While the last 10 days have been very hard for Liverpool fans there is a sense in which we have actually been lucky over that period.
Now I’m not saying we’ve won the lottery. In fact the opposite, it has been a very bad week in the life of Liverpool Football Club. We are without a win in the last four games and head into a tricky away tie at Leicester City in the middle of a mini injury crisis.
But it could have been a lot worse. Not the City game of course, that couldn’t have been anymore painful. But the three games since could have hit us a lot harder than they did.
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The draw in the Champions League was hugely disappointing. We were leading with less than 20 minutes to go and in control of the game. Winning would have meant an instant comeback from the City match, a European victory at Anfield and command of the group. Instead we drew.
Drawing against a La Liga side in the Champions League group stage is not a disaster. The draw between Maribor and Spartak Moscow means we are not behind anyone and can grab the group advantage in Moscow. In that way, we were lucky.
Then against Burnley in the league there was certainly no luck for our forwards. We dominated possession and rained in shots from everywhere and Nick Pope goes and has the game of his life. Typical Liverpool.
Yet all the worry and stress before the game about the Burnley aerial threat never materialized. Chris Wood was anonymous. And the last time we played a game like that against Burnley we lost two-nil. Disappointing for sure, but we have often gone away from a game like that with nothing. This time we had a point.
Finally the game against Leicester City in the League Cup. How could that possibly be lucky? We dominate again, miss our chances, collapse late on and suffer an embarrassing loss. Yes not much luck in that game. But it is lucky that the result happened in the League Cup.
Yes, a competition we want to win and use to give young players valuable minutes. But if we go back to that stadium and get a win on Saturday everything is better. Would you choose a win against Leicester in the League or the League Cup? Exactly.
Much rides on Saturday. Win and it’s 11 points from 6 games which will put us in or around 4th place. Lose and we can say that the luck has well and truly run out.
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