A LOT has happened since I last wrote one of these. Sunderland have happened. Twice. And we opened a poll for goal of the season among other things.
Naive. There will always be more goals. There will always more great goals. Sterling obviously. The second. Christ the second. Bom. Bom. Bom. Bom. Bom. Bom. Bom. I could go on. Bom. Bom. Bom. Bom.
Bom.
But Sunderland. What a gang of lads. Just burrowing beneath the foundations of City and Chelsea, their houses left subsiding.
Bom.
Norwich looked to do likewise. Their performance was huge. The manager seeing their lads off, a handshake for each, was spot on. It was deserved. That’s when you show yourself to be Liverpool manager. I wanted to pat their lads on the back. I may be tired and emotional.
Bom.
The second half of the first half and straight after the break they turned Liverpool around and caused chaos. They showed an intensity I didn’t think possible. They were tactically inventive and could have been the better side from when it was 0-2 onwards.
Bom.
But it was 0-2. And this is a Liverpool side which combines resilience with its endless pace and energy.
Bom.
Mignolet came for something he shouldn’t and that was their reward. Certainties are important in football. The goalkeeper has been told he should come for more. But knowing where you stand counts. He came for nothing because he wasn’t great at it. He ends the day Mingolet.
Bom.
At some point the old men will accept we’re passing it round the back. Because we will. We really will. I’ve played at the back. You have. Kicking it as far away from the goal is thing you want to do more than anything. I reckon Dr Steve might need to do house visits to everyone over fifty. Apart from my dad. Who is fine with things.
Bom. GOAL!
So what else.
Raheem. Wowzer. Sublime performance. Endlessly on his bike. He could play anywhere.
Skrtel and Sakho did the defending brilliantly. Johnson and Flanagan less so but both had strong periods. Moses was a great change I disagreed with. As ever I’m wrong.
I don’t know what it is but I love it.
Allen was splendid first half. Endless aggression off the ball, composure on it. Leiva found it harder to impose himself.
I don’t know what it is but I want it to stay.
Coutinho struggled as well. But all this is testament to Norwich. They made Liverpool struggle. Not many have done that.
But I love it, love it, love it.
It’s been exhausting. Been draining. Sapping. Liverpool won. They gritted their teeth when everyone around them has slipped and slid and subsided. They dug deeper than anyone else has managed. They’ve done this now as well.
Odds on. Gnarly. Champions elect. Now they say it as well. Out there. They say it. Champions elect. You knew all along. Champions elect.
I don’t know what it is but I love it.
I don’t know what it is but I want it to stay.
So do they. The Mighty Boys In Red.
Pics: David Rawcliffe-Propaganda.
Mattiface used “Champions Elect” today for the first time. God it’s been a long season.
ferd
We need to get Chris Rea to number one , George should be playing at least 3 times every home game , want to see the Redmen singing it loud n proud on the podium on May 11th with that big silver trophy with red and white ribbons flapping in the breeze
I really like this site but a lot of the pieces seem over influenced by “Red or dead ” by David Peace.
Sorry I started reading that bollox. Two minutes of my life I wont get back.
Countiho was a bit slow. Moses needs a hair cut….
Try listening to Red or Dead as an audio book. Sent shivers down my spine.
I don’t get it Bob. What are you trying to say by posting the same lame line on every match report?
This is it, I have found so much solace in this site, its going to happen. Im 47 and having a fucking nightmare with cancer, but this is it. We may have wobbled today but we won on points. 3 of them. We refuse to even draw, let alone lose, and im doing the same thing. I know we are all fucked, but 3 to go, and then drunk for a summer, ive already told the consultant, chemo can wait. Ive waited 20 odd years to see this, and im going to celebrate like a fucking loon. This is it. No more nearly, its going to be ours.
David on behalf of all Reds, all the best with the cancer! My dad’s going through the same. YNWA mate.
Good luck with your fight, David, glad you are taking something from the site and here’s to the Reds doing it and you celebrating like a loon. YNWA.
David, I wish you the best of care and the fortitude to keep soldiering on after it. Be well!
Good luck in the future lad. Celebrating like a loon may be the best treatment. I will certainly be trying it.
If we can come from 7th and an outside chance of the top 4 to 5 points clear with 3 to play then I reckon you have a good chance at staring down whatever you are facing with the same belief. Good luck mate, we wish you all the best.
Drink up my friend and good luck #YNWA
And how sweet that beer will taste. My very best to you, David. YNWA.
This Liverpool side are making me drink a lot more thanIm used too. But it’s a happy drinking. Onwards and upwards. We go again.
Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you
Is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’.
This Liverpool side are making me drink a lot more than I’m used too. But it’s a happy drinking. Onwards and upwards. We go again.
Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you
Is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’.
Posted twice. I’m pissed
Steady on the port next time, eh, big man.
Gotta say, something beautiful is happening and I feel a part of it. Wonderful mag, wonderful comments, wonderful team.
@ David Turner
Hoping you win the Double mate.
This probably shows why writing after ale is never as good thing.
Neil, you’re a welcome breath of fresh air to the old footy journo scene. The Anfield Wrap is brilliant, this site is brilliant and Brendan’s tricky reds are…well….Brilliant! Keep it up!
I have to disagree with the opinions on Flanagan and Johnson. Flano bears most of the burden for Norwich’s second goal, but his overall performance was solid. He was, at times, the only Liverpool player of the back seven willing to try to move or pass the ball forward. Johnson… was ineffectual. Most of his attempts at clearances were soft. His defending was soft. He was reluctant is our own half of the pitch, and stalled the game as much as Flanagan spurred it on. Games like this, I don’t like the idea of keeping him on even if he takes a pay cut.
Lucas’ unfamiliarity with his position showed today. Twice, he hesitated when the ball was at his feet right outside the penalty area and his teammates needed one final pass. One time he was outright robbed by the defender, and the other he killed the attack by passing backwards. I don’t blame him. He’s a great defending midfielder. This is a depth issue, though.
I thought Joe Allen was going to reinvent himself this game. The first 20-30 minutes, he was a dynamo. He was amazing. I thought, “There’s what Hendo brought to the table; we’ll be alright.” It didn’t last.
My hope is that the problems we saw today were more a result of Norwich’s heroic efforts and constant pressure, and not lingering performance issues from players who have three massive games left ahead of them.
Glen Johno was getting on my last nerve and I say that as a fan of his as a player. We’re going to be champions Glen, play like one. The list of players who had to cover over to be better at right back than Johnson and do his job for him of at least attempting to cut out crosses goes thus:
– Gerrard. He went again.
– Skrtel a couple of times, one of which led to their second.
– Sterling, who’s obviously going to be the best player in the world by the time he’s 21.
I swear if Mignolet ever looks like being remotely comfortable off his line he’ll have to sweep round right back to block crosses. On the subject, and he’s great at the saves and that, but someone needs to tell the cat to work towards being somewhere near Reina ’05-10 standard in his overall game rather than just settling for being better than Pepe circa 2012 (easier said than done, to be fair). I’d be interested in an Andy Heaton end of season report/write up on him to reassure me, I think. Once the title win has sank in for everyone, obviously.
Other than them two complaints, yeah… This is pretty much the most fun I’ve had watching football in my lifetime.
In the interest of a genuine debate about the match:
Atkinson is showing his naivety. Passing around the back is dangerous unless you are Barcelona 2012 or LFC 1987, and they had the players. So his ageist shite is just noise. I’m 42 by the way spotty.
Tit around like that, trying to defend a 2-0 lead, in the Champions League and you’ll get killed. Fact. We can’t do it against shite like Norwich so I hope BR has learnt from his mistake and doesn’t try it against the top sides in the world. In fact, I honestly think we’re better than most Champions League teams, but tit around like that and it’s a quick Euro campaign.
Our strength is attack. So do it. We tried to defend against City and it almost cost us. We tried again today, and it almost cost us.
I understand the reasons for doing it, but if you’re not going to exploit the space made by passing it around then why bother?
We’re the best attacking team in Europe. Fact. So do it.
So Atkinson, in the words of Crazy bob, stop talking bollocks.
#comeonyoureds
Ha ha – you know something a strange is happening when crazy bob is quoted!
YWNA – 3 to go!
I would agree that passing around like we did at the back against teams that can really press and kill us when it breaks down would be suicidal. But I think the problem stemmed from our midfield grinding to a halt after Allen had ran himself out and Gerrard retreated back into our box rather than a deliberate ploy to play the game in our own half. I’m not sure what you are suggesting the backs do, hoof it long to Suarez to fight with three of their defenders?
We really missed hendo and I am pretty worried about it against Chelsea. Think it will take an inspired reshuffle from Brendan for us to get over the line. Playing round with ideas in my head from reinstating Lucas as defensive mid and unleashing Gerrard behind Suarez with the crowd’s roar stripping 6 years from his legs (would absolutely love to see this as I think Chelsea wouldn’t know what hit them for 30 min but I am then not sure where you put him afterwards) to getting coutinho and Allen to alternate in the hendo role in midfield and either starting our finishing with aspas (to allow him to get his title winning goal) for the part of the game sturridge can’t play.
Tom,
Thing is, Flanagan showed that you didn’t necessarily have to hoof it. He did well moving the ball up on most of the occasions when the Sakho and Gerrard afforded him the chance. What hurt us, I think, is that Johnson wasn’t even really trying.
Hi Phoebus, just to be clear, I actually thought the backs did very well with passing it around and I am a fan of recycling possession through the back line. It is just that you ideally want to hold the ball in the midfield and only recycle it through the back line when required otherwise the opposition will push right up in our faces and when someone finally gives away position under pressure we will be done (like we should have been if they were any good on the counter). We weren’t making any inroads into the midfield on Sunday, I think because we really missed hendo’s movement to break up their press. That said against a team like Norwich it was probably better to play keep ball in our own half then give it to them to pepper our box with crosses Mingolet was finding difficult to handle.
*possession not position
*than not like
yeah, but I’m worth 3 Brendan Rodgers, don’cha know!
Jesus! I came on here expecting to see fans buzzin their tits off. Never read so much moaning and these are the best of times. It doesn’t get any better than this. I had a little grumble about Mignolet today which is one thing but moaning about the style of writing is embarrassing.
To true Robin. Very sad to see the vitriol after we found a way to win when our opponents are finding ways to lose.
This makes so much sense: http://tomkinstimes.com/2014/04/liverpool-stole-my-bowel-control/
I’m interested in fans opinions to particular aspects of the game. That’s why these podcasts work. I’m not interested in reading fans memoirs.
It’s not moaning, just honest, agenda free debate. Much more interesting than reading about another fan and his emotion during the match.
Thankyou for the kind words. Ynwa.
At the beginning of the season I said Rodgers was a tactical Sahara, that we’d be mid-to-bottom half of the table at Christmas, and thT by now we’d all be saying ‘Whatever happened to that Raheem Whatsisname’.
And I’m a glass half full bloke…
Some fans are getting on my nerves with all the moaning.we are top of the league playing from the back since august.hats off to norwich.having so much fun this season its unreal.used to daydream about being in this position just a few months ago and now is real and i know Im gonna cry when it comes true.
It was a big fat yellow East Anglian banana skin in the road and we surfed it all the way to 5 points clear. I never really thought this was going to be an easy game and Norwich fan Juliet in the podcast hadn’t done enough to convince me otherwise. Then the first ten minutes happened and I was forced to examine things I think I know for the 35th time this season. ‘Thankfully’ Norwich sorted themselves out and my mind settled on the few things it might know. We did enough and that’s enough for now. These run in games are simply about 3 points and the win. Performance is something for the first 35 games of the season. It’s tournament football now. Win anyway you can but just win. Beauty and the Beast. Jeckyll and Hyde. Jenny Agutter or John Merrick. 3 points is three points is iii points.
The perversely dangerous 2-0 scoreline struck again as it did against Sunderland and City at Anfield. Norwich had some decent periods in the first half but starting the second half at 2-0, they really had nothing to lose. Fans in English football want to see their players caring as much as they do and for the second 45 minutes Norwich players and fans became one. I think you have to match passion sometimes against teams fighting for their lives and we dropped off a bit on that as a cohesive whole and began to fragment a little too much. We were trying to control for control’s sake at times which invited problems.
Passing around our back four was made difficult by Norwich pressing well but also the absence of Sturridge as he is brilliant at dropping deep, sliding by a man, and laying off. Not a replacement but Lucas isn’t quite on message yet and I wonder whether this Liverpool team is a couple of tempo gears above his legs now, if he is just rusty or it’s a positional issue. He gives away a lot of soft fouls which for someone of his experience is sloppy. I hope he can improve as I like him. Sterling, though brilliant, and through no fault of his own, cramped Coutinho’s game a bit so actually our midfield didn’t have it’s best functioning day. Mignolet cocks up but he’ll know that and work hard to correct.
We didn’t just lose at home to Sunderland. The summer is the summer. The here and now is the Title. I’m backing all the lads to the hilt. The players and Rodgers will learn from these less sparkling 3 points. We are in a privileged position. Looking every minute in the eye and embracing every second.
Thanks Neil. All the best.
why are people panicking about playing it around at the back. we have done it successfully all season long. its part of rodgers blueprint for liverpool and look where it has got us. yesterday our problems with high balls cost us two goals not passing around our own box. admittedly sahko looks awkward with it, but its his first season and will improve.
carry on passing.
7pts
Love everything about this site,
It’s Kwality,
Keep up the great work guys and fair play to calling this so early Neil,
Regards,
Derek.