Proximity.

[Insidious]

Not a thread for optimism, or for pessimism.

Not a pro-Slot thread, nor anti-Slot.

Just one of my many semi-nonsense threads - in this case, looking to intermittently keep tabs on where we are.

I'm a big believer in the prospect that you are never as good, nor as bad, as you think you are. For Liverpool, we're one win away from being just a point off fourth spot (not awful) whilst simultaneously only being 7 points above the relegation zone (pretty awful). We're (live, as it stands) 1 point above 15th (awful) whilst 1 point behind 7th (not great, but less terminal).

We have also scored one whilst conceding ten (absolutely horrific) in our last 3 games, whilst the xG suggests we probably should have five (less awful) whilst conceding six (still pretty bad) - which I find intriguing when I think back to Klopp's last Dortmund season. For the first half of the 14/15 season, Klopp's side basically had relegation-level points tallies, whilst the underlying data suggested terrible luck. In the second half of the season, they played more like a Champion's League level team and ultimately had a more respectable, if still underwhelming, season.

Previously, when not in "essay mode" I have done threads that tallied things like our distance from top spot, or tried to count down the games whilst figuring out how many points we had to win, or divided the season into clusters with points targets to achieve certain goals....etc etc.

This time, for better or worse, with no intention of providing a pro-or-against narrative, I'm going to periodically update this thread with certain data roughly as follows -


(After 12 games played)
Distance from 1st - 11 points (space in brackets template for future info about +/- distance)
Distance from 4th - 4 points, Sunderland have played 13 (future info about +/- distance)
Distance from 18th - 7 points (space in brackets template for future info about +/- distance)

Quite why stuff like this keeps me a little bit more engaged is a mystery to me (blame the 'tism) but it's here, it will get updated as-and-when-I-feel and the beauty about it is that absolutely nobody is forced to read it.

[Insidious]

Okay, with everyone having now played 13 League matches, I can update this for the first time and mercifully it's a positive update.

After 13 games played -

Distance from 1st - 9 points (having been 11 points adrift, so we're 2 closer to the top)
Distance from 4th - 3 points (having been 4 points adrift, so we're 1 closer to 4th spot)
Distance from 18th - 10 points (having been just 7 points clear, we're now 3 points further away)

3-game swing from top.
1-game swing from 4th.
4-game swing clear of the relegation zone.

A very positive round of fixtures for us ahead of the Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday fixtures - I can update after Man United host West Ham on Thursday night.

[LFC-DPG]

One swallow doesn't make a summer

While a win was welcome (and much needed), we were pretty poor again today.

Let’s see where we are after the Sunderland and Leeds games.

[Insidious]

One swallow doesn't make a summer

While a win was welcome (and much needed), we were pretty poor again today.

Let’s see where we are after the Sunderland and Leeds games.

True.

This isn't designed as a positive or negative thread - just observation/recording.

This was a good round of fixtures as we gained 3 points to Arsenal and Chelsea's single point each - there will be more good weeks like this.

Equally, there will be plenty of bad weeks as well.

My fear is always when we have a target (at the moment that's Champion's League football realistically, not a League title, so we'll say 4th) and it gets a little too far away. Being 3 points adrift of 4th is alright just now, given the awful run of fixtures that came before. If it gets to us being 7+ points adrift (which takes at least 3 fixtures to rectify, or a "3-game swing" as I call it) of that we could spiral.

Hopefully Sunderland and Leeds can provide further positivity. It was nice to see the big call of going "Salahless" be made and pay off. Will be fascinating to see the line-ups in the following games.

[fiordearg]

Win our next one and see where the horizon lies