Well, who knew?! I am only a fan after all!

I was in the middle of bemoaning the fact that the wonderful  LFC finished in the middle of the class because their performance in the league was too woeful to be anywhere near acceptable and all of that, then lo and behold all the rumours and the subsequent reality of the sacking of Kenny Dagliesh, the King of Liverpool Football Club happened! I mean how very dare they? Just who do  think they are? Just because they spent over £400 million of their money, that  does not translate into the authority to treat my beloved king in this manner! 

I mean just because he signed some dodgy players à là Stewart Downing and co, or because we lost to Wigan at Anfield? What, just what is it?  Is it because he puts importance on winning cups and going to Wembley on a par with the league? Maybe they think he did it on purpose, as in deliberately set out to perform badly! God knows we gave away the FA cup in the final! That was obvious because if we had played our own game with our in form players, there is absolutely no way on earth, that smelly Chelsea , the same team we had beaten 3 times this season were gonna beat us? Well Christmas came early for them didn't it?! 

I feel like a child who has just been told they are not allowed to see their most favourite uncle anymore! I mean how is a girl to feel? It certainly does not feel right that when I watch our first match next season that it will not be My king giving the press conference, it's just wrong on all levels. I suppose my rhetoric will be seen as sentimental gibberish and to be honest if I looked cold heartedly at he facts and figures regarding our performance this season I would more than likely draw the same conclusion, as we were told at the beginning of the season that our brief, the only brief was to make it into the champions league and we did not achieve that! However,  I don't live and support devoid of sentiment and emotion so the issue then becomes about striking a balance between new attitudes, old loyalties and  the desire for success, and what an issue it is! 

You can't be a fan of LFC  and not want to win things, yes we desire trophies, we want European footy, we demand it even, but then at what  pace? At what cost?  Personally, I would rather win things than always be the bridesmaid and never the bride ( e.g Arsenal FC) but I also know that you have to be in it to win it! so that is why footy managers & co are paid top dollar for their services I can't choose which competition is more important than the other,  is it only the big money competitions that are of importance? Is it only the League? Personally I  think  you should try to win all competitions that you have entered and  with honour! 

On hindsight ( yes, I know)  with what we have now I wish they had not employed my king on a permanent basis, because it's clear they had particular plans, which they should have stuck to when the ship was steadied. Yes, it might have alienated the fans to begin with but they would be won over simply because by definition the LFC fan is loving and loyal to their club!  But this, what they have done, this not giving Kenny enough time, it's hard, and  it's  as bad as the proverbial taste of honey.

When the dust has settled and emotions are not quite as volatile I have to be confident that FSG have a plan, to restore our winning ways!  And of course I will support that new Manager! YNWA

Numbers: 8 things on my mind about Liverpool FC right now

1. It's a fact that we are the most decorated club in the UK!  We have 41 major trophies compared to Manchester United who have 37,  and Arsenal FC ( whose fans think they have over taken us) have 27! I don't see them closing this gap any time soon. People are always saying that we are living on past glories,  well maybe that's the case, but the point to me is these numbers don't lie,  so how come we have not been over taken? 

2 We could learn a thing or two from Arsenal FC and indeed other periods of our illustrious past. Arsenal love using their young boys and to be honest sometimes to their detriment, but overall it has kept them in top flight football e.g champions league for many years. They have had the same manager for over 10 years ( cf Sir Alex Ferguson) we have had King Kenny for how long and people are already calling for his head!  My point here though is more about the players than the manager, Michael Owen was 17 when he started his hey day and the legend that is Robbie fowler was 18. At the tail end of last season,  Kenny was forced to use his youngsters probably due to injury etc but oh boy what a revelation that was, just look at how they played and the results we got put as at the top of a mini league and the form table so please forgive me if I don't see why we could nt replicate that this season, considering those same said wonder kids and more are still there in our academy. Raheem Stirling is currently being hunted by spurs, and playing to his desire for first team football it may seem likely!  He played 10 mins on sat against Wigan  and oh boy he set the field alight. Reminds me of oxlade- chamberlain or indeed Theo Walcott  the former was is only 16 and Walcott was 16 when he started in the senior team.  In his post match interview on Saturday Kenny alluded that he is not likely to change his policy by saying that whilst it was great to see the youngsters on the pitch, it was great to look after them too! Arsene Wenger sticks by his youngster through thick and thin-so should we be emulating that?well certainly not wholesale but there is something to be said! Despite the recent run of bad form one thing I would not like to see is wholesale changes! ( ala wenger too)

3 . I have to be honest I a bit confused about Jordan Henderson, he appears to make so any mistakes on the pitch, however his stats would appear to say otherwise. As a lay person I get fed up with him when having made a mistake he does not immediately try to rectify it quite often he just stands there looking at his mistake and then ends up way out of position.  That is what I don't like it's almost lazy. My jury is not completely in, so I can defer my opinion!!

4. The 1-2 loss to Wigan. Now, don't get me wrong I know we do not have a divine right to win any game and as such all opposition must be worthy adversaries, then you must show up and be counted- it's absolutely unacceptable to cite tiredness as reason in any shape or form -what's that? Come on Mr Dagliesh you can do better than that!  

5. I just don't know why Arsenal supporters are so smug! YES I have applauded Arsenal earlier but the fact is they too have not won anything in 6 years, always getting pipped at the puts, they have nit caught up with us despite the head start.  REALITY CHECK!

6. Why? Just why are People calling for Kenny's head and then to add insult to injury having the audacity to compare him to Roy Hogdson. I have never believed that the sacking of managers at the first signs of a run of bad results! I have to be honest,  I am disappointed with the way our season has gone even though I am acutely aware that we are in transition, then this takes me to my original issue of not using the kids.  This season would have been the ideal time to test them out.  For me personally  these results would be less painful. I have to believe ( well its quite clear) that Kenny has bought for the future and if we were t sack him now how would that future be and indeed out finances hold out. ( another reason to applaud Arsene wenger).  We need t look at our own cultures and tradition, the answers must lie within..no Abromavich style for us thank you. I love it when Kenny is being cheeky. Last week he upset the Media by saying people who thought LFC had not progressed needed an intelligence check, how funny was that?  Colin Murray of BBC 5 Live clearly did not find it funny and spent a lot f time mocking it.  Proof if you ask me that he might just have thought there was a bit f truth in what KD said. 


This is just my opinion, but I cant imagine being so mad with the manager, that I would want my team to lose. well a fan did say that to me today, he wants us not to win the FA cup in the hope that Dagliesh will be sacked.. sounded just like a Blackburn supporter.  So Whilst I am not for sacking, definitely a conversation needs to be had and his spending must definitely be curbed. 


7. Our inability to finish off in front of goal has to be the single biggest contributing factor to our current position. Its beyond ridiculous, I mean we have the lowest conversion rate in the Premier League. When we are playing it seems as if the goal post is an additional goal keeper and in the 2-3 defeat to QPR we had 13 corners before scoring a goal, making it the joke of twiiter. Its all really frustrating because this is (to me at least)  this particular statistic shows we are not as bad as the results would have you believe. Small solace.  I wish I knew why this happened, because then I know it would be clear to the coaching team and it would easily be fixed.  It seems we lack killer instinct. Not good enough.

8. Players, Players Players why just why when its so brutally clear that we don't have enough creativity on the pitch did we allow Aquilani to leave on loan or otherwise and Joe Cole?  This really baffles me and sends my husband into a frenzy. I would love to sit down over a nice civilised afternoon tea and talk to Mr Dagliesh about this. Dont get me wrong, I am not saying he would have been our saviour but at least then one would not feel as it looks like its all on Gerrard and Suarez.   
I am watching with abated breath as to what Kenny is going to about Raheem Stirling and the following Jesus Ferrara  Suaez, Adam Morgan, Andre Wisdom and Jacob Robinson all 18/19 yrs old. I hope they end up in our first team and not the first team of some other team as that would just be diabolical. Am i alone in thinking that?

Race is not the only issue! Money talks and bullshit walks!

"From the cowardice that dare not face new truth and from the laziness that is content with half truth, from the arrogance that thinks its knows all truth... God deliver us..."
God deliver us indeed...

 I quote this as it was a prayer used by a visiting vicar at our church  and i was so taken with it... I have thought about it often since this issue with Luis Suarez came up....

It seems ironic to me that the Government of the United Kingdom.. a super power I think we are, are unable to deport a man such as Abu Qatada  back to his country of origin because of his so called Human rights, and that in this same land of the free,  a man is villified and labelled as all sorts by people who have done all sorts themselves  because he executed his human right not to shake the hand of someone who accused him of being racist which subsequently led to him being banned for 8 matches.

I was talking to a friend at work the other day, and I took great offence when he said that I was branded! His point was that I liked my iPad because it's apple! I was offended because in the course the conversation it transpires that he believes that it's not possible that I might enjoy the use of the device, because of what I can use it for or that I could not choose between the attributes of different tablets based on my own intelligence!  He basically stated that we were all so easily  manipulated to  the ways of companies! Now as write this I realise that actually I should not have been offended as he as merely pointed out a flaw in his own attributes! I listened to him when he sat in our offices and ranted about Kenny Dagliesh and Suarez and vilified them on the basis of what the newspapers and other media had said! It did not seem to occur to him that he was being manipulated by the media.  It's funny how he did not say that Arsene Wenger was rude not to shake Kenny's hand after our 1 all draw last season [recap: the game was 0-0 in the 90th minute and due to incidents etc there were an extraordinary amount of minutes added on, anyhow Spearing gave away a penalty and arsenal seemed to have bagged all 3 points until djourou gave away one at the other end and Dirk Kuyt equalised] !  Or that Sir Alex Ferguson was rude to say how Liverpool should deal with the same said Suarez oh no!  It's easier for him and the rest of them to base their analysis on the half truths spouted out in the papers than to read the source directly or to even just step back and actually think it through in a reasonable and logical fashion.

Now, In my house, growing up, we were taught that ignorance of the law is not an excuse for any wrong doings. It was that simple. So when Evra said that Suarez racially abused him and he came up with the fact that in his culture that language was normal and acceptable ( and it probably is) it was obvious that it was not going to get him anywhere and so the punishment from the FA was handed down.
 Excessive is an understatement. ( at least if you ask me) but LFC in their wisdom didn't appeal! And that was that or so we thought, but oh no on and on it went and the press just pressed and pressed, all sorts of people kept coming out to say that Kenny and LFC were wrong to support him and so on and so forth! Until the day of the infamous hand shake or lack there of! And off it went again!  I watched mouth agape and arms akimbo while Geoff Shrieves of Sky laid into Kenny despite it being glaringly obvious that he was not aware of what had gone on and there it came the vilification all over again, from all angles, news, twitter, Facebook not forgetting the blogs!!  Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but my God they could not even step back and see what was going to happen. Then came the apology, but was that good enough? Then there was all the crap about them being forced into apologising! I mean how ludicrous is that? I say that, but then I think there were meeting with sponsors etc, so no matter how big an injustice LFC feel they had to change their stance! Hypocrisy!!  Money talking and bullshit walking!

 It is quite clear from the report that there were gaping holes in the FA's assertions and whilst Suarez admitted using the 'offensive' word Evra was painted as an angel despite having insulted Suarez in the most base manner. Bullshit walking yet again!

Here in lies the problem,  why were these comments ( Evra's) not taken into consideration?   I do want to understand why it seems their respect campaign is confined only to race. at lea,st it seems that way.  I mean why does the referee not command any respect? Why do players question him at every opportunity?  Why is the lack of integrity not dealt with? Why is Wayne Rooney allowed to bluntly kick another player and the FA still stand up for him? Why are consistently poor decisions from referees not dealt with? And on and on I could go, my point is the way the F A operates is that they pick and choose their battles whist I believe as a governing body they don't have the right to do that, they should be enforcing all rules to all players, except where it jeopardises equality of opportunity.  There is the outstanding issue of John Terry, and yes I accept that he is innocent until proven guilty, but that does not mean unjust privileges, the match between Chelsea and QPR had their handshake cancelled by the FA, so why was the same courtesy not afforded to LFC and MUFC? Or to put it another way why was Anton Ferdinand deprived of his right to choose to shake hands or not? And since when do two wrongs make a right? Was it right for Ferdinand (Rio) to not shake Suarez ... Like  I said on and on!

Whilst I am on the subject of race not being the only issue, that's on the pitch ! What about the duties of the FA off the pitch? I had a cursory look at their website but I could not find so much as even a mission statement!  I am actually thinking about the issues of football clubs going into administration! For this gather FA deducts points!!!! How does that help? My real question is what type of due diligence does it carry out before it allows perspective owners to buy and take the helm? I mean Portsmouth FC is administration again and facing a winding up order! From what I can gather mishandling of the finances bungs  etc, what about Hicks and Gillette, they did not even have enough money to buy LFC and they subsequently kept piling more and more of their debt onto the club!

Its a bit of a mixed pot here, please bear in mind that much of this was written when the Luis Suarez issue was still hot! But thought it was still relevant today,  especially as there's an interview with Glen Johnson in the daily mail today on the matter!  I found it quite interesting to be honest, you can read it here for yourself. Once again there was lots of furore in the press, why did he say this, why did he say that?  He ignited the row all over again. Please people get a grip! I would bet my last dollar that most of those people did not read the article all the way to the end in order to get the whole rounded picture. Like it was said...half truths.

Well not my words, but I can't help but agree

With some of it any way! 
This is from www.empireofthekop.com in response to the fact that for reasons best known to themselves, In the match last night, LFC's midfield hoofed the ball long to Andy Carroll 37 times and many of those times it was headed away by a very competent Vincent Kompany! The person quite rightly asked the question ' how could they expect 1 person to beat the MC defence aerially that many times! 

I actually agree. A striker is nothing without good mix and supply of opportunities. I thought we might make it into the top 4 this season but there is absolutely zero chance of this happening as our midfield is too slow and not creative enough. The evidence:

Downing – has some pace but not quick enough to get in behind defenders on a consistent basis. His crosses almost never have enough pace and danger on them a la Bellamy. And seems to have lost his confidence in front of goal. How he didn’t score that chance against Hart is beyond comprehension.

Gerrard – world class but needs more game time and is moving past his prime.

Spearing – Not a game changer and still in the early years of his career and needs more experience. Definitely a candidate for loaning out to another team.

Lucas – approaching world class but not around.

Adam – has flashes of quality but is frustratingly inconsistent. Doesn’t have the same level of creativity (a la Gerrard), can be quite selfish sometimes, gives away silly fouls and generally not elite level.

Kygt – tireless but tiresome. Makes a lot of sloppy mistakes, has no pace and has lost his knack for scoring goals. At 31, his best years are now behind him and perhaps Liverpool should think about selling him either this window or in the summer.

Henderson – lots of potential (definitely one for the future) but needs more game time and indoctrination into the LFC way of playing. Could be great.

Maxi – good eye for the ball and more of a clinical finisher. But his legs are going and isn’t the answer to our creative deficit.

We are sorely lacking power, pace and creativity in the mid field – the attributes of players like Toure, Jesus Navas, Bale, Mata or Adam Johnson would really be welcome in the side. At the moment, we are just way too predictable and have zero menace (apart from Saurez and Bellamy) to terrify sides. How a massive team like Liverpool can get to the point where our season is dependent on the fitness and availability of 3 key players (i.e. Saurez, Bellamy and Gerrard) is beyond my comprehension and speaks volumes about the lack of management foresight. A top side like Liverpool should have a world class player (or a player approaching world class) for most positions.Put frankly, even if we were to gain a champions league spot for next season, we would simply be torn apart by the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid or Bayen Munich.

On current form, it’s looking like MCFC, MUFC, TFC and CFC will likely get the top four slots. Don’t really see them dropping too many points as their squads are deep and good enough to last the distance. Arsenal have an outside chance at top 4 but will probably finish 5th. LFC will probably finish 6th. Possible 5th at a push.

Kenny really has to do something soon as it won’t be long before fans discontent with this disjointed and quite frankly poor set of mediocre and pedestrian performances start to wash up on his doorstep.
A final  question though on the matter of Andy Carroll, why just why is he not playing like fe was at Newcastle!