1) minimum 4th in premiership, given that arsenal are defending champions and we cannot compete with chelsea or manure financially.
2) a piece of domestic silverware.
3) a good run in the champions league (certainly getting past the group stage).
4) a better style of football to watch as a supporter.
now looking at that, numbers 3 and 4 have already been achieved. number 1 is still obtainable, and number 2 could happen on sunday. when you look at it that way, we are not doing as badly as a lot of fans would have you believe. there are a hundred clubs who would absolutely kill to be in our position at the moment.
as a fan, you can't help but be excited about the next two games. it's actually a mild relief to be able to turn our attention away from the premiership for a while because you never know what liverpool team is going to show up or take the field these days. i won't be at the game tomorrow night as i have to work, but i'll be in cardiff on sunday and it'll be a fantastic day for all fans, as long as we win.
however first things first. the game tomorrow night is potentially very dangerous. when the draw came out i'm sure every fan jumped for joy saying "it's the best draw" we could have had, and they're probably right considering we could have got ac milan or inter milan. but leverkeusen are a good side. playing at home first is a potential disadvantage for us, especially without gerrard, and we could really do with keeping a clean sheet first and foremost. i know it's a cliche but good football may have to go out the window. leverkeusen will come and sit back. it's up to us to take the game to them but i am slightly concerned by our lack of creativity in midfield.
as for sunday, you can never tell what's going to happen. it's all about who produces that little bit of magic on the day. we have the players who are capable (morientes, baros, kewell, gerrard, garcia) and someone is going to have to make themselves a hero. all this talk of chelsea being a "wounded animal" is rubbish. i've seen some cracks begin to appear in their armery over the past few weeks. they have some key injuries, mourihno has started whinging about fixture congestion and probably most importantly, we have an extra days rest leading up to the game. add this to our very good record at cardiff, and the fact that we have our lucky dressing room again, and everything bodes well.
i'm not saying that the next two games are going to help us "turn the corner" as the proverbial houllier would say. hell every time we turned a corner under houllier we ran into a brick wall. but what i will say is that the next week is what every fan dreams about. it is the sort of week that was just mandatory for liverpool teams of the past. the anticipation is almost over, it's time for the players to produce.
YNWA
.
