Signs of Liverpool’s upward momentum ominous
The win against Chelsea last night was nothing short of euphoric for Liverpool and yet the manager suggested in the post match conference that since the day he joined Liverpool Football Club his career had gone downhill.
It was undoubtedly some deliberate downbeat irony that the manager was indulging in, perhaps a mean swipe at the critics who justifiably or unjustifiably put the man’s management under heavy scrutiny when his side slipped into the drop zone.
Last night was undeniably the most satisfying night of his Liverpool career so far. The downward slide may have been dangerous after the Merseyside derby defeat and a humiliating home loss to Blackpool, but a win against league leaders, and that too by shutting
out their illustrious opponents was without a shadow of a doubt, the clearest sign of momentum in the right direction.
It was only a month ago that Liverpool fans, who usually are so patient with their managers, were chanting for Kenny Dalglish to be the next manager of Liverpool.
Of course they cannot be blamed as a home defeat against a side that everyone predicted to be the whipping boys of the season could hardly be digested by the diehard Liverpool fans.
But such is the fickle nature of football that the public enemy numero uno has turned into a sweetheart of the Anfield faithful in just over a month.
Although, a deserved and convincing win against the league leaders will go a long way in establishing Roy Hodgson’s credentials but it is only a starting point as it is still a long journey for the trophy starved club.
The victory against Chelsea is obviously the highest point of a yet brief tenure but more evidence will be required in near future that the upward momentum can be regarded as anything long term but the good thing for Hodgson is that there were plenty of
positives to savour from the last night’s win.
The most ominous of signs was the re-emergence of Fernando Torres from one of the darkest spells in his career and back to the form that illuminates the surroundings of Lime Street.
The win against Chelsea was built around the toil and sweats of two unheralded players in the middle of the park, Dirk Kuyt and Lucas Leiva, and of course the real difference being the lethal finishing of the reinvigorated Torres.
In recent weeks, the Spaniard had been accused of a lack of interest in the club as well as lack of struggle, but perhaps it was not true as the main cause of the dip in form of one of the most lethal strikers in Europe was the lack of proper service from
the midfield rather than his own doing.
The service from midfield resumed last night and Torres obliged. Of course, his fragile body had a lot to play in his lack of confidence but the class surely was there all along and it only required one moment of magic to bring it all back and that moment
of magic came in the 11th minute against Chelsea last night.
There had been signs in recent weeks that Torres’ confidence, mind and body were on the road to recovery. The winner in the last league game against Bolton and the creation of a dramatic winner was a pearl in a wretched display by Fernando Torres. But nonetheless,
it pointed towards his road to recovery.
And last night, as cruel as it may be, it was John Terry and Chelsea who had to bear the pain of being hit by the brutal force of Nando’s brilliance that Liverpool had been missing all season.
Make no mistake about it, Nando is back and back with a bang as if the world needed a reminder about the fact that form is temporary and class is permanent.
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