Talking of Saturday .....
Really need to set down a marker for the home season. On and off the park. Anfield needs to be turned into a fortress again. I don't think any L'pool manager in living memory has ever really come out and challenged (and embarrassed) us the way Klopp did last season. (Rightly, as we've let things slip for WAY too long now.). First with the early leavers that Palace game (THAT soon stooped after that haha.). And then after the Villarreal semi when he said about the boss atmosphere but why wouldn't it be like that for Watford the Sat'day and questioned why if you can do it for one why not the other? Which is completely true and to our detriment. Villarreal were visibly beaten before they even entered the stadium that night with the mad ferocity of the scenes outside greeting the coaches. You had Dortmund players saying they'd never heard anything like the last half hour at Anfield, being used to a steady rhythm of noise in Germany but nothing that ferocious and on top of them as when the comeback started. United players looking up the Kop in scared awe as they lined up pre-match, never having experienced Anfield in all it's glory a European night. Legendary Anfield European nights were back in full force last season the longer the tournament rolled. We now need to translate those to the PL. And no better way than starting with the Champions. After a months wait and anticipation. In front of the biggest Anfield crowd in my 36 year match going lifetime. On a Sat'day tea-time.
The arl place should be rocking and I'm confident we'll come out and blitz Leicester comfortably. But it needs to be the same for Hull the next game and the 17 after that to really build this and make teams dread coming to ours again.
Last year, draws were the problem at home. 8 of them. (1-1 x4/ 2-2 x3/ 3-3 x1.). Now the 3-3 with Arsenal and 1-1's with Chelsea and Tottenham you can accept. But the other lost points were ridiculous. We drew with three of the bottom 4 at Anfield. Although there were mitigating circumstances in 2 of those (Sunderland was the walkout and Newcastle we'd started mailing it in playing the U'5's with everything on the Europa League), it still wasn't good enough. Even 2 of the 3 home defeats to West Ham and Palace should never happen. Our home record last season was W 8, D 8, L 3, F33, A22, GD+11, PTS 32. Which equates to 1.68 points a game. Last year in the PL, only 4 teams averaged over 2 points per game at home. Leicester (the only team to average over 2 away from home too- Funny that from the Champions), Arsenal, City and Utd. 4 of last years top 5. If we just turned 3 of those draws against Norwich, Newcastle, Southampton. Sunderland and West Brom into wins we'd of been level with City in 4th place. Thankfully, we now have found where the back of the net is (PL top scorers through 2016 to date) so the signs are more than promising games like Burnley are becoming the abnormality.
Our home record will go a long way toward where we crave to be this season. It's now real fun again to go the match so let's really enjoy ourselves at home like the old days.
Start as we mean to go on Saturday. On AND off the pitch!