Topic: Two Paths Diverged on an Anfield Road

[Red number seven]

The thing is expectations are rising uncontrollably and dramatically now. If we were to not win either United or Cardiff game people would go mental and hopefully I`ll be proven wrong about it because it`s important to remember where we were last 4 seasons in the league.

It's important to separate expectation from belief. What must not happen is that 4th somehow becomes an anticlamactic failure of a season that sees Rodgers under pressure, in the way that we have previously put managers under pressure after performing prematurely brilliantly.

[Samie]

Brilliant piece PoP just as long as both roads lead to glory but me I'm in the "It's on" camp.   

[campioni]

A good parable and generally I agree it's about enjoying the process, although the ending turns out different if the first fella chooses the wrong fruit and doesn't buy the Apple shares and invests in Apricot computers instead, he's ends up a loser, kicking himself and telling stories of what might of been and boring everyone down the Alehouse, ifithadntofbinfor... The Peter Risdale approach to investment but it introduces a discussion that needs to be had amongst our support because although we've got a section of us who have seen us win League after League title we also have those who have never seen the Redmen being in this position or if they have, it's always ended in sorrow.

It's not an age thing though, as some auld arses have been ground down by life and are the most pessimistic moaning auld bastards in the Kop and some youngsters can give them a good run for their money. For me it's not just about pessimism or optimism because generally we all have a bit of both in us. However we all ready have a great template for dealing with these situations, handed down to us by a man who knew a thing or two about these things and rightly embedded into the club's DNA when faced with precisely this sort of problem.

The 'one game at a time' thing was something we were lucky to be schooled in by Shankly because although it primarily applied to the players it also became a good way of watching the Reds. Enjoying the moment but not thinking because we played fantastic one week that the league or the cup was a formality and by the same token never getting too down by defeats no matter how much they hurt inside and hurt it does. There is always the next game or next season. What mattered first and most was the direction we were going in, the bigger picture because that what was ultimately the most important. While other fans were schooled in rising like rockets and falling like sticks, we were different, we saw the bigger picture and it was backed up with years of success. When things are going for you it's obviously the right approach but when you're in barren years it's tempting to revert to being like any other fans and falling into the trap of blind optimism followed by blind pessimism. Two sides of the same coin, never stopping to take your bearings and enjoy the ride.

If you don't see the bigger picture the danger is you're not grounded, you react to every result and don't see where we're going. One week your a massive optimist thinking we'll steam roll all before us and the next week when our defence lets us down because of injuries you're on the floor, we're shit and need five players. The danger always is that blind optimism leads to blind pessimism at the first setback. The danger is if you take this approach you throw all your emotions into us winning the league and you can't put into context a defeat or draw in the run-up, it's the end of the world, it was never on. It's Cissokho's fault for being shit, Couthino's too light weight, a luxury player, Gerrard's finished, Sturridge is too greedy, Rodgers is too inexperienced out thought by Mourinho etc etc. To use a cliché, you can't see the wood for the trees.

Step back and the direction we're going in at the moment is there for all to see even if we fall short in a number of games during the run-in. This team can be rightup there, not only can we win things but we're playing some beautiful football that is a privilege to watch, if we fall short in the league then this will not change, it's a fantastic time to be a Liverpudlian because we are yet again at the start of a  incredible journey. We really are spoilt, Shankly, Paisley, Fagan, Dalglish, followed by Houllier, Benitez and now Rodgers. We're doing it the right way and we are on the verge of watching a very special team develop. We're all lucky to be in at the start, enjoy it because this is how the journey begins. We'll be telling these tales to our grandkids and we're all lucky to be here now, whether we win the league or not, this is the beginning of exciting times. Enjoy.

Nail on the head.

I'm optimistic about our chances of winning the league this season. I don't see the point in being pessimistic at this stage because in my mind we've nothing to lose really. We were never expected to get anywhere near a title challenge this season and barring a meltdown we will finish in the top 4. Last season we finished 7th on 61 points. With 10 games left of this season we are two points off that total. The progress we have made this season is unbelievable and not just the points on the board.

I'm enjoying the 'process'. Each week I can't wait until the next game because some of the football we are playing is fantastic and we are winning games that in recent years we've always struggled with. Instead of looking at each fixture worrying about the opposition I now look at it thinking this lot should be awake at night having nightmares about facing Suarez, Sturridge, Sterling et al.

10 games left of a season where we could fulfil the dream and become one of the most unlikely title winners for a long time. But regardless of what happens from here on in, we have a team, manager and club to be proud of once again. And if the development of this squad is allowed to continue in the next few years then we'll be up there on a regular basis challenging for league titles and european cups. The last time we had a serious title challenge we should have kicked on, but the two cancers that owned the club tried to destroy us and five years on its only now we're getting back to that level.

[Brian Blessed]

I'm in the optimist camp. Spurs to beat Chelsea and Man City, I'm looking up, not down.

[redk84]

Nice OP

Pretty confident of a top 4 place so ive already won is the way im looking at it...

Im enjoying the ride and if we win the title it'll be an unbelievable bonus....if we dont i wouldnt count it as a failure at all.

So maybe i guess im the middle son. Confident of the future rewards

[wah00ey]

With every victory, so the next game increases in importance and the pressure ramps up another notch or two.

Just to be in the mix on the final day will be astonishing and I don't quite know how I'll handle it if we are.

We have a chance.  A good chance at this point in time.  No doubt about that.  COME ON LADS!

[johnny74]

Good piece, thank you. Unfortunately, parables very rarely change behaviours.

True. Behaviour patterns are 90% automatic pilot, learned over vast stretches of time.

I learned to be a pessimist during childhood. I used it as a defence mechanism to survive difficult times. Becoming an optimist is a slow and difficult process and only happens to pessimists who recognise the damaging effects of a negative world view and understand how to redress the balance without over-exposing themselves to perceived emotional threats.

Don't expect too much of those that are different from you.

[RainbowFlick]

Nice read. Think it's important for all to be level-headed. I genuinely think a cracking 10 games of great atmosphere could do wonders. Let's put pressure on the home or away team for 90minutes.

[I-was-watching-it-on-Sky]

The thing is expectations are rising uncontrollably and dramatically now. If we were to not win either United or Cardiff game people would go mental and hopefully I`ll be proven wrong about it because it`s important to remember where we were last 4 seasons in the league.

People like you just don't get it....

[Teamboca]

That would have been the one alright

First post, been reading for years and set this account up a few months back, so I doubt I'm going to be prolific on here. Always been a fan of PoP since he came on here, learned quite a bit from his coaching knowledge.

So I just want to say I have a funny feeling in my stomach that I didn't even have in 08/09 - I think we have a great chance at this and we have to believe it can happen. I'm 38 and this is the most confident I have felt at a title tilt since I was a teenager. We can't stop scoring, it's like a stream of goals are startiing the to come from all areas of the pitch, we have Sterling becoming a man, Sturridge morphing into the best English striker since God Himself, Suarez with his sights firmly set on 30 goals plus, meanwhile harassing and harrying and generally scaring the bejesus out of all and sundry, all while providing assists and a winning mentality and example by the bucket-load. We have yet to see the best of Coutinho, but who's to say we won't see that with Brazil looming and the prospect of a late call-up to the Selecao to motivate him? Especially if Liverpool were to win the league, Scolari would kinda have to sit up and take a bit of notice.

True, our defending hasn't been great and there is probably room for debate on the cause of that, but the way we commit to attack is just phenomenal. I also believe that our defence will improve in the run-in, and think Skrtel has been better than many give him credit for. Flanagan is growing into the team nicely and then we have Sakho to come back as well. Interesting conundrum for Brendan but better to have than have not I guess. Still, I just see us conceding less on the run-in as teams actually go into games against us already believing that we will just outscore them anyway. We are building an aura and getting that winning groove and momentum will be so important, not much room for slip-ups.

I see a lot of talk about us needing 8 wins and 2 draws to win it. That may be true mathematically at this point, but Chelsea's mean defence won't score the goals that win them games. Currently, most of what they do score comes from non-strikers, and you would have to think that there's more likelihood of those goals drying up during a couple of games than teams outscoring us in ours. I think I read that six of the last 7 champions (has a nice ring...) were the top scorers. So I think it all hinges on us maintaining our scoring form. City could, of course, choose to win it if they are arsed, so we have to hope they haven't got the stomach for it. But I still see them as the main threat since they combine high scoring and stingy defence, but they also have a patchy record in terms of winning trophies that everybody says they should.

Then there's Stevie. I think I would actually cry watching him lift that trophy, I might have to get a hotel room by myself to hide from the missus' mirth! A grown man crying at a ridiculously rich sports star's triumph after mocking her for crying at just about everything on tv with a plinky piano! Aye, but I would cry, and I'm sure the players all know how much he wants it and are going to do their utmost to make it happen. Imagine the romance of it! Liverpool back on their perch one year on from the expiry of the gypsy's curse of Castle Greyskull dominance, the clouds part and a golden sky is revealed once again, restored to its rightful pre-eminence in the cosmos. Oh yes! As the dog would say.

Brendan - what can I say? He first came to my notice while at Swansea, but it wasn't his coaching methods that caught my eye. It was a banner in the Swansea crowd with Rodgers' face on it and it was set in relief and profile the way you see our banners of our great managers and it struck me that the Swans fans (or at least some of them) held him in the same reverence as we do our great managers and I thought to myself, that seems like the kinda guy that could go a long way. I think he has begun to inspire that kind of feeling in some of our fans now, we see the progress he has made, his adaptability, his willingness to put winning games before an over-riding philosophy, making sure he adapts whatever tactics and formation are necessary to beat the team in front of us. That's a winner, and he has learned that on the job here, because he has had to cope with the expectations at a club like Liverpool and has raised them even more with this team. He will win us the league during his time here if we and the club get behind him. He is young, a year older than me and pulling up trees in one of the most high-pressure jobs anyone could imagine. He can only improve and will.

Get on the bandwagon folks, it's a great time to be a Liverpool supporter, we can be proud of what we have achieved this season, there is no pressure on us, we have it all to play for.

Viva la Red Revolution!

Believe

Best first post RAWK has ever seen, welcome and look forward to hearing more from you!
Wish I could write like this, more of a numbers guy though.

[SerbianScouser]

People like you just don't get it....

People like you need to read more carefully.

[I-was-watching-it-on-Sky]

People like you need to read more carefully.

I refer the honourable gentleman to the answer I gave a few moments ago.

[Van Halen]

Thanks, PoP.

While I imagine we all count our blessings, and there is much in life for which to be thankful – family, friends, good health (I hope for all) and beer –spring to mind.  Yet, often times “life” seems a chore.  Work, money (or lack of it), bills, taxes, crap weather, general headaches, shit on the news, getting older and the swiftness of time all weigh on us.  “Dysons aren’t supposed to fucking break after 6 months!”… I digress.

Football is a release from this for sure.  It is much less so when there’s dysfunction around your club, or you lament finishing 7th or 8th, missing out on hopeful targets, and shit like languishing stadium redevelopment, the endless oil money buying up players and prizes.  Space Invaders-inspired away kits.  You get my drift.  But still it is there for us to enjoy – or even escape from the other things in life.  And there’s a permanent pride in the LFC supporters local and worldwide for many reasons we all know, and rightly so.  And this doesn’t fade.

But this year it is different.  People seem to have that "hope in their heart(s)" for real.  But, there’s a difference between “hoping” to fare well, and “believing” you will do so.

Brendan Rodgers and his team don’t seem the hopeful lot.  They are playing each match with belief and getting the results as proof.  Remember how if we went down a goal, so would our heads?  All in the past, my friends.

Our manager is a youngish fellow, who is intelligent, articulate and has a knack for improving players.  And we have some fine talent, much of it young.  This at once made me hopeful for the future – and that was good for a time.   

This team plays exciting and at times riveting football.  “SAS”…”Hendo hounding the opposition”…”Stevie in his new role”…”Did you see that pass from Coutinho??”... and on.

It’s fun to watch, as have been celebrating the results.  We are in the hunt not only for CL places, but for an outright title challenge.  The air is fresh and tingly these days folks, and I for one am in the believing camp.

Cheers!

[Not A Scouser]

I am happy to have watched this team play so beautifully this season.
I will be happier if they get to play in the Champions League next year.
I will be happiest if they win the League.

I'm going to be happy.

[Hinesy]

For me having been through more red dawn's than a Russian guy who likes women called Dawn, my instinct is to be cautious. We've all been hurt before. But then what good does it do to temper your emotions. We're football fans first, we're supporters, the last of the few that actually invest loyalty as well as cash in a club. Players? Few and far between. Owners? Clubs are trinkets on their Pandora's bracelet. Managers? We're shop windows for their vanities mostly.
So us, the unlucky few that are tied to a club through sheer heartache and desire, nothing more nothing less, what can we get from it? Why be hurt again when all the previous signs are there.

Well simply because of logic. We win, and by not participating fully in the run in, you are cheated like a cheap orgasm, spent but not involved, trying somehow to reclaim emotional currency in a past event. We don't win the title? Well really, is holding back going to make you feel any less gutted? No.

Jump in chaps. Its not often we get this chance to be loud and proud and sing for the reds. The mighty reds. Even if we come 2nd or 3rd or 4th, what a way to get there, with a charging hurrah that in the days to come, when we're nothing but a Werners Original receptacle, we can have a glint in our eye and say to our grandchildren, we were there and we felt it.

[No666]

Jump in chaps. Its not often we get this chance to be loud and proud and sing for the reds. The mighty reds. Even if we come 2nd or 3rd or 4th, what a way to get there, with a charging hurrah that in the days to come, when we're nothing but a Werners Original receptacle, we can have a glint in our eye and say to our grandchildren, we were there and we felt it.

[Sudden Death Draft Loser]

Jump in chaps. Its not often we get this chance to be loud and proud and sing for the reds. The mighty reds. Even if we come 2nd or 3rd or 4th, what a way to get there, with a charging hurrah that in the days to come, when we're nothing but a Werners Original receptacle, we can have a glint in our eye and say to our grandchildren, we were there and we felt it.

I've (quietly) be "in" since late last year. I'm still "in", but a bit louder now.

[planet-terror]

nice piece PoP,

all we can ask is to support our team with the passion we are known for.

then lets see where the season takes us.

[juan1001]

You're telling us we should have bet on Liverpool to win the title at the start of the season, aren't you...

[RedFalcon]

You're telling us we should have bet on Liverpool to win the title at the start of the season, aren't you...

I did, 3.5k coming my way in 10 games!

[MichaelA]

Beyond my wildest expectations. And so is this piece. Thanks PoP.

[AK47]

Well the "Round Table" discussion has changed quite a bit ;-)

With 10 games to go I hope and pray to deities that I don't believe exist for 1st but will be very happy and satisfied with 4th but won't mention either of those options out loud for fear of jinxing it (writing it down don't count!)

[keyop]

'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all'.

Alfred Tennyson

[John C]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/BiZduBO2bQM?fs=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/BiZduBO2bQM?fs=1</a>

[houkura]

I'm always an "all in" supporter. Never have understood the "Id bite your hand off for a draw" thing. Dreaming is what supporting Liverpool is all about. I think we'll win before every game, always have, even in the worst of times. I take it pretty bad when we lose but can always see the good things no matter. Life, love and happiness. Well-now suddenly we find ourselves on the precipice of something truly amazing and it's time to jump in full forced. May as well enjoy the ride no matter the outcome. Odds are on our side that the outcome will be more than anyone expected at the beginning of the season anyway right? I would hate for us to have won the title and not enjoyed every pass, every goal, every Sturridge lob...and dance along the way.

Just a few weeks ago an image drifted into my mind-Steven Gerrard hoisting that big fucking cup over his head at Anfield. Been scared to say it out loud or type it in a forum but what the hell.. Can you imagine that sight? I'm not sure I could handle it. When that penalty crashed home in the 94th minute at St Mary's at the weekend my eyes welled up a bit. Have a feeling something great is coming.

[Red number seven]

For me having been through more red dawn's than a Russian guy who likes women called Dawn, my instinct is to be cautious. We've all been hurt before. But then what good does it do to temper your emotions. We're football fans first, we're supporters, the last of the few that actually invest loyalty as well as cash in a club. Players? Few and far between. Owners? Clubs are trinkets on their Pandora's bracelet. Managers? We're shop windows for their vanities mostly.
So us, the unlucky few that are tied to a club through sheer heartache and desire, nothing more nothing less, what can we get from it? Why be hurt again when all the previous signs are there.

Well simply because of logic. We win, and by not participating fully in the run in, you are cheated like a cheap orgasm, spent but not involved, trying somehow to reclaim emotional currency in a past event. We don't win the title? Well really, is holding back going to make you feel any less gutted? No.

Jump in chaps. Its not often we get this chance to be loud and proud and sing for the reds. The mighty reds. Even if we come 2nd or 3rd or 4th, what a way to get there, with a charging hurrah that in the days to come, when we're nothing but a Werners Original receptacle, we can have a glint in our eye and say to our grandchildren, we were there and we felt it.

Good post mate. Two things to add to it:

1. Believing, participating, enjoying not only means it will have been even more fantastic if we do manage the unlikely, but, seriously, it might actually contribute to it happening. Nobody can tell me the "make us dream" "we'll win it 5 times" believe, support, devil may care attitude didn't contribute to our equally unlikely European Cup win of 2005.

2. Having believed, got your hopes up, and allowed yourself to love like you've never been hurt, regardless of the outcome, let's not turn it into expectation and pressure going forward. This is premature in the Rodgers era. 4th would have been outstanding this season. Next season is a new season where 4th would still represent a good performance. We have been really good at loading pressure on managers and players after exceptional early performance - lets not do our usual trick of perversely using early success as a stick to beat subsequent slightly lesser peroformance.

[exiledintheUSA]

Very much a one game at a time kind of person but my worr - what a run-in this could be.  Beat the mancs and take it from there....

[Cream147]

There's a time for cynicism in life, but for me, not whilst following a football club. If you don't dare to dream then the journey is going to be less enjoyable. Get properly invested in what's going on from now until the end of the season and this will be one of the seasons you'll always remember - whether we make it or not in the end.

[SpartanTree. No deccies or lights.]

You only live once.
Fuck it....Put it all on RED !

[Latenight Surfer]

Well, all I can say is that hope never abandons a person, it's the other way round. Feeling like a champion after becoming a champion is one way to do it, and feeling like a champion on the way to being a champion is another.

I'd choose the second one because at the moment we are playing fearlessly going game by game and also at times making it tough for ourselves ( So 'they' say when we lose). But if we win the title then praises will be showered upon the team and the Manager from the most unlikeliest of corners and if we don't then it'll all come down to - "I knew they wouldn't, look at how porous their defense was".

Well we wouldn't hope for "IT" if were like with 52 points now but the table tells us that we can, and I for one will do because losing like champions is second only to actually being a champion and at the moment our game play is somewhat on the same lines.

[6xEuroChamps]

I've been trying not to get carried away for sometime now. Sunday's result and a look at the run in fixtures makes it hard not to though. I'm starting to believe, which is fantastic in itself, even if we fall short, having faith and belief in our team and our manager again makes me very happy