2004 Mid-Season Recap

So here we are again. It’s mid-season of the 2003-2004 season and once again, Liverpool have been written off by the critics, the voting public and the punters. Five league losses, an unconvincing home record and whispers of dissention in the ranks seem to be the order of the day, and the naysayers are rather happy about proclaiming it to the world. Can the season be salvaged? Can Liverpool win? Can they triumph over the Manchester Uniteds and the Arsenals and reclaim the enormous deficit in points to rise to first place? Or should Liverpudlians just resign themselves to another season with a UEFA Cup or somesuch small recompense for devoted service and fanaticism? Answer: Maybe. What can fans do? Be that twelfth man on the pitch. Fight for Fortress Anfield. Cheer for your mates on the pitch. Support the gaffer. Send in your letters, e-mails, and telephone calls crying your belief out for all to hear. All that we have to give must be given. This is not to say that we are in crisis. Where are we? At a crossroads.
Contrary to popular and folk wisdom, the journey of a thousand miles does not begin with a single step. It begins with the adoption of the mindset of stepping. In other words, all that ordinary and cliché tommyrot about “giving 100%” or “focusing on the next game” is pure and unadulterated tar. Success is about being correct at the smallest level before you even begin to worry about the result of the game. Do Liverpool need to win more games? Yes. We basically need to win almost every single game from here until the end of the season. Certainly every home game. We will win them through the application of timing, perspective, precision and accuracy.
Critics have said that Liverpool are a one-horse team, and that without Michael Owen, the offense flounders and all is lost. We all know that to be incorrect now with Milan Baros, Emile Heskey and Harry Kewell supplying a number of critical goals thus far in the campaign. The lack of success is in no part due to a lack of talent. The Reds are packed with talent. What we lack is will. And Gérard Houllier is not to blame. Each player must take responsibility for each play. Make sure that that pass lands on that blade of grass. Ensure that that through ball gets past the marker and to your team-mate. Make sure that that clearance gets more than 30 yards away from your keeper and to a man in the same colour jersey as yourself. The victories are there. The hearts and minds of every man in a red shirt just need to adopt the philosophy that will permit them to seize those victories. And where the skill fails, the teammates must compensate. For too long, we’ve had too much compensation and not enough true quality. As the great Shankly said, “Form is temporary, excellence is permanent.” We need more players to take a personal stake in the welfare of the club, and in every minute play of every game.
I used to love watching Ian Rush. Not necessarily watching him score, though that was more than mildly enjoyable. But when he played with Robbie Fowler, he was always shouting at the younger man to follow him back so that he could tackle back on opposing defenders. When I played midfield as a child, I had a bugger of a time convincing my strikers to tackle back. Strikers always seemed to me to be somewhat of a breed of poncers, looking for a glory-grabbing opportunity so that they could get credit for everyone else’s hard work. Rushie taught me otherwise. There is a breed of striker that cares about defence, and who will sprint like the devil for his own 18-yard box when he senses the danger. To see a striker who cared so passionately about his own team’s welfare that he took over the responsibility of coaching his own colleagues to follow his example was awe-inspiring. That was leadership. That was what won all those trophies in the Anfield Museum.
So what’s the recipe? What’s the magical elixir that will solve all of Liverpool FC’s problems? I could throw out the old chestnut of teamwork, and convince you all that the panacea of 11 men working their bollocks off for one another will solve the ills of the world, let alone my beloved team. No. Work is part of the solution, but so is intelligence. Keeping your head up when you’ve got the ball, spotting that open man, watching for the lapse in marking, finding the right moment to go over the top of the last defender. Blind, tireless and mindless running won’t win games.
Specifics? Danny “Spud” Murphy has got to penetrate more. He has to trust that Didi Hamann can cover the space behind him and free him up to tee up some shots. His shot is devastating, and he has to learn to trust that more. Emile Heskey has got to gain the confidence to shoot from within the 18-yard box. He’s suffering from a bizarre strain of Andy Cole virus which allows him to score wunderkind goals, but prevents him from scoring run-of-the-mill ones. Stevie G has to trust his team-mates more. They will get into viable positions if he can just buy them that extra second. Michael Owen has to trust his instincts more. His goal-poaching instincts are redoubtable. If any player on the team is over-thinking, it’s St. Michael. Jamie Carragher has to believe that he is the player that every manager in England wants. His challenges are strong, and his general positional play is great, but his man-to-man defending lacks confidence. I have to say that I miss Vedgy, but John-Arne Riise does a great job of rampaging up the wing. If he practised his deep crosses a little more, I would not complain. As for Hÿypia and the Henchoz? I wouldn’t dare criticize them. They’re the only reason Liverpool aren’t fending off Wolverhampton’s challenge for the relegation sweepstakes. Focus and intensity at the back are the only extra ingredients that have fallen by the wayside during this new era of Liverpool attacking-philosophy football. I love it, by the way. I’ve just been waiting for a bit too long to see it truly in practice, despite claims to the contrary.
Will Liverpool heft the Championship? Unlikely, unless someone in Merseyside is psychic and relays this column. I still find it difficult to understand why, with a coaching staff including Gérard Houllier, Ian Rush, and Steve Heighway, the players are not doing what they’ve been schooled, trained, and paid to do: execute their precise tasks. I don’t mean to say that people ought to concentrate on their duties to the exclusion of all else, but that when St. Michael is in the 18-yard box, that should be a goal. End of sentence. When Danny Murphy gets a through-ball at the top of the 18-yard box, that should also be a goal. If Hippie and the Honcho are both back defending, no striker should be able to split them. Simple execution of tasks.
The game is not that complex. It’s about space and time. Einstein could have described it in exactly the same terms. If given enough of either of those quantities, you will score a goal. In defence, if you deny a player either or both of those quantities, you will have reduced his or her effectiveness, and all but negated the probability of that player scoring a goal. Dribbling and shooting both require time and space, and if those characteristics are not available, generally speaking, possession is lost and any opportunity to distribute or shoot the ball is also lost.
There is hope. Not some form of misinformed or ignorant defiance of the evidence, but real hope that the capacity for success lies within this team. As fans, all we can do is offer our support and be that twelfth man on the pitch, week in, week out. We can exhort that each man must do his duty, but in the end, the true difference can only be measured on the pitch. The players must take the responsibility and perform as only they know they can. As individuals. As a team. As a clockwork unit that co-ordinates every motion with a corresponding and complementary motion. That team will win the Championship. And that team will conquer Europe.