Lets face it. Liverpool were robbed in the Final of the World Club Championship by a set of dodgey refeering decisions.
But Liverpool shouldnt feel too down about the loss as Liverpool were the only team who went to Japan with the right attitude.
Liverpool, by far the best team in the competition, had travelled 12,000 to get there slap bang in a competitive Premiership season whereas the rest were either in out-of-season, or had spent 10 days acclimatising in that part of the world.
The boss had done everything he could to make sure the team were prepared for any signs of jetlag – bringing forward the training times before the team left, as well as ensuring the players eat and slept at the appropriate times to reduce the effects too.
The players certainly went there to win it – who can argue against this as the pictures of Stevie G at the end of the game sat in the middle of the park clearly showed how deflated he felt.
The team completely battered Deportivo Saprisso the other day without barley getting out of second gear, and they came so close to knocking down ‘the best team in South America’. So the players, and the management should take heart from the fact that they put on a show but didnt get their just rewards.
Plus points include another couple of goals for Crouch, and improved performance (and subsequent apparant desire to stay a Red) from Cisse, Steven Gerrard once again proving he is Mr Liverpool and the confidence from Benitez in his players to swap things around for the two games without any major damage. No injuries to report too.
The obvious exposure of the Reds will no doubt help sell a few more shirts along the way too.
But all in all the team did us proud. The team that won so magnificantly in Istanbul several months ago put in 2 displays that on another day would have picked up the trophy – all of this on the other side of the world.
The team fly back to Liverpool in the next day or so, and no doubt Benitez will be anxious to get the lads back to this timezone as quick as possible and get them thinking about the next game.
Confidence shouldnt be a problem as the Reds are in a rich vain of domestic form, and if anything they will be itching to get back to winning ways again.
And with Chelsea now starting to pull away, even though the Reds have a couple of games in hand on them, the team cant afford to think what could have been. They only need to think what could be.
And thats still the exciting part.
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