This week's Red Letters, and pondering Liverpool's aesthetics

LFC Stories: The latest instalment of our Red Letters series as the duo discuss Shrewsbury, West Ham, Southampton and the Super Bowl

Red Letters / January 31 2020: Pondering Liverpool's aesthetics, and the Super Bowl making life a little more LIV

Welcome to Red Letters.

Football, soccer, is a truly global game. It is also a game which means so much more than 22 players on the pitch and the two managers in the dugout. For 90 minutes at a time, this is what matters most, but surrounding that is culture, identity, and relationships.

To be a part of a club can often mean to be part of a family, a kinship, which only a small percentage in this world can experience. On the field, the collective and the individual combine to bring success. The same happens with supporters. It is a true collective game, where it is easy to feel as one with thousands of others; it is also individual, where the emotions you feel are your emotions, the experiences you feel are your experiences, and nobody else can understand.

Over the course of the 2019/20 season, two Liverpool fans, friends, will write to each other about those emotions and experiences. Michael MacCambridge, born, raised and living in the United States, is a best-selling author and journalist. Most importantly, he is a Liverpool fan, and can often be found watching the games at his local supporters' club.

His friend Neil Atkinson, born, raised and living in Liverpool, is the host of worldwide podcast phenomenon The Anfield Wrap. He, too, supports Liverpool, and has been a season ticket holder for 20 years.

Separated by the Atlantic Ocean, but brought together by a passion much stronger, this is their correspondence throughout the campaign, as they share their highs, lows, hopes and fears around Liverpool FC on a regular basis, as well as what it is to simply be part of their community following Jurgen Klopp and his side. 

We are fortunate enough to have access to everything they write. We hope you enjoy.

Best,

LFC Stories.

Previous editions: January 24 / January 17 / January 10 / January 3 / December 27 / December 20 / December 13 / December 6 / November 29 / November 22 / November 15 / November 8 / November 1 / October 25 / October 18 / October 12 / October 4 / September 27 / September 25 / September 20 / September 13 / September 6 / August 30 / August 22 / August 16 / August 14 / August 9 / August 2

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Red Letters

30 January 2020

Dear Neil,

Lord, this team.

Even their routine wins are remarkable.

There was a moment, toward the end of the West Ham match Wednesday, up 2-0, when I casually mentioned to some of my pub mates that, only a couple of years ago, I would still be worried about a game in which we had a two-goal lead in the 82nd minute. But as long as we have this magnificent foundation — the impenetrable Alisson, the majestic Virgil and the fleet, maturing Joe Gomez, not to mention Fabinho (or the captain doing a very good Fabinho impersonation) at the base of the midfield — those days of irrational, worst-case-scenario anxiety are gone.

It occurred to me before West Ham that we were embarking on another distinct part of our season. There was the festive period, followed by those problematic clashes beyond it, the trio of Spurs, United and Wolves. Now, having survived that, this feels like a different stretch of road, one that will arguably run through all of February and at least up until mid-March, when we will face what I reckon will be an energized, fervent Everton side at Goodison.

Going to London Stadium still felt like a potential pothole, an away game that has given us problems in the not-so-distant past. I started to calm down after seven seconds, when Virgil elevated for his first header of the game. More than once during the first half, as we were pinging it all across the pitch and West Ham were seemingly putting 15-20 men behind the ball, my friend Steven said it felt like a training-ground exercise, and not a particularly strenuous one at that.

There were a few defensive lapses and some errant passes, but this mostly felt like the new normal: We dominate a game, we play much of it in the other team’s half, we eventually wear the other guys down. The general feeling at the pub was that we were a little sloppy but never lost control of the game. Also, that Naby Keita’s white shoes make him appear even faster, and Alisson looks better now that he’s got his hair slicked back again. When your team nears perfection, you can spend a lot more time pondering the aesthetics.

People talk so much about our side’s work-rate, our defense, and our fitness, but Wednesday was a reminder of what tremendous passing this team can do in close quarters. The official record will show that the first goal was scored by Salah, after Origi earned the penalty, but to me, the real story of that goal was the remarkable tenacity and dexterity of Roberto Firmino to control the ball before it went out of touch, all while being marked, and then slotting the pass to Origi. And the Salah pass, to spring Chambo for the second goal, had a kind of satisfying geometric precision to it, like the first time you successfully breezed through a really hard math problem.

Shortly after we made it 2-0, Steven looked over at me and said, “Can… can we sing it?”

Hell yes, we can sing it.

It wasn’t as tuneful as usual — our song-leaders Matthew and Justin were both away — but Steven then led the pub in a decidedly not ironic version of “We’re Gonna Win the League.”

Afterward, I couldn’t resist showing everyone that we had more than doubled Spurs and United’s point total. And the way ahead looks clear: As my buddy David points out, we have just two matches left against sides presently in the top eight (City and Chelsea). And after 70 points in 24 games (average: 2.9), if we get just 24 points from our last 14 games (average: 1.7), we cannot be caught, even if City win out.

Then there’s one other bonus: Isn’t it nice to not have to worry about City’s games this season?

•

Wednesday’s comprehensive, convincing performance was a good tonic for the negative vibes that emanated from the aftermath of Sunday’s FA Cup tie, and the inexplicable criticism that greeted Klopp.

It had been a lighter than usual crowd for the FA Cup on Sunday afternoon at the pub. I think I understand why: It was a beautiful day in Austin, everyone expected the 11 changes that Klopp would make, and after those pulsating games against Wolves and Spurs, I think we’d all admit that it’s somewhat difficult to get in the right frame of mind for Shrewsbury Town. Their stadium looked like the sort of quaint, out-of-the-way ground that When Saturday Comes does a long pictorial feature about, as part of their series showing the local color of lower-division sides.

As for the game itself, I rued the missed chances, but was particularly grateful to Adrian for keeping us in it with some superb saves. (Is he perhaps the best back-up keeper in the Premier League?) As for the disappointing result, how can you be mad? Three of the veterans in the outfield — Matip (Oct. 20), Fabinho (Nov. 27) and Lovren (Dec. 10) — hadn’t started a game in months and months, and it showed. Elliott seemed less consequential than usual, and Origi could never really get into the game. It was Shrewsbury’s game of the year; for us, it was arguably the least consequential of the 40 games we’ve played thus far this season. So I accepted the draw as Stuff That Happens in Football. None of us wanted a replay, but I totally understood and agree with Klopp’s decision to field a youth team in the replay next week. It’s already been a long season, and I’ll bet that even our throw-in coach needs a vacation.

The notion that someone could find Klopp’s decision to observe the winter break to be somehow “controversial” is bewildering, and provides further evidence of the disconnect between the individual Powers That Be, who ought to be working in concert rather than at cross purposes. If I think about it too much, which I try not to do, it makes me furious. As a sports fan, there are few things more discouraging than when you realize that the caretakers of the game are not taking care of the game.

The money-trumps-common-sense problem is not exclusive to soccer. In my younger years, growing up in the U.S., there was a tendency to view leagues themselves as the all-knowing, and benevolent (if at time stodgy) ultimate authority. But as one gets older, and become more aware of all the issues, you see how often the leagues are acting myopically.

Let me give you an example: The major issue in the past decade of the National Football League has been the growing awareness of the physical dangers of the game, centering on concussions and repeated brain trauma. This is something that everyone who cares about the NFL talks about, and expresses concern about it. Within the league, the Competition Committee, which oversees the rules of the game, has implemented numerous changes to make the game safer.

So what do you suppose the NFL suggested in their opening negotiation with the players to negotiate a new collective-bargaining agreement beyond 2021? It was to add two more games to the regular season. I use the term “stupid” rarely, but this was a truly stupid idea, one that messes with the fabric of the game, undermines the elegant balance of the schedule and, most importantly, conveys a message that breeds cynicism, which is, roughly speaking: We don’t care about the players. We only care about the money.

The NFL, showing at least a modest capacity for sheepishness, has since amended its position, and is now advocating for just one additional regular-season game, a 17th. The players, quite understandably, remain opposed. (In many ways, the 17th game — some have suggested each team’s 17th game be played overseas — is a mirror image to Richard Scudamore’s loathed idea for a 39th game in the Premier League.)

What’s frustrating is that, individually, if you talk to NFL owners, many (perhaps even most) care about the game, the players, and their well-being. But collectively, they seem to lose their wits and adhere to a short-term strategy of maximizing revenue, at all costs. And so American football fans, many of whom are dealing with misgivings about whether they should continue to follow a game they love but now realize can be extremely dangerous, are presented by the league with a plan that would further imperil the players.

Yet fans don’t really push back, because here’s an interesting thing: In England, fans have much more collective power than they do in the States. It’s a realm where your condensed geography can be a distinct advantage. There’s no analogue, in the States, to Liverpool fans staging their organized 77th minute walk-out, en masse, to protest ticket prices. Over here, we’re still learning to deal with paperless tickets and clear-plastic bags. I think it’s that why we’re more resigned. I don’t know anyone who favors a 17th game in the NFL, but most of my friends who follow the game—fans and sportswriters alike—seem resigned to it.

I know we’ve covered the ground of fixture congestion before, but let me make one more point: I blame all of football’s organizing bodies, but mostly I blame FIFA. The same people that gave us a Qatar World Cup, and a 48-team World Cup, and a Club World Cup in the middle of the festive season, and a trial balloon (pleasingly shot down) to have both men’s and women’s World Cups every two years now wants to further monopolize the calendar.

What we need is a summit conference in which everyone would have to give up something: FIFA would need to abandon the ludicrous 24-team Club World Cup (it makes a semi-plausible kind of sense as a six-team tournament in December; it makes zero sense as a 24-team tournament in late May or June); UEFA and CONCACAF and CONMEBOL should give back one or two international windows; the Football Association needs to give up FA Cup replays and go straight to penalties (not only for the sake of the schedule, but also for the sake of interest in the FA Cup); the League Cup, at minimum, should surrender two-legged semifinal ties. The continental competitions, be they the Euros, Copa America, the Gold Cup or the African Cup of Nations, should each be limited to once every two years and to occupy no more than a month from opener to conclusion.

There would still be too many fixtures, mind you, but the schedule would finally have some stability.

And the players, the managers, the clubs and the fans would have a sense that somebody in a suit has a sense of proportion. `

You may say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one…

•

I have had numerous people ask me if I’m going to Miami for the Super Bowl. The answer is a resounding no; I didn’t even consider it. The cheapest Super Bowl ticket I’ve seen is north of $5,000 — and that’s just to get you into the stadium, not counting for travel, lodging, food.

But my reasons for staying home go beyond the outrageous expense. I shoved all my chips to the center of the table for the AFC Championship Game. The atmosphere last week at Arrowhead was like a great Anfield night — 75,000 people, unified in a single goal, letting out a roar for the ages.

Super Bowls, for all the pomp and pageantry, can’t match that. There will be plenty of fans of the Chiefs and 49ers at the Super Bowl, but there’s also tens of thousands of corporate types, from the leading Pontiac dealer in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to the West Coast executive for the Colgate/Palmolive. Super Bowls tend to feel like the biggest convention that you’ve ever been to.

The Super Bowl is also the game staged by the NFL each year that feels least like an NFL game. The teams arrived in Miami last Sunday (seven days before the game, instead of the normal 24 hours before), and did their media day (rebranded as Super Bowl “Opening Night”) on Monday, with several thousand media, from over 25 countries roaming free for three hours, with full access to interview any of the 106 players on the two teams. I wonder how two Champions League sides would handle those kind of media obligations.

Then there’s the neutral field aspect, the endless pre-game festivities and the anomaly that is the Super Bowl halftime show. As I’ve said in the past, there remains this air of absurdity about the entire enterprise. Yes, it’s true, you can stage a rock concert in the middle of the biggest football game of the year, but it doesn’t make any more sense than, say, staging a fox hunt in the middle of a wedding ceremony.

That having been said, there have been some truly stirring performances, none better than Prince — on the same field in Miami — twelve seasons ago, closing with “Purple Rain” in a providential rainstorm. (You know who would have been great on the Super Bowl halftime show? Queen. You could almost argue that a 12-minute concert at halftime of the Super Bowl would be the ideal setting for Queen.) Nothing against J-Lo and Shakira, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be busy at half-time stress-eating chicken wings and trying to hold it together.

I’ll be at the Black Sheep Lodge in south Austin, watching with my small cohort of zealots. And I will either experience dejection similar to Kiev or elation like Madrid. Either way, it’s been a long time coming. The first Super Bowl I remember watching was the last one the Chiefs played in, on Jan 11, 1970.

My friend Shekar — another fan devoted to both Liverpool and the Chiefs — will be dropping in on you Friday afternoon. He’s finally making his pilgrimage to Anfield this weekend, and then, after the Southampton game, will catch a train to London so he can be among the Chiefs faithful at a Super Bowl watch party in London. That, perhaps more than anything, is what has changed most the past 25 years. A sporting cultural exchange: People in London watching the Super Bowl at midnight; people in the U.S. watching Liverpool at 9 a.m.

I’m already fretting about the game itself, how salty the 49ers defense is, and whether the Chiefs can stop San Francisco’s relentless running game. In the end, I’m counting on one small good omen to see me through, in the hopes that this is the year all my epic sporting quests are realized. As you may know, the Super Bowl counts their games by roman numerals. This is 54th edition of the game, which makes it: Super Bowl LIV.

LIV!

What more could a semi-superstitious Liverpool fan ask for?

As ever,

M.

******

Red Letters

31 January 2020

LIV indeed, Michael. LIV!

I haven’t decided if I will stay up for LIV yet. I suspect I will - it seems like an excellent opportunity to get some bits done, see some elite sport and irritate Phil Blundell by sending him messages asking him to explain what is happening for me. I love your description of the Superbowl itself feeling like a convention. It’s something I can very much get on board with from afar.

I think being able to make your peace with not being there is important in general and the specific of actively not wanting to be there is even better. There will be issues as we get closer and closer to our promised land about where and when it is won and who can get tickets for games whether home or away. In the first place there is increasingly the possibility it is won when Liverpool aren’t playing, not when they are.

(All of this conversation feels simultaneously hubristic and mundane. There can be no denying the facts and it is why Steven is right to sing it. Of course he is. It is to deny the facts, ignore the numbers as you put them not to sing it. And yet this is the strangest part of ending the long wait - that it itself has become another wait, a series of things to tick off before the job is done).

It being won when Liverpool win or draw is our second requirement behind it being won at all. But I want that moment of a full time whistle, whether home or away, whether I am in the ground or with friends. I want Liverpool to claim the thing, not have it handed to them. I want that release. Then I would like it to be at home ideally.

You say we need to not worry about City’s games and this is correct but we do still need to keep an eye on them. A victory against Southampton makes it 22 points - them going to face Tottenham away will be no easy game for them and there is a point where going game by game for them becomes stupidly hard. When you have climbed the mountain they have climbed, seen things they have seen, winning to go 19 behind especially if the game becomes treacle to wade through is a tough ask.

That said Southampton will be a tough ask. I can’t tell you how much I am looking forward to Saturday. Without reheating the conversation around who can watch what game in the UK the fact this game isn’t televised is utterly ridiculous. This should be the Saturday 5.30pm, something for everyone in the country to sit down to and savour. Southampton will run and run. They will press the living daylights out of Liverpool and Liverpool will have to be their most press resistant, their most Gini Wijnaldum. They will have to be prepared to miss out midfield, to have mistakes forced, to regroup and turn around a Saints backline which has improved markedly since the end of November. Southampton have been the third best side in the country since then.

They deserve such credit on and off the pitch. Getting humiliated 0-9 and it still not being your worst performance of the season should lead to complete disharmony. But manager, board, staff, players and fans have all turned it around. There is such a thing as hitting rock bottom and bouncing. They have really bounced and I’d be amazed if they don’t finish top half.

There is every chance it will be an absolute thriller.

We’re at the stage where I worry I am building it up too much in my mind. But part of the sheer dominance of Liverpool has led to sides not truly having a go - training matches as you say. I don’t think that can or will be the case from Southampton. They haven’t emerged from some serious lows to be wallflowers at Anfield when they have nothing whatsoever to lose. And simultaneously I think Liverpool will be excited about the prospect - Jurgen Klopp and his team presented with a new problem.

For the first time in a while I think all of the following things going into a game:

• The home record is on the line. Southampton have had the week, we haven’t.
• The season record is on the line.
• We could draw a home game.
• It could be a mad scoreline. Remember Salzburg at home?
• The game will be alive from the first whistle and may never quite be dead. There will always be a next goal to score.

I hope Keita starts. I hope Fabinho doesn’t. Not yet. I’d be tempted to match their 4-2-2-2 up with Keita and either Oxlade-Chamberlain or Minamino behind Salah and Firmino. They concede late so Divock from the bench seems a move to me. Gini/Jordan behind and the now consistent back four. I am predicting 3-3. 3-3! Absolutely crazy stuff. Told you I was building it up too much.

Basically Shekar has picked a belter. I am looking forward to seeing him later.

•

The controversy has been exhausting. Frankly I do think there is a small element of the FA getting what the EFL should have had around the Liverpool mistake but no one really cared.

Not enough was made of that in the wider media. Arguably not enough made of it amongst Liverpool supporters. Because we are - rightly - so fixated on the title, excited by the novelty of the Club World Cup and somewhat scarred by this semi-final nonsense under Jurgen Klopp it sort of suited everyone to just shrug and say it will all work out for the best.

If you actually break down what seems to have happened around that game then the mind boggles. Liverpool appear to have first raised the potential problem in the summer. It was ignored. In the run up to the Arsenal game Liverpool appear to have raised the potential problem. It was ignored. Immediately after the game Liverpool publicly emphasise the problem. The solution is that Liverpool effectively forfeit the competition because what could we have done.

The thing about this is that very few unlikely things needed to happen in order to create the problem. Liverpool - the European Champions and a side which got 97 points last season - needed to win two games against unknown sides who could both be from Leagues One and Two and there would be a situation. Like I have literally just had to check we only played two EFL Cup games before Aston Villa because that really can’t be right.

It is right.

How on earth was that simply allowed in the first place and how has it not led to there being some very serious questions asked in the second? There has been a push to act as though it was beyond the wit of man to anticipate and solve this situation. It is clattering negligence from the EFL around their same competition.

Forward to the ever moving now. Liverpool seem to have raised issues around the replays being played during the weirdly slippery winter break. Liverpool (and presumably others) have been ignored. A situation has come to pass. Who ever could have imagined? Oh lord, what ever do we do? With such short notice?

These people are clowns. Your NFL discussion shows that the pursuit of money from authorities will go on forever and also that while owners may well be wise, groups of owners seem not to be. But there is something else here, something which complicates football, even within the ever contracting idea of the English nation state there are three different associations within this tale of our cup competitions this season - the EFL, the FA and the Premier League. Because while the Premier League haven’t come up in the above, they are part of the process of sense simply not prevailing, solutions not being found, everything being slippery and just too hard.

There needs to be a body which sits above the competitions. That should be the FA but they haven’t been fit for purpose for a long time and they are also an interested party as discussed. The governance of football is a show and this is just one tiny little corner of all of that.

From a footballing point of view in the very, very short term the manager could well be wrong. As you say - Matip, Lovren and Fabinho all looked like footballers who could do with more games. Keita, Milner and Shaqiri could fall into that category. So too could Origi and Adrian perhaps. And it would benefit Elliott, Williams and Jones to get to play with these lads.

But that is only just the very, very short term. In Jurgen Klopp’s mind will be three things. The first is just mundane - all players are carrying knocks of some sort through a season. A week to heal without training or a game. Sharpness will return faster eventually without forcing the issue.

Secondly the example of Fabinho. Fabinho went through a full Jurgen Klopp Premier League and Champions League season. Then went to the Copa America. Then came back in as a key first team regular. We hope to go all the way in the Champions League again. Then there will be a Copa America in 2020.

He needs a holiday at some point. He needs a week off. It isn’t a lot to ask.

There will be those right now wondering about when he was injured, but injured isn’t a holiday and players remain part of the group. Remain focussed on the job and on the team. Just a holiday, a week off would help massively for a footballer who may well only have had cumulatively four weeks from August 2018 to June 2020. A week to himself, with his family.

And then, the last of the three things Jurgen Klopp will be thinking, a week with his teammates. A week for everyone to work on things, a week to bond and to plan. A week to think about Atletico and the challenges to come. A week to switch back on for the run in. A week of togetherness for the unit. Everyone on holiday at the same time, everyone back at the same time, everyone working together towards a massive goal.

None of these things is too much to ask.

•

In terms of all scheduling, all fixtures I can actually make an argument for a Club World Cup with 24 teams. If you imagine the game from first principles, imagine creating football anew, imagine a complete blank canvas, then a tournament once every four years - that six team tournament you mention but times four - makes sense to crown the club champions of the world.

Put that in place into our blank canvas. Completely blank canvas is important. Then one June in four there is a World Cup. One in four all the continental associations play an international competition. The Euros, African Cup Of Nations, Copa America. Then one there is just a lovely big rest.

Around that there is the club season which we have discussed. A continental club competition, a domestic league and cup competition. A pyramid.

That is all quite straightforward and could all work together relatively well. Some details to decide upon (number of teams in a division for instance) but broadly that just makes sense.

The issue is of course the canvas is not blank. We have to start from the current reality and have to start from the position that each of the regulatory associations have so much skin in the game it is terrifying. It would be a FIFA Club World Cup. Just as it is a FIFA World Cup. A UEFA Euros. The UEFA Champions League. As mentioned above - the FA Cup. Organisations whose start point was to organise and regulate now find themselves with far too much money and political power at stake to be able to rise above and simply organise and regulate. Ensure the smooth running of the game in the interests of participants and supporters around the globe.

Everybody wants to get paid, everybody wants to grow, everybody wants to be more influential and ends up with more hangers on, more intermediaries, more third parties.

There is an answer to this but it involves people giving up power or money. Possibly both.

Doesn’t seem likely, does it?

It involves organisations which see themselves as competing getting around a table. That doesn’t seem likely either.

•

Anyway, listen, enjoy Sunday whatever happens. Enjoy the pomp. I can’t be bothered with the halftime nonsense either because halftimes are for being anxious through one way or another. Let the Chiefs make the year even more LIV special.

I think that works…

Neil

******

Neil Atkinson is host of the Anfield Wrap - download their free app on IOS and Android.

Michael MacCambridge is the author of ‘America’s Game: The Epic Story of How Pro Football Captured A Nation,’ and several other books. He lives in Austin, Texas.

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