Achtung Baby!

Just imagine being 2^nd on goal difference coming into the final day of the season, winning 12-0 and still not winning the League.

Imagine being top of the League on goal difference coming into the final game, winning 5-0 and yet only winning the League by 3 goals.

That’s what happened to Borussia Monchengladbach and FC Cologne in 1977-78. 

Gladbach were defending champions having won the title for the past three seasons.  They’d won back-to-back titles in 1969 & 1970 before Bayern Munich won it for three years, but now they were the dominant team in German football.  Cologne had last won the Bundesliga back in 1964, and had finished in the top five for the past six years.

Gladbach, managed by Udo Lattek, had come close to winning the European Cup the previous season, when they lost to Liverpool in Rome.  Their squad included West German internationals such as Bertie Vogts, Rainer Bonhof, Jupp Heynckes as well as the current European Footballer of the Year, Denmark’s Allan Simonsen.

Cologne were managed by Hennes Weisweiler.  Their squad included Toni Schumacher, Herbert Zimmermann, Heinz Flohe, and Dieter Muller.

Heinz Flohe

The season didn’t begin well for Cologne as they were thrashed 1-5 by Fortuna Dusseldorf, but just two matches later they thrashed Werder Bremen, 7-2, when Dieter Muller scored 6!  They then went to the Olympic Stadium and beat Bayern Munich, 3-0 before another big win when they hit Eintracht Braunschweig, 6-0.

Gladbach were less prolific but by the beginning of October had already been beaten by Eintracht Frankfurt and VFB Stuttgart.  They were also competing in the European Cup and had eased past Vasas Budapest.  At the beginning of October they would meet Cologne for the first time.

The game was at Bokelberstadion, Monchegladbach but the visitors were 2-0 up at half-time when Prestin and Neumann scored.  Bonhof got a goal back early after the break but then Prestin scored his 2^nd of the game, and when Konopka made it 4-1 to Cologne things were looking bleak for the champions.  Dieter Muller then scored his 12^th of the season before Simonsen got a late consolation goal and Cologne ran out 5-2 winners.

Cologne were up to 4^th with Gladbach down in 9^th.  At the end of the month, Cologne hit another 6 when 1860 Munich visited.  They won 6-2 and were now top of the table.  On the same day, Gladbach went to Braunschweig and won 6-0 when Simonsen hit a hat-trick.  It was the start of a great week for the club when they beat Red Star Belgrade, 5-1 in the European Cup to reach the Quarter-Finals and then beat Saarbrucken, 6-1 in the League.

At the beginning of January, Gladbach were beaten at home 1-3 by MSV Duisburg and then were unbeaten to the end of the season, a run of 14 matches.  At the time they were 3^rd with Cologne still top and a gap of 5pts between the two.  Cologne were also going well in the Cup and beat Schwarz-Weiss Essen, 9-0 just before Christmas. 

Allan Simonsen

At the end of February, the two met at the Mungersdorfer Stadion in Cologne.  Allan Simonsen put the visitors in front just  before half-time and they looked as if they were going to pull off a vital win, but then Heinz Flohe scored with just minutes to go.  The game was tied, 1-1, and Cologne were still 4pts clear of Gladbach at the top.

Gladbach reached the Semi-Finals of the European Cup where they were again beaten by Liverpool after winning the home leg, 2-1 but losing 0-3 at Anfield.  Just after that Cologne won the German Cup when they beat Fortuna Dusseldorf, 2-0.   Their record in the competition was 26 scored to 2 conceded in their 7 matches.

Jupp Heynckes

There were just 2 matches to go in the season and both teams were locked together on 44pts.  Cologne had a superior goal difference to Gladbach of 13 goals.  Cologne beat Stuttgart, 2-1 in their penultimate game and Gladbach went to Hamburg and came from a goal down to win 6-2 against a side which included Kevin Keegan and Felix Magath.  The gap was now 10 goals.

On the final day, Cologne travelled to St. Pauli, who they’d beaten 4-1 back in December.  Gladbach were at home to Borussia Dortmund, who they’d drawn 3-3 with in their earlier meeting.  It appeared a mere formality for Cologne to be crowned Champions, but the day almost didn’t go to plan.  Remember, Cologne began the day 10 goals to the good.

Both games kicked off on Saturday 29^th April 1978 at 15:30

HALF-TIME

At the break Cologne were just a goal to the good, but were still in a position to win the League.  Gladbach had reduced the arrears to 5 goals but surely they couldn’t get any closer, could they? 

 
 

Gladbach were now just 3 goals adrift of Cologne.  The Dortmund players had clearly given up and there was still 24 minutes to go.

Japanese international, Yasuhiko Okudera endeared himself to the Cologne supporters by grabbing his 2^nd of the game, and his 4^th in 3 games, which surely put the title beyond reach for Gladbach.

 

A remarkable day in the Bundesliga and 12-0 remains the biggest win in the competitions history.  Gladbach’s legendary striker, Jupp Heynckes who was almost 33, scored 5 on the day.  It gave him 18 for the season and when he finally hung up his boots he was 3^rd in the all-time list with 220, just behind Gerd Muller (365) and Klaus Fischer (268).  His 195 goals for Gladbach remains a club record.

It was a memorable game to bow out for Herbert Wimmer, who was playing his 366^th Bundesliga match for Gladbach and he had won 5 titles during that time.

Cologne were furious that Dortmund appeared to have given up, although there was no suggestion of match-fixing, but they just had nothing more to play for.  I must admit watching the footage it does appear there are far too many goals scored by players unchallenged.  One of Del’Haye’s goals sees him run virtually the whole of Dortmund’s half as all the defenders just watch him, as if wanting to make sure he can anything except play a cross-field pass to the other wing.  Del’Haye just seemed to keep going, still disbelieving his luck.  Dortmund sacked their coach at the end of the game, although he would rise again later on in his career – Otto Rehhagel.

It remains the last time Cologne won the Bundesliga and they had Dieter Muller’s 24 goals to thank and he was joint top scorer with Bayern’s Gerd Muller.

This was also the end of the great Gladbach side of the 1970’s, known as The Foals, as they struggled to finish higher than mid-table for the next few years, although in 1984 they finished 3^rd when the top three all ended on the same points.  Then they were inspired by a young Lothar Matthaus.

Not So Charitable

These days Sky would be trying to come up with superlatives to outdo ‘massive’ as the curtain raiser for the 1974-75 season got underway at Wembley.

The Charity Shield (since renamed Community Shield) had started off as a professionals v amateurs match at the early part of the twentieth century.  From 1930 the format of League Champions v FA Cup winners took shape.  But the game and the format was patchy and inconsistent and it wasn’t until 1959 when it was moved to the start of the season.  There seemed to be a decision every year as to which teams would compete in the match.  In 1974 Ted Croker, then FA Secretary, created the current format of a match between League Champions and FA Cup winners, to be played as a curtain raiser for the new season, at Wembley Stadium.  It was also the first time the Charity Shield would be televised.

The very first match was potentially a dream come true for the organisers.  Liverpool were FA Cup holders and had won the League in 1973.  Leeds United were reigning League Champions and had won the FA Cup in 1972 and were beaten finalists a year later.  In each of the previous four FA Cup Finals contained either Leeds or Liverpool.  In the League the two had finished in the top three in each of the previous three seasons.  In addition to this success they were managed by two of English football’s most successful managers, Bill Shankly (Liverpool) and Don Revie (Leeds United).

Into this battle burst Brian Clough, taking his Derby County side to the League title in 1972 just three years after they were Second Division Champions.  A year later they reached the European Cup Semi-Finals, losing to Juventus.  Clough then tried to call the bluff of Derby’s Chairman, Sam Longson, when he threatened to resign after one of their many fall outs, but this time Longson accepted it.  Clough then spent eight months at Brighton in a rather unsuccessful spell.

In April 1973 England sacked World Cup winning manager, Alf Ramsey, after they failed to qualify for the 1974 tournament.  Former Manchester City manager, Joe Mercer, took over as caretaker manager.  England had the British Home International Championship and then an Eastern European tour, which Ramsey had arranged before he was given the push.  Under Mercer England won three, drew three and lost one of their matches and for a while it seemed he might get the job on a permanent basis, despite appearing reluctant.  Eventually, England plumped for Revie as permanent manager.  This resulted in a vacancy for the Leeds United job.  To everyone’s amazement, including some of his closest friends, Clough put himself forward.

Clough had been a bitter critic of Leeds and Revie’s methods.  He believed they had not won any honours fairly.  They had adopted a particularly tough brand of football, often resorting to kicking opponents off the park, as well as pursuing a continual strategy of gamesmanship.  Clough had made no secret of his view of the side as “dirty” and “cheats” and also called for the club to be demoted to the Second Division as a punishment for their poor disciplinary record.  The Leeds players had wanted Johnny Giles to be promoted to manager, but the directors chose Clough.

At one of his first training sessions he told the players “You can throw your medals in the bin because they were not won fairly”.  He then revealed his plan to get them to win them all again, but playing “clean”.  Unfortunately, the players were clearly unimpressed, struggling to conceal their utter contempt for their new boss.  One player, Joe Jordan, had been singled out by Clough as a diver and a cheat and once he was installed in the Leeds hotseat, Clough duly signed two strikers, Duncan McKenzie and John O’Hare, who were immediate challengers to the Scottish international’s position.  Against this backdrop they embarked on the new season.

The Charity Shield was to be Clough’s first game as manager of Leeds United.

At Anfield, Bill Shankly had just guided Liverpool to their second FA Cup success, both under his management.  In 1973 he guided them to their 8^th League title, and his third, as well as their first ever European trophy, the UEFA Cup.  He was the most enigmatic managers English football had ever seen with many column inches given over to his quotes.  When he took over at Anfield they were a Second Division team, a shadow of a once great club.  He guided them to promotion and then the League title within a few years.  He’d been at the club for over 14 years, yet on 12^th July 1974 Liverpool chairman, Peter Robinson, shocked the football world by announcing Shankly was resigning from the club.  The news shocked football and even when the teams took to the field few at Liverpool knew how they were going to be able to continue.  First team coach, Bob Paisley was a reluctant replacement.

The Charity Shield was to see Shankly lead out his Liverpool team for the last time.

Years later Clough revealed he didn’t want to lead his team out that day, claiming he had asked Revie to do it.  He felt as Revie had won the title with Leeds, he should have the honour of leading ‘his’ team out, but Revie declined the offer stating this was Clough’s team now and his ‘privilege’ to lead them out.  Such was the distance between manager and team, Clough spent much of the match watching from Liverpool’s bench.

Liverpool’s star player was Kevin Keegan.  The 23-year old had been signed as a scrawny teenager from Scunthorpe, yet under Shankly he’d moulded himself into an important player for both club and country.  He scored twice at Wembley in May as Liverpool lifted their second FA Cup beating Newcastle, 3-0.  England’s caretaker manager, Joe Mercer saw Keegan as an important part of the team and played him in each game he was in charge.  After the euphoria of scoring twice in the FA Cup Final, Keegan got his first international goal when he scored against Wales in the Home International Championship.  From there England embarked on an Eastern European tour, and after matches against East Germany and Bulgaria, there was almost an international incident when Keegan was arrested and beaten up in Belgrade airport.  After FA officials managed to convince security guards of who they were attacking, all charges were dropped.  Keegan went onto score in the subsequent match against Yugoslavia.

In a pre-season game at Kaiserslautern, Keegan was sent-off for punching an opponent.  Liverpool claimed it was Peter Cormack who’d thrown the punch, but years later Keegan admitted it was him as several players had been looking to get retribution for a back tackle on one of their teammates.  Keegan just happened to get to the player first.  He’d been through an eventful few months.

Leeds talismanic captain was Billy Bremner.  The diminutive Scot was a Revie-disciple, playing a vital role in the club’s success.  He was in the Leeds team beaten in extra time by Liverpool in the 1965 FA Cup Final.  He’d just spent the summer with the Scotland team for the World Cup in West Germany, where they went out in the Group stage without losing a game.  He was known for his no-nonsense, tough-tackling approach and was the undisputed leader of this notorious side.

To combat this, Liverpool had an equally renowned hard-man, Tommy Smith, and these were the two best teams in England, neither wanted to give an inch.  You had the perfect recipe for a real humdinger yet few were prepared for what they would witness.

The scene was set early on when Allan Clarke was a little vigorous in a challenge on Phil Thompson and Smith took it upon himself to let Clarke know what he thought of it. That challenge earned Smith a booking.  In response, Norman Hunter kicked Steve Heighway up in the air.  19 minutes in and Phil Thompson played a ball forward where Keegan turned Hunter and his shot was parried by David Harvey in the Leeds goal, but the ball bounced up and Phil Boersma bundled it over the line for the opening goal.  Liverpool used that move several times in the first half as Keegan was giving Hunter a torrid time, but in the end he would pay for his impudence.  It was all Liverpool as Hall and Boersma both forced Harvey into good saves, then Emlyn Hughes fired a fierce shot against the bar from 30 yards out.  Leeds only meaningful chance fell to Clarke who headed Reaney’s cross wide when unchallenged in the area.

In the second half Leeds, who’d looked sulky and petulant all afternoon, came more into it but there was little of their zip and movement.  Things then literally ‘kicked-off’ on the hour.  Liverpool attacked and Boersma again forced Harvey into a save, and once again the keeper couldn’t hold it but his follow-up went across the goal to where Cormack retrieved it on the right wing.  Smith then found Hughes, free in midfield just outside the ‘d’ and as he played it to his left to find Keegan, two Leeds players, Giles and Bremner, both converged on the Liverpool skipper and ‘assaulted’ him.  Keegan tried to find Hall to his right but Bremner got hold of the ball and as he attempted to bring the ball out of defence, Hall managed to nick it.  The ball was now loose with both Bremner and Keegan going for it and Keegan’s challenge on Bremner was particularly robust.  The Liverpool striker then continued to chase the ball which now found its way to Giles on the left of the area.  Giles, unaware Keegan was closing him down, played the ball back to Hunter when Keegan grabbed him.  The Irishman instinctively turned round and landed a punch on Keegan.

As Keegan lay prostrate on the ground, Bremner ran over to him to protest at the momento Keegan had left on his knee.  Giles was eventually booked, and the resultant free-kick was played short allowing Lorimer to boot the ball away before Keegan could take a shot.  Keegan was then seen remonstrating with Hunter and McQueen as Bremner appeared to continue their little spat.  Both sets of players attempted to calm their teammates down when referee, Bob Matthewson, called both Keegan and Bremner to him and after a few minutes sent them both off.  Keegan, clearly angered by the whole situation believing he was the innocent party, left the pitch and ripped his shirt off in disgust.  Bremner soon followed, doing the same as both players made their way down the tunnel to derision from the watching public.

Eventually a game continued and ten minutes later Leeds were level when Lorimer’s floated ball into the area was met by the head of Trevor Cherry just as Ray Clemence tried to reach it.  The game finally seemed to come alive as both sides had chances to win it.  With the scores still level after 90 minutes the match went to a penalty shootout.

The first five kicks for each side were perfect as Lorimer, Giles, Gray, Hunter and Cherry scored for Leeds with Lindsay, Hughes, Hall, Smith and Cormack successful for Liverpool.  Inexplicably, the first penalty of the sudden-death phase for Leeds was taken by the keeper, Harvey and he blasted it wide.  Liverpool refused to return the favour and Ian Callaghan stepped up and despite slipping, fired his kick into the roof of the net and Liverpool had won another trophy and for Shankly he had won on his final visit to Wembley.

The aftermath sent shockwaves through English football as various parties put in their opinion over how outraged they were.  Clough was in no doubt who the guilty party was;

“Bremner’s behaviour was scandalous. He seemed intent on making Kevin Keegan’s afternoon an absolute misery.  He kicked him just about everywhere, until it became only a matter of time before a confrontation exploded.”

He went onto add “Keegan was a victim, not a culprit.  I told Bremner afterwards he should pay compensation for the period Keegan was suspended”.

The press was equally scathing in their condemnation.  The Times was particularly angry as Wembley Stadium witnessed two British players sent off for the first time in its illustrious history, describing the removal of their shirts, “shameless”, as they should’ve been “proud to wear them” and singled out Bremner for critisicm as he threw his “petulantly to the ground, where it lay crumpled like a shot seagull until cleared away by a linesman.  It was a disgusting scene”.  They went onto claim “Sadly, Keegan could have been the man of the match.  Leeds patently realised this by half-time and seemed intent on eliminating him by fair means or foul”.

Interestingly, just watching the footage of the immediate build-up to the incident would suggest Keegan was incensed at the treatment of his captain under the hands, or feet, of Giles and Bremner and he sought his own justice.  But later, Tommy Smith gave a little more detail to the event. 

“Leeds had been at Kevin all day.  It was at a corner and Giles came up behind Keegan and whacked him.  Kevin whirled around but Giles had disappeared and Billy was the nearest Leeds player so Kevin went for him.

Ted Croker was especially angry about the fracas, as he’d seen this as an additional showpiece event for The FA to add to the FA Cup Final and League Cup Final.  The build-up was similar to those Finals and back then they were the only two domestic matches televised live.  To say The FA was embarrassed would be an understatement and it’s clear they wanted both clubs punished severely, but the panel which sat on judgement over this included some club managers, including Matt Busby, who were never going to agree to this because of the precedent it could set.  It is very possible the clubs did not share Croker’s view of the match as being any more than an exhibition.

Both players received lengthy bans and a £500 fine but despite calls in the press neither club received sanctions.  Both players were banned for 11 matches and by the time Bremner returned to Leeds, Clough had gone after only 44 days.  Clough was paid-off after his early sacking yet despite his wealth he was demoralised.  Shortly before his death he revealed “I didn’t think it out.  Leeds weren’t for me and I wasn’t for them”, which was probably an understatement.

The whole episode may seem tame by today’s standards but back then a watching television audience had not seen the like, and of course many were concerned with the example being shown to others.  The fact we are less shocked about it all now shows the authorities failed to rein behaviour in. 

Saturday 10^th August 1974, Wembley Stadium, 67,000

LIVERPOOL   (1)   1   (Boersma 19)

LEEDS UNITED   (0)   1   (Cherry 70)

LIVERPOOL: Clemence; Smith, Thompson, Hughes, Lindsay; Callaghan, Hall, Cormack, Heighway; Keegan, Boersma

LEEDS UNITED: Harvey; Reaney, McQueen, Hunter, Cherry; Lorimer, Bremner, Giles, Gray; Clarke (McKenzie), Jordan

Penalties
LIVERPOOL: Lindsay, Hughes, Hall, Smith, Cormack, Callaghan

LEEDS UTD: Lorimer, Giles, Gray, Hunter, Cherry, Harvey (missed)

Quotes – The Guardian, The Times, LFChistory.net, mightyLeeds.co.uk.

A Real Dilemma

Much has been spoken about last night’s Champions League match in the Bernabeu where Real Madrid met Liverpool, and much more will be spoken in the coming days.

The whole build-up to the game seemed to provoke high emotion and when the team sheet was revealed there was more anger and debate.

Personally, I wasn’t comfortable with many sentiments which suggested we shouldn’t even play the game.  I’m sure Basel and Ludogorets found that amusing.  If teams just chose to turn up for games they thought they were going to win then there’d be no point in football at all.  But shocks and surprises do happen, and even when you’re playing as Real Madrid on FIFA or Football Manager, you can lose to lower ranked sides.

Only last week we had the example of an under-strength Newcastle side going to Manchester City in the Capital One Cup and no one gave them a hope.  90 minutes later they’d won 2-0 and continued their recovery from the depths of despair.  These things happen in football, and it’s often easy for us supporters, most of whom never made it to anything like a professional level in sport, to believe you’re taking the pitch knowing you’re in for a hiding.  But professionals don’t think like that, they don’t have doubts in their ability, they only think of ‘can’ not ‘can’t’ (no, that’s not an opportunity for a pun from last night either).

The Newcastle situation is an example of how idiotic it is for continual “change the manager” rants from some people.  They could have changed their manager long ago but didn’t and now look at them – full of confidence.

The team selection is something which produced a huge wave of criticism, and was especially whipped up by various sections of the media.  Mark Pougatch, not generally a man who succumbs to hyperbole, on Radio Five was certainly stirring things up suggesting Liverpool were “disrespecting the competition by putting out a sub-standard side”.  He would argue he was simply voicing opinions given to him by some Liverpool fans, although those comments are chosen rather than read out in the order they’re received, adding to the mood being created.  Then on television, Adrian Chiles was apoplectic in his view “the great Liverpool football club have thrown in the towel”, and how could Brendan Rodgers possibly choose a line-up like that?  This just served to whip up the audience into a frenzy.  But of course these views are rarely held by the presenter alone, and are often ordered by their producer to improve the viewing and listening figures for the station.

None of us are privy to the conversations which went on around team selection, and I would fully expect they were long, detailed and well thought out.  You may have thought differently but then you have the benefit of this theory never being tested and you never having to suffer the consequences of failure.  I think much of the decision was forced on Rodgers, and I don’t mean from his employer, but by the team’s performance in recent weeks.  Most team selections are a gamble as you never really know what sort of performance you’re going to get, but had Liverpool been playing the scintillating football of last season, and had won the last 5-6 matches, brimming with confidence, then it’s likely only a couple of players would’ve been rested.  Think back to the heady days of April and you could see how that would’ve been more than capable of taking on Madrid on a Tuesday and then Chelsea on a Saturday.  As it turned out he left Gerrard, Henderson, Coutinho, Sterling, Balotelli and Johnson on the bench.  None of those players had been “ripping up trees” in the past few weeks and they are going to be needed when the season reaches “the business end” from February onwards.  We are going to be playing more matches this season than last and so it is essential we have a squad which can cope with the workload, and that would appear synonymous with the transfer policy in the summer.

Rodgers had some big decisions to make and couldn’t just look at the Madrid game, with a Premier League against Chelsea coming up at the weekend.  Chelsea are in Slovenia tonight and so may be at a disadvantage in recovery terms with Liverpool benefitting from an extra day.  Rodgers also had to contend with the fact we’ve already lost to Basel so it was always going to be likely we would have to win the final group game against them at Anfield, to secure qualification to the knockout stage.  So, had we been playing well and were in the top three in the Premier League, and had won 2 of our 3 group matches in the Champions League then maybe last night’s team selection would’ve been different.  But the fact is we’re not, we haven’t and so it was.

Now it is very easy to argue putting out, what some may regard as, a B team suggests we had already given up, and having that belief leads to a feeling of disappointment we weren’t able to see Sterling take on a rarely tested defence, or Gerrard orchestrate the midfield, Coutinho pick holes through the defence or maybe see Balotelli silence his many detractors with a goal in the Bernabeu. 

But there is a bigger picture here and football often finds no place for sentiment.  Had those players performed at the required level in recent games then maybe they deserved that chance, but you can’t keep picking players who aren’t performing and Rodgers has to give Lallana, Markovic and Can their stage to let them show what they can do.  If you’re Emre Can and you’re giving your all in training then watching “the first team” perform as insipidly as they did against Newcastle you have every right to believe your chance is coming.  Now Rodgers has given you that chance in, of all places, the Bernabeu against possibly the best club side in the world at the moment.  Of course, if you were Emre Can you could throw something back at the manager and complain you were picked in a team alongside other “numpties” rather than get the chance to show what you can do alongside Gerrard, Coutinho and Henderson and that you still haven’t been trusted.  But then players always believe they’re right and they’re never to blame.

We have no idea what goes on between manager and players and these days men like Rodgers have shown themselves to be able to adapt to different personalities as can be evidenced with his explanation of why he was so angry with England’s treatment of Daniel Sturridge.  Sturridge has a personal training schedule designed specifically for him, and he’s unlikely to be the only one, giving further evidence with modern management being increasingly about man-management than anything else.  Last season Rodgers got this right, but so far this season he hasn’t and no doubt it frustrates him as much as it does the rest of us.

What Rodgers did last night is send a message to those who have had a regular place in recent weeks that they cannot be certain of their place without a performance.  The message he has sent to Lucas, Toure, Borini, Can, Markovic and Lallana is if they put in a decent performance then they could replace those who seem to be first on the team sheet. 

The evidence would suggest it worked, although how many of them have played themselves into contention for the Chelsea game, remains to be seen, but Kolo Toure, for example, has done much to change the reputation he’d built up in his short time at Anfield.  With Palace, Stoke, Leicester and Sunderland coming up after the Chelsea game they are likely to get their chance then and it they will have been under no illusion that the management were looking carefully at their attitude last night.

The ‘bigger picture’ I mentioned earlier is one which other clubs have found difficult to master.  How do you compete in the Champions League in the same season you are desperately trying to qualify for it again?  Everton and Tottenham haven’t mastered it and even Manchester City are finding it tough.  Qualifying for next season’s Champions League is possibly a bigger target than getting through this season’s group stage.  Some may not like it, but in order to continue to compete with the wealth of Europe’s top clubs, Liverpool cannot afford to miss out on the riches waiting for them with the new TV deal for English clubs over the next three years.  This money could well finance the host of big names so many supporters crave.  If you look at the group situation in this season’s Champions League, even if Liverpool had won last night, they would probably need to beat Basel in the final group game.  Losing hasn’t changed that scenario either.  Remember, if two teams are level on points then the head-to-head record between those clubs is what separates them.  At the moment Liverpool trail 0-1 to Basel.  Of course you could argue a win last night and then a win in Bulgaria would probably mean Liverpool could afford a draw against the Swiss in the final match, but I hope you get my point (no, not another pun)

The other scenario which must have entered Rodgers thinking was that if he’d put out his ‘first team’ last night and they’d spent all night hopelessly chasing the ball this would’ve been a further nail in the confidence coffin, they seem so intent on constructing over recent weeks.  That is not the preparation you want for the Chelsea game at the weekend. 

Last night hasn’t solved everything and in fact it may not solve anything, unless it brings about a return to confidence for the whole squad.  I would hope those on the bench are really proud of the starting eleven just as they would expect those players to be when the positions are reversed.  Club football is very much as squad game these days and Liverpool were fortunate to be able to go through most of last season with only minor irritation with injuries.  We now go to a game against the league leaders where a further defeat could undo the hard work from last night.  We still have to go to Ludogorets and win, although a draw isn’t disastrous it just feeds doubt, leading to a vital game at home to Basel. 

I’m willing to bet Rodgers took a long hard look at those players after Saturday’s performance and then considered what another Madrid battering could do to them, before wondering how he’d ever get them ready for Chelsea.  He is managing a 25-man squad after all.  Sure, those players left on the bench last night will be disappointed, footballers always are.  Robbie Fowler is still annoyed he was left out of FA Cup Final in 2001 and Michael Owen still feels the same about the Worthington Cup Final in the same year.  But managers have to make decisions based on what’s best for the team, and as I said earlier, football rarely has a place for sentiment.

I expect the Basel game at Anfield to be like many a great European night with the crowd playing the part so many visiting teams fear.  St. Etienne, Auxerre, Juventus, Real Madrid and Olympiakos all over again.  Hopefully by then we’ve hit form and can see them off, then look forward to our opponents in the knockout stages.

In the meantime, bring on Chelsea on Saturday.