LFC 20/21 – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly – Gameweek 32
It’s been quite a while, but a misfiring striker can finally smile. We can only look on in dismay, as more points slip away. The owners’ make a greedy bid, forsaking competition for a few lousy quid. The Good, The Bad and The downright Ugly. Another week reviewed at one of the world’s greediest football clubs, Liverpool F.C.
The Good
Seeing Sadio Mané get on the scoresheet again for the first time in the league since December. The struggling no. 10 finally put the ball in the back of the net in the 1-1 draw with Leeds at Elland Road on Monday night.
The Senegalese international has endured a torrid time in front of goal. In the last league outing against Aston Villa he was relegated to the bench. On his introduction after 75 minutes he gave the impression off a man down on his luck. Missed placed passes, mis-controlling the ball, way off target shots. He did join the game late on to be fair, but this was not the Sadio Mané we’ve come to know.
However, he was given a start against Leeds and put in a much improved performance, culminating in converting Trent Alexander-Arnold’s pass. The relief was clear to see on his face and to be fair, I think this was an emotion shared by many fans.
RT @premierleague: HALF-TIME Leeds 0-1 Liverpool
— Crazy SMM (@crazy_smm_seo) April 20, 2021
Liverpool lead at the interval thanks to Sadio Mane’s goal#LEELIV pic.twitter.com/3fQPuH2WtY
Well done Sadio!
As for the result…
The Bad
The result against Leeds. I’m disappointed to say the least. A game where Liverpool should have been out of sight in the first half. Only to squander – what seemed like, chance after chance with bad decision after bad decision.
In the second half, for some strange reason Liverpool sought to sit back and play on the counter attack. Is this really wise with an inexperienced central defensive pairing? To be fair to Leeds, under the coaching of the legendary Marcelo Bielsa, they were always going to come out fighting after the break.
One would expect a team of Liverpool’s calibre – defending champions after all, to take special care to retain possession once it was won back… time after time, intricate passes or simply poor distribution led to the hosts getting back on top of their opponents. Utterly frivolous play from Liverpool. Two points dropped without a doubt.
The goal conceded late on wasn’t really a surprise to be honest. Liverpool are back to their shaky defensive ways without Virgil van Dijk and it was evident tonight – also without Nat Phillips I should add.
After that, what few chances the team had were unused. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain particularly unlucky late on.
As you can perhaps tell, I’m not in the least bit happy with Liverpool this week. Sometimes I wonder what Jürgen Klopp’s reasoning is for some of the tactics employed in this game. In fact, for the season in general.
The club has massively mishandled the recruitment process since the summer and left the team in the doldrums. And of course, we have the latest farce…
Leeds strike back late on to claim a point#LEELIV pic.twitter.com/bsiul3O4b0
— Premier League (@premierleague) April 19, 2021
The (Very, very) Ugly
The absolute farce that was (briefly) the European Super League statement and withdrawal, in which Liverpool Football Club were sadly one of the main protagonists.
I think you all know the total and utterly disgraceful events of this week. The sad thing about it, is that Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group (led by John W. Henry) were without doubt one of the main instigators. This was a display of pure greed and contempt for everything about football. Not to mention the very essence of sport: competition.
The attempt of the so-called big six in England – (Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham) in cahoots with Spain’s Barcelona, Real and Athletico Madrid, Juventus and the two Milan teams in Italy, to overturn the established Champions League competition in favour of this greedy ‘elite’ scam beggars belief.
Statements of rebuttal from Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Paris St. Germain who were also invited, indicate the only remaining evidence of scruples among the ‘top’ clubs’ owners. Klopp, Pep Guardiola at Man City and Thomas Tuchel at Chelsea were the only managers to voice an opinion. Leading players – led by Jordan Henderson, also voiced their condemnation of the project.
Frankly, I’m not overly surprised by this. The game has been led by money and greed ever since the Premier League was formed and turned the game into just another spectacle for business and the well-healed. The humble heart of the game has long since disappeared.
Liverpool Football Club can confirm that our involvement in proposed plans to form a European Super League has been discontinued.
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) April 20, 2021
Yesterday evening against a backdrop of angry fans, players current and former, and political intervention, the stupid idea was scrapped. Since then Henry has issued an apology which, in my opinion, does little if anything at all to restore a huge lack of trust and belief from the fans of the club he purports to represent.
Considering the previous pricing and furlough fiascos both of which brought about apologies, it’s hard to see how many it takes for them to have no effect anymore. Maybe we’ve reached that point.
It’s a sorry day for football. However, it’s refreshing to see that the power of fans when united, can triumph over the greed and shortsightedness of many of those owning clubs.
To close, I’ll leave with the words of one former player and England manager, which were quoted by the BBC today. Truly more apt words have rarely, if ever been used to describe the global love affair between the beautiful game and its fans.
“What is a club in any case? Not the buildings or the directors or the people who are paid to represent it. It’s not the television contracts, get-out clauses, marketing departments or executive boxes. It’s the noise, the passion, the feeling of belonging, the pride in your city. It’s a small boy clambering up stadium steps for the very first time, gripping his father’s hand, gawping at that hallowed stretch of turf beneath him and, without being able to do a thing about it, falling in love.”
The late Sir Bobby Robson
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