Liverpool FC Forum

by **bigmick** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 5:08 am

The golden opportunity theory broadly was, that last season there was an alignment of factors beyond our influence which gave us a great chance of winning the title. Obviously in order to take advantage of said factors we had to be a very good team, but essentially it holds that we had an even greater chance than our ability warranted due to the misfortune/misdemeanor of others. Obviously the validity of the theory is hotly disputed, with many not being afraid to dismiss it as utter b0ll0cks. Not least because if you expand upon it, it follows that we squandered/spunked a bit of a penalty kick, and then by association the accusation is that a certain amount of "bashery" creeps in.

To briefly expand upon the foundations of the theory, they are thus: That our rivals were at a particularly low ebb based on recent history, for example:

The Mancs: Fell out of the blocks, had plenty of injuries, fecked off to the other side of the World for a meaningless sideshow mid season. They had Ronaldo who while still being an excellent player looked like he was going through the motions, as well as a misfiring Berbatov and Ferguson getting overly involved in his own little stylathon. They conceded a fairly big lead to us and returned with a pocketful of games in hand, and only in the last couple of months of the season looked convincing.

Chelsea: Imploded after a month or so and never looked like getting into things until Hiddink came. The overriding impression was that it was a good job he hadn't been there all season.

Arsenal: A shadow of the team they've been in the past.

The relative weakness of the Premiership compared to previous seasons was confirmed by the Mancs capitulation in the Champions League final, embarrassing for the Premiership but funny all the same. Anyway, needless to say I'm a firm believer in the whole idea. Although the theory has many more nuances, I'm asking the question here, could this be another "golden opportunity" year?

The Mancs: Have lost Ronaldo and Tevez. they've gained Owen and Valencia.

Chelsea: Have gained the Russian bloke, but they are an aging team and is anybody totally convinced about Ancellotti?

Arsenal: Give em a ring, you might get a game.

I suppose being cheeky you could put us in aswell if we lose Alonso, maybe the "golden opportunity" is Man City's this season as they aren't in Europe, time will tell. How good then will you need to be to win the League this coming season. As good as Chelsea's best team of three or four seasons ago? As good as Arsenal's invincibles? As good as the Mancs were last season? Or maybe not even as good as that? Time will tell.

by **JoeTerp** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 8:52 am

I don't think that we had any sort of golden opportunity last season. United went on a record breaking run of scoreless minutes and had a couple of different very long runs of games without dropping a point. They had won 11 on the bounce before we beat them, then instead of crumbling after the Fulham loss, they rattled off another 7 in a row, not dropping any points until the title was clinched. They finished on 3 more points than the season before, when they were also champions

It is now Chelsea's nature to be in a state of flux at the helm, so its not a rare thing, therefore not "golden" chaos has become the equilibrium.

Same can be said with Arsenal. Their true form is probably closer to what they looked like last season and in the 2nd half of the season before

the fact that you suggest it could happen again the very next season shows how last season's opportunity was more Pyrite than Gold.

by **JoeTerp** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 8:55 am

Also, what could add to this season's "goldenness" for Chelsea not being able to challenge is that this is an African Cup of Nations year (which nobody is talking about) So Mikel, Essien, Drogba, and Kalou should miss the month of January

by **roberto green** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 9:08 am

JoeTerp wrote:Also, what could add to this season's "goldenness" for Chelsea not being able to challenge is that this is an African Cup of Nations year (which nobody is talking about) So Mikel, Essien, Drogba, and Kalou should miss the month of January

Very good point there Joe.

Golden opprtuninty II

by **aCe'** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 9:23 am

nope ill go with Mick on this one.... was a golden opportunity for us and we truly fcked it up in style ... were looking somewhat comfortable until we started fcking things up for ourselves rather than others stepping up... the keane thing, the rafa "facts" conference, then of course everything else on the pitch... until it was too late, then we decided maybe a change of plans could be a better idea...
as things stand, im glad we realized (however late that might have been) that the way things were done was never going to win us the league...
Chelsea fcked up their season with Scolari, then his sacking and all that while having some of their best players (Joe Cole, Essien and Drogba) out for most of the season... Arsenal similarly struggled with injuries (RVP. Walcott, Eduardo, Rosicky, Fabregas...etc) and that coupled with a lack of experience in their side meant they struggled to get off to a good start... after January they brought in Arshavin and Fabregas (amongst others) came back from injury later on and their side looked a whole lot better towards the end of the season... Ofcourse, ManCity werent even in the equation last season....

If Ancelotti is any good with Chelsea it will be interesting to see how we match up with them this season... same with Arsenal now that they seemingly have everyone back... Afterall, i would'nt personally dismiss an attacking side that has Walcott, Nasri, RVP, Arshavin, Fabregas playing in their ranks...

by **Scottbot** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 9:29 am

I think our chances are as good as they were last year mate and this season promises to be as close as last. In fact i'd say that there is more uncertainty going into this season compared to any in recent memory. Last year was a 2/3 horse race and i'd expect the same again. There are question marks facing all of our rivals:

mancs - Have to change the way they play with the loss of Ronaldo. Berbatoz and Rooney aren't a natural partnership and MUCH depends on the fitness of Michael Owen. I wouldn't want to hang my season on the striker's fragile fitness.

Chelsea - Continuity in the playing staff but no the management. Had to say goodbye to a manager who was wanted by the players, fans and the owner. Ancelotti is an excellent choice but the cheque book seems to be shut at Chelsea these days. Still a very powerful side with Drogba, Lampard, Ballack and Essien but in terms of personnel they are the same side that wasn't good enough last season.

Arsenal - Have lost Adebayor and now Toure. Still need to someone to kick people in the middle of the park. A little Rottweiller like Mascherano could transform them but it looks like they might have to settle for an ageing Patrick Viera. Nearly missed 4th spot to Villa last season, City won't fall away the way Villa did.

The Man City factor - If they get off to a fast start things could get VERY interesting. Expect them to take points off of the top four clubs. But the pressure is on Hughes and I still think Mourinho will be their new manager next season, and then things will get VERY interesting.

It's such a shame that we have also got our own problems with our two best centre-mids deciding they would rather play their football elsewhere so like our rivals, there is some uncertainty going into the new season. Obvioulsy the start is very important and if we can get off to a good one i'm sure last year's experience will stand us in good stead.

by **Scottbot** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 9:31 am

JoeTerp wrote:Also, what could add to this season's "goldenness" for Chelsea not being able to challenge is that this is an African Cup of Nations year (which nobody is talking about) So Mikel, Essien, Drogba, and Kalou should miss the month of January

Good spot mate.

by **roberto green** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 9:33 am

I really do think with the right signings once Alonso moves on that this really could be our season as long as the obvious i,e Gerrard and Torres are kept fit, but I suppose that's the same if a Drogba got injured or Rooney for the mancs(bloody hell can't really think of many more players they would miss now which proves this thread).Last season was a golden opportunity and with a little more luck it could of been and sometimes that's all it comes down to is having the rub of the green and we had plenty of last minute winners equalisers but the one thing we didn't get unlike the mancs was the fuucking dodgy ref decisions which turned the games for them.

Looking at the Mancs this season, they have lost their golden boy and everything there game has gone through for the past 2 seasons so I think they will be lost for the first 6 months of the season.

Chelsea, I think that although Ancelloti is a good manager, he may struggle at first.He will be like Benitez when he first come to England and get caught trying to play tactical games when the ball spends 50% of the time in the air.

Man city.I think pretty much the same as last season they will win games 3 4 5 nil and then they will lose a lot of away games but I can see them breaking the top 4

Arsenal, Well 5Th

And Liverpool.....

Well Opprtunity II

by **Sabre** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 11:39 am

I don't think it was a golden opportunity because of a weakened rivals, but I already posted about that. But it was a golden opportunity anyway because we were close to winning it as a consequence of us getting stronger.

One of the factors that I thought explained our golden opportunity was the fact that our important players didn't want to leave, but this summer has been a bit depressing on that sense hearing all the Alonso and Mascherano stuff. I think this season, if we only sell Alonso, we receive a lot of money and replace him properly, will be another golden opportunity. And we won't have many more because 4 years without titles won't end the patient only of some fans, but also may end the patience of our important players.

Toshack in a local article said the other day that he thinks Dalglish is there to help and to become the new manager if Rafa fails to win something again. He also reckons that the Alonso-Mascherano partnership is one that it's worrying it will be broken.

By all this my point is the following, we had a golden opportunity because we worked it out with our improvement, and having another golden one will depend exclusively on us, and not losing power as a squad. That is, if Alonso goes, make sure Mascherano stays, and let's be sure Gerrard, Torres and the others stay. That's what gives us golden opportunities.

by **JC_81** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 11:41 am

Personally I don't see where all the 'golden opportunity' bollox comes from (sorry Mick).

As I see it we have progressed fairly steadily under Benitez over the five years and eventually mounted a serious title challenge last season, which has been the culmination of five years of chopping and changing personnel, getting the right backroom staff and Benitez getting his tactics and rotation adapted to the Premiership. Some may argue it shouldn't have taken five years, but that's for another debate. We lost out because one team had better individual players than us and also crucially had plenty of experience in title chases.

I see no reason why this season shouldn't represent another great chance for us, despite what our rivals have done this summer. We have lost Arbeloa, Hyypia and probably Alonso but brought in Johnson. We will undoubtedly do something in the market with the Alonso money, but exactly what we do with it could have a huge bearing on whether we go one better and win the league. Either way we have a strong team that now has title race experience and the bulk of them have played together for several seasons now. We have a lot of experienced players in there with the youngest 1st team regular likely to be Johnson at 23 (who has International and Champions League experience himself). Our weakness is squad depth and injuries could really upset us, but I fully expect us to be right up there for the next couple of seasons at least with this team.

by **sixbuster** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 12:06 pm

The golden opportunity is now, the theory is absolute bull, people will always come up with conspiracy like bull, the fact is we improved vastly:cool:

by **red37** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 1:04 pm

john craig wrote:As I see it we have progressed fairly steadily under Benitez over the five years and eventually mounted a serious title challenge last season, which has been the culmination of five years of chopping and changing personnel, getting the right backroom staff and Benitez getting his tactics and rotation adapted to the Premiership. Some may argue it shouldn't have taken five years, but that's for another debate. We lost out because one team had better individual players than us and also crucially had plenty of experience in title chases.

I see no reason why this season shouldn't represent another great chance for us, despite what our rivals have done this summer. We have lost Arbeloa, Hyypia and probably Alonso but brought in Johnson. We will undoubtedly do something in the market with the Alonso money, but exactly what we do with it could have a huge bearing on whether we go one better and win the league. Either way we have a strong team that now has title race experience and the bulk of them have played together for several seasons now. We have a lot of experienced players in there with the youngest 1st team regular likely to be Johnson at 23 (who has International and Champions League experience himself). Our weakness is squad depth and injuries could really upset us, but I fully expect us to be right up there for the next couple of seasons at least with this team.

Nail on the head. Sensible assessment there.

by **account deleted by request** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 1:58 pm

I was asked to post this by a friend :-

While I'll allude myself to the ending opinion that we did lose out to an opportunity; one of which we largely made our own and capitalised on in the early months of last season. We buckled somewhat come the turn of the year, we could put it down to a number of factors like missing Torres. Or did Rafa's words in the press play a detrimental notion to our matches and Manchester Uniteds? Whatever the theories are an underlying factor amongst all those theories is must be the lack of experiance our players had when heading for that final furlong.

Many people have spoke before, that a team of regular positioning who more or less finish fourth every year cannot expect to suddenly leap from that position to first. Personally I disagreed with that notion initially, 'if you're good enough you'll win it' no matter previous positions in the league prior that.

After watching last seasons run-in I'd have to say I've changed my stance on that slightly. 'If you're good enough, you'll win it' no matter where you're coming from is still my opinion, mostly. Yet the idea of having that experience of being in a 'dog fight' for the title must surely harness the players psychological state, come next time round.

Whether or not last season was a 'Golden opportunity' thats open to opinion. Looking back my own personal opinion is that it wasn't a 'golden opportunity' missed, just an opportunity; the same opportunitys the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and Man U have all seen sailed by in previous years when the other prevailing team had taken the league.

As for this season, I'd prefer not to say whether their is "another golden opportunity" on the horizon. Due to the events at other clubs it's almost tempting fait I think and many things could well be undone by ourselves first. Before hoping or waiting for the likes of Owen and Ancellotti to slip up respectively. We could press the destruct button ourselves.

I think if we can make our own opportunity as we did last season and concerntrate on winning as many matches as we can (that in itself is an arduous and testing time, much could happen before we begin contemplating a 'dog fight'). Then though when all that is said and done taking that extra step this year which proved a bridge to far for us last year should be a little more comfortable with the recent experience of last year.

Regardless of Chelsea, Arsenal, Man.U the opportunity is there with the team we've got. It begs the question can we build up the opportunity and this time take it?

by **Reg** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 2:17 pm

sixbuster wrote:The golden opportunity is now, the theory is absolute bull, people will always come up with conspiracy like bull, the fact is we improved vastly:cool:

At the end of the day goals win championships, not conspiracies.

by **heimdall** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 2:31 pm

It was a golden opportunity, I agree with you BigMick but this season is an even better opportunity for us, especially if we get Villa.

Wahey no more cards

Liverpool FC Forum

The "golden opportunity" theory... - Can they possibly come in two's?

Who is online