Five things that might just make you smile on a dark weekend for the Reds…
It’s easy for a lot of Liverpool fans to get swept along in the misery surrounding yesterday’s defeat at the hands of Arsenal. It’s a result which leaves our top four hopes looking admittedly grim, with a seven point gap to make up.
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However, before you consign this season to the metaphorical scrap-heap, we urge you to consider these five positives that have come out of our campaign thus far, offering us all a little slice of hope prior to the games ahead.
5) Emre Can & Philippe Coutinho
A lot of supporters have been focusing too heavily on who’s ‘let us down’ this season. Let’s take a look at two of the big plus points – Emre Can and Philippe Coutinho. Not even Brendan Rodgers could have expected such a return from his £10m investment in the young German, who has shone since his move from Bayer Leverkusen, despite yesterday’s red. While Coutinho’s progress is less of a surprise, it’s still a huge boost following the loss of Luis Suarez. These two are still in their early 20s and have big futures at Anfield!
4) The unbeaten run from December to March
Let’s not lose track of the fact that we’ve still been among the best teams in the country since the turn of the year, with our defeats to Manchester United and Arsenal our only losses since mid-December. In a run of 13 top flight games without defeat we beat Premier League champions Manchester City, as well as Tottenham Hotspur, while also equalling a long-standing clean-sheet record from back in the Bill Shankly era. After the way we started the season we had no right to be dreaming of a top four finish and yet we still were until yesterday.
3) We’ve found a viable alternative formation
The last two performances have not been good, there’s no questioning that. However, yesterday’s defeat against Arsenal saw us without the suspended Martin Skrtel and Steven Gerrard, as well as the injured Adam Lallana, Mario Balotelli and Jordon Ibe. Even Daniel Sturridge was only fit enough to make the bench. As proved by our eight wins and two draws that preceded our back-to-back defeats, the 3-4-3 can work for us, it should not be thrown away off the back of a couple of negative results.
2) Return to European football
Our return to Champions League football was always going to be tough. The landscape of European football has changed in our five years away from the competition. When we were drawn alongside defending champions Real Madrid and the always dangerous Basel, it was never going to be easy. The important thing is that we got there and can use the experience as a learning curve. Brendan Rodgers and his whole team now have European games under their belts, so let’s hope that when we return to the continental stage next season, those experiences prove useful.
1) Cup success
A lot of fans will underestimate the impact of the amount of games we’ve played this season. Last year, we were out of both domestic cup competition’s early on and could fully focus on the Premier League. This time around, some of our players are going to end up playing sixty plus matches. Nonetheless, we can hold our heads high for a fine performance in the Capital One Cup – reaching the semi-finals – and the FA Cup, with a quarter-final replay against Blackburn Rovers coming up on Wednesday.
