Great article Gerry.

I watched the first half against Fiorentina and wondered whether we had 11 Gordon Browns playing for us. There was no communication, seemed like little heart for the battle and not a shot of any note. We did well to get out the half only 2 down. I hoped we could grasp victory from the jaws of defeat but like Labour it didn’t (ain’t) gonna happen.

If only Lucas could have buried that headed opportunity from the corner, all could have been so different.

I found myself shouting for Alonso, which was my worst nightmare. He’s gone, gone, gone no longer a Red and, actually, it’s not as if he didn’t have a few bad games in a red shirt. How absence makes the heart grow fonder.

But all is definitely not lost as our recent performances against Chelsea, and the other big four/five clubs, show we can recover from these blips. We shouldn’t forget that the seasons less than 10 games old and, despite not playing at our best and losing twice in the league and the media saying we’re as bad as mad-dogs Ipswich appear, we’re somehow still Oup-there

Of course, the Russian fella spent a heck of alot of cash on Chelsea – buying players in Essien, Carvalho, Cole, Anelka, Malouda, Mikel etc – at prices a few years ago our American not-so-friends talked about spending but only want to take out of the club now. But if we can get hold of Drogba, and Skrtel has done it before, we’re in with keeping a clean sheet. Although after Carragher gave him that boot in the chops Skrtel’s looked a different player to last season.

But we’re no longer just reliant on our defence. We do have hope with the goals we scored sofar and knowing that we’ve many chances and could have scored more.

Terry’s been mesmerised by Torres on so many occasions he must think he’s on Strictly Come Dancing. If, as you pointed out Gerry, we can get Stevie G to not only play at his best but think at his highest we may just get alot of joy on the pitch. But we’re no longer – never have been – reliant on just Torres and Stevie for goals.

I have this sneaking suspcion, or moment of madness, that it’s from the bench we may get joy in this game. I really think, or hope, that Babel and/or Benayoun’s are going to make that difference – if we haven’t conceded another 80 million goals from set-pieces that is. With Bennie’s ball-playing intelligence and Babel’s explosive pace and signs of coming into some sort of form (however inconsistent) there’s a chance for Rafa to wield his tactical nous over the Italian-Russian-looking fella in the other dug-out.

So there’s my hope nailed down: we can do it. But for some reason I have this nagging doubt. But then I don’t. But then I do. But then…….Come on. Game on. I’m wetting meself!

Great assessment Gerry and spot on with comments regarding the Chelsea game. I think you could be right with your team selection but I would not be surprised to see Gerrard and Masch in the middle with Benny playing in the hole. I think Kuyt and Reira on the flanks is essential to stop their fullbacks getting forward as well as to help Johnson and yes I would prefer Aurelleo as he is better defensively. For me the key area is getting support for Torres as you mentioned and the battle between Carra and Drogba, they always seem to be one on one with each other with Carra coming off second best most of the time. I think Skertal picking up Drogba might be better as he is physically stronger. However keeping Drogba quiet is the key.

The more I think about it the more I like the idea of Gerrard and Masch in the middle both strong quick players defensively with good engines, with the quick footed Benny running at Teary and Carvalleo. With Essien their holding midfielder and chief destroyer it might give him a problem of who to pick up, Benny running at them and linking with Torres or Gerrard on the burst.

Another great blog Gerry,
I don’t think you’ve given ford Cortina the credit they deserve though, they really played well the other night. They were first to every ball, were organised in the middle and in defence and their passing was excellent. I think our problem was that we under-estimated them and had one eye on tomorrow’s game. I just hope the team use the defeat as an incentive and have taken some lessons in best use of possession, we can’t afford to be so wasteful in possession tomorrow as the chavs will surely punish us.
Anyway if the team play as well as they are capable I can see us coming away with a credible 1-2 win. Here’s hoping.

Yeah, nice one Gerry…
I can see us conceding goals in this one apart from Dogbreath…Lampard deflections, joe Cole possibly sniffing around…
But we can score aswell…
2-3 my prediction

Hyde, Sissoko was sold for 11 million euro which was £7.5 mill @ the then exchange rate.I would rate Momo ahead of Lucas anytime.Starting with Agger instead of Carra would give the Reds more height and pace @ the back.

Super stuff Gerry,

I`m thinking Riera could start tomorrow as he`ll keep the width in the team and did a good job against bosingwa last october.

Dogbreath is obviously their main threat and somehow i`m thinking tomorrow Carra and Skrtel will step up and do a job on him.

I agree that Insua should sit this one out too gerry and Aurelio come in.The lad isn`t quite yet on the same wavelength in the back four unit i think Aurelio is a better defender at this moment in time and his delivery from set pieces is deadly.

Which brings me to another point.With Chec out,it will be hilario between the posts.This guy isn`t the best keeper around and i think if we can get the ball into the area enough we could be on a winner.

My team anyway….Reina,johnson,carra,skrtel,aurelio,masch,gerrard,benny,riera,kuyt,torres.

I also think lucas should sit out this one and bring gerrard back to middle,he can still be a threat from there.

Lurgan just checked the Fantasy head to head.Its me and you my pal.

Your going down..(why can`t i keep a straight face when i say that,me teams pure shite!)

Well, I did not see the Ford Cortina match, so I can’t really comment on it. However, I think that that the general opinion is that we were utter shite and deserved to get what we got. Sweet FA.

I agree with you Gerry that this could be a blessing in disguise – a kick up the arse at just the right time. However, we will really only know if that is true a few weeks/months down the line. The next two CL matches against Lyon are going to be massive.

Before that though there is the small matter of Chel£ki. I am nervous about this game because any time we play against a team with a decent target man, we seem to have big problems. We know pretty much what we will get tomorrow but I am not so sure that we will be able to handle it. Personally I would have Stevie G and Mascher in midfield with the Onion fella tucked in behind FT. His quick brain and feet should give their central defence plenty of problems. Also, maybe this is a game for Hercules, with Scary having a rest – he seems to be out-of-sorts the last few weeks. Hercules is the only guy in our squad that has the physique to stand-up Dogbreath but you could argue that it’s risky to change the centre of defence partnership again. Will let Rafa deal with that one.

TT, looking forward to the head-to-head buddy. Wouldn’t be too worried if I was you since I am joint bottom of the league

I need an Istanbul moment if I am going to get anywhere here.

BTW, have not seen you posting in a while. Thought you were still sick from the Kingdom taking Sam back

Na got over that after a few days there`s an All-Ireland in this cork team alright so i take solace from that.

Reason i wasn`t in was when i came back from the Debrecen game my internet connection was gone off.I was too busy in work to try sort it out and then i headed off to spain last saturday.So when i got back on tuesday night i was too sick on wed to care so i got it sorted thursday.Turns out my monthly payment didn`t go through.I damaged my card a few weeks ago and when i got another,the exp date was different so that fecked it all up.Anyway you live and learn.Not letting it happen again though bud it`s a nightmare catchng up with the comments ha!

Todays head to heads a 6 pointer so is it?Talking about sixpointers this early in the season,shame on us.Thats the way the game has gone,even the make belive one!

If pompey lose today they will equal a top flight record of losing their first 8 games of the season.

Current holders of the record…Manc United 1930 and wait for it The (not so) mighty Redmen in 1899.

Is there any record we haven`t held:)

Comment 1 And that was a party political broadcast on behalf of the Conservative Party.

Great Blog, Gerry. we clearly lost the battle at Florence but luckily havn’t lost the war. I think we still have many games to play in the CL.

As for the Cheski game, there is a chance as Timmy said that Cech is out due to a suspension. Their defence has not been that strong lately too (Loss against Wigan). Masch is also back. Which means we should be able to win this one.
My team line up:

Reina
Johnson, Carra, Skrtel, Aurelio
Kuyt, Masch, Lucas, Benayoun
Gerrard
Torres

Am predicting a 2-1 vistory for LFC.

Rumour that Dog breath is out with a groin strain.

#11 Rome Conservative Party who are been backed by that piece of shite paper!

Where did ya hear that neil?

Jammy manc bastards again 3 minutes in again!

2 points dropped though.

fuck it they may have got a late equaliser but still two points dropped at home,that’ll do nicely!!!

I was so pissed off when that fuckin equalizer went in…. jammy fuckin cunts!

Sunderland get a man sent of for kicking the ball away (a full 5 feet, towards the guy who was gonna take the free kick? Hmmm?) Left them backs-against-the-walls for the last 10 minutes. It was such a daft booking, but its one of those stupid letter of the law things that leaves the refs with no discretion… and then of course… equalizer off a fuckin deflection, well into the 92nd minute. BASTARDS!

There really does need to be an inquest intot he practise of black-magic and vodoo at Old Trafford.

On another note… always wondered why Kenwynne Jones has never even been remotely rumoured with a move to Anfield… terrific little player and could be so much more than he is, if he were in a quality team.

As for tomorrow… its anyone’s guess this one. Could as easily be another 8 goal thriller (or would that be exasperation and heart attack prompter?) as a 1-0… or anything in-between. Can’t fucking wait.
Come On You Reds. Number 19 awaits!

Na 7-1 WOULD BE NICE Aitch!

Lots of thrills…for us!

Lovely that the Mancs lost some points at Old Toilet against a mid-table side. But all of those decisions going their way just can’t be a coincidence. It happens again and again.

I wonder what kind of agreement Mr. Ferguson had with his former player Kieran Richardson as he got sent off like that giving his former team a great chance to turn the game around in the end. Not so sure about Rio’s little brother scoring an own goal, but a strange coincidence still. Those strange coincidences seem to happen a lot on Old Toilet.

And will Mr. Ferguson be treated like a criminal in the papers tomorrow, as Rafa usually is (not only when his team is under-performing)? Of course he won’t. It will be bad luck, an unfortunate result for the mighty Fergie.

We were totally off against Fiorentina, admittedly, and I couldn’t bring myself to even write in my journal afterwards till today. Even by our sometimes lame standards, that was one of the most neutered performances I’ve ever seen from the Reds. In truth we didn’t play an exceptional La Viola side, although I must admit I was impressed by how well they hold and distribute the ball, not to mention their technical game. Serie A isn’t a league I follow very closely. To our credit, we did pick up the slack in the second half but just couldn’t finish (and yes, we were denied a clear penalty when Torres was felled, not to mention lots of decisions that went against us). We’ll recover from that setback in Italy, no doubt.

I’ve just seen the Red Devils concede two rather lame goals at Old Trafford, in another lucky-looking escape against Sunderland today. This follows a game that Wolfsburg also took to MUFC, resulting in a Giggs bailout. I wait to see if the media will note SAF’s team doesn’t possess as watertight a defense as they should.

In midweek, Chelsea struggled to beat their relatively weak opponents from Cyprus, managing to “only” beat them by a solitary goal. I didn’t hear complaints about the nature of their victory from the media, the same journos who harped on about our similar result against Debereceni. Although it irritates me to high heavens, I won’t continue in this vein as such inconsistencies by the “objective” media are well known to us Kopites.

Related to the above, is our defence half as bad as made out? A look at last week’s PL games shows us having conceded just four more (now two as of today) than Man U and Chelsea, yet none among them get attention for “defensive frailty”. We do need to tighten at the back and in front of the back (at our central midfield position).

One thing I notice is defensive slackness this season from all teams in equal measure. There are goals galore and as of today, goals conceded range from Chelsea’s six to Burnley’s 15. Portsmouth in 20th has actually conceded two less than Burnley (in 11th place as of last week). I too note that we are either winning or losing, not playing out for draws. We also seem to have found the quality to break down stubborn defences instead of trying to merely shoot from afar or resort to route one ball.

It might be instructive to note that no one season is akin to another. Indeed, my people have a proverb that says you cannot cross the same river twice. We might lose more matches this time round and win the league. It wouldn’t be a wonder. Last time round we lost less but finished runners up.

I will keep the faith. Siempre es possible.

YN(Ever)WA(Ever)!

sorry for the non football related comment lads, timmytorres are you mates with sean conway by any chance?

Good Blog, Gerry.Like you said that loss to Ford Cortina.might be the kick up the “backside” Liverpool need coming into this game against Chelski.
I would play Masher and Gerrard in Midfield and play Benny Onion in behind Torres.
Kuyt and Reira down the wings ..

Johnson Carra Ninja Insua at the back

Sorry for bringing up something from the last blog.

In regards to the media: Apparently ‘Man Utd salvaged’ a draw and so on.

I remember us getting draws and it was always ‘Lucky Liverpool’ or ‘Underserved Liverpool’

By the way, cant wait for Torres to tear Vidic, Ferdinanf or whoever else they in their backline and new arsehole.

Sam, I don’t who your people are but judging from that proverb they’ve clearly never bunked on the Mersey ferry!

This is hilarious lads:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/8289089.stm

Ferguson was unhappy about Wiley’s timekeeping after the referee failed to add on an additional minute to the four already signalled after Ferdinand’s own goal.

“I was disappointed with the referee,” said Ferguson. “He didn’t add on any time for the goal.

“He played four minutes and two seconds. He was also walking up the pitch for the second goal needing a rest.”

I was as suprised as Fergie that United werent allowed as much time as they needed to score the winner.

http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs234.snc1/8128_146250707125_696882125_3093579_2806973_n.jpg

I didnt catch the game, but i did see Match of the day. Fergie going nuts at the 4th official, imagine Rafa or even Sami doing that.

Typical of Mister Ferguscum, really.

Maybe it’s the backlash of the unexplainable time anomaly in Old Toilet during the City game that Wiley didn’t dare to add too long this time, but apparently STILL ENOUGH for the Scum to escape with a point.

Of course, we know Mister Ferguscum won’t be happy with that alone. Preferably, he would like Wiley to add hours if the game still remains as a stalemate. Who knows? Maybe have Giggs feign a heart attack and so justify a stoppage for an hour?

Where’s Torchwood when you need them?

Listened to the manc game on the radio, Alan Green commentating said “Manchester Utd still losing 2-1 with 14 minutes plus injury time to go, I wonder how much Sir Alex will add on”
I love Alan Green his distaste for Fergie and all his works is a joy to behold

Baon face will get away with bloody murder again.The oul drunken bat is getting worse by the week.The men in the white coats will be along soon.

How can he say stuff like that about a referee?Respect campaign anyone?

Maybe the horrrible facist should look at his own team and another shoddy performance instead of blaming Alan Whiley for his team coming up short.

How long will it be until Whiley refs a scum match again?Get to work Mr Gill.

I`m guessing a long time.

PS,
Val i don`t know any Sean Conway.Sean Connery alright…he`s sound!

i smell a rat. first, kieran richardson got himself sent off. then anton nudged that last ball in. noticed how buddy he was with the manc players? musta hung out with them a lot, joining his curly-lips brudder on their whoring parties. same bloody thing like last season, good until that last minute. and did u see the fungusface meltdown, what happened to respect the ref and all that happy crappy?

The Aton/Richardson thing is bordering the Paranoia allright lads.

Strange coincidences though

Rednaeck i think this is the season that the horrible old Bastard finally goes to the funny farm.

Even before the season started he was having rants about this and that and its continued.He has had an awful lot to complain about for a man whos side is top of the table and 2 out of 2 in the champions league.
Thing is his team isn`t as strong as it was and he knows it.They have got out of jail on a few occasions this season and he knows even his luck can`t run on forever.

I just can`t wait to see the bubble burst and they will be exposed for what they are.The cracks have been appearing in the last few weeks and i`m glad the media like to paper over them cracks.

It will be all the sweeter when they are exposed!

Shaun Bartlett the moron who played for Burnley a few years back was commentating on the Manc match with Mrs Gary Bailey ( yes he withdraws his head from out of Fergies arse long enough to talk) co commentator (Spurs supporter) do you think that was 2 points dropped or 1 point gained today by United? Definitely 1 point gained he chirps.

No the comment from the last blog is right there is no baize towards ManU what so ever!!!!!!

To add to that Paisley 9 years in charge 6 Prem Titles, 3 CL titles, 4 League cups (carling) 6 charity shields, 1 Uefa cup, 1 European Super Cup and you can throw in 7 reserve titles as well. However no recognition form the establishment and no honors or titles bestowed. No baize indeed.

Onion is out with a thigh strain. Bollox!

So fungusface makes 7 changes and scums barely manage a draw. Questions on rotation by studio pundits. Zero. Post match interview questions to mister ferguscum on rotation. Zero. Media reporting the next day on fungus rotating. Zero

I have a feeling it would have been slightly different if rafa had done the same.

There’s no point complaining about media bias but to think it doesn’t exist is naïve.

Come on you REDS!
YNWA

Reina,
Johnson,Carra,Skrtle,Insua
Masch,Lucas
Kuyt,Gerrard,Riera
Torres.

I had a feeling he`d start Riera today Lurgan although he might have intended starting Benny we`ll never know but i was hoping he could be our main impact sub if needed.I guess Babel could be that today now.

Gerry great blog bro

As far as today goes

G’ Luck to the lads

Play to your ability and we will win

Nervous as fuck but plenty of Dutch courage to get me goin

Co’mon Liverpool

Over and out

Benny has gotta be gutted he’s been left on the bench today. However I think Rafa has gone with Riera to stay on the left and provide protection for Insua. With Benny drifting in may have left Insua a bit vulnerable to counter attacks down our left.

Personally I would have dropped Gerrard next to Masch, put Riera on the left and put Benny behind Torres. That way Gerrard is in the heart of the action and on of our most clever and in form players (Benny) is in the hole.

I guess we’ll see how it goes but we need Gerrard to come to the party today!!

nerves are shot to pieces at the moment. Cmon boys

This ref is a weak cunt.

I think we need to think about placing Stevie back into midfield for Lucas (Lucas hasnt made any mistakes and playing alright, just not too much drive atm), Kuyt behind Torres and Benny on the right.

The reason Id have Kuyt behind Torres is because we need someone a bit more physical in that area otherwise thr 50/50 balls chelsea will win.

Were too strong

and therefore cant be beaten

Co’mon the lads!!!!!

Over

LB agree on both counts. Weak and a cunt!.

The players seem a bit tentative/nervous.
Kuyt has misplaced some passes. Hopefully Rafa will settle them down now and we can get on with it

God let it not be a set piece!!

Go on torres lad!

Cmon Lads, lift your heads!

Drogba went down more times than Jenna Jameson has in her whole career.

That was a poor attempt from Torres man. Fuck sake. How many chances does he need today?

WTF is going on with El Nino today?

Ahh well, maybe next season lads.

everyone has been poor LB. Very flat and no intencity. Only the last 10min we have tried to push chelsea.

First 15mn of the game, we attacked but then let them back in the game.

Stevie very poor today.

Not the end of the world LB

Easy LB, dont wanna be called a (shock!) kneejerker do you?! (gasp!)

Only saw the last 10 minutes but Nando and Benny had really good chances.

At the moment our form seems to be back where it was 2 years ago. I think and hope it is just temporary. Chelsea were shocking against us last season. Maybe it’s some consolation that they have beaten us when they are back to their best.

We need Agger and Aquaman in asap and make sure we are still in the hunt come christmas.
Not using it as an excuse but a fact – Alonso was so central to all our play and we are still adjusting to playing without him.

We showed great form for a lot of last season and I’m sure that we will get it back.

chelsea deserved the points on the day, they were the better side. that said, i thought we played very well, both attacking and defending. it was a very even contest for most of the match, but when mascherano lost possession at midfield and left our backline exposed, they punished us, as would any top side.

we had several chances (nando’s header, yossi’s shocking miss), but i think on the day, they deserved the points.

chelsea away is not really 3 points i consider a guarantee this or any year anyways…its disappointing, but im pleased with how we played. we need to move on and get ready for sunderland.

YNWA

ps. at least they didn’t win on a bogus free kick from a drogba dive. he really is a disgracefully dishonest player. for all the talent and quality he has, its a shame.

As much as i hate drogba and hope he is in a car crash on the the way home,its the refs cowardly performance that concerns me. they see the diving fucker roll around time after time an yet none of them are willing to call him on it. Maybe his family are locked in the basement with the russian mafia and in order for them to live he has to throw the game, but how many stupid decision can he give against us!! I’m so fucking angry we cant even get a fair game with spineless fucks like that about!!

P.s have to beat the mancs now and thats it,thankfully there not half the team there cracked up to be and getting a result from them should be much more realistic.

Well lads a very dissapointing result but we were well in the game at the point of the first goal.

Small details as rafa said could cost you against a team of this level but we were beaten by a very strong side today.

Masch was having his best game he`s had for us this season by a country mile and it was a shame it happened to him.

Lucas didn`t really do much wrong today and made some decent interceptions himself but he really can`t grab a game of that magnitude by the scruff of the neck and influence it.

Looking at them the quartet they had even though Fat Frank didn`t do much it has strenghth and experience all over and it kind of showed today.

The good thing about this season even though we lost 3 so far we are not getting needless draws which has too be good.

All in all we have to take the positives from the game and drive on.

We had a decent game today but Chelsea had things their way. Think we should have had a penalty when Drogba held back Skrtel. He is such an annoying player with his play acting all over the pitch. Again I have to say that Carras form is starting to hurt us. There, I said it. He is costing us goals and we really need to start forming Skrtel and Agger. I know he reads the game and gives it his all and his heart is in every tackle but his legs are letting him down. Its time to start being ruthless.

A disappointing result but the performance was a big improvement on the shambolic display against Florentina. Reina had little to do but we paid dearly for our silly mistakes today. It is, however, not the end of the world. We will still have a chance if we can continue beating the so-called smaller teams but the margin for error becomes tighter.

Is it my imagination or does Drogba seem to have some sort of hold over Carragher?

Make no mistake, our performance today didn’t warrant a 2-0 defeat. No comparison with the game in Florence whatsoever. In fact I thought we were the better , more creative team for most of the match but we were made to pay for the very few errors we made while failing ourselves to take advantage of some good chances that came our way. Well it happens and I’m not despondent at all after our general performance.

I thought the ref was very poor. My main complaint is not his refusal to award the clear penalty for Drogba’s foul on Skyrtel, that tends to happen in these tight games. No, my main complaint is Atkinson’s total failure to get a control of Chelsea’s characteristic and unique blend of strong-arm tactics and on-pitch theatre. They are undoubtedly the world’s number one at this and I felt the ref played right into their hands by ignoring it until well into the second half by which time the damage had been done.

Rafa was quite defiant after the game and rightly so. Despite our 3 losses we’re still in touch with the team likely to improve over the next months with Aquilani and Agger yet to make their mark

Disappointing result i think whoever scored first would have won and we came
close a few times,Riera had a nice free kick saved by a keeper i underestimated
Skrtle was dragged down by Dropba but the ref didn’t see it ( or didn’t want to
see it ) Dropba was doing his usual i’ve been shot routine but he not called
Eduardo . Benny coming on could have saved us on another day and his late
miss, Gerrards shot and Nando’s brain freeze summed it up for me”not our day”
YNWA

PS Been thinking about how Media bias effects the players on the field.
Positives: it can motivate players like the “This is Anfield so what ” headline
that Nando translated for the team before the Real Madrid game and we know
what happened then.
Negatives: When kids choose what team to support a lot of them are influenced
by MOTD commentator’s and SSN etc.then start spending their parents money
big time on merchandise and that is big business. More money = better players
(unless G&H are involved ) and that helps win more trophy’s which then attracts
more fans who spend money. Bad publicity is bad for any business so to one
extent it effects which players are bought and ultimately the players on the field.
YNWA

For someone who asked me who my avatar is – it’s Matt Damon from Team America

Anyway it was always gonna be a tough game and I I agree with you Rome77 (for once ) that the first goal in that game was always likely to be the crucial one. 6 behind them now but I still don’t think Chelsea are unbeatable. Losing Drogba would be a huge blow (and the African Nations next year will mean just that!). However we only have 2 league games this month – Sunderland away and then Utd at home. It may sound a bit dramatic but I think we all know that we’ll need 6 points from those games if we genuinely think we can win the title this season. Funnily enough I think the Sunderland game could be the trickier of the two!

Watched the game again first 30 mins Torres Terry, Ivanovich Essien and Cole
all should have been on yellows, How Essien and Ivanovich stayed on the pitch
i’ll never know. When 3 mins injury time went up that confirmed the favouritism
Dropba spent 3 mins on the floor when Teary was hurt blocking Gerrards shot
that took over a minute,when Gerrard was booked it took over a minute for the
free kick to be taken. plus the 4 substitutions 1 goal and all the other various
stoppages i think 9 mins would have been nearer the mark but the fact they
was in front meant we didn’t.
Heard some referee spokesman giving the Tramp some grief today saying his
criticism of Allen Whilley “was beyond the pale ” had to laugh especially as
the guy has seemingly had enough of the old c*nt and might signal a new
trend of growing a spine and standing up to the old bully.
Or is that just wishful thinking
YNWA

To be honest with you, although I agree we played better than Chelsea, I still think we could have played much better. Some of the passing was horrible, especially from masch, lucas and stevie, and Johnson had his worst game to date. And I also felt that the Chelsea players were more desperate to win than our lads. Maybe that was the difference.

Despite that, I still think we have a good chance. It is funny season this year, and the points needed to win are definitely not going to be as much as last year. We will have to take it one game at a time.

The most pathetic performer over the weekend was Anton Ferdinand. I mean wtf was he doing sticking a leg out. Gave the lucky cunts an extra 2 points….

Hyde mate. Have to disagree with you there. I think Chelsea played better than us. They had more shots on goal than us. Riena was very good but could not stop the two goals. They pass better and nicked the ball from right under our feet many times.

Yes, we were certinly better than at the Florentina game. But Torres adn Benayoun had chances and should have scored. many of our players we playing rugby, kicking our the top of the goalpost.
I felt they deserved the win.

I am absolutely gutted. Four games lost this season out of 10 games (8 PL + 2 CL) played. Not good, eh mate?

Vinotinto, agree on the penalty foul on Skrtel. Dogbreath had so many incidences of play acting, he should be give a yellow just for that.

absolutely gutted lads.

Had some time to think about the match now.
On reflection we were poor. Even though we had our chances and the result could have gone the other way, we were still very poor.

No intencity or drive from any players. No leadership either, after conceeding we seemed to put our heads down and piss aorund with the ball.

Rafa’s team selection could not be faulted for this game, i think we had too many passengers today.

When I saw Deco and Ballack starting I thought we had a good chacne because we could exploit them when attacking.

I dont think the season is over by any stretch. Look at United, Lost at burnley, drew with sunderland and had some jammy luck. Chelsea similar, lost to wigan and have scored 3 winners in 90+min mark.

All to play for. Im hoping this international break gives players a moment to reflect

Knight, I think the number of shots were the same– Chelsea had much more shots on target, so yes,they deserved to win.
However, I do think we created more chances than they did; our big players failed to provide today in the telling moments.

We’ll just have to keep carrying on. You never know this season, with the likes of tottenham, city and sunderland doing very well.

No need to panic. We have already lost over a third of our PL games to date, yet we are only 6 points off the pace.

Agger and Aquilani could well make a huge difference to how we attack and defend and it’s just a question of Rafa replacing either Carra or Skrtel with Agger, who can effectively carry the ball out of defence and start attacking moves.

I was suprised that Benayoun didn’t start yesterday. Rafa’s faith in the mediocre Lucas seems set in stone, perhaps to the detriment of the teams flair/creativity.

To say Chelsea deserved the 3 points is very wide of the mark. I thought we sat back to much in the first half and when we went behind we dominated play and proved that we were the better team. Yes, teams do sit back when defending a lead, but I think we gave them too much respect. Of the chances we had by far the better ones. Torres should have scored at least one of the two clear cut chances, let alone a blatant penalty and Benny won’t get an easier one against a top side. Their much vaunted midfield did not overshadow our kids and Lampost was only more marginally anonymous than Gerrard. I really hope he gets back to his driving influential self soon. Torres had an off day at the office and that happens to a striker. I thought Reira was wastful and is not playing to the level he achieved when he first arrived last year. To me Kuyt looks knackered for some reason and not the usual bundle of energy we have come to expect. Anybody else think that or is it just me?

However our main problem is Carra at the moment and he is having a real shocker so far. His lack of pace is starting to hurt us. Yes Masch gave the ball away but Carra did not get back to cover and intercept the cross. Yes great cross and Anelka is quick and made a great finish so lets credit Chelsea for a good goal but with Insua (also gets back to cover very slowly and tends to ball watch, he let in Anelka for a header that could have easily been a goal) and Carra on the left we are vulnerable down that side and the ease with which Drogba went past Carra for the second is cause for major concern. Carra was also was slow to cover Ballack at a corner and gave him a free header, for me he is just not on top of his game at the moment aqnd that is worrying.

My overall impression is that we where unlucky not to get at least a point and on another day could have easily taken all three. We are not by a long shot, out of the title race and I do not see any on the top sides as being better than us, in fact I think our first team is stronger that both the Mancs and Chelsea. Arsenal are looking very good going forward but are vulnerable at the back and they will drop points when it gets rough and dirty over a long season. It’s going to go down to the wire this year. Keep the faith.

We`re not out of the race by no means.Wins in all of our other games is encouraging rather that the silly draws.This keeps us in touch.

Lot of footy to be played yet lads.

Keith i think the reason we didn`t really impose our stamp on the game prior to the goal is because to me it looked like Rafa instructed Riera and Kuyt to specifically stop their full backs getting forward.

Glen johnson and Insua to an extent just didn`t overlap as much as i thought they could have weather that was down to instruction or caution on thier part i don`t know.

At the point of the goal i think Rafa was quite happy the way the game was panning out.They really couldn`t break down our defense if they even got past Masch.He was playing a blinder.He`s a master of that role when he does it right.They seemed very narrow with that diamond they play in midfield and their full backs were non existant going forward.Again our wide men were doing a job on them defensively but at a cost to our attacking options.

I think Rafa thought we`d have a spell and hopefully knick one if not hold out for a point which would have been a decent point at the end of the day.

I`m optimistic about the season ahead and with the return of Agger and Aquaman we will be adding two quality players to the squad.

Hey guys,

I saw the match yesterday and to be frank was quite taken aback by the performance of the team. Yes they played better than they did against Fiorentina, but you can’t excuse them for that.

I mean look at our performances this season, and it really hurts to see that we have dropped points against all the decent sides in Europe. Okay, we are close to the top sides, but at least have a look at Manure.

Birmingham 0-1 Manure
Burnley 1-0 Manure
Wigan 0-5 Manure
Manure 2-1 Arsenal
Spurs 1-3 Manure
Manure 4-3 ManC
Manure 1-0 Wolverhampton
Stoke 0-2 Manure
Manure 2-2 Sunderland

Now, looking at them this season, it seems like they are not the same without CR, but still they are nicking results. I mean they have already won important fixtures like those against ManC, Arsenal and Tottenham. Out of these, we have lost to spurs and are still left with matches against ManC and Arse. These two clubs are really strong and it is expected that we’ll drop points against them. Thy have taken three points from the JJB where Chelsea dropped points and they have also won the away game against Stoke. They are taking points from all the important fixtures, while we are still left with Arse and ManC. It doesn’t matter whether they are weak or are dependent on the refs or anything. All that matters is that they are taking points. In the end they are up there with Chelsea.

Week by week the team is letting all of us down. Yes they have won against the likes of Burnley and Hull, where Manure have lost against one of them, but still the team needs to nick results out of important games. At least a draw at the Bridge would have been sufficient but a loss has given three whole important points to Chelsea.

Now, are you all fully confident that we can beat Arse and Manure at Anfield? Chelsea are confident that they will beat them at the Bridge. They are likely to do that and will probably take 6 points from those fixtures.

It has been only 8 games in the PL, and I am not saying that the team will lose or anything like that. All I am saying is that they are making it difficult for themselves. Later, in the season we’ll cry for 1 or 2 points which we could have taken from such games, but unfortunately they are still not realizing it.

We just seem too easy to beat this season. 4 defeats in 10 games in all competitions. A shit load of goals conceded. Worrying. Call me kneejerk but how many times does any side win the league after losing 3 of the first 8 games?

Our big players let us down today. Gerrard as usual did f*ck all at Stamford Bridge, Torres had 2 good chances but fluffed them. In the big games you can’t afford to have your best players not at their best. What the fuck are they being paid £130k a week for? To run rings around the likes of Hull? Riera did absolutely nothing, it was like playing with 10 men. I thought Benny should have started as he’s arguably been our best player this season. How he missed that chance at the end though I’ll never know. But it wouldn’t have made any difference to the result really.

I won’t judge Carra from that game because Drogba always runs rings around him.

Masch had his best game of the season but his fuck up cost us big time. Sometimes he thinks he is Maradonna and tries to dribble through 2 or 3 players in the midfield area. Trouble is when he loses it only the centre backs are behind him and as a result a good team like Chelsea make us pay!

I’m not sure I buy into the notion that the top teams will drop more points this season. That has been said every year for the past 3 years. Chelsea have 21 points in 8 games and have played 2 top 6 teams already. Anything less than 86 points is not going to be enough in my opinion. We’ve given ourselves very little room for error now.

I hope Agger can come back soon, get in form and remain injury free, and I hope Aquilani is as good as Rafa says he is. We need more influence in midfield.

Morning men, just waking up to that gut wrenching result. some good points there and good to see the positivity(was expecting some serious knee-jerking)We didn’t play that badly and on another day we’d be celebrating the win and they’d be cursing their luck.
Lets hope the int. break does give us time to reflect an get ourselves together, it is a long season and there’s many points to be dropped an picked up yet.

YNWA

Kopking,you only come in here when we lose drop a bomb and dissappear again.

If you want to cream all over the super man u and state all of their wins to justify your point well thats up to you but may i remind you that in that super-run they have lost to burnley and drew with sunderland at home!

Just the kind of results we were complaining about last season.

Lads there`s a long way to go and i disagree with LB when he says teams won`t drop as many points,i think they will.

6 points is a bit of a gap but at this stage nothing.

LB, I thought i heard martin tyler on Sky yesterday saying that the last time a team won the league having lost 3 of their first 8 were the Scums in 1965 (i think).

Bhav, Man Utd did it in 1966-67.

I though that too LB was it the blueshite in 65?

Actually Man U won the league in 64-65 as well. I think it was that season they lost 3 in their first 8 and won the title. There were 42 games then and 2 points for a win.

just checked the mancs did win it in 65

We`ll win 30 and lose 8 LB.

Cut out those draws !!!!!!!!!!!!

30 wins and eight defeats? Quite possible with LFC and 90 points could well be enough.

The amount of goals we have let in (12) is a worry but let’s not forget that we have scored 22 and yesterday was the first PL game that we haven’t scored in so far this season.

It seems to me that we are going for goals more now, and this seems to have made our defence more vulnerable, I suppose that was to be expected.

Man.U, Man.C and Arsenal all still have to go to Chelsea and we have already been there, so that one is out of the way for us now. Chelsea come to us in the penultimate game of the season which could be really interesting.

We need to beat Sunderland and Man.U now, stop giving soft goals away and let’s see where we are at Christmas. There’s a long way to go lads!

Wilko took 4 seasons to take Leeds from division 2 to winning the division 1 title in 1992.Kendall was 4 years @ Everton before winning the title,Graham took 3 seasons @ Arsenal.Rafa is out of ideas, he wouldn’t get this long @ Inter, Barca etc.My forecast on Friday was spot on.Houllier and Evans got 5 and 4 seasons.No support for Toro, still leaking goals .So much for Rafa’s half time team talk.Ancelotti has taken to the Prem much faster than Rafa.Give the job to Lippi.

And I thought I was a knee jerker

Burgerman – Ancelotti has it far easier than Rafa, they have a very strong squad that have played together for a number of years now – all he needs to do is man manage the players and the rest will take care of itself, as somebody said before(can’t remember who) its easy even your granny could do it

as for the match itself – I thought we were doing alright without being on top or anything – defense looked solid enough, until the goal that is, then I thought we played better after the goal, I really thought we would pull one back.
After the second though we had no hope.

But we’re not out of the race yet

An linn…Don`t take any notice man.Burgerman is only a wind-up merchant who comes in here and drops a stupid comment now and then before he heads off to work at the chippy making chemical burgers.

PS. buregerman…it took the mighty Mr ferguson 7 years to win the title so united were wrong to keep him.

The mind does indeed boggle!

The choice of referee proved decisive again.Early on he bottled it with the non-penalty decision.If it had been awarded and converted then I do not think Torres and Bennayoun would have missed their chances.
It is early season yet and the top teams are having their blips SO it is still possible for the Reds to win the Premiership title!!!

Burgerman, the reason why people don’t last that long at Barca or Real is, aside from the footballing climate there, they have certainly enough players and firepower to buy the best players to make things easier for the manager. Cast your minds back to only three years ago, and you could see how thin our squad was back then. Has barca or real ever had that bad a squad??

I dunno why you keep thinking that a change in regime will actually make things any better. It is amazing how you seem to keep on completely missing the point. What you need to start doing is thinking how we could actually win with the players that we have and can realistically buy (which is quite bad when you think sunderland and stoke can outdo us in the market).

It’s strange how certain people pop-up in Kopblog with posts when, let’s say, we don’t win a game!

To state the obvious, it’s a game of football with many variables and we will not win every fucking match, due to, in no certain order:
– crap ref
– defensive mistake
– missed chances
– luck
– unbelievable goal
– just being crap

For me this one took on the crap ref scenario. He was a joke in the first half and only slightly improved in the second. Didn’t he also ref the manc derby? How did that happen?

Also, let’s just remind ourselves that in the EPL we have probably 4 teams who are regarded in the top 8 in Europe, but with the lowest budget.

BTW, for the 1st goal, I did not think Masch had anyone to play the ball to and was waiting for some movement which did not come. Also, it was a 5 v 2 scenario so it is not as of we where left short-handed at the back after he lost the ball. IMHO, it was a great goal by the Russians, wankers that they are!

TT, I see that you are on-the-ropes in the head-to-head with only a point lead. Summary, we are both fucking useless

Hyde well said but somehow i don`t think it will register with the man.

At least this break now will give our injured players more time to heal.Also i hope Ingerland and spain use Gerrard and torres sparingly seen that they are already qualified.

I don`t mind if Agger plays for Denmark as the more game time he gets the better.He said in an interview after the reserve game last week that he feels a lot better now the major op has been done.He said prior to that it was always holding him back and he`s ready to go now.

We don`t know how good Aquaman is yet but we`ll just have to trust in Rafa and his Database.You can be sure of one thing though he is just bursting to get out there and show what he can do.I can`t wait either and when he does i think Lucas should be given a week off he has had a lot of responsibility heaped on him which seems to be getting a bit to him.It`s not a dig at the lad he has done a decent job for us so far this season but when it comes to influencing a game like yesterdays he just come up a little short.He is improving though so credit to the lad,he`s had a lot of stick to deal with.

Well summed up Lurgan dosen`t say much for you!

I forgot to check that actually.Who have you involved tonight off top of me head i think its only Lescott i have.

There were ugly scenes in Manchester last night……..

Lescott and Tevez went out for a pint!

I still have (future) hat-trick hero Stephen Warnock left to play. Hmmm, we shall see.

BTW, from what I have heard/seen, Cork have an All-Ireland in them as well. You better do it quick though, since the mighty Armagh won the minors this year and are coming up-the-hill.

Just popped over to the main site – looks like Bugermans not alone some people are already calling for Rafa’s head

An Linn people have been calling for his head for 5 years. They usually come
crawling out from under their rocks whenever we lose a game, sign of the times
unfortunately .
Burgerman was you happy when your prediction came right,or just happy telling
us about it.
YNWA

PS Burgerman what do you think Rafa said at H/T stop Dropba from diving
every time someone goes near him, go tell that ref to actually do his job and
give a impartial and fair performance. because that was the difference between
the 2 teams. Nothing to do with Ancellotti and his management skills.
Did you notice Fat Frank trying to get the plastic flag brigade cheering, the only
time you heard them was when they scored for about 2 mins, apart from that all
i could hear was the travelling Kop which is embarrassing for a top 4 side,and a
indication of what we would be like if our 12th man was made up of the likes of
Burgerman who would probably be more at home at the Toilet or the Bridge.

Alot has been said in here..people have been called kneejerkers,others are saying its not the end of the world…and others too are still sympathising with this LFC team..but am…did u hear that? i said am..am really sick n tired of all this shit…its been a whole 20yrs,and we all must admit that we cant drag this wait any further…am an LFC supporter but i think we are not even comparable to the big three in how they r winning matches…i know people r gonna come up with the hull and stoke results..yes we won but our game wasnt convincing…this lads cant even score thru st pieces and concede thru them…the only reason why they r doing so,is because thats how exactly they r told to do…the benitez team is to mechanical,too cautios,every one is defending…where did the natural game go?? Rafa is doing no better than Houllier in the leauge,the best they’ve done is to push liverpool to the 2nd spot…is that how good we can go???…the Gaffer thinks distigustingly too much most of the times,poor man management skills! the likes of Babel,Voronin,Plesis were fanstatic players but they r all crambling under Rafa. and while we are at it..What does Benny hv to do to win a starting place in the team…i think no one answers this better than the man Lucas,he has been in the team week in week out..there only 2 options that can bring change…drop carragher and lucas,and bring in Jay spearing and Agger…for the last 5years Rafa has been figuring out so many options and its a shame he hasnt figured out his best team..YNWA

Sula, I stopped reading after the Houllier comparison. Do you remember the football, if it could be regarded as that, under Houllier’s tenure. I feel sick now even thinking about it.

Also, how can we be too defensive when we were top scorers last season in the league and are currently 2nd top scorers this season, with only the 6 goal blast from the Arse enabling them to overtake us? Hmm, too defensive indeed.

BTW, Benny Onion had a thigh strain, so this is probably why he started on the bench. Anyway, again, don’t let any facts get in the way of a good moan/rant.

fuck it, I couldn’t resist and read the next line. I wish I wouldn’t have.

Thinks too much and man management skills are zero. Do me a favour and go and get a job with one of the red-tops.

Over to you Aitch!

FFS Sula! I know that this is a blog, & everyone is entiltled to their opinion, but….you are totally effing nuts, dude! Do you realise that Rafa has his hands tied to his scrotum (ball-bag, if you want basic English!), and therefore cannot/could not buy who he wanted to buy during the transfer season etc? The guy has limited funds at his disposal – due to those lying Yanks Wanks (no disrepect to our US supporters) – so please remember this when next making comments about Rafa. We are lucky to have him! And I know Lucas is not a ‘match winner’, but he is getting a fair amount of credit for this last performance against Chel$ki, which is merited – thought he had a decent game in an average performance by the Reds. BTW, we may have lost 3 (already) , but we are still up there & will be come D-Day in May. So, Keep The Faith…and In Rafa We Trust…

Timmy (@95): You forgot to mention that Martin Keown joined them for a pint…

Hi Gang,

Once again I didn’t see the whole game, I arrived in that dump of a pub as the Chavs were celebrating their first goal. I got to watch the last 30 minutes or so which we completely dominated but only created one decent chance (until the game was 2-0) which Torres shinned wide. Once I saw that I felt that was it, no joy today.

I wanted to make one small point about Stevie, I have been yakking on about him dropping deeper and becoming more involved in games as I think he needs to do. So Rafa makes the call, Stevie drops back into the middle and the first thing he does is get booked for a typical Stevie lunge on Frank L. That’s it for Stevie as far as making a tackle for the rest of the game, he pussies around when the action is going on around him. You might say it could happen to anyone as it could but it summed Stevie up for me in this game… kind of losing the plot at times and letting his head drop too.

Leadership tends to come from JC but he had his mind occupied with the Cheat and as he was struggling at times I guess that undermines your confidence as far as pushing the others on.

Stevie G, is brilliant but mercurial, he’s our game winner, he’s our best, most talented player. But he’s a player not a captain for me, he just wants to play with the best and if you don’t match up .. you don’t rate for him. My opinion.
Stevie never leads as a captain could, it’s not his style, he doesn’t think bout encouraging others and particularly when things aren’t going well for a player. He’s more of an individual for me and I don’t think being captain really suits or makes things easier for him.

As for the outlook for the season, there is nothing to be done about what’s just past. However.. if we’d beaten Villa, which we should have and if we’d had a bit of luck v Spurs,(Voronin “penalty”) (Spurs player offside, interfering with play on their first goal) then this defeat would not have been as damaging as it is. We’re never going to have a season like last season where we whipped the others in the “big 4″ (Arsenal apart).

But this is a bugger of a loss in a game which we could have won, going into internationals, which never suit us, and facing into our critial month which is October. If we are still 6 points or less off the lead, and still with CL qualification in our own hands, heading into November then I’d be well hopefull. By then Aurelio will be completely back in the groove, Agger will be playing regularly (I hope) and “Nemo” (Aquaman) will be making cameos.

9 points gone already is not good tho’.
As KK said (ish) manure may not be playing well and even Chavs may not be setting the world alight but they are only 3 and 5 points down, I do think we’ll improve as the season goes on but we cannot afford to be much further back. 2 more tough games this month but both are winnable (and losable !).

Ah well watched the game twice now just to see how we really went. While I don’t think we deserved to lose, we never looked like winning. At time we looked second to the ball and stationary. Essien made our midfield look second rate.
.
I look at the table and it’s about what I thought the top 6 would look like after 8 matches. Considering our up and down form, I think we’re in there. Sad to see us at 6th though.
.
Can’t wait for Thompkins to come out with the you must finish second, followed by being sixth before you can make a title challenge.
.
I still don’t believe the club has properly addressed the winger issue, hence why our fullbacks are driven to attack. However with JC slight dip or wane which ever it may be, we’re struggling. Last year I never worried about leaking goals, at the moment I’m glued to that side of the TV.
.
It is worth noting that once a player goes on the wane, at this level it’s very quick and quite noticeable. Doesn’t mean the lads not a champion, just his days of running Grand Nationals are over. Back to the paddock to produce more Carra’s. (Joke of course).
.
I’m hoping things will be fine, we have goals in us, however just like relegation teams need to beat the teams vying for those spots, we need to beat teams vying for top spot. I know many teams will lose at the brigde, but if we have real ambitions for the title, we must beat those teams around us. Must win games our now Man U, City, Arsenal, Spurs, Villa, the list goes on.
.
Why the fuck are we having another break.

A good example of the kind of support they had yesterday was when Fat Frank
took a free kick from nearly on the half way line which missed by a mile.
The Liverpool fans started singing ” YOU FAT B*STARD” for about a minute
without a responce from the Chav fans,in fact they sat their without a thought
of defending one of their own.At one point Ancellotti looked embarrassed
when he looked at the Liverpool fans singing FOAR, probably because he’s
used to having supporters who are passionate and actually give a f*ck about
their players instead of just sitting their taking photos.

Whats the difference between our 12th man and Chelsea’s
Chelsea’s has the whistle in his mouth and 2 cards in his pocket.
YNWA

Rome, and the best they could conjure up with is the very originial and unique CHELSEA*3 chant!!

But seriously though, their team deserve a much better support. If only we had the same amount of money and could buy the players we actually want, and the stadium size the gunners have. Nothing is easy in life is it?

Sula, there are so many mistakes in your comment, I can’t even be bothered to talk thru each one but listen mate, you hit the nail
“the best they’ve done is to push liverpool to the 2nd spot…is that how good we can go???…”

It’s a resounding YES to that, with the squad we have we are lucky to be in the top 3. The only reason why we are even close to competing is because we have rafa, ffs. How long does it take people to realise that and to stop thinking that we have an entitlement to top spot just because we were so great 20 to 30 year ago. We’re building a foundation here mate, just ask the fellas living thru the 40s and 50s and until shanks arrived. We are building from bottom up, and with all the money that is being thrown around by other clubs, it ain’t easy.

Hyde building from the bottom up we may be but our owners are doing everything they can to steal from the top down. Maybe just maybe if the season pans out without us being in the top 4 it could be a blessing in disguise. Once the Cl money and all the TV exposure is over there is little else they can scam. (wouldn’t like to see it happen but if it gets them out, Yahoo.)
.
Lastly it ain’t going to get better for Mr B in the transfer front. Spade in the ground in 60 days and so on.

Very Tough Loss.Drogba has to be the worst example of a Sportsman I have ever seen..
I guess winning at all costs,is what it’s all about these days.
I really was hoping that Rafa would leave Lucas on the bench and play Benny, oh well.
Let’s hope this International Break will give Agger and Aquilani a chance to get fit..
Still a long way to go..don’t let your heads drop Lads.
We are Liverpool F.C.
Love too see the F.A. through the Book at Fungus face, for his latest outburst at the Refs….

BLAME RAFA
Gillett cuts loose on Liverpool manager over team’s slump

By Rory Smith

Tuesday October 06 2009

George Gillett has claimed that Rafael Benitez is to blame for Liverpool’s failings on the pitch rather than the owners.

According to the American, Liverpool are in “extraordinarily” good financial shape compared with Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United because he and partner Tom Hicks have invested more money than any of their competitors in recent years.

“In the last 18 months, we have invested £128m on top of what has come in. That means it should be getting better,” Gillett said.

“Now if it’s not getting better, it’s not Gillett and Hicks; it’s the manager; it’s the scouting. You have to make sure you balance out your analysis. There was plenty of money, so if you have any complaints, take a look at the ins and outs.”

Gillett, who made the comments in an ad hoc interview with a representative of the fans’ union, Spirit of Shankly, at Liverpool’s Kirkby academy, further claimed that “the £30m from the sale of Xabi Alonso went straight back in” to Benitez’s coffers, as well as “£22-23m as part of our budgets”.

The co-owner’s statement that Benitez is to blame belies the fragile peace between boardroom and dressing-room at Anfield. Benitez has been noticeably coy on the subject of the club’s owners this season after two years of almost constant conflict, but relations remain strained, particularly on the subject of transfer budgets.

Benitez’s problems don’t end there as resentment is still lingering in certain quarters over his criticism of ‘senior players’ in the wake of Liverpool’s defeat by Aston Villa back in August.

Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher have both spoken to him on the matter and, while no rift exists between manager and players, Benitez has been advised to re-engage with his team’s heartbeat, the home-grown pair of Huyton’s Gerrard and Bootle’s Carragher, if Liverpool are to prevent another season disappearing down the boulevard of broken dreams.

Defeat by Chelsea — their third in the Premier League — fuelled the belief that they are ill-equipped to mount a second successive title challenge. Having lost to Fiorentina in the Champions League, Liverpool have also put themselves under unexpected pressure in Europe and their fate in a competition in which they have flourished under Benitez could be determined by back-to-back clashes with Lyon.

Their first meeting with the French club is sandwiched between Premier League fixtures away to Sunderland next Saturday week and the visit of Manchester United to Anfield on Sunday, October 25.

Benitez has called on his players “to keep improving” following that damaging defeat at Chelsea, yet some Anfield insiders are wondering if it is the manager who can “keep improving” his relations with the dressing room.

Some of his critics argue that this footballing obsessive seems to show no interest in his players as human beings. After all, this is the manager who stayed on for the 2005 Club World Championship in Tokyo despite learning that his father had passed away back in Spain.

In Benitez’s eyes, he was merely being professional, being devoted to his team’s pursuit of trophies.

(© Daily Telegraph, London)

I see Portsmouth now have a Suger Daddy as well…whilst we are stuck with the Borrowers and falling further behind…

And now I see the short fuck has had a go at Rafa as well – blaming him for the poor start (not his lack of funding – apparently they have spent more than enough for us to be leading the way according to this lying dumb fuck)…

At this rate Rafa will tell them where to put it…and despite what some of the numpties around think we will be in deep shite without him – he’s just about the only reason we are competing as well as we are…we have a squad worth abour half our major opponents and yet somehow we are supposed to be walking the EPL???

Hopefully the last bleatings of a doomed man, maybe he knows he out and is screaming blue murder about it. I wish they would fair dickum fuck off. They won’t but just another false dawn, no-one is going to pay the money they want.

WTF!!? Blaming Rafa and the scouts?? Putting in more money than others except ManCity?? Putting in where? How come we don’t see it on the field where it really matters?

He has gone Farking senile, thinking that he could rally the fans behind him and go after Rafa. I hope and be glad that Rafa is NOT like me, cause I would walk away from all this in a minute!

It seems so easy to blame Rafa. How much money was he give? Was it his call all along? What about being given a lampshade (R Keane) when he asked for a table (G Barry)? is that the manager’s fault too? If people are blaming Rafa I wonder which Manager they wish to get to replace him and what they think the new Manager should do with the squad?

I see all the usual crap is being spouted around the net and see our Doom Sayers are back in full force here as well. Firstly if we have to look at it in the cold light of the day the disruption caused by the late departure of Alonso is nobody’s fault and has, along with the Confed cup been partly responsible for our inconsistent start. Before the knee jerker”s blame Rafa again for his treatment of Alonso bear in mind the kick up the arse he received made him produce the best season at Liverpool after two mediocre ones.

Having said all this our form, if not result wise, is far better than this time last year when we where winning ugly but playing shite and we have been notoriously bad starters under Rafa, but finish very strongly. The creativity, from a scoring perspective, is very good however with two new people in defense, Insua and Johnson, coupled with Carra slow start to the season (yes despite all the shit being heaped upon him he will come good) we have leaked goals we normally would not have leaked. The old adage that sometimes you have to take a step backwards to make a three step forward movement possible, springs to mind.

Our Achilles heel last year was the draws against mid to bottom placed teams. Our emphasis this year is to attack (Chelsea being the exception and cautious approach, I would hazard a guess, caused by those two previous loses) has placed more pressure on us at the back, but is not the overriding reason we have let in goals. I expect our defense to tighten up and to get back to where we expect them to be and this early season form is not indicative of what we can expect especially with Agger’s imminent return. Least we forget ManU lost 5 times last year.

Alonso’s replacement, Aquaman, by the nature of what Rafa had at his disposal, fuck all in terms of extra money, was the best buy available. This is proved by how he had to maneuver to bring in cover when the defensive injuries threatened us. The two Oxygen thieves, our owners, can spout all the figures they want in terms of gross spend, but the net spend speaks volumes at the end of the day and so far Rafa has had below 20 mill a season and know they want to throw in salary increases into that amount. We are a team with top four ambitions and want to challenge for the prem with owners who have bottom 8 purse strings and no amount of spin can change those facts.

The people who think Rafa has had more than enough time and money to win the Prem need to take a long hard look at themselves because they are deluding themselves. We finished second because of Rafa not despite of him and we have to be very careful when calling for his head because the net result could be a free fall in terms of our position. You just need to hear the main players speak of Rafa in terms of what he has accomplished and the influence he has on the team to understand that we are lucky to still have him.

This does not mean he will not make mistakes or is infallible to bad judgment calls because over a long tough season he will make those mistakes, however he will get them right more often than not. The players on the other hand also need to put their hands up and deliver to the standard we expect of them.

With regards to Aquaman and how good is he. The Roma supporters rate him as one of the best talents to come out of Rome. He dominated the U20 championship a few years back and was man of the tournament. He dominated a Chelsea midfield that included Lampost, Ballack and Obie Won a few years back. Don’t write off our season just yet I have a funny feeling that it will still be a great one for us and that we will be challenging come May. The signs are there that once we click there will not be many teams that will live with us, remember Madrid and ManU last year. It is very early days still and far too premature to start panicking. 8 losses and 30 wins would do nicely there are still plenty of points to play for as well as return fixtures and double fixtures ahead of us, lots of time to make up ground and for others to slip. Time to support not to call for heads and to get onto people’s backs Keep the Faith YNWA

Spot on Keith, excellent post.

Now is the time to support the team and show what true supporters show. 3 defeats from 8 games doesen’t look good on paper but if we can beat Sunderland away and the Mancs at home we will be well and truely back in the hunt.

Chelsea will slip up again, don’t worry and for those saying we are out of the title race, all I can say is that you need to be more positive. We still have a great chance of winning the title, starting at Sunderland on Saturday week.

Great post Keith.

Some of us in here are been accused of wearing red tinted glasses over Rafa and the team.

We are not wearing tinted glasses on the issue.The thing is we just realise that the season is only 8 games in and to write us off at this early stage.

6 points is the difference now in october and i distinctively remember when the difference with the mancs was similar at the end of last season with 7/8 games to go and most in here thought “ya,that can be clawed back if they drop points here,there and so on”.
We all lived in hope pin pointing out the games were they could have dropped points and we were full of optimism to the end.

Now some of these people are writing us off with 30 games to go.

I`m not saying we will win it and i`m going out to throw my house keys on us.I realise as much as the next guy that we have given ourselves work to do but we cannot be written off.

Its crazy to dissmiss the team or call for Rafa`s head.

Be careful what you wish for it might just come through.

P.S. Ain`t that Gillete some dickhead.Publicly critising Rafa again about the game.The dizzy bastard dosen`t even know weather the ball is pumped or stuffed!

Stick to what you do best George….F*CK ALL !!

I see the Gillette interview is making tidal wave like destruction across the net. I see this little snake as by far the most devious and dangerous of the two and takes very opportunity to stick the knife into Rafa’s back. Yes it was his approach to Klinsman that started it last time. He really thinks that we as supporters are thick, cannot add and will lap up his entire thinly veiled attempt to undermine Rafa. I suppose when he reads post from the Bugerman’s of this world he has a point. Right from the beginning he has had an agenda to try and get rid of Rafa because he knows that Rafa sees right through him. THicks for all his loud mouth ignorance and stupidity still comes out and supports Rafa publicly and does not resort to a underhanded assassination attempt like this slimly little snake. Just when we need people to pull together he fires another broad side as we once again get hit by friendly (or not so friendly) fire.

Steve on the subject of meeting people in Airports i met Danny Murphy in Manc airport the day after the debrecin game.Sound fella he was to.I spoke to him for around 20 minutes.Had a bit of an axe to grind with Rafa understandably i suppose and told me he trired to engineer a move back to Liverpool in the summer through Stevie and Carra but it wasn`t to be.

You can see he loves the club as he kept refering to them as “the reds” as all of us fans do but i`d say he`s gutted Rafa never gave him a shot.When i asked what happened with Rafa he just said Rafa had his own plans and he couldn`t gaurentee him first team football and all that so he had to move on for his career.

Oh ya he thinks Aqualani isn`t all that.Siad he played against him few years back and dosen`t rate him.

What does he know anyway!!

Timmy mate, the reason for optimism at the end of last season was that despite the 6 point gap we were playing great and beating teams convincingly while the mancs were scraping past teams. At the moment our form looks dodgy and the fact we have been beaten by every decent side we’ve faced since pre season has some of us a little worried. Espanyol, Atletico Madrid, Spurs, Villa, Fiorintina, Chelsea have all given us a doing. How long until it affects the players’ confidence?

30 wins and 8 losses would be lovely but does our current form make me believe that this is possible? Not really. I’d love to be a part of the ‘It’ll be alright’ brigade but the last 20 years has me thinking ‘Here we go again’.

LB,

That 30 wins,8 losses comment was a tounge`n`cheek one.That would never happen.

All i`m saying is its far too early to start thinking its beyond us.We are going through a bad patch admittedly and it is worrying that any half decent side we`ve come up against has beat us but maybe a win against the next decent team we come up against(Lyon) could be the one that gets the monkey off our back.

It was the win last year against the Mancs that gave us belife that we can beat the teams around the top and we went on to do well so i`m hoping for a decent performance and result at sunderland followed by a big win against Lyon.

Kopblog head to head latest:

Lurgan Kop Pathletic 27-TT Warriors 28 oohhh so close

tad sensationalist there LB mate – adding 2 pre-season friendlies to that list. Makes me wonder if we would hear – we only beat decent teams in friendlies and not when it matters etc. if the opposite had happened.

anyway, thats not me point. we all agree that our current form is worrying and if it stays this way we are in for an absolute dog fight to remain in the top 3, let alone the title. for me its all about the balance of the team which is not right -we took out an essential cog from last year and though we have bought the replacement, we havent put it back yet. so no pressure on aquilani then when he makes his debut. looking forward to his first misplaced pass.

now is the time to keep it together – fans, team, management – and its idiots like GG piping off at this time that pisses me off. even owners about to fire managers have said better things in the press.

so while it can get a whole lot worse, we know we can turn this around. so lets stick together for a little more than 8 games before piling even more pressure on Rafa and the team.

YNWA

f*** you gillet! f*** off back from whence you came!

Timmy, Taggart took over a team that was fourth from bottom.Having gone close to winning the title in 92, he won it the following season.The Reds went close last year and there will be lots of criticism if they don’t win it this season.4 seasons is plenty of time to build a title winning team-look @ the examples I mentioned-Wenger won 2 titles in 5 attempts and made a profit in the transfer market.Blows your argument, like the Cork gaelic team out of the water.Lippi is outstanding, same as Capello.

Bhav, I’m not trying to be sensationalist, my point is that it must start to affect belief if every time you play against a decent side you get beat. Be it pre season or the CL final. I’m sure wins against Espanyol and Atletico would have put the players in better spirits going into the Spurs match.

As Timmy said though wins against Lyon and the Mancs can do wonders. But indifferent results in those games and we’re already looking at crisis headlines in the media, 10 point gap in the league table and players low on confidence.

I don’t think it’s sensationalist to say that you can’t win the title by November but you sure can lose it. We’re facing make or break games already.

I would like to think that George G is trying to motivate Rafa the way that Rafa motivates the players.
As Timmy T agrees,it is early days yet so,get behind the team and see who is strongest at the end of the race.

Timmy, Danny Murphy spending 20 minutes talking to a fellow Red is a right result, what a great fella he is! I do hope he’s wrong about Aquilani though, he’s one of the reasons still to be cheerful!

You have a good point about what has happened over the last 20 years LB, but if we don’t carry on being positive what’s the point?

Burgerman.

You said four years is ample enough time for a manager to win a title.Ok it took ferguson 7.So do you believe the mancs were wrong to keep him after they finished 11th in `88/89,three seasons into his tenure.

Wenger,a superb manager no doubt but when Rafa arrived he inherited a (lets be honest) mediocre squad.Wenger at that time had just won the title unbeaten and had arguably the best side in europe.Add to that he had oceans of talent coming through and were about to move into a new stadium to secure the club financially.Where did he/they go from there?

You say sack Rafa bring in Lippi.

Just think of the implications of that action??

I`m not even going to bother any more!

P.S. Didn`t like the dig about the cork football team either don`t you know i have feelings.

ahahaha Mr. Hill I love your optimism (and sense of humour)

LB – i agree we have big games coming up. Massive, if scums at home needs a reason to get any bigger. But make or break? I consider the Lyon match that – nothing more. Chavs are away to Villa next, and who knows what twists and turns the winter will bring. Injuries, suspensions etc – its a long season mate. People said we were done after 3 games, then back after 7, then gone again after 8 – this ding dong is here to stay.

My rule of thumb has always been to look at the league table for the first time after 10 games. And then assess.

Some sites reporting Aquaman back after international break?

YNWA

Aquaman back realistically 28th October against Arsenal in the Carling Cup.

Steve, it’s like Shawshank Redemption when some of the prisoners preferred to not have any hope of ever getting out of jail. “Hope can drive a man crazy”. It’s like that with me at times. Positively hoping we can win the title and then getting another kick in the balls when we fail to do so. I suppose it’s a protective mechanism. Have doubts and be pleasantly surprised or proved wrong.

“Hope can drive a man crazy”.

Ha ha i guess were alike LB in age and that when we started following the reds in the mid-late 80`s as younguns you`d kinda take it for granted that these league titles will just come forever.

The last time we won it i was 11 and even though i was footy mad and Liverpool mad at the time i never really understood what it was until i got older.It kills me to see us come come up short every year but i can`t let it get to me anymore.At one time i let it get to me so much it effected my personal and family life (que violin) and i promised myself i`d never let that happen again thus the optimism oozzing through me.

Timmy, I would add to that that the squad rafa inherited was more than mediocre; it was total shite barring a few players!!

For all those who are saying that Rafa has had enough time by comparing it to other managers of the past, then I have to say those people have completely lost the plot or are not following football from a bigger picture. You can’t compare recent seasons with 1992 or 1996 cos the money being thrown around and the players being connected was totally different then. It is pathetic to compare 5 years in 1992 or 1996 to that from 2004. When rafa came in, the mancs and chelshit had already started the money war, and it also started to coincide with the influx of top players being brought to the premiership teams.

Add to that the shit like parry rafa had to cope with, then you get my drift.

I am not trying to make any excuse for our gaffer– I just want a fair basis of argument.

LB– I know you are trying to start a psychological protection so as not to get disappointed come May, but as someone who used to that myself, I will tell you, just don’t go there. I think you should just enjoy the season as it comes. The other thing you could do is to hope that the Mancs don’t knick it. You know, the kind of “I really don’t care if chelshit or any other team than us win it, as long as it isn’t the mancs” thing.

john nicholson of Football365.com wrote:

You can get deceived by the draw. You can appear to be on a good run, to go undefeated for lots of games. People will say you’re hard to beat, but you can still slip behind other sides that win more, lose more but draw less.

This season there appears to be a realisation that it is the draw, not a loss that is the last resort.

Yep Timmy, the last time we won the league I was 12 and didn’t understand much about the meaning of it all. Although I supported Liverpool from the mid 80s I got really fanatical from the 1990-91 season. So it’s probably me who has jinxed it.

I would love to challenge for the title with Man City and Arsenal. Wouldn’t mind as much if we lost out then. But seeing them dirty mancs match our record…. Sickening. I remember taunting Man U fans in school about our league title winning record. If I run into them now I keep the conversation short and sweet. However my post man is an old mate who is a Chelsea fan (proper fan not a plastic one) and he likes a wind up he does.

Try living over hear where its about 50-50 reds and mancs but most mancs are just gloryhunters.I know a lot of people who jumped ship during the souness era and i still remind them every time they dare try a wind-up.

Burgerman I love how you come in here to stick up for Ferguscum,Whenger,
Ancellotti in fact anybody apart from our players or manager.I half expected you
to come out and declare your devotion to our team but you didn’t bother.
So i’ll be blunt and ask you which team do you support? because i’m a little bit confused.
Sula If you are truly sick and tired of all this sh*t then find another team or sport
to follow, because there’s more to life than getting a ulcer or losing you hair as
you’ll probably end up doing.
PS At the risk of sounding stupid ( probabably do most of the time) but who is
Lippy?.

Ah, Shawshank Redemption. Probably my favourite movie of all time, and yes, I can see the point your’e making LB.

When the Reds do finally land the Prem I think it will mean so much to many generations of LFC fans.

There’s those of us who were spoilt watching the team wipe the floor with every other team in the 70′s and 80′s and guys who have supported them for
up to 20 years and still waiting to see a Prem victory parade, and that’s just us lot in here!

Young kids growing up supporting the team are probably even more frustated by having to wait so long……. But have faith, it will come!!

I am certainly not ruling it out this season, either.

this is a bit off topic, might bring us on to happier times. I will be buying some LFC related books soon, traveling a lot and need some reading material. What are the top LFC related books (including biographies of course) that you guys would recommend? Thanks!

YNWA

Bhav,

I can tell you about a couple i`ve read.Carra`s book is excellent highly recommended.

Also “Here we go gathering cups in may” is another you should read if you already haven`t.

Gerrard`s isn`t bad i also read rush`s but thats only alright.I got more i support of the great man than anticipation.

I was in the middle of reading Brian Reade`s “43 years with the same bired” before my 2 year old decided enough was enough and i`m only allowed the cover and not the book so that dissappeared in to thin air(probably the bin but thats another story).I was enjoying that one though and its got great reviews so thats reccomended also.

thanks Timmy! heard good reviews for “43 years with the same bird” as well.

Also Bhav not LFC related but well worth a butchers is Paul Mc Grath`s “Back from the brink”..

By far and away the best book i`ve ever read.

Gaz #107 ‘cant wait for Tompkins to come out with the first you have to finish 2nd followed by being 6th before you can challenge for the title article’ Outfuckingstanding! Perfection Gaz. Keith #117 ‘…along with the confed cup being partly responsible for our inconsistent start’ Damn you Keithsa! I had you down for that one by game 5! Cost me 20 bucks! Ah well, only off by 3 games…. Great post though mate. Read it this time last yr and the yr before but must say its standing up well after all these yrs

Hmmm… where to start…

Lets start with Shawshank Redemption.
“Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man crazy”
That line was uttered by Red, who had become institutionalized and in all likelihood would have followed Brooks Hadlin, and been dangling from a rope in the halfway house.
But instead of dangling from a rope, he found freedom beacuse he took on board what Andy told him.
“Hope is a good thing. Perhaps the best of things.”

Next… Rafa vs Lippi … I was going to get into this, but instead, I’m just going to type… “Fuckin behave will ya!”

Next… is the title won in October? (Ancelotti: “Title is ours to lose”) (Hang on is Ancelotti Burgerman… coz if so… or not… “Behave you pratt” Is it fuck.
Is the title lost in October? … well maybe, but I think Rafa put one of those little beeping keyfobs on it, so he just has to walk around Anfield and Melwood pushing the button and he’ll eventually find it.

Next… Have we got out of 2nd hear yet this season? If you say yes, I dunno what games you’ve been watching. So all this bollocks about how we can’t win the title on current form is rather silly considering the likelihood of us maintaining 2nd gear form throughout the season.

Faith can move mountains and Hope is the best of things.

Then again… negativity is just soooo much easier!

Really huge month ahead because if league results don’t go our way I’d still like to see us have a right old go at winning Big Ears Number 6. So that puts huge emphasis on the two Lyon games. It does worry me however, reading that Daily Telegraph article about Rafa possibly falling out with Carra and Gerrard. He doesn’t come across as the warmest of people (who cares if we win) but if this is true it could be the beginning of the end. Anyway I still firmly believe that if Rafa doesn’t win the PL or the CL this year – he’ll walk

First time posting after being a long time lurker-

First off, I think it is a bit ridiculous for so many supporters to be criticizing Rafa in the manners that seem to be so prevalent. Frankly, we don’t have access to the behind the scenes goings on in the locker rooms and the practice field, so we as supporters simply do not have the full picture.
Next, as to Lucas, I think his harsh treatment in the press and various fan sites has been a bit harsh and undeserved. He’s still a youngster, and still has not reached his full potential. His play has not been spectacular, but after all, he is a holding midfielder. Against the chavs, he certainly didn’t look horrible, but neither did he particularly impress. This seems to be a symptom of playing with mascher, as they both fill the same role. I don’t think you can particularly fault Rafa for playing them together either, as we don’t many other options with Aquilani still on the mend.
As to the chavs game in general, the team put on a more promising performance than in the previous losses, which is bit of a consolation. The game was just a lack of performance in a few critical moments, which is not as worrying as would have been an entire game in the vein of the first half against Fiorentina.
Perhaps the best option, at least until Aquilani is healthy, would be shifting to 4-4-2 for the time being. 4-2-3-1 needs controlling forces slotting in behind the striker as well as deep in midfield. Gerrard can fill either of the roles, but we just don’t have a second consistent performer for those roles, not to mention central midfield has looked fairly cramped and we have been unable to move the ball up to Torres effectively. With a 4-4-2, midfield will open up a bit, and I think this may fit the natural roles of the currently available players, perhaps something like:

Johnson—Skrtel–Carra—Insua

Kuyt—Mascher–Gerrard—Riera

Babel–Torres

With Aurelio available for LB, Lucas to fill in midfield, and Yossi to move between playing up front, or for Gerrard/Riera.

Again, I only suggest this as a temporary measure until everyone is healthy again, as I think this might ease up the problems we’ve been having getting the ball to attack, and playing a dedicated two up front will open up Torres with the lack of support in the current formation with available players.

I had an interesting idea, perhaps a switch to a 4-4-2 might be effective, until Aquilani is healthy? I do certainly like the 4-2-3-1, but with Mascher/Lucas in the midfield we don’t have the ability to move the ball up to attack as quickly as is necessary. I wouldn’t place the blame on Lucas being a bad player, but he and Mascher play the same type of game, and pairing them together is a bit redundant. Either one of them work well when paired with Gerrard, but then we lose the link from deep mid to attack. Again, nothing against Yossi, but he doesn’t have the presence required to impose his will on a game, and is best used as a supporting attacker making runs from the wings. Once Aquilani is healthy, it would seem that playing him or Stevie alongside Mascher/Lucas in the midfield, with the other slotting in behind Torres would work well, but until then maybe something like this:

Johnson — Skrtel — Carra — Insua/Aurelio

Kuyt — Mascher — Gerrard — Riera

Babel — Torres

I think Babel could certainly be effective up front, and he has displayed chemistry with Kuyt (note the beautiful touch and go against Hull). Yossi could be rotated in for Babel, Riera, or Gerrard (who could also then play up with Torres).
This could alleivate the congestion with our current formation with the currently healthy squad, adding some needed width as the wingers wouldn’t be forced to drift inside to move the ball along.

I don’t know that I’d be too worried about something printed in the Telegraph Arthur… at least not until you’ve seen it verified in an actual newspaper!

You know whem they stopped wrapping fish in newspaper… it had fuck all to do with the possibility of ink poisoning… it was because the actual newpaper could poison your fish.

SG has come out and said more than once that Rafa has made him a better player (all current evidence to the contrary mind you!)
But now we’re supposed to believe he and Carra are all fucked off coz Rafa doesn’t give them each a reach-around and a “nice one son” after every game?
(And if that is true, they both need to fuckin grow up!)

Excellent first post in #148 scuba… but then you fucked it allup with #149

The holding midfielder bollocks worked, simply because Alonso had that toolbag that contained a mix of killer 30/40/50 yard passes. Neither Lucas nor Masch has that. SG does (though admittedly NOT on current form.)

I was not the least bit surprised with the number of people who slated Lucas (yet again) after the Chav match, while praising Masch… who not only gave away the ball cheaper than a 13 year old Chelsea teenager gives away her virginity… but also put together a string of passes that went straight to blue shirts throughout the match… yet he was praised for his effort and his critical game-changing error was glossed over as though it was a minor mistake.

I love Masch… he’s a personal fave… but he’s having a mare of a season so far.
So yes, I’d say we need to be dropping the 4-2-3-1, simply coz we don’t have the personnel to make it effective…
and I also think we need to forget this fuckin fallacy that SG and Torres are such a deadly partnership simly coz they managed to be so for one season. SG is a far more effective player when deployed in midfield and allowed to maraude forward… and Benny is a far more effective hole-player, where he can twist and turn and dink little balls

Then again… maybe Rafa knows something I don’t…

I thought the page had eaten my first post so I started over, newbie mistake!

I’d like to see Babel given a run out up front with Torres, I think they would give many a center back nightmares with their pace. Running a 4-4-2 for the time being while rotating Stevie, Babel, Kuyt, Yossi, and Riera between the wings, second striker and central midfield might be our best option

Timmy is Paul McGraths book really that good? I might buy it. Need some new reading. I might get that and Balco. Anyone read Papillion?

I don’t think Babel has done anything in his cameo appearances to warrant a full start… not yet anyway. If he bucks up his ideas, then sure, he deserves more playing time, but not on a wing and a prayer.

… I am left wondering with all the people seemingly thinking Aquaman will make a big impact… just how many games does he get before these same people write him off as a failure??

Aitch, I don’t see how Aquilani will be up and running before christmas. He has had a major operation which will need to be eased back into playing. Hopefully that may give him some time.
.
Keith regardless of what people think or don’t think of Rafa, the poor bastard is not getting any money soon. I just don’t know where or why Gillet come out with all this. And where has Hicks been while all this is going on.
.
Also in the interview he never referred to Hicks as Tom, strange, maybe there at war again.
.
Here goes something that will get slated, I think they are using Rafa as a stop gap measure, while their hoping to sell. If they really wanted him, they or he wouldn’t have come out and done the interview, with SOS no less.
.
As long as LFC keeps ticking along they don’t give a fuck about the team or fans. If I was Rafa which I’m not I would have shoved the team up their fucking arses.
.
However I will say this no wonder the scouting department got a shake up, it was needed, we spotted and purchased some duds.

gaz, he’s supposedly up and training and ready to make his debut in 2-3 weeks. That being the case, he should be playable by the end of the month at the latest, though I agree, we are unlikely to see his best before Christmas.

but that’s sort of my point. Remember all the hype around Gonzales?
Speedy was going to be the answer to our long running left wing prayers, according to some. (His utube videos had people creaming themselves. He had one or two good cameo appearances to start… remind you of any one else? Say… Babel for instance?
It took people half a season (or less) to turn on the kid.

Granted Aqua should be a different kettle of fish, since he’s an established player rather than a kid, but still, a lot of people are bigging him up and pinning their hopes to him… so how long before they turn on him?

I believe we wont see the best of him until next year. He needs to get match fit, he needs to combine with the team, he needs to get to know how his team and Rafa wants him to play. That’s of course assuming he doesn’t get niggling little injuries which keep setting him back (Like Degen).
.
There is no doubt he’s a talent but will he settle and remain fit. I personally can’t wait to see him play but I think the club is going to be cautious where Aquilani is concerned.

Good to see some logical arguments from Keith, Timmy and Aitch.

I dont want to weigh into the debate, purely because the same bollocks has been sprouted over the past 3 years everytime we hit a rough patch.

Im more interested in talking about aqualani, or should i say gossiping about him.

Here is my theory:) :
Aqua will feature at Sunderland (10-15min) and will help in tearing United a new arsehole.
YES I KNOW, too unrealistic and unlikely, but i can hope cant i?

Maybe Rafa is keeping his progress on the low, so he can suprise the mancs with his inclusion

Akka, I am with youn there. I think Aqualung will be featured in the Sunderland game. I shall be going bto the match, but sitting with the home fans. My friend who is getting me the tickets told me not to wear even my red underwear. Sunderland clearly is a must win game.
Looking forward to Aqualung to make an impact also in our game against Lyon (Must win) and Manure (also must win)

So normality has been restored to Kopblog.

A few bad results and the trenches have been dug (again). It’s the glass half-full brigade against the glass half-empty brigade against the glass is smashed into smithereens brigade and then there’s burgerman, who never had a glass. It’s good to read though.

Personally I believe that we are a lot further ahead now, performance wise, than we were this time last season. The balance between attack and defence does not seem to be there at the moment. Maybe, as someone suggested earlier, a switch to a 4-4-2 would suit the personnel that we currently have available.

If you think that LFC has problems, Lurgankop Pathletic has just been beaten at home by the TT’s warriors to put them 2nd from bottom. The Pathletic board has just given the manager the vote of confidence.

YNWA

Digger me old mate baking humble pie is my specialty, ask LB when we had a similar argument at the start of last year and I said then, despite the shit performance and form at that time, that we would finish at worst 2nd and be within 5 points of the eventual winners if we did not win. That was when everybody was on Rafa’s back and predicting we might not even make the top 4.

I will reiterate again we will be in the top 2 and we will be in with a challenge come May. I will also add that ManU will not win the Prem and will be lucky to finish 3rd depending on how Arsenal last. Chelsea will be our biggest threat this year and I really believe we have the better first 11, but they have more strength in depth and our campaign will depend on the injuries we do or do not pick up. This has already affected us in terms of the defense. Our form will turn around and we will go on a run similar to last year. With the Alonso departure it has stopped us getting into our stride as quickly as I hoped, but we are still better than we were this time last year playing wise.

Everybody complained that we did not put small teams to the sword and we drew to many games last year. This year we are putting those same teams that we drew against away. Some of our key players, Gerrard and Carra in particular have not had the best of starts to the season, but the old saying form is temporary, but class is permanent springs to mind and it wont be long before they are back to their best. If Aquaman is anywhere near as good as the passionate Roma fans think he is then when he is fully fit we will be a better side than last year, even without Alonso, taking into the account the addition of Johnson and the emergence of Insua and the improvement of both Benny and Lucas and the reemergence of Babel attitude wise.

One last thing having trawled the internet reading comments related to the poisoned dwarfs latest attempt to undermine Rafa, the most intelligent fans label is slipping rapidly and the comment coming from so called supporters is disgusting, uninformed and plain right crass stupidity in most cases. I am ashamed to think they are fellow Reds supporters. I was 31 the last time we lifted the Trophy and I want it as much and as badly as the next fan but avoiding reality and assigning the blame wrongly will not change reality or make it happen any quicker. In fact it will only make matters worse. It is time to support our Team (every player without exception) and Manger and tell the owners to fuck off with all the broken promises and lies. They are responsible for any shortcomings and for any lack of depth. It is also time to tell the knee jerk supporters to fuck off as well. Belief and passion is what it is all about and I will continue to believe until it is mathematically impossible, write off this year at your own peril but it is far from over. The fat lady is nowhere near ready to sing.

So what do you know, Fletcher has pulled out of the Scotland squad. Here’s an extract from the article.

….
But the withdrawals of Manchester United’s Fletcher and Tottenham Hotspur’s Hutton came as a surprise, being announced shortly before the Scots left Glasgow Airport bound for Japan.

There were no details given about their injuries, but they have forced manager George Burley to look to England’s League One for midfield cover in the shape of Hughes.
….

How can Slur Alex keep getting away with this. If Rafa had done the same, the players would be driven directly to the corresponding FA and be given an independent medical to prove their injury. Total shite!

Keith, I think Man City will be challenging for this title as well. They look serious to me. One defeat so far and that was an unlucky defeat against the scum. I have watched a few of their games and they look good. They have no European football to distract them either.

Yes LB they could throw a spanner in the works for the so called big 4 and we could see somebody miss out on a CL spot. However it might be one season too soon. I would really piss myself if Man U did not qualify. I honestly don’t think ManU are strong this year and are the weakest of the top so called 4. They will hit a slump and then the so called wheels might come off when the blame game starts. Fungus did them no favour with his rant at the ref and I wonder how many 50/50 decisions will go against them because of it. It is going to be one of the most intriguing season we have had for a very long time and also one of the most open and I don’t expect to see much in it at the end.

Keith, while i would do anything to see Liverpool win the league, there is a little (very very little i promise) part of me that would explode with joy if united finished 5th, even if that meant that we finished 2nd/3rd.

YNWA

Read Tomkins article on the club website – fuck me that guy bleeds red, (I know lame)

Made a point though that a couple of posters have made before its not the results against the big teams that win leagues its the results against the mid to bottom teams

Lb – read papillon a few years ago – very good as afar as I remember – meant to be a true story but some of the stuff would have to be taken with a pinch of salt

Lurgankop :
“It’s the glass half-full brigade against the glass half-empty brigade against the glass is smashed into smithereens brigade and then there’s burgerman, who never had a glass.”

Classic

I will add that Lancelotties honeymoon period will end at some point as well and they will go through a sticky patch. I can see the young Arsenal side running them ragged at the Emirates, if they can tighten up at the back. Their aging squad might find it difficult after Christmas when the fixtures start to pile up. 30 year old don’t recover quite as quickly as the mid 20 year olds. Very interesting times and still a lot to pay for.

I find it very amusing that if Chelsea draws a match and we beat them at Anfield we will be within a point of them and people won’t to write us off at this early stage

For Aquilani, I think we’ll see cameo performances against Arsenal (Leauge cup) and Fulham away in the Prem. He’s swimming and running and working in the Gym, but he has yet to kick a ball!

I think his first start will be the home game V Birmingham on 9th November and I would agree that we won’t see him in full flow until around Christmas time.

Totally agree with Keith. It’s been said before, but I’ll remind everyone again: ManU look anythung but convincing. Giggs has been their star, and his legs are only marginally stronger than my 75-year-old mom. I mean, come Decemner, he wouldn’t be able to last 80 mins, let alone 90, and every 2nd game come to that! VDS might add a bit of solidity at the back, but still, excluding Rooney & Giggs, they have looked bereft of any fluidity & attacking options. My opinion anyway. And for the sake of stating the obvious (again), Chel$ki won’t have (amongst others) the Grog or Essien for a month, and coupled with their pensioners at the back, that should mean several dropped points come the New Year? We can but hope…and as LB says, Citeh are looking the real deal so we WILL need to take at least 4 points from them ourselves. And the Gooners, of course.
In Rafa We Trust…Keep The Faith guys

Thing is with City is all the players they bought have lots of PL experience. That was smart from Hughes I think. There has been no settling in period really. When they lost to the mancs Hughes said in his interview “we are not going away”. I believe him.

I was having a discussion with my mate last night. He said he though we relied too much on Gerrard and Torres in big matches. I then asked him what team doesn’t rely on their best players? Especially in the big games. If Barca play Real and Messi and Iniesta have a poor game what is the likely outcome? If we play against Chelsea and Drogba and Lampard are invisible what is likely outcome?

I then went onto to talk about Gerrard. Apart from at Old Trafford last season. How often is he at his best against our top PL rivals? I think he needs to pull his finger out of his arse. His moaned before about the team not being competitive. Well now that it is, his own form is patchy. Last season his form was patchy until around February. Compare it to lady boy the last 2 seasons. Mancs won the league due to his form plain and simple. I think if you want to be regarded as one the best in the world then you need to be at your best from August until May. And if a team wants to win the league the best players in the side have to be hot for the whole season. Gerrard and Torres need to do what Ronaldo and Henry did – destroy teams for the whole season rather than in 3 game patches.

If Gerrard and Torres are not at the top of their games then we can forget winning the league. The same goes for Chelsea – if Lampard and Drogba are not at their best they aint winning it either. Same goes for the mancs with Rooney. Same goes for Arsenal with Fabregas.

So while most people are talking about Lucas and others. It’s the blokes on £130k a week that are more talented than the others who I feel should pull their bloody finger out. Don’t get me wrong I know Stevie has bailed our arses out on many occasion. But that means fuck all right now. We need it now and until May.

As for Papilion, I thought it was a magnificent book which is why I want to get Banco. Paul McGrath is already in my Amazon shopping basket.

Great stuff from Tony Barrett:

http://timesonline.typepad.com/thegame/2009/10/liverpool-do-not-need-a-new-manager-they-need-new-owners.html

Wonderful article by Barrett there. Nice one Lurgan. The Echo definitely misses him doesn’t it?

Great article by Barret alright – God – it just makes me so angry about Lord Ferg – what a c*nt !!!

anyway I think there is a lot of unfair expectation mounting on Aqualani’s shoulders. I for one am skeptical about the impact he is going to have for us – by all accounts he’s not an Alonso type player and he’s going to need time to adapt to the English league which is so much faster than Serie A.

this is how it is – we need to avoid defeat against Sunderland (should be able to manage that) and beat the Scum. Then it’s still all to play for

Has Rafa put extra pressure on Aquilani? Coz the way he has been bigging up the player I’m expecting some Kaka type performances when he’s fit, settled and up to speed.

ah the pressure is not coming from Rafa I think. More hopeful fans really – it’s hard to blame them I suppose – we have gone from having a formidable midfield (Alonso’s best ever year and Masher dominant) to a decidedly average one (so-so Lucas and sulky Masher)

Rafa did say attacking wide he is better than Alonso, he’d be worth £30m if it wasn’t for the injury and that we will see how good he is. That’s confident talk from Rafa. So I’m assuming he’s mustard. Probably won’t see him at his best until February onwards though.

Great to read a balanced piece for a change, well done Tony. LB some good comments there as well.

That should say attacking wise not attacking wide!

LB I have a friend over here that is a life long Roma supporter and he thinks Aquaman is the real deal and was devastated when we bought him. He says we wont be sorry he has everything and the other Roma supporters where thinking that he could have had the same status as Tottie eventually, if he stayed. They reckon he is one of the best to come out of there academy and they continually rushed him back from injury, such was his importance and influence on their games. He said be patient you have a gem.

Sounds very promising Keith. I look forward to seeing the lad perform. Obviously I’m not expecting Maradonna performances from his debut onwards but it would be good if he could show his quality straight away and become a fan’s favourite much like Xabi. Sometimes you can just tell when a player is class without him setting the world alight. This was the case with Alonso, Patrick Viera and Fabregas.

On another note. Ronaldo had scored in every game he played for Real this season. He missed the match at the weekend due to injury and they lost. That boy is a cunt but one hell of a player.

Agreed LB much like Drogba great player but a complete and utter wanker, give me Torres any day of the week

Good posts Keith. 3 losses in 8 games, but we can be in there with a shout, Top 3 this year for sure in my opinion. Could be 1-2, depending on whether Aqualung and Agger are in fine form.
We have not hit peak yet. Many players are not performing well yet.
Just have faith in Rafa.

Gillet is a lying bastard.Like Barrett says, we ought to have new Owners, not a new Manager.

Good posts lads and I am glad you liked the TB article. I agree LB that the match reports / articles in the echo are not the same since he moved on.

Continuing on with the Drogba theme, if you want a laugh, have a butchers at this. The last bit is priceless:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAATMG91KUU

Sorry to hear you got the dreaded vote of confidence Lurgan.It`s nothing persoal just business.

Classic glass quote too pal!

LB,good choice on that book it`s an excellent read.What a player even though he did play for the mancs.

Here`s something to make ye laugh,good idea in fact,wouldn`t try it on my demon though!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcy8jSWIpWI

Great posts, lads. Loved the Tony Barrett article. It is even more surprising that the Times allowed this to go on!

The only thing I am worried about this season (or, rather every season) is whether our owners will be stupid enough to let Rafa go. I am more concerned about this rather than where we finish.

Re books, Has Calamity James got a book out? I actually think he is a good writer.

Fuck i hate internationals.

Have been reading that Torres had withdrawn from a training session after complaints about his groin.

Considering Spain are without Villa and another striker, it seems he will play either way.
Here is hoping Rafa steps in or Torres tells them he isnt playing.

Sometimes my nails are worse off after international breaks then any game

Just watch… after playing well below par for weeks now, SG will play a fuckin blinder for England… then get injured in the 90th minute.

And here is something for Gillette (and the media) to think about before he opens his mouth next (not that he thought this or any other time he opens his mouth)
… if instead of selling the club, Moores had taken out a 50 million quid loan each season, and handed it all to Rafa for players, we’d have a better squad AND be significantly LESS in DEBT than we are under these two cunts!!!

Aitch – thats just about the most annoying part of the change of ownership…it really is too depressing for words…

LB – being hearing about Ronaldo – apparently the fans at Real don’t like him too much of a glory hunter they perfer Kaka and Benzema more of team players, also read this yesterday

José “Pepe” Ruz, 58, a self-described warlock from Málaga, has warned Real Madrid that he has been hired to cast a spell on their star Cristiano Ronaldo to make him suffer a serious injury.

An Linn, they’ll like him when they realise he carries the side. Coz that’s exactly what he has been doing. Got no time for Real fans though. Bunch of racist bastards.

Just heard Torres has got a slight groin problem and with drew from training. There’s a bloody surprise. ferguson just pulls his players out no questions asked ours go an get fucking injured!!! Not gonna bring everyone onto a downer it may be a blessing in disguise he was able to do some light training later that day an hopefully Rafa pulls him out by the scruff of the neck. Seeing as Spain are through an all it may work in our favour.

Now now Aitch, ‘its soooo easy to be negative’ so dont fall into that trap! Besides, of course he’s gonna have a blinder, for many reasons but primarily because there’ll be little or no pressure; England are qualified. At Anfield the weight (wait?!) of 20yrs is on his shoulders every wk and has been for a few yrs now. Hes carried it and us admirably for some time now and its evident that since his supplier in chiefs departure he’s not been himself. Stevie can enjoy himself Sat. and I hope he does.

LB, I don’t think he’ll carry the side like he did with ManU – not with Kaka and Benzema and the rest in the side, a lot of his goals have been put on a plate for him and he doesn’t miss those in fairness to him

Anyway lets hope the warlock does his business – do you reckon ferguson put the curse on him

Went through the comments again a couple of posters seem to be saying united aren’t the team the were the last couple of seasons – but we have been saying that since cantona left and they always are there or there abouts come May – I wouldn’t be writing them off yet

Exactly An Linn. In fact all of the fallacies that were being touted in here during the Summer can be thrown out: ‘its only pre-season, dosent matter, pre-seasons all about fitness, we’ll be ready when season starts’ Mmmm….. ‘utd are weakened, wont be the same without tevez and ronaldo’ Mmmm…..’chelsea have new manager, unproven in prem, big adjustment period’ Mmmm…. ‘city arent just there yet, its a season too soon for them’ Mmmm…. and my favourite ‘we wont miss Alonso, in fact we’re stronger’ Mmmm

Well it nice to see all the positive sentiment, nothing like throwing in the towel after 8 games. All we can do is wait and see how it pans out, however I will stick it what I said in #161 and you an reach for the razor blades if you have to. A marathon is never decided until the last few kilometres, regardless of who takes of the fastest. For the record Digger make your prediction of where we will finish.

Beat me too it KeithSA.

My prediction is that we will finish in the top two with Chelsea and Man City being our closest challengers.

One of the ‘big four’ will be sacrificed this season and I hope to fuck it’s the manure.

Yours sincerely,
Manager of Lurgankop Pathletic.
Currently joint bottom of the kopblog head-to-head league

Whos thrown in the towel Keith? We all hope we’ll win the league, fact is we’re not in a position where its likely to happen and we’ve made it very hard on ourselves. Just pointing out some cold hard truths is all mate. All the pie in the sky sunshine rhetoric in the world dosent change them. Where will we finish? Who knows mate, but based on the evidence of the last 7wks I doubt it’ll be first. Does that change my love and support for my team? No. It merely means I dont suspend my belief in reality.

I dont think anybody is writing off ManU chances. But I am not writing LFC off either. Since Rafa took charge we have been getting better each season. Even a blind man can see that. This season we have had ManU lose to Burnley and Chelsea lose to Wigan. I think for the time being all of the top 4 are worse at this point of the season. Diggerno, if your not throwing in the towel what are you doing? What would you have done differently? Considering money restrictions and Alonso wanting to leave.

@Diggerno10

You are correct. To be realistic does not mean that we dont support Liverpool FC.

My idea from what i have seen is that it will be a Start-Stop season for us.We can play the best football in the league and we can loose too. Supposing it pans out like that, we will badly need all 3 points from the games which we drew last season.

I just hope that people dont put too much expectations on Aquilani.He is a talent and he will take some time to settle. Somehow i get the feeling that Rafa needs to deliver this time. A trophy is a must.

I’m with Digger on this – being grounded in reality does not mean a) you’re being negative b) follow Utd or c) mean you’re any less of a Liverpool fan. I think we all here want to win the league – fucking hell its been long enough – but right now the Premier League has probably 4/5 of the best sides in Europe (excluding ourselves) so winning it was always gonna be a mammoth task. But hey, if I can wait 20 years, I can wait 21! Just as long as the Scum don’t win it – I’ll be happy(ish)

I hate international break.Very Quiet in here last couple of days lads.

Que new blog Gerry please!

Bad news about Torres,hopefully it`s not that serious and he dosen`t play.Rafa should pull rank and withdraw him.I`m sure with Spain being qualified there wouldn`t be too much resistance from the spanish.He needs to get him back to Melwood and have the physio`s working on him.

No doubt the media will be all over this.

I see Gillete is flying to the middle east to sell his stake next week according to the mirror.I`ll take that with a pinch of salt anyway as usual.

LB.I just watched 60 minutes with Carra on LFC TV and one of the questions was what was your favourite football book that he read and guess what book he first mentioned..Yes it was Paul mc Grath`s.

He also mentioned robbies and Roy Keane`s.

The paul Mc Grath book is class

But LB trust me and get the book ‘Shantaram’

The best book I’ve ever read

Still sick after the Chelsea game but look forward to us doing it the ‘hard way’ as usual

and hope the boys in green do a number on the Italians this weekend

Over and out

Well what do we make of the recent takeover talk, I see Gillet said he wasn’t selling (ha). I see the Saudi fellow is now worried about the debt level, well he should have thought about that before he shot of his big cowboy mouth on Saudi TV.
.
Anyway maybe this latest outburst is just Gillet having some parting shots, or maybe he’s the one in power now since he sold the Canadians. Haven’t heard anything the the Hick one.
.
Anyway just when it was all settling down I’m back to scrolling countless relevant and irrelevant sites for the tiniest snippet of their fucking of news. Scolling every 5 minutes just in case things change.
.
I wonder if they told the Saudi Prince, spade in the ground in 60 days, then you’ll have the worlds greatest academy.

I see the cope outs are in full force using the same old bullshit. Grounded in reality you may well be Digger, Arthur, Somnath, in fact I see myself being exactly that after finishing second and within 5 points of the top and having a better side this year. I think knee jerk reaction at the beginning of a season is further away from the reality that you talk about. I base my argument on last season when we went through exactly the same scenario with people saying we are not good enough to make a sustained challenge. We all know what happened next. So in your version of reality where will we finish, not 1st is such a weak response, surly if we are as bad as you try and make us out to be we will struggle to be in the top 4, if so say it. Put your balls where your mouth is and come out and stick with your convictions and don’t hide behind telling the truth does not make me any less of a fan, nobody said that it did, but I would be very interested to see your prediction in black and white so their can be no disputes at the end of the season.

Really? The reality is we’re out of the title race… with 32 games to go????
What the fuck?

You do know United have barely squeak 3 of their results right?
Same for the Chavs?

The Chavs look nothing like title contenders they are supposed to be. Neither do Scum.
Its all well and good saying its the points that matter, but the performances certainly don’t indicate either team running away with it.

We’ve been in 2nd gear so far, and sure… if we stay that way we’re fucked, but I wouldn’t expect us to stay poor for too much longer.

The only team that has found their groove so far is the Arse… they look right fuckin scary and up for it… but they still have a soft underbelly that I see kissing away their title challenge.

I was convinced we’d have a better start than we’ve had, but the start that we have had hasn’t done anything to convince me (or even remotely scare me at this point) that we are not still in with a good chance.

That is my reality. You wanna call it rose-tinted glasses, fine… personally I think that shows you’re not looking at the big picture… but whatever!

Fellas,
Been reading between the lines since its pretty quiet in the footy world.
The prince states that our debt is too high and he wouldn’t buy unless it was sorted.
By sorted he mean by gilette and co.
Obviousaly the two clowns will try and tidy up the balance sheet quickly.
I can see big names like mascherano being sold. Even torres if clubs like city tempt the owners.

In terms of players coming in, we can kiss that goodbye. If the twat has already stated he has spent too much and rafa isn’t performing, its just an excuse to keep the wallet closed.

Rafa is the only one keeping things together.
if he goes, and I wouldn’t blame him, we would be royally fucked.

Sorry to bring up old points, but for fucks sake mr moores.
My 6yo nephew could have done a better background check, and he doesn’t even know how to use google yet

Fucking hell Akka, depress us all won’t you?

All this takeover/investment talk, we’ve heard it all before and it always amounts to fuck all. So why should this be any different? I’m ignoring it.

What I am worrying about is our defence and Gerrard’s patchy form. Both need to be sorted or we can forget about the title. We’re not out of it yet but a familiar patter seems to be ermerging. We play shite at the beginning of the season and only come good when we find ourselves 9 points off the pace with ‘must win’ games around the corner. We finish the season strongly but don’t win anything and so we all get our hopes up for the following campaign thinking “next year will be our year”.

I’m 31 years old and this pattern has been prevalent for the last 20 years. This pattern therefore is MY reality. If we win the league it would seem UNREAL. Older fans should try to grasp that concept.

I cautiously hope, but I do not realistically expect.

And before chastisement from the superfans – let me add that I don’t sit and watch wit ha sad face saying “I bet we lose”. I cheer, shout and support my team whether I’m at the stadium, in the pub or in my living room. Regardless of the score. But my bigger picture might be different from other reds.

Wow KeithSA – bit angry there Anyway I’ll put my money where my mouth is – we’ll finish 3rd behind Chelsea (who’ll win it) and Utd. Of course I hope I’m wrong. Reasons: just think our midfield is not strong enough, and the Yanks haven’t allowed us to strengthen our squad which is certainly the weakest of the Top 5 ( we have to start taking City seriously)

Donal – read Shantaram as well (I know I showing off here)- great book alright but have the same problem I had with Papillon – meant to be non-fiction works but some of it has to be made up

Sorry for going of topic – for what its worth my prediction is first/second/third (its too early to call) and our main rivals will be chelsea and united.

Will amdit to being worried about our loses to the so called big teams and the knock on effect of the backroom squabbles that will have an effect on the players.

Aitch – how many times have we said that very same statement about united and chelsea – playing shite but scrapping the wins, how many times in the last two years have we said jammy bastards got a goal in extra time – at the end of the day the only statistic the counts is won,drawn,lost

Yeah An Lin, it’s all about the points isn’t it? I’ll admit the mancs and chavs squeeze out lots of jammy wins/draws when they should have lost. At times they do not look convincing. But in May who has been parading the Premier League trophy around. Sadly not us.

Regarding non-fiction books that seem to have fiction in it. That doesn’t really bother me. I was reading Papillion when I went to Jamaica last Christmas and so because I was in the tropics and near the sea the boo kseemed more real if that makes sense. I will check out Shantaram. I think I’ll join my local library. Amazon have been getting too much of my money.

Life of Pi – my last read. Loved it.

The Road – Cormac McCarthy – amazing book

LB No-fiction / fiction I know maybe its just me, kind of bugs me though

Bhavster – Liked life of PI – great ending

Arthur – agreed on the road – read his other one old country for old men – but if you seen the film don’t bother its exactly the same bar a few changes

An Linn – completely agree. the last 10 or so pages mess with your mind like crazy. really brilliant.

just bought shantaram – heard very good reviews.

‘Angry’ Arthur? Nah, thats the standard dismissive disrespectful response to those who dont share the same mentality as the sunshiner superfans. Apparently what we wrote Arthur is ‘kneejerk’ and ‘bullshit’. So whats the point mate? Cant have a reasoned debate with someone that embittered and entrenched. Try and get some sleep Keith, you seem narked mate. This is gonna be an extremely polarizing season bud, I feel you’ll be reading a lot more ‘bullshit’ in the mths ahead. Maybe hibernation is in order!

Good stuff in 208 and 209 LB. I think we share a very similar outlook. My post in 198 and your 2 are the calmest I think I’ve ever seen us after 3 league losses in 8! Normally we’re frothing man! I think maybe you’re right and it stems from a well observed pattern over the years. Or are mellowing in our 30′s?!

Just home, absolutely knackered. I don’t even really know what’s been going on with the footy, so there’s no way can I catch up with everything in here.

But I can imagine pretty much what’s been said and who’s sitting on what side of the fence, and who’s in the middle. So, I’ll just say…
Things haven’t been great, and there’s obvious some concerns. But to the best of my knowledge we are 6 points behind the leaders after 8 games.

John Barnes got sacked. Ahh well Johnny. The writing was on the wall really.

Your reading of my mood and temper is almost as bad as your reasoning for the pessimistic outlook. I am certainly not angry, upset or anything else you might like to add concerning your comments. Just because I think you are wrong does not mean I am having a hissy fit. I nailed my colors to the mast in terms of how I see the team doing this year and challenged you to do the same. I have seen enough to think, that despite the recent results, we will be challenging come May, that despite Alonso leaving, we will end up being stronger than last year. You can twist it any way you want but the fact remains you are unwilling to commit to making statement and continue to hedge your options. If we are as bad as you are trying to make us out to be then say it, we will finish out of the top 4. It has nothing to do with super fan syndrome, I honestly believe we are going to click sooner rather than later, the team can and will perform, from what I have seen so far and from what we witnessed last year, to a level that will see us challenging on more than one front. The gap of 6 points is fuck all in the scheme of things especially when Chelsea still have to come to Anfield and even the loss at the Bridge, despite us not playing to the potential I know we can perform at, does not change my mind that we do not suffer by comparison, quite the opposite in fact I think we are better than them, so I remain optimistic about the season ahead. Ubber syndrome not with standing, call it what you want but you are hiding from making a statement of intent behind your usual dismissive tone and no matter what you say it won’t change the fact that you are trying to squirm out of doing so.

Obama won the 2009 Nobel peace prize(for what!) – should of given it to Rafa instead for dealing with they who shall not be named

Digger: I think I can hear Keith sharpening his knives But I agree I don’t see why we can’t disagree without getting angry or getting into name calling. I don’t really see too many extreme fans here – seems like a fairly sane bunch, most of the time. I’d hate to be right about my 3rd place prediction but our margin of error has reduced signifigantly now so I’m not so confident. I’d still love a 3rd place finish and win Big Ears!

Jesus I hope your right Keith, fuck I really do. No hedging of bets here mate, you say we’ll win it, it breaks my heart to say this but in my opinion we wont. Or rather cant, for all the obvious reasons. As for where EXACTLY we’ll finish? Fuck me, Nostradamus, the oracle of Delphi and Mystic Meg couldent tell you that! Far too infuriatingly inconsistent for that. But I’m hoping our annual late season run of form can ensure a top 4 finish a shot at no.7 next yr! Hows THAT for optimism?!

Aaagh Keith, y’auld optimist, stating your opinion and forecasting what you THINK will happen is not being realistic

Much better to sit back, with the 20-20 retro-vision goggles on, and then tell everyone that it was going to happen!

Where’s Marty McFly when you need him?

Eh….I think I just did tell him what I think will happen BEFORE it happens Lurgie! But nice pop all the same! P.s welcome back Fatty, seems you returned on a good day!

Eh….I think I just did tell him what I think will happen BEFORE it happens Lurgie! But nice pop all the same! P.s welcome back Fatty, seems you returned on a good day….pps the knives are always kept razor sharp for me Arthur!

Sorry Digger, was posting at the same time as you.

I thought that you were avoiding the question but it’s a top 4 finish and the CL for us then

Would be more than happy with that myself.

BTW, no knives out here mate, just wanted to know where you stood.

Digger – Florentina and Chelsea, I can imagine exactly what’s been going on in here since I left. But even though I wouldn’t have to do a Mystic Meg to guess all that, I haven’t the energy to go through it all.

Sory you didn’t pop in the bar when I was there. But to be honest, I was that blotto it would have been a waste of time. I watched the game and wobbled off that drunk I could barely talk to anyone. I’d been there a few days by then, got caught up in it all, and forgot the days were over when I could run round like a mad man all day every day, and then drink like a parched camel all night every night.

Oh well, no biggie.

As for the footy so far and my hopes for the rest of the season…
The bad start we got off to seems to have knocked the lads confidence badly, and if we don’t turn it round sharpish and start playing like we can, we could be in for a long hard season.

But we’ve got a break, and then a run of games that could turn it round. And beat Man U and we are right back in it. So, too early to get down about it yet. But it needs to be turned round sharpish.

Welcome back FS. Most people in were understandably pissed off that we lost to the Chavs, but generally no one is reaching for the razor blades.

LFC, as we all know, never do anything the easy way and landing number 19 is the most difficult of all. I said in an earlier post that it will come and I firmly believe it will and I certainly wouldn’t rule it out this season either.

Now is the time to be strong and positive and victory over Sunderland and the Mancs will have us back on track. Come on you Redmen!

We are 6 points off the top after 8 games. That is the reality.
There are 30 odd games left to play. That is the reality.
There is as much likelihood of us winning, as finishing 2nd, or 3rd, or 4th, or 5th, or 6th. That is the reality.

No one wins the League with a team of kids. That is the …. or wait a minute, no. That WAS the reality until someone did it.

We hadn’t won number 6 until we did. There was no way we were gonna come back from 3-0 down against Milan to win number 6 until we did. That is the reality.

We haven’t won the league in a lot of fan’s lifetimes. That is the reality.
…but… so therefore we won’t… that is the reality???? Or just as big a guess as saying we will win it?

Maybe, we haven’t won it for a while and so now is our time? Just as much of a realistic possibility!

With 30 odd games to go, anyone can win it at this point.

I see an LFC team capable of soooo much more than they’ve shown so far. And a Scum and Chav team nowhere near as strong as they have been in recent seasons….SO I chose to believe that we’ll click soon and we’ll push on.
Its not a certainty… but don’t tell me that belief cannot become a reality.

Hey FS, welcome back…. any inside info on whether there is any truth to this bollocks about a rift between Carra, SG and Rafa?
Or is it all just media bollocks?

Believe it or not Fatty the reaction in here after the 2 losses has been most reasonable compared with seasons past. There was little frothing and gnashing of teeth and believe me as one of the prime candidates for reaching for the razor blades in the past I was more than a little surprised at even my own sedate acceptance. I think we’re in for a tough polarizing season ahead, maybe subconciously I’d prepared for it. Or maybe like LB, I’ve seen this movie before. But we live in hope and plow ahead eh?…

Aitch any links for that story? I trawled the net looking for anything on it after I heard it but couldent find a thing so just put it down as bullshit. What you rustle up on it? Btw FS, no biggie on the bar, couldent make it myself, was at a match in Gaelic Park and well sauced too! Next time mate…

Well lads, nice to hear nobody went to overboard and I know it’s just frustration when people get down over these results – especially after years of false dawns and dashed hopes.

But to me, we can’t go pressing the panic button now. Let’s face it, we look the best we ever have since Dalglish handed over to Souness and we all knew/know it’s going to be really hard to take that final step. It’s like fighting an uphill battle against a nasty enemy that’s dug in deep, with far more ammo at their disposal. And that’s not even taking all the behind the scenes warfare into account.

Take no notice of any rumours about Gerrard, Carra or Marley’s Ghost falling out with Rafa – but do expect the rumour mill to go into overdrive soon. None of it will be worth the paper it’s printed on, but I’m concerned by this new round of shite with/from Gillett. That’s one nasty nasty, mental, and I mean proper mad, little fat bastard that. But hey… at least he’s not as bad as Hicks!

I don’t have the links Dig, but I think it originalted in the Telegraph (I know, I know, ’nuff sed!) but it was quoted in articles in the Times and even on the TIA mainsite.

I didn’t put much stock in it meself… but one does have to wonder why so many players have been off form and since SG and Carra are usually stallwarts, it did make me stop and think for a minute.

And just coz Hicks isn’t mouthing off, doesn’t mean he isn’t one nasty, nasty, mental, proper mad little (not quite as fat) bastard.

I wouldn’t throw either of them a life ring if they were drowning.
They are as bad as each other… its like comparing Bush and Cheney and trying to decide which one was worse.

(I know you already know that FS, I’m just not willing to give any of them even an inch of quarter!)

Cheney Aitch. Pure fucken evil. Bush was just a dumb fucken redneck, the quintessential epitome of one. Money, Karl Rove and an equally dumb/gullible electorate made him president. Anyway….yeah I thought there may have been a grain of truth myself in the rumour. Both of them are really off form this yr and Stevies body language is screaming ‘unhappy’ at times. As is Torres’. I cant help but wonder what it was that ‘shocked’ Aldo before the Stoke game. Personally I dont think it had anything to do with H&G

FS, welcome back. Missed your posts. GG had twisted facts again just to deflect blame from himself. Slimy Bastard.

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