I was thinking of doing an end of season review. It seems appropriate, with it being the end of the season. Besides, there’s not much else to write about. Instead this is a start of season preview. This is a look ahead to next season.
I admit it. I got it wrong last year. Last year, if you happened to miss it, I wrote the most in depth article you will find on the internet about Liverpool’s 2012/13 season. It totalled 17 pages (including HD action shots), racking up over 6000 words and took me 2-3 months to write, edit and upload. I was very pleased with it. I felt like a major achievement had been accomplished. But I got it wrong. All wrong. It was long. Too long. Unnecessarily long. So long that by the time I’d finished it no one wanted to read it. Pre-season had started and no one was interested in a review. Even if they did, it would’ve taken a sizeable chunk out of their free time. I’m not sure I’ve even read it through in one go before. So now instead of doing that again, I’m doing this:
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”
I saw this on Facebook, on a picture meant to act as inspiration and for the first time for me it did. Usually I gloss over these posts and move on but this time it got me thinking. Not about my life, the universe and everything, but about Liverpool Football Club.
It got me thinking about last season and next season. Because last season ended better than most Liverpool fans ever imagined, yet it felt like a loss. The fan group would’ve been happier finishing 4th after overtaking Arsenal on the last day. Twitter would’ve been delirious. Champions League. Finally. Instead Liverpool finished 2nd and had 3rd place wrapped up 3 games before the end. And no matter how much you look at it as winning 2nd place, Liverpool ultimately lost the league. This was the feeling immediately after the last match.
But no matter how bad the fans felt, the players would’ve felt worse. Much worse. They lost the league. It wasn’t the fans who lost it. It was down to the players and they had let the crowd down. This was how the team felt. This was how Sturridge felt. He said it himself. But this loss hasn’t killed them. They’re stronger now. They know how it feels to fall at the final hurdle and they want it more than ever before. Gerrard hasn’t experienced this before. This experience will improve him as a player. But for the rest, this loss is invaluable. Steven Gerrard will be 34 before the world cup starts. Raheem Sterling won’t have reached his 20s before the new season starts. He will have this experience for the rest of his career. He will have that hunger for all that time. The same for Philippe Coutinho, the same for Jordan Henderson, for Jon Flanagan and for Daniel Sturridge.
This relates to something Rob Gutmann said on his season review on ‘The Anfield Wrap’:
It got me thinking about last season and next season. Because last season ended better than most Liverpool fans ever imagined, yet it felt like a loss. The fan group would’ve been happier finishing 4th after overtaking Arsenal on the last day. Twitter would’ve been delirious. Champions League. Finally. Instead Liverpool finished 2nd and had 3rd place wrapped up 3 games before the end. And no matter how much you look at it as winning 2nd place, Liverpool ultimately lost the league. This was the feeling immediately after the last match.
But no matter how bad the fans felt, the players would’ve felt worse. Much worse. They lost the league. It wasn’t the fans who lost it. It was down to the players and they had let the crowd down. This was how the team felt. This was how Sturridge felt. He said it himself. But this loss hasn’t killed them. They’re stronger now. They know how it feels to fall at the final hurdle and they want it more than ever before. Gerrard hasn’t experienced this before. This experience will improve him as a player. But for the rest, this loss is invaluable. Steven Gerrard will be 34 before the world cup starts. Raheem Sterling won’t have reached his 20s before the new season starts. He will have this experience for the rest of his career. He will have that hunger for all that time. The same for Philippe Coutinho, the same for Jordan Henderson, for Jon Flanagan and for Daniel Sturridge.
This relates to something Rob Gutmann said on his season review on ‘The Anfield Wrap’:
“I’m not sure we’re any less likely to win the league next year for not having won it this year”
And thinking about it, that’s completely right. Infact in my eyes, Liverpool are more likely to win it next year after this one than if Brendan Rodger’s tricky reds had been crowned Champions of England after winning their final 3 games this year. Will players want to come to Liverpool any less? No. Will our top players want to leave any more? No. Will Brendan Rodgers have an easier job getting his men hungry for winning come August? Yes, of course he will.
Because even if Chelsea sign ridiculous amounts of talent from the best clubs in Europe and even if Manchester City continue to build their behemoth of a squad in the summer and even if Arsenal eventually grow a set of bollocks and actually spend some money, none of their players will have ever felt the heartbreak that Luis Suarez felt after drawing to Crystal Palace. Not Joe Hart, not Sergio Aguero, not Willian, not Mesut Ozil, not Roberto Soldado and definitely not Mohammed Salah will ever have the hunger that Liverpool’s squad has.
Every loose ball, every tackle, every header and every contentious decision will be fought over until the sinews and muscles of the men in red snap. Losing can never be an option. Drawing cannot be allowed to happen. Every game is a cup final.
The players have been hurt. But they have not been killed, they will rebuild and they are most certainly stronger than ever before.
Let’s just hope Ian Ayre does his job this time.
Because even if Chelsea sign ridiculous amounts of talent from the best clubs in Europe and even if Manchester City continue to build their behemoth of a squad in the summer and even if Arsenal eventually grow a set of bollocks and actually spend some money, none of their players will have ever felt the heartbreak that Luis Suarez felt after drawing to Crystal Palace. Not Joe Hart, not Sergio Aguero, not Willian, not Mesut Ozil, not Roberto Soldado and definitely not Mohammed Salah will ever have the hunger that Liverpool’s squad has.
Every loose ball, every tackle, every header and every contentious decision will be fought over until the sinews and muscles of the men in red snap. Losing can never be an option. Drawing cannot be allowed to happen. Every game is a cup final.
The players have been hurt. But they have not been killed, they will rebuild and they are most certainly stronger than ever before.
Let’s just hope Ian Ayre does his job this time.