What the real killer actually is

I saw an article on here a couple of days ago by Ronny Van Bantz called "Things that upset you" and my good self and various other Bods all put up various things about this game that get to us.

http://www.ja606.co.uk/articles/viewArticle/279783

It set me thinking that there is actually something else that is right underneath all our noses that frankly goes completely off the end of the scale in terms of upsetting or frustrating all of us, even years after it actually happens. It's not even very complicated and is encapsulated in two simple words "Expectation Levels".

Have you ever noticed that the things that hurt the most are when our teams ALMOST achieve our dreams (but then don't). It's like chasing a woman and thinking that you're going to get it and then you don't or so they tell me .

When our teams are languishing in mid-table without a potential trophy to be seen anywhere or worse still, stuck in a lower Division for years with no sign of parole, and getting humped 0-6 by the likes of Rotherham, it hurts but you do become de-sensitized to it and just accept that the team are pants and do get over the numerous reverses quite easily, but God forbid you almost achieve something remarkable, but then have your hopes dashed for whatever reason like an apparent bent Ref or Lino, the wrong side of a post or criminal piece of luck etc. can leave you with a strong sense of frustration or injustice (rightly or wrongly).

As a Chelsea fan the things that still get me more than anything are 2 particular games. Moscow 2008 when Terry steps up only needing to score to win the Champions League, slips but sends Van der Saar the wrong way, but it hits the post on the wrong side and stays out. Man United were up on offer at that point and almost powerless to prevent the result, but fate decreed that it was not to be. If we had lost the game in normal time or on pens but had been trailing all the time, it would not have hurt half as much, as false hopes would not have been raised.

The other game is the notorious game at the Bridge against Barca in 2009 when incidents occurred that should have resulted in a penalty (or more depending on how you saw it) but didn't. Once again if our hopes had not been raised like that then the result now wouldn't grate half as much as it does.

I can empathise what it must have been like for Spurs fans when in 2012 they justifiably qualified for the Champions League and then were deprived of it by us unusually winning the competition and excluding them from it. I would imagine that not qualifying at all would have been far less painful for them than how it panned out.

Looking back at last season if Liverpool had comfortably finished 5th or 4th without ever having a tilt at the title their fans would have been content with that but, going so close and looking nailed-on at one point must leave them with a sense of frustration of what might have been. It would be only natural. City by comparison had probably thought that their moment had gone and felt quite humbled when in the end they won it.

The point of the article is that IMO raising expectation levels at any Club is a dangerous, insidious, intoxicating heady brew that can creep up on all of us and then leave us badly depressed if we dare to come up short. You almost wonder whether it would be preferable to miss something by a mile, than be given a tantalising taste of something and then have it snatched away at the last minute.

Let's face it expectation levels are a killer to all of us. The further up a tree you climb before falling, the more it hurts when you hit the bottom.

What do other fans think of this delicious sickness?