‘Going to sound daft’ – Phil Thompson provides a left-field take on Liverpool’s loss in Istanbul
In contrast to the prevailing woe which greeted Liverpool’s defeat to Galatasaray, Phil Thompson has adopted a philosophical stance on the result in Istanbul.
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Just like in September, the Reds went down 1-0 at Rams Park after putting in a tepid performance and losing to an early goal from the home side, leaving them requiring victory at Anfield next Wednesday to remain in the Champions League.
The external reaction to the result was largely unforgiving, with John Aldridge labelling it a ‘horrible watch‘ and Hamzah Khalique-Loonat of The Times describing LFC as ‘a sad and faded force’, but our former European Cup-winning captain saw it in a different light.
Thompson airs left-field take on Liverpool defeat
Thompson put forward the theory that, by losing rather than drawing, Liverpool’s focus for the second leg will likely be sharper and, in turn, they may be less susceptible to complacency.
He told the Official Liverpool FC Podcast: “I’m not panicking at all. Sometimes – it’s going to sound daft, and I’ve made a lot of daft statements – a 1-0 defeat can be better than 1-1 because you’d go back to Anfield and think, ‘Oh, we’ve got it done, it’s all there’.
“We’re going to be up for it. The fans are going to be more up for it, not thinking that this game’s given away. They can’t have any fans there, which will be a big blow to them, and I just think this is well within our capabilities. I’m not too down.”
Thompson’s optimism doesn’t tally with Liverpool’s Anfield record
We get the logic of what Thompson is saying – Liverpool have no choice but to go for victory and should be more proactive as a consequence – and the ban on Galatasaray supporters from attending the second leg ought to play into our hands as well.
The result and performance in Istanbul should cajole the Reds into setting things right at Anfield in seevn days’ time, but such has been the frightfully inconsistent nature of this season that Kopites could be forgiven for not being overly optimistic about next Wednesday’s encounter.
Also, while LFC have a well-earned reputation for producing famous nights on home soil in Europe’s flagship club competition, that hasn’t been the case in recent years – we’ve won just one of our last seven Champions League knockout games in L4 in the 2020s.
Liverpool have given themselves a difficult task for next week, but the performances against Real Madrid and Marseille in particular during this season’s European run illustrate that the Reds have it in them to avenge last night’s defeat in an emphatic manner.
Similar to Jamie Carragher, Thompson is retaining plenty of belief for the second leg. Let’s hope that their faith is well placed and we’ll look back on Tuesday’s defeat as a momentary nuisance rather than a season-defining setback.
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