The Soccer Blog: Keeping Hope Alive

Tuesday, 5 April 2011

Keeping Hope Alive

By: Noel | April 4th, 2011
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Hope can be a curious, slippery, manic depressive sort of thing at times, and over the past few days there has understandably been talk of accepting reality and adjusting those at times painful hopes and dreams accordingly. European competition seems out of reach, with the team having looked unimpressive in defeat against Roy Hodgson’s West Bromwich Albion. Pepe Reina’s departure seems a near certainty in the circumstances. The reality that Steven Gerrard’s only getting older and more injury prone, and that Daniel Agger may never truly be healthy, is beginning to sink in. And the prospect of the first season without continental play in over a decade, with the resultant difficulty attracting top level players over the summer to boost an exceptionally thin squad, looms.

The players, though, still talk of hope:

We have still got a bit of catching up to do on Tottenham. They only drew and if we had won we would have closed the gap on them.

There have been plenty of times this season when we thought European qualification had gone. Wigan at home, West Ham away. But then you get a couple of good results after those and you think it’s back on. With this defeat it looks as if we are even further away now, but you never know–a couple of good results and we could be back in it.

Or so said Jamie Carragher, a man whose re-embrace of the long-ball has done the club no favours after a brief reprise following Dalglish’s appointment, a short and hope filled month when all involved seemed to buy into the need for pass and move football and keeping the game on the ground.

Still, though his passing tendencies may at times be misjudged, his words are not inaccurate. Over the entire season, the club and its fans and supporters have seemed to at times bounce directly from fears of relegation to hopes and dreams of Champions League action. Even focusing on just the most recent weeks provides a fine example of this bipolar roller-coaster, with a flying win against Manchester United that fueled hopes of both moving up the table and of helping to keep United from another title providing the high point. Yet that glowing victory was itself bookended by a pair of dull and, quite frankly, dire performances against Braga in the Europa League that reminded everybody just how thin the squad was–and how far it still had to go if it was to ever return to the kind of flowing, dominating football seen in Europe only a few seasons past, let alone the heights of the Liverpool Groove that marked Dalglish’s first stint as manager.

That second match against Braga that saw Liverpool drop out of Europe certainly felt like the end. Felt as though, for the latest and last time, any realistic hopes for future European competition were well and truly dead. And yet the very next match, an at times attractive victory over Sunderland, saw eyes turn to the table, where Tottenham didn’t seem nearly so far away in fifth as they had only a day earlier. Moreover, Tottenham was still concerned with this season’s Champions League and had a tough quarter-final against Real Madrid looming, something that could put Liverpool in an even better position to nab fifth as Spurs were at a stage where there could be little choice but to focus most of their energies on Europe.

But then, of course, Liverpool lost to West Bromwich Albion. And not just any West Bromwich Albion: Roy Hodgson’s West Bromwich Albion. And they looked horrible in doing so. And it threw away any gain that could have been made in the table when Tottenham slipped up and drew against Wigan.

The players, though, still talk of hope, with Jay Spearing chipping in alongside Carragher:

We will never give up the fight for Europe and there are still plenty of points to play for.

With Tottenham only drawing it was a great opportunity to close the gap but it was a massive disappointment for ourselves…

We were disappointed with our performance on Saturday but we need a big response against Manchester City.

It’s hard not to wonder if a player or Spearing’s talents–no matter his local heart–is as much as anything an indictment of just where this Liverpool side stands, especially when compared to those filling similar squad roles on the side he’s soon set to face. Still, if the team can find a way to pull together with a strong performance against an at times similarly uneven football club, then there’s no reason to think fans might not turn to the table afterwards. And it’s not unreasonable to think they might find cause for just a little bit of hope, and a dream or two of what if.

Whether those rekindled hopes would be a good thing should events conspire to allow them, or whether it would be just another false dawn to be snatched away, is another question. Because Liverpool is almost certainly out of Europe, and they likely have been ever since the combination of Arsenal choking on the Carling Cup and the players themselves choking on Portuguese opposition put the nails in the coffin. Just about everybody has been aware of it on some level, and talk of accepting that reality has come up before this latest setback.

But hope can be a curious, slippery, manic depressive sort of thing. And with the right set of results there’s still room for hope to hurt everybody all over again. Or to finally come through in the clutch and provide an unlikely and upbeat end to the season. Because it’s easy to say you accept the season is over, but it’s been said before and it didn’t stop people from finding hope all over again when a few results went Liverpool’s way. Just as it won’t stop hope from creeping back into the frame should results fall the right way next weekend.

Some Related Liverpool Posts:Match Preview: Liverpool v. West Bromwich Albion, 04.02.11Match Preview: Liverpool v. Sunderland, 03.20.11Match Preview: Liverpool v. Stoke City, 02.02.11Match Preview: Liverpool v. Blackpool, 01.12.11Matchday: Liverpool v. Everton

Category: Miscellaneous, Premier League

Tags: Daniel Agger, Europa League, Jamie Carragher, Jay Spearing, Kenny Dalglish, Losing Hope, Miscellaneous, Pepe Reina, Premier League, Roy Hodgson, Steven Gerrard, The Last Chance Saloon, Tottenham Hotspur, Violent Mood Swings
Tweet « Gerrard’s Groin Falls Apart, Kate’s Face Breaks Out, and Other Monday Notes | Home | MikeNoel I gotta ask, where did you find that pic of Pepe? It's great. I can't find any pictures from the match.EdAlso worth checking out is http://zimbio.com and http://daylife.com/photosNoelTry here: http://galeria.lfc.pl/index.ph...MikeThanks guys.alabamabobI don't see Dalglish recalling any of our fullbacks or going out for a emergency loan. My thought process revolves around the following:
1) we're not getting relegated
2) European football could have been within our reach, and still might, but after the season/luck we've had I'm not going to waste tooo many dreams (maybe just 4 or 5 a week)on that.
3) I'd say, lets blood the young ones. Get them a taste. Maybe a few of them would have the fire in their bellies enough to do us some good. What do we have to lose?
4) Were we not so berift of defenders at the moment, I'd also say let Carra take a seat on the bench. He gets far too hoof-happy, when he would be better off passing the ball short. He was also absolutely destroyed (save one likely goal saving block, who else right?) the entire game defensively.
5) Put the team in position to do well next season. We're not rebuilding, we're reloading.Tom FooleryPretty much my underlying thoughts...blood the youngins and bench Carra is a good approach in my book. And, I love that last line.Tom FooleryOooh, and the emergency loan thingy was brought up during the matchday thread, I think.
Anyone know anything about the possibility of picking a fullback up until the season ends? Or recalling one of our various loanies (ie. Insua, Derby, and dare I say...Konchesky)?Tom FooleryWhile its true that the table and upcoming, potentially season changing, matches leave plenty of room for hope, I can't help but have my doubts, and it is largely due to the list of players occupying the treatment table. Don't mean to be a downer here, but 0 recognized fullbacks (happens to be where we develop width and thus crosses to our towering CF) leaves me feeling a bit bleak. I've never been one to "give up", and I'm far from that stage, but I think that we have to realize that not qualifying for Europe this season doesn't make it a lost season. There are plenty of silver linings, we've had huge ups to go with the downs..owners, player development (from the academy to first team, not to mention the loanies), coaching/medical staff, etc. We are far from the pit of dispair, and we aren't about "to do a Leeds" as we were constantly reminded of at the beginning of the season, but we may have to exercise some patience and realize that every disappoitment that the present and the future holds (there will be plenty) comes a shinny little light of positivity to keep our hope alive. We support LFC, and in case you don't know, this is a great club that will always have something to keep people supporting it, pushing it forward. We lose as one, we win as one.
Here's to winning...and losing, because I'd much rather support the Pool when we lose than support a winning team with no soul.GalahadThreepwoodI love that last sentence. I would rather support LFC in the Championship (God forbid) than support Chelsea in the Champions League.BgurakanWell put Noel - a week of hopelessness followed by a ray just before the next kick off with predictions of a convincing victory with no basis - probably why the next game never comes fast enoughHysterical HoosierWhat? Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is!
Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?
Hell no! And it ain't over now. 'Cause when the goin' gets tough….The tough get goin'!
Who's with me? Let's go!
MikeYou should post more often. Yeah.Red2deathI'd have to agree with Carra too, especially since the next two games are against Man City and Arsenal. Apparently it takes a certain level of opposition for Liverpool to play decently. Anything below that and the players won't even bother to show up.

In any case, within two weeks we'll know if this season has been a complete utter disaster or just a mitigated one.

Here's to our tenth crucial summer of the past decade.blog comments powered by Disqus