Gladiators ready?

Remember that TV show Gladiators? It was that programme that gave the country the chance to look at steroid abusing hulks smack each other over the head with giant cotton buds, to marvel at John Fashanu’s ability to look at the wrong camera (something which he did about as often as he elbowed centre halves in the head) and to stare at a pre-Sven Ulrika Jonsson and vow to go on that holiday to Sweden you’d been promising yourself.

The thing I remember most about it though is the game at the end, where the ordinary member of the public (with suspicious lack of beer belly) took on an obstacle course that looked as though it had been taken from the nearest children’s playground. The idea was for the ‘ordinary person’ to finish the course before the Gladiator, who gave them a headstart determined by the amount of events they had won during the show.

Presiding over it all was this craggy faced Scottish bloke who had appointed himself referee. Forever bellowing orders, the Scottish bloke wouldn’t let you do anything unless he blew his whistle first. ‘Contender ready? You will go on my first whistle,’ he would roar, really pronouncing the ‘wh’ in that way that Scottish people do. ‘Gladiator ready? You will go on my second whistle.’ God forbid you disobey him.

Too often in the past, Liverpool have found themselves in the position of the Gladiator who has given his opponent too much of a headstart. They set off on the second whistle, and although when functioning properly they do possess the ability to succeed, their opponent is already over the highwire, around the revolving tubes and well on the way to victory. Sure Liverpool will try, and they’ll even get close to them a couple of times, but deep down they know, their supporters know and, most importantly, the people ahead of them know that they won’t catch up.

With the Premiership now much harder to win than it was ten years ago, you simply cannot afford to wait until the second whistle to start moving. When that Scottish bloke’s whistle blows, you need to start running. Steven Gerrard, Steve Finnan and several other Liverpool players have already underlined their determination to be quick off the mark.

Liverpool have started slowly in each of Rafa Benitez’s three seasons in charge, had they had a better start in 2005/06 they could have won the league. The Reds finished the season with 82 points, nine behind champions Chelsea, after dropping 14 in their first eight games. Similarly last season’s haul of just a solitary point from their first six away games of the campaign strangled any championship hopes at birth.

If Benitez and his team can get it right from the start this time around, then they could be the ones setting the pace. Chelsea appear vulnerable, they have unhappy players and a growing injury list (and a visit to Anfield to come on the second weekend of the season), while Arsenal are a club in transition. Manchester United of course pose the biggest threat, but does Ferguson know his best team? How is he going to keep all his midfielders happy? How will Tevez fit in? All questions this other craggy faced Scottish bloke faces. If he takes a while to answer them, then Rafa could pounce.

Benitez of course has many questions of his own to consider, too many to list in fact, but in his fourth season in English football he appears to have gained enough knowledge to be ready to answer them head on.

The year 2008 is already a special one for the city of Liverpool, given its status as European Capital of Culture, but if its premier football club are to make it the year that they end their long quest for a league title, then these next couple of months are vital.

Liverpool can’t win the league title by the autumn, but they can most definitely lose it.

That first whistle is about to blow, and Liverpool are right there on the starting line. Gladiators ready? You bet they are.