Football, A Game of Luck?

Mark Hughes received his termination letter and this after 2 league losses, a run of draws, and much laudable victories over Arsenal and Chelsea.

The highlight of it all has to be the humiliation of getting the boot immediately after winning the game against Sunderland 4-3, and I mention this with a hint of sarcasm.

When you think hard about it, you wonder if Rafa Benitez really wished the American owners had an inexhaustible wade of cash, because if they did, they certainly wouldn’t have to think twice about flying a certain German*koff-Klinsmann-koff* over to Anfield. Mind you, that it’s not just for another round of coffee or chess.

But thank goodness, in a way, that they didn’t because they would then be making the same mistake that the Man City owners just did.

Hughes has the potential to be a really good manager, but unlike Benitez, he hasn’t been given time, a luxury the Spaniard seemed to be bestowed with, especially after Liverpool’s 2-0 loss to Premiereship strugglers, Portsmouth.

A few days back it seemed as if the Reds’ midweek victory over Wigan was enough to distract the vultures circling Rafa’s office, but as expected, they’re back and more vociferous than ever.

Chants of  ’You’re getting the sack in the morning’ may seem lenient when you consider Mark Hughes’s luck, or should I say.. the lack of it?

And it does seem like Liverpool aren’t quite on friendly terms with lady luck this season — they’re conceding more ‘unlucky’ goals (the beach ball comes to mind), getting more red cards, facing more inuries and they’ve yet to unleash any youth as exciting as a Jack Wilshere, a Darren Gibson or a Daniel Sturridge..

If it’s not luck then Rafa may have just coined the phrase of the season with ‘The referee is perfect.’, commenting on the event surrounding Mascherano’s straight red, which he will know serve a four match ban.

If you’d ask me, it never warranted a straight red for the grinning, effervescent Argentinian, as a yellow would have sufficed — but he certainly has to learn to curb the intensity of his challenges.

No doubt that with Alonso’s departure, the Argentinian is given more responsibility in protecting the backline, but he would do well to study videos of how Didi Hamann does almost effortlessly during his time for Liverpool..

You might argue that having to chase the game, the Liverpool lads were forced to put in that extra few percent into their game, but when you’re out of luck, there’s really nothing much that you can do.

Like how on earth did Portsmouth scored twice, and both from almost improbable angles where 9 out of 10 times it will hit the roof of the stadium instead of the goal.

Good goals they were, and credit to Nadir and Piquione for even having the audacity to go for goal, a trait that is sorely lacking in Liverpool’s play this seson.

Anyway if luck seem to desert us during these time and also now that Christmas is drawing near, it will be heart warming to take a little bit of history lesson, which tends to show that Liverpool is a second half team, more than anything.

Thoughts of the 5-4 Uefa Cup victory over Alaves, the 3-3 comeback against AC Milan, the turnaround against West Ham in the FA cup final, all come to mind.

With more players returning from injury, Liverpool’s season may finally get the kickstart that has frustratingly (for the supporters especially) long evaded us.

There’s only so much that luck can offer, and one suspects that Rafa may need to spend wiser than ever, thriftier than ever and swiftier than ever during the January transfer window.

But one can’t help thinking where lady luck has gone to eh?

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AUTHOR BIO: Mar is a passionate, understanding and tolerable Reds fan through and through. Until he gets to visit Anfield and experience the KOP end, he’s not quite the perfect Kopites as yet, but he’s getting there, nevertheless. Catch him at his personal blog.mar.sg and say hi.