A Season Preview

Just finished reading Fowler's autobiography, I've noticed how well it was about his desire and determination to win, and always be there, cause it would show that he's alive.

 A football ground to a football player is like the ocean for a fish, they are inseparable! Though Benitez has another idea about this in chopping and rotating his squad, yet it's not as easy as we might think, cause WE as fans, are just like Robbie Fowler, supporters of Liverpool Football Club, and would not accept defeat or failure in any way. Losing to any team, in any competition hurts, more especially to us, and losing the one that has eluded us for 17 years does hurt big time, knowing that we have been the monsters of English football, we might not be close to that standard now, but we're still a big club, and a club that has stayed on the top competing for the league championship since the 70's until the early 90's, so it's very simple and easy to look at Liverpool as a challenger in the title run, even if they had the worst squad possible.

You might ask, why am I starting with such a subject for a Season Preview, but simply it is THAT desire that Robbie Fowler was talking about that we all have. As football fanatics "in whatever variations of course", we all love to see our clubs win titles and be up and challenging every other in any competition all the time, it somehow takes our minds off the bad parts in our lives, being big or small doesn't matter, it always takes our minds off that side of our lives which we don't enjoy and we have no hand in, but this one we have a better hand in, football players always state that they are driven by our cheers, and our support, a simple song to sing for one our those lads out there, can make a huge different in a match, and so we get more and more attached to it, and make it more and more our focal point in dealings in life, 'cause simply we have a better shout in changing things here than in some parts of our lives !!!

I'm just like every other Liverpool supporter, would crave nothing this season but to see us grab the title at Anfield come May, and have the parade running around the city, hell I'll go barefooted from where I am crossing the world to see that sight out there, and I won't care how much that would cost me, cause I'm a die hard Liverpool fan, and I'd be pleased knowing that probably more than half a million Liverpool supporters would almost do the same as I will do on that day! So our desire is there, yet: How do we control it and how do we make it affect the whole season?!!

Sometimes something bad happens in the house, at work, on the street, in the car, just anywhere and it would affect our mode. Some people are able to control their emotions and the flow of feelings in decisive times and places, yet the majority can't do that! As we go on a matchday to Anfield, something might affect our thoughts "even players do the same, ask Gerrard about his time when his parents had their problems and you'll see his face to know it" and so we'll lose control of what we have to say or how we do support this team infront of us. It becomes a confusing part, and we won't know how to deal perfectly with and to rub it all, many others around us in the stadium, or even at home would be doing just the same and everybody would be looking for a relief. So all we do is build these players confidence that they can make it big time in the only thing we haven't had in years; the League championship, that they can win it with ease.

Players are not that stupid to go by it, and buy this whole mad-up, but guess what, it adds more pressure on them to perform better. They see us devastated, frustrated and just want to see something better happening. Which leads to either getting confused during play and link-ups, or over performing and burnout without impressing much! such cases have been apparent in the likes of Mark Gonzalez, Djibril Cissé, and Craig Bellamy. They have unquestionable talent, and have made their desire to the club very apparent, yet their over joy burnt their intelligence they couldn't do what was very much easy 1-2 of the game!!!

Pressure is up this season, with over £ 50 million been spent on new talent from everywhere, young and inexperienced, or ready for first-team action, and so are our hopes and levels of expectations in landing more and more in the foreseeable future !... some suggest that how can Rafa rotate and still win the league? Others are raising questions how would Rafa tolerate the pressure and make sure we don't lose more away from home? I even read some nice ones on many message boards "Who are Rafa's first line up this coming season?". Yet all this doesn't help our initial case of being happy by seeing the club lift that Premiership trophy in May! ... our support does, and surely would be a major factor this coming season for the club to make a bigger impact in landing not just the Prem, but any of the 4 championships on offer, in which Benítez was very obvious in his approach in the last pre-view video I've watched when he made it clear that "We'll go after all trophies, yet everybody else will along the way, and situations may vary depending on injuries suspensions, etc etc. And so we need to always be ready, analyze situations and make sure we are on the long run" especially as he made more clear than the order of which we are fighting is the Premier League, the Champions League, the FA Cup and the League Cup !!

I know it hurts if we lost to a stupid 3rd division team in a League Cup tie, but I know that it would hurt more if we lost an FA Cup final to Manchester United (which we have experience in 1996)! .. I know it is not a subject to talk about saying that we might lose a Champions League semi-final this season against some unknown new quantity or a super side, but hey, I'll take that if we win the league this coming season and be crowned as Champions of England ahead of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Everton.

In short, Liverpool have the ammunitions and all what it takes to fight in 3 corners this time out, and so to win one of them on the way and an improvement on our league status from last season would all but be considered a great improvement of losing a cup final and a 68 points return with 57 goals scored in 2006-07. Sure I'd love to see us win the title, but it might not be our year again this time, so why add more pressure to this equation were we don't need it?... the new players need time to gel, apart may be from Yossi Benayoun who has been here in the Prem and have showed that he can be able to adapt quickly, just as he did with West Ham! So the case is a bit different with Torres, Babel and Voronin who still have to adapt and would take time, yet I'm all assured they will all deliver this season or the next onwards.

Now that the kick off is only hours away, it's better to start with a positive frame of mind and a brighter way of thinking, looking at the more colorful and bright side than listening to the ironic pundits stating that Rafa have been rotating way too much, or that Crouch isn't scoring enough goals, or that we are not winning enough. I'd actually be surprised if Rafa does start with the same side in 3 consecutive matches, and more surprised if we do repeat out poor away form of last season, cause simply Rafa is not anything like Houllier.

Written by Bassam M. Ali (Base21)