Struggling to get used to changes
The Barclays Premier League table in England has had a very unfamiliar look this week for this stage of the season. With only six games to go before the finale for most teams, it is my Liverpool who somehow find themselves at the summit following their unbeaten run this year which has seen them win the last eight games and breaking all sorts of records, especially at the offensive end of the pitch.
I must say I am still not used to the idea of my team being regarded as contenders for the title. My hope at the beginning of the season was that we could return to the top four which would allow us to compete in the Uefa Champions League. Only until that is assured will I publicly join those who are excited at the possibility of us becoming champions of England after so many false dawns in the last two decades or so.
Yes, I am enjoying every victory, but once I have had time to settle down I grow anxious again ahead of the next fixture. There are those who think next weekend’s match against Manchester City and the one against Chelsea two weeks later will define Liverpool’s season. I hope the players are not looking at it the same way and are following the words of manager Brendan Rodgers to take one game at a time.
I am actually pensive about tomorrow’s game against West Ham United at Upton Park. As we have seen from the Blues’ experience, it is not necessarily the big teams that can derail you. Jose Mourinho’s charges have been pegged back by less fancied teams and I know that if Liverpool had lost twice in three fixtures, the commentaries would have suggested that they are choking under pressure because of inexperience.
But because Mourinho has earned the right to be judged differently there is no talk of crisis at Chelsea even if one adds their 3-1 defeat away to Paris St Germain (PSG) in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday night. Most pundits still expect them to come good both in the title race and in the elite European competition where they are expected to repeat what they did against Napoli two seasons ago.
The other unfamiliar aspect about the Premier League table is the position of defending champions Manchester United. I am not sure if there is another team that has occupied one position for as long as David Moyes’s men have stayed on seven. They may have flirted with other slots, but they still return to position seven and there should be good money to bet on them finishing there in five weeks’ time.
Finishing at position seven would be as sensational as my Liverpool finishing as champions because it is very unusual for teams to make such rapid movements with essentially the same squad. You would normally expect the movement either way to be gradual, but that is perhaps one of the reasons football is called the beautiful game. There is always room for the unexpected to happen at any point.
Of course, United’s season could still end in excitement. Their defiant performance against the well-oiled machine that is Bayern Munich on Tuesday night gave them hope that they can mix it with the best and they find themselves only three games away from a highly improbable Champions League final in Lisbon. Now that would be sensational and this game is full of possibilities for those who believe.
