« on: April 21, 2024, 03:27:51 pm »
Fulham v Liverpool
21st April 2024, 16:30h
Craven Cottage
Referee: Craig Pawson
Assistants: Marc Perry, Wade Smith, Fourth official: Sam Allison
VAR: Tony Harrington, Assistant VAR: Richard West
Hope was the Atalanta game will deliver a response to the game against United.
Then the hope was the Palace game will bring that reply to the loss against Atalanta.
After that we hoped Atalanta game last night will be the reply to the loss against Palace.
It wasn't. None of them. Not in terms of results at least. Against Palace we played the best game - but were desperately unlucky not to score. Which seems to have further dented our confidence. There are some positives to pick from what looks like a desperate mess, but I think we can safely say now there will be no instant turnaround of form. Cavalry is back, but they rode for weeks and are in no state to fully join the charge just yet. The rest of the team looks appropriately tired and things are about to get harder. Lot harder.
We continue this week from hell with a trip to Craven Cottage. First in a quickfire series of three away PL games. Forget about United and Palace. This was always going to be the week to determine where we end up. If we were playing out of our skin and scoring for fun - this would still be the week where we could lose points, lot of them. The fact we aren't scoring at all makes it much harder, but really, it was always going to be hard. Weeks like these are all about building up steam. Find a way to win the first and you get that bit of confidence for the second, and so on. But it all starts with Fulham and it can all be over there too.
Safely in the middle of the table, Fulham are now mostly playing to impress the manager. They are very much in the 'on the beach' part of the season, only for us this beach will probably feel more like shores of Normandy in 1940's, than the soft sands of exotic islands. They are rested, unburdened by expectations or table pressure and will look to entertain the home crowd. Marco Silva has demonstrated this season that he is no mug. He will have a plan to both frustrate us and exploit our weaknesses. And yes, we have better players who should be able to match anything they do, but boy-oh-boy does that not count for much right now. Our biggest enemy at the moment is living in our heads. It's the burden of expectation not to let this slip, not to let Klopp's time fizzle out, not to lose it all in such ordinary way. We're playing all upcoming games at once every time we step out on to the pitch.
So for this game, if we could maybe just reduce the scope of our ambition, that would be nice. I don't want Liverpool to go out there and mount a rousing defence of Klopp's legacy, or look to right all the wrongs from previous games. Just play a simple game of football, play only for each other, look after your teammates, support them and try to have some fun. Leave the burden of expectation in the dressing room. It isn't going anywhere because you play for Liverpool. Yo might as well ignore it for now, take a rest from carrying it all the time.
It's just one game, against Fulham.
Play this game, minute by minute.
Be in it, not in it's aftermath.
« Last Edit: April 21, 2024, 06:03:53 pm by TepidT2O »
Logged
“Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”
“Generosity always pays off. Generosity in your effort, in your work, in your kindness, in the way you look after people and take care of people. In the long run, if you are generous with a heart, and with humanity, it always pays off.”
W
