Looking in the rearview mirror

[rurikbird]

Somehow today I thought back to the 97 and the 99 point seasons and the CL win sandwiched in-between and felt in awe of what a fucking unbelievable accomplishment it was. That team played some of the best football I have seen or will ever see in my life, winning with class and consistency and passion and dynamism and just everything you want in a football team and nothing you don’t. At the time I felt it sucked that we’ve won the title in a pandemic-disrupted year, but now I feel somehow it fits - it wouldn’t be like Liverpool not to overcome the maximum adversity, not to intertwine triumph and tragedy.

Anyone care to share your favorite memories or experiences from those two seasons (2018-19 and 2019-20)? For me some of the things that immediately spring to mind are flying to Liverpool specially to see the game against Huddersfield in April of 2019 - my first live taste of Klopp’s team (Van Dijk looks an absolute beast in person!), then taking a far shorter trip (a 20-minute walk from my place) to see them at the Yankee Stadium the following pre-season, with the NYC crowd going nuts wherever Trent went near the corner flag and giving a hearty ovation to Van der Berg - our only summer signing, sleeping through the Barca 4:0 game and dropping my jaw to the floor when I saw the scoreline and sitting in my pajamas with a glass of Carlsberg in lockdown and feeing bittersweet watching the Chelsea-City game that confirmed our title in 2020. This was not how I would have scripted it, but now I wouldn’t trade these experiences for anything.

 

[Woland]

I'd have to say bumping into you in the King Harry and finding out you'd decided to fly in and out of New York in 24 hours just to go the match, that was pretty cool. Also the whole Kiev ten days was such a laugh, as was the Madrid trip. But the best few seconds of the last few years was Corner Taken Quickly.

 

[Woland]

CORNER TAKEN QUICKLY

 

[rubans]

Those words and that game still makes the hair stand up.
Sitting down to watch the game for a respectable 0-0 then end up watching Klopp and team salute the crowd thinking fck we are in the CL final then spending the night trying to book flights to Madrid was just something else.
Then next day going to client meetings in my LFC shirt like a tool was another matter. Amazing team...

 

[Halmeister]

It was weird. I'd never seen us win a league title, and didn't know what to expect. It felt like an anti-climax to me, and I far more enjoyed winning a cup final. I think there were probably a few factors at play here. The pandemic, obviously, the fact that we were so far ahead that it all felt a bit of a formality (potential league cancellation aside). There's also the fact there was no one defined euphoric moment when we won it, like what you get with a cup final. Also the fact we won it without even playing made it feel all the more detached.

I don't want to sound ungrateful, and I had been waiting my entire life to see us win it, but nothing can compare to how I felt after Istanbul, Madrid, even the FA cup finals in 01, 06 to a lesser extent. Hopefully if/when we win it again, there'll be a greater sense of joy that comes along with it.

 

[Red rose]

I watched the ‘corner taken quickly’ for days on end…over and over..haha !

also watched Allison’s goal and celebrations 100s of times

 

[MomoWASright]

Winning the title still had its moments. Defeat into victory at Villa park. Now you’re gonna believe us after beating the scum. Beating city at home. Last minute pen against Leicester. Destroying Leicester when we all expected a world club cup hangover. Battering Everton.

 

[peekay]

My reaction to winning the league was not what I expected. While I have been a constant member of the Dumbledore's Army and Kelly's Heroes, when the moment arrived, I found it very difficult to process. There was happiness, tears, sadness. Cannot even begin to describe those in words.

 

[rurikbird]

For me the 97 and the 99 point seasons are part of an inseparable whole. We played arguably better football in 2018-19, but in 2019-20 we’ve reached a different level in terms of consistency and ability to grind out results. And the CL win that happened almost in-between these seasons and the parade through the streets that followed gave us an important moment of celebration of this amazing team and Klopp.

So even if 2020 title was definitely bittersweet, I’ve now accepted that it had to happen the way it did. And the whole journey towards it was so good and filled with so many memorable moments I wouldn’t want to change anything. For instance would have we won that game against Barca 4:0 had we not experienced the heartbreak of knowing the title was probably gone to City? I am absolutely sure that anger and the sense of missed opportunity gave the players something extra that day.

Now we’re in a different phase even though the bulk of that amazing team is still here. As AC Milan showed, even an aging great team can still achieve great things - I really hope Van Dijk and co. still have a few titles in them. But whatever happens in the future, it will be hard to top that 2018-2020 period.