenario.
It’s another reason why I was so relieved to see Daniel Sturridge smack a late equaliser in at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. You could already guess the inevitable discussion points being drawn up for the following few days. “Wasteful Liverpool”, “Same old problems”, “Salah the one-season wonder”, “Smelly Klopp and his stupid poo-poo face” etc. (That last one would have been a one-hour TalkSport special.)
However, Sturridge did bend it into the top corner and now only one of those is actually a live talking point.
It is no secret that Mo Salah hasn’t started this season in the electric form he showed for most of the last one. His manager has acknowledged it and you can see frustration from the player himself. It’s a worthwhile talking point on the face of it. A superstar who scored nearly every week last year is missing chances this year.
Jamie Carragher addressed it on Monday Night Football and summed it up perfectly when he said that the general analysis of Salah’s form has been over the top. He may not in good form by his very high standards, but his numbers show he’s not really in bad form either. He’s still scored three goals, one less than this time last season, is still getting into enough positions to be top of the “expected goals” chart, and is still doing brilliant things to create the chances that he’s missing. In fact, this time last season the general consensus was that he was a very good player, but a bit wasteful in front of goal. Maybe he hasn’t changed all that much. Perhaps only expectations of him have.
Where the Egyptian has struggled in front of goal, his former Chelsea teammate Eden Hazard is thriving. There is no denying that Hazard is in terrific form for his club, coming off the back of a very good World Cup.
However, this sudden rush to catapult his name into the conversation for the best player in the world feels like another example of conclusions being made from a small sample. The popular suffix to go with is “on current form”, but if you want to talk about the best player in the world based on six or seven games then you’d have to include the likes of Sevilla striker Andre Silva, which will have fans of his parent club AC Milan roaring with laughter, or Genoa’s Krzysztof Piatek, Hertha Berlin’s Ondrej Duda or even your good friend, Iago Aspas, who is putting in some terrific performances at Celta Vigo.
There is no issue with giving praise where it’s due, and Hazard is playing sensationally at the moment, but it seems to be a growing trend in the game to talk about a player or a team achieving something before they’ve actually done it. Thanks partly to his manager Maurizio Sarri, the conversation has turned to whether the Belgian can hit 40 goals this season, despite having never bagged more than half that in a campaign in his career. He might do so this year, but can people at least wait for him to do it before talking about him as if he already has and putting him in the same bracket as Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Salah?
Any non-Liverpool fans reading this will likely be calling me a hypocrite or worse right now, so here’s the twist. You could also argue that the same praise prior to achievement is partially true of this Liverpool team.
The Reds are a high-quality side with a world-class manager. Though the hype may be a welcome change, it remains a bit strange to me just how many neutrals are tipping Klopp’s men for the title when they have gone so long without one, and are up against the best team the Premier League has ever seen as well as a Chelsea squad that won the league themselves only 17 months ago.
They can do it, and have started brilliantly in their quest to do so, but that unbiased analysts are suggesting they will overcome City because of a couple of impressive-looking transfers seems a bit optimistic, and the natural cynic in me sees it as more likely that this exaggerated enthusiasm will only lead to further overly harsh criticism should there be bumps in the road along the way.
By its very nature, football is always going to attract fickle opinions, especially in this day and age of 24-hour news and social media discussions. Hopefully when Liverpool lose the odd game somewhere down the line, a wider perspective will generally be kept.
After all, the champions elect are worth praising. Unless they lose to Napoli or Manchester City this week, in which case they’re a useless shower of bastards.
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We are a very good team and we are getting very good results. We have still yet to fully click into form.
Weather we win something at the end of the season… Well as we used to say in the era I grew up in. We will see where we are come the end of the season. For now we take one game at a time.. which happens to be a pretty tricky one, playing away in the CL against a team who are 2nd in their League and who also have a World Class Manager.
For me, let’s enjoy these times, as we went a long time without them.
*Whether
One day I will be able to spell. :)
The Debate, no thanks, Kenny’s daughter or not (I know she’s very good). It’s just feeding the Sky/Talkshite beast more hyperbole and over-reaction, as your article illustrates. Perspective is extremely difficult to find in modern football.
Mo will be fine in the long run, and so will we.
Right on. I distinctly recall with embarrassment this time last year when I was grumbling about Liverpool signing an ex Chelsea player who admittedly seemed very fast but fluffed chance after chance. That assessment would prove extremely rash a matter of weeks later.
The great thing about Liverpool now is that they can have a pop with no pressure; if it doesn’t go in the net, the next one will. Whereas it used to feel like every missed goal was That One Chance to seal the game, now it just feels like a boxer’s punch softening their opponent up for the eventual SmackDown goal tornado.
Salah was a charmed soul last season and at times it was so easy to score that a more superstitious supporter might suspect divine intervention. Now, spooked by the Ramos-ed shoulder and wearyed by the World Cup and the previous season and all the accompanying hype and hoopla (throw in the fight with his country’s FA), he is having to deal with the same situation of many of his shots not being goals, but with this time as Liverpool’s Egyptian King, rather than a bloke who we got in from Roma. Every miss or early substitution sees the halo dimming behind his hair and a firming of the potential future of just going back to being a mortal player again. Can he deal with that, or is he a confidence player who allows self-doubt to cruel his performance?
Regardless of whether it’s real or not, this is his rut and it will be interesting to see if he can pull himself out of it and regain his god status, or if he was a footballing one-hit wonder like EMF that just had one unbelievable season.
Mo will be fine. Him, Bobby and Mane will all start scoring again soon.
Old expression regarding cream rising to the top. These guys have proven they can do it regularly and against the best.
As for mere mortal… Well he is just a person after all, just one with amazing talent with a football. That talent, that football brain, that ability is all still there and he is still working hard and getting in the positions. His head hasn’t dropped… So just like Sturridge has proven, Mo will again come good.
100%
My opinion is that Klopp is the core of the problem. To get my point compare between Klopp and Zidane. In my oppinion Klopp talks more than needed and seems to have negative effect if any. In my openion men should talk less and do more. I cannot imagine a team manager sitting in a conference saying about the star of his team that one day he wakes up and could not ride a bike anymore. In these situation, if it is really true, a manager should close his mouth and try to figure out why this is happening. Without the injury of Salah, Liverpool would have had it instead of Real Madrid and without Salah Liverpool would never dreamed to reach that spot and this manager instead of remembering this simple fact and trying solving problems, if there is any, he is the problem by creating a fuss. If Salah is his striker why he gave Mane number 10. And if Mane is number 10 why he is critical about Salah not scoring when Mane did not score either.
Correction: Oppinion
Why Mohamed Salah still have a tape on his shoulder? This means it is still hurting. It is imprtant to know that these muscle analgesic tapes can contain muscle relaxant as well which could affect his concentraition and his performance during games in a negative way and slow his reaction. Oral anti-inflamatory before the games should relieve pain and would not affect his concentration.
I do believe that Ramos intentional hurt Mo Salah to get rid of him. The question is how he was able to get away with it? How come he is still playing and not suspened? Where is fairness and justice?