Traditionally November is seen by most long serving Liverpool fans as a bogey month. I don’t have the stats because I’m not a true stats man but apparently it goes right back to the Shankly days. I think this year we are a month early because October has been a bit of nightmare and I’m just hoping I wake up as soon as possible to end the doom and gloom. The one saving grace has been the Man United win at Anfield last weekend and I can’t imagine how I’d feel right now had that been a loss as well.
We’ll need a change in tradition this year because we can’t afford a poor November. We need a boast from somewhere, maybe something new, either a young classy player coming through or the change in form of a player who hasn’t been performing. There is one young player in the squad who I’d like to see given a few bench outings. Although Daniel Pacheco is only 18, it is quite obvious that he has a very good future ahead of him and I think he warrants a place on the bench, especially in home games because if we happen to find ourselves a couple of goals to the good he could come on without pressure. We are not doing enough for Ryan Babel either. I don’t think he has had enough consecutive chances over the course of last season and the beginning of this. Its alright people adding up all of his appearances but it just seems to me that he’s only been given the odd chance and then had to wait a few games for his next. He may end up leaving Liverpool as a failure but don’t be surprised when you see him performing well in the Champions League for another team.
We’re all frustrated at the moment but we have to believe that things will get better. I’m sure that if we can get most of our top players fit again we will be able to go on a good run that will see us at least challenge the top teams. The RafaOut brigade are running riot at the moment but even those folk should try to get behind the team because he’s still in the first six months of a five year contract so he wont be sacked. We are Liverpool after all so trying to force him into resigning is not our way of working. It is depressing I know as you keep reminding yourself that we’ve lost six out of the last seven games but one thing that hasn’t been mentioned is the fact that only two of those games were played at Anfield and one of them was the Man United win last weekend. I suppose that is the only positive apart from the fact that we have a striker who can outperform most Premier League strikers even when he’s only half fit. Torres’s strike yesterday against Fulham was just fantastic, get him and Gerrard fully fit again and we’ll be back in business.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
THESE ARE COMMON OPINIONS AMONST OUR FANS
We are nothing without Steven and Nando
Lucas is the worst player we’ve ever had
We can’t defend set pieces
Carra is past his best
Our manager is cracking up
We should get rid or Rafa
We couldn’t beat Accrington Stanley playing like this
I SAY LETS FORGET ALL THIS AND GET BEHIND OUR TEAM AND THE MANAGER LIKE WE USUALLY DO
According to researchers at Durham University wearing the colour red in sporting events means that you may have an advantage over your opponents. The researchers claim the effect could be down to a deep-seated evolutionary response that works subconsciously to put opponents on the back foot. They believe that wearing the colour red could suppress the opposition’s testosterone or boast the testosterone of the individual wearing red. They claim that more studies need to be conducted on the matter before any firm conclusions can be made.
This has interested me and the first thing that came into my mind was that if you look at all the football cities in England you will find that usually the team wearing red has been a lot more successful in terms of winning trophies. In Liverpool I think it is fair to say that we have been more successful than Everton. Manchester is the same with the red team winning more than the blue team. Also north London has Arsenal and Tottenham and Arsenal have been the more successful of the two teams. Another thing to note is that England won the World Cup playing in red and most fans seem to prefer to see England playing in the red kit than the white.
The researchers have found that the theory also works in amateur boxing as it was found that boxers wearing red had won significantly more fights than those wearing blue. They claim that wearing red might tip the balance if two opponents are similarly matched in terms of ability. They wonder whether there should be some kind of regulation on what colour clothes sportsmen can wear. One thing to note here is that one of the researchers is a Chelsea supporter so he probably has his own agenda. Maybe he should do some research into the advantage some teams have because of their geographical location.
They couldn’t possibly stop sportsmen wearing red I mean I couldn’t imagine Liverpool playing in any other colour. Of course if these finding were proven accurate then you have to understand that in football I don’t think there is any rule regarding what colour a teams home kit has to be so all teams could just change their home kits to red if they wanted. I have no doubt that these findings will be well received in every city by fans of the team that has had to put up with watching their red rivals winning more than them. Also as a Liverpool fan I welcome these findings because a certain Bill Shankly changed the Liverpool kit to all red whereas before they used to wear white shorts. On doing so he claimed that the all red strip would frighten the lives out of Liverpool’s opponents. People found it quite funny but maybe he was right all along. When you think about it red is a very strong colour.
Who is our biggest rival? This is the question that is often debated. I think if there was ever a vote, which there probably already has been then the two at the top of the list are obvious. It would definitely be between the city rivals Everton and northwest rivals Manchester United. People from Liverpool are obviously going to see Everton as a bigger rival than fans who are not from Liverpool; local bragging rights at stake and so on. I am a fan who does not live in Liverpool so the hatred of Everton is not so strong because I have fond feelings towards the city as a whole. I mean there is a strong will to beat them but then again I want us to beat everybody in every game. When I look at the fixture list before every season I check when we play Everton just after I’ve checked when we play Manchester United. In my time as a Liverpool fan Everton have not really been a challenge to Liverpool, which takes away the feeling of total dislike towards them. In the late nineties when they used to be in a scrap to avoid relegation I used to honestly hope that they survived.
When I was young I think Newcastle were my biggest rival because all my friends supported them and they were challenging with us for a few years so obviously I wanted to beat them for the local bragging rights; we usually did beat them as well and we always managed to score a mountain of goals too. Everything has changed since those days though and because Newcastle seem to have become the joke club of the country I feel for them and I honestly want them to win every week now until they play us. I’d hate for them to ever go down but they have toyed with the idea on a number of occasions.
Arsenal are a team who some might see as a big rival especially after 1989 but I don’t feel much of a deep hatred towards them because in the last few years they’ve been playing some fantastic pass and move football that you could only admire. I still want them to lose every week but that’s all really. Chelsea have always been strongly disliked by me and not just since they became Chelski after the Abramovich takeover. In the nineties they always looked like they could threaten the top teams in the league and I remember they were usually challenging us for a place in Europe or the Champions League. I can always remember a horrible game against them in the F.A. cup as well. We were playing at Stamford Bridge and in the first half we destroyed them and played fantastic football. It was 2-0 and just before half time when Steve McManaman missed a right easy chance, which at the time didn’t bother us much. We didn’t come out for the second half and got beat 4-2 and it felt horrible. This was the story of that era for me. We played the best football we’ve ever played in my time as a fan but we had no consistency or mental strength at times and it was frustrating.
Obviously after Chelsea became Chelski they were more of a threat because they had the money to just buy anybody that was willing to go to them. Money was no object at the beginning of Abramovich’s era. There was this arrogance about them though for me and over night they became the biggest club in the world in their eyes. When they played us in the Champions League semi final in 2005 they booked out the hotel for their winning celebrations that Liverpool had been going to all the way through the campaign. Liverpool were not happen and more so at the hotel but obviously the money that Chelsea offered must have been so great that they couldn’t refuse. They got beat and everybody in the country seemed to love it; even Manchester United fans to some extent. They talked about how the ball wasn’t over the line for our goal but it wasn’t proven whether it was or wasn’t. If the referee didn’t give a goal he would have had to give a penalty and a red card to Cech the Chelsea goalkeeper because he fouled Milan Baros who was in a goal scoring position in the build up to the goal so I don’t feel we were lucky. The atmosphere that night was the best I’ve seen on the television and I’ve been told it was fantastic if you were there. I’ve been to Anfield a lot of times but the atmosphere seemed to be something really special that night.
Manchester United are our biggest rivals in terms of history and success and also they have been dominating English football for some years now and Liverpool fans hate it. The biggest games of the season in English football are still the Liverpool v Manchester United games without a shadow of doubt. Most Manchester United fans seem to think that football began when sky put the money up and the Premier League was formed. In their defence they must be annoyed that they’ve dominated for so long but they still haven’t overtaken Liverpool in terms of trophies won so you can understand their annoyance towards us. We got so far behind them at one point in recent years it was embarrassing. I remember a recent time a year or so after Gerard Houllier took over we managed to beat them at Old Trafford and all the players started celebrating like they’d won the league, even the coaching staff were dancing around. It was embarrassing. Liverpool should be able to beat them regularly so that just showed how far behind we were.
My worst moment watching us playing against Manchester United came on January 1999 in the F.A. cup. We were playing away at Old Trafford and Michael Owen scored right at the beginning and we managed to hold them off until the last two minutes and they scored two goals and my brother being a Manchester United fan went crazy and I felt deflated and shocked. At that time it just felt like we were never going to catch them and I couldn’t stand it. So there you have it I believe our biggest rival is definitely Manchester United and although they seem to be a good few miles away from us at the moment I do believe we will catch and overtake them some day soon.
Monday, September 14, 2009
I’m guessing it all started at around the winter of 1991 and I must have only been six years old. I can remember my dad was making some home brew one evening, which I believe must have been a Saturday because my father always used to make the home brew on Saturday nights. Anyway my brother and I were talking about football and he was now supporting Manchester United. I was getting to the age where I was starting to enjoy both playing and watching the game; well watching goals shall we say as that is how it is when you’re that young. Anyway I was wondering which team I should support and being from the northeast about fifty miles north of Newcastle most would assume that the only team I should be considering was Newcastle. The thing was that nobody my age in our area supported Newcastle simply because they were not very good at that time. My brother was trying to persuade me to support Manchester United but I always wanted to support a different team. My dad happened to be listening to us talking and he said I should support Liverpool because they were the best team. This upset my brother a little to hear somebody degrading his team. I believe this must have been only a short while after the Hillsborough disaster and at the time I have to say that I knew nothing about this being so young but my dad obviously did. Liverpool as a city really stuck together at that time and really that fact alone would have been the best reason to start supporting the team.
I can still remember a short while after when my birthday came round. I remember it was a sunny day and I can recall that my mam told me to go to my granny’s house to pick up my present. I had absolutely no idea what this present was going to be and I was so excited as to what it could be. It’s all a bit vague now but I can remember my granny taking me into the dining room and bringing out a carrier bag. Inside this carrier bag there it was and my face just lit up. I was so happy and I couldn’t hide my delight. It was the full Liverpool home kit, the first one with the candy sponsor on the chest. I had never seen a Liverpool top in person at that stage and the thing that sticks in my mind about the Liverpool one that I received that day was how strong the red was. Manchester United tops always seemed to be more towards the side of orange and it looked so weak and horrible whereas this was so strong and royal looking. Bill Shankly was right when he said how intimidating the red was and that is what stays in my mind to this day. I couldn’t wait to show it off to all my friends.
My friends at school all supported Manchester United, Nottingham Forest, Leeds or Liverpool. Obviously a few years later most supported Manchester United because of their success but I wasn’t interested in them at all. Later as Newcastle started to surge forward under Kevin Keegan lots of my friend suddenly switched to Newcastle and the funny thing about the situation now is that it is those people who will always bring up the fact that you should always support the local team and that I have no loyalty and all that kind of stuff. It was those people who went from giving me stick every year when their team Manchester United won the league and we didn’t to giving me stick because I was strange because I didn’t support the local team. They even said Newcastle were the best because they played the most exciting attacking football ever seen; I could only laugh at that piece of tunnel vision as at that time in the mid nineties it was us who were playing the best passing football in the country.
My friends would always try to convince me to support the zebras but I wouldn’t even consider it. They would always try to tell me that deep down inside I really supported them and even some friends told me they had seen me in a Newcastle top with Ferdinand printed on the back; Good Joke! I remember just before the second of the 4-3 games between the two clubs in 1997; one of my friends invited us all around to his house to watch the match; me being the only Liverpool fan. They all said that they would get revenge after last year. At half time they weren’t saying that as we dismantled them with the best football I’d seen them play in my lifetime as a fan. Obviously I was all alone in supporting Liverpool so you can imagine how good I felt being alongside all these Geordies seeing us beating them 3-0 at half time. Anyway it all turned on its head as we started to misplace a few passes and suddenly we found ourselves at 3-3 with only about two minutes left. They were giving me so much stick it was unreal. I picked up my coat and as I was half way threw the door I heard the commentator scream “FOWLER” and we had scored to make it 4-3 again. I lost it at that stage and shouted, “I get the last laugh” and ran out. I was only twelve then and some of the lads were about sixteen and they didn’t like it so they chased me home. There was no chance they were going to catch me as I was the fastest runner of all of us and I sprinted home laughing. They all knew then and there that there was no chance I would be switching to their team or any other and I felt in love with Liverpool.
