HAPPY BIRTHDAY GERRY(YA OUL BASTARD )LOL

Great blog as always,and a good positive outlook as required. I think were all in the same boat for tomorrows game it really feels like losing is the end of the world. As we all no it wont be and we will turn it around even if it is to little to late. Personally i feel with the Lyon an Chelsea game we didn’t play that badly and the Chelsea score definitely flattered to deceive.

So come 2pm tomorrow with a fired up Anfield, scare the living fuck out these manc bastards because they’ve been playing shit and jamming it so get on them early an keep it that way. I will be taking a few pints tonight along with sleeping tablets otherwise I’ll be pacing the streets from 7am in anticipation.

Hopefully FS and Knight being at this one is enough to give us the luck we need.

YNWA LADS.

The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. I still believe.

Happy birthday mate – I keep saying this to myself and I’ll say it tomorrow coz we’ll get nothing from that game. United took 26 years to win the title and Ferguson at least 7 or 8 yrs before he won anything.
Follow our podcast http://tinyurl.com/liverpoolpodcast

Super stuff Gerry,

I`m inclined to go with the latter option of this will be a good time to play united.If we can get in there faces early on and keep it up we`ll be in with a chance.It`s time for the team to stand up and take the game by the scruff of the neck.

I really hope we do win this game for poor oul` knight sake if nothing else.After seeing the reds go down to Lyon and Sunderland the man deserves to see his team win and there`s no better feeling than a win against that shower!

P.S.

Happy birthday Gerry.

The British press arent the only ones giving a great time spouting the back pages of their papers with all sort of absolute nonsense. It is equally worse with all the biased, anti-liverpool journalists here in Singapore. Just reading afew sentence could make my blood boil faster than having a drunkard throw up on me.

To be honest without being negative, can anyone see us pulling it off? With the load of crap we are playing and the confidence at an all time low, it is difficult but not entirely impossible. The only thing I can think of is that we always seem to make things difficult for ourselves and somehow managed to acheive our targets eventually.

It was do or die before we visited the theatre of dreams last season. We were supposed to be “dead” when Ronaldo scored that penalty but the rest, everyone knows what happen.

We did it at their place, we can do it at ours. Like Gerry said, by all means, dig out the bloody win. Even if its with the help of a beach ball! (United fans r planning to bombbard Reina’s goal during the game with beachballs)

Happy Bday, Gerry.
I hope your birthday wishes may come true, whatever they are…(Hope they include Liverpool beating the Scums tonight)

Daglish mentioned:”Everyone at Liverpool is firmly behind Rafa”.

Obviously he has not been visitting Kopblog and read Sula, KK and Somnath’s comments…

Anyway…. WIll be cheering my lungs out today (in front of my telly)

Happy Bday Gerry

I hope you celebrate today after we beat Mancs

RT @Skeat: Anyway…. WIll be cheering my lungs out today (in front of my telly)

Belated Birthday wishes Gerry!

According to you, if we loose today the gap will be 10 points and it will be extremely difficult to win it from there. We will have to concentrate for Top 4.

Why is that if the same thing is aired by some supporters here they get a kick of the rest of the lads? I am confused.

In terms of numbers we are not out of the title race even if we loose coz there are still 30 odd games left and who knows we might put together a great winning run.

Anyway, I would better like us to win today and kick start our season again. We could not start well.Then we put together a few back 2 back wins and then we lost again. The Liverpool we all want to see will only be possible when we have the first 11 fit and ready.

As far as todays match is concerned, ManU themselves are fragile in defense. They have been lucky so far. They looked like dropping points in few of the their matches but somehow they managed to escape. We need to keep Giggs,Rooney(If he plays)quiet.

It would be a nervous afternoon for all the Liverpool fans. I am with Gerry on this one. A 2-1 victory for us.

@Skeat

There you go again. Why is that things dont go into your head properly? I dont know about the others but as far as i am concerned i have never called for Rafa’s sacking.

All i have said is the squad we have and given the injuries which are likely to occur over the course of the season, i would be glad if we finish top 4. I am fully behind Rafa and the work he has done. Now stop accusing me of not backing the manager and concentrate on supporting the team today.

I’m just hoping the united players feel like they have already won’t this game.

Vidic is probably having nightmares from last game.

I reckon not having gerrard isn’t gonna mean we will lose, mancs won’t know who to pick up.

Anyone reckon aqualani will be on the bench? I have a feeling rafa will give him 10minutes.

Also I hope johnson has recovered, because we need him to be on song aswell.

Excellent blog and a happy birthday to you Gerry. I hope it will still be one after today’s game.

Unfortunately some ‘fans’ seem to be believing what the journos are writing and backing them up via spouting their own drivel over the airwaves. Why is it that we only hear the anti-Rafa brigade in these phone-ins and not the pro-Rafa? Strange.

As for the game itself, I think that it is a good time to play the mancs. I remember Slur Alex saying that when the manure were going thru’ a bad patch, he would always look ahead for a match like this, because it did not need any team-talk. The fixture done it all be itself and I hope that it’s the case for our lads today.

No idea what way it will go but I will be cheering them on in a pub with other fellow reds.

YNWA

happy birthday gerry – hopefully the reds will give a fantastic belated birthday present!

honestly i’m very excited for kickoff. this is the perfect opportunity to play ourselves back into the season. it is a six pointer, but the lads should be up for it!

akka, i wouldn’t be surprised if agualani is on the bench. especially now that we are aloud 7 in reserve. however I think he will make his first appearance in the midweek carling cup tie!

Happy Birthday youngster (its not often I get to say that these days) great Blog and thank goodness for your blogs. I had a good laugh reading it and still have a smile on my face. Being Irish and most probably Catholic I think I will nominate you for sainthood of LFC for saving the good humour and up lifting the spirits of all down trodden and suffering Liverpool fans.

I will say one thing, if the lads cannot get up and die for the cause this afternoon, put everything on the line, body heart and soul, then I will start to worry, regardless of the score I want to see the passion and commitment from this team, backing themselves and the Manager. We know they can come back from incredible odds, its time to show it this season. A better time we will not find and I am in the latter camp of thinking the Man U game is the right game to stand in the trenches together, fans included (very important this) and to dig deep, back the team and the Manager to the hilt, to the end regardless of score. In the past when we were kings (sorry for the clich’) form counted for nothing and from their lowly position Manu always managed to get a result against us, used to irritate the shit out of me, the team that dominated and played the best invariably lost. Well it is time for us to do the same. It will be the massive boost in confidence that this team needs. We know they are better then what we have seen so far, we know this team is capable of going on a run and sweeping everyone before them. Com’ath the hour com’ath the man. Come on you Reds YNWA.

By the way Somnath nothing like flogging a dead horse, you will find however that no matter how hard you hit it, it won’t move, you had you say, the genie is out the bottle lets move on and support the team, if you cannot see the difference between Gerry’s and your comments there is no point in going over it again and again, lets drop it. Our season start today.

“When you walk through a storm hold your head up High”

Happy birthday Gerry and thanks for a quality blog. I believe you may find this article interesting: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/liverpool/6417101/Ed-Smith-Liverpool-must-hold-their-nerve-and-trust-in-Rafael-Benitez.html

By the way, I am on my way to Mumbai, where I will be for a couple of years. Does anyone know a bar where I can watch Liverpool matches with fellow reds?

happy birthday gerry!

what about carra at right back and johnson right wing? adds solidity in defense and gives johnson license to do some damage. let’s be honest, johnson and benny are the only damage-boys we’ve got behind torres (just made up ‘damage-boys’ but it might stick, who knows). kuyt up front with the boy wonder, and masch and lucas making tackles and short aimless passes behind them. yossi left wing, darting infield at every opportunity. i’m getting excited already! love yossi!

just saying there are options.

i like the fact that lucas’ new nickname is ‘scapegoat’, although i for one blame him for everything that’s gone wrong this season. well, not him exactly, but the fact that we can’t afford anyone better so he tries hard but he’s essentially nicky butt in sheeps clothing.

if you lot get frustrated with the english media, you should try living in new zealand where all champions league games are broadcast by ESPN and their hapless bunch of clueless nobodies talking shit the likes of which you can’t imagine! tommy smyth (with a ‘y’ not our one) leads the pack for unfathomable stupidity, ignorance and seat-of-the-pants punditry. he has no idea. according to him G&H are greasing the pole for benitez’s departure and he’ll be gone soon. he clearly has no idea about the contract and the financial implications let alone the supporter’s outrage. he’s a bag of hot air with no actual football experience, expertise, or any right talking to me about football. anyone come across him? jeeeeezus!

c’mon the pool! i’ll be up at 3am watching it. come on you reds!

Hahahah! fuck u Gerry! you are making me fuckin crack up man! didnt know we had a “scapegoat” in the liverpool squad!

Well we’ve had 4 back to back defeats,and a loss to the 2nd Biggest club in manchester(Gerry ur an influence) will cement a misery month for us..its games like these that we have to prove what LFC stands for,i remember them games like Olympiakos,Marseille,Chelsea etc and i believe we can still do a triple over the mancs…

For the starting line up i’d go for Reina,Johnson,skrtel,Agger,Insua,Mascherano, spearing,Riera,Benny,Kuyt and Torres and i fancy 1-0 in favour of LFC

@Skeat
Can u fuckin get over it,its a new blog and i guess ur ruining Gerry’s BD week! i’d rather u dedicated ur brains to the next match other than that Fuck off!

Sorry Ger, forgot to mention Happy Birthday.

Ps. Sula isnt Riera injured?

PPs Your post really reveal your true age.

akka
Posted on October 25, 2009 @ 11:11 am

Ps. Sula isnt Riera injured?

PPs Your post really reveal your true age.

my line-up for today:

Reina
Johnson, Carra, Dagger, Insua
Kuyt, Masch, Gerrard/Lucas, Aurelio
Benny, Torres

Happy Belated Birthday Gerry.

I feel it will be like the usual past few seasons’ games against the Mancs in which we will dominate. Now, let’s hope/pray that we make it count and score the goals to win the game. Wonder how far the ref is going to influence the result this time.

Hello again,

First of all, Happy B’day Gerry! Hope we win at Anfield today, and surely that would be the perfect gift you can get from Liverpool.

Bayo,

Are you an Indian? Thats just coz I am one and I am living here in Mumbai as well. Well, I am not sure I can help you out with the match thing coz Im new to this city as well. I am from New Delhi.

Skeat,

My posts were nothing against Liverpool as such. Yes, I admit, I don’t like Rafa but that shouldn’t make you worry, should it, coz hes like a god for you. I never thought that my posts affects you so much. I would have rather liked it, if you would have understood, or even tried to, some of my points at least. Whatever, Im wasting my time.

Lurgankop, like the way you’re thinking with yossi in the hole, but can’t help thinking we need to unleash johnson on the right (only for today), so there’s nowhere else for dirk to play except up front with torres. i need to see some attacking flair from the boys today. sick of these plodding midfield perfomances. johnson and benny can bring the pain from wide. kuyt and torres can nut/slid home the short crosses.

buzzing. it’s midnight here. the kids are asleep. 3 hours to kick off. mates heading round soon. already drunk…

Lads no handbags today please stop all the childish point scoring on each other before the match, nobody wants to come in and read that. Not today.

COME ON LIVERPOOL,GET STUCK INTO THESE BASTARDS!!

Spot on Roarin, I apologise for one of the handbags, to be fair its the misses’, ill give it back to her.

Cmon YOU RED MEN!

come on LFC! already drunk in anticipation!

Well said Roarin no dummy spitting today please. Anybody interested in reading a very good balanced article, with a great line from Brain Clough (wish it could be true in our case) It sums up, yes before anybody points out my Rafa biased standing, everything that is happening and puts things very much in context. It is also not all pro Rafa and does point out some of his weakness’

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/rafael-benitez-conflict-facing-a-balance-sheet-manager-1924087.html

Interesting note on the net spend which I still think is more, but the papers over here are all full of the 76 players he has bought for 260 odd mill, it really makes me mad when they spout this garbage.

Today will define the rest of our season, not result wise, although that is a big factor, but how the fans and the team respond to the adversity.

Come on You Reds get stuck in.

The best sight for me today will be Fungus spitting out his dummy when he win.

Sambo I don’t see any reason with this formation that Johnson can’t be effective.

Anyway, I think that we both agree the best way to beat the manure is to be offensive and not defensive without going OTT.

Don’t be getting too bladdered before the match starts. Only 90 minutes to go

Sula, Somnath, KK

Whatever……

1-0 the result for tonight. well, any results as long as it is a win for us….

Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Insua, Lucas,
Mascherano, Benayoun, Kuyt, Aurelio, Torres.
Subs: Cavalieri, Voronin, Babel, Ngog, Spearing, Degen, Skrtel.

pepe

Johnson Carra Agger Insua

Kuyt Lucas Mascherano Aurelio

Benny

Torres

Man Utd: Van der Sar, O’Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Valencia, Carrick, Scholes, Giggs, Berbatov, Rooney.
Subs: Foster, Neville, Owen, Anderson, Nani, Fabio Da Silva, Jonathan Evans.

Right guys,

This is it. I’ve decided to watch the game eventho’ it murders my adrenals and blood pressure. Let’s hope it’s a good one. We are ALL at one with what we want. And if we don’t get it … remember YNWA. Don’t forget that rights come with responsibilities.

YNWA

and its starts!

hey

Hyypia and hammann are here as well…
and Rayne Wooney has a disallowed goal for offside.

Kudos to Hyypia and hamann..Legends…

Lucas playing well in first 8 mins – hoping for best

yes Skeat, nice to see Hyypia and Hamann

“Second biggest team in Manchester”….that’s a real killer! I won’t even go into the “Scapegoat” side of life.

Can we possibly drop deeper than we currently are? I don’t feel so. Unlike many of our opponents, we’re unafraid to lose, now that we’ve lost our benchmark record we set last season, and from which so much expectations were created for this season. It’s amazing still that minus draws, despite our four defeats, we still only trail Chelsea by nine! I know we’ll be fine.

What happened to the most basic tenets of journalism? Objectivity, sticking to truth, and corroborative reporting? Clearly that lesson wasn’t taught to much of today’s media practitioners.

We played our best game in recent times against OL and were indeed unlucky to lose. I’m not saying there weren’t scary moments, just that the old Reds showed up and threatened to overrun the French visitors. Kuyt’s goal was unfairly disallowed and we looked confident for once. In fact, if there’s one thing we’d do well to borrow for today’s game is we played much better after the Captain’s departure. If we can keep our confidence we can beat anyone, now or another time.

Kelly is clearly one to watch and it’s unfortunate he played a first senior game only to end up on the losing end. In truth, he’s a player to watch for the foreseeable future and things still augur well for us. Rafa, the gaffer who remains light years behind in deploying young talent put out a team that comprised four (N’gog, Kelly, Insua and Lucas), deployed against a battle hardened team of seasoned Euro vets, Le Gones.

Whatever happens fellow Reds, let’s not quit on our beloved. Let’s not buy the biased, calculated spin machine around all things Red (in general) and Rafa in particular.

We’re the Reds and no one ever will. Siempre es posible. YN(Ever)WA(Ever)!

United’s strategy in the first Half..

“Try to cripple Torres…”

First half…

The two idiots (G&H) are still sitting together.

2nd half….

not sitting together anymore

yo yo yo yo yo yo

Torres!!!!!!

finally Vi Dick has yellow card – 16 more min to go – he was found out

nani loser attempt at goal say it all about ManU team

@ 88 min

Vidic red…is that his hattrick of reds against us??

Extra 5 minutes……

Where do the 5 minutes come from, I wonder…..

Eggnog!!!!!!!! we win!!!

happy Birthday, Gerry
What a birthday present!!

Great game by Lucas

When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don’t be afraid of the dark
At the end of the storm
There’s a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark

Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Tho’ your dreams be tossed and blown
Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you’ll never walk alone
You’ll never walk alone

Not even a 7 minute OT from the ref can save the scum….

ps: Stupid Mascherano…but who cares… we beat MU!!!!!!

HAPPY B’DAY GERRY

And happy day it was, indeed. I’ve not seen a better performance of the Reds since ages. It has silenced the critics, including me. Great day and great job. WELL DONE!

As quoted by Tomkins…

“Crisis? What Crisis?”

Good night from Shanghai.

I wonder where are those guys now who were hell bent upon sacking Rafa.
We need a winning run now.

FAR CANAL!!!…..What a result….what a display….down in 11th street bar here….still shaking….phone wobbling in my hand here! Speechless, just magnificent, fantastic stuff….

Nothing beats this euphoria…and I do mean nothing!

Great performance from the lads.

Lucas was great.
Mascherano was all over united, covering thw whole ground.
Yossi opened up the defence and showed great flair.
Jamie and agger gave rooney and berbatov nothing all game.

In fact, EVERYONE was superb!

Great Job!!!
Lucas played very well and he showed why Rafa is a good manager and stuck with him after I (and others) wanted him gone.

Souness still continue to argue that Carra deserved to be sent off… and everything would be different because it would be Liverpool 9 against 10……

That C**t….

Hey Gerry lad, happy birthday indeed ! My birthday on Tuesday coming, just got the very, very best pressie. Put up with a pile of slagging here. A tremendous performance all around. I thought Agger and Jamie were great, Benny’s brain and a special mention for Lucas … if only he could shoot eh ! He kept on running and put in some great tackles and capped it off with the pass to put Ngog in for number 2.

For what it’s worth I thought Jamie could have gone for the early bath but we got the breaks we deserved today. His half-time performance to stop Giggs and co getting in the ref’s ear all the way to the dugout was captain’s intelligence at work.

I return from my self-imposed exile to celebrate this win. It was a most miserable exile, though I stayed away from footy since the Chav game, I was constantly updated on footy news courtesy of my Scum supporting colleagues at work.

They kept sending emails about how beach balls were the latest fad amongst Scum fans and all, and their taunts got worse after the Lyon game.

Of course, I refuse to go down to their level and kept silent. But it was quite difficult to bear at times.

Mister Ferguscum, next time you’re free to take as many beach balls as you like (we wouldn’t mind if you tie them all over Judas, who was inept as usual), it wouldn’t change anything. THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING…… OF YOUR END!

Thank you Rafa, thank you Liverpool. How I look forward to going back to work and returning all my Scum colleagues’ taunts with TWICE the venom!

Some of the so-called news reports were, as Gerry puts it, way bang out of order. I stumbled upon this one where the author was bashing Rafa from the first paragraph. Upon reading the third, I decided to skip to the last, and there he was still bashing Rafa, saying how Wenger had the “Midas touch”, while Rafa “keeps players stagnated”. Then what about Torres? What about Benny? What about Masch? Absolute rubbish I tell you! So it was a relish to see these pricks get mud on their face.

What a result! Unfortunately I didn’t have the pleasure of watching it as I was flying to Dubai. I did something naughty by switching on my phone as the plane approached Dubai Airport. I almost did multiple back flips when I saw the text messages from my friends who told me that the the 2-0 scoreline flattered Manure.

Apparently it should have been 4-0. I can’t wait to see the higlights on LFC TV. Does anyone know what Paul Merson or Andy Gray predicted the final score would be?

Kop King, I’m a South Londoner but I will be working in Mumbai for the next 3 years. Right now I’m waiting for my connecing flight.

Delighted with the win. Torres was brilliant and so were the rest of the team. Got to build on this result and strike a winning run now.

Another thing which striked me was the way Carra stuck to the referee after the 1st half whistle and only left when Giggs walked away. He made sure that the Mancs captain dont influence the ref.

Overall a great performance.

I thought Masherano was immense as was Leiva, and only yesterday I was saying that Leive is still a boy. Well today he proved mr wrong… As for Torres, what can I say, he is simply awsome!

http://www.soccerprint.co.uk/shop/liverpool/liverpool-2-0-bounce-back-t-shirt.html

I am simply impressed by the speed at which they churn out this design. I half-suspect Soccerprint is run mostly by Liverpool fans.

Maybe I should use that as my email header to my Scum colleagues, emphasizing on the “bounce”.

ha ha Kinny- nice shirt – time for Gerry to run a contest!

Right us off at your peril. That is how this team can perform, last year was no fluke. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it all you doubters. What a fabulous team effort by everyone and a great rallying cry for Rafa. ManU where out thought and thoroughly outplayed by the better team, minus Gerrard…. And Aquaman

Our midfield was awesome, take a bow Masch and especially Lucas he had a great game, long my scapegoat continue, I hope people can now appreciate what he does and get behind and support the lad. Only down side was Masch getting his marching orders, he will miss a few games. To single out anybody is unfair they where all man of the match and Carra had a blinder.

This is exactly what we needed, not just a win, but a win we deserved and a win where Man U looked second best all over the park. Well done you Reds.

For the comment on Carra it was more clumsy and Owen did push him and it was nowhere near a clear cut scoring opportunity. However Berbs should have been sent off or booked and we should have gotten a penalty for a blatant pull down in the box.

Thank god for this result .I have been cacking myself that rafa might go.Even with the payout situation.I dont think some people realise the progress we have made under rafa he is the best manager we have had since paisley.When i read in this blog that someone was quoting souness to back up there argument i thought i was in a parallel universe.It must have been the same feeling charlton heston had when he arrived on the planet of the apes.Rafa has built a brilliant team but has never been given the money to build a brilliant squad.If rafa had the funds available at chelski or manure i think we Would have won the title by now.i think rafa is easily more tactically astute than slur alex .Hopefully we can kick on now get our big guns fit and get back to last seasons form.Ps can any player be under more pressure than aquaman lets hope we let him bed into the side and not slate him if he doesnt score 10 on his full debut.YNWA

Thank christ Rafa listened to my team selection

Deserved win against the mancs. Nuff said.

YYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

GET FUCKIN IN THERE!! HOW YOU LIKE THEM APPLES ALEX!!

WE FUCKIN DID EVERYTHING REQUIRED,LUCAS YOU HAD A STORMER, TORRES THEY CAN KICK YOU ALL THEY WANT KID UR FUCKIN MAGIC

SO SO SO HAPPY IM GOIN OUT ON THE PISS NOW AND I’M A CERT TO GET A FEW WOMEN TONIGHT. FERGIE WASH AN N’GO FUCK YOURSELF!!

YNWA

Outstanding all round. Lucas was everywhere, Agger made a big difference to the defence, Carra stood tall, Rio & Vidic were shittign themselves over Torres. Benny is such an intelligent player and links the play.

We need to go on a run starting at Fulham.

I don’t think it’s any exageration to say that was one of the biggest games in our history. Imagine if we had fallen 10 points behind, the blow to our season and our confidence, struggling to make the CL places, drop in income, trying to keep our top players.

Better than sex…well almost.

There`s very little in life outsie the birth of your children than the feeling i get when the redmen twat that shower.

To a man today the team were excellent.There never say die attitue won the day.That was our best performance.I would like to think we`ll drive right on from here now.

I was elated with the performance of Carra.Yes he`s had a dip in form but by god there`s no way he`s finished.What a centre back display.

Masch and Lucas were so good in the middle and i`ve heard Lucas has gone straight to the local hospital to get the ginger minger surgically
removed from his back pocket.

Made up also for Ngog quality finish lad and kudos to pepe for the 100 yard run to celebrate.

The one negative today was….a feck the negatives WHAT A FUCKIN VICTORY !!!!!!!!!!

EL NINO………YOU BEAUTY!!!

torres is absolute magic. gets a chance…goal. even with rio cokester all over him.

brilliant performance from the lads. i knew this side had more quality in them. anyone who said otherwise was being silly. this is a quality side, and we have so many players out injured still! im so glad to see the team show up and play today.

gerrard should be ashamed of himself. i hope he’s happy he got another england cap the other day.

enough negativity! a great victory!

i have to say that tackle kuyt put in around the 92nd minute right at midfield on the touchline was brilliant. had me out of my seat. he and lucas are workhorses.

lucas played a gem of a match. made scholes and carrick look ordinary. carrick was flopping around like a wet fish.

ahh, the brilliance of victory over the mancs. there’s nothing better.

YNWA

Couldn’t have put it better myself

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rfihh4xrjU&feature=related

my laptop is shaking at this

\\http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9B26fXTj4c&feature=related

Have faith

My knee is jerking but what the hell! “The real Liverpool are back!!!”

What makes today’s victory extra special is the clean sheet. Carra is back to his best and long may it continue. May be it’s not a coincidence that it happens when Agger returns as his partner. So far this season Carra was forced to play on the left side of the central defensive pairing and he looked disoriented at times. Today Agger was on the left, Carra on the right, and the result was a toothless United display in attack. We looked in control defensively apart from a few nervy minutes before N’Gog scored. It is the kind of defensive display that we got used to under Rafa and what we were missing this season.

Am I on to something here or is the reason for our improved defensive display today the good old “form is temporary, class is permanent” addage?

http://www.skysports.com/video/inline/0,26691,13862_5652251,00.html

I know its commercialised shit but funny all the same!

fair play to lucas after some of the shit i’ve given him. great performance in dominating midfield. yossi as usual was sheer class. yo fuckin beeeeyooooteeee!

Feck Lurgan if i could go back in time and be in the Kop for any game in our history it would be that night.

Special mention to the crowd today at Anfield they were top notch.

I didn`t see any human missile fly into the manc crowd so i guess Fat Scouser spared Knight and didn`t bother using him as a dart!

Made up for you Knight you deserve to go home happy after making such a long trek.

Just hope FS don`t fill Knight up with too much bevvies he`ll be getting the DT`s before he`s off home!

I`m guessin it`s all going to go Pete Tong

TT, don’t forget about the slim lad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFkPhus8Q-w

Well done Knight, you kept the best to last. Enjoy it!

Roaring Red, Looks like the combination of FS and myself did the Mancs in. Aparently Alex Fingusface went livid when he heard we were in the crowd and told the players to look out for us.
Anyway, FS is on his way home and I have had so many beers with him before the game and my Malaysian friends after the game that I can start a Micro brewery.
The result was of course fantastic. FS and I were estactic. Mind you, this result was fully deserved, even without SG. Pity Masch had to be sent off late in the game. He played well I thought.
May this be the start of a string of wins to come.

Absolutely brilliant, I am on cloud 9!

I said in earlier posts that I felt we would win this match despite our poor form, and the Redmen have done us all proud today. Beating the Mancs will always feel really good, and we have now won our last 3 meetings with them.

We are still 6 points behind the Chavs, but we will have got all the confidence back after this result. It is still possible for us to win the Prem, if we really believe we can!!

Next Prem game is away at Fulham, and we must keep the feel good factor going and get the 3 points there.

“Good KNIGHT sweet prince well its time to go

fat scouser took you to the liverpool show.

Lyon and sunderland tried to deal you a blow

thank shanks for young david n’go!!”

Im made up for you knight so glad you got to see that victory,you know you could go to anfield a thousand times and not get a result as enjoyable as that.

now to me a favour and get back out to the bar and dont come back in here until your sentences look like this…..

rgikje ifjas’t fgutewgtughtu

COME ON THE POOL

A good day all round for us.

The Arse throw away 2 points at upton park.

Man city also throw away a 2 goal lead to drop 2 points at home to fulham.

And not that it matters to the title race but our wee neighbours lost 3-2 to bolton.

Good day all round and glad too see you enjoyed it Knight.

timmy, i have to say i love watching those fanzone things too – especially when we beat the mancs!

what a day! lets start a run…

Too fat and lazy!

Thank god you were there, Knight.

I think I woke my neighbours up with my howling.

ISn’t it ironic that the 2 most criticized players this season puts in the best performances– Carra and lucas.

They were absolutely immense. Lucas was stunning, especially for his support for Ngog’s finsh. How much did he run??
I hope the people who had been slating Lucas for no apparent reason are happy.

The best birthday in years is it not, Gerry?
Congrats to you.

gerry your line up for the game was spot on!!! rafa must have sneaked a peek in your blog and thought let’s go with gerry’s lineup.

masch’s red, hopefully liverpool appeals the second yellow. cos it wasnt a vicious tackle, it was the momentum of his slide that got him under van der sar’s legs, and from the slo-mo on tv, van der sar looked like he leapt over masch’s legs and did a swan dive.

carra’s tackle was in no way a penalty, he took the ball away from (whose?) feet.

it’s a beautiful day.

A word must also be said for FS and all the other lads who participated in the protest march against the Dumb and Dumber.

Although it hasn’t received the coverage to the extent that it should, the reports I have been able to track say it was around several thousands of people.

How I wish to have been a part of that.

Top lads and lasses, they are.

Oh! i love Bennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnny….

Sobered up a bit and have a few more comments.

Apart from the result, it was great to see the lads fight for Rafa. I must admit that there were a few doubts starting to creep into my mind that some of the players had lost faith in Rafa’s methods – or maybe it is because I have been listening to talkshite

Anyway this display shows that the attitude of the lads is good and we are all in this together. Just the way I like it.

One last thing. How was Reina the first to get to Ngog to celebrate the second goal? That lad is top class.

just read fungusface whinging that the ref was intimidated by the atmosphere and so some decisions went against them. oh boo fuckin hoo. all the mis-decisions that go their way at the ‘theatre of wank’ week in week out don’t seem to bother him. vidic and ferdinand would give away a penalty a week if they played for hull. they get away with more pulling, groping and shoving than a japanese pervert on a packed train of school girls.

seeing fungus’ stupid little red face chomping anxiously on that leathery bit of sam allardyce (or gum or whatever it is) is always the best part of beating the scum. that and the fact that every in-yer-face gloating scum twat stays sheepishly quiet for a couple of days. aha!

Still feeling warm and fuzzy, what a great tonic and lift for us. An 80% fit Torres, minus Gerrard, Aquaman and Reira and we comprehensively outplayed them. It is not just that we won, but the manner in which we dominated them and played them of the park. The score line could have been far greater on another day. I see all the so called armchair critics are back tracking with the speed of a Bolt and are knee jerk supporters have also gone quiet, until the next crises I suppose. This team was never as bad as everybody was trying to make it out to be and the ManU game came at the right time to focus and to get things back on track. We have a difficult game at Fulham on the weekend, but if we can play the way we did and get a result then the confidence will be even higher, going into the vitakl Lyon game. Hopefully everybody will have a good rest and Rafa will play the kids in the Carling cup with some of the fringe senior players and we will be well rested for the Fulham game. Lets hope Torres and Gerrard will be fully fit for that one as well. It is going to be a very interesting year this year and I can see result swinging back and forth as team drop more point s than usual as the top half of the table team take more points from the so called top four.

Fantastic in defence , have to follow it up with a win @ Fulham.Maybe Aqua will be ready to start.
A lot has been written about how much Rafa has spent compared with the big 3.Timesonline.co.uk/football has worked out the net spend since 2004 as:Chavs -£186 million
Reds -£122 ”
Mancs -22 ”
Arse +27 ”

hhhmmmmmm weird time to fire that statistic in burgerman. I read that article myself however you can dig up other stats and they will claim to be 100% correct and will conflict with these so i choose to ignore them all from now on.

Tell me this how good did it make you feel to see the one man liverpool team tear man scum apart? I really enjoyed it because torres was only 80% fit an lucas made scholes and carrick look ordinary.

Its now the perfect opportunity to crack on and a load of wins on the board,however dont expect the mancs to have a defeat next week,they play blackburn an two of their players have swine flu and a few others showing symptoms.anyone surprised?? didn’t think so!!

You luv your Arse burgerman.

guillembalague.com has a good piece re yesterday.Great win ,but if the Mancs win no 19 it
will have been in vain, similar to last season.85 points may be enough to win the prem.The Mancs did it with 83 in 2003.

burgerman can you ever be positive mate.

Seriously.

I found a photo of BM at Anfield yesterday.

http://free0.hiboox.com/images/2609/f9fa816426b559b8c5449c3010c797f4.jpg

Quality Lurgan.

I will always associate that photo with BM from now on.

Excellent result….the “jampi” thing did worked indeed and thanks to Knight & FS.

Usain Bolt must be sweating after seeing Reina’s celebration of the 2nd goal….

Lurgan,

To answer your question..pepe was out of his box by the time Kuyt won the ball.As soon as it got to Lucas he was nearly by the centre circle and once N`gog went in with the ball he started jogging through then he scored and Pepe took off like a bat out of hell!

They showed in on Sly sports last night.His enthusiasm is great.Imagine if we ever win the league.

BM,i`m guessing your hoping the Arse second string put one over on ours on wednesday so you can say “i told you so”.Pity there first team showed their glass jaw again yesterday by throwing away 2 points yesterday.Hard luck mate,maybe next time.

Cheers Timmy. Hopefully someone will post it on youtube soon enough so I can see it.

Just found this on another forum.

‘At the Irish Kop Q&A on Saturday night at the Adelphi, John Aldridge stated that the money we received for Alonso went down the drain in interest payments and we only paid 5 million up front for Aquillani. The rest will be paid to Roma depending on the amount of appearances he makes etc.’

I don’t see any reason why he would lie and you would think that he has a few reliable sources inside the club.

Also, I wonder how many million in expenses our ‘onwers’ will file for yesterday’s match with all their hangers-on.

Yanks out!

Thanks guys-TT,Stve, Lurgan,Keith and especially to Roaring for that nice poem.
Gerry, belated birthday greetings. Now I know that LFC was waiting till yesterday to reward you with the wonderful win.
I would rank that game as an important and pivotal win and getting confidence back for our future games.

BM, if you’re an Arse fan, just fucking say you’re an Arse fan already.

Time and time again it has already been well-articulated by members like Keith that our NET spending was never that big, so stop misleading us with such LIES!

First up, Happy Birthday Gerry.

Second, what a big win yesterday.

With all the talk of the “crisis” at Anfield, it’s important to point out that no trophies have been awarded yet this season. Yesterday’s result doesn’t prove anything about our squad or Yernited’s, but I feel we’ve left ourselves a chance to win the league if we can start to string some results together.

We’re six points off the top, which is fantastic considering our record. What we’ve learned thus far is that the top teams are going to drop a bunch of points this season. It may only take 82 points to win the league this season. What a difference over previous season.

It would have been nice to see a bit more of that graft in the previous four games; who knows, we may have gotten a few results?

I’m still fuming that we dropped two matches following the international break because both Stevie and Nando came back injured playing in dead rubber matches. Having those two healthy for Sunderland and Lyon would have made a difference in our results.

We’ve still got a lot of work in front of us (Champion’s League advancement still in big doubt, 6 points off the Chavs in the League), but hopefully yesterday’s result can act as a spring board similar to the Real Madrid/Yernited performances last March.

As Gerry succinctly put it a few blogs back: “Keep the Faith (or piss off)”

I agree lvcj
I think it is of vital importance that, going forward, in our euphoria, we try to remember some stone-cold truths, presented to us in here by some lads in the know truths…

1. Rafa doesn’t develop youth. This is proven by the fact that Lucas, Ngog and Insua were included in yesterday’s team and were useless.

2. Rafa is stubborn and tactically inept and can’t beat the other top 4 teams. proven once again, but the fact that we actually did beat a top 4 team and quite comfortably on the day.

3. Lucas isn’t good enough to lead the midfield of a top 4 team. Proven by the fact that, not for the first time this season, he once again DID!

4. Lucas, despite being instrumental in beating a top 4 team wouldn’t make it into any other top 4 team. He can help beat one, he just couldn’t get into one. Hey, maybe a swap deal for Darren Fletcher… sound!

5. Carragher is just past it and should hang up his boots now before embarrassing himself further. Needs no further elaboration really!

6. Our challenge for the title is over for this season, and a top 4 finish is the best we can hope for. Evidenced by being 6 points off the leaders with a mere 28 games to go. Simply not good enough.

I could go on, but I’ve just come over with a bout of common sense…

Just got back. Haven’t read blog or comments, I’ll catch up when the ale has worn off. But it looks like I should be saying Happy Birthday Gerry… you aul bastard.

Good times

PS… I got home safe. Only lost my phone and voice. Safe journey SK…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HVL2Ep8Vdo

Didn`t find the footage of Reina Lurgan but i stumble on something else have a butchers at this:

http://spain.fandome.com/video/102393/Pepe-Reina-Goes-Super-Loco-on-Plane/

Mad man!

Oh and I forgot the most glaring truth of all…

7. Zonal Defense doesn’t work. Whereas man-to-man marking… like United proved, does work, hence the obvious and predictable result…. Oh wait…. er…

Making #7 NOT in actual fact, the most glaring truth of all, since that accolade goes to the “Experts” …

8. Experts know so much about footy, yet on a daily basis, show so little evidence of it.

and

9. People are sheep!

It’s been on more than Coronation Street. But this one’s still worth a laugh…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9rI8Qvmt4I

Too drunk to catch up with the blog and comments right now, but I’m sure there’s a laugh or three waiting for me tomorra….
Libpool are shite
Lucas is shite
Rafa needs hooooooking

I bet there that thick there isn’t even any humble pie

Happy Belated Birhtday Gerry,, What a great Prezzie for ya..
Knight happy for you mate..The atmosphere must have been “Magic”..
What part of the ground were you in Knight?
Congrats to all the Lads, they played with an
Intensity we haven’t seen in the last few games.
Let’s hope it continues against Arsenal and against Fulham on Sat.
Any news on Stevie G?

Happy Belated B’day Gerry & ace fooking blog as usual.

What an awesome feeling.

Does anyone else agree when me thinks Yossi was man of the match?

Let’s hope we can keep momentum going especially against an in-form fulham.

ps: Does anyone know if Aquilani will be fit fer arse game?

Hi all, I am now in transit in Dubai.
I was sitting next to FS at the Anfield Road end, just above the Manc supporters. Whenever they chanted, we shut them up. But best of all, Torres and Ngog really shut them up good and proper with the goals.
There were so many sub-plots to this match:
1)After four consecutive losses will it be a fifth?
2)Torres playing despite not fully fit
3) Has Rafa lost the plot?
4) will Rafa lose his job if he loses the match?
5) Will Michael Owen score?
6) How many beachballs will appear?
7) Will we get a fair referee?

Ya, Redscouse, the atmosphere was electric. Didn’t Alex Fungusface complain about the noise we made that frightened all their players and even the referee? Let FS tell you the comment made by an LFC fan calling in to the BBC Radio station on Alex fungusface’s retorts.

Oh how it feels great to send a reply email concerning beach balls being sold out with that Liverpool bounces back T-shirt pic to all my Scum colleagues. I took the liberty to forward it to colleagues that support other clubs, just so they can join in the laughing. Especially the Arse mates.

Not surprisingly, all I get is silence from the Scum colleagues.

Knight I am so pleased for you and so fucking jealous, defiantly one to savour, have a safe trip back mate.

I remember posting the repayment terms of the Aquaman deal and actually I have been wrong with the net spend assessment by saying that Rafa has spent only 120 mill in 5 years at 20 mill a year not the 260 mill everybody and his dog uses to hit Rafa with. The article that I posted got me thinking with these types of deals the journalist is right, Rafa has a net spend of only 80 mill in his 5 ½ years at under 15 mill per year net spend. If the knee jerker’s think this is more than enough to guarantee us the Prem then they need to see a shrink, it a glowing tribute to Rafa that he has got us into a challenging position with what he has had to work with, let alone the snipping and undermining from our owners and the utter joke that is our board. For the people that did not read the article I posted, Brain Clough said that the ideal board should consist of three members, two dead and the third dying with just enough strength to sign checks.

I am really please that the match Masch misses is the carling cup game and he will be available for the Fulham game.

The wonder effects of rafa. It finally takes someone like our gaffa and his team to start giving the whiskerface what he deserves…

—————————

Alex Ferguson under fire from referees after new outburst at Anfield• Sir Alex Ferguson ‘clearly doesn’t understand the laws’
• Jeff Winter says manager’s conduct is getting worse
Louise Taylor and Andy Hunter
guardian.co.uk, Monday 26 October 2009 22.00 GMT
Article history

Alex Ferguson has been criticised for his comments about the referee Andre Marriner following Manchester United’s defeat at Liverpool.

Referees have responded forcefully to Sir Alex Ferguson’s criticisms of their abilities by claiming the Manchester United manager’s knowledge of football’s rules is alarmingly hazy and that his twin attacks on Alan Wiley and Andre Marriner should prompt a stadium ban. “It’s so frustrating when a manager as experienced and respected as Sir Alex Ferguson makes a statement about the laws of the game which is completely inaccurate,” said Jeff Winter, a former Premier League referee.

Winter was highlighting Ferguson’s insistence that Jamie Carragher should have been shown a red rather than yellow card for hauling down Michael Owen on the edge of the area during United’s 2-0 defeat at Liverpool yesterday.

Another senior refereeing source, still officiating at Premier League matches, agreed with Winter. “Ferguson clearly doesn’t understand the law about the denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity,” he said. “The fouled player has to have full control of the ball and has to be moving towards the goal but Michael Owen did not fulfil either condition.

“[Sunday's match official] Andre Marriner was absolutely right to award a yellow card and a direct free-kick,” he added. “It would have been totally wrong for him to have sent Jamie Carragher off. And Sir Alex should never have said that Andre Marriner was not an experienced referee when he is on the Fifa list and got all the important decisions right on Sunday.”

Ferguson’s latest comments, although circumspect in comparison with his criticism of Wiley, were being analysed by the Football Association’s compliance department today. It is understood, however, that the FA is unlikely to bring any charges against the United manager for questioning Marriner’s experience to officiate a game of Sunday’s magnitude or criticising the referee’s refusal to dismiss Carragher or award a penalty against the Liverpool defender for a challenge on Michael Carrick.

As a veteran of several run-ins with Ferguson, Winter wonders if United’s manager was merely deflecting attention from a defeat. “I don’t know if Sir Alex Ferguson has got a problem with referees but he has got a problem when Manchester United don’t win and blaming the referee is the easy option,” he said. “His statement about Carragher shows that either he doesn’t know the laws of the game or he’s resorting to mind games again.”

Winter disagrees with suggestions that Ferguson is mellowing with age. “There are signs that his temper is getting worse,” he said. “Some of his touchline antics, when you see the veins standing out on his neck and see him swearing and shouting, are not too good for his own health let alone anyone else’s.

“I don’t know whether it’s age or what but he seems to be getting less tolerant of everybody and everything – especially when Manchester United don’t manage to win. This sort of thing seems to be happening every other week with him now.”

Like others in the refereeing fraternity, Winter is hoping that the FA will punish Ferguson severely for not just yesterday’s comments but his suggestions that Wiley’s fitness was suspect following United’s recent 2-2 home draw against Sunderland.

“If I were the FA I would personally impose a Fifa-style stadium ban on Sir Alex,” said Winter. “I think it’s got to be harsh punishment to teach him and everyone else a lesson. The FA have to take serious action against him. Anything less and the Respect campaign is dead in the water. They’ve got to show Sir Alex and everyone else that behaviour like this will not be tolerated. A fine or, in this case, even a touchline ban won’t be enough.”

A stadium ban would leave Ferguson watching from the stands and barred from any contact with his players before or during a match once they have entered the stadium. In 2005 Chelsea’s then-manager Jose Mourinho received a two-game stadium ban following his comments about Anders Frisk following a Champions League game against Barcelona.

Winter felt Marriner had a “very good” game but acknowledged it was the referee’s first Premier League game involving two top-four teams. “There’s a first time for everything, though,” said Winter. “Andre did well because players from both sides had clearly been told to pressure him and I noticed that his every decision was contested by at least three players.”

He also feels the FA should speed up their disciplinary procedures. “All this suggests that Sir Alex isn’t really concerned about the authorities,” he said. “It’s three-and-a-half weeks since his comments about Alan Wiley and still nothing has happened.”

Thanks for the link Hyde, that has got to be the funniest Ferguscum article I’ve read in ages.

I was struggling to contain my giggling when I read the part about Ferguscum mellowing with age.

“Some of his touchline antics, when you see the veins standing out on his neck and see him swearing and shouting, are not too good for his own health let alone anyone else’s.

“I don’t know whether it’s age or what but he seems to be getting less tolerant of everybody and everything – especially when Manchester United don’t manage to win. This sort of thing seems to be happening every other week with him now.”

HAHAHAHAHA.

Yes, fergie’s grasp of the laws of the game have always tended to be less than crystal clear but the BIG question is whether the authorities will FINALLY do something.

Latest news – apprently not . . .

Well, what a difference a win makes, especially a win against that shower.

I’ve read the blog and comments now, and all I can really say is… we’ve won the battle, not the war.

Yep, there’s a long long way to go yet. I have no idea why some people can’t see that, and I very much doubt it, but hopefully they’ll have learned something from this and won’t go spitting dummies next time we get beat. But as I say, I doubt people like that ever learn. They are probably the same in real life – flip flopping about like goldfish out the bowl. Oh well, best just ignore them.

In fact, I’m doing that right now as Alan Brazil and his monkey are more or less offering Rafa’s job to Mourhino and insisting that they are speaking on mine – and all yours – behalf. Yep. They’re still at it, and also making out they are speaking up for Liverpool Fans. They’re also calling Rafa alsorts of things that just aren’t true – miserable, stubborn, and so on. Apparently not jumping around on the sidelines but checking your watch when a goal is scored is a sign of a right horrible bastard, not a highly proffessional man. They are also replaying the Fact Speech, and going on about how awfully the police are treating ‘Appy ‘Arry, and saying how he should just be left alone to compleat the great job he is doing.

And I swear they do all this in all seriosness and don’t even realise what hypocrtical shites they are. Oh well, nothing new there then.

Anyway, it was a great day. Strange one as they always are against the Mancs. We didn’t get time to go on the march as we had to trek round Anfield searching out our tickets. We finally got them with about 10 minutes to spare and had to go straight into the ground. I was Knight’s lad for the day!

Funny to see a Gentleman like Knight getting wound up and swearing. Mind you, them Mancs would make the Pope swear. Horrible bastards that they are. They truly reflect that horrible club, manager and players of theirs. I even felt sort of sorry for Micheal Owen, but then Micheal’s loyalties have only ever been with himself. So no pity there… Life doesn’t get much better than sticking one up them.

Can’t go looking back through all the comments, but want to pass on my sincerest condolences to whoever has to listen to Tommy Smythe… what a shite that man is. I used to have to suffer him when I lived in the States – who the fuck is he?

I know he’s an Irish/Manc but really who is he? Where did he come from? How come he’s an expert? I swear he’s as bad as that Steve Cohen fella, well no that’s unfair. But what wood pile do these experts crawl out of, and more to the point… why does anyone, especially LFC fans, take any bloody notice to these no nothings?

The mind really does boggle.

Oh well, tough day ahead drying out… I’ve got a monumental hangover and the parties over today. Time to come back to planet earth. Hope Aqualani gets at least half an hour against the Arse. Perfect game for him to make his comeback, against a footballing side who won’t just try to kick him off the pitch.

Happy days.

Oh and it seems the baby takes after it’s aul Grandad… it’s already 10 pound and doesn’t seem to want to move much.

As for the old tramp… See how he complained about the atmosphere being too much for the ref and his players? Well, I was listening to one phone in and some lad said…
We know old people don’t like too much noise. If he manages to ever come back to Anfield again, we’ll try and keep it down a bit for him.

Made me laugh, anyway.

Great win – such a pity I couldn’t get over (there was a death in the familiy so had funeral to attend) but watched it at home – horse from swearing and cheering – oh and 5 mins added time??? WTF!!

Anyway who cares about Carling Cup – Fulham saturday is a very tricky match so all our focus should be on that one now

I had my 2007-08 home kit on Sunday and was acting like I was on the kop rather than my couch! I’m expecting a letter from the council – the noise I was making. There were more F and C words coming out of my mouth than a Peter Reid team talk. Mostly directed at the ref and manc players. The odd expletive in Aurelio’s direction in the last 5 mins or so and a couple to Skrtle when he came on.

I thought Mascherano was absolutely magnificent. My man of the match by far. Lucas was not far behind him and Benny was brilliant. He has to start all games because the little lad shows so much heart, courage and desire to make things happen for us. The Torres goal was fantastic. World class stuff. I thought Agger and Carra were brilliant. Really solid. Overall the performance made me very proud and I just hope we can keep it up and go on a good run from here.

By the way I loved Pepe’s run down the pitch to celebrate with Ngog!

Ps. Really pleased for Knight. Must have been an amazing feeling after the 2 defeats to see the lads stuff it up the scum.

FS, lots of water and Nurofen mate. And leave Talkshite alone.

I think you’re correct on all fronts there LB, especially the last 3. Tell you mate, I’m getting far too old for this. God only knows how poor old Knight will be feeling when he gets home.

Really, really funny the way the lads pronounced his name… I thought they was saying Heskey and it took me awhile to realise who they was speaking about. And I shouldn’t speak for him, but I know he had a great time in Liverpool and I think the last result made up for the other two. It doesn’t get no better than beating them, but after all the stick Rafa and the lads had taken all week, this felt a little special.

See none of the reporters bothered to say that all the beach balls thrown by LFC fans had Yanks Out and messages of support for Rafa written on them. But then anything positive like that doesn’t fit their agenda.

And you lads are right, this is just the beginning. We have to take this on at Fulham or it will be nothing but a boost for the other contenders, especially Chelsea who seem to be hitting their stride.

But I think Rafa’s right on this one… it will be tight this season and lots of teams are capable of beating the top few on their day.

So, 6 points doesn’t look that big of a gap with 28 games still left to play. As Gerry always likes to say… wait till Christmas to really judge. That’s when the season starts to pan out a little, but even then there’s still a lot that can happen, especially round easter time and at the end of the campaign.

So, I think we’re in for a mad bumpy ride till then… if nothing else, you can never say it’s dull following LFC.

Off to buy some Nurofen.

Mr Scouser, if the baby is fat,bald,toothless,cranky and immobile, LurganKop is the father.That makes you family!.

Good to hear you survived FS, (congrads on the grandchild) and that Knight did as well. God he’ll have an absolute ball back home with the stories he’s got to tell. Who knows it could yet be a pivotal moment in our topsy turvy season.
Top marks to Rafa and the boys. My hope is that not only will we take confidence but that other teams will see that Manure are riding on reputation and, for me, Rooney apart are nothing special. Hopefully others will take on the bullies and really show them up.

I think, once again, that Jamie for me is a more complete captain for Liverpool. As Somnath commented earlier in the blog he really fought the half-time battle over the referee with half the manc team who were in the ref’s face all the time. He knew he had to balance out the chat, otherwise it pushes the ref ever so much closer to giving a big decision in the second half. Jamie knows the street rules. Not sure the ref understood him tho’ !

As for the game this week against Arsenal. I would not play Benny, Dirk, and Nando in particular. I would play Skyrtl, Babel and Ngog. Also kelly if fit and Ayala.

Dougle, I’m with you on the Arse game on Wednesday.

At this point, with our injuries and current position in the other two competitions we’re playing in, we’ve got to sacrifice the Carling Cup.

I would not play Nando, Benny, Dirk, or Glen Johnson (anybody but the Mancs on Sunday and I’m guessing he would have also missed the match). I think Agger and Carra should also both be rested. Carra’s yet to miss a match, and Agger has played a lot since being deemed fit during the international break.

If Voronin can’t get a start in that game, lord knows when Rafa’s ever going to start him.

We could be in for a hiding by resting all of those senior players, but I really don’t care. Throw out a combination of the squad players who haven’t been playing along with some of the better kids, and let’s see what happens. I’m sure Burgerman’s favorite manager will play his kids once again.

It’s a shame to abandon an opportunity for a trophy, but I’ll take a hiding on Wednesday in exchange for three points against Fulham and a win away to Lyon.

Feck that.I know its only the Carling cup but we have to show a good account of ourselves.If we take a hiding there it will only up the anti for the media to pull out the latest stick to beat Rafa with.”His youth policy is shite”.

I`m all for leaving senior players behind.Thing is we`ve got to perform and give them a tough game.If we lose,it won`t be the end of the world once we go down fihghting.

Maybe an XI like this wouldn`t be too bad.

Cavileri,Kelly,skrtel,Ayala,dossena

sprearing,Lucas

babel,pacheco,Aurelio

N`gog

Subs;Aquaman,Agger,plessis,degen,reina

Don’t worry lads, Rafa won’t risk anybody for this. It’ll be a mix of youngsters, squad players and a few first teamers. My only real wish from this game is to see Aqualani come through and hour or so unscathed. I really couldn’t give a toss about the score, the competition or the trophy, but it would be good to keep it going so the kids and others can get a regular run out in games that are a step up on reserve games.

Just watching the Manc game again on LFCtv…
And I shouldn’t but I’m gonna gloat, anyway. I don’t know how bloody long I’ve been saying that Carra is just in a dip, and if anyone is nearing the end it’s Ferdinand.
The fella is becoming a complete liability. Vidic makes him usually look better than he is, but Vidic has his own weaknesses and so can’t always do Duckfaces work for him. Both of them can’t handle any sort of pace, and Vidic turns about as fast as an oil tanker. Give me Carra over the two of them anyday and all day long.

Also, it was great to see Lucas really boss that game. Not that it will keep the press or most of the lesser knowladgable fans off his back, but it was good to see him prove he’s not the duffer they like to make out.

And thank fuck we missed out on that Berbatov. How bloody slow is that fella? Can’t slag the lad for his touch and vision, but without a bit of speed you aren’t making it in the top end of this league.

Last word… I’ve just trawled through the papers on line. There’s some cracking pictures in the papers. There’s an absolute beauty of The Tramp, his face all crumpled after the game. Looks like a burst red beach ball. But has anyone seen the picture of Rooney, Giggs, Carrick and Owen when the second goal goes in. It’s a treasure.

Trying to get a Fulham ticket, but I lost my bloody phone in Liverpool and so all my numbers. (Shit. I would have had them all written down in the old days.) I left it in the back of a taxi. The taxi driver has handed it in at the pub for me and my mate is going to bring it down with him next week. So all’s not lost yet and I might just make it to Fulham. I like going there. It’s about the only ground in London, I do like going to. There’s a really good pub for the away support and the craic in there is always great.

Will have to stay away from the amber nectar and get some bloody work done.

Here you go Gents…
http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N166233091027-1319.htm

PS… meant to put this in comment 132…
If I hear once more that Johnson is good but can’t defend, I’ll go mental.

It’s sloppy, laxy journo speak and we shouldn’t fall for it. Look at some of the lad’s defensive work on Sunday. He was immense, and of course a full back who gets forward that much will get caught upfield now and again. But that’s not a worry in my opinion… not with Dirky playing in front of him anyway.

As far as the league goes,we`ve given ourselves a fighting chance.With 28 games to go there will be plenty of ups and downs to come.Thing is we need to support all the way.I know it`s not possible but an atmosphere like sunday for every home game would almost gaurentee maximum points at home.

FS sumed it up perfectly.We`ve won the battle not the war.

I`ve said from the start if we are to ever win the league under the current circumstances we would have to be extremely lucky with injuries.Thus far its been quite the opposite.That said after ten games we`re hanging in there.We are winning games we don`t lose so its kept us in touch.

Hopefully Gerrard will be fit for Fulham.Rafa said he was close for sunday so i`m hoping he`ll be fit for saturday.Aquaman hopefully will get another20/30 minutes under his belt but Fulham might be too soon,even for a sub appearence.Probably the brums the following week we might see him make his first premier league appearence.

So all that said,we`re well capable of stringing a run together to put the pressure right on the leaders coming into the busy Xmas period.That result wasn`t just 3 points on sunday.Cycologically it was a major boost for everybody connected to LFC.

Lets hope for some good luck on the injury front in the coming months.

PS

FS,congrats on the new arrival just in time to jinx the bastards?

Good shout about Johnson too.Obviously he was given a specific job to do on sunday and did it without a hitch.Superb defensive display.

timmy, just taking the piss and absolutely no offence intended, but your spelling of cycologically had me in stitches!

everytime i am on a flight when we play, we win. its true! i think i need to save up for flights before all games now.

well done the reds!
YNWA

First off a belated happy Birthday to Gerry nice late present for you.
Dougle Happy birthday mate nice early present for you .
Happy birthday to you little FS. Was he born on Sunday?
Knight 3rd time lucky glad you got the result you really wanted.

Before the match i decided to switch Talk Sh*te on for a few minutes and found
one Jeremy Kyle slagging of Rafa had to laugh i mean, Jeremy f*cking Kyle WTF
Now for you lads who dont know who he his he presents one of them Jerry
Springer type show lecturing teenage parents and offering relationship advice.
Which he his in no position to do as his marriage broke down due to his
gambling habit and stealing thousands of pounds from his wife’s bank account
and running up thousands more in debt.
The hypocrisy of it all is probably the reason he got the job on Talk Sh*te.
PS I’m starting to worry about a couple of Mancs i know they haven’t been seen
since Sunday and their phones are off should i ring the police ??
YNWA

After the game on Sunday, Mr Ferguson hit the Toilet Duck with more gusto than usual. When he woke up, he saw his wife wiping vomit from his coat.

Thinking quickly for a wet brained, sozzled aul Tramp, he said…
Fucking Scousers. One of the dirty drunken bastards spewed up all over me as we was getting on the coach. But I had him arrested and he’s banned from Anfield for life.

Poor suffering Lady Fergus said…
Well, you should have got him banned from all of footy completely, cos he shit your kecks an all.

And how’s this for a picture of a deflated red beach ball…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football

And as for the baby Timmy, it’s a bit too much like it’s old Grandad…
Already weighs ten pound, and is on the wind up. One minute it’s on it’s way out, next thing it’s going back in. The doctors have given it until November the fifth, bombie night, to arive or they are dragging it out. Think they’re just waiting to get the winch in.

Rome77… little known fact, Jeremy Kyle, that pillar of morality, also abandoned his wife and kids by running off with their babysitter.

The babysitter had actually been minding his kids since she was the age of 14… Good man Jeremy often has shows on this sort of thing, called Padeophiles Grooming youngsters.

The man is a bloody disgrace, but seems that’s no impedement when it comes to working in the British media. Never done any harm to the career of one wife beating, doggin, waster of talent and ex-centre forward anyway.

Timmy, we’re hurting for bodies for the game against the Arse. This is the type of match that will expose our lack of depth and options.

Martin Kelly (ankle) and Albert Riera (hamstring) are out and will not be available for one or two weeks. (from the official site)

Pacheco has apparently been recalled by the Spanish FA to play in some youth tourney and isn’t available.

Masch is suspended.
Gerrard is unavailable.

I would like to see Lucas get a rest, but that’s not going to happen. Can’t see us going with both Spearing and Plessis in the middle?

Cav
Degen-Skrtel-Zorba-Insua
Spearing-Lucas
Babel-Voronin-Doss
N’Gog

Subs: Aquaman, Plessis, Fabio, Carra, Yossi, Dirk, Pepe

I’m thinking that lineup won’t cause Wenger to have a sleepless night tonight?

I’m only going to get upset at the result if we risk one of the first 11 and they walk off injured. We just can’t afford to lose any of them right now.

Keep the Faith.

With this League Cup game coming up, I’ve been doing some thinking. In the past it was treated with disdain by any club who isn’t small, and rightly so, because it just gets in the way of the fixture of more important games.

In recent years, however, managers like Rafa and Wenger (and even the press zombies) are starting to see some usefulness this sideshow can be for their reserves, by giving them competition-level football that provides quality and experience much better than the rather useless Reserve League. And my bias against this competition has somewhat mellowed.

However, after tomorrow, between Rafa’s “babes” and Wenger’s “kids”, one side of youngsters will have lost that further opportunity, and will have to compete with the first team in the League and Champions League for the remainder of the season. (Also funny how the Scum manages to avoid any Premier League opposition in the draw)

So I wonder, if the FA is not gonna get rid of this Mickey Mouse competition, how about reformatting it to make it more useful for both big clubs and small clubs?

What I’m suggesting is a mini group-stage with groups of 4, but instead of a double round-robin of 6 games, this will just be a single round-robin of 3, so the number of fixtures per season would still be kept the same rather than increasing exponentially, which would lead to more complaints.

This way small clubs can generate more revenue for themselves (especially when visiting a big club), while big clubs can have more chance to field their youngsters for competitive experience without having to worry about elimination so soon.

This group stage can start either in the Round of 32 or even the Round of 16, with the 4 Champions League clubs getting a bye straight into this stage and seeded. The rest will have to go through the previous knock-out rounds as usual.

So 8 groups or 4 groups of 4, but instead of the top-2 progressing, only the top team per group will progress straight into the QF/SF.

I know it’s just wishful thinking, but I can imagine Rafa would be slightly pleased with this altered format.

A lot of competitions have been devalued because of the money involved in the CL and PL. I think the UEFA cup winners should get automatic qualification into the CL. I think the FA cup winners should play off (home & away) against the team who finish 4th in the PL to determine who gets into the qualifying rounds of the CL. If the FA cup winners finished in the top 4 then there would be no play-off. And I think the league cup should be strictly an under 23s competition.

Thoughts?

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N166235091027-1413.htm

There’s the injury link. As for the FA, Carling and UEFA cups, I think they’re best left alone. It’s hard enough for the bigger teams to compete for all trophies as it is, and I think it’s good that smaller clubs get the chance of winning some silver.

I can remember when all the trophies counted as highly as the others. It’s the hype of the Prem and the CL that’s devalued the others.

Older fellas will remmeber how happy we was to win any of them. For a time the Carling/League cup was virtually owned by us. And I remember the first time we won a european trophy, the UEFA Cup. It was a momentous moment for the club. But the FA Cup was something really special back in the day. Winning it for the first time was fantastic. I posted a link to the home coming crowd once. I’ll see if I can dig it up. It was even bigger than Istanbul.

Kelly is still injured, as is Reira. My Team would be
Cav
Degen Skertal Hercules, Dossena
Spearing, Lucas
Babel Vorinon, Pacheo
Ngog

Aquaman, Ayala, Plessis and maybe 1 or two seniors.

Shit just seen the post about Pacheco that’s a pity I would have liked to have seen him given a run out. Like your idea LB for the competitions.

Bhav ja know ha what i knew the spellin looked all Pete Tong

Still waiting so FS.Feck it i forgot they can weigh the child before it comes out.Good luck anyway.Our rather good luck to your daughter having to move a ten pounder!

LB im agree with the FA cup rewarding more then everybody would take it serious.That used to be the biggest cup in the world.They still try to market it like it still is but at one time,to people in Britain and Ireland and maybe further a field,it was.

I also agree with the Europa League winners straight into the CL.

The league cup should be left alone.It already effectively an U-23 trophy anyway.Even mid/bottom table premier league sides throw out second strings.When i was talking to Danny Murphy at manc airport a few weeks back he said basically the chairman has said fuck every other competition,premier league survival is paramount, end of.

Thats the way our game has gone.No longer the peoples game.

When the reds won the UEFA cups in `73 and `76 it was a trophy worth winning then.Harder to win than the European Cup they say.Two legs all the way.

Just returned home. Congrats FS on the big Grandson! Very tired and going to bed now. Will catch up later. Cheers!

I just think if the league cup was an under 23s it would represent a more competitive, meaningful competition for younger players. I would find it a lot more interesting as it would go a long way in showing who has the best young talent in the country.

Glad you liked the other suggestions. I reckon they would help put more glam back into them competitions.

I have more wild ideas as well. The top 4 should only get one transfer window and no players coming in on loan. The promoted teams should be able to sign players as and when they like. The other 13 teams get 2 transfer windows. Finally UEFA should apply a transfer budget of say €50m net, per club per transfer window. All fees have to be disclosed to UEFA. So none of this undisclosed fees bollacks.

You must be knackered Knight. But lads, I don’t think I’ve explained it properly… the kid isn’t here yet. I’ll let you know when it arrives.

Just rewatched the game, some new thoughts on it… did anyone see Dirk wiping shite off Nando’s face?

I loved that, and the run of Pepe at Ngog’s goal. And it looks like Lucas has taken over from Arby with the duty of leaping on team mates after a goal.

All silly little things, but just goes to show the attitude in these lads… One for all and all for one.

I love that. That sort of mentality can be enough to win some tough games. And it’s great to see some old players there too. It’s amazing how many still follow us and end up with a life long love of the club. That sort of thing generates from us, and it’s something the boo boys would do well to remember.

The down side to this, well, I’ve been meaning to mention it for awhile but haven’t had the opportunity as other events always get in the way, but…
Watch Babel on the bench. You can see the lad has no interest left whatsoever. Sadly it looks like we’ll lose most of the money we paid for him, but I think he should be sold a.s.a.p. In a squad like ours there’s no real room for anybody who doesn’t really want to be there.

And it’s obvious now that Rafa doesn’t rate him and the lad has no real long term future at the club. Best just cut all ties now and write it off as a gamble that didn’t work for the club or the player – who I’m sure will enjoy being at another club far more than being here, and might even go onto succeed at another club. Shame that… wrong player at the wrong club at the wrong time for both.

Mind you having said all that, he’ll probably get a start against Arsenal and make me look a fool with a MOTM performance.

FS to add to your list of things you noticed during the game – how about Rafa’s reaction when Torres scored? Blank. I mean how is it humanly possible to not show any emotion when your team scores against your biggest rival in a high pressure game. Unbelievable.

YNWA

Like you FS i didn`t want to bring much negative up but when Torres scored he ran towards the players warming up and jumped on Babel.Am i alone in thinking babel wasn`t that bothered about it all?He didn`t even raise a feckin smile and he had a look on his face like ja know when your at a party or nightclub or something and some big fat lass comes over and wraps her arms around ya?Ja know that look as to say well..fuck off i don`t care.

Well thats what it looked to me.It looked like babel was thinking “go away i`m not playing,celebrate with somebody that cares” then realising “oh shit the camera`s on me,better make a pathetic attempt to be all jollied up”.

Thats what it looked like to me anyway.

I also heard but don`t know if its true,that he was taking pictures on his mobile phone over in florence during the game of himself on the bench,smiling away whilst his team are losing 2-0 and stuck them up on his twitter site.Again thats not concrete,i just heard it.

His attitude is all wrong.

Babel didn’t even get on the pitch and he’s still getting slaughtered. Not too long ago he was celebrating with Dossena at Old Trafford like he had just witnessed the healthy birth of his first born.

Watch 3:50 secs into this clip.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2565272/man_utd_1_4_liverpool/

Don’t remember any compliments for the positive attitude then.

LB, most players celebrate a goal especially the fourth at old toilet to clinch a 4-1 victory over your fiercest rivals.Thats nothing out of the ordinary.What does catch ones eye is that in a moment of hysteria like sunday Babel could barely even raise a smile for Torres when he came over.Just looked like it didn`t bother him either way because he wasn`t involved.

He’s not getting slaughtered LB. I brought it up and I think it was fair. The way the lads performed is what we want from all our players… total commitment.

The lad obviously has no future at the club so I don’t expect any different. I just think it’s best for both HIM and the club if he’s moved on as quickly as possible.

I don’t really like buying players in the January window. It rarely works out. And I haven’t looked at your link yet, but that’s a long time ago. And believe me… Babel’s heart just isn’t in it anymore. I’ve had a close look at him in the last few games, and you can see he’d rather be anywhere in the world rather than on the LFC bench.

Like I said, we want the players like they were on Sunday – pressing, chasing, contending every ball. I only wish they would be like that in every game.

We have played the Mancs off the park three times in a row now and we have played the exact same way each time. And the Mancs have had no answer to it – even though they must know how we are going to play them by now. Which just goes to show… playing like that we can beat anyone as we are practically unplayable when really up for it.

Got to show that heart and commitment for the rest of the season now.

As for Rafa showing no emotion, I love that about him. It’s a sign of a true professional. Shame the press only see it as a sign of a miserable despot. But the fact is, Rafa immeadiately looks at his watch whenever we score because he is calculating everything that we should do from that time on.

Have a listen to the commentary on the vid on here.Nobody does it quite like the spanish!

http://www.fernando9torres.com/

I wouold agree with your comment LB in as far as it goes…
I think Babel has always been praised for good efforts. Even his biggest detractors would admit the guy has bags of potential talent… he just so rarely shows it.

I don’t have the link, but a only a few days ago there was an article on the main TIA site that featured a few soundbytes from an interview clip done with Babel.

When asked who were his friends , or who he hung out with in the squad, his answer was Deggen and Kelly.

Surely that says something? I found it telling.

Simply put, if he doesn’t put in at least a few 10 out of 10 performances before the end of the year, (harsh? okay how about a few 8/10 since mostly this season he’s been sitting on a 3) then he is nothing more than a “sellable asset” and pretty much has to go, I would think.

P.S.

The sickest part of that video is seeing Hicks go off on one like he was some life long,die-hard red.Fuckin made me want to puke.

The bastard had to google LFC for christ sake!

And I hate tos ound like a broken fuckin record but… I agree with FS.

What would you rather have. A dignified Rafa, or some raving, arm-stretched, red-faced, tantrum throwing display, like Fungus puts on?

I’d like dignity please!

And while we are on the subject, what’s up with the manic badge munching, Torres goal celebration?

I’ve never been a big fan of badge kissing in goal celebrations, but I can’t really decide if eating it like a rabid dog is an imporvement or worse?

timmy, did you see the shots of Hicks after the final whistle… clapping the players off and trying to coyly sing the last word of each sentence of YNWA?

It was like someone singing karaoke to that REM song and just mumbling intelligably through the verse, then belting out “the end of the world as we know it”, except he didn’t even know that part!

I mean, “alone” is right there in the title of the fuckin song mate and he’s hedging his bet?
for fucks sake, its one word and you couldn’t even get that right!

Na missed that Aitch i was occupied picking myself off the front room floor and kissing my two year old daughter to let her know everything was alright.By god the poor little thing got the fright of her life when they arrived in the door to see me screaming at the telly “LUCAS FUCKIN PASS IT,HE`S FUCKIN IN GO ON BOY FINISH YOUR DINNER,FINISH YOUR FUCKIN DINNER……YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSS F****IN YAAAAAAAAAAAA”…and so on.

Don`t know where the “finish your dinner” reference came from,i`ve never used that one in mer life,it just came out.

I`ve heard the expression “he couldn`t finish his dinner” for strikers who are shite finishers but its amazing what the emotion of beating that lot does to ya

I think everyone knows Babel is not gonna work out at LFC. He himself recognised it and asked to leave but then got slaughtered for not showing the right attitude and not promising to fight for his place.

I dont think he has the sort of character to cause disruption or a bad team spirit in the dressing room.

Aitch, I read that thing on the main site with Babel as well. I found it weird he said Kelly and Degen are his only friends at the club. Maybe he likes to hang around with those in the same situation as himself. Those who aint getting in the team. Probably feels more confident with them. I’ve seen him out and about in Liverpool in night clubs etc. Most of the time he was with Ngog and some of the reserves.

It’s clear the boy is not enjoying his football. So as FS says its time he left. I just dont go along with the notion that he doesn’t try and has a poor attitude etc. Its easy to say these things without knowing the full story.

On another note I have just started reading Paul McGrath’s book. I’m only on page 20 but can already tell its gonna be a fascinating read!

“He couldn’t finish his dinner” is one of my favourite sayings about a shite striker. I must say though when it comes to headed chances Lucas couldn’t finish his fucking dinner. Lol. Similar to Riera on his right foot. Haha.

By the way when I first read this blog and saw ‘scapegoat’ in Gerry’s line-up I cracked up laughing.

I honestly didn’t mean to open up the Babel debate again. I think I’ve made my opinion on him clear… wrong player, wrong club, wrong time. And I hope the lad goes onto suceed when he leaves. But I also think that time has arrived now.

As I said, I don’t really like bringing in players in the January window. It’s hard to get the right players then. And most are cup tied by then, and need the rest of the season to settle in and start playing at their best.

Shame with Babel, but it’s nothing we haven’t seen before. But in all truth, it upsets me more to see a player fail who really wants it but just hasn’t got it… Dosenna, Biscan, Mellor, spring to mind.

And that’s not saying I think Babel has got it and just isn’t arsed. I honestly think what you see is what you get with him and what we get isn’t good enough for a team that want to win top trophies. That’s not the lad’s fault either. We bought him on the back of those under 21 international performances, and I think Rafa gambled him before Fungus or Wenger put in a bid and raised the price. It’s fact, that they both wanted him.

And while he’s here, I’ll continue to support him and hope against hope that something finally clicks and he suddenly becomes the player we all hoped he’d be. But I won’t hold me breath while waiting.

PS… don’t you miss the nay sayers at times like this?

I could do with a good laugh… bloody hangovers are terrible at this age – so bad I swear I’ll never do it again everytime I get one. But it’s like going to Anfield after a bad one… you forget it in time and do it all over again, and then every now and again there’s one like Sunday which makes all the shite ones more than worth while.

Oh and as for disagreeing, you think we’re bad…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GBWwOwpv0Q

God bless them. This melarkey and the pre-match Karoakes… Always good for a chuckle when you’re pissed off.

Some lot eh FS..

The Jan Molby “Ghost goal” scored against the mancs in a 1985 league cup during a TV strike is to be shown on LFC tv tonight at ten.

Being dying to see this.Only thing its one of those “you had to be there” goals i`d say.Those who were there probably won`t say its the same.

Yeah, them Mancs fans are great eh mate, never fail to give me a chuckle. Which sort of brings me onto the Molby goal…

I wasn’t at that game but I remember all me mates who were raving about it. And to be honest, I’m sort of sad it’s going to be shown. It’s become a legend over the years, and I think it should be left that way.

Once it’s been seen, it will be disected to fuck by all hands who just want to knock it and they’ll just compare it to good Manc goals against us and by that show it to be no great shakes.

Some things are best left to the imagination and in legend.

Ya i can understand that.It`s like a player from the past that nobody has seen like Billy Liddel.

This is not footy related but over here there was a hurler from Cork who played in the 40`s 50`s and 60`s.His name was Christy Ring,the greatest hurler of them all.Man by all accounts was a fuckin machine,a genius at work and single-handedly carried teams for years.The Irish lads will know him and understand a bit but he`s the stuff that legends are made of.All my old uncles tell me about him and thats one man i`d love to have seen play.Sometimes i think if i`d travel back in time would he be as good as they make him out to be?

I`m thinking that about the Molby goal.

I think most of us have been there LB.
Playing in a team that isn’t doing well (in patches at least) maybe not playing so well yourself and in desperation to discover form, you just keep trying the spectacular and impossible making yourself look an even bigger pratt, then not even being able to do the simple little things.
Unfortunately for Babel, that is where his game is right now, and I’m not saying you can’t recover from that, but its incredibly difficult (I’ve been there in my much-lower-level playing days and I’m sure some of you have too.)

I do, to some extent, sympathize with the lad. When he leaves, I would rate him as Rafa’s biggest failure and perhaps the biggest disapointment in the last 10-15 years… Which is really saying something considering all the “missing pieces of jigsaw” we’ve been promised in that timeframe, but I really do think this lad could have been the “next John Barnes”. (I know, I know, a heady comparison and he’s miles from it, but you could see the potential when he first arrived.)

Alas, I think the only way he recovers any sort of form now, is if he moves on to pastures new and gets a fresh start… sometimes its the only way.

I thought that of him too Aitch.Too bad.

Looks like some in the media have a brain.Wonders will never cease..

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion

Sorry lads,wrong link dunno what happened there i`ll try find it.

Neville has just been sent off against Barnsley and they have been giving them a hard time when it was 11 v 11.

From what I have seen so far, Barnsley should have been at least on a level-footing with the manure – bad finishing, that’s all.

SaraJ, not sure if that is good or bad for FS, me or his future grandchild. Think that we will let it lie there.

Liverpool legend Bill Shankly must be turning in his grave over betrayal by George Gillett and Tom Hicks
By Michael Calvin

Published 21:42 24/10/09.

There used to be a football club at Anfield.

It was a shrine to working-class heroes and a game of intoxicating simplicity.

Now there’s a shell, an empty tomb desecrated by grave robbers from an alien culture.

The Liverpool of Shankly, Paisley and Dalglish is an illusion, a hologram created for the 21st Century nostalgia industry.

Anfield is, like the Cavern Club and Penny Lane, a relic of Beatlemania.

Roll up, roll up, for the Magical Mystery Tour.

Appearances will deceive this lunchtime. Flags will be unfurled. Familiar anthems will shake the old ground to its foundations.

The world will sit back and watch, enthralled, as toe-curling romanticism collides with teeth-baring rivalry.

Nothing will change, even if Manchester United win by a cricket score and Gary Neville pees on the goalposts in a voodoo ritual enacted for the benefit of the Kop.

Sacking Rafa Benitez would be pointless. Liverpool cannot become a club again until it is rid of George Gillett and Tom Hicks.

You’ll know the story, understand the reasons behind today’s protest march by supporters infuriated by their insignificance.

They’re a pair of ugly Americans, linked by mutual loathing and a lust for a fast buck.

They’ve betrayed a legend, hawked a sporting and social heritage around the bazaars like a sullen slave.

They don’t understand football as a communal crusade. They couldn’t care less about its glorious irrationality. It is a corporate asset to be traded like so many pork bellies.

It’s easy to mock the afflicted, to pour scorn on Scouse sentimentality. But your club might be next. If Liverpool can be hijacked and forced to pay the masters’ mortgage, it can happen to anyone – even United.

The Manc nation, which stretches from Chertsey to Kowloon, might care to dwell on the priorities of Joel Glazer.

He will be at Wembley this afternoon watching his asset-stripped NFL franchise, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Anfield is nowhere near his agenda. His type views such landmarks as the 50th anniversary of Bill Shankly’s installation as Liverpool manager, on December 1 1959, as mere marketing opportunities.

Shankly will be portrayed as a man of the people, a cross between Che Guevara and Clarence Darrow.

It will not do him justice.

One of my most treasured mementoes is an autographed double album of him talking of his life and times, recorded just before his death in 1981.

Best to let him speak for himself, from beyond the grave. This was what he said when asked how he would wish to be remembered:

“That I’ve been basically honest in a game in which it is sometimes difficult to be honest. I’d like to think that I have put more into the game than I have taken out.

“I was interested in only one thing, success for the club.

“That meant success for the people. I wanted results for the club, for the love of the game, to make the people happy.”

Inspirational stuff.

Like listening to the last survivors of the Somme, it reminds us of what we have lost, tossed aside in the name of progress.

Ironically, the exaggerated emotions of allegiance to a football club have shielded greedy men like Gillett and Hicks from retribution.

The Royal Bank of Scotland couldn’t afford the fall-out from pushing Liverpool into administration by refusing to re-finance their loans.

Shankly didn’t have to deal with braying bigots on the phone-ins, or charlatans in the boardroom.

He had an uncluttered set of priorities: “At a football club, there’s a Holy Trinity – the players, the manager and the supporters. Directors don’t come into it.”

Read that Liverpool fans and weep.

TT if there was ever a match where a certain team (i.e. Barnsley) could not finish their dinner, this is it!

As I write, a superb save from Foster. Yes, it’s true, it was a great save.

Can`t watch those c**ts Lurgan all you hear is anti-scouse/LFC songs.The stupid idiots can`t even sing about there own club,too wrapped up in ours.

Ha ha timmy T i had a chat with a mate about christy ring last weekend, funny you should mention him. It was more my mate giving me an education but again applies exactly to what your saying.

FS your 1million per cent right any so called “supporter” that does not come in here to give some account on beating the mancs has just shown themselves to be what we all thought………..

man u supporters pretending to be liverpool fans,well lads you silly childish we fucks to think you would actually go to that bother to try and wind up liverpool fans!! its actually a compliment yous feel the need to do this but i fear for your social lives if thats the type of internet stalking your able to do. Here’s a thought next time you wanna pop in,first go an get a pair of your sisters knickers and have a wank into them!! it’ll prepare you for your pedophilia adulthood you really are sad sad little bastards.

Open the curtains Roarin..there out the front garden..

Feck it,Leeds won they`re 4 points clear.I`ve a bet with a leeds mate that we`ll win the prem before they`re back in it.

YANKS OUT….SUGAR DADDY IN

Christ roarin… speakin of knickers, you’ve got yours in a twist haven’t ye?

Its simple… we won, so they are high on the euphoria-glory bandwagon.
We lose or draw, and they simply can’t spare the few brain cells required to consider the actual reasons for such a result.

What amazed me way why people even bothered responding to them. Don’t bring yourself down to their level, mate.
If someone walks up to you in a pub and calls you a cunt and tells you to fuck off, then you nob em, but if they do it in here, best to just ignore them. They’ll soon fuck off to some other less cerebral forum.

Your right aitch,moment of weakness there. It can make your blood boil but the more you bite the more they’ll respond so suppose its best to let them just get bored an leave.
With regards to bar brawling i let it spill over on Sunday also,we were out numbered 3-1 by them bastards and they were throwing beach balls round the place so when ngog scored i ran grabbed a chair an started bashing it up in front of them. felt like an utter dick the next day,the game should really not have that effect on ya. think i need to study the rafa response a bit more.

We’ve all been there mate.

I’m much calmer in me old age, but even at home in front of the telly, my wife (a yank, who doesn’t get it anyway) frequently walks past me, shaking her head and rolling her eyes with the phrase “who are you and what have you done with my husband?”

Ha ha she sounds like shes able to take ya with a pinch of salt Aitch. god forbid i don’t want to end up a an angry old man who cant be spoken to after a bad result(though I’m told that’s the way I’m going)
villa just beat my footy bet that’s two in a row they’ve done me. note to all i will not be taking them this weekend so they’re probably a sure thing if you like a wee punt.

Anyone see Vidick running the ball out for a throw in deep inside his own half
(21 mims) That how you know he sh*ts himself whenever he see’s Nando
coming .By comparison minutes later Aurelio took it around Berbatoss and
made a 40 yard pass upfield. It’s not often strikers can compete with each
other but i felt Torres heading the ball clear,beating Berbatoss to the ball
after one of the many free kick’s showed who’s the boss.
Also i noticed Lucas shouting at Ngog to track back and pressure the Scum
defenders to which he promptly did so,not only ending a period of pressure
but resulting in us winning the ball and Vidick rugby tackling Kuyt.
Also what a tackle Lucas made to go on and give a perfect pass for Ngogg to
calmly put one past VDsars, seen more experienced strikers not finish their
dinner under similar circumstances. Whiskeybreath moaning about the ref as
made it better, pretty soon the Refs,media are all going to turn on him resulting
in him having a stroke, preferably on the touchline
YNWA

Roarin, Aitch, my wife (a frog and who has no interest whatsoever in football, just like your own Aitch) now just walks past when I am praying in front of the TV, when the match is on, and doesn’t even bother to say anything now. I have to admit that I must look like a dick, again. In fact, when you think about it, we are all sad bastards!

What pub did you watch the match in roarin? Always loved the manure-pool match-up in belfast. The early kick-offs were weird though. Hundreds of people falling out of a pub at 2pm, with the entire weekend still to go – great memories, if I could remember that is!

The bot(the Botanic Inn) its actually really good banter between the fans but i really acted like a lunatic. One fella pushed me when i was celebrating with my good friend the chair when i started screaming in his face i think he thought it was best to let me have my moment.

Aitch Had to laugh at this if someone walks up to you in a pub and calls you a
c*nt and tells you to f*ck off, then you nob em, I know what you mean but
where i come from to” nob them “means something a bit different.
Having said that i’ve been called that by some lasses and still got to nob them.
YNWA

Givin someone a Liverpool kiss, or making them your prison bitch… either way, its all sorta gay sounding innit?

As Lurg said, we’re all a pathetic bunch of dickheads, who need to get a life, really.

I myself, should have been working today, but instead, I’ve been pissing about pontificating in here… and by email with a few other sad pathetic bastards, I call my kindred souls.

Well off to bed. Funny how the tide is starting to turn a bit… Martinez sticking up for Rafa. The Tramp being bollacked by the refs. The press even having a little nibble at him. The Neville sister getting sent off for losing the plot and kicking Barnsley’s one and only Scouse player. He also slapped Micheal Owen in the face after he’d scored, apparently some new Manc way of celebrating. The Manc fans wrecking the end they was in tonight, smashing up a catering booth, stealing the takings and terrorising the staff – all women.

And you’re right Aitch. I say it often meself…. we’re saddo bastards. But it’s been a nice few days to be one, eh.

Here’s the great article that FS is referring to:

Roberto Martínez has accused the English football authorities of being intimidated by Sir Alex Ferguson, saying that the Scot is treated differently to other managers in the game. The Wigan Athletic manager insisted that his Manchester United counterpart is allowed to get away with more than his Premier League rivals, who would be “crushed” for committing the same crimes, and is protected by a cabal of coaches who court his favour.

Ferguson has admitted a charge of improper conduct over remarks he made about the referee Alan Wiley following this month’s 2-2 draw with Sunderland at Old Trafford. He has apologised for causing Wiley “personal embarrassment” by questioning his fitness and there have been calls for him to be handed a lengthy touchline ban. He also courted controversy over his suggestion that Andre Marriner lacked the experience to referee Sunday’s 2-0 defeat at Liverpool. But Martínez expressed doubts that the punishment handed down will be as severe as that meted out to other coaches, as there is little appetite for taking Ferguson to task.

“They have just sanctioned Ferguson for saying that referee was not fit enough and the truth is that they’re almost apologising to him for punishing him,” Martínez said. “Any other coach would have been crushed for that.” Asked if Ferguson dictates English football, Martínez told the Spanish paper AS: “Yes, a lot.” He added: “Ferguson has been here for a lifetime and that carries a lot of weight.”

Martínez believes that Ferguson’s position is strengthened by a group of disciples whom the Scot cultivates as loyal allies against his enemies such as the Liverpool coach, Rafael Benítez. There was a hint, too, that Martínez suspects Ferguson dangles the carrot of Old Trafford succession before the eyes of those loyal to him.

In April Ferguson attacked Benítez for having previously described David Moyes’s Everton as a “small club” and for showing “contempt” for opponents with a gesture he made on the touchline during a 4-0 victory over Sam Allardyce’s Blackburn Rovers. Allardyce complained Benítez’s gesture was humiliating – but only after Ferguson spoke out. He made no comment after the game about a signal Benítez said was a self-deprecating one to his own team.

Allardyce and Moyes are close friends of Ferguson. Moyes has been widely touted as a candidate for Ferguson’s job when he retires while Martínez believes Allardyce has designs on the post, too. “Ferguson has his group of faithfuls, people who are committed to him: Steve Bruce, who was a player with him, Sam Allardyce, who thinks he will be his successor at Old Trafford, and others,” Martínez said. “On the other side there’s Rafa Benítez and he gets attacked from all sides.”

The Football Association is being urged to commit Ferguson to an official agreement that he will curtail his criticism of referees. Ferguson has requested a personal hearing at which he will apologise again for accusing Wiley of booking players because he needed a rest from running but Alan Leighton, the national secretary of the trade union Prospect, of which referees are members, wants the FA to make an example of Ferguson.

“We welcome the fact that he [Ferguson] has admitted his guilt and hope he will now dedicate himself to furthering the Respect agenda,” said Leighton. “If I was someone on the [FA disciplinary] panel I might be asking him for a commitment not to do the same thing again.”

——————

Usually, one article gets thrown around on many newspapers, but I can bet you my ass that this one will not be circulated as much. But the tide is slowly turning.
The thing is, Roberto Martinez himself is still well and truly protected, first because he is managing and has only managed lowly clubs, and second, he is married to a scot. The gung-ho nationalism the English media have in football management is unbelievable. I mean, how long did Wenger need to get the respect he deserves, and still, a good 15 years on, he still gets frowned upon at the slightest of opportunities.

After so many corner taker, I’ve finally found out the best–Aurelio. His corner is quick and powerful and no keeper can hold the ball firm. Keep using him as corner taker, and you can bet Liverpool can start scoring from corner.

Liverpool’s Lucas knows his actions speak louder than Alan Green’s words

By Rory Smith

I doubt Liverpool’s Brazilian midfielder Lucas was listening to Radio 5 Live last Monday. And if not, then he would have missed a most illuminating chat between one of the station’s generally excellent presenters and Dominic Matteo, almost certainly the finest defender of the last 10 years whose name Leeds fans can rhyme with stereo.

“What, Dominic, do you think Rafael Benitez is doing wrong?”

“Well, for me,” came the reply. “He’s not picking the right players, or putting them in their strongest positions.”

“Well,” his interrogator replied, not unfairly, “what changes do you think he should make?”

“That’s not up to me. I’m not the manager.”

Happy to say where people are going wrong, but not willing to actually have any ideas of your own? This way to the microphone.

Alan Green, of course, that doyen of sports broadcasting, can top that. In the build-up to Liverpool’s match with Manchester United, that season-defining moment which forced everyone in the media, your correspondent included, to remember that seasons are never defined in October, regardless of how much Sky pretend they are, Green gave a run-down of the Liverpool line-up.

“Reina, excellent. Johnson, overpriced. Carragher, over the hill. Agger, just returning from injury. Insua, young. Mascherano, wife unhappy on Merseyside. Lucas, two left feet. Kuyt, bought as a striker, but doesn’t score goals. Torres, wonderful.” What the Northern Irishman and Ferguson-baiter in chief said of Fabio Aurelio and Yossi Benayoun is lost in the mists of time, but it would have been along the theme of average at best for the former, and unpredictable for the latter. Suffice to say it was not his assessment of either which stood out.

Similarly, he was spot on in his descriptions of Pepe Reina, the best goalkeeper in England and among the top five in the world, and Fernando Torres, the finest exponent of attacking play on the planet. But then you do not need to be a highly-paid broadcaster to spot that.

Rather, his withering remarks on the rest of Liverpool’s team, which, rather annoyingly, beat the much-vaunted champions about two hours after Green’s unsolicited verdict, were so unfounded, so wilfully hyperbolic, that they remain lodged in the mind 24 hours later.

Glen Johnson was overpriced, of course, but is that a fair summation of his abilities? No. He is an English international right back. Daniel Alves cost £23 million, Philipp Lahm would go for more than that. Johnson is not in their class, but he is the closest this country can manage. He is a £12 million player, but the extra £6 million can be considered a tax on his nationality, in the same way Stewart Downing is not a £12 million player, nor Michael Carrick an £18 million one.

Carragher’s standards have slipped, but, as he proved on Sunday, he is still a fine defender on his day. Daniel Agger is the best ball-playing centre back in the country, despite his injury problems. Emiliano Insua is young, but he is also brimming with promise. He will, most likely, be Argentina’s first choice left-back for many years to come. He has the potential to be better than Johnson, though his lack of stature may hold him back.

Mascherano’s wife, reportedly, has been unsettled in Liverpool, and it seems to have affected his performances, as have Argentina’s recent struggles, though he has been improving in recent weeks. He is also one of the best defensive midfielders in the world.

Kuyt was not bought solely as a striker, he was bought as an industrious, disciplined forward, who had spent much of his career wide, a position he continues to occupy for Holland. He also has a habit of scoring important goals, particularly in Europe.

But Lucas, two left feet? It would seem Mr Green has not watched Liverpool much this season. For all the criticism directed at the young Brazilian, he has been one of Liverpool’s more consistent performers in the last three months. Consistently bad, harrumph the more quick-witted on the band-wagon. It is an over simplistic assessment offered by those who prefer consensus to evidence.

Lucas’s range of passing is minimal, his accuracy poor, his decision-making unreliable. He is neither combative enough to play defensively, nor creative enough to play a more attacking role. So run the accusations.

Yet his main crime, put simply, is that he is not Xabi Alonso. He does not have the Basque’s guile, his vision, his control of time and space. Few players do. Only Xavi and Andrea Pirlo can match Alonso’s range of passing. Contrasting Lucas with his predecessor not only masks the fact that Lucas remains Liverpool’s third-choice central midfielder – behind Mascherano and Alberto Aquilani – but the qualities that made him a Brazilian international at the age of 20.

His energy, his tactical versatility, his economy of possession, the speed with which he moves the ball. Lucas should develop into a fine box-to-box player, rather than a master of the centre circle, as Alonso was. He has his flaws, of course – he does not score enough goals, he is prone to playing safe rather than challenging himself, he commits far too many unnecessary fouls – but casting him as a modern-day Ali Dia is absurd.

If he were, as competitive a manager as Rafael Benitez would not persist with him. Nor would Carlos Dunga. And he would not have gone toe-to-toe with Paul Scholes and Carrick and won. Perhaps his role in the destruction of United will put an end to the ill-considered, rambling sound bites of Green – and many others – in the media. Perhaps it will end the rumbling of discontent among those Liverpool fans who believe Jay Spearing – who did not stand out against League One Leeds, let alone Premier League Sunderland, and has not played for England’s under-21s, much less Brazil’s senior team – is the better player.

Then again, perhaps not. That’s the thing about band wagons. It’s hard to get off them.

adding to comments on how babel couldn’t be arsed when torres scored, i noticed that voronin also was impassive when ngog slotted in the second goal (when the camera panned to torres to show him cheering, voronin was seated one tier below him and just looked on without any change of expression).

now dont suggest that they were taking the cue from rafa.

I get some sleep and tonnes of comments come in at once that it took some time digesting. With the naysayers all licking their wounds, it makes rather pleasant reading, not that I don’t welcome debate though.

Guess this happens when the euphoria over the defeat of the Scum is still high.

Anyway, first, I agree the League Cup and even the FA Cup’s been much devalued ever since the age of Sly Sports.

When UEFA scrapped the Cup Winners Cup reserved for cup winners and merged it with the UEFA Cup to accommodate the expanding Champions League, the FA Cup got further devalued. Now even the UEFA Cup (now Europa League) is not worth watching before it reaches the quarter finals.

I agree that the UEFA Cup winners should be awarded with a spot in the Champions League, otherwise there isn’t much incentive.

In fact, that’s what they’re doing here in Asia, awarding the winners and runners-up of the AFC Cup (the equivalent of the UEFA Cup) a qualifying place in the Asian Champions League. While still 20-50 years behind its more famous European counterpart, the ACL is still considered prestigious and the prize money is still quite attractive for clubs from small countries and regions like where I’m from.

Last week, my local team reached the semi-final of the AFC Cup, and while it’s a pity they lost in the end, the prospect of being the first local team to reach the ACL managed to attract a record home attendance for the first time in 13 years. Such was the incentive of being offered a place in the more prestigious tournament.

Gonna to split my comments up into many parts or it’ll become one very, very long post.

While watching the game in the pub, we all applauded when we saw Sami flying all the way from Hamburg to watch from the stands, sitting in front of Gerrard. Hamann was there too, sitting right next to Sami.

Now these are legends, not the sort that only thinks for themselves, like a certain Judas.

That’s another fine article you dug up there, Hyde.

I almost didn’t remember that Martinez was Spanish just like Rafa. Help does come from where it’s unexpected. So far it’s only the foreign-born coaches like Martinez and Wenger that leapt into Rafa’s defence when the media scum was making up all sorts of rubbish about Rafa.

Martinez should include O’Neill and Happy Arry along with fucking Steve Bruce, Gollum and Fat Sam in the list of “Disciples of the Dark Lord”.

Who will be Ferguscum’s Vader? The question is irrelevant, for he will pale in insignificance to the tactical genius that is Rafa, who commands respect naturally from fellow coaches like Martinez and Wenger and Capello without having to dangle carrots to them.

The stupid press will now say there’re 2 Spaniards ganging up against Ferguscum anyway…

Well, Rafa’s class will eventually show. I’m waiting for that patiently to happen, beginning with No 19

Just dropped in to say

Thanks for wearing your lucky underpants Knight
Happy Birthday Gerry and Dougle and congrats Fatty on the nipper.
Excellent blog and wonderful result.

Good quote from a report I read “Berbatov, with a feint here and a flick there, seemed content to try and lazily pick the lock while Torres picked up the sledgehammer and banged the door down.”

Says it all really and I loved Rafas reaction for Torres’ goal, what a class act

I’m still hungover as a dog

Over and out

It’s probably one of the mysteries of the universe: Stay so cool and calm even when your team is scoring against your most fiercest rivals? I’ll admit I can never master that poker face. Yet that’s what I like about him.

I wonder if this has something to do with Rafa being raised as a Real Madrid man in his days, and hence being able to be emotionally detached to all things Liverpool?

But that still doesn’t explain his commitment to the club and his refusal to leave Liverpool to manage Real Madrid when they basically begged him to take charge.

Oh yeah, good luck to FS & family on the incoming grandchild.

Don’t know how many of ye have seen the Godfather parody, but ye can see it at me blog:

h ttp://anfielddevotee.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuZ6Q3Hvxi4

This fat bloke had a decent touch.

TT – “Finish your dinner” – classic – had me in tears here in work – some odd looks being shot my way,

Who was everybody’s MOM – for me I thought Lucas should have got it – I know I said in here before that he couldn’t boss a midfield but what a way to prove me wrong.

Don’t know who said it but I’d have to agree that Carragher should be Captain, couldn’t see Gerrard not lettting the united players sway the ref at half time

Got to go out so will catch up with the comments later, just wanted to say it’s nothing if not consistent…
This morning on Talk Shite, Martinez has been slammed for what he said. Good lad and good of him to stand up and be counted, but I think he’ll regret what he said by the time the Tramp’s arse kissers have finished with him.

And here’s what made me really laugh, Mike Parry on the Utd hooligans last night…
Well, how do we know it was United fans? And if it was, what can you do to stop 4 or 5 idiots causing trouble?

Well, Mike seeing it was in the end that was packed with United fans and they are bragging about terrorising a handful of women all over the net – I think there’s a pretty good chance it was Mancs. And the police have arrested 8 of them and have plenty more on CCTV, and also had to deploy rhe riot police at their end as they constantly threatened to invade the pitch… sort of makes you think it’s a good chance there was more than 4 or 5 of them.

And last word…
That famous Manc sense of humour is alive and well, as they sung at Micheal Owen all night… You scouse bastard.

The tramp near shit he’s kecks laughing.

Mascherano was MOM. Lucas was good but Masch was on another level. I say we bossed the midfield in terms of aggressive play rather than playing the mancs off the park. Carrick and Scholes got battered. One annoying aspect was that we gave away a hell of a lot of free kicks near our penalty area with the constant fouls from Lucas and Masch. Had that been against a team like Chelsea we’d have been in trouble from those set pieces I think. I don’t think Lucas is a particularly good tackler but no way can one fault his effort in trying to get the ball back!

Carra is a better captain than Gerrard. I think that is quite clear. I don’t think it matters who wears the armband though as Carra leads the team regardless. It’s easier to do it when you’re in form though. Must be hard knowing you’re not playing well and also trying to lead others.

Finally recovered from the long flight out, Manchester-Dubai-Kuala Lumpur. All five of us were wearing the LFC gear at Manchester airport, braving a possible attack. But no one came. Disappointing. Otherwise I would have puked at them, Gentleman (according to Sir FS) or not.
Ya, it was the lucky underwear too and the first wish from my daughter in law – whom I saw in London- for our win.
FS, your article on Martinez was darn good. Glad Hyde produced it in full. I read it but could not find the article or picture of the beach ball you were referring to.
Another interesting article I would like you to read is this, on Rio Ferdinand: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/columnists/matt_dickinson/article6891330.ece
I think not only Rio is finshed but also Vidic as we have exposed both of them, the latter in three games. I had little knowledge of what Rio does outside football, except his producing a film with Ashley Cole until I read the article. Astonishing that Slur Alex allows all these to happen.

LB, agree with you that Masch played very well. MOTM? Could be. But I would give this to Lucas, who was superb and even stole the ball from old pro Schole and was a provider in N’gog’s goal.
Another reason why we succeeded was because both Aurelio and Glen Johnson did more defending than attacking. This upset the rhythym of Evra/Giggs and O’Shit/ Valencia.

I reckon people are giving Lucas the MoM out of sympathy because he’s been the scapegoat all year. Masch was better!

I know 99.9% of LFC fans hate Rio but I like him. He’s from my neck of the woods and does a lot of work for various charities and local communities. A very down to earth and approachable guy.

New blog lads

I can’t stand the fella LB, but no doubt if he played for us, I’d love him. It’s just the stupid illogical way partisan tribal footy fans think. I mean Man U fans actually think they get bad press and are picked on by the FA.

It’s bonkers, but it’s the way it is.

All I’ve ever said about Ferdinand though is he’s going down hill and going down fast. He’s also becoming a crock and a bit of a liability. I’ve been saying that since Torres ragged him last season in his own back yard. But once again the English media in it’s arse kissing frenzy have missed it but are picking up on it now.

In fact, it makes me laugh how they go on about how England are blessed at centre half. I think they’re in for a rude awakening when some nippy little strikers and attacking midfielders set about them in the world cup.

As for Lucas, I saw the stats on the game. Of all the midfielders, he had the most touches, tackles and completed the most passes. I know stats don’t tell the full story. But I wish I could find the link as they were pretty impressive, just ahead of Mascherano’s.

But that aside, what I think they both showed on Sunday is that they can play together and be very effective. And I know they’ll come up against better than what they faced on Sunday, but hopefully that’s put that myth to bed and they can start forming an effective partnership. And I think we will need them both for large parts of the season, as I reckon the cloggers will set about Aqualani and that the Prem will be a bit much for him after such a long time with no footy and all the adjustments he’ll have to make to both his game and his life.

Hopefully we’ll get a glimpse of him tonight and so a clearer picture of what we can expect. But I just hope both Lucas and Mascher can carry on where they left off. I thought they was both brilliant on Sunday.

PS… glad you’re home safe and sound SK. Bet the poor old head was feeling it a bit. I’m still dog rough but at least starting to feel human again.

FS, the media don’t really like Rio – he’s not the type of character they go for. He only gets a free ride because he plays for the mancs and is getting picked every week. However when he starts to play poorly for England they are on him in a flash. So now its fair game and any time the mancs concede a few goals it’ll be his fault and any time England concede a goal they’ll either blame Rio or our Johnson.

Call me paranoid but when it comes to England me and my mates have a saying “blame the Black bloke”. As I’ve mingled with more and more scousers I have also seen things from their perspective and have noticed the media like to “blame the scouser” as well. Whenever England get beat or play shite. So Carra and Gerrard will get stick. So too will Johnson, Rio and Cashley. Poor John Barnes was Black and an adopted scouser and therefore copped it x2!! I remember the Sun had an article saying he wasn’t trying because he was really a Jamaican and therefore didn’t care about England. I actually hate the national side due to the abuse Barnes got while playing for England.

I reckon John Terry has been shite for England for the last 2 years but he’ll never ever get criticised.

I went off topic a bit there sorry.

I agree Rio is in decline but I reckon its more gradual. He seems only to get skinned by very good strikers and to be fair the mancs leave their centre halves more exposed than we do. But then the oppo attack them less.

The site went off for a bit there, so I waited to post this. There’s more I’d like to say but then we’d need to have a full proper debate on racism in football. So, for now, I’ll just post what came off the top of my head immeadiately and I wrote as an answer. So here it is, but don’t mistake it for my full and only thoughts on the subject…

I think he’s speed’s gone mate. In fact, it’s only his positional savvy that’s saving him from getting ragged all the time. It’s just one of them things that happen.

And I know the fella does try to do some decent things, like he’s work with gangs and knives. But then he has a great way of fucking up any good, like producing that film gloryfying that exact thing in London’s youth.

I think he’s a bit daft to be honest.

As for the black thing, you could be right. But they daresn’t come out and say it, and then there’s all football’s work with racism, the fact that football has been turning young black men into millionaires for years now, and other things I could go on about. But I have no doubt biggotry still exists… I live in Bournemouth so deal with it every time I open my mouth. And that to me is the difference… I know the sort of shite Scousers have to deal with is nothing compared to what black people got over the centuries but we are still considered fair game. Nothing you can really do but rise above it mate.

Tell you what though, do you remember when that great socialist and shop steward Gary Neville had all the other England players blank the Scouse lads in the team?

It wasn’t reported much, but it happened… Owen, Fowler, McMannaman and Gerrard where only included in team training and actual games, but then shunned completely – having to eat on their own and not allowed to partake in any team activities such as golf and even cards and that.

It was the same time as Holland had a racial divide in their camp. That of course was rightly reported and thoroughly condemened. The situation with Scousers at England was quickly swept under the carpet.

So yeah mate, I know full well predjudice still exists and I think it should always be exposed and punished.

Site is still acting really slowly, but here’s what I came in to say before reading LB’s comment…
I’ve just been told Lucas has got swine flu.

What a bummer. Just as the lad has probably his best game for us and I was hoping to see him press on from that. I got that swine flu a few months back. It wiped me out for over a week and I’m still not right. Yep, I know I’m a fat old drunk who smokes, so he’ll fight it off far better than me. But he’ll still be wiped out for weeks if that’s true. It’s a bloody woeful thing to get.

So, I just hope it’s a false alarm, or if it’s true, he’s kept well away from the other lads.

FS, now I know why the site has been running slow. There is a fucking nice new blog that’s just been posted by Gerry!

Ha! trust us eh