Liverpool FC Forum

[The Ace1983]

Luck.

Think about that word. What is it? Is it a way of explaining a sequence of coincidences? Or is there really an ethereal force, a “loterie surnatural”, that governs some aspects of our lives? No empiricist could ever hold with the notion of luck because it is improvable, a matter perhaps more of faith than science. Do we create it ourselves, or are we some sort of grotesque marionettes, dancing to the piper’s tune? I can’t answer any of these questions and I don’t believe anyone else can. So why ask them? Well, they lead to a question that has always prayed on me…

Are Liverpool a lucky team?

Luck, whether manmade or some divine governance, it plays a significant part in all of our lives, with football being no exception. The trigger for this monologue comes from two sources, Rafa and my father. Senor Benitez has apparently submitted a dossier to the Premier League, detailing our early kick offs this season, and we do seem to have more than anyone else. He feels that it puts extra pressure on the squad and therefore lends advantage to our fellow competitors. This may be true, but let’s put that debate to one side for the moment. My father has always said that Liverpool are not a lucky team. Not a month goes by in which he explains to me that luck always go against us. Take the Chelsea penalty decision at Anfield earlier this season. It was wrong, it cost us two points and, understandably, we jumped down the referee’s throat and I don’t think we can be blamed for such an action. It was heinously wrong, an action born of stupidity and nerves and it may, come the end of this campaign, cost us the title. You never know, do you? My father, as outraged and disgusted as he was, still said it was because of our luck. Think about that for a second.

If we acknowledge the legitimate nature of “luck”, we must concede that Liverpool are not a lucky team, despite what Everton and Chelsea fans seem to believe. This state of affairs seems to stretch back some way, but perhaps it would be best to concentrate here on recent history. Let us now return to Rafa’s submission to the league’s governing body concerning out early kick offs after international breaks. It is obvious that we have been targeted by someone, but who is responsible. If luck is struck from our investigation, then the Premier League is at fault, possibly engaged in some sort of conspiracy against us. But think about it like this: all the teams are fed into a computer which, at random, chooses who will face who and when, giving allowances for space between fixtures, European matches, international breaks, etc, etc… and by random chance, we are selected to play early after every bout of European Championship qualifiers and international breaks. Could that be the case? I don’t want to give defence to any argument that the League may make, but disregarding the ridiculous principle of “the law of averages” , it is just possible that said computer will select us four times out of four, eight times out of eight, or one hundred times out of one hundred. The law of averages would have us believe that upon flipping a coin fifty times, twenty five times it would land heads up, and twenty five times it would land tails up, but it doesn’t always work like this. Try it for yourself. Is our selection for these early starts, merely part of our bad luck? Can luck be that bad?

Personally, I think we’re being shafted by the Premier League, and that Rafa is correct and right in submitting his paper on the issue and highlighting it in the press. It isn’t a case of making excuses, it’s fact. I think. But, should our bad luck come into play, it may just be an innocent misfortune. All of which leads us to the following enquiry:

Why are we so unlucky?

Take the case of Djibril Cisse. Lightning pace, scored lots of goals, came to us (for a record fee) and broke his leg just when he was starting to look good. Came back looking weak and second rate and just as we were about to sell him, he brakes his leg again. Eventually sold him at a loss of something like £10,000,000. Now, every fan of every club may be able to cite similar cases, but we’ve got armfuls of them at least. We had Cheyrou, the next Zidane! But what we didn’t know is when they said “Next Zidane” they were referring to Dave Zidane who plays for a Sunday pub team. Or Diouf, who scored 8 goals in all his years with us, and in half the time has scored about 20 for the team we sold him to, again at a loss. Kirkland, the new star of English goalkeeping whose going to be one the best in the world’s history! Flash forward a couple of years and the treatment room table has a permanent Kirkland-shaped imprint in it because the boy can throw his back out on a light gust of wind. An who the hell was Diarra?

Now, all of this sounds like I’m having a bit of a moan, like I’m down on Liverpool FC, but nothing could be further from the truth. Because when we win, it means so much more. Because Lady Luck is acting like a former jilted lover of ours, denying us even a snifter of good fortune on frequent occasions, when we triumph, we often triumph against the odds. Supporting Liverpool is like betting on a 100-1 shot and watching it canter over the line in first place, often with a limp. But at the same time, we have the air of strong favourites who have hit hard times. I’m at some quandary to explain it really. Misfortune coupled with pedigree, I suppose.   

Take that night in Istanbul (I know we keep going on about it but it really does highlight the issue) in which we looked to be trounced before half time. Misfortune had seen injuries befall us, substitutes used up and a disjointed performance that threatened to see us humiliated at the hands of Milan, but in the second half our pedigree came to the fore, with players upping their game, even playing out of position and achieving what seemed to be the impossible. It was a fantastic match, saved from the brink of being an awful game by Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher et al. And there is only one team that could ever have played in and won a match like that. Liverpool.

So, if we manage to win the league this year (again, who knows?) it will mean more to us than any other club because we will be in the knowledge that we received no help from external sources, that we had no fortune and that our adversaries had advantages over us, created either by Luck or the league administration. And, was it our bad luck that those placed in power within the league administration would conspire against us? Is there any end to luck’s influence? Anyway, when we win, it means more.

Do you hold with this notion of Liverpool being an unlucky team, regardless of possible conspiracies, or is this just a state of mind that we have fallen into? Do you really believe the Premier League is out to get us? Either way, I know for sure that it means more for us to win, and that when the day comes that our captain lifts the league trophy above his head again, it will be a triumph against all odds, worthy of a place in the legends of our illustrious club. A triumph against enemies and fates alike. A triumph that only Liverpool could accomplish.

[lakes10]

Premier League is out to get us!!! oh yes lol.

great post by the way.

[woof woof !]

I remember vaugely a story about Shanks . After being told how quick ,agile, strong , skillful and determined a certain player was he asked the question.

"He might be all of that son, but is he lucky ?"

Good post Ace.

[Sabre]

That's a good post.

I don't know what to think about luck. "Luck must be found" we say here. Meaning, I realised back in school that when I prepared well an exam I was more lucky than when I did not 

The mind tells me luck as such doesn't exist.

But then you go to real life and you see the guy that won the lottery twice, that got sick the day the bus he picked everyday crashed, and you think luck must exist.

Liverpool unlucky? in certain moments maybe, but seeing the big picture, I don't think so

[dawson99]

its like poker, you never forget the hands you lose but you'll never remember the ones you win.

In footy we have good and bad luck, but the bad luck will stay and haunt us forever