FA Cup Preview: Its importance to the two sides

At the moment, everyone involved in Liverpool Football Club seems to have hit the same crossroad that all owners of a Mercedes SLK arrive at. They have invested in something which is overpriced and underperforming, and as such there are two possible avenues to go down. The first option sees the owner show humility, as he humbly jacks in his Mercedes for a Mazda MX-5. The second owner chooses the path of denial, cruising round in his Merc seemingly unaware that everyone else on the road is laughing at him. From the Suarez case, to their lackluster form in the league, Liverpool seem to have chosen the ultra-defensive path. What better way then for Liverpool FC to add fuel to the fire of denial than to win their second trophy of the season?

I know we’ve been harsh to Stewart Downing of late, but evaluating his comments on today’s game just seems too apt a way to go about illustrating Liverpool’s current predicament. So without further ado, let’s get down to ridiculing the comments of the under-performer personified, Mr SLK himself, Stewart Downing. Stewart recently alluded to the significance of today’s final by unequivocally agreeing with those (liverpool fans) who argue that two trophies is better than a top 4 finish, on the grounds that you have ‘more to show’ for your efforts. In a completely abstract, and slightly ridiculous way, he is right: a top 4 finish and failure to qualify for the Champions League would leave nothing in the history books. However, there is a reason that UEFA don’t set the bar of qualification to Europe’s elite competitions at successful cup runs. What a top 4 finish does represent is a consistently outstanding league campaign. Moreover, it shows you are a force to be reckoned with, and that you have built a team that can compete ‘week-in week-out’ at any level. Downing goes on to say that ‘only thing people can have a pop at us for is finishing’. Seems a bit rich coming from the man that has one assist against Oldham to his name this season. Taking everything into accounts, I think it’s fair to say we can have a ‘pop’ at Stewart and his under performing colleagues, and we will.

Having said this, if you strip away the embellishment, he has a point. At the end of the day, a double is a double, and two trophies undoubtedly denotes a successful return in the history books which don’t necessarily account for the circumstances surrounding the club at the time. Despite what we might say about their league form, winning two domestic cups is an achievement, and one that Liverpool fans need if they are to keep people like me off their backs.

Chelsea’s need for a win today is on the face of it, slightly less dire. Although they too have suffered dips in form, they are in and around the battle for 4th place, and reaching the final of Europe’s elite competition is a magnificent achievement. Make no mistake though, they have a spine full of winners in their team and they will all be hungry for more success today.

Both clubs know what it takes to win this competition and it really is a close one to call. However, my name isn’t Mark Lawrenson and so i’m not going to sit on the fence. Purely by virtue of the fact that Chelsea are on better form, I think they will win today. The ‘one eye on the Champions League’ argument for me is nonsensical: Drogba, Lampard, Terry, Cole, they are all winners; and they will want another trophy to their name. It is going to be very interesting.