{"id":1987,"date":"2021-08-10T16:40:01","date_gmt":"2021-08-10T16:40:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/?p=1987"},"modified":"2021-08-10T16:40:01","modified_gmt":"2021-08-10T16:40:01","slug":"my-hopes-for-the-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/my-hopes-for-the-season\/","title":{"rendered":"My Hopes For The Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes the football season comes around far too quickly. On other occasions, it feels like forever since you\u2019ve seen the lads kick a ball in anger. Because of the European Championship in the summer, I\u2019m genuinely not sure how I feel about Liverpool\u2019s campaign getting underway on Saturday. Everything feels a bit strange, as though the pandemic, which robbed us of a title celebration and the ability to go to Anfield, has shifted the footballing landscape. Given the sheer incompetence of the government in charge of this country, I\u2019m not entirely convinced that we\u2019ll actually get to enjoy the football before the country starts getting put into lockdowns again. Perhaps that\u2019s why everything feels quite alien to me, meaning that I\u2019m not quite as excited about the approaching Premier League season as I usually am. I have adopted my standard policy of barely watching any of the pre-season matches and <em>definitely<\/em> not reading anything into the results.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Nothing beats having the fans back. Thanks for all the support. Bring on the season&#x1f44a;&#x1f3fe;&#x26bd;&#xfe0f;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/lfc?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#lfc<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/VoinKy9URI\">pic.twitter.com\/VoinKy9URI<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Rhys Williams (@rhyswilliams01) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rhyswilliams01\/status\/1424841437544321034?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 9, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Whether we like it or not, though, the season starts on Saturday. The Reds are visiting Norwich City at Carrow Road, which means that the usual dismissal of a newly promoted club has begun in earnest. It happened with Leeds United when we played them on the first day of our 2020-2021 campaign, so it should surprise nobody that certain quarters are already acting as though Liverpool have won the three points and it doesn\u2019t matter which team the manager selects. As those that attended Anfield on Sunday afternoon oohed and aahed over Harvey Elliott, voices could be heard saying \u2018he\u2019d be fine to start against Norwich\u2019. Whilst I\u2019d agree in the sense that he seems to more than capable and an exciting young player, they meant it in a manner that dismissed the Canaries rather than praised him. My hope is very much that he gets to make an impression on the Premier League this season, but what else am I hoping for from the 2021-2022 campaign?<\/p>\n<h2>A Title Win<\/h2>\n<p>It seems like an obvious thing to say, but I\u2019d very much like Liverpool to win the Premier League title this season. The Reds are being dismissed in some quarters, in spite of the fact that they\u2019re the only side that has been able to keep up with Manchester City in the past. Our last campaign was an anomaly, such is the extent to which injuries to keep players in the same position completely derailed what the manager was trying to do. I\u2019m not saying that that won\u2019t happen again, because we all know that it could, but it\u2019s definitely less likely. The fact that we\u2019re being under-estimated in some quarters, including by the bookmakers, is absolutely fine with me. At the time of writing, Manchester City are the 4\/6 favourites, Chelsea coming in at 9\/2 and the Reds are 5\/1. This is a team that thrives on defying expectations and boasts a manager that loves to prove people wrong.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Liverpool have only acquired a centreback, with 2 of their best CBs coming from injury so they haven\u2019t really gotten anybody, got rid of Wijnaldum, I don\u2019t see them challenging for the title at all.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 CG &#x1f4ab; (@CityGrealish) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CityGrealish\/status\/1425118127298338820?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 10, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The delight of finally winning the Premier League title at the end of the 2019-2020 season was obviously tempered by the fact that no one got to be in the ground to see it happen and we couldn\u2019t celebrate. Perhaps the same thing will happen again this time around, but at least the vaccine means that there is a chance that life can get back to normal. These boys deserve to be on the receiving end of a parade like the city has never seen before, the kind of thing that puts the one for the Champions League win a couple of years ago into the shade. On top of that, it would be lovely to get the better of Pep Guardiola\u2019s Manchester City side, which continues to play with a cheat code and gets away pretty much scot-free from the press, the powers that be and opposition fans. Defying expectations is a Liverpool tradition, so managing it again this time out would be glorious.<\/p>\n<h2>Winning Another Trophy With It<\/h2>\n<p>I could write about wanting to see Jordan Henderson stay fit for the season, or Thiago Alcantara playing the player we all thought that we were signing. I\u2019d love to wax lyrical about this being Harvey Elliott\u2019s breakthrough season or about how Virgil van Dijk\u2019s return to fitness after a long layoff will be a joy to watch. All of those things are true and I\u2019m excited to see them play out, but the reality is that I want this team to win silverware. This is a group that has played some stunning football in the past few years and was dealt blow after blow last time out, so nothing would give me more pleasure than to see them lift as many trophies as possible. There\u2019s an argument that this is their final season together, with at least one of the front three likely to depart next summer and the midfielders all approaching an age that means they\u2019ll soon need to be replaced.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">I remain hopeful <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LFC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#LFC<\/a> will sign 1-2 new players before the window closes. But I know we won\u2019t compete with City unless we sell out to an owner who wants us as a toy. If we try, we\u2019ll end up like Barca. We have a great squad and elite manager. Without financial doping.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Si Steers (@sisteers) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sisteers\/status\/1423753102629425157?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 6, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>With that in mind, I want to see at least one other cup added to the Premier League trophy. The dream would be the European Cup, obviously, but I\u2019d quite like us to win the FA Cup too, if I\u2019m honest. I don\u2019t really care that much about the domestic trophies, but it would be great to see the manager win one of them because it will prove all of the naysayers wrong. Those that constantly criticise J\u00fcrgen Klopp for his team selection, happily ignoring the fact that we\u2019ve regularly faced Premier League opposition whilst Manchester City have played the Dog &amp; Duck in every round for the past five years. It would also be one in the eye for the Liverpool supporters out there that regularly underplay the strength of our squad, given the fact that it actually looks really good heading into this season. Mostly, though, I\u2019d just like to have a year unencumbered by the problems of a global health crisis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes the football season comes around far too quickly. On other occasions, it feels like forever since you\u2019ve seen the lads kick a ball in anger. Because of the European Championship in the summer, I\u2019m genuinely not sure how I feel about Liverpool\u2019s campaign getting underway on Saturday. Everything feels a bit strange, as though the pandemic, which robbed us of a title celebration and the ability to go to Anfield, has shifted the footballing landscape. Given the sheer incompetence of the government in charge of this country, I\u2019m not entirely convinced that we\u2019ll actually get to enjoy the football [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1875,"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\/1987"}],"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=1987"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1988,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1987\/revisions\/1988"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}