by Neil Atkinson | Jan 18, 2017 | Footie, Match Review
WHERE’S the balance for this? Where is the tone? Because it is the rhetoric which tends to let these affairs down. For all the talk of the magic of the cup, and while acknowledging that tonight was a significant game for Plymouth Argyle and for two or three...
by Neil Atkinson | Jan 15, 2017 | Footie, Match Review
CAN I tell your congregation how a resurrection almost feels? There was something about that little cup run combined with Sunderland combined with everyone else winning football matches for what felt like forever which hurt. Which dented. Which made you wake nights...
by Neil Atkinson | Jan 11, 2017 | Footie, Match Review
THAT should probably be all over bar the shouting. Liverpool were dreadful for the first hour of that game and they were poor for the last half an hour, but they remain in the tie. Had you offered Claude Puel and his side a one goal lead before a ball was kicked, I...
by Neil Atkinson | Jan 8, 2017 | Footie, Match Review
GOOD lord. #PrayForGibbo. As ever a long season finds a way to get longer. At least this wasn’t heart-renderingly intense. The third round of the cup rarely is. I have no issues with the selection. Maybe Daniel Sturridge ahead of Divock Origi or Ben Woodburn,...
by Neil Atkinson | Jan 2, 2017 | Footie, Match Review
THERE is a scene in Paul Thomas Anderson’s best film Punch Drunk Love when the lead character played by Adam Sandler is embarrassed in a restaurant and then goes to the bathroom and absolutely kicks fuck out of it. He wallops it from pillar to post. He...
by Neil Atkinson | Dec 31, 2016 | Footie, Match Review
WEEKS before this. This: What a game this will be. Two sides who will want to play and be able to play without fear. First vs second or third. A close affair to see in the New Year. Can’t wait to take it to them. Stick it to them. Show them who is better. Should...
by Neil Atkinson | Dec 27, 2016 | Footie, Match Review
CHELSEA played. And won. Merry Christmas. Manchester City played. And won. Merry Christmas. Arsenal played. And won. Merry Christmas. For those of you still mildly concerned Manchester United played and won. Merry Christmas. (Quietly United are genuinely playing very...
by Neil Atkinson | Dec 20, 2016 | Footie, Match Review
SECOND half Liverpool remembered they were Liverpool. Everton were left with the stark reality of being Everton. Redshite that sentence? Perhaps. But this is what happened. One football side expressed superiority over the other and that superiority drained and drained...
by Neil Atkinson | Dec 14, 2016 | Footie, Match Review
BOUNCING. Absolutely bouncing. Everyone around me, bouncing out of the Riverside after Liverpool scored three goals against Middlesbrough and conceded none. Afterwards, the Liverpool squad came over and showed their appreciation and had that appreciation returned to...
by Neil Atkinson | Dec 4, 2016 | Footie, Match Review
THERE are nights when I am jealous of those who can come to massive conclusions. I just don’t have it in me after that. If you want big bold criticisms, I probably have this one: Liverpool aren’t aggressive enough at 0-2 and 1-3. They don’t do enough...
