So, still mulling over a poor result, as I’m prone to do, I was struck by a similarity from past seasons. It seems that Liverpool has a recent history of shitting the bed, for lack of a better term, for about a month in every campaign under Benitez save one. One month where Liverpool’s results are well below average. And I reckon we’re currently in the midst of that month.
Now, the rub of the matter is whether the month “started” with the most recent draw against Stoke, or back at the end of November/beginning of December with the draws against Fulham and West Ham (with the Blackburn, Bolton, and Newcastle wins simply aberrations).
08-09 – 11.22.08 or 1.10.09 – ???
11.22.08 – 10 league matches: 3 wins, 7 draws
1.10.09 – 3 league matches: 3 draws
07-08 – 12.30.07 – 01.30.08
5 league matches: 4 draws, 1 loss
05-06 – 09.10.05 – 10.22.05
6 league matches: 1 win, 3 draws, 2 losses
You’ll notice that I didn’t include 06-07, as there wasn’t a spell like in the other three seasons (I’m also not counting Benitez’s first season, because, well, it’s self-explanatory if you remember the side that Houllier left). That season was doomed not by a truly bad month, but the first seven away games where Liverpool only took two points.
Here’s hoping this campaign’s poor streak really started back in November (which, admittedly, would be longer than usual, but tempered by those three wins), and we’re close to a light at the end of the tunnel. Otherwise, as I wrote yesterday, we might really be in for a long few months until May.
4 comments :
Nice one, Nate....
obviously we could implode but the nature of LFC is the rollercoaster and we're on it right now. I'm hoping the big thrills are yet to come this season - and as you hint, we always finish strong.
One of the problems in our recent slump is hubris...as soon as we think it's going to be easy we become complacent and then teams such as Spurs (or Wigan) have a foot in the door - which they've exploited so far this season.
I'm sure if we could keep a high tempo we would've won those games we drew.
Here's to the good times...
This article is one of the reasons why I've started ignoring forums like BBC's 606 and coming to this site for my comment & analysis fix. Great to keep things in perspective without parroting the offical line.
Quality nate, echo Bilal's sentiment completely. After the doom and gloom of the last 24 hours for me, I'm back to being cautiously optimistic about a tough stretch. Regardless of how the title race ends up, a win Sunday would do a lot for morale, and after reading opinions around the web (including my own), we could use a boost.
I still think it's worth pointing out that Liverpool's best performances of late were with Insua in the side, and, while I wouldn't go as far as to say he's been the key to success, it won't hurt to have him back.
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