ONE of the many factors that makes football the most popular sport in the land is its simplicity. Fundamentally all you need is a ball and some goalposts, hence the famous phrase about jumpers.
On a larger scale, when the basics have been extrapolated somewhat, to create the global, glamorous brand we know of today, a sense of fairness and balance is something that on paper, lends itself to many of the competitions in the sport.
Take the League Championship for example. The ‘bread and butter’ as Shankly called it. For as long as anyone can remember, there have been an even number of teams, each playing one another twice, once at home, once away. Nobody has to face the Champions any more times than anyone else. This is fair. This is not like cricket, where my very limited knowledge tells me that a team can hold an advantage over their opponent depending on what time it’s going to start raining or go dark.
The symmetry and balance described above means that nobody can argue come the end of the season about who deserved to be champions. Everyone played the same teams the same number of times. While cup competitions can provide giant-killings and an exciting randomness of fixtures, a team can reach the final via a significantly easier route than their final opponents. This is not the case with league competition. This is what makes the wretched idea of the ‘39th’ game so abhorrent and ridiculous, and one that we should hope never, ever resurfaces to the one-tracked brains of the big wigs on the Premier League board. It would completely destroy any sense of equilibrium and turn the most exciting league in the world into an ever greedier embarrassment.
You may be wondering why I’m waffling on about this, for while the 38 game system that we know and trust is as fair as is realistically possible, it isn’t quite perfect. Brendan Rodgers will know this more than anyone. Despite the fact that everyone has to play the top teams twice, the order in which the fixtures are dealt can be like a bad poker hand. And Rodgers has certainly been dealt one of them.
When coming to a new club, any manager needs time to get their ideas in place, let alone Rodgers, who has an almost scientific method of playing that he is trying to instil into his new charges. The sooner the manager can get points on the board the better. So when he looks at the opening five fixtures and sees Manchester City, Arsenal and Manchester United, he knows that such opposition will not give two hoots about a new system of play or a new Liverpool dynasty, and will ruthlessly exploit any shortcomings. And that is exactly what has happened.
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Even in the first game of the season at West Brom. A perennial mid-table club. Not a bad fixture to begin with, even away from home. However, their new boss has not long been disposed of by Liverpool and is desperate to get his management career off to a winning start by beating his former club. Had Liverpool faced them mid season, with the Baggies no doubt resigned to another year of mediocrity, Clarke may have had a more difficult job on his hands in motivating his players to produce such an effervescent performance.
Success in football owes a lot to momentum. Liverpool go into their next league game at Norwich with the pressure piled upon them after failing to win in their first five games. In what should be a relatively straightforward fixture, the Reds must ignore any confidence issues that may have come with collecting just 2 points from a possible 15 and try to repeat last season’s joy at Carrow Road.
Had Liverpool begun with Chelsea’s fixtures for example; Wigan away, Reading and Newcastle at home, QPR away and Stoke at home, then that may have given Rodgers and his new look side a bit more leeway in implementing the new system and personnel. Then, when the bigger games come around there are points on the board, thus the players feel less pressure and probably more confidence.
Roy Hodgson suffered a similar fate. Home to Arsenal on the first day, away to Man City next, with a trip to Old Trafford in game five. Not an ideal recipe for a positive start. By the time Liverpool faced Blackpool at home at the start of October, pre-season hope and expectation had been dampened and the Reds slumped to defeat. Similar to this season, even Champions League aspirations are already looking farfetched. Again, a sense of disappointment may creep into the minds of certain fans and the atmosphere at home games against the smaller clubs may suffer as a result, thus making such games more difficult than they should be.
Even the Carling Cup draw wasn’t particularly kind. A home fixture against Bradford or Coventry would have been nice. However, it wasn’t to be, and instead we made our way to visit Steve Clarke’s men for the second time already this season.
Things were never going to be easy for Brendan Rodgers, who has also had to deal with more than his fair share of bad luck during the early part of the season. But after the performance shown against Manchester United, it should be clear for all fans to see that there are some very positive signs and with a decrease in this bad fortune, the points should begin to flow.
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I reckon there is a conspiracy by the FA to give Liverpool difficult fixtures every season to begin with. If you check the stats you will see in the last 20 seasons Liverpool have started with an away fixture about 14 times. That is simply outrageous and totally unfair – this should be pointed out to the FA!!
Brilliantly written and very well composed article. There’s not one word I don’t agree with. Onwards, upwards you red men!Brendan Rodgers will bring us no. 19 of that I have no doubt in my mind. People just need to remember this club needs fixing not only on pitch but off it as well.
I have the flu.