{"id":1477,"date":"2019-04-10T11:14:54","date_gmt":"2019-04-10T11:14:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/?p=1477"},"modified":"2019-04-10T11:14:54","modified_gmt":"2019-04-10T11:14:54","slug":"next-up-for-liverpool-the-ghost-of-2013-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/next-up-for-liverpool-the-ghost-of-2013-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Next Up For Liverpool: The Ghost Of 2013-2014"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve seen a few people today moaning about last night\u2019s result. The fact that we beat Porto 5-0 last year has meant that plenty of Reds had taken victory for granted last night; a fact that was evident by the somewhat flat atmosphere around Anfield for the majority of the match. The reality is that it was pretty much the perfect result from a Liverpool point of view. No away goal conceded, two goals scored to give us an advantage to take to Portugal and the players barely had to come out of second gear ahead of the visit of Chelsea at the weekend. Did people really think that we\u2019d just roll them over and that Sergio Conceicao wouldn\u2019t prepare his team not to be embarrassed in the same manner they were last time out? They worked incredibly hard just to keep the score at 2-0 and we had a few gears to go through, had we needed to. The tie isn\u2019t over, but it\u2019s about as close to it as it\u2019s possible to get.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Liverpool have never lost in European competition after winning the first game at Anfield 2-0 (7\/7). Porto have never comeback 2-0 in the continental tournaments (4 \/4).<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 MisterChip (English) (@MisterChiping) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MisterChiping\/status\/1115729302262300672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 9, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>As Mister Chip pointed out on Twitter, Porto have not come back from a two goal deficit after four attempts and Liverpool have not lost a tie after winning the first-leg 2-0 in the previous seven times they\u2019ve achieved it. Of course anything could happen and it would be silly to suggest that we don\u2019t even need to turn up at the Est\u00e1dio do Drag\u00e3o, but this Liverpool team is far too experienced to throw away such a lead at this stage of the campaign. Too many people are still obsessed with last season\u2019s rock n roll football, where we would destroy teams but look open at the back throughout. We\u2019re far more balanced this time around and are doing what we need to do to get where we need to get to. The result was the definition of professional and it means that we can go into the weekend\u2019s game full-throttle without needing to conserve much energy for the second-leg. Which is just as well, given that we face emotional demons as well as a very good football team.<\/p>\n<h2>Hazard Loves Playing At Anfield But Might Be Distracted<\/h2>\n<p>I\u2019m writing this piece before Chelsea play the first-leg of their Europa League encounter with Slavia Prague, so I have no idea whether or not Maurizio Sarri has decided to rotate his players and focus on the league or whether he\u2019ll be doing that for their trip to Anfield. He did say prior to his club\u2019s game against West Ham on Monday night that they\u2019ll \u2018need to change\u2019 and that he plans on \u2018juggling\u2019 his team, but he didn\u2019t make clear whether that meant playing a weakened team in the Czech Republic or going strong there before rotating when they arrive on Merseyside. Certainly most of us will be hoping that Eden Hazard plays in the Europa League but gets rested ahead of our match, given how much he turns it on when he arrives at Anfield as though he knows the scouts of Real Madrid will be watching so be better play well for once.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">FT: Chelsea 2-0 West Ham.<\/p>\n<p>Start praying Liverpool, Eden Michael Hazard is coming to Anfield. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Tb86cXo9e3\">pic.twitter.com\/Tb86cXo9e3<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 \u2022 (@Chelsea_Related) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Chelsea_Related\/status\/1115356548484694019?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 8, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>That being said, he didn\u2019t start against us in the League Cup but still came on with just over half an hour to play and scored a brilliant goal to give Chelsea a win that started them off on a journey all the way to the final. The thing I\u2019m cling onto is the fact that he played against a Liverpool defence that included Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren alongside each other, with Nathaniel Clyne and Alberto Moreno in the full-back positions and Simon Mignolet in goal, so it wasn\u2019t exactly the A-Team. He did start against Joe Gomez and Virgil van Dijk in the league at Stamford Bridge, however, and scored, so even that hope of mine might prove flawed. The reality is that there\u2019s no way of telling which Hazard we\u2019re going to have to cope with, if for no other reason than it\u2019s difficult to tell how serious Sarri will take it when compared to possible progress in the Europa League.<\/p>\n<h2>Chelsea\u2019s Away Form Isn\u2019t Brilliant, But They Love Anfield Too<\/h2>\n<p>In 2013-2014 Chelsea were, despite what Jos\u00e9 Mourinho said at the time, still very much in the title race. They turned up at Anfield primarily to frustrate and hope that they could hit us on the counter, which they did successfully twice and therefore moved themselves into second above Manchester City, two points behind us. They don\u2019t have any hope of getting involved in the title race this time around but they will be hoping that they can keep themselves clear of Arsenal and Manchester United as the Gunners and Red Devils chase them for a top four finish. What goes against them is the fact that their away form hasn\u2019t exactly been brilliant so far this season, with the following being a list of teams that they\u2019ve dropped points to on the road in the Premier League:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>West Ham United (Draw)<\/li>\n<li>Tottenham (Loss)<\/li>\n<li>Wolves (Loss)<\/li>\n<li>Arsenal (Loss)<\/li>\n<li>Bournemouth (Loss)<\/li>\n<li>Manchester City (Loss)<\/li>\n<li>Everton (Loss)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That\u2019s six losses on the road against teams that they\u2019d have hoped they could get something from, with the definite exception of Manchester City and the possible exceptions of Arsenal and Tottenham. They haven\u2019t played away from home yet this season, but they did lose to Everton in the middle of March before beating Cardiff thanks to some incredibly fortuitous refereeing, so they\u2019re not exactly in the best of form away from Stamford Bridge.<\/p>\n<p><div id=\"attachment_1368\" style=\"width: 264px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1368\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1368\" src=\"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Eden_Hazard_2018_cropped-254x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"254\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Eden_Hazard_2018_cropped-254x400.jpg 254w, https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Eden_Hazard_2018_cropped-127x200.jpg 127w, https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Eden_Hazard_2018_cropped.jpg 272w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 254px) 100vw, 254px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1368\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">By \u0421\u0432\u0435\u0442\u043b\u0430\u043d\u0430 \u0411\u0435\u043a\u0435\u0442\u043e\u0432\u0430 (https:\/\/www.soccer.ru\/galery\/1056314\/photo\/734976) [<a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0http:\/\/www.gnu.org\/copyleft\/fdl.html\">CC BY-SA 3.0 GFDL<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\">CC BY-SA 3.0 <\/a> or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gnu.org\/copyleft\/fdl.html\">GFDL<\/a>], <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Eden_Hazard_2018_(cropped).jpg\">via Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/p><\/div>The problem is that they seem to love playing at Anfield almost as much as Eden Hazard does, with the following being the last ten results at Anfield in all competitions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1-2 Loss (2018-2019 League Cup)<\/li>\n<li>1-1 Draw (2017-2018 Premier League)<\/li>\n<li>1-1 Draw (2016-2017 Premier League)<\/li>\n<li>1-1 Draw (2015-2016 Premier League)<\/li>\n<li>1-1 Draw (2014-2015 League Cup)<\/li>\n<li>1-2 Loss (2014-2015 Premier League)<\/li>\n<li>0-2 Loss (2013-2014 Premier League)<\/li>\n<li>2-2 Draw (2012-2013 Premier League)<\/li>\n<li>4-1 Win (2011-2012 Premier League)<\/li>\n<li>2-0 Win (2010-2011 Premier League)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That you have to go back to the 2011-2012 season to find a win over the Blues at Anfield is shameful, especially when you consider the quality of sides that we\u2019ve had during that time. This campaign is one in which we\u2019re hoping to banish ghosts of our past, however, so there\u2019s no better time than the present to put them to the sword. I firmly believe that we\u2019d have won the title if we\u2019d beaten Roman Abramovich\u2019s team in 2013-2014, so let\u2019s put that wrong to right this time around.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve seen a few people today moaning about last night\u2019s result. The fact that we beat Porto 5-0 last year has meant that plenty of Reds had taken victory for granted last night; a fact that was evident by the somewhat flat atmosphere around Anfield for the majority of the match. The reality is that it was pretty much the perfect result from a Liverpool point of view. No away goal conceded, two goals scored to give us an advantage to take to Portugal and the players barely had to come out of second gear ahead of the visit of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1477"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1477"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1478,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1477\/revisions\/1478"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}