NEIL ATKINSON was joined by Gareth Roberts, Mike Girling and James Sutton in the aftermath of an embarrassing 4-1 defeat to Arsenal at The Emirates which all but ended The Reds’ hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League.
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What is Rodgers smoking? Today’s press is contradictory just as much as when he got the job. Back into car salesman mode for Rodgers? No balls to call a spade a spade (can you say that into today’s PC world?). P45 incoming, Brendan. Lose the dressing room and you’re on borrowed time. SG gets to see off another manager.
it’s becoming increasingly obvious that no more than maybe one of the lads participating in these conversations has watched the match specifically for the purpose of analyzing it. Assuming most watch it live, either in person or on TV, it is IMPERATIVE that people watch it again, without and the anxiety, specifically to notice things one does not when emotions are running high. Doing so would cut down on the hyperbole and the nasty name-calling.
*without the emotions and the anxiety
From day one, a large part of the point of The Anfield Wrap was to convey what we *as footie fans* think. We’re not replicating Monday Night Football, we’re talking honestly, like fans, about how we feel. That involves emotion. The new Tuesday show is intended to be more considered.
Also, simply in terms of practicalities, everyone contributing can’t sit and watch the game again before Monday’s show.
No man should be made to watch that match more than once and the lads have other commitments to fulfill during the week.
Heavy drinking, the appraisal of city-centre fast-food outlets and the need to do an occasional day’s work for ready-money so that the good ship TAW can stay afloat and on a relatively even keel are all vital tasks that aren’t going to do themselves.
While I doubt the lads are keen to wrap the flag of St George around their shoulders, they may well be the greatest living Englishmen right now.
Soldiers of misfortune, they tour the city and the nation at large, in the forlorn hunt for pubs with good jukeboxes, light crispy batter and goals from the team in red.
Blackburn tomorrow. Once more unto the breach, dear friends!
This comment is based on only the first 4 minutes of the show, but it’s Neil’s intro description of the game that gets me: “Arsenal should’ve been 2-0 up.” True. “Then Liverpool could’ve been 1-0 up…” Also True. But where do you get the “…or 2-0 up” from. You’re sugarcoating things from the off. And though you may prove me completely wrong over the course of the entire show, I do think you’ve been doing this a lot lately. I’m not saying I want you to go into the Rodgers out debate (and I’m very much Rodgers in), but the whole enterprise loses it’s appeal, when it seems that you are holding back on things. The appeal of these kind of shows is that you get the real, honest, on the ground, opinion of Liverpudlians invested in this club and not the usual media PR spins that are now the norm of modern football.
Give the rest of a show a go then let us know if you feel the same. Seemed pretty honest at the time.
I was going to write about how wrong I was (will get back to it further down), but the reasoning on about 35 mins onwards is really what I was talking about before. I mean, what is that about? Their goals were easy, they’re wrong to think of it as their best performance, they’re not a world class side. First of all, in my opinion, you’re wrong on all three counts. And I know you’re mentioning this in the context of us playing very poorly, but where I was expecting the discussion to go is I guess to why weren’t we on their level, why aren’t we going toe to toe with these sides the past two games. We’ve shown we can do it, just look at the LC semi-final (and Chelsea are a world class side no doubt). And yes, all these things were and are being discussed all throughout the season, but it does feel like a tipping point of sorts has been reached. Maybe a time for some hard question and hard truths to come fully out. (God forbid we lose at Blackburn, what’s that show going to be like?)
I don’t know what I want to say here.
This is where I get back to what I originally wanted to say here, sort of. The show’s fine, it’s about discussing the game, and you do that the way you’ve done it before and it’s all well and good. It’s a good podcast as always. I don’t even know what it was I really wanted to hear. It’s just, it isn’t reflective of how I’ve been feeling this past two weeks, with the losses and all the rest that’s been happening (or isn’t happening) around the club.
And my first comment was probably partly coming from the fact that the Pink after the game on Saturday, was, and I don’t mean this to offend, but really terrible, and again not reflective of how any of us truly felt, in my opinion.
Anyway, didn’t mean any offense. It’s just, I’ve been feeling really shitty since Saturday, and the podcast wasn’t able to help out this time around, and usually it does a bit. I guess that’s what it is. But, do keep up the good work.
Oh oh, since I did kind of step into hater territory here, though I hope you find this as at least as well meant critisicm, if not the constructive kind, at one point Neil halts the discussion since it’s starting to get into what is going to be Tuesday review, and this has happened on other shows as well, like Rob’s last one. It feels like the new TAW player shows are starting to have an influence on the original ones, of which you’ve banged on about how they wouldn’t change in the fact that their free, but also in quality as well. Isn’t the point of the Tuesday review to hear Sean Rogers’ view, or the managerial view of things if you will, does it really matter if the original shows which were always of a more general viewpoint cover the same topics?
I would love to read a review from you of a detective novel, Velimir. It sounds like the green ink would be hitting the paper before you had made it through chapter 1.
I can imagine you getting increasingly-agitated as the premature sentences tumbled forth, railing how ludicrous it was that the Salopian half-colonel was even a suspect.
Would the piece end with a grudging apology, if the tale twisted and revealed the pursed-lipped Scottish headmistress to be the real wielder of the lead-piping in the orangery?
Just how busy are you, if you cannot wait more than 4 minutes to throw rotten fruit from the cheap seats?
I try and wait at least until one of the lads apologises for repeating a footballing-cliche (this tends to happen about 12 minutes into the show each week), before diving into the comments box and boring everyone with unfair criticism of the podcast.
A gentleman’s patience is always appreciated and not just in the boudoir!
Look, I don’t normally leave comments and have conversations on the internet, so I don’t know and honestly I don’t care about the proper etiquette of it all. The reason I was apologizing, if it was even that, is for the fact that the lads responded and I felt bad for even putting my negativity out there, cause it gains me nothing, plus who am I to complain about a free podcast that is excellent most of the time (hence why I listen to it regularly). But, honestly, I feel my comment was on point, though I probably haven’t explained it very well. This last game against Arsenal was a season defining game (or league defining if you will) and it went terribly wrong for the club, It’s a massive blow, that not only affects this season, but possibly (almost certainly) the next season and maybe even a couple future ones. And it wasn’t even a narrow loss… you know, the stuff that make managers say: “well, that’s football for you.” We were blown out of the park, even though you heard the exact opposite from the lads on the show. They did this show (and I don’t know maybe they’re saving the proper big picture analysis for whatever other TAW player show they got cooked up) as if it was just another game. Go through the game, go through the players, criticize a few, downplay the opponent, find some silver linings, see you on Tuesday review. And go back to the Pink, and tell me it reflects the LFC fans point of view after such a game. I though that this show, after this game, would be, for lack of a better word, much more explosive than it was. It was very controled, proffesional and media like, for my liking, and I feel the fans’ conversation would go into some bigger questions than whether Henderson is wasted at wing-back. But, like I said, the lads on the show owe me nothing, and it’s their prerogative to do the show whichever way they see fit, and my “apology” came out of that feeling of it not being my place to, what did you call it? Throw rotten fruit out of cheap seats, or whatever.
And in response to your heroic defending of the show, how is it you’re not that busy, that you find the time to write and post these ridicolous responses with your awesome references and incredible analogies? You do realize they’re not going to get you on the show? As much as we all may be dying to hear the clever responses you’d have given to the opening question.
The 2-0 was a clipped ball into the box from Sterling to the on rushing Henderson with the Arsenal defence totally sucked in towards Sterling..
Noone tracked Henderson’s run as he was completely unmarked in the box..
A better ball and he was in.
That was a chance another really good chance..
Can somebody who is tactically smarter than me explain why one of our Right back’s (Johnson or Manquillo) isn’t playing at Right wingback?
How is having Hendo or Sterling or Markovich more advantageous? When these players are at RWB, their main strengths disappear. I can’t figure it out.
If we keep playing 3-4-3, I hope Ibe gets back in there, because he seemed to manage it pretty well. Or, we ought to put a traditional right back in that spot.
I’ve got to echo Velimir’s comment, Nobody wants a TAW witch hunt against Rodgers (he’s not Hodgson), but you spent 47 minutes slaughtering everything about the performance and the team’s general qualities, or lack of them, and it was as if Rodgers had absolutely nothing to do with anything. In your discussions he appears to exist in a vacuum, a nether world where sh*t happens but he is a passive observer. The guy’s been in charge for nearly 3 seasons now. This is his team, he has created its mentality, he decides on tactics, selections in game management, he trains them week in week out. What happens on the pitch is down to him. If you accept that the great run last season was down to him (Luis not withstanding), then questions have to be asked about his performance this season, and chunks of the preceding two. Not to at least have a view on his performance and his future is the elephant in the room, the Emperor’s new clothes – however you want to phrase it. Are you worried in case he doesn’t grace you with his time again?
The show is to discuss the game, like it’s always been. And why would what Rodgers does with his time be a concern? We’ve spoken to him twice. It’s hardly what we’re about nor is it, or was it, having any significant impact on the website or the show. And does it really need to be explicitly stated that if you criticise selections, positions and substitutions you are therefore quite obviously criticising the manager? We can’t have a Rodgers’ future debate after every single game but rest assured his position will be discussed – on the shows and on the website – in the day and weeks to follow.
Correct rip everything from formation to substitutions apart yet once again fail enormously to mention the manager by name and get stuck into him.
Im only glad Im not the only one saying it now.
Unbelievable comments!
You’re not alone though. I had a moan to my mates today about Saturday and now they’re calling me Robin ‘The Wind’ Crimes because I had a change of opinion from last month, haha. Apparently, I have to be firmly in one camp. Either I think we’re brilliant all the time or I think we’re wank all the time. It’s all weird. I think people need to calm down.
Great podcast, outlined all the obvious and not so obvious problems and their reasons. One thing I am curious about is how in a post-ManUtd game pod there was a line (I think from Gareth) where he was wondering where the Rodgers dislike comes from because he is doing such a great job, and everyone in the studio agrees, and in the very next line someone says “Bu what do you want from our players, they are all playing out of position and our system is a total mess” and everyone agrees again. – I just paraphrase, but it was something along the lines.
So, the question that sounded in one of the above comments too.. How is it that Rodgers is doing a great job, but we are shambles because of all the coaching, system and other problems that you guys outlined so well? It’s surely either one or the other, no? FSG and committee do not select players for a game, nor they do a day-to-day work with them, they do not decide on tactics or substitutions. So who’s responsible? Why is Rodgers roundly applauded and his name is mentioned a lot when we win, but as soon as we lose or play poorly, his name is never mentioned. Just want some consistency.
@Velimir, I live closer to Sudan than Liverpool and haven’t been to the city, let alone Anfield, for about fifteen years. The last game I saw live was when Leeds did us 0-1 in 94/95.
I’m afraid that if the boys are looking for a pound-shop Stuart Hall, to fill-in as a guest, their search goes on!
It’s a good show though. I listen to it because it makes me laugh and I find it very informative. As you point out, it’s free yet I still can’t help myself from chipping-in with a bit of criticism from time to time. I generally find that I can only find positive things to say about the show though. I’ve listened to loads of different podcasts and most are utter garbage. As fans, we are lucky to have a good one as most clubs don’t.
With regards to the opening question, I would probably have said something fairly pretentious, quoting Voltaire or maybe Bob Carolgees.