In any sport, if you can bring your best to the big occasion then you are going to do very well for yourself, no doubt about it. Being able to live with the pressure of the spotlight and still deliver is a very worthy attribute to have indeed.
The international break is a source of much worry and consternation for club managers: ‘will my players return unharmed?’ is the general cause for such anxiety.
The unpredictability of Liverpool FC continues. After claiming wins against Arsenal and Tottenham, but losing to Leicester and Hull in emphatic fashion, in the past month alone, it is hard to say with any certainty exactly how the Reds are playing at the moment. They are lurching from glory to disaster and back again at a rate of knots.
When previewing the Arsenal game we suggested that Liverpool could not play as badly as they had against Leicester again, and happily we were proven correct.
If ever a team was set up to play into their opponents’ hands then it was Liverpool against Leicester on Monday night. Why Jurgen Klopp decided to implement a high defensive line against an outfit containing the guile of Danny Drinkwater and Riyad Mahrez, plus the pace of Jamie Vardy, is anybody’s guess. The 1-3 scoreline speaks for itself.
If the international break or FA Cup is annoyance for punters, then lord knows how it must feel for players on a crest of a wave.
The Liverpool boys must have been raring to go again after their outstanding 2-0 triumph over Tottenham, and yet it will have been more than a fortnight since they last took to the field by the time Monday night’s encounter with Leicester City comes around.
But that gives injuries time to heal, weary legs a chance to rest, and we can expect a high intensity Liverpool side to really take the game to beleaguered Leicester.
When does a downturn become a crisis? It would be easy to get carried away at this point with Liverpool’s poor form, but the point remains that they are yet to win a game in 2017. This was not the start to the year that anybody craved.
It has been a bit of a mixed week for Liverpool Football Club, but the positive news is that we can end it on a high with victory at Hull City on Saturday.
Things started so badly with that FA Cup defeat against Wolves – we’re happy enough to gloss over that, and attention turned to Anfield on Tuesday night with the visit or runaway leaders Chelsea. Would the Reds be put to the sword by the red-hot champions-elect?
Are you a glass half-full or half-empty kind of person? Because ultimately your viewpoint on life will determine whether you see this as a mini Liverpool crisis or simply a blip in what has been an excellent campaign otherwise.
Well, that was disappointing. The hope of a Wembley day out were scuppered in rather damp and dismal fashion on Wednesday evening with a flaccid 0-1 defeat at Anfield against Southampton condemning us to a 0-2 aggregate defeat in the EFL Cup semi-final.