IF I live to be 95 years old (gotta have ambition) then I’ve got about 2,300 weeks left.
Never thought I’d hear myself say this but, I hope none of them are as long as this past one has been.
A week ago The Reds were the six wins in eight games Reds. We were the ascendant Reds. Gathering victories and points. Pulling our rivals back into view. Scoring goals in record-breaking hauls. The prospect of two homes against bottom third of the table teams was only to be relished. Up until the 75th minute at Anfield last Sunday it was all still peachy. We were whistling our way to a very routine victory over Everton when an idiot referee decided he was the one who most deserved to be entered into derby folklore.
And so three easy points became one, and heads were being scratched. They’re still being itched and our brows are now firmly furrowed in the wake of further underwhelment, a consequence of Wednesday night’s tame draw with shitty arl West Brom.
In the scheme of things, these draws needn’t be the mini disasters that they have felt like in the moment. Chelsea lost at crappy arl West Ham a week ago. Spurs were four points behind us. A week ago. Both of these rivals are now as good again as their latest results. Both midweek winners, they no longer have a care in the world.
The rusty arl Reds though. No one could lay a glove on us. A week ago. Easy fix then. Start again, Liverpool. Reboot us Jürgen, as you are broadly so apt at doing.
The boom-bust cycle is part of football life. The key is simply to have better booms than busts. The Christmas period offers rich pickings for hungry festive Reds. There’s Bournemouth up next. They’re ok, but eminently beatable.
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Then there’s the toughest one — at Arsenal. It’s fine though, because we get Arsenal. I mean really get them. They will be quaking.
After London, back home we’ve got the Anfield holiday double header against Swansea then Leicester. Chances to right wrongs abound, before we cap the Christmas season off with a trip to plucky Burnley. We’ll pluck those turkeys too, mark my words.
Rotation is back in fashion. It’s like we’re back in the year 2000 and marvelling and vexing at this new phenomenon. Resting footballers in congested fixture programmes?! Whatever will they think of next? Leave a good player out of a derby?! In my day they’d play four derbies in a week and do 20-pint pub crawls between each game.
Fuck’s sake.
I can’t live through this all again. OK it was a shock to old timers when Gerard Houllier alternated between Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen, and sure, Rafa Benitez did rewrite the rotation rule book at times, but it’s 2017 now, kids. Surely. Surely we’re not still not getting rotation.
And you can’t enjoy five and seven-goal romps, the product of the power of refreshed players, one week, and then demand that the protection schedule be axed the next, because you’re getting a bit anxious that crappy arl Everton may actually win a derby.
I’m going with the flow. You can too if you like. I’m still of the mind to go with Jürgen’s maxim that it all works so much better if we all pull in the right direction. Here’s to happy holidays.
Predicted 11: Mignolet; Alexander-Arnold, Klavan, Lovren, Milner; Henderson, Can; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Coutinho, Mane; Firmino.
Kick off: Sunday 4.30pm
Referee: Andre Marriner
Odds: Bournemouth 11-2, Draw 39-10, Liverpool 8-15
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Pics: David Rawcliffe-Propaganda Photo
Cracking one Rob. Possibly the best yet.
Can misses out due to suspension.
Always enjoy reading your previews, Rob! Good work!
Were those wide margin wins the product of rotation ?
We’ve been following such wins with disappointing home performances for years now.
Because there’s rotation and there’s giving someone like Ings, with just one sub appearance two months ago, ten minutes to win a derby. And despite Gini being in poor form, Ox gets dropped back to the bench and has only once started successive league games.
We faltered.
It was a pen and had to be given in any event by Lovren’s very clumsiness, and we had plenty of time to get the winner which we did not. So it was Us not an “idiot referee”. Feels like every loss brings a new excuse. We are LFC, we are meant to win not moan like a loser. Move on.
Agreed. And that incident could have been prevented actually. Rooney’s cross was excellent, no doubt, but any decent defender even from Sunday league would have headed the ball away before the striker had any chance to chase after us letting that bounce. Anyway, this seems like two years ago now. Let’s get three points today!!!
It’s starting to look a lot like…..RAWK on here (sometimes) in the comments. Yeah, we’re rubbish and it’s Gutmann’s fault for going along with rotation, or taking a subjective view on the derby.
Always a decent read Rob.
Need to get past blaming a referee. It was probably the right decision and it’s out of our hands anyway
Is this side any better than those created by Souness, Evans,Rodgers?Ferguson teams racked up 87 points season after season. They knew how to defend.Reds to finish sixth? 35 points behind City?