Shut it Sam! April 21, 2009
Posted by bazmcstay in Football, Latest News.Tags: Blackburn, Bolton, Celebration, Fulham, Gesture, Liverpool, Newcastle, Rafa Benitez, Sam Allardyce
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I have a lot of time for Sam Allardyce, usually. I admired his work at Bolton to the point of utterly despairing of the fact that we had to face his team twice a season – they invariably had the measure of Liverpool for a couple of seasons. I felt he was harshly treated by both the board and fans of Newcastle United and that feeling that he was on a hiding to nothing filtered down to the players. He was not given enough of a chance to establish himself at that club. He has since moved on to Blackburn where, admittedly, he has struggled, although he will need to be given time and space there too. He’s obviously a thorough manager with a strong work ethic and commands strong respect from his teams.
However, Sam has got to stop acting like a spoilt little child. His Blackburn got roundly trounced by Liverpool a couple of weeks ago. Sam does not like Rafa Benitez. And so he threw a tantrum. He seized on something little and has tried to make a huge issue of it. I invite you to watch the video below:
Now, Big Sam claims that Rafael Benitez gestured to him, smirking, indicating that the game was over, no hope now that Blackburn had conceded their second goal. What Rafa says – and what seems far, FAR more likely, looking at the evidence – is that he was joking with his players who had scored a goal despite completely ignoring his instructions from the touchline. There is a “never mind”, a wry shrug about him. And Sam, he’s not even looking at you – that technical area at Anfield is small, and he’s clearly following the movement of the players on the pitch back to halfway.
Rafa Benitez has never let Liverpool Football Club down in his manner. He is someone who focuses entirely during matches, constantly barking orders to the team, gesturing and instructing. I think you would be hard pressed to find a clip of him even interacting with an opposition manager during a game. He has begun to relax a bit more on the touchline recently however, celebrating a crucial win at Fulham, cracking the occasional smile like this one. If Sam Allardyce paid more attention to the shambolic defence of his team, if he had tried sending a striker out against Liverpool instead of poor old Christopher Samba, perhaps he might not have had to witness the “insulting” joy of his opposite number enjoying a goal scored. If you don’t like someone Sam, fine. But you don’t have to lie to try and play the victim when you’ve simply been proven inadequate.
Update April 16, 2009
Posted by bazmcstay in Football, Latest News.Tags: Hillsborough, Martin Kelner, The Guardian
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As of 11:42 – nearly 24 hours after posting – my comment on Martin Kelner’s piece of misguided and uninformed vitriol in The Guardian has not been ratified and put on the comment board. The truth hurts, eh Martin?
We’ll Never Forget, You’ll Never Walk Alone April 16, 2009
Posted by bazmcstay in Football, Latest News.Tags: Alan Hansen, Anfield, BBC, Bernard Murray, Brian Clough, David Duckenfield, England, FA CUp, Guus Hiddink, Hillsborough, Hillsborough Disaster, Justice For The 96, Kelvin MacKenzie, Liverpool, Martin Kelner, Match Of The Day, Memorial, Norman Bettison, Ray Stubbs, South Yorkshire Police, The Guardian, The Premier League, The Sun, The Taylor Report, You'll Never Walk Alone
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I am so proud of my football team, both for its displays onfield and off. Today marked the 20th Anniversary of the Hillsborough Disaster which claimed the lives of 96 Liverpool Football Club supporters at an FA Cup Semi Final on April 15th 1989. The memorial service at Anfield today was intensely moving – “You’ll Never Walk Alone” is a strongly emotive song on its own, but gains new poignancy when sung so passionately, so proudly in this context. There have been so many words written, both in sorrow and anger, commemorating the tragic incidents surrounding the events of that awful day, asking more questions than they answer. Mine are no greater than any of those already written. However, it is with regret that I direct you to this article by Martin Kelner in The Guardian.
I was so appalled by his attitude towards the will to remember Hillsborough, and especially by his ignorance of the unresolved matters surrounding the disaster that I felt compelled to reply to it. In this age of the web, letters to the editor are rather wasted, so I left a comment on the internet page. I have pasted the reply below. It is the ignorance of men like these, like Brian Clough who is being so celebrated right now yet who said “I will always remain convinced that those Liverpool fans who died were killed by Liverpool people” in the wake of the tragedy, like Kelvin MacKenzie who edited The Sun at the time and who published lies, fictions and slanders under the headline “THE TRUTH” simply to try sell newspapers, it is men like these who cause the misunderstanding about Hillsborough and who damn the memory of those who died. How dare they. Today is a day to remember those who died and to reinforce the need for Justice For The 96. You’ll Never Walk Alone.
I read this article while on a visit to England and felt compelled to make a comment, something I would never normally do. I found this utterly distasteful, a chance to have a go at the BBC and MOTD for doing what they HAD to do – commemorate Hillsborough – and then returning to what they are SUPPOSED to do – show football highlights. I second the comment below which points out that the words “crucial” and “vital” were within a completely different frame of reference to the type of “importance” Hansen and Stubbs mentioned. To criticise the panel for a joke about Hiddink’s accent is like criticising a funeral-goer for making a crack about the deceased: it happens, because we must always remember the dead, but not wallow. We try to go on as best we can. It was wholly appropriate to reflect on Hillsborough, it was a difficult subject and it is hardly voyeurism if someone is willing to share their grief in order to help us understand.
However, I take most issue with this paragraph:
Eh? The question might have been relevant 20 years ago, but we sort of know what happened after Hillsborough. The Taylor Report led to all-seater stadiums, people not getting crushed on terraces, the Premier League, prawn sandwiches, and poor people being priced out of live matches. And obviously those responsible for the hideous policing errors that contributed to the tragedy were prosecuted to the full extent of the law, or were retired on full pension and advised to keep very schtum indeed. I cannot quite remember.
We DO NOT know what happened after Hillsborough given that the final chapter has not been written. There has never been a full official apology for the police’s behaviour before, during and after the disaster. The original inquest into the deaths gave a verdict of “accidental death”, only examining the evidence up to 3:15, not taking into account the police reactions such as obstructing people carrying the injured from the scene.
However, most damning of all is your total ignorance of the legal issues. Those responsible for the hideous policing errors have NEVER been prosecuted to the full extent of the law. David Duckenfield, the Chief Superintendent on duty, and another officer, Bernard Murray, saw the private prosecution against them abandoned when Duckenfield was deemed medically unfit to face trial. He then retired with his full police pension. It became clear during the trial that several officers had lied, including Duckenfield. Duckenfield had backed up the stories which were leaked from within South Yorkshire police and used in the infamous <i>Sun</i> articles about the tragedy. Utter lies for which they – and Kelvin MacKenzie – have never apologised. Another officer, Norman Bettison, who was one of several to manipulate his evidence, later was appointed Chief Constable of Merseyside.
To flippantly dismiss all this as you did, to display your paltry knowledge of the events surrounding the Hillsborough disaster and afterwards, to use the memorials of the events to attack the BBC – that is distasteful, cynical and insensitive. It is this sort of ignorance which the Justice For The 96 and other campaigns continue to fight against. I live in Ireland, I was just 4 when Hillsborough occurred yet, as a Liverpool fan, it is a deeply distressing subject. If you want to write about something like this, you would do well to do your research properly, not simply allow yourself to “not quite remember” when this is the time everyone should be remembering.
I Want My Football Club Back February 4, 2009
Posted by bazmcstay in Football, Personal Favourites.Tags: George Gillet, Liverpool FC, Rafa Benitez, Steven Gerrard, Tom Hicks
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I want my football club back.
I want my days to be full of the joys of great victories over great opponents.
I want to be able to relish the sweetness of 2 late goals against Chelsea, not suffer in the crossfire of 2 feuding owners.
I want to celebrate the dignity of our name, not be derided for the public enmity seeping through the cracks in the walls of this great establishment.
I want to see my inspirational captain lifting glittering trophies, not trudging from the field after another 0-0 draw.
I want the press to be serenading the genius of my team’s craftsmanship, not mocking the manager, the players, the name.
I want to see a team of legendary names playing legendary games, not a collective of overpaid, under-par flyboys.
I want my team to sing in harmony, not to sing from the rooftops when things go awry.
I want my club to rebuild itself from the bottom up, not tear itself down.
I want playing for my club to be a privilege to be earned, not a right to be expected.
I want my club’s owners to either understand what it means to be a part of Liverpool FC, to care as passionately about its successes and weep at its failures, to value the name and the history as much as I do, to use the power and responsibility they possess thanks to their wealth to increase my club’s reputation, not to bolster their coffers, to respect the supporters and the servants of my club in the way they handle its affairs, to handle those affairs within the four walls of the board room rather than in the columns of the tabloids.
I want my club to be my club. Not Tom Hicks’ club or George Gillet’s club. I want my club to be a treasure, decorated with medals and trophies, not tarnished by back-stabbing, instability and public ridicule.
I want my club, Liverpool Football Club, to win every game, every cup, every league. I do not appreciate the way its name has been dragged through the mud in the last 18 months, by half-witted, money-driven, heartless owners, by some players whose words or deeds have belittled my club, and by the press who seek to turn a spark into a blazing inferno and to muddy once-clear waters.
Give me back my club. My Liverpool Football Club.
A Long Time Coming January 21, 2009
Posted by bazmcstay in Arts, College, Football, Ireland, Latest News, Personal Favourites, Politics.Tags: Anfield, Barack Obama, Comedy Store Players, Dell, DU Players, Improv She Wrote, Little Shop Of Horrors, Liverpool FC, Newcastle United, Pope Benedict XVI, The 44th President Of The United States Of America, Trinity College Dublin, Washington, Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Yes We Can
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-The Inauguration of an African-American as President of the United States.
-The mid-season slump for Liverpool in the race for the Premiership.
Three events of varying importance, all a long time coming. I’ve been temporarily cut off from the rest of civilisation due to the untimely demise of my Dell’s battery, hence the delay in the latest post. I’m sure you were all desperately waiting for it. In between the death of the battery and now, I’ve been rehearsing for “Little Shop Of Horrors”, which I’m co-directing and which will be taking to the stage in the Players Theatre, Trinity College Dublin, from 17th to 21st February. Do come. And if you can’t, send money. Or flowers. Or both.
On top of that, I’ve also been onstage myself as part of Trinity College’s brand new improv comedy troupe, half-wittily named “Improv, She Wrote”. Comprising eleven members, we had our first live show ever in front of a packed house in the Players Theatre last night and, if the audience reaction was anything to go by, things went rather ok. Improv comedy is a really great form of entertainment, cheap to produce, fun, and great to watch when done well. It is a massive part of college life in America and, to a lesser extent, Britain, but has very few devotees in Ireland. But anyone has watched “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” or seen the Comedy Store Players in action will know how great good improv can be. We can only strive to be better. Thanks to those who came last night and do come again – after all, every show is different!
Liverpool, I’m afraid to say, have hit an icy patch this winter – as per usual. 6 draws in 9 games, if my count is correct. This habit we had of drawing games we should have won was one I thought we had kicked this year but sadly the addiction to mediocrity seems to be resurfacing. The goals need to start flowing at Anfield – the 5-1 rout of Newcastle seems to have been a flash in a very cold pan.
Finally, the tears were brimming again today. The sense of occasion was very obvious, even in a simple sitting room in campus rooms in Trinity College. I watched the inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama as America’s 44th President with a group of my friends. We clapped loudly when he was sworn in, felt for him as he stumbled nervously, and the silence was deafening as we hung on every word of his inaugural address.
I was aware of how unique a situation this really was. There are few moments in our lives when we experience a true moment of hope, an uplifting feeling of the world being, for a moment, good again, and say to ourselves “In the future, I will remember this moment. I will point to this instant and say, I was there, I saw this”. Some are personal, others very public affairs. One of these moments came when I watched the new pope, Benedict XVI, presented to the world – this was my faith remaking itself, renewing a sacred covenant.
Another of those moments occurred today. There was utter hope and faith in that room today as we watched the coverage from Washington. Today the world is good and right. Today America is better then it has been, thanks to one man and the millions who believed in his message, a message so simple and positive: Yes We Can. So, along with the country he now leads, let’s heed Obama’s call: Lift ourselves up, brush ourselves down, and begin to remake the world.
Advent Calendar Post #9: Not-So-Dull Hull and ‘Allelujah Alexandra December 13, 2008
Posted by bazmcstay in Advent, Arts, Football, Latest News, Television.Tags: Alexandra Burke, Anfield, Arsenal, Beyonce, Blackburn, Carmina Burana, Dermot O'Leary, Eoghan Quigg, Hallelujah, Hull City, JLS, Liverpool, Man United, PSV, Reality TV, Steven Gerrard, The X-Factor
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Liverpool. I give up. There really is no team like them. 2-0 down after twenty minutes against Hull – at Anfield, I might add – and stormed back to 2-2 thanks largely to the footballing equivalent of a kick up the arse from Steven Gerrard. With a barnstorming display, the Reds were level by half-time and, by all accounts, should have been three or four goals ahead. The onslaught continued in the second half. A victory seemed assured. The goal that would seal it was surely coming.
No. Yet again. For the fourth time this year. A draw at Anfield against a team Liverpool should beat. Just when it looked like the wheels were back on the wagon with two 3-1 wins over Blackburn and PSV, Liverpool showed they still need to find the formula. This season has many games to go – Arsenal and Man United both drew today as well – but if Liverpool want to win the league, this simply must end. New Years resolution: Win games when they are there to win.
On a different note – a musical one, if you will – I turned on “The X-Factor” final today and, I must admit, the lure of human emotion and great music worked its magic. Aside from the constant self-congratulation of the production and the repetition upon repetition of “Carmina Burana” and Dermot O’Leary’s stock lines, the real stars were Eoghan Quigg, JLS and the eventual winner Alexandra Burke who were all superb. I began thinking “Oh, an Irishman” supporting Eoghan; I followed with a conversion to the harmony and ready-made star quality of JLS; however, with a stunning duet with Beyoncé and a heart-rending version of what I initially thought a disastrous choice of winner’s single, “Hallelujah”, Alexandra proved she was a worthy winner. JLS should and surely will have a long career in showbusiness, but Alexandra’s tears at the end of the show were enough to melt even the most hardened of anti-reality TV hearts!
Advent Calendar Post #5: You Put Your Robbie Keane In, Your Roy Keane Out… December 9, 2008
Posted by bazmcstay in Advent, Football, Latest News.Tags: Accessorize, Albert Riera, Champions League, David Ngog, Dick Cheney, Dirk Kuyt, Djibril Cisse, El Hadji Diouf, Javier Mascherano, Liverpool, Lucas, Pascal Chimbonda, PSV Eindhoven, Ray Houghton, Robbie Keane, Roy Keane, Ryan Babel, Steven Gerrard, Sunderland
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Another Champions League night, another Liverpool victory. Despite going a goal down to PSV – to an offside strike from a corner which shouldn’t have been allowed – the Reds came back strong and really, if Ryan Babel had been wearing his Robbie Keane-spotting glasses, we would have scored 5 or 6. The night couldn’t have gone much better, with four good youngsters making their Champions League debuts for the club, David Ngog netting his first senior goal, Albert Riera flashing in a screamer, no injuries, a return to form of Mascherano and Lucas and top-of-the-table qualification assured. The only thing we could have wished for was a Keane goal.
Robbie. What is going on? That big net that the other team try and stop you from putting the round thing into – would you mind putting the round thing into it? Please? Tonight showed what a wonderful eye for a pass Robbie possesses – his through-ball for Ngog’s goal was Gerrard-esque. He spent the whole game trying his heart out to get into the right position. However, three things seemed wrong with his display.
Firstly, and this is a long-standing Keane flaw, he was to be found in the Liverpool half, even their final third, far too often. Robbie, your job is to score goals. While we appreciate the effort, there is no benefit to us if you are scrambling about the centre circle to regain the ball which then is meant to be played forward to…you…
Secondly, and this isn’t really Robbie’s fault, the passes, when they were on, were not played. Riera, Lucas, Ngog, and especially Babel were guilty of failing to slip Keane through time after time. Robbie offered himself – on the occasions he was forward in time – and was overlooked by the ambitious shooting of his team-mates. That said, there is no excuse for throwing your arms up again and again when the pass isn’t played. A quiet word, not a Ronaldo wobbly please.
Thirdly, and most worrying, Keane’s touch is completely off. His control was utterly lacking on several occasions, his shooting was worse than Dick Cheney’s and, when put through on goal early in the second half, he played a miserable pass/shot into the six-yard area when the time was ripe to blast a right-footer at the goal. Robbie’s confidence is low. He needs to chat to Dirk Kuyt and figure out exactly what it takes to turn such a slump around.
On another footballing story, Keano Senior today announced that he would be returning to management someday. He learnt lots apparently over 27 months at Sunderland. Such as not to buy El Hadji Diouf. Or Pascal Chimbonda. Or Djibril Cisse. Seriously, how could Keane buy players like these who he would surely have derided to his Man Utd team-mates in the dressing room before facing them back in his playing days? All at a cost of £80million. And Sunderland’s playing style deteriorated over the period the Corkman spent in charge.
So, the one thing Keane has learnt was how to adandon ship. Oh no, hang on, he knew that already. The assertion of the dubiously-titled pundit Ray Houghton that Keane would stay out of management after this has been proven wrong by his statement today. And it underlines the fact that he is simply interested in building his own reputation by avoiding the fate awaiting him at a Sunderland devoted to him. Keane’s sense of self-importance is unreasonable and he will never have it as good as he did at the Black Cats.
Glove Watch: The expedition into town will take place tomorrow. Accessorize, here I come.
Advent Calendar Post #2: Leinster Stroll, Liverpool Stutter December 6, 2008
Posted by bazmcstay in Advent, Football, Rugby.Tags: Football, Robbie Keane, Xabi Alonso, Rafa Benitez, Steven Gerrard, Albert Riera, Premiership, Leinster, Rugby, Liverpool, Blackburn, Castres Olympique, Yossi Benayoun, Brian O'Driscoll, Rob Kearney, Jamie Heaslip, Bernard Jackman, Jonathon Sexton, Luke Fitzgerald, RDS, Roy Keane, Nabil El-Zhar, Emiliano Insua, Andrea Dossena, Fernando Torres, Gerard Houllier, Sunderland, Daniel Radcliffe, Heineken Cup, Sean O'Brien
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I made the short walk from my flat to the RDS today for Leinster’s Heineken Cup fixture against Castres Olympique. The day was quite warm actually – comparatively – so the gloves I have mentioned would not have been necessary, there was little wind, the sun was shining in my eyes for most of the game and the early kick-off meant a fine lunchtime crowd had packed the arena. After the wonderful display against Wasps in the previous home offering from Leinster, there was a certain sense of inevitability about this fixture. Once feared across Europe, certainly the French teams are not quite what they used to be, but I can’t recall a game quite as easy as this against our continental foes.
In fact, Leinster didn’t play all that well. There were a lot of handling errors among the backs and continuity was not exactly easy to maintain with Castres holding some very suspiciously high lines. The forwards put in a strong effort: Malcolm O’Kelly gambolled about the park; CJ and The Stanimal are looking like a fine double-act; Sean O’Brien built on his man-of-the-match display in the Magners League with a typically exuberant, if slightly less controlled, display; Rocky Elsom and Jamie Heaslip were powerful at the breakdown; and the try for Bernard Jackman and man-of-the-match award for the lineout supremo, Devin Toner, were honours which the pack as a whole deserved.
The Leinster backline, however, continues to splutter and spark. With so much possession, there surely should have been more scores than the 3 tries – and the decision to kick some penalties in the second half when the bonus point should have been in their sights was baffling. There were breaks, there were flashes of brilliance (such as Rob Kearney’s sublime chip-and-chase and Girvan Dempsey’s ghosting break for the line) but the ball went to ground from either bad passes or just poor handling at an alarming rate. Brian O’Driscoll and Luke Fitzgerald are beginning to click, but still need more time. I didn’t imagine Lukey as a centre but he’s proving a strong defender and his jinking runs can electrify the crowd as D’Arcy could at his best. Jonathon Sexton lingered in possession too often and his passing let him down, leaving the backline struggling to get momentum. Sexton is a better player than he showed today – one chip into the corner was so effortless and he raised his game in the second half, hence the greater attacking threat.
The funny thing is, of course, that all this criticism is accompanied by a scoreline of 33-3. A walk-in-Herbert-Park it wasn’t, but Leinster trampled over a good team with a display that won’t rank as their best, but yielded a simple victory. Top of their group, with players to return and better days ahead, the belief is spreading that this is a Leinster team stronger than ever before.
Back in the world of the Premiership – now, of course, Royless – Liverpool had drawn their previous two league games without scoring and I was beginning to think that our annual Christmas slump was imminent. However, it was postponed today by the 3-1 victory at Blackburn. After an hour though, things were looking strangely familiar, with the score at 0-0 and Robbie Keane being overlooked in favour of Nabil El-Zhar when Rafa made his first substitution. Here we go, I thought, back to the good ol’ days of Houllier, with relentless goal droughts and bizarre substitutions. Suddenly Xabi Alonso found a way to pass the ball into the net from 16 yards and the game was over. Yossi Benayoun scored a wonderful individual goal and Gerrard sealed the game (after a Santa Cruz header pulled it back to 2-1) after a mistake by the Rovers keeper.
Liverpool never cease to amaze me. Two crap games at Anfield followed by another half of crap. Then a second half which showed how good we really can be. Keane’s inability to score is still worrying, given an injury to Torres. It was good to see Emiliano Insua – the league’s smallest player, apparently – given his chance at full-back – although that is probably an indictment of Andrea Dossena moreso than a compliment to the youngster. All I can say is, God help us if Gerrard gets injured in the next few weeks too!
On the matter of Keane – Roy, that is – I’m unsurprised by the departure from Sunderland. His history isn’t exactly one of sticking by people through tough times. I think he simply saw the Sunderland team as unsavable and has decided to save his managerial street cred. Fine. At least he’ll have more time to be walking his dog, I guess.
Finally, anyone else think Albert Riera looks a bit like an older Daniel Radcliffe…? That kinda hawkish look? Just me?
It Had To Happen November 2, 2008
Posted by bazmcstay in Football.Tags: Liverpool FC, Rafa Benitez, Manchester United, Premiership, Tottenham Hotspur, Harry Redknapp, Chelsea, Ledley King
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I knew it. The minute ‘Arry arrived at Spurs, I had this game earmarked as the first one Liverpool would lose this season. But, as I watched the match yesterday, it became harder and harder to stomach. As each chance passed for Liverpool, as three shots hit the post, as a shot hit Ledley King’s hand in the box without a penalty being awarded, it became clearer that this was going to be “one of those days”. Despite the one goal lead and flashes of brilliant play from the Reds, I just had that horrible sinking feeling. We had enough chances between this game and the Portsmouth match on Wednesday last to win the rest of our games until Christmas. But the ball just doesn’t seem to go into the net as easily for us as it is for Chelsea right now, or Manchester United. The flowing play which we display is too few and far between – the number of times Liverpool burst forward, only to then hold the ball up, play about with it, and eventually pass it away is unbelievable. Total domination, only to be beaten by and own goal and a rebound – it’s just like the old days.
Attention Football: Liverpool FC alive and well October 28, 2008
Posted by bazmcstay in Football.Tags: Albert Riera, Anfield, Champions League, Chelsea FC, Dirk Kuyt, Hull City, Jamie Carragher, Javier Mascherano, Jose Reina, Liverpool FC, Manchester United, Premiership, Rafa Benitez, Robbie Keane, Ryan Babel, Sami Hyypia, Stamford Bridge, Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso
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I’m not normally one to gloat. 20 years of supporting Liverpool has taught me that optimism can often be misplaced. So I greeted the 1-0 victory over Chelsea on Sunday 26th of October, 2008 – a victory which sent Liverpool top of the Premiership, which put the Reds 3 points clear of the Blues and 8 points clear of Manchester United, which ended Chelsea’s 86 game unbeaten record at Stamford Bridge, which exemplified the best start to a Premiership campaign by Liverpool, and which coupled with the 2-1 win at Anfield over Man U as Rafa Benitez’s first two league wins over any of the other “Big 4″ teams – with a lusty roar which upset one or two diners in Paddy Cullen’s bar, but it was a roar tempered with reason. It is, after all, only 9 games into the season. There are no medals for being top in October.
Halfway through the match, I received a text from my dad – a Man-Yoo man – reading “Hull City will be quaking in their boots”. And while Hull may indeed be the story of the season so far, mixing it with the big boys at the top of the table, in my world the only story is Liverpool. The first half yielded the deflected goal which ultimately won us the match and also saw two other excellent chances – for Gerrard and Riera – go unrewarded. Chelsea, for all their possession, never really mustered a clear-cut opportunity until the ball dropped onto Ashley Cole’s left foot in the second half. From 8 yards out, he sliced wide. Chelsea dominated possession, but all the best chances fell to Liverpool. On the balance of play, the Reds deserved to win this match. Their movement was better when they did attack, their defence was organised and resilient, and their will to win – honesty of effort, as John Giles loves to say – was impeccable.
Sometimes it can be frustrating to watch my beloved team give away the ball, sit deep and attempt to counter. But I have to admit, it was a fascinating contest and, to be honest, there is nothing more satisfying than seeing your opponents throw their centre-half up front for the last 5 minutes, flinging forwards onto the pitch and launching high balls into your backline. Remember the last 15 minutes of Ireland versus Holland at Lansdowne Road on the way to the 2002 World Cup? The Dutch finished with 4 strikers on the pitch but had resorted to pumping the ball long, and Gary Breen had a field-day heading it straight back down the pitch. Cue Sami Hyypia’s entrance in the dying acts. In full flight, getting that big blondey Finnish head onto Chelsea’s hail Marys, Big Sami looked to be in his element. None of those pesky quick-footed strikers to deal with. That man’s forehead is a ball magnet.
Ok, this is getting a little gloaty. And it’s not meant to be. I’m a realist. It’s only one game in a long season. But Liverpool deserved to win that match because they out-thought Chelsea. Rafa Benitez deserves credit for allowing a bit more creativity in attack – Riera, and then Babel were livewires, while Gerrard was actually more advanced than I think I’ve ever seen him, especially in the second half when Rafa might have closed ranks in the past. Liverpool’s strength over the last few seasons has been the defensive organisation and grit typified by Jamie Carragher. This has been augmented by the hard graft of the midfield to provide both attacking and defensive mettle through Alonso and, to a lesser extent, Mascherano. And I have to say this: Dirk Kuyt, for all his detractors and his perceived shortcomings, is a man I would want to play with – he is an example to any professional footballer and deserves every ounce of credit for his willingness to play whatever role he is called upon to play, and for his unending work up and down the pitch, in attack and defence. He has scored goals this year too, thanks be to God! And this year too, Benitez has been a bit more attack-minded. Not much. But a bit. And that is going a long way. Perhaps we’re conceding a couple goals we might not have in the past, but we’re winning games we definitely would have drawn or lost in the last few seasons. That is the key to winning the league.
Liverpool beat Man U without Torres and with Gerrard only coming on for half an hour. They beat Chelsea without Torres. This may not be the most talented team to ever play at Anfield, but it’s certainly up there with the gutsiest, most hard-working and determined. And there are signs that the players are growing in stature: Gerrard, Carragher, Reina and Torres are world-class, Mascherano seems to have settled well, Alonso has rediscovered the form which was missing last year, Keane and Kuyt will run all day, Riera has added a new dimension and I think Babel could be a real star if given game-time. I’m still not sure about our fullbacks, but Chelsea didn’t test them properly at the weekend, delivering far too many crosses from deep.
There is nothing I would love to see more than Liverpool winning the Premiership. Following that team is an obsession, a lifelong faith. I have been lucky to see them win every other major trophy in the game over the last 8 years. But the nagging doubt still persists: What if I never see them win the league? We’ve been stuck on those 18 league titles for 18 years now. Man Utd are only 1 league title behind us now. Can we extend the lead again? Is this team good enough? I honestly don’t know – I think, after 18 years without winning a league, you never know if you’re good enough until you actually have that trophy back again.
The 2005 Champions League success saw a victory for the best team – TEAM, in its fullest sense of togetherness. Liverpool did not have the most talented team. They weren’t the strongest group of players on paper. But they were the most incredibly determined team in Europe, and there was an unrivalled belief in the manifest destiny of the club to be great, to win trophies, to be champions of Europe. Sometimes it takes one game to demonstrate that. That European Cup campaign saw plenty of those games: 3-1 against Olymiacos; 2-1 against Juventus; 1-0 against Chelsea; THAT final. Hopefully, come the end of this season, this 1-0 victory at Stamford Bridge will be the game that we can point to and say “Destiny. That’s when we knew we would do it.”
But the end of the season is seven months away. I can’t bear waiting that long. So much could happen in that space of time. In the end, all that happened this weekend is Liverpool beat Chelsea. We are only 3 points clear of them. And Hull. Let’s not forget Hull.
