Walk on, with hope in your hearts

May 3, 2008 · By WattagoalbyRiise · Jump to comments

Much has been said about the Champions League exit to Chelsea on Wednesday. About Rafael Benitez taking off Torres when he was injured, and about not starting with Babel, and then again about taking off Benayoun when he was having an influential game, and how could anyone forget Rafa’s attack of Didier Drogba’s more sinister side to his game.

On the other hand Avram Grant has been praised for outwitting Europe’s premier tactician, although how Rafa was ‘outwitted’ I’m not quite sure.

But that’s another story for another time.

Liverpool fans will no doubt still be feeling quite down after going out in the circumstances that they did to a team they will consider their equal. It is very hard to take going out to an unlucky own-goal, a goal with an offside assist, and a penalty not given, after having fought so hard to reach that stage.

This team has shown tremendous fight to get where they go to. We were one game from going out in the groups stages. We had to win all three, and won them in some style.

Then we had to play high-flying Inter Milan after having lost to Barnsley at home. We played them off the park. Then against a title-challenging Arsenal team, and we did them over too. All the while being ridiculed for our inability to make a decent attempt on the Premier League.

The season has been tough for the Reds. After starting so well, we believed that finally we can have a bash at the title, but it slowly went away from us, as we were left to battle with Everton for that familiar fourth-place. Coupled with our boardroom drama, Rafael Benitez and Liverpool have had a pretty frustrating time of it in 2007/2008.

Chelsea fans can moan all they want about their backroom problems, but it has to be said that some of them were on his back as well, and were not there to support him when he needed them the most.

However it is not all bad.

Backroom aside, we now know more than ever where we need to replace, and what players require replacing, although we won’t all agree on which ones. Plus we should not forget that we have vastly talented reserve and youth teams, that may be able to challenge properly for the senior team titles in a few years title.

Players like Nemeth, Spearing, Pachecho, Insua, and Plessis, who we have seen a bit of, have all stood out in the reserves, and have been instrumental in winning the reserve title

If Rafael Benitez can bring them through, we may not have to spend big for that elusive Premier League. Now that’s worth waiting for isn’t it? It will be interesting to see where our young starlets are in Rafa’s plans for our last two games, given that we have not got much to play for anymore apart from pride. Our season isn’t over yet, as the Liverpool stars of the future must be given a brief opportunity to shine.

Anyway, back to the match…..

There were a number of positives we can take out of that defeat. That a supposedly better team than us, with supposedly better players, needed a large slice of luck to beat us. Then there was the fact that it was our best performance at Stamford Bridge under Rafael Benitez, and lastly our never-say-die attitude was evident right to the end. Every season we are improving under Rafa.

Don’t get drawn into media codswallop about us being further away from the league. Man U and Chelsea are progressing faster than us, but if I’m not wrong, we are still on course to finish this season with our highest ever points total? We are improving, albeit slowly. Any Liverpool fan who thinks that the team should win the Premier League in order for the season to be called a success is plain kidding themselves.

Most Liverpool fans are not stupid, and know that progress will be made little by little. Chelsea’s advancement in world football happened overnight, and as a result, is not sustainable.

Liverpool must not set their sights on winning the title next season, but being CLOSER to the title instead. That is how progress is made.

By Maithri Jayasuriya