Liverpool’s chances of a first title in 30 years are the same as Johnson getting Brexit done – no more than probably
LIVERPOOL’S chances of a first league title in 30 years are about the same as Boris Johnson getting Brexit done or Lionel Messi winning the 2020 Ballon d’Or.
Which means no more than probably.
Yet those people who profess to know are queuing as eagerly as Black Friday shoppers to put their imprint on “Yes, positively”.
But there are plenty of tripwires for the Kloppites to overcome.
That is despite the 11-point cushion they hold over Manchester City, the likeliest of their rivals whose form until this week was considered a bit dicey.
Why then might Liverpool’s hopes be punctured, as have those of a fair number of clubs with a fat margin for slippage?
To begin with, we aren’t even at Christmas yet. And with the season barely a third of the way through, those 11 points could melt as fast as ice on the lake.
Serious injury to one or two key players might shake Jurgen Klopp’s team.
And while he has several good young players, it is interesting that he often uses that human engine James Milner for any number of vacated positions.
Milner is 34 next month and even he is too short to fill in for Virgil van Dijk.
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Without the Dutchman for a couple of months, a dreaded occurrence for manager Klopp, Liverpool would surely be in the same difficulties being felt by City at centre-back.
They have lost Vincent Kompany and cannot find a satisfactory replacement for Aymeric Laporte, who is set to be out for at least another two months after knee surgery.
But City emerged from their poor spell with a 4-1 win at Burnley on Tuesday. And you must take boss Pep Guardiola’s comments afterwards with a sea of salt.
He said: “Nobody gives us a chance. Like everyone says, we are out, we have no chance.
“We are thinking only about ourselves and the next game. The distance we are behind Liverpool it would be crazy to think about the title.”
He would say that, wouldn’t he? Another cause for doubt is that — oddly for those who reckon the Mane- Firmino-Salah triumvirate is the best in football — Liverpool were not scoring in droves until Wednesday, when, of the three, only Sadio Mane played the entire game.
In my view, they have not been as destructive as in the two previous seasons, or when the SAS partnership of Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge nearly won the title for Brendan Rodgers’ team of 2014.
Liverpool themselves learned then about failing to capitalise on gaping leads.
For a club with 18 titles to their name, [30 years] is some famine. Perhaps long-term niggles are having an effect on the present side.
Karren Brady
Half the city mourned as they lost a five-point advantage to City in those final three matches.
On Tyneside, similar despair was felt when Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle, 12 points ahead going into Christmas, lost the title to Manchester United on the last day of the 1995-96 season.
That margin is ominously near to Liverpool’s lead at the moment.
And there is a further resemblance in that the Newcastle hunger for another championship was 69 years old by then, while the Reds last won it in 1990.
For a club with 18 titles to their name, that is some famine.
Perhaps long-term niggles are having an effect on the present side.
In eight matches before the 5-2 midweek whipping of Everton, only once had they scored more than twice — oddly the three they managed in a terrific performance against City, of all teams.
Playing badly and winning is considered to be the art of success.
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And while Liverpool have certainly made the odd goal go a long way, their record opening 14 wins and one draw owe much more to high-octane football and tactical defending than clinging on to a one-goal lead.
Make no mistake about it, Pep’s City will chase their arch-rivals to the tape — and possibly Leicester will, too.
A bigger test than either, though, will be how to overcome the pressure of the 30-year void.