Tomorrow we welcome Zenit St Petersberg to Anfield as we attempt to overturn a 2-0 first leg defeat. It won’t be an easy task and one goal against us will make it almost impossible, but we can’t think like that.
Liverpool supporters are often accused of living in the past, dwelling on older successes and refusing to move on. This can sometimes be true, but there are times like this when our past achievements are drawn on for inspiration and it doesn’t feel like we CAN win the tie, but it feels like we WILL win the tie. There can’t be any other club in the world who feels like it triumphs in the face of adversity the way Liverpool does, no set of supporters more convinced of it’s own team’s ability to get a positive result when it really really has to. The ‘twelfth man’ is such a cliché in football, but the Kop on a big European night when the team needs it is certainly the biggest advantage a team can have.
It seems most generations of Liverpool teams have at least one night that stands out above the rest, even the very average early 90’s side has Auxerre, where we lost the away leg 2-0 and won the return match 3-0 in front of a half empty Anfield that still made twice as much noise as usual. When the team needs us we’re there.
The current Liverpool team is still in it’s infancy, we’ve surrendered our place in the two domestic cup competitions without much of a fight and we’ve not won any of our BIG league games yet this term. We’re crying out for a game that can define our season, something to look back on once the campaign is over and think ‘that’s what we’re about at Liverpool’.
Zenit aren’t a glamour side but they’re good, they’ve spent plenty of money and have some genuine superstars who would get into most teams in Europe. Beating them 3-0 and going through would be a big result, they’re not a group of part timers from a sub standard league, they will be considered a scalp if we get the better of them. This could be the game where some of our younger players, the team in general, and the manager come of age.
The tie is nicely poised for a bit of drama and excitement, the Kop will be ready, the floodlights will be on, the songs will be sung, now it’s over to the players, time to deliver. YNWA
No comments:
Post a Comment