I USED to say this: Delusion leads to hope. Hope leads to belief. Belief leads to achievement. If you can’t kid yourself you can do something, then you just can’t do it. That definitely remains true. The maxim is correct. The thing is this: Liverpool have...
THERE is a murmur. The murmur becomes a buzz and then there is a noise. He is coming. He is coming. The noise becomes a roar as he is on the sideline stripped and ready. This is acclamation. The roar never subsides as he fights for a first ball, pops it off, gets in...
MISSED you handsome. Missed you gorgeous. Let’s start again. You forget the tours. This thing happens: the centre of the Liverpudlian universe moves to a whole new fixed location. You see it in a million ways. The most obvious is the football match but it goes...
RIGHT now I am taking it badly. All things pass. This will too. But Liverpool have managed to find a way to make this defeat hurt when it never should have. They found a way to be less than their full selves. There is an argument that they managed this due to Mo Salah...
WHAT a day in May, what a sight to behold, what a team in Red, with a goalkeeper in yellow, being vastly superior all over the pitch. Everything beautiful. The sun shone on Anfield today and Anfield shone right back at it. The football was effervescent from Liverpool;...
ARSENE Wenger retiring. Alex Ferguson deeply unwell. That sort of Sunday. A Sunday that makes you think about these men in our game. It would be mad to not wish them both all the best, but dwell on the differences for a second. Both are tremendous football minds, both...
THERE are two pieces to be written. There is one which starts like this: A Liverpool player hits the deck with relief on the final whistle. We know how he feels. I hate this: we never do anything the easy way. I hate that because we don’t do easy things. If you...
I’VE never known a season with so much quality attacking football. I’ve never known a season where Liverpool are awarded so few penalties, especially at home. I’m prepared to allow for a tactical idea — that sides tend to stand off...
THERE was a point between the second and half time where the whole ground fell silent. It was as if everyone in the place had a moment. Had this moment: Have you ever seen anything as cool as that in your whole life? Have you, though? There have been a million and one...
IT happens from time to time but this very much was a frustrating afternoon for The Reds. All over the pitch the game seemed a little tougher than it needed to be, with Liverpool either trying to play within themselves or finding the ebb and flow of the game a little...
