Liverpool and The Inverse Relationship Between Scoring Goals And Winning Trophies

All who witnessed last week?s Champions (sic) League clash between two ?English? clubs, Liverpool and Chelsea can only but fear for the game. One team set out with a ?must-not-lose? mentality and the other with a ?couldn?t-score-against-a-Kevin-Keegan-led-team? ability! I?m not that concerned with the malaise that Chelsea?s dominance of domestic football will bring to the Premiership, I will continue to belittle their achievements, as I did Manchester United?s, as nothing when compared to the glorious past of the mighty Liverpool.

So, aside from the obvious optical deficiencies suffered by the referee on Wednesday night that prevented him awarding even one of the three penalties that Liverpool could/should have had, what is it that is leading to our inability to put the ball in the back of the net?

Formation

The formation? It?s the future they say, the Europeans have been doing it for years, 4-5-1 is the way to conquer the world! Put it this way, I was at Windsor Park three weeks ago when the English media seemingly coaxed Sven into letting England try this out, Owen up front on his own, Rooney on the left wing, and Gerrard or Lampard (still don?t know which) coming from midfield to support the attack. Did the English look like scoring? No. Likewise Liverpool on Wednesday night (again with a centre-forward, Cisse, running the wing) seemed to be relying on a striker largely untried at the highest level to hold the ball up (which Crouch did admirably) for the midfield to run on to (which they largely didn?t). But then it?s hard to know whether the problem is with the formation or the people playing in it.

Personnel

Personnel, eh? Liverpool, as last season, seem to be lacking a goalscorer. In clinching the European Cup only three players scored more than a single goal in all matches, Baros got two, Gerrard four and Garcia five (incidentally, these three players finished equal top scorer in all competitions with 13 goals each). I have always held the opinion that, if you wish for success, you?ve got to have one player netting 20 goals plus a season, provided his teammates also weigh in with a few. Running through the past three decades Liverpool?s leading goalscorers in all competitions have been:

Ian Rush

So why did I produce this table (aside from wallowing in the past a bit too much)? Well, I guess I was trying to prove my point, and I suppose have, to an extent. Liverpool have almost always had a player who could find the net with unerring regularity, the names of Owen, Fowler, Rush, Aldridge, Dalglish, Keegan and Toshack will forever stand up as some of the most feared strikers of their generations. Even in seasons when the strikers weren?t necessarily firing on all cylinders, the midfield could be relied on to make up the difference. But certainly in the nineties goalscoring did not always guarantee Liverpool success (see also Linekar and Klinsmann at Spurs, Wright at Arsenal and Shearer at Newcastle), but then football is about more than beating the opposition?s ?keeper, it?s about stopping the opposition beating yours.

Defence

Sami Hyypia

For that you?ll need a high quality defence, right? Or at the very least a team well enough organised not to expose Hyypia?s lack of pace or Traore?s lack of ability. This also brings us back nicely to the ?must-not-lose? mentality. In the past it brought much criticism to George Graham?s Arsenal and the Italian game, and even Bob Paisley?s Liverpool were accused of being functionally superb without being exciting (although they could score goals), but I also remember that mid-nineties Liverpool side that excited greatly with McManaman, Fowler and Collymore in full flight, only to concede exceedingly soft goals due to roamings of our wing-backs or Babb trying (not half hard enough) to play football out of defence. So, I?m sticking to my guns on this, I?d rather be successful and boring, than exciting and a loser (a la Spurs, or a Keegan side).

?If you don?t concede, you can?t lose!? I say. ?But you can?t win anything if you don?t score,? I hear you cry. Well, I?ve already ruled out the Premiership (let Chelsea have it, then they?ll only be fifteen behind the mighty Reds), so that leaves the Champions League, FA Cup or the thingy sponsored League Cup, and after last May, I?m confident we can beat anybody on penalties!

As for the game, it?ll sort itself out when England next have a decent World Cup or European Championships (don?t worry, it?ll be in the Sun).