by Rob Gutmann | Feb 10, 2017 | Footie
I NEVER tire of being surprised at myself for being surprised by the changing of the seasons. Like a dog with no real sense of itself or the past. Oh look, how wild is that wind? How hot is that sun. How brown are those falling leaves? Aren’t these showers...
by Rob Gutmann | Feb 3, 2017 | Footie
IT’S going to be quite the contest – Hull City v Liverpool. The Mighty Reds against the team from over there. The lads who once were lost, and now are found. I’m talking about both sides. Always a surprise how suddenly and dramatically things turn in football. It’s...
by Rob Gutmann | Jan 30, 2017 | Footie
DOES it always come to this? Or does it just feel like it does? A season on that infernal precipice yet again. It won’t hit us for a few weeks that we’re out of all the cups. Just wait till late February, though, when we realise we’ve only seen Liverpool play three...
by Rob Gutmann | Jan 27, 2017 | Footie
IT’S so very cold in the city. A chill wind is blowing up the Mersey and there’s no sign of respite. These are harsh times for Liverpool. The Reds are on the ropes. I’m trying to stay chipper. Keeping it breezy around the house. Can’t let the...
by Rob Gutmann | Jan 24, 2017 | Footie
IT’S a two home games in a week, week. The Southamptons are coming to ours on Wednesday night and then the Wolverhampton Wanderers are here on Saturday. These aren’t the type of foes to stir memories of classic contests or to get the juices fully flowing. But they are...
by Rob Gutmann | Jan 21, 2017 | Footie
LIVERPOOL have played this game a thousand times before. We have anticipated it with glee, but also with caution. We have watched it unfold, far too often, in the unlikely, and yet somehow ever so inevitable manner in which we feared. The question remains, do we do it...
by Rob Gutmann | Jan 17, 2017 | Footie
I’M alright with this tie having gone to a replay. The Plymouth people notwithstanding, I suspect I’m in a small demographic. Most fellow Reds I’m talking to are seeing this fixture as something of a hindrance. They’re very wrong about this. The reasons...
by Rob Gutmann | Jan 13, 2017 | Footie
AT Old Trafford they’re talking about this being the day they re-join the title race. It’s a bigger game for them than it is for us. If we win in Manchester our chests are puffed, but the league will be far from won. A defeat would see heads go, but it is a far from...
by Rob Gutmann | Jan 10, 2017 | Footie
I’M with Jürgen Klopp. Manchester United can wait. A League Cup semi-final is a big game. The truth about winning league titles is that you absolutely cannot win all of your games. You absolutely cannot play well for the duration. The key to winning league titles is...
by Rob Gutmann | Jan 7, 2017 | Footie
THIRD round day and another reminder of the symmetry of seasons. A year ago to something around the day, Liverpool FC were paired with Exeter City, also of the Football League’s nether regions. It remains an eternal shame that this once great cup competition, and its...
