“End of a year, end of an era“
I tweeted this in the middle of the season, right at the end of 2021, after the defeat at Leicester. I rarely tweet about football since Twitter is really not the place to express your football views, but in that moment, it felt like a good run is coming to an end. I spent the remaining of the season hoping that the time will prove me wrong. And in a way, it did: the performance improved, a promising new player arrived unexpectedly in January and Liverpool went on to win the two internal cups and 49 games out of 63. More importantly, Klopp extended his stay until 2026. But that doesn’t change the fact that a few key players will leave this summer, another few will be out of contract next year and an ageing group of important players will see less and less minutes next season.
This was an exciting and memorable season. There were many great moments and Liverpool was in contention to win the quadruple until the very last minute of the Premier League season. Unfortunately most of the Liverpool supporters will remember this season for the wrong reason: failing to win a big trophy.
“2021-22 will ultimately go down as a tale of what might have been.”
https://theathletic.com/3339000/2022/05/29/liverpool-quadruple-season-klopp/
Finishing second in the Premier League did not feel that bad: the damage was already done in the first half of the season, and the performance improved after the turn of the year. And in truth, 92 points would have been sufficient to win the title in 24 out of 30 seasons. But we probably need to accept the fact that the Premier League is now just like Bundesliga or Ligue 1, where every season the same team runs away with the title before the end of March and often close in on a century of points. I hope that in a few years, Liverpool winning the league back in 2020 will not look like an anomaly comparable to Leicester 2016 or Lille 2021.
What really hurt this season was losing the Champions League final against Real Madrid. Probably not as much as in 2018, where the feeling of injustice was infuriating, but enough to throw a shadow of disappointment over an otherwise brilliant season. It hurt because of the expectation to win it (the bookmakers had Liverpool as favorites, about 60%-40%). It hurt because Liverpool dominated the game (23-3 shots, 9-1 shots on target, 2.4-0.9 xG score). It ultimately hurt because the result meant that this Liverpool squad finished their season without a big trophy.
A bit more about the final
Football is a low scoring game, and even more so in a Champions League final. The last 4 finals ended 1-0, 1-0, 1-0 and 2-0. Scoring first will pretty much guarantee you win the game (the only exception in the last decade being Atletico in 2014). Liverpool played their usual game, with arguably the best possible starting XI, albeit 3 of the players were coming straight from injuries and all of them were at the end of an exhausting season when every one of the last 10-15 games felt like – or actually was – a final. But playing their usual game made them predictable: “Liverpool was easy to decipher” Ancelotti admitted after the game. Madrid, on the other hand, looked less tired (with two extra weeks to prepare) and armed with a clear plan: defend in a low block and hit on the counter. They knew exactly what to expect.
Madrid’s plan worked; they managed to score first and, as expected in a CL final, they went on to win the trophy. They did rode their luck on a couple of occasions, and used their street-wisdom to break Liverpool play and then waste some time after the goal. But despite the Liverpool domination, Madrid’s plan ensured that Liverpool had no clear cut chance. And after they scored, Madrid had Liverpool right where they wanted them. In another night, playing in the same way, Liverpool would have likely won, but football is not like chess, where a good opportunity is always converted. Football is more like poker, where you can still win with a bad hand.
What’s next for Liverpool?
Liverpool will have some big decisions to make in the upcoming transfer windows. The midfield and forward departments will go through massive changes starting this summer. Mane, Origi, and Ox are already on their way out, Salah and Firmino are entering their final year, Keita and Minamino will probably leave if a decent offer comes up, and Virgil, Matip, Thiago, Henderson and Milner are on the wrong side of 30.
Filling in the boots of Mane or Salah will not be easy, and Liverpool will have to take more risks in the transfer market. The bad decisions during the January 2021 transfer window almost cost the club the Champions League qualification last season. The addition of Luis Diaz – forced by the Tottenham bid – was so important during the second half of this season and proved that a mid-season transfer can be successful.
Taking more risks in the transfer market doesn’t mean going after 100mE+ players or entering a bid war with the big spenders. It means that smart transfers will have to be done, and preferably before the old player leaves, just as it was the case with Konate (replacing Matip), Diaz (replacing Mane) or Thiago (replacing Gini). Missing out on the CL participation would have spiraling side effects: on top of the financial losses, it would become increasingly difficult to bring good players.
The consequences of caring
A good approach when dealing with disappointment is to make an effort to focus on the positives. This is exactly what happened the day after the final, during the season trophy parade through the streets of Liverpool. “It was a moment of togetherness, a moment to reflect on the highs and to forget about the lows“:
The two near-misses at the end of the season hurt, but that is a consequence of caring. Just as in life, “you win, you lose, you laugh, you cry, you cheer, you boo, and most of all, you care.“
Football (and sports in general) is not always about winning just as not all the good stories have a happy ending. Sometimes it’s also about that sense of anticipation before an important match:
“It’s not about watching your team win the Cup as much as that moment when you wake up thinking, In 12 hours, I might watch my team win the Cup. It’s about sitting in the same chair for Game 5 because that chair worked for you in Game 3 and Game 4, and somehow, this has to mean something.”
Bill Simmons, https://grantland.com/features/the-consequences-caring/ via Tomkins Times
During this season, the Liverpool supporters were blessed with several such moments of anticipation. Only on two occasions the anticipation turned into celebration, but that’s the nature of sports. “The world is not full of winners, the world is full of triers“, as Klopp said recently.
Liverpool will try again next season. Even if this generation has peaked, there’s still enough motivation to write some good stories. For players like Trent, Gomez, Konate, Diaz, Jota or Milner the best days are ahead of them.
And who knows, maybe that defeat at Leicester was not the end of an era after all.
- Likes (0)
- Comments (1)
-
Share
