da marjack bet： By any stretch of subjectivity Liverpool have endured a pretty miserable January, a slump in results and performances that contrasted greatly with the ferocious, exhilarating fare that preceded it.
da bet vitoria： Two unexpected cup exits and a measly trio of points from four league games that extinguished their title hopes truly made this Jürgen Klopp’s mensis horribilis. This wasn’t just a couple of bad days at the office. This was a shocking reversal of fortune.
After each defeat or disappointing draw rival fan-bases rubbed their hands in anticipation, awaiting the same degree of hyperbolic criticism from the media that was unleashed upon their own club when they similarly underachieved at earlier junctures of the season.
Rare unity emerged between supporters of both Manchester giants as they recalled how their respective clubs and managers were treated during sustained dips in form. Their club held by the head and drowned in crisis. Their managers accused of ‘losing the plot’. Chelsea fans thought back to the apocalyptic reaction that followed their 3-0 walloping at the Emirates, while Gooners saw the bigger picture and the numerous occasions Arsene Wenger had been disrespectfully caricatured in the press when results went against him.
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Yet here there was very little of that. Only reason and measured opinion pieces with the ‘media darling’ Klopp given an easy ride. Even a primal scream inches from a fourth official’s mush brought only discussions about passion.
This evidently wasn’t fair; this wasn’t a level playing field and consequently we’re in the highly unusual situation of turning up the volume of criticism for the lack of media criticism. It equals the criticism Klopp and Liverpool arguably should have received in the first place. Or, to put another way, there has been a hysterical crisis over the fact there was no hysterical crisis.
Though condemnation of the double standards is understandable I can’t help thinking that we should be approaching this differently; that we’ve played the right game but we’re facing the wrong way.
Maybe the measured response to Liverpool temporarily losing their mojo is the correct manner in which to report on such matters? Maybe we should instead be railing against the culture of over-the-top negative campaigns that are attributed to any top side undergoing a tricky patch to the extent where we now reside in manufactured farce? I believe it is Arsenal’s turn next, should they lose this weekend to Chelsea. After that Spurs are due an unwarranted flogging with United’s next execution by headlines due around April.
‘Crisis’ has become the go-to punishment we constantly demand for our rivals; it has been hijacked for cheap thrills and as such has become a currency that has lost all real value.
The fact Liverpool lost their way is not a crisis, nor was City’s stuttering implementation of Pep Guardiola’s complicated mandate, or for that matter was Jose Mourinho’s initial struggles to impose his personality onto a United squad that was losing theirs.
What is happening right now at Coventry City is crisis, a perpetual one that should sicken every supporter across the land and is absolutely deserving of thunderous headlines that dominate the back pages. The same goes for Charlton and Blackburn and any other club you care to mention whose owners do not have the supporter’s best interests at heart. At each lies scandal deserving of widespread outrage. And yes crisis; life-impacting, soul-wrenching crisis.
It would be wholly unrealistic to expect tabloid editors and websites to suddenly switch their focus from the Premier League circus – with all the huge interest and revenue it generates – and give these ongoing situations their undivided attention. But do they – and we – have to steal the language that is legitimately theirs to use, too?
The level of anger and astonishment that erupted on social media at Jürgen Klopp’s supposed ‘free pass’ from ‘crisis’ this past month wasn’t merely heard, it was deafening. Imagine what could be achieved then if we tweaked that sense of injustice to collectively ask why those in genuine crisis are ignored altogether for those who aren’t.
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