Waiting for a stroke of luck worked for spurs this week... But that doesn't make it a good brexit strategy | thearticle

I’m not sure which was worse: Theresa May trying to use Liverpool’s victory over Barcelona on Tuesday as a metaphor for how Brexit can be rescued, or Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell – two

men whose economic policies would cripple the club and reduce its competitiveness in Europe – claiming it was proof ‘miracles can happen’. Liverpool as a city is very left wing, which is

ironic given that its rise, and more recently revival, came about because of some pretty rampant capitalism. The fans of the football club are no different, and buried deep in the psyche of

those who ‘go the match’ are the words of the man many regard as a variant of the father of this red nation, former manager Bill Shankly, about his socialist beliefs. Liverpool fans have

more cause to hate the Tories than most, what with the shame of the Hillsborough and Heysel disasters, and the efforts senior members of the police and government went to to pin the blame

squarely on Liverpool fans. No matter that the definitive inquiry, when it came, was called for by a Conservative prime minister after years of Labour inactivity while in power. The damage

was already done. That said, Liverpool fans must recognise that a Corbyn/McDonnell government with its plans for taxation would be a disaster for the club. Perhaps not domestically – all

major English football teams would suffer equally – but any notion of competing with big spending continental sides would go out of the window. And would Fenway Sports Group, so far the most

careful and conserving billionaire custodian of any football club and the folks who save Liverpool for bankruptcy, hang around for that? But this isn’t an article about that. It’s an

article about Brexit. And a criticism of both parties, for misinterpreting both it, and the football. Tottenham Hotspur’s victory over a plucky Ajax side was a miracle, in much the same way

as Liverpool’s win in 2005 over AC Milan in Istanbul. Spurs had no right to have got as far as they did in the contest. They are far from the best team in England, let alone Europe; have

spent no money on new players in the past 18 months, and were thoroughly turned over for the first 135 of the tie’s 180 minutes. At 3-0 down, there was no master plan. There was no major

shift in tactics; bringing ‘the big man’ on up front (in the form of Fernando Llorente) is the English equivalent of rolling the dice – a stratagem based on chance. ‘Lump it up top and hope’

is the mantra boys are taught at school. The team dived in headfirst and hoped for the best. Sometimes, sheer force of will is enough to get you over the line. But, as with the Miracle of

Istanbul, it was glorious chaos. That is Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn’s approach to Brexit. Kick it long, and hard, up top away from yourself, and hope. It can work – but there is a reason

such victories are called miracles. For the thousands and thousands of football matches the big clubs have contested over the years, you can count on one hand how many times it has worked.

Funnily enough, Liverpool’s demolition of Barcelona at Anfield is exactly how May and Corbyn should have approached Brexit. It was far from a miracle, and the complete opposite of Spurs’

win. For all the expectation management of manager Jurgen Klopp, talking of ‘failing beautifully’ after his side lost the first leg 3-0, this was no fluke. Sure, the stats suggest it was;

teams just don’t overcome these odds regularly enough for it to be anything but. But Liverpool’s triumph lay in careful tactics designed to split Barcelona open with ruthless precision. The

luck, if anything, came in the first leg. Liverpool created chances, but somehow just didn’t score them. Every commentator and fan agreed at the final whistle: How had Liverpool lost?

Barcelona, on the other hand, scored three, two of which owed nothing to tactics and everything to individual moments of talent from Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez. That’s the luck and

individualism you can’t always account for. But Liverpool’s tactics in the second game didn’t change from the first, because they were the right tactics: if you keep creating the chances,

eventually you will score. There were no flukes, no 30-yard wonder goals, no desperate rolls of the dice. Each one came as a result of the precise application of pressure, and knowledge of

where a teammate would be, during a certain passage of play. That’s why, despite not having star forwards Mo Salah and Bobby Firmino on the pitch, Liverpool still scored with relative ease.

Their replacements, Xherdan Shaqiri and Divock Origi, may not be as talented or as feted, but they still share the same dressing room, undergo the same preparations, and receive the same

instructions as their illustrious peers. There was a plan, and everyone knew what it was. No miracles required. Can we really compare this to either party’s Brexit approach? Liverpool’s

German coach had a plan and executed it; Spurs hoped for a miracle and got lucky. I know which one sounds more like the process of trying to achieve Brexit. I also know which one I’d prefer,

and it isn’t that one. The thing is, right now, I’d take the Spurs’ ‘hit and hope, do or die’ approach, because at least their miracle came off. I don’t quite believe the same is going to

happen for our politicians. With Brexit, as with football, some things never change. As Klopp will probably tell you, and arch remainer Gary Lineker once said: “It’s a simple game.

Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes, and at the end, the Germans always win.”