We’re World-Beaters, We’re Hopeless! The truth lies in-between

Fans, friends and enemies alike. Everybody likes to give their two-pence on Liverpool Football Club. Out of the last 6 years, 5 years of progress and one year of failure was enough to ensure everybody felt like Liverpool failed every year, that however was never the case.

After a disastrous 7th, many (and I don’t blame them) have polarised the collective opinion. Some think we’re going to be muscled out of the Champions League spots once more, others expect us to mount a title challenge. As ever, the truth lies somewhere in between, and this is what fans who feel lost in expectation must focus on.

A draw against Arsenal, in those circumstances and on the opening day of the season, will mean very little in the long term. Each game, taken on an individual basis, is full of little incidents that affect the outcome, and this is why it’s so difficult to judge anything based on any one game. I’m sure I’m not the only one who finds it completely laughable in the mad mad world of punditry how the experts are giving their predictions based on the 1st game.

It was Rafa who drilled into us the importance of little details, and although they do count against you sometimes, they count for you on others, so the average progress must be taken from our results for each length of time. I know when I rant (this does not count as a rant, merely an escape route for my humble opinions) I rant at the minority, but as always, the minority is the loudest when they have ignorance as a lethal weapon.

Luckily, Liverpool weren’t played off the park against Arsenal, so there wasn’t much thinly veiled insulting. Although, who knows, with Roy instead of Rafa, the media may just give us a break. Any sort of win against Arsenal would no doubt have had too many of us talking of league titles and all the possibilities, but what must remain the focus is the pre-season goals we set.

The majority of people before the start of the season seemed sensible enough to want simply a united team on the pitch, good football, and to be back ‘challenging’, that key word. I do expect though, that with each passing game, the opinion and expectation shifts wildly. League title one week, Europa League the next, in a way I can’t wait to hear the 1st shout of ‘Roy’s gotta go’ because only then will I know that truly, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

This season could be a big one in terms of off the field activity and therefore hysteria, so it can be forgiven. On the field though, not a lot has changed from any of the last couple of years. Liverpool punched above their weight in years gone by, and this encouraged people to go and declare us favourites for the league, crazy right?

As a wise and knowledgeable fan group, we should know to make up our own minds really but this is rarely the case. As I mentioned earlier, the minority are usually the ones banging the biggest drum and this can be where the problem lies. So far, I haven’t witnessed too many examples this season, I’m simply pre-empting the nonsense.

My pet hate has for a long time been listening to and watching morons in the guise of pundits, commentators, vox popped fans and presenters on Sky, ITV and BBC giving their opinion as fact. This will no doubt re-emerge this year, regardless of results, so I’m hoping now that because of our re-checked ambitions, maybe a more cautious fan might dominate. With that in mind, we may just find ourselves exceeding expectations.

Of course, after getting burned badly last year, maybe the best tactic could be to simply hope for the best and prepare for the worst. That works for everything, right?

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