On the other hand, we all know how low the teams’ collective confidence is. Even the great morale-booster that is Pepe Reina is beginning to look jaded. Defeat after defeat, poor performance after inept display has left the entire squad in a position where one win is not necessarily going to be the catalyst needed for an upsurge in form (note: Liverpool have only had back-to-back wins twice this season – Rabotnicki home and away, and that famous win against Trabzonspor followed by West Brom). Likewise, a defeat will only be a further blow to the confidence, meaning another poor display and bad result is likely to follow if we lose the derby. In the derby though, this dent to confidence could well be 10-fold to any other loss, as the players and fans cannot then board a coach or train and head back to Liverpool; the result will be hanging over the whole club, just a short walk across the park and will not be allowed to forget about it until next year.
The obvious alternative is that Roy somehow inspires the players and manages to draw something resembling a display out of them; that we win the derby and claw our way into mid-table by the end of October 17th. Sadly, even a solid performance and a good result (and perhaps even a change in ownership) would do little to calm doubts over Hodgson’s legitimacy. A win though, would be a start.
It is a sad state of affairs. We are used to regurgitating the old saying of building empires from the ground up and ‘laying the foundations’ for future success. From this club’s point of view at present though, we are in nothing short of a complete mess, on and off the pitch and until the changes begin to occur from the top down, and filter through the club (and the January transfer window allows the wrongs of the summer to be put right) we will not be able to lay any foundations for some time yet. Until then, we may have to make do with a scrappy derby win and just hope.
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every game has been critical for a month now,it was critical we beat nothampton (yes it was ) it was critical we beat sunderland, it was critical we beat blackpool and birmingham – but we beat none of them.
Hopefully, we will beat Everton. Maybe the news of possible new owners shortly will lift the players (and the fans).