FRIDAY, MAY 9, 2014

Regardless of who lifts the EPL crown, Liverpool's style is a win for football

Steven Gerrard (R) and Luis Suarez leave the pitch at the end of the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Liverpool at Selhurst Park on May 5, 2014. The match ended in a 3-3 draw. PHOTO | ADRIAN DENNIS

Steven Gerrard (R) and Luis Suarez leave the pitch at the end of the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Liverpool at Selhurst Park on May 5, 2014. The match ended in a 3-3 draw. PHOTO | ADRIAN DENNIS  AFP

In Summary

  • As many laughed at Liverpool after they were torn apart on Tuesday night, there was much sympathy for them within the football world
  • Barring a surprising twist in the final matches on Sunday Liverpool will end the season trophy-less
By Murithi Mutiga
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There have been many jokes told at Liverpool's expense following theirspectacular collapse against Crystal Palace in the last 10 minutes on Tuesday night: I bought this Liverpool mug yesterday, but somehow it keeps sliding off the top of the table.

In the UK, most of the jubilation over Liverpool's misfortunes has come from the Manchester United fans who loathe Liverpool with a passion due to the ancient rivalries between the two industrial port cities.

In the press and in the wider football world, though, Liverpool have received a lot of praise for what they have done this season.

They played with a verve and passion that was simply thrilling to watch when they were at full flow, the attacking quartet of Suarez, Sterling, Sturridge and Coutinho intermixing at astonishing pace and tearing defences apart with a precision that took the breath away.

I was one of those who expected little from the Reds at the beginning of the season although we should have been warned by their strong form in the last half of last season.

The warning signs were finally issued when Brendan Rodgers boys turned up at Man City and played their full part in probably the most entertaining game in a season of many such.

They lost 2-1 but were simply outstanding. They outclassed the richest football club on earth and tore them apart with impunity every few minutes although they somehow failed to score more than the one goal.

Their pace and trickery brought back memories of watching DVDs of the Liverpool team that had as its attacking spearhead the duo of Robbie Fowler and Steve McManaman, a team notorious for overwhelming rivals with a tide of red flying shirts.

GRINDING, SOULLESS FOOTBALL

Recent years brought less joyful football to Anfield. Gerard Houllier and Rafa Benitez were pragmatists who did not worry about entertaining the fans in the same way Brendan Rodgers has done.

The tactical battles between Benitez and that other master of grinding, soulless football, Chelsea's Jose Mourinho, were fascinating for fans of chess and students of the finer arts of defensive warfare but for neutrals, they made for dire watching.

The World Cup-winning Argentinian player Jorge Valdano was memorably damning in describing one of the Champions League semi-final meetings between the Mourinho and Benitez teams at Anfield in 2007.

He used some language that would not pass in a family newspaper to say what he thought of the match and then offered this assessment.

"Chelsea and Liverpool are the clearest, most exaggerated example of the way football is going: very intense, very collective, very tactical, very physical, and very direct," he said.

"But, a short pass? Noooo. A feint? Noooo. A change of pace? Noooo. A one-two? A nutmeg? A backheel? Don't be ridiculous. None of that.

"The extreme control and seriousness with which both teams played the semi-final neutralised any creative licence, any moments of exquisite skill."

Valdano then speculated on why the teams had played so negatively, claiming it was because both Mourinho and Benitez failed in their playing careers.

"Neither Mourinho nor Benítez made it as a player. That has made them channel all their vanity into coaching.

Those who did not have the talent to make it as players do not believe in the talent of players, they do not believe in the ability to improvise in order to win football matches.

In short, Benítez and Mourinho are exactly the kind of coaches that Benítez and Mourinho would have needed to have made it as players."

Valdano was wrong about the last bit. Brendan Rodgers, a leading candidate for Manager of the Year together with Crystal Palace boss Tony Pulis, was never a great player.

He retired at 20 due to a serious knee problem but then spent years in Spain learning the language and mastering a few tricks from their coaching methods.

He attended many of the Spanish national team's training camps and returned to England with a finely honed sense of attacking football which he took to Swansea and eventually Liverpool.

Rodgers also spent time with the Chelsea youth team although he clearly didn't pick up Mourinho's defensive methods.

As many laughed at Liverpool after they were torn apart by the incredible pace of Yannick Bolasie and Company on Tuesday night, there was much sympathy for them within the football world, with Arsenal's Arsene Wenger among those saying they probably deserved to be champions.

"Liverpool had an outstanding second part of the season and may be the most unlucky team of the season," he said.

It was, of course, thrilling to see the serial cheat Luis Suarez in tears and Africans especially will never forgive him for the handball which denied Ghana a place in the semi-finals.

Yet barring a surprising twist in the final matches on Sunday Liverpool will end the season trophy-less although they will have the gratitude of the many fans who enjoyed their swashbuckling attacking football (and comical defending).