The international break can often feel like a slog. Liverpool can attest to that as it hits the two-week mark since the team’s last game.
It has felt longer given the disastrous conclusion to the last batch of club fixtures which saw Liverpool dumped out of the Champions League and lose at Wembley in the Carabao Cup final as Arne Slot suffered consecutive defeats for the first time since taking over as manager.
It raised questions about the holes that need to be plugged in this side – despite it sitting comfortably top of the league – while the injuries to Alisson and Ryan Gravenberch didn’t help during the pause in club soccer. Then the Trent Alexander-Arnold reports emerged, all but confirming fans’ worst fears. It has been a grueling two weeks.
But the return of the club game hasn’t helped. If anything it has underlined the failings of recent months. No FA Cup involvement due to that humiliating exit at the hands of Plymouth Argyle meant Liverpool watched on as Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest booked their place in the last four. Real Madrid won days after the Alexander-Arnold news, Champions League conquers PSG cruised to a 6-1 victory and, to top it all off, Newcastle United’s post-cup celebrations reached new heights courtesy of a city center bus tour.
Most Liverpool fans have shown humility in the last two weeks, with a grudging acceptance that the better team won at Wembley and deserved to end its 70-year trophy drought. But the sight of TV hosts Ant and Dec draped in black and white scarves or Dan Burns in a bucket hat must cause even the most mild-mannered fan to quickly switch channels at this stage.
For Liverpool, the 17-day wait for a match ends on Wednesday when Everton travels to Anfield. The return feels both welcome and oddly anticlimatic after such a superb first season under Slot. The Premier League title race should provide little jeopardy and, with no hope of a double, things could feel a little flat.
Oddly, it’s Newcastle that should provide all the motivation needed to get going again. Those scenes of fans hanging out of windows, flares clouding the sky and star names initiating chants have been a long time coming for fans of the Magpies. Something similar should be taking place on Merseyside in approximately two months’ time.
Liverpool fans can relate with long, overdue festivities. It took 30 years for the club’s 18th top-flight title to be secured and, when it was finally achieved, fans couldn’t even celebrate. The Covid-19 restrictions limited any jubilant scenes to the back garden or over video call. So the wait for Liverpool supporters to commemorate a league title together has now stretched to half of 70 years endured by Newcastle fans.
It was estimated that around 150,000 lined the streets on Tyneside on Saturday; it could be six times that when Liverpool finally gets round to celebrating in May. The scenes when Jurgen Klopp’s Champions League winners returned home from Madrid in 2019 should give a taste of what’s in store – that wait was only 14 years.
That alone should provide all the motivation needed for Liverpool to pick up where it left off in the Premier League, when it beat Southampton 3-1 at Anfield on 8 March. There are only 16 points needed to ensure those scenes will be repeated at the start of the summer.
So, painful as it may be, to watch Bruno Guimarares swear on live TV, Jacob Murphy pretend to drop the cup or Eddie Howe’s building-length banner unfurl, drink it in. Next up, it should be Liverpool’s turn.
