{"id":1632,"date":"2019-10-07T10:47:19","date_gmt":"2019-10-07T10:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/?p=1632"},"modified":"2019-10-07T10:47:19","modified_gmt":"2019-10-07T10:47:19","slug":"no-one-thinks-weve-won-the-title-but-if-youre-not-enjoying-this-then-footballs-not-for-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/no-one-thinks-weve-won-the-title-but-if-youre-not-enjoying-this-then-footballs-not-for-you\/","title":{"rendered":"No One Thinks We\u2019ve Won The Title, But If You\u2019re Not Enjoying This Then Football\u2019s Not For You"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As weekends go, that one wasn\u2019t too bad, was it? The only thing I was interested in was Liverpool getting three points and the Reds didn\u2019t disappoint on that front. But there can always be icing on top of a cake and we got a bucketful of that. We head into a tedious international break eight points clear at the top of the Premier League, with Manchester United in disarray and Everton in the relegation zone. Those two things might have been at least reasonably predictable before the weekend got underway, but I don\u2019t think anyone sensible fancied Wolves to get anything out of their game at the Etihad. Even when Nuno Espirito Santo\u2019s side went 1-0 up and five minutes added time was shown, I still thought the Cityzens would win. That\u2019s a sign of how dominant Pep Guardiola\u2019s team has been over the last couple of years, as is the fact that even an eight point lead is quietly irrelevant considering their ability.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Liverpool&#8217;s last three winning goals from the spot:<br \/>\nMilner vs Leicester, 2-1, 95th minute.<br \/>\nMilner vs Fulham, 2-1, 81st minute.<br \/>\nMilner vs Swansea, 2-1, 84th minute. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/e8TpeR02BJ\">pic.twitter.com\/e8TpeR02BJ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Andrew Beasley (@BassTunedToRed) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BassTunedToRed\/status\/1180549722114859008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 5, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve lots of people issuing notes of caution since the weekend\u2019s matches came to an end and there\u2019s an extent to which I can understand why. If any side in the history of the competition has the ability to win all thirty of their remaining games then it\u2019s this Manchester City team. That also completely ignores the millions of pounds that Guardiola will be primed to spend when January rolls around. They\u2019re a phenomenal football team and two wins against us will cut our lead down to two points, throwing the cat amongst the pigeons. Yet I also can\u2019t help but think that if you\u2019re spending your time talking about why we shouldn\u2019t be getting carried away then you\u2019re doing football all wrong. The end result matters, of course it does. But the journey matters more. If that wasn\u2019t the case then why celebrate a goal during a match? Surely you should wait and see whether it influences the result? Let\u2019s enjoy every moment of this amazing team.<\/p>\n<h2>Only Rival Fans Are Saying We\u2019ve Won The Title<\/h2>\n<p>Literally the only people I\u2019ve seen anything from suggesting that the title is in the bag for Liverpool are fans of rival teams. I don\u2019t blame them, mind. If the shoe was on the other foot then I\u2019d definitely be trying to jinx one of our rivals by saying it was done and dusted. With thirty league games and ninety points left to play for, only an idiot would think that the Reds already have one hand on the Premier League trophy. What that doesn\u2019t mean, however, is that we shouldn\u2019t be enjoying every second of what\u2019s happening right now. I genuinely seem to think there are some Liverpool supporters that would prefer us to be eight points behind Manchester City rather than that number ahead of them. We\u2019re watching probably the best side that the club has ever produced, dealing with all-comers and offering us the best to start to the season that we\u2019ve managed in the modern era.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">3 tough games in a week we\u2019ve had and won them all v good teams that didn\u2019t play 3 games. That\u2019s the difference at elite level. Doesn\u2019t matter how you win you just win. It\u2019s boss to see it again.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 wonitfrombrock (@wonitfrombrock) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wonitfrombrock\/status\/1180622429602897920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 5, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>That we aren\u2019t playing the most scintillating football that we\u2019ve managed under J\u00fcrgen Klopp just at the moment couldn\u2019t matter less. The only thing that this Liverpool team needs to do is just keep winning and they\u2019re finding ways to do just that. In seasons gone by we\u2019ve complained that Manchester City have had such an unassailable lead in the opening stages of the season that other teams have given up by Christmas. That appears to be what Klopp\u2019s side are trying to do, so why on earth wouldn\u2019t we all get behind that as an idea? The title isn\u2019t even close to having been won, but we\u2019ve had a tougher set of fixtures than Guardiola\u2019s team so far and have won eight from eight. If you don\u2019t think that football supporters should be shouting about their team achieving such a feat then I\u2019m not entirely sure that this is the sport for you, to be honest.<\/p>\n<h2>The Anfield Crowd Needs To Relax<\/h2>\n<p>The cautionary note that I want to sound at this point is nothing to do with tempering people\u2019s enjoyment and everything to do with urging people to relax. Sections of the Anfield crowd was, to be honest, fairly disgraceful at the weekend. By pretty much any measure about from actual goals actually scored we battered Leicester City on Saturday. If you don\u2019t believe me then make sure that you have a read of <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/XyS7YGFVXx\">Andrew Beasley\u2019s recent column for the Liverpool Echo<\/a>, in which he outlines exactly how dominant we were. Listen to the folks in the Main Stand, however, and you\u2019d think we\u2019d lost by three. I was delighted to see J\u00fcrgen Klopp turn round to them and cup his ears as if to say \u2018do you think I can\u2019t hear your moaning?\u2019 I totally get that everyone is on edge and wants this league title more than anything, but complaining about misplaced passes or missed shots doesn\u2019t help at all.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">8 clear after 8 games.<\/p>\n<p>But a cautionary note to Liverpool fans.<\/p>\n<p>The moaners were out at the match yesterday. Klopp noticed it as well. All this whilst we are having the time of our lives.<\/p>\n<p>And a simple message to those who leave when the board goes up, don\u2019t bother coming back<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Dave H (@daveatmosshill) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/daveatmosshill\/status\/1180861582244532229?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 6, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Have people really not learnt to have faith in this team yet? Do supporters who are watching us week-in, week-out really not think that we\u2019ve got the ability to win the game at any moment? We will drop points at some point this season. It would be absolutely lunacy to assume otherwise. It doesn\u2019t mean that we\u2019re anything other than a genuinely phenomenal team. We\u2019re all desperate for Liverpool to win the Premier League, but expressing that desperation as frustration and anger at misplaced passes or poorly finished chances is only more likely to mean that we <em>don\u2019t<\/em> end up winning the ultimate prize in English football. This Liverpool team and the manager deserves nothing but praise from all of us. They\u2019re European champions. They\u2019re eight points clear of a Manchester City side that got one hundred and ninety-eight points across two seasons. Let\u2019s enjoy it whilst we can.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As weekends go, that one wasn\u2019t too bad, was it? The only thing I was interested in was Liverpool getting three points and the Reds didn\u2019t disappoint on that front. But there can always be icing on top of a cake and we got a bucketful of that. We head into a tedious international break eight points clear at the top of the Premier League, with Manchester United in disarray and Everton in the relegation zone. Those two things might have been at least reasonably predictable before the weekend got underway, but I don\u2019t think anyone sensible fancied Wolves to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1480,"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\/1632"}],"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=1632"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1633,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1632\/revisions\/1633"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}