After beating Norwich City 3-2 at Carrow Road two weeks ago, the most negative thing you could’ve said was, ‘well that’s Champions League football secured!’
A fortnight later and the mood amongst supporters has mellowed just a touch.
Defeat to Chelsea last weekend ended our impressive eleven game winning run and took the destiny of the title out of our hands.
My desperation for us to go in at half-time at 0-0 saw me shout, as Demba Ba raced through on goal, ‘Mignolet’s got 20 on one-on-ones on Football Manager! He’s got 20!’
This doesn’t mean we’re suddenly a bad team overnight and all is lost, it’s just unfortunate that we ran into a team who also happened to stop Man City’s imperious form earlier in the season. Some have called it ‘anti-football’ or ironically labelled Mourinho’s tactics as 19th century, but everyone is entitled to play the game how they see fit. It’s a shame that he’s really good at that side of the game.
We’ve faced opposition countless times this season, even more so during the eleven game winning run, that have decided to sit deep and attempt to frustrate us for ninety-minutes and we’ve managed to get the three points in impressive fashion. The fact that we had a day off, creatively, with three games to go raises the anxiety levels in supporters that tiny bit more.
For those who swear by superstitions before a game, a group I proudly belong myself to, your mind could be sent into overdrive this week as to what else you could do to help Brendan out. The answer is simple, the same as before.
Much like Steven Gerrard’s battle cry declaring ‘we go again,’ what got you through the extended winning run should be put in place on bank holiday Monday. If you want to extend that to events at Goodison Park on Saturday then more the merrier.
Nerves are to be expected, trust me. In the lead up to the Chelsea game I was making sure all my superstitions were in place but I didn’t seem to be as meticulous in my planning as, say, for the Man City game for example. Was my possible overconfidence to blame? This thought constantly raced through my mind during half-time.
To go even further in my belief that I’m somehow responsible for what takes place after the players cross that white line, I’d got it in my head that the bruised toenail that had come off three days prior to the Chelsea game had also had some bearing on the result. After all, I thought, it had been loose for the last few games.
Moving on from that rather disgusting example, we should retain the belief in our rituals because this season has been one of the best I’ve known as a Liverpool supporter.
How better it becomes is determined by the arrogance or blind belief that comes from us superstitious fans. The players, I suppose, have a say in it too.
By Michael Williams – @mikewilliams05