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Having watched “Moneyball” this week, it got me thinking about the state of this year’s Premier League and the perpetual losers in the modern age: Liverpool. Liverpool are hurtling towards a longer wait for the title than United’s quarter of a century and their saviour is not the one they were looking for. So what now?
The point of my Moneyball example is that it established a debate between the standard ‘way of doing things’ versus an incredibly smart computer aided way that has supposedly changed baseball forever. It’s inconvenient that the Oakland A’s flopped with their groundbreaking means but supposedly it changed the game. The idea was that analysis of stats trumps the conventional scout’s understanding of the ‘intangibles’ of the game. Naturally, the answer lies somewhere in between.
Now, did Liverpool consult the stats when they spent millions and millions on Andy Carroll, Stewart Downing, Jordan Henderson and Charlie Adam? Did they say ‘to hell’ with the sizeable consensus that Newcastle were having them over with Big Andy? Football fans understanding of intangibles could’ve saved them from this folly. Were Liverpool accessing some new fangled data when they saw ‘value’ in Downing and Henderson? Or did they simply make a mistake in appointing a manager that had been out of the games for years?
Well, obviously Liverpool will not finish in the Top 4. Probably the most surefire prediction you can make this season. Any rational football fan knows this to be true. Any rational football fan knows that Liverpool’s squad falls short against United, City, Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal. At best they’re 6th.
As a Manchester United fan howling with laughter still at those T-shirts sported recently, I’ve had a festive treat served up to me by the comments section from this article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/philmcnulty/2011/12/questions_for_dalglish_after_a.html#more
If you’re “LFCgav”, there’s no such thing as doubting the saviour and his patently poor transfer record during the summer. Practically speaking, Liverpool are within touching distance of the poorest Chelsea team since the Abramovich revolution. Liverpool have been in squad quality decline for a while. Poor old Hodgson took the blame for a malaise that had set in with Benitez’s foolish move for Barry that would’ve jettisoned Xabi Alonso and the die was cast. Dalglish has clearly exacerbated the problems with his poor transfer record since returning.
But what about Suarez? He was a great buy wasn’t he? Well, he was when your forward line consisted of N’Gog, Kuyt and Carroll. N’Gog saw the iceberg and jumped ship to Bolton leaving this current triumvirate of jokers. But anyway, Suarez is a good player. Certainly not a great player but a good one.
He’s also trouble. Now let me say this: I’m not calling Suarez racist or attempting to denigrate his character. Instead, I’m tackling the idea of attitudes that belong in the age when Liverpool were the dominant force in football. The notion that using words with clear racial connotations is acceptable besmirches Liverpool Football Club. The tacit acceptance of it via those ridiculous and embarrassing T-shirts sullies the good work of ‘kicking racism out of football’. What are we saying? It’s OK to call someone a ‘little black man’? That Evra shouldn’t take offence to this? If you’re not defending the sentiment of the comment, then what are you defending? There’s nothing to defend. You’re simply defending the interests of your football club and embracing parochial attitudes.
Take a breath and consider the ramifications in your work place of you using Suarez language. Not pretty, eh? Let’s not also forget that Suarez admitted to using the language. This stand taken by the FA isn’t designed to damage Liverpool or Suarez or to categorise him as a racist, or indeed ostracise him. It’s about stamping out racial abuse. That Suarez or Liverpool do not consider these words racist is of little consequence. It’s not the ’70s anymore, guys – let’s move on.
Happy New Year, all.
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