Copyright timesofmalta
You’ve got to love Liverpool fans. Back in the summer, before a single ball had been kicked in anger, they’d already decided the league title was done and dusted. I lost count of the number of times one of their supporters would tell me that the Premier League might as well just give them the trophy now and save nine months of faffing around. To be fair, it isn’t hard to see where their immense optimism came from. When you take a title-winning team and spend upwards of half a billion euros on even-better players, it’s only natural to assume things would be peachy. Surely, they assumed, adding the likes of Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong, Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak to the side would make them all but invincible domestically and potentially in Europe too. And for the first few games, it looked like that might be the case. However, when Liverpool were kicked out of the League Cup at home by Crystal Palace last Wednesday, it marked their sixth defeat in seven matches. Those same fans who were all but celebrating back-to-back titles just a couple of months ago were now frantically tapping ‘how long does it take a team to gel’ into Google. Because that’s the thing, isn’t it? It doesn’t matter how good the players are that you are bringing in, any squad rebuild is going to take time to come together. That they won their first five games was more down to good fortune than genius. Arne Slot’s not an idiot. Last season he successfully allowed the Jürgen Klopp machine to keep ticking over; this season he’s trying to overhaul it while keeping it running. That’s like changing the engine on a plane mid-flight. Some turbulence is inevitable. Losing to Palace, though, was a self-inflicted wound. With morale low, Liverpool needed a confidence boost, not another slip-up. Slot’s decision to rest most of his starters – and not even have some of the big names on the bench – felt like a manager gambling that no one would notice. Yes, there are bigger games coming, but sometimes a win is worth more than a rest. This Liverpool side will probably click eventually, there’s too much talent for it not to. But right now, it’s a collection of brilliant musicians all playing slightly different tunes in a slightly different key. Give them time to get to know each and they should, and probably will, produce a magnificent symphony. Just maybe next pre-season, when the parade talk starts again, someone should remind their fans that you don’t win anything before the football actually starts. Owls up about going down You don’t often see football fans celebrating their club going into administration. Usually it’s tears, blame and an old bloke in a flat cap on the news talking about how it’s the darkest day in the club’s history. But Sheffield Wednesday fans? They’ve been dancing in the streets. Literally. Because administration didn’t just mean a points deduction; it meant the end of Dejphon Chansiri. And after years of chaos, delusion and self-inflicted misery, getting rid of the tuna king feels like winning the Champions League. The last home match before administration was eerie, with barely a handful of fans in the ground, protest banners outside and the kind of atmosphere usually reserved for car parks after funerals. Then, just a few days after the administration announcement, Hillsborough was transformed with nearly 30,000 turning up for the next match, chanting, laughing and singing in a shared moment of relief and joy. The queues for the club shop were so long you’d think they were giving away free beer. Someone filmed the CHANSIRI lettering being ripped from the seats and the video got hundreds of thousands of views. It was pure catharsis, football’s version of an ex burning the wedding photos. Let’s not kid ourselves though... the hangover’s coming. A 12-point deduction means Wednesday are nailed to the bottom of the Championship, staring relegation squarely in the face. But for once, the suffering feels meaningful. They’ve broken the bone properly and now it might finally heal straight. There are, apparently, four or five serious bidders already sniffing around. Hopefully this time the club ends up in the hands of someone who actually understands how English football works and who is capable of telling the difference between a balance sheet and a colouring book. It’s going to take a while to fix the mess, years probably, but you get the sense that the fans don’t care right now. They’ve got their club back, their pride back and their voices back. It’s a long road to redemption for the Owls. But after the catastrophic circus of the Chansiri era, it’s one their fans will enjoy travelling. Kevin’s ‘Devine’ intervention As a top-class footballer, there are many ways of sustaining long-term injuries that are guaranteed to win you supporter sympathy. For example, slamming into the goalpost saving a certain goal, damaging ligaments making a last-ditch challenge or being on the receiving end of a nasty two-footed challenge that leaves your kneecap somewhere in your armpit. Belgian legend Kevin de Bruyne, however, has managed to rule himself out for half a season in far less sympathetic circumstances – taking a penalty. The former Manchester City midfielder, who now plays for Napoli, stepped up to take a spot kick against Inter. But no sooner had he kicked the ball than his hamstring self-destructed. Still, at least he scored. If the hamstring had popped and the ball had failed to find the back of the net, that would have been truly embarrassing. Just ask Peter Devine how long it takes people to forget when you spectacularly fluff a penalty. He staked his claim for taking the worst penalty in the history of football many, many years ago but it still continues to rack up the views on YouTube... Dead and Breakfast And now I need my editor to look away for a second as it’s time for a shameless plug – I’ve written a new play and it opens next weekend in Naxxar. It’s called Dead and Breakfast and involves four random people stuck in a hotel storeroom during a viral outbreak. That’s not particularly relevant to a sports column, I hear you cry. But, in my defence, one of the four is retired footballer. So, there is that. Anyway, tickets are on sale from www.tnd.com.mt, and it’s theoretically funny, so come and have a watch if the idea tickles your fancy. E-mail: Jamescalvertmalta@gmail.com X: @Maltablade
