AND on we go. And on we fucking go.
That wasn’t nice. That wasn’t fun. That wasn’t Brendan Rodgers’s Tricky Reds. That wasn’t the People’s Champions. That was the Champions Elect.
They didn’t play well.
It wasn’t pretty. It can’t always be pretty. That’s conventional sense. It can’t always be pretty. In a sense, in this league-winning season, it is as conventional as it gets. Liverpool score two against a side digging in, they get on the front foot but are just about repelled.
Tonight I was with two young lads at their first game Aden and Eli. They would have hoped for more.
We aren’t used to this.
The problem with being endlessly unconventional is that the return of convention is terrifying. We’ve become used to the wild and unexpected. Banal only hurts.
And on we go.
The diamond today seemed that bit too functional. The full backs struggled to impact. For 45 minutes Sturridge was human. And then he was super human.
Aden and Eli, they come, they are brought to see Cavaliers. They got Roundheads. That they can get both or either is worthy of more than a nod.
And this is the thing. The front two can be off song but they are worth a goal and an assist. At least. The positives include Suarez’s single-minded hold-up play when the game was on a knife edge. Blamming it into a Sunderland player with two to go felt as good as a goal.
I have to be honest, the alehouse bellend in me loves that sentence. He blammed it into the defender. It felt like a goal. I’ve needed that even if we haven’t. This makes more sense to my basic mindset.
My mindset has become basic. Just win. Just fucking win. Well that is that. They won. They just fucking won.
Few impressed. Liverpool never felt in control of the game. Johnson added ballast. Gerrard was solid but needed company. Suarez showed a thousand times. Coutinho prompted and probed and looked to find. Brave all game.
Three points. All the points. All three of them. No dancing. No singing. No spinning. Just teeth gritted points.
It is seven to go. We’ll take 2-1s in all seven but God knows that will hurt. It will feel against nature.
Sunderland deserve credit in amongst this, yes the referee was poor, yes they were rough but they fought for their lives. They were tactically sophisticated and fought for their very being. This is something we overlook, when we look at our rivals’s remaining fixtures, when we look at ours. What we are all up against will fight for their lives.
We have shown we will fight. We won’t step backwards, we won’t panic, we won’t flinch. Panicking is passe.
We are one point off the pace. There are seven games to go. This is the dark side of what the business looks like. Win again Sunday. Throw the gauntlet down.
Aden and Eli don’t know it but all the three points in a run-in are equal. These are no different. Lad, lad, this league won’t win itself, lad.
Grit your teeth. Hold your breath. Call the lads in on the Anfield Road and God bless you for it. This is what the business looks like. It hurts and it is right it hurts.
Embrace the agony. We have more to come.
And on we fucking go. It can hurt. But it should.
Pics: Dave Rawcliffe-Propaganda
You make me happy, Neil. So do the reds
You give me a stiffy Neil. And so do the Reds.
Except last night. What a contraceptive that was. Or is that constitution. As you say. It hurts.
Obviously, I stopped reading after the first paragraph….
Call me crazy, but as much as I like Coutinho and his hair, the fucker couldn’t hit a donkey’s arse with a banjo. Therefore, Phil, stop trying and do what you do best and pass it to someone who can.
cheers.
Coutinho needs to score a goal – and soon. It’s clearly affecting his confidence and his overall thought process and decision making. He’s taking shots when he probably should be looking for a pass, and it leads to squandered opportunities.
That could cost us dearly, as our last seven fixtures will probably be nervous affairs, just like this one. The last thing we need is to waste scoring chances only to allow our opposition to cut crucial points from us.
One day coutino will score.He is good ,not every game but he is good just like Suarez Sturridge ,Gerard in his new role.They are all good,not every game but most and so long as they continue playing most games as they have we have much to look forward to
That was tough, that was gritty, that was shitty, that was 3 points. That’s what Champions are made of.
And on we go. Yes we do.
Halfway through the second half I thought this was going to be a “boring” 3-0. And then I laughed, because of the absurdity of that thought. A boring 3-0. That’s when I realised we are becoming a top team again. Bayern do boring 3-0’s, Barcelona do boring 3-0’s. Liverpool shouldn’t do that yet. We were 7th last season, 8th the season before. There shouldn’t be boring 3-0’s yet.
And there wasn’t – of course. But I don’t care. Seven in a row.
Fine writing as usual, Neil.
Another cracking article.
In retrospect that was exactly the type of game we needed. The 4s, 5s, and 6s are just ridiculous. They can’t happen over and over and over again. We now know we can win 2-1 again. We now know we can close out a game even when the opposition are battling hard. That’s got to hold us in good stead for the next magnificent seven.
The diamond needs the fullback who sees loads of the ball to play well and for me, Johnson decided to have one of his ‘I’ve forgotten how to play football’ games he can have sometimes.
Just because we’ve won in the end shouldn’t mean the ref gets away with murder either. Friend is now on my shit list with Webb (Christ, doubly Webb) and Mason.
We’re getting spoiled. That may not have been vintage liverpool but still plenty to be happy about. Since the turn of the year, we’ve played 12, won 10 drawn 2, including 7 wins on the spin. Can’t believe it.
I almost screamed the place down when Suarez took Gerrard’s 60 yard pass in one move almost bent it into the top corner. What a f*cking player!
Didn’t enjoy that in the slightest. Although I do throw a safety mat down to cushion the fall I thought it had 2-2 written all over it in the last 10 minutes. When that board came up with 3 minutes on it I was relieved it wasn’t 4 but gutted it wasn’t 2 but then I thought – it never is. Something I’ve never done before but i wondered for a minute if my phone had a stopwatch on it. The agony was just too much to take. I had visions of my world falling apart and that delayed distant cheer over in the corner. I looked over at the clock and it was 9.46. We took it into the corner and it was 9.48. Get in 1 minute to play. Then my head went and i started thinking maybe i’d looked at 9.46 and 55 seconds and it was now 9.48 and 2 seconds and actually there was 2 minutes to play. I wasn’t alone though. Everyone around me on the Kop were losing theirs. All the usual cries were coming from all around ‘fuckin get out’. ‘Mignolet ya useless cunt get them fuckin out’ ‘you fuckin shithouse ref’ ‘fuckin hell, keep the fuckin ball will ya’. I was thinking ‘if they fuckin score now Glen Johnson’s gonna be my scapegoat’. He mystifies me. Anyway, when that whistle went the collective cheer was heart felt. The relief was immense and fascinating. I’ve never really been able to control my emotions at football but I notice a lot of people can. Not tonight though. Everyone’s on it now. Everyone believes. It’s far too intense to be enjoyable. You can’t win 7 on the bounce and not have games like that thrown in. As long as you come out the other side you learn from the experience. It’s a cliche but last season that game finished 2-2. This season it finished 3 points to nil and that’s what it’s all about. To steal Jon Flanagans tweet ‘We go again Sunday’!
It had been over a month since we last played at Anfield. Sunderland were stubborn in the end. Thankfully they have an NFL running back up front. Poyet made us work in a way we have not had to for a while and that is no bad thing. We did more than enough right to win the game but also enough less well to keep the training ground busy.
We became a little impatient and a bit sloppy at 2-0 and we all know perversely that 2-0 can be a dangerous scoreline. Stevie post match spoke about passing the ball better at 2-0 to kill the game off so we know they are very aware of the issue. Chalk ’em up though lads. 3 more points. But I’m now thinking Spurs will be a very difficult game. No pain no gain, eh Neil.
Poyet is very good, took control with his subs and replacing Danny with Dreem didn’t really help, so we looked very ordinary and the lack of quality really showed up. Formation was flat and Hodge like. Sunday will be tough if the fun has ended.
Hope BR learns. He has to very fast.
Poyet will be a bigger team manager one day.
We did become sloppy. What impressed me though was at 2-0 every one just went mental and thought ‘fuck it’ I wanna goal. It nearly cost us the league. One ridiculously stupid free kick to give away, ball into the box and it’s 2-2. Should have been. Normally that kind of mindset kicks in at 4-0 or 5-0 or even 3-0 with 20 to play. We decided on 50 minutes at 2-0 that we were so good 2-0 was enough. I like our arrogance.
A very weird game in a crazy season.
Being a Liverpool fan this season we have become accustomed to witnessing both the sublime and the ridiculous.
But last night was different, last night my arse was twitching like a rabbits nose!
3 points all the same and it’s Spurs next on Sunday.
I really don’t like Spurs but when they appointed Sherwood instead of some fancy dan euro flavour of the month I sort of felt pleased for the guy…but then he starts talking on tv loads and I didn’t realise what sour puss bellend he is..?!
3 points please lads….and can we go back being tricky please?
I like tricky..
We’re gonna do this.. Or die trying!!
Its was scary, but 3 points. Think it could be just what we needed before sunday, 7 to go and still on target for the star prize, no one will give a shit about how we got the points against Sunderland. Thats how champions behave.
Relief….the overwhelming emotion….relief.
I’d almost forgotten that feeling. But it’s back. And, boys and girls, if our run continues (please God it does) then we have to get used to it.
But the team passed muster, didn’t they. A big, big win that one.
Roll on Spurs.
And breathe!
That was tough to watch. Almost as if the flag waving welcome on Annie Road only added to the nervousness. We just didn’t get going. But still scored 2. Suarez reminded me of 2011 Suarez (all flair and no end product), yet still grabbed an assist. Coutinho was awesome, but couldn’t hit a barn door from a yard out. The defence had numerous brain farts and just looked at each other with the sort of clueless faces that only Skrtel and Agger can produce!
But we won. We won dirty. That’s what champions do. Apparently. According to the cliche.
It’s weird. I tend to feel more confident in the games against the big clubs than I do against the smaller clubs. That’s what 20 years of watching us do the hard work and then stumble against the Wigans.
Roll on Spurs. We owe them for only letting us score 5 against them in December.
7 games…
A somewhat sobering result given the recent ease with which we’ve been dispatching opponents.
All cliches aside, last night’s win is as much indicative of our progress as beating Arsenal 5-1 or Utd 0-3. Those ARE the types of games we’ve slipped up in on so many occasions in the past. Think Villa & West Brom at Anfield last season. I hate the kinds of games where a win seems inevitable as it totally liberates the opposition and can cause a little bit of inhibition once the script doesn’t read exactly as planned.
Poyet’s tactics did reduce our effectiveness last night, though Johnson’s poor display as the outlet at right-back and our at times overly ambitious build-up play did not help. Despite all of this, Friend’s failure to dismiss Vergini on two separate occasions in the first half did as much to provide the platform for our second half nerves as anything else. It is hard to envisage us not taking them apart before half-time had he walked.
I always try to be fair to referees as they really do get an incredibly difficult time of it, but surely they should relish incidents like the Vergini one? As clear-cut as you can hope for and the chance to make a big call correctly. Clearly not. Over-leniency, fear of making a big error, fear of being scapegoated, call it what you will, but officials are getting far too many crucial decisions wrong. It continued into the second half, of course, to an almost comedic level. Cattermole’s trip on Suarez was arguably as blatant as Vergini’s. I mean seriously, the most ruthless striker in the league is going to fall over for no reason whilst bearing down on goal? A little common sense was all it took, instead the decision was ducked again.
Still, none of this is to take away from the fight Sunderland showed to get back into it after Sturridge’s goal. People are blaming Flanagan for Ki’s goal, but Skrtel and Agger are equally responsible for me. We are talking about two international captains here (I think), so for them to contrive to allow the ball to bypass both of them is totally unacceptable. Sunderland really pinned us back after that and gave us the most nervy twenty or so minutes I can remember at Anfield in a long time. The amount of space between our defence and midfield was a source of real concern, as was the ease with which Sunderland found it.
We dug in, though, and on we go. Back down to earth but now within one point of the Premier League summit.
A win is a win is a win,I like to think we are all in this together,but goin by our home fans i think they seem to need a scape goat if anything goes wrong either a misplaced shot or god forbid taking a shot at goal instead of passing.Im not sure having more home games is a good thing, a lot of tension seems to emanate from the stands which in turn it seems to affect the players.
Which brings me on to the young kid Coutinho who unfortunately has lost his place to another inspired young player in Sterling,being given a chance in the last two games it is only natural for him to try a bit too hard to impress but for fans to berate him for that i find rediculous. For me Phillipe looked like he was playing against boys in the second half and the lad was a joy to watch,typical of many reds tho looking for the negatives,youd think he was having a stinker reading some of the earlier posts.
Had to get that off my chest :) Onwards and Upwards Reds.
I just loved the moment after Gerrard scored, and he grabbed Suarez. They both looked like a couple of 10 year olds playing at the rec’ and just loving every minute. Anyone who thinks that Suarez is unsettled, stagnating – you look at that boy, and you can see that he is living and loving every single minute being one of “Brendan’s Tricky Reds”.
Also, did Hendo keep pushing Sturridge because he hadn’t done his dance after scoring? It’s like the lads on the podcast said about him bouncing to the backheel on Wednesday, he’s another one just loving playing at the moment.
Please can we return to scoring freely on Sunday; it would be nice if we could cause two Tottenham managers to go in the same season!
I loved that too. Brendan’s liberated Stevie, its great to see him play with a smile on his face.
Wow that was tough. We lack quality.
But we did enough to reduce them to 10 men in the first 30 mins. That is key for me.
Then left with no choice poyet controls the game with excellent subs. Dreem coming on doesn’t help. And we are left looking ordinary.
BR needs to learn how to control midfield. Villa forced him into it but we were losing by then.
Jesus H Christ in a chicken basket, that was close. If we’d have failed to get all the points I would have been seething. For the period between Sturridge’s goal and their first, we were self-indulgent, complacent and borderline arrogant. All this greediness in front of goal is fine when you’re 4 or 5 to the good but when the match is still in the balance it’s pretty unprofessional. Shooting from 20 degree angles when people are free on the 6-yard line will come back to bite you on the arse eventually and Sturridge, Suarez, Coutinho and Sterling were all guilty of it. It would have been a travesty to draw that game but it would have been one we’d invited if we had. Sunderland’s attacking cameo in the last 15/20mins should have been irrelevant.
Let’s get back to ‘kill them until they are dead’. Of course you’re not going to win 5 and 6 every week, but we were still creating good chances at will after our second and we ought to have buried them before each player started to focus on their own goal tallies. Harsh? Fuck that, not when the prize is as big as it is.
Notwithstanding the above, Carra was right that this match will probably stand us in good stead for the remainder of the season. We came through some adversity (even if it some of it was of our own making) and we live to fight another day.
And the LFC.tv commentator made me laugh with his observation about Dossena still getting pinged for foul throws, the dopey twat.
What concerns me most is the unmarked man in the ‘D’. Too often there’s an easy pass to a man… just sitting there… in the fuckin D… He turns and looks at goal and then there’s all the dangers in the world facing our goal.
Against teams like Sunderland and Cardiff, that unmarked man in the D generally shits himself and hoofs it into the crowd, but the likes of Silva and Hazard will feed that position into a chance.
The back 4 are sitting on the edge of the box. Stevie is hovering and looking to tackle the guy who passes the ball to said ‘man in D’… but there’s no pressure the man who receives that pass… from anyone.
Sorry for such a specific post – especially a negative one after yet another win. But let’s face it – we’re all starting to believe and with belief comes the fear of losing that belief. We are amazing going forward but that man in the D unmarked and ready to deliver a pass or shift it onto his shooting foot and ping one in the top corner is the thing that gives me the screaming heebee jeebees.
Maybe it’s time for Lucas to come back. Especially with Hazard and Silva sitting there. The specialist DM could be the difference. But who to drop?
Happy days though lads. Just scary days…. but happy days after the points are secured!…. scary though.