After the storm is a golden sky
Brendan Rodgers himself said it was “very quiet”. Although sources state some players tried to inject a bit of energy, most knew.
That could be seen in the distraught reactions of Luis Suarez and Steven Gerrard. They knew they had blown a great chance to win the title.
Just how great a chance that was, however, is the really big question.
Is it just this season’s league that now looks gone, or have Liverpool wasted the kind of opportunity that may come only once every 30 years?
Right now, that feels far more relevant than the idea Manchester City won’t get four points from their last two games. It’s also fair to wonder how much of this surge was down to the distinctive context of this season, or the inherent quality of Rodgers and his squad.
Certainly, there were a number of reasons why this campaign felt like a rare opportunity. It was as if everything fell into place for Liverpool — until everything fell apart at Crystal Palace.
For a start, there was the very fact all of last season’s top three were changing managers, not to mention the retirement of English football’s most dominant figure over the past few decades in Alex Ferguson.
That was always going to have seismic effects even beyond Manchester United, and Liverpool were not the only team to easily beat the deposed champions at Old Trafford.
That 3-0 win on March 16 was just one win in the club’s remarkable 11-match streak that has taken them this far, which itself took on an almost intangible nature.
While this is not to downplay Liverpool’s fundamental qualities, it’s difficult to dispute that a run like that is almost impossible to repeat. It’s statistically highly unlikely.
There’s also the way in which every season has its own rhythm, develops its own dynamic. For so long, it seemed like a wave of emotion and momentum would propel Liverpool’s exhilarating football to the title.
Even if they do challenge again, they are unlikely to get a chance to win it like that again. That is almost as great a shame, from a pure story perspective, as the league itself being lost.
There’s also the galling prospect this season will now be more remembered more for the slips of the last two games against Chelsea and Palace than all the brilliant football beforehand.
Whether that happens or not, the likelihood is that many of the teams Liverpool trampled over in that run will remember what beat them. It would be incredible if the likes of Everton and Arsenal make the same mistakes as in the 4-0 and 5-1 destructions of February.
Many sides will now be that bit wiser to Liverpool’s approach, of the fundamental need to frustrate them early on and then counter.
While that streak was going on, meanwhile, their rivals also slipped in ways most would have thought unimaginable: City at home to Sunderland; Chelsea at home to Sunderland, Norwich, West Ham United and West Brom.
It seemed the perfect storm for Liverpool, until the storm of Selhurst Park led to a deeply imperfect result.
Now, can lightning strike twice for them?
It’s certainly difficult to think it will happen in this way again. Chelsea will have the benefit of an extra year under Jose Mourinho, as well as the addition of at least one high-profile striker; City will have an even deeper understanding of Pellegrini’s approach, and perhaps the extra assurance that arrives with winning a title. Manchester United will not be this bad again, while young players like Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere will learn the lessons of Arsenal’s own slide.
Rodgers’ challenges are internal as well as external.
Will a 34-year-old Gerrard be able to repeat the efforts of this season?
Will the manager himself strengthen the squad enough to be able to handle the extra demands of the Champions League?
Will participation in the Champions League be enough to sate Suarez?
In that, much will depend on how Real Madrid finish their season. Their president Florentino Perez is a known admirer of Suarez, but now tends to only make significant statement signings in summers when they haven’t won a significant trophy.
It’s not an exaggeration to say the emotion of a title win would erode many of these worries, provide a more persuasive argument in any negotiation, and also propel the momentum of this season into the summer.
Now, Liverpool may have been halted, and may have to reflect.
That, however, is less of a problem for Rodgers than others — which is nothing to do with all the jokes about his self-regard. Ultimately, for all these issues, Liverpool have one advantage over almost every other Premier League side bar, perhaps, Everton.
Rodgers and Roberto Martinez are part of a new breed of management who base the most important work on the training ground, trying to improve the base level of every player. That has been the main reason for this season’s rise, a campaign which remains so creditable despite what has happened at Selhurst Park.
It also means they are better equipped to adjust to changing situations. One player who competed against Liverpool this season privately enthused to the Irish Examiner about how impressive their fluid change of formations were on the pitch, regardless of who was on it.
“The most distinctive elite side we played,” he said. “A class above.”
It made them extremely difficult to figure out.
Rodgers now knows he has to figure out his defence and a few other issues.
They still, however, have a distinctive advantage that will keep them competitive. Liverpool may not get to this unique level of performance again, but they have dramatically raised the level of the team.
The future is so much brighter, even if the present seems so depressing.
