IT’S the nightmare so many Reds have been whispering about.
The idea that this Liverpool side – which has been showing for 12 months or more now that it can clock up consistent results and compete at the top of the Premier League – ends up with a record points total in the competition and still doesn’t win the bloody thing.
It’s a worry you see etched across faces of those who have seen it all before, and writ large in the race to rage online every time Jürgen Klopp’s side fail to achieve perfection in terms of result and performance.
It was there again post Arsenal, and the rest of the weekend unfolded just how everyone thought it would to add fuel to the fume – Manchester City tonked Southampton 6-1, Chelsea beat Roy Hodgson’s Crystal Palace 3-1 and Liverpool now lie in third place in the table, behind Maurizio Sarri’s side on goal difference, and behind Pep Guardiola’s by two points.
If this is causing frustration among the red hordes, it’s fair enough; it can feel unfair. Should Liverpool keep up current form, they are on course to register 93 points, seven more than the club has ever managed in a campaign since the last title in 1989-90 and one more than the great Liverpool side of 1987-88.
And yet, it might not be enough.
Manchester City won 100 points last season, dropping only 14 points in nine months of league football. It’s an incredible pace, and one they are setting yet again.
A two-point gap now stares out at those looking in from a Liverpool perspective, while City’s goal difference reads 13 better than The Reds’, after Guardiola’s side made it a victory of five or more goals for the 12th time under his leadership (when no other side has bettered six in the same time frame).
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None of this is in Liverpool’s control. No one, not us, not the players, not Klopp nor the owners, can derail Manchester City’s momentum beyond the opportunity offered when The Reds play at the Etihad Stadium on January 3.
So why should our happiness and enjoyment of what is a very good Liverpool side be dictated by what happens at a club 35 miles away?
Further, away from how us fans react, Klopp has a job on his hands to keep the players firing and focused with the distraction of City’s seemingly relentless charge. Everyone at Liverpool must stay committed mentally to their own game and their own achievements. Because they are achieving. And doing so to a very high standard.
The crazy levels of the Premier League may be hitting home, but importantly Liverpool are right up there competing at the business end, not looking up from afar as has so often been the case in the past.
The idea that Liverpool can achieve 90-plus points this season can not be tossed away lightly when the 80-point barrier has only been breached by the club four times in 26 seasons – 2001/02 (80), 2005/06 (82), 2008/09 (86) and 2013-14 (84).
Further, the last time Liverpool won the league, they did so with 79 points. The bar hasn’t just been raised. It’s been kicked into space.
We constantly look to the past, remember those increasingly distant glories and demand a repeat as though it’s that easy. But, ironically as Sky themselves put it in an advert for the Premier League back in the beginning, this is now “a whole different ball game”.
The Reds’ 27 points out of a possible 33 this season has matched Liverpool’s record for a best ever start to a Premier League season, which came in 2007-8.
Klopp’s class of 2018 have maintained a zero in the losses column despite travelling to Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal away, and facing Manchester City at home. There are easier games to come and tougher ones for City to face.
Alexandre Lacazette’s sickening, but in fairness, sublime, late equaliser was only the fifth goal a defence we can rely on has conceded in 11 Premier League matches.
We can gripe about the referee and the offside that wasn’t, we can bemoan Virgil van Dijk’s nearly-but-not-quite efforts in front of goal, and we can wonder why a rare moment of opportunity was punished so ruthlessly by Arsenal while that very trait was lacking at the other end.
All fair. All human. All understandable. All borne of frustration.
But it shouldn’t cloud the progress. Where we were and where we are. Liverpool are already eight points better off than this stage of the season 12 months ago.
Saturday’s draw was depressing but not disastrous, at a ground where Liverpool have only won twice in 13 attempts and against a team that was unbeaten in 13.
Klopp’s words post match may not have been the tub-thumping type that spark tops off primal screams but they were correct nevertheless: “A point at Arsenal will always be absolutely a good result. We take that, now let’s carry on.”
Liverpool remain a club and a side pointing in the right direction despite the weekend shift of positions. There’s room for improvement, and the midfield players returning from injury can help with that, but a coolness and a calmness needs to remain for everyone involved.
It’s a great base to climb further. The Reds just need to keep knocking, consistently. Stay in contention. Stay in the race. Stay competitive. Right now they are doing just that. And one day it will count. We have to believe that.
Five years back, when the psychiatrist Dr Steve Peters was involved at Liverpool, he told The Independent: “A goal is something you must be able to control and you can’t control [your place] in the league.
“It depends on how others play, not just you. You always like to influence things and influence as much as you can but accept that most things in life are a dream. They’re not guaranteed to happen.”
That is unfortunately where we are – now and every season. But right now we can still dream and do so realistically.
What is much harder to accept is when there is a clear opportunity missed. Leicester were confirmed champions in 2015-16 when they had won just 77 points. And Liverpool? The Reds finished the season eighth with 60 points.
Two seasons on, The Reds are three points shy of accruing half that total after just 11 games.
These are good times. Let’s treat them that way.
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Nice one Robbo. Good points well put mate. I’m totally with you on pretty much all of it. Back in the glory days of the 70’s and 80’s people seem to think that it was all glamour and glory when, in reality, it was grinding and rumbling with the odd exception of some memorable European Cup nights and thrashings of other teams in the league. We ARE here and we ARE Liverpool and we AREN’T anybody else ‘up the road’. I HOPE we win, I WANT us to win, I don’t EXPECT us to win and it is this that is the ingredient to the magic that has kept me supporting Liverpool FC for, oooh, almost 54 years to date.
Robbo, I get what you are trying to bring across in this article but lets face it. Most Reds fans are not arsed what Man City do. The anger and disappointment comes from the performcance the lads showed against Arsenal. We are better than them. But the players didnt show it enough. That is what is frustrating to see.
Man City dont have a blueprint for what to do to reach a 100 pts. Nobody ever thought they would win so many games before last season.
Liverpool are well capable of doing the same.
There are 14 smaller clubs in the League. We are superior to them and this current squad should win all those games, home and away. That’s 84 pts. Then we are capable of winning all our home games against the big rivals. another 15 (dropped two to city already). What we do on the road at the big stadiums is not necessarily important if we deliver in all the other games. But Saturday was a glorious opportunity to get 3 pts at Arsenal. But the players didnt show up enough. Cant win the League like this.
Of course City is the everything will be measured against them. But we collected 75pts last year, ending on the current trajectory with 93pts would be an increase of a whooping 24%. That’s absolutely mad. Not saying it can’t be done but it’s a huge ask to do that from one season to another right?
All You can say now is that it’s still reachable, and as long as it’s possible i’ll reach for that.
But our performance can’t soly be judged upon stealing this from city.
Another good piece Robbo – and these are good times!
But… I just hope we don’t end up like Andy Murray, or Sterling Moss, or Jimmy White, or every darts pro on earth when Phil Taylor was playing… if you know what I mean.
Thing is though, you just can’t see city coming off the boil any time soon – and good luck to them to be fair.
Reds last won the title with just 79 points.Needing to hit is crazy.Bob Paisley won his titles with an average 60 out of 84 and 85 out of 126.Third spot behind the Chavs seems probable,they have no Cl games.
Needing to score 100 points is crazy.
We’re 2 points off City. That’s nothing. They edged ahead by having Southampton at home whilst we travelled to Arsenal. This weekend they host the ultimate spoiler in Mourinho in the Manchester derby whilst we get Brighton. Its not out of the realms of possibility its back to all square by Sunday.
This season will ebb and flow – we need to stay right in the mix but realize there will be weekends when the fixtures or injuries or decisions fall for and against us and it’s up and down in the points column. There’s such a long way to go yet.
And both Man City and Chelsea have played 6 home games compared to our 5. You’re right. There’s another 27 matches to go!!
Brighton? You mean Fulham
Brighton, Fulham….same thing really.
Think you will find we played Brighton at home in September and scraped a 1 vs 0 result. Think you meant Fulham at home. We then have Watford away in the League. Before all that we have a must win against Red Star… and it truly is a must win. We’ve lost our last 3 games away from home in Europe conceding 8 in the process and scoring 3. We need to reverse that trend tomorrow evening.
As for City against Man Utd. It would be lovely to see them drop points but I think City will walk it. Whilst Man Utd have been picking up points they have been far from convincing.
We did ourselves no favours at the weekend as some just didn’t play to their potential and we got punished as a result. Equally, once more, another poor key decision went against us in the league, it would be interesting if the same happened to City or even if some decisions they unfairly got (like Kompany not being red carded) actually we’re fairly applied.
All of this is completely rational and true, esp in the context of our history. However, our history in the PL is muddled by some poorly managed teams from the top to bottom. Things have changed with FSG and Klopp and we have to change our measuring stick. Money has been invested heavily into recruitment and the manager and we have no excuse to not be challenging for the league (which we are!). My frustration in the red’s performance Sat had nothing to do with losing pace with city and everything to do with a team that underperformed in my opinion and was outplayed by Arsenal. This and being frustrated by a midfield that was invested heavily in over the summer and while early, has not resulted in better play. 11 games is a small sample and it will be interesting to see where things stand come xmas time when everyone has had roughly a similar schedule.
Good piece as usual. If we match or better MC each week and beat them at Anfield we would win the leagie. I feel that fans where dissapointed with the result at Arsenal because we felt it was winnable & almost was if not for a post and dubious offside decision and this is because of the 2nd half of last season’s exploits and how close we came to winning big ears .
JK has truly given us dreams/belief that ‘ this could be our year ‘ at last, regardless of what the team up the road do.
We know we’re not playing well , we’ve played 4 of the big 6 ( 1 win and 3 draws ) but we are only 2 points behind MC and they ARE playing well , so hopefully by the time we meet in January we will have moved up a gear and get the better of city to give us hope …. #webelieve
What struck me most about the weekend was the shift in our expectations. I remember conversations with mates 3 years ago. They said LFC were nowhere near a regular top 4 finish due to the others in the top 5. Debates were rife about what our ambition should be, top 4 or a domestic trophy. After Arsenal there was a disappointment because a lot thought it had cost us the league. Top 4 is way down our list of ambitions. It would feel like a disappointment coming second.
I’m guilty too. My pre-match mantra was ‘we have to win. City would win there and we have to. At the heart of this is City’s point total last season combined with it being another year in the bag for Guardiola i.e they could improve further. City have lost 2 of their last 57 league games. When we used to win the league we lost quite a few games. That’s true of the Premiership winners too. Points have never been at such a premium. I had mates saying the league was over after Saturday. We all need reminding that football is never black and white. Who will get the injuries? What will be the impact of Champions League fixtures played after Christmas? Who will play the teams in April and May that are so desperate for a point they defend for their lives etc. There’s twists and turns yet.
There’s a reason for our doom though. Only Cardiff and Southampton have seen us win by more than 1 goal. Some have been tight. Huddersfield should have punished us. A lot think while City are 4 or 5 up it will never end in a draw. With us it will on enough occasions to end up costing us our dream if we don’t become more clinical. That’s the fear among fans. An increased expectation and a fear we’re not playing brilliantly. You can flip it though and say with our new defence, if this team clicks then no one will stop us.
P.s remember when everyone criticised our owners and said how embarrassing it was we d apologised to Saints and pulled out the deal. I wonder if we hadn’t we’d have the man who will ultimately go into our top 10 of all time greats.
LFC’s defence is okay but the front line is blunt at the moment.
Sorry, not having this. Before them it was Chelsea, before that it was Man U and Arsenal.
We’re suffering from not being as good as the teams above us, end of story.
Yes we’ve a good team, just like we had in 13/14, and 08/09. None of them were clinical enough. That’s the definition of a team who can win tournaments but not leagues, which is why I took Neil Warnock’s faint praise for the sky dig it was.
An off day, a slip, a worldie from the blue: all unfortunate but all our boys can do is make sure they win and let history write itself.
If we were scoring goals like last season we’d have the same goal difference as Man City. If we conceded as many as last season we’d be level with Newcastle City. Probably.
I reckon we’re an exciting team and I don’t have a problem with LFC at the minute. As far as there always being someone better when we’re great, it’s up to us to be that better team and that is the way it is and always has been.
One thing I’d like to add after seeing these comments. There’ll be 1 winner at the end of the season. Be very careful though. The league has become more elusive than Lord Lucan. It’s like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The nearer you get to it the harder it becomes to get your hands on it. I’ve started looking at it more like a trip on the Orient Express. It’s not about reaching your destination. It’s about the ride along the way. A prime example is the CL run last season. Who will ever forget it regardless of where you watched them. I didn’t go to any of the away legs, except City, but my memories of those nights will stay with me forever. It was great. These are the greatest times supporting LFC. We’re back among the elite. Who knows how it ends? It certainly doesn’t end in the way many are predicting i.e they take 3 points there, there and there, a draw there and they win the league by 4 points come May. It’s never that simple. I’ve got no time for ‘the league is gone, end of’. It’s only the beginning for me. I’m loving every game we play. I’ll say again, these are the greatest times following LFC. Make the most of it. It’s not always this good. Enjoy!
I’d say its more Man City (like PSG) are cheating the FFP regulations
How Man City’s team be worth a Billion (using Tomkins TPI and Average Squad Cost) with the little commercial value that club has (as compared to Man Utd or Liverpool or Real Madrid) and still not be running at a loss is a complete and utter mystery
And now we see there are articles alluding to just that
Pep Guardiola – how to look good by buying League Titles