So we won today. That was great. Not seeing Liverpool in the bottom three is even more great. And it’s pretty awesome how three points can send you flying up the table. Have any of you taken a look? We’re in 11th place on 12 points and just three points behind Tottenham, who currently occupy fifth place. We’re only five back of City in their much-coveted fourth spot.
It was a good win. But Roy Hodgson described this win in a way that I can’t quite see right now.
“Today was a famous victory because we hadn’t won more than once away in the whole of 2010,” Hodgson said after the game. “When you’re down the bottom, and keep being reminded you’re down the bottom, anxiety kicks in.”
Famous.
That word stood out to me. It should to you, too, if you follow Liverpool.
By our standards, a famous win is Olympiakos at Anfield in 2005 and Andy Gray’s famous call. A famous win is Chelsea in two legs that same year. A famous win is Istanbul.
A famous win to me is one which you can say a word or two and you go right back to that game. Whenever I hear the word ‘beauty,’ Steve Gerrard has just sent one flying past the Olympiakos keeper and we’re through the group stages (thanks a lot, Andy Gray). Whenever I see John Terry, I go back to seeing him in tears as the Kop went crazy and Jose Mourinho had his loser face on, one we didn’t see too much of in those days. Mention Turkey, Istanbul or anything that sounds close to it and Gerrard has just put the first goal in and he’s waving like a madman at the crowd.
Those games are famous because they’re on the grand stage and the team fought against steep odds. There are plenty of famous games that haven’t been on the biggest occasions. Remember Torres’ first goal against Chelsea when we got to see just how good he was going to be? Every time I hear news about the much-maligned Tal Ben-Haim, I remember that game.
There was nothing famous in today’s game. Nothing really stood out. It was win number three in a season that hasn’t started out very well.
Don’t get me wrong, I was thrilled with the win. I was probably more thrilled about a 1-0 win against Bolton than I ever thought I could be.
Maybe that’s the problem that I have with Roy: his statement about the game make it sound like he’s lost perspective of where the club should be because of where we are right now. Liverpool are a major club and we’re not supposed to have a ‘famous victory’ over Bolton in October.
I can understand if Roy is trying to get through to the team that they’re doing well. I imagine that the squad is hearing enough about how they need to do better and that can destroy a team’s confidence. There are other ways to get that across. Maybe he’s trying to make sure that everyone on the team knows that he’s not like Rafa and he’ll handle these kind of wins differently than the former boss might have.
Still, it’s a 1-0 win at Bolton. It’s not famous.
I’m trying to keep my patience with Roy, but this is just another item on a long list of things that has worried me about Liverpool’s boss.