FOOTBALL often throws up interesting coincidences; players returning to compete against their old mates being one of them.
This pre-season may see our new goalscoring hope Fabio Borini facing-off against his former employers AS Roma, our first look at Gylfi Sigurdsson in some might say, the wrong strip after his controversial snub of his old Swansea boss to play under a manager who heavily linked himself to us – Spurs Head Coach Andre Villas-Boas.
That’s not all for our summer’s 6 degrees of separation; there will also be an emotional return to Anfield for Bayer Leverkusen’s boss Sami Hyypia when the side returns from the U.S trip.
At any level when a player prepares to face his old colleagues no matter what is at stake, will he be faced with acrimony or indifference?
In Thursday’s press conference with the world media in Boston, the Reds boss shrugged off a very broad question by a reporter asking about the supposed rivalry between Roma and Liverpool. Sure we have faced them in Europe a few times, most notably in the ’84 European Cup final, but with all the business which has been done between the clubs in recent years including the John-Arne Riise deal, relations have been cordial.
When our new Italian starlet and possibly his compatriot Alberto Aquilani stare down the pitch to see players they used to celebrate and commiserate with, they will find it in a mostly partisan crowd of our Reds supporting. American friends using this rare opportunity to see their hero’s take to the field on their home patch. This should send a chill down Borini’s spine as the realisation of how big a club he has joined and what YNWA means to people all over the world. Having only been at the Giallorossi for one full season the Roman giants made a huge profit on their young tyro, swapping cold hard currency for the gamble on his potential which according to Brendan Rodgers is “limitless”.
Having spent the summer in the Italy squad having made his debut under Cesare Prandelli in February, he insisted in cutting his holiday short by jetting off to Boston to settle in with the team. This keen professionalism is encouraging for when he is dealing with the good times and the bad.
One name which was upon everyone’s lips as a shoe-in for the attacking midfield birth in our new set up was Gylfi Sigurdsson. We may have been rejected for a side which we should be realistically competing with next year. Our 2012/13 side needs to be as quick in the head as in their legs. Quick decisions are crucial in a formula set up for pass and move. Having had the former Hoffenheim schemer at the Swans, Rodgers would have had an inside track on the goalscoring midfielder. Only he knows if he jilted us for the money but he made his decision and life goes on.
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When we take on his new employers on the 28th they will be keen to see how he fits in to a side who face annual battles to hold on to their stars. He may be thrust into a key position in their side with Real Madrid sniffing around the wantaway creative fulcrum Luca Modric. Rodgers will no doubt play down the consequences of the snub while scouring the market for an alternative, or uncovering one out of his current charges. It would be unadvisable to dwell on every positive action the Icelandic international makes as it is human nature to want what you cannot have.
When the fitness levels have increased after the hard yards in the States, one week before the curtain raiser against West Brom we will have a better understanding of the new set up of the side and who are the favoured personnel. Hoards of action-starved Reds will descend on Anfield to welcome back a hero – albeit managing the opponents. After a respectable 5th placed finished last year and a Europa League place, former Liverpool stalwart Sami Hyypia has embarked on the next stage of his footballing adventure by taking the helm at Bayer Leverkusen. It will be the last chance to shine for the fringe players in a bid to cement a place for the Premier League opener. As a natural leader, most Reds will be made up for the big Finn and maybe, just maybe, a future Reds boss in years to come.
If we negotiate these warm up games impressively when all eyes will be on “the new Liverpool”, belief will start to creep in to the side and hopefully seep into the our play when the real business starts when the only things we want to be linked with are 3 points.
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