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Opinion
The last two weeks have been turmoil for European football and English football in particular.
The capitalistic move to start the European Super League created a stir among fans English football fans.
That stir saw multiple protests at various stadiums across the country. One of those stadiums was Old Trafford. Fans participated in a protest, which saw them enter the stadium and parade on the pitch, within the stadium and on the sidelines a few hours before the scheduled kick-off of the Manchester United and Liverpool game.
The protest, which was deemed a security and COVID-19 risk for the players and the non-playing staff, saw the game being postponed. Given that we are already in the tail end of the season, finding a date to re-schedule the game was always going to be a task.
United, who were almost certainly going to enter the Europa League final after hammering AS Roma in the first leg, literally had no slots available until the end of the season. Somehow, the board sat down and moved around a few fixtures to accommodate this massive English Premier League fixture versus Liverpool.
(Photo by Richard Sellers/Soccrates/Getty Images)
This is where it played into the hands of Liverpool. Given a recent run of horrid results, the two-week break could have given Jurgen Klopp’s men time to get back to the drawing board and get enough rest. Tactical training, finishing drills and regular field training was on the agenda.
Liverpool need the results of other teams to play in their favour for them have any chance of earning a top-four place.
However, given that Chelsea have to play Arsenal, Manchester City and Leicester City twice in the next couple of weeks, Liverpool have an outside chance of scraping in. However, it is still unlikely. But it can happen if Chelsea end up dropping a couple of those Premier League games.
In addition to a cramped fixture list for Chelsea, Manchester United have to play four games in the space of eight days. That means we might see Ole Gunnar Solskjær forced to rotate some of his players. Also, during the time Liverpool were resting, Solskjær’s men played a two-legged Europa League semi-final. That means rotation and fatigue could hand Liverpool a slight advantage.
However, Liverpool need to be hungry in these last five games of the season. They have to win all five and hope that the teams around them drop points.
This is a tough ask, but we’ve seen Liverpool step up whenever needed. All Liverpool fans need to do is back them and push them, albeit from home.
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