Background
This week, we focus on goings on off the field with Project Picture and the drama that was the Merseyside Derby.
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Is Project Big Picture finished?
So an emergency meeting was held, project big picture tossed aside with the blessings of it’s promoters and everything goes quiet. A plan which took three years to hatch closed off in thirty minutes. Sound too good to be true? Well it is. An agreement was reached to look into this over the next few months. The reality is that the point has been made. On Wednesday night, there were seventy two football club owners who went to sleep dreaming of a £250m payment and 25% of all future premier league TV money. Twenty four hours later, that had turned into £50m worth of interest free loans and grants and mmm that was it. Liverpool and Manchester United have let it be known that their deal is still on the table. So no, this hasn’t gone away and we do indeed live in times of change with the football structure. Meanwhile the FA, remember them? Yeah, the one’s who had gone quiet in recent months have said that will get together and come up with something. We have another group of individuals who believe that the rich and powerful owners will be happy for an independent group of people manage how they make more money out of football, good luck with that too. No, the owners will not let anyone dictate them and expect more on this story over the coming months.
The use of VAR needs a serious rethink
Years ago, when Sky were calling for the use of VAR, they were citing the case of a leg breaking challenge that could have been highlighted during the match that would have been overturned. Now we have it, well, that “step three” is a bit too complex to work out. Whilst Van Dijk was on the floor getting extensive treatment on his ruptured knee, our supermen in Stockley Park were playing with their pencils and rulers to see whether he was offside. And their video editing software was so good, that it stopped before they could even see Pickford’s scissored assault on Van Dijk a few seconds later. Never mind, all that practice with the pencils and rulers helped as they somehow managed to draw a line that made Mane offside for the Liverpool winner. Only that no one else managed to come up with the same conclusion. After the match, there was silence or hearsay. The TV suits were told one thing, the athletic another. Meanwhile the television screen on the side of the pitch remained unused. It’s time to think whether this Project “VAR” Picture needs to be replaced by well nothing. Let’s just go back to the game we loved, remember, where linesmen put the flag up when it was offside, we could celebrate goals properly and there was a single point of responsibility. Because in this new world of armpit offsides, disgraceful ignoring of career threatening injuries and punishing defenders for having their arms coming down from their shoulders, it’s just not fun or funny anymore.
Can Liverpool still win the title?
Ok, so the hyperbole machine that is football, has worked out that Liverpool losing their star defender will make them so much weaker, that it will now be the most open title race in years. Is this really so? Have the team that finished eighteen points ahead of everyone last year really going to collapse? Sure Van Dijk was really important and he would be missed by any team. However, Klopp and his team will surely work it out with the group of players they have at their disposal. They could strengthen up the midfield and offer added protection to the defence. Fabinho could drop into the defence until January if not the rest of the season. Gomez is one of the top english centre halves in the company and Matip, when fit, has not let anyone down. Allison will be back soon and sure enough, normal service should be resumed. Outside of Manchester City, all the other teams are still far behind this team so as predicted, it will still be a battle between the usual two. Liverpool lost Van Dijk for a year but surely, this would only mean something if any of the others had a Van Dijk like figure in their defence. That in itself narrows the list to Laporte and Manchester City. United have Maguire, Lindelof and Bailly to choose from, Spurs Dier and Alderweireld and Chelsea, well, let’s not go there, we have already talked about their defence enough. The rest have will be fighting for a top four or european place at best.
How can Van Dijk best spend his sabbatical year?
It was indeed a calming and mature statement that Van Dijk put out upon hearing the news of his long term injury. It’s unlikely that he will play for Liverpool again this season. He will get the operation carried out, normally a day, and then many months of physio work. With his maturity, it is certain that he will make the most out of his year of not playing football. However, a thought of the day here. In 2024, Jurgen Klopp will have been at Liverpool for almost ten years and may well decide to call it a day. There are already concerns about what happens next on that day. Could Van Dijk take this next year to start his long pathway to becoming that successor to Klopp on that day. Spending time on the coaching side and learning from the great man himself on how to be a top manager from coaching, people management, transfers, strategic decision making and developing a personality that ensures you can cope with the day to day pressures. He has all the ingredients of a future Liverpool manager and this could well be that opportunity to start this pathway. History indeed tells us that a number of the best managers all started their pathway due to being plagued by injuries and as such could this be a start of another such story? We will know not today but maybe five years from now when there is a seamless transition of managerial reigns. In the meantime, Mr Van Dijk, you will be missed by all on and off the football pitch and thank you for all your help in bringing this great club back to where it belongs, at the pinnacle of the english and European game. Get well soon, you will be missed by all.
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