SHE painted pictures,
That never dried,
Always tried to keep the feeling alive.
In Newington Temple and Sparky’s Dream is playing and The Reds are victorious and The Reds are resplendent and all I want is to keep the feeling alive and it is all I ever want and all I ever wanted. What hurt when Leroy Fer hit the net was that the feeling would fade. The feeling fading was what worried me when we got to 72 and it was still 1-1. The feeling is everything as a supporter. Not an analyst or a pundit or a coach. But as a supporter we have what it feels like first and foremost. We can always feel things wrongly. Feelings clouding judgement. Feelings masking our reality. But the feelings are what you have when the final whistle goes and then you have a choice — work through them or let them sustain. Just let them sustain.
Liverpool don’t play again for 17 days. 17! Seven-teen. The feelings matter more so then. This defines the underlying feeling for more than a fortnight. I have never had a holiday as long as this gap between Liverpool games. Very few of us will have had. That’s how long it is and how long the good feeling needs to sustain.
It deserves to sustain. Between two international breaks Liverpool have played five sides and won against all five. They have deserved the win against all five, too. Perfection? Far from it, and this is the exciting thing. There is every chance Liverpool improve across the next five games. For a manager like Jürgen Klopp, for whom process is so crucial, this is a good thing. Loads to work on. Get them in. Show them. Develop them.
We are on a journey here. The weeks and months stretch ahead now like a map to be plotted. Don’t plan anything in March without checking the fixture list. Tell your partner these lads pull the strings now. Sorry lad. Can’t make it. The Reds are coming up the hill third week of March. The Reds are coming up the hill.
They came up one today. Lazy to say it was one of their own making. If I am giving advice to a likely bottom half finishing side about what to do against The Reds at home I am saying this:
– Put all your chips on the first 30 minutes.
– Build a buffer and hang on for dear life.
– Hope to frustrate them.
– Slow as much as you can from 30 to full-time.
Swansea tried that. Get out the traps. They were excellent for 30 and had a goal. It wasn’t enough. The game then belonged to Liverpool. A Liverpool rampant until just after the hour mark, who then took a breather before starting again.
It is another performance defined by Roberto Firmino. For the first 25 or so he was poor, touch and judgement just off. For the remainder he was irresistible. The intelligence for the goal deserves the rest of this paragraph. When everyone else looks at the ball he looks at his surroundings. When everyone else wonders what happens next he presumes a Liverpool player does the right thing. When everyone else contemplates a flag he knows he was right and his finish was sure. He wheels away, the feeling alive.
The ball was Henderson’s and the celebration was defined by him, too. A scream, a shout, a fuck’s sake. An into these Reds. Again he comes off as one of Liverpool’s best performers, prompting and probing, telling his teammates with words and passes. The Liberty his.
James Milner demonstrative, charisma on and off the ball, on and off the pen. Arcing passes in from left-back, twisting and turning like his 18 year old incarnation. A goal from open play should have been his, instead another penalty won by weight of numbers settled the contest. Phil Coutinho also put his most complete performance of the season in, while the better Gini Wijnaldum played the better Liverpool did.
The point: these lads all impress. They are a team. Daniel Sturridge hasn’t scored a league goal yet. Nor has he let anyone down. Looking for all the world an absolute team player, a proper senior pro.
We go into the break buzzing regardless of what happens elsewhere, though Manchester City looking mortal would be nice. It doesn’t matter, though. Liverpool are the real deal. Liverpool have verisimilitude.
Up the Reds. See you in 17 days boys and girls. Can’t imagine anything better.
Shocking first half and our keeper fills me with foreboding. Coutinho is a personal favourite but had to check he was on the pitch in the first half. I wasn’t feeling great, even at the end. Worried, stressed, and the feeling that my pear was about to be shaped.
‘the feeling that my pear was about to be shaped.’
Nice one!
As long as we didn’t lose a 2nd I always felt this was a game we could win. In fact I said to my old man that it wouldnt do this team any harm to win a game from behind in terms of its development.
Liked the look of Cout second half in that deeper more central role. He brought out the best in his mate Firmino and looked more threatening with options either side. Probably too early to say that we play well when Wini plays well but that’s how it seems so far.
Karius looks nervous but he must be backed for the next 10 games to give him confidence.
PS tuned into Merseyside on way home and astonished to find the summariser none other than the legend that is Jimmy Carter!
When ex-presidents are commentating on your game you know you’re on the March.
Just had to look up verisimilitude.
Yes they do!
Up the Reds!
Ditto.
Ditto.
Ditto.
Same!
It was during the infamous 13/14 season that we made people sit up and take notice with a thumping away win at Spurs in November, but it wasn’t until the new year before everyone fully got on board and thought “It’s fucking on!”
Fast forward to the present season and we’ve only just tiptoed into October and not only am I excited that it’s fucking on, I’m weirdly relaxed and enjoying the madness of it.
Wins and 3 points can do that but it’s more than that. Forget about the sloppy 1st half, the poor defending of set pieces and the constant media drone of how dodgy we are at the back…fuck that shit, we’re Evil Kinevil without a helmet and more horsepower than Aintree.
Give me more crazy, more horsepower and more portions of swashbuckling fuck you without a helmet! Who cares if we crash once or twice along the way, I want us to jump the Grand Canyon every week…it’s fucking on!
Up the full throttle Reds!!!
YNWA
LOL!!
I’m right with you, brother Lee! We love Evil Knivel because he daresd to go all PASTA!!! Way. I don’t care if we go down in flames, as long as PASTA!!! Flames are red and shine fucking bright! Go Reds go! Let’s keep showing the world why we all love soccer.
Football mate. It’s called football.
Love it!
i’m made up, we really dug deep and i hate cliches but ‘that was a game we could have lost last year’.. the win will help us develop as a group and give the lads confidence. only downside for me was the keeper…lets hope his performance was a blip. Going to be a roller coaster this one, wouldn’t have it another way. Up the Reds!!!
Loved this. Knew from kick off the lads weren’t at it but boy did they recover.
Only poor point for me is dreamboat shot stopper Loris Karius doing his best Shay Given impression and sticking on his line.
Come and claim the ball, take everything in front of you, Lovren, Matip, everything.
Fantastic shoehorning of Teenage Fanclub in there. Respect.
I hate Verisimilitude. Up the Fanclub Reds.
I was worried first 30 mins, we looked disjointed and like the lads were up late on the piss last night but I felt we couldn’t play that bad second half, we were stunning at times and we just bossed it when we needed to, the boys are deffo coming up the hill..
Verisimilitude!? Go on lad…
Not a good game but a great game to win. Up the 3 point reds.
The most impressive thing about today’s result was that it had the look of routine about it…
“…won against all five”. Not sure what you think you gained here? Why not use : ‘…beat them all.’ – really pissed me off there.
Best thing about that was Jurgens interview after the game. Looked and sounded that he was going to throttle someone.
Klopp said we have to become believers.
It’s fair to say that after half an hour I was livid. Why do we do this? A game that meant so much and we didn’t turn up. I’ve seen it all before and we don’t miraculously recover and win. We’re just left frustrated.
Well, we did win. You can argue that we got back into it last 10 of the first half but every team will have a 10 minute spell in every game. At half time I hoped but I knew this wasn’t going to be our day. I simply didn’t believe. Rolling in at 6am a few hours earlier added to it but I didn’t have the mental strength to believe. I knew how it played out. Perhaps an equaliser and hope before that killer blow of conceding again late on. The fact that we turned it around is down to one man and it wasn’t Firmino, wasn’t Coutinho, wasn’t Henderson and it certainly wasn’t down to Bogdan (or was it Karius?) It was down to Klopp. Whilst I’d turned into a pathetic wilting loser he had other ideas.
The point is, it’s not just a cliche that sounds good in the press conferences of a new manager. It’s a mentality and it’s an important one and certainly one a team needs if it has any aspirations. The lads believed second half. The ever brilliant away end believed. We all have to believe. We’re a good team but we need a strong mentality to go with it or you end up with the City final, the Sevilla final. Today felt like we might be getting it.
I’m tempted to say, fuckin international break. Always ruins our momentum and gives us new injuries. 17 days of misery. Fuck that though. It’s the same for everyone and when the circus comes to town a fortnight Monday we slay it’s animals and string the ring master up by his balls from the Kop roof. I’m starting to believe.
It’s results like this that’ll hopefully turn us all into believers. We need more than just the words of one man, whoever he is. But yesterday I really thought we’d win it if we got to half time without conceding a second. I envisaged Klopp tearing a strip off them big time and fully expected a turnaround 2nd half. In fact I lashed an in-play bet on us winning it 3-1. Mind you, if that Swansea chance at the end goes in………….
Haha, unlucky.
I knew Klopp would bollock them but then I’ve seen it all before. A huge game for the club, much anticipation from the fans, an early kick off and a complete let down. Exactly like the first half yesterday. I’m amazed we came back. Obviously, I always have hope and believe we will turn it around but the reality is we don’t (prior to yesterday). I see it as realistic more than negative. It’s a huge win as far as I’m concerned. Almost better than a 5-0.
When we beat the Mancs, I want to read, revise and study your next piece Neil. I want to hear a rallying cry. I want to hear that we are going to challenge and fight for this league title. I’m invested, I’m all in. I’m all in. If we win our next league game then I’m throwing everything I have into the middle and the cards can turn up as they may well. We might have Jack/10 and City might have pocket rockets but once everything is thrown into the middle it’s only a 60/40cuf and there are five cards left to be turned over, and a whole season to turn them over with. The mighty, glorious reds are coming up the hill. Beat the Mancs and it’s so fucking on, it’s so fucking on. The worst game is Hull (we win), the worst game is Swansea (we win), but the worst game is the next game, the next game is the Mancs. 17 days. SEVENTEEN days until the Mancs. Win that and everything is ahead of us, everything is possible. It’s just three points afterall. But it’s not just three points. It’s absolutely everything. It’s enormous, massive, gigantic, a behemoth of a three points. Win that, and hope Man City are mortal. They will be mortal, they still have to play us twice at the end of the day, and we can put them to the sword. Beat the Mancs, Beat the Mancs, Beat both of the Mancs. Beat them, explode on them in the first 20 minutes and beat them, twat them, destroy them. Beat The Fucking Mancs and the Pink will be explosive, we will believe. In Liverpool seasons we are scared, we are scared of saying that we are boss, we are scared of saying it’s on, we are scared of saying that we have a chance of a title tilt because of the disappointment that has gone before. But no longer. Ferguson has gone. Klopp is here. Beat The Mancs and it’s fucking on. If you can’t dream of the dizzying heights these gang of lads could reach now, then when can you? When are you allowed to put down your marker and say “We’re in this fucking race lads”? In seventeen days lets put Man United to the sword and announce ourselves as the main contenders in this title race. Beat the fucking Mancs. Three humongous points. Three more closer to the title, fuck top 6, fuck top 4, three more closer to the summit.
Come the fuck on red men.
A few observations. Sturridge worked his bollocks off. Loved him absolutely wigging out – correctly – when Milner didn’t sling it across the box having nicked it off the full-back. He still wants it.
Karius: there’s no way a ball should be allowed drop onto the foot of an opposition player on the edge of the six yard box. You clear out man, ball, and all. He’s practically in the nets any time anything is slung in there. Given he has a reputation for being on the front foot – a reverse Migs – I’m just hoping this is a case of early days nerves and uncertainty, but it’s a big call who goes in sticks for the Man U game.
Turns out City are human and the team that has made them look so came off there own pitch a month or so ago buzzing to get a point against the mighty reds! I was negative after yesterdays first half but i needent have been. The reds are coming up the fucking hill!! Oh and Joe Allen is one beautiful human being!