Back To Basics
Written by Gerry on 2 Feb (210 Comments)

Well I guess as a Liverpool fan I should be feeling pretty happy right now but the truth is I’ve got mixed emotions at the moment. On the pitch, things are starting to come together for us at long last but off the pitch things are as frustrating as ever and have once again left me feeling as confused as a hungry baby in a topless bar!

Yet another transfer window has come and gone without the manager being given the necessary backing to add some much needed extra strength to the squad. I suppose that shouldn’t be much of a surprise given what’s gone on before but given the teams current position, a couple of decent quality new faces coming in would have given everyone an extra lift and improved our chances of climbing back into the top four and having a good go at the Europa League.

But once again the club’s balance sheet has taken precedence over the team sheet and this seems to have become standard practice at Anfield since the club became saddled with our two lying American owners. For the most part, Rafa Benitez has always really been in a position where he has had to sell players to buy players but he almost always managed to make a profit from his sales and through this method he has been able to gradually upgrade the side over time.

However recent evidence suggests he can no longer even count on the money he makes through player sales to strengthen the side. During last January’s transfer window we sold Robbie Keane back to Spurs for somewhere between £12 and £15 million. The question we all had back then was who would be brought in to replace him but we soon found out the answer to that question was no one!

When you consider how close we came to winning the league last season it is tempting to think that had we used that cash to bring in a quality replacement last January, it might well have helped us to get those extra few points we needed to win it. Still, we hoped that the money from the Keane sale would turn up during last summer’s transfer window to help the boss really strengthen the squad and build on what we had achieved in the last campaign.

Instead of this more players were sold on at a profit and a chunk of that profit along with the money from the Keane sale disappeared, presumably into other areas, and certainly wasn’t put back into the team. And this past January has been more of the same with almost £7 million coming in through player sales and just £1.5 million being spent on our one signing Maxi Rodriguez.

Now considering all of that it seems to me that our club has become unique in the history of football. Throughout all the years going back as far as the foundation of the game, the board of every club existed to provide funds to support the team but at our club these days it seems the reverse is true and it appears that it is the team that is being used to provide funds to prop up the board and it’s a bloody disgrace!

After our game against Bolton on Saturday Tom Hicks, on one of his rare visits to Anfield, was kept inside the ground by security for his own safety for a couple of hours as a few hundred Liverpool supporters protested outside of the ground. These supporters should be heroes to us all and they let Hicks know exactly what they thought of him and his partner and they both should count themselves lucky that these people simply want them to leave, because if it were up to me I’d be pushing to have the pair of them publicly flogged as well!

Anyway, at least football-wise things are going well and we seem to be moving in the right direction. We conceded too many soft goals this season and they have cost us dearly so Rafa has clearly decided to go back to basics and focus on making us hard to beat again and it seems to be doing the trick. Our 2-0 win over Bolton at the weekend means we’ve gone six league games unbeaten and have kept five clean sheets.

Defensively this is a world away from our early season form and obviously a lot of credit must go to Pepe and the rest of the defence as well as Masch and Lucas but I must say I’ve been really impressed by Kyrgiakos. This guy has really taken me by surprise and I think he has been superb in our last three games.

He’s been almost like Sami Hyypia with a bit more pace. To be honest I think the guy is a bit of a thug who almost seems to intimidate the opposing forwards which I think is great, and I’d pay good money to see him take on Drogba. But besides all of that, he seems to be a really good defender and a much better player than I thought.

Dagger is fit again and it won’t be long before Carra can move back into the centre of our defence so Rafa will have some tough decisions to make, but on current form I would definitely like to see Hercules stay in the side particularly in our upcoming game against our wee neighbours.

But while we have been defensively strong, our attack is still not firing on all cylinders and that isn’t too surprising given the fact that most of our creative department is either injured or finding their way back to fitness. Torres, Benny Onion and Glenda are big losses to us on the attacking front and to a lesser extent I think Dagger is also a bit of a loss to us in an attacking sense because of the way he carries the ball into the opponents half instead of hoofing it upfield like the rest of our centre backs.

Of the players we have got available, Aquilani is getting better with each game but he still needs time, as does Maxi. Riera has done well since returning from injury but I still think there’s more to come from him and then we come to StevieG. Form-wise and injury-wise, this has been a difficult season for the skipper. He has hit bad patches of form before in his career but I think this season has probably been his worse spell in a Liverpool shirt. It seems like every time he’s looked like he might be getting back to form, he’s picked up an injury and we have most definitely missed him.

He came through for our youth system and has spent all of his career at the club and I think because of this sometimes we are all a little guilty of taking him for granted but he is a massively important player for us, more important even then Torres. We have shown plenty of times in the past that we are capable of winning games without him, but it’s a damn sight easier with him.

Gerrard is a real difference maker for us and if he can get his fitness and form back it will dramatically increase our chances of achieving what remains of our goals this season, without him it will be a lot tougher and I think that’s the way Rafa sees it as well. After our disappointing 0-0 draw at Wolves some people gave the boss a bit of stick for playing Gerrard for the full 90 minutes and not playing Aquilani but I’m sure that had we drawn or even lost to Wolves with Aquaman in the side, many of these same people would have also given the boss just as much stick for not playing Gerrard, sometimes it’s seems like he can’t win!

The fact of the matter is that whatever you might think about Benitez, I think we can all agree that he is knows all there is to know about the fitness of players, he’s almost obsessive about it. He will have known exactly where Gerrard was in terms of physical and match fitness ahead of the Wolves game. As it turned out Gerrard didn’t play very well against Wolves and he also didn’t play well in the first half against Bolton but in the second half he started to play like his old self again.

I know he would have been helped by the fact that Bolton took off the guy who was man-marking him but even before that guy went off Gerrard was starting to play with more confidence and having a bigger influence on the game. So the net result is the captain will now be raring to go in the Merseyside Derby this weekend and in the other big games we have coming up this month and that is thanks to some good management by the boss.

Had he not gotten the 90 minutes against Wolves under his belt, he wouldn’t have been as ready for our big game at the weekend as he is now and we are going to need him at his best against Everton. So maybe some people should hold off on their caustic criticisms of the boss and his decisions every time a result goes against us and accept the fact that he might know just a little bit more about the game than they do.

The fact of the matter is that the only thing that was disappointing about our game against Wolves was the result. Had we snuck in a goal and took the points, nobody would care about the performance and there would be no criticism of any of the boss’s decisions etc, and that’s one of the things that really bugs me about these people who only seem to come out of the woodwork to spout their shite when we lose or don’t get the result we’re looking for.

I think if you’ve got a valid point to make about the manager, a player or the team in general, that point should stand up whether we win or lose, not just when we lose. It would also help if many of these opinions weren’t so stupid and illogical. I heard a typical example on the radio after the Wolves game as some clown phoned in and moaned about Rafa not playing the same side that beat Spurs the previous weekend and then in his next breath he said, “ and what the hell was he thinking playing Lucas and Mascherano together in the centre of midfield.”

Obviously he had failed to notice or remember that Lucas and Masch had played together in the side that beat Spurs the previous weekend, the very same side he was complaining about Rafa not playing in the first place. But that and similar such rubbish is the kind of crap we seem to hear these days after every bad result and it’s extremely annoying to say the least. I’m not sure what these so called “supporters” are seeking to achieve with all of their piss and vinegar but it seems to me it’s not just our American owners who are set on ruining our club and I wish the whole bleeding lot of them would piss off.

Anyway, on to our game against our wee neighbours at the weekend and I’ll keep this short because I’ve already gone on long enough. Fitness permitting, I think Rafa will go with the same side that beat Bolton on Saturday although he might be tempted to throw Dagger back into the side.

As I mentioned early, Hercules has been playing very well at the centre of our defence and so has Skrtel but Dagger is a lot better at playing the ball than the both of them and in a tight game, as this is sure to be, having an extra player on the pitch who can pick out a pass might just make a difference and may see him getting a start. The other selection dilemma for the boss will be deciding between Lucas and Aquilani.

If we were playing away at Goodison I’d be certain he would go with Lucas but the fact this game is at Anfield means he might just decide to stick with Aquaman who is improving all the time. He did very well to get that header to Kuyt for our first goal against Bolton, just as he also did well to assist Kuyt for the first goal against Spurs. So it will be interesting to see which way the boss will go with this one but I suspect if we are going to try to outplay them it will be Aquaman but if we going to try to outfight them it will be Lucas, who is a terrific battler for us in midfield.

Overall this is obviously going to be a really tough game. Everton are in a bit of form at the moment and we’re not doing too badly either. I suspect the bookies might be favouring a draw but my money’s on us nicking the points with a hard fought 2-1 win.

Keep the Faith

(31 votes, average: 4.81 out of 5)

 Loading ...

(210 Comments)

Dances With Wolves

I was feeling as depressed as a turkey on Christmas Eve over the weekend watching all those FA Cup games because I still feel a bit bitter that we are no longer involved in the competition, especially when I look at the teams left in it. Had we got our game together just a little bit sooner I think we would have had a great chance of going all the way, but there’s no point in crying over spilt milk.

The only reason I drag up our lame FA Cup exit is because the lingering disappointment of it distracted me a little from our recent league form which has actually been pretty good, or perhaps I should say results-wise it’s been pretty good. While there has been some improvement in our play lately we are still by no means firing on all cylinders.

I still think that even with the players we have sidelined at the moment we are capable of performing a lot better, but there has been a definite improvement recently and we have managed to take 10 points out of 12 in our last four games which has put us right back in the frame for a top four spot. We were very unlucky to drop two points at Stoke but that’s still a damn fine return particularly in our current circumstances and the players and manager deserve great credit.

Tomorrow we go dancing with Wolves at Molineux and it’s a game we must win, let’s face it every game between now and the end of the season is a must-win for us now. Under normal circumstances a trip to Wolves wouldn’t be particularly a daunting task for us but if there’s one thing we’ve learned this season, we can take nothing for granted.

In fact even history tells us we must be on our guard. I was checking some stats recently and was very surprised to read that our last five trips to Molineux have resulted in three defeats and two draws, our last victory there came in 1979 courtesy of a rare Alan Hansen goal. I know those stats won’t mean a damn thing tomorrow but maybe Rafa should pin them up on the dressing room as a little word of warning to our players ahead of the game.

Our options for the game have been boosted by the earlier than expected return of Steven Gerrard from the hamstring strain he picked up against Reading. However with our “two man” team performing very well in the absence of those two men in our last couple of games, I don’t think the boss will feel under as much pressure to rush back the skipper. I suspect he may keep him on the bench and give him some time later in the game to get him ready for our next game against Bolton.

So I think that, depending on fitness, he might well go with the same team that did so well against Spurs and hold off on starting both Gerrard and Rodriguez until we face Bolton. As far as Wolves go, they have found goals difficult to come by and have only scored 17 in their 21 league games this season, and haven’t scored any in their last three. So let’s hope they don’t start tomorrow and Hercules and Co can continue their recent good form at the back and get us out of there with another clean sheet. Any type of win will do for me but my money’s on a repeat of the scoreline when we faced them at Anfield, 2-0 to The Reds.

In other matters, I’ve been keeping up to speed with what’s been happening on the transfer front. There seems to be a certain amount of interest in Ryan Babel and a transfer fee in the region of £9 million has been reported. At the start of the season I argued that we should keep Babel, my reasoning being basically because we had already spent so much time and money on developing him that it would be a shame to see another team reaping the rewards of our efforts.

However I’d now be happy to see the back of him. The guy is obviously a complete moron and now seems to be more hassle then he’s worth, so provided Rafa is able to use the funds from his transfer fee to fund a replacement, I’d be very much in favour of him going. I actually think Maxi was brought in to be his replacement whether it be during this window or the next but I hope it will be this one and the gaffer is able to use the cash towards bringing in a striker.

With Torres out for six weeks we badly need more cover in attack and it can’t wait until the summer. Kenwyne Jones would appear to be one of the main options being looked at, at the moment with Rafa confirming that Christian Purslow is having talks with Niall Quinn. I notice some people are already debating whether this guy is good enough for us but as far as I’m concerned that’s up to the manager to decide. Only he will know what type of player he is looking for and if he thinks he’s good enough, that’ll do for me.

Keep the Faith

(19 votes, average: 4.47 out of 5)

 Loading ...

(330 Comments)

Just The Spur We Needed!

Get in there you beauty! After all of the gloom we’ve suffered in recent weeks, our terrific 2-0 victory over Spurs on Wednesday left me as happy as Harry Redknapp in a brown envelope factory!

At the weekend, it was disappointing that we didn’t manage to get the three points we deserved in our game at Stoke, thanks in no small part to a referee who is clearly depriving some poor village of its idiot, but we did get some consolation from the facts that other results largely went our way and the team finally showed the battling qualities and spirit that has been missing in too many of our games this season.

I had my fingers, toes and everything crossed that we would carry that performance into our all-important game with Spurs and I was well pleased that not only did we do that, but we also managed to step it up another notch or two. Not bad for a two-man team that is missing its two men! A lot of our games this season have been determined by the players we haven’t had available to us but Wednesday’s game was determined by the players who were, and it was a great team performance by our combination of first, second and third string players. Here’s how I rated each of them.

Pepe Reina: Had a little spell in the game when his normally excellent distribution was a little wayward but overall it was another fine performance by our superb goalkeeper. 8/10

Carra: A leader with or without the captain’s armband. He doesn’t particularly enjoy playing as a right-back but he got on with it and put in a strong and committed performance. 7/10

Hercules: He must have taken note of the nickname I’ve given him because he was certainly a colossus at the back in our last two games. His strength and aerial ability, not to mention his goal, have been Hyypia-like in the centre of our defence. He has made the most of his first team opportunities and gone from being a cheap but useful extra bit of defensive cover to now become a serious option for us in the games ahead. 8/10

Skrtel: He had a bit of a dodgy spell this season but now seems to be returning to form and had another good game on Wednesday. He always seems to me to be a player who is better when he’s busy. He tends to have his best games against the better sides when we have a lot of defending to do but sometimes against lesser sides his concentration can slip. 7/10

Insua: Did well overall and seems to prefer having Riera in front of him but I still think the young lad would benefit from a little break. 6/10

Degan: While I would commend his attitude, I’m just not a big fan of this guy and why the hell didn’t he take on the shot that Kuyt put on a plate for him? 6/10

Lucas: Steady as ever. 7/10

Aquaman: This guy is slowly but surely getting better with every game and I firmly believe he will go on to become a key player for us in the rest of this campaign and in the seasons ahead. He linked up very well with Kuyt for the opening goal. 7/10

Mascherano: Once he has his head together there’s no questioning this guys fighting spirit. The man’s an absolute monster for us in the centre of the pitch. 8/10

Riera: A super return from a player who we have definitely missed. He took almost all of our free-kicks on Wednesday and was very keen to get stuck in and be involved again. He was actually supposed to be substituted earlier than he was but I’m told by someone who was within earshot that he wanted to stay on and asked the boss to give him another 10 minutes. Welcome back Albert. 8/10

Kuyt: Deadly Dirk is back! A great finish for the first goal and he showed nerves of steel when forced to retake the penalty for our second. He also had a number of other chances and on another night might easily have had another couple of goals, but at least he was getting himself into the right positions to take on these chances. 9/10

Eggnog also did well and made an impact when he came on later in the game. Overall it was a very good team performance that brought us a well earned victory against a strong Spurs side that was on a six game unbeaten run. Let’s not forget that we still have more than our fair share of injury problems and the likes of Gerrard, Torres, Agger, Johnson and Benny Onion were unavailable and while players of their calibre will always be missed, we coped without them thanks mainly to the great attitude and effort shown by the players we were able to put on the pitch and let’s hope they can keep it going in the games ahead.

But the real heroes on Wednesday evening were most definitely our fans. Many hundreds of them turned up outside the ground long before the kick-off to show their support for the manager and the players as they arrived in the team bus, and inside the stadium they sang their hearts out. And that show of support did make a difference. Here’s a little of what Sammy Lee said about it afterwards.

“There is not enough praise for our supporters. To see them showing their support when we arrived was massive.

“Everybody played their part in this victory.”

When so many of our fans come out to show their support for the team and most particularly for the manager, in the midst of what seems to me to be a most disgraceful media witch-hunt, it makes me feel so proud to have the privilege to be a supporter of this club.

Shanks knows this has been a very frustrating season for us all and it hasn’t been easy to keep the faith. At times it has seemed like just about everything that could go wrong for us, has gone wrong. But at the end of the day, we are where we are and all we can do is try to get through this season as best we can and live to fight another day.

Like everyone else, I had high expectations for us at the start of this campaign but it became clear from early on that I would have to revise my expectations and I’ve been revising them ever since. All things considered, right now I’d be extremely happy to see us finish the season in the top four along with a good run or maybe even a win in the Europa League.

They say it is only in bad times that we find out who are friends truly are and for a football club it is only in bad times that we find out who the real fans truly are and thankfully there was a lot of ours inside and outside of the stadium on Wednesday, and they made a difference. We are all entitled to have our opinions and to piss and moan from time to time but as supporters our first duty is to support, in the bad times as well as the good.

I’d like to think that our victory on Wednesday might be just the spur we needed to kick on from here and really do our stuff in the rest of the campaign, but we can’t allow ourselves to get too carried away because we are by no means out of the woods yet. Just like a good team doesn’t turn into a bad team overnight, bad form doesn’t turn into good form overnight either.

I suspect there may yet be another ice berg or two ahead of us before we get to clear water. So let’s take it one game at a time and hope for the best but whatever happens, let’s treat the media with the disdain they deserve and continue to support our team and our manager as best we can. Some people these days are far too quick to jump to conclusions, but let’s not forget that a conclusion is the place you get to when you stop thinking.

Keep the Faith

(41 votes, average: 4.83 out of 5)

 Loading ...

(51 Comments)

Welcome to Kopblog