Good article about Sunday from S. Kelly (TTWAR)

[Dublin Red]

Reality bites as capitulation complete

By Steven Kelly

DON’T look back. Did I say last week that great teams should be able to overcome difficulties? We were going to be tested sooner or later, but couldn’t they have eased us in gently? A goal and a man down at the hellhole threw us in at the deep end somewhat.

I also claimed that Mascherano was the man for a crisis. For sale: one crystal ball, big crack in it after being catapulted from window.

I’d spent last week reading various Red views through my fingers. Yes, we’d won a number of games and looked good in the process.

And I know how it feels. You get tired of being miserable. It is not the natural state of the supporter and if you can’t smile after seven victories, you never will again. But (and there always is one) a certain temperance was necessary, a smidgen of perspective at least.

The quality of opponents had to be taken into consideration, the gap between those recently vanquished and those on the horizon.

Few could be warned, the optimists being rather rambunctious of late. Even the players came out with some nonsense about how United should be “worried”. Yeah, Old Trafford was awash with spat-out fingernails.

I know the lad who writes a similar column for the local paper every Friday, in which he admitted he’d placed a bet on Liverpool for the title!

He’d have been better off buying a paper to check the table — and a calculator.

Cockiness was asking for trouble, and we got it in spades on Sunday.

You felt like De Niro waiting for that punch in Raging Bull. Time stopped, it took an eternity, we knew it was coming but could not move out of the way.

Ferguson’s preposterous mind games regarding Ronaldo’s safety were surely not going to influence one of our top officials.

And his two-faced call for “respect” would surely provoke more open-mouthed astonishment than Pavarotti’s speech at a Bulimia Convention.

No, it worked. All week long there were demands to treat referees with dignity, but the campaign would not start with Cole or Terry or that odious potty-mouth Rooney.

It would start with a foreigner playing at Old Trafford. Now hands up who didn’t see that one coming? Some of the officials in England are incredibly xenophobic.

It puts us on the wrong side of the argument of course. Who doesn’t cringe when these arrogant, overpaid brats rampage across the pitch pursuing their pitiful, elderly, near-blind prey? Mascherano has a tendency to over the top in the verbal arts, and no doubt Boro fans thought of karma as he (eventually) left the field.

Yet Bennett’s cowardice overrides everything. He could see Torres being hit from behind by one United player after another, and did nothing but book Torres for complaining! So much for protecting the talent. He’d already booked the Argentinian for his first foul.

You know it’s not your day when Wes Brown joins that huge list of awful Mancs who put the ball in your net. You thought Silvestre and O’Shea were bad enough, and it’s only persistent injury that delays the worst-case scenario of a Neville strike. It’ll happen one day.

The red card took the game beyond reach, though frankly it looked ominous before that. It’s harsh to say Rafa had a convenient excuse but facts have to be faced. Ronaldo is accused of not performing in big matches but has now scored more goals in this fixture than the entire Liverpool playing staff in four years — one.

The rebound from O’Shea in 2004 is all we have to show from eight league meetings under Benitez. It’s an atrocious record, one even the incompetent Souness can laugh at.

United do have a better team, but they had that under our three previous managers and they never capitulated to Ferguson so readily and so often. The usual filth poured out of the away end, and there seemed little reaction from the home sections. It was as if they could barely summon the enmity any more, apart from the usual snide post-match ambushes.

Their revenge was sweet; an easy three points, and the harshest truth of all — they’ve almost stopped caring about us. We are no longer a threat, and that hurt more than any brick or bottle.

[PaulMcC]

Does he write for Irish newspaper?

If he does, why?

[Rashid]

Great article and it begs the question of "mentality" and what type we have in these games under Rafa. I don't think Rafa can be blamed for Sunday, but I do think he had a job to do geeing the lads up for it. It's like we know we are going to lose.. it's like what we used to do to Arsenal all those years ago - win no matter how poor we play.

[PaulMcC]

Surely it's the players fault if the can't show balls there.

I'm sure Rafa doesn't go there and say fuck it lads, we're gonna lose.

[DT]

He does.

It pays more.

[TheHitman]

His articles are always worth a read the eternal pessimist with Liverpool at heart

[PaulMcC]

Originally Posted by DT

He does.

It pays more.

What paper is it?

[Eldrich]

Its from the Irish Examiner.

Irish Examiner | Irish News | News from Ireland

[TK421]

That's a good read.

One thing I didn't like about Sunday, and I don't know if it was mentioned in the match thread because I haven't read it, was Rafa's "game over" gesture when Mascherano was sent off. I know many of us thought the same thing and it was born out of frustration but Rafa shouldn't be showing to the players that he's thrown in the towel.

[stringvest]

I like that. Succinct, and sums up my feelings on the subject completely.

[stringvest]

Originally Posted by TK421

That's a good read.

One thing I didn't like about Sunday, and I don't know if it was mentioned in the match thread because I haven't read it, was Rafa's "game over" gesture when Mascherano was sent off. I know many of us thought the same thing and it was born out of frustration but Rafa shouldn't be showing to the players that he's thrown in the towel.

I saw that - it was bizarre, wasn't it? Not really appropriate when there's still an hour of the game to go.

[TK421]

Originally Posted by stringvest

I saw that - it was bizarre, wasn't it? Not really appropriate when there's still an hour of the game to go.

It was a bit surprising.

[Uncle Travelling Matt]

They almost don't care about us anymore? Do me a favour......

Our progress over the last 4 years is not measured on 2 games a year against them. Load of sh*te.

There was a spell at 1-0 in the second half when they were awful and if we'd had a bit more about us we'd have punished them, we never and the rest is history. Roll on the Derby.

[PaulMcC]

Bit mad that a national paper in Ireland has a Liverpool fan writing articles on Liverpool.

God, but stranger.

Do they have other teams fans writing artiles on their clubs?

[El Rojo]

Originally Posted by PaulMcC

Bit mad that a national paper in Ireland has a Liverpool fan writing articles on Liverpool.

God, but stranger.

Do they have other teams fans writing artiles on their clubs?

They have a United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Sunderland (!) column also. Kelly's the best writer among the bunch by a mile, but his pessimism knows no depths.

[James H]

Originally Posted by PaulMcC

Bit mad that a national paper in Ireland has a Liverpool fan writing articles on Liverpool.

God, but stranger.

Do they have other teams fans writing artiles on their clubs?

I believe they have United and Chelsea writers as well.

[PaulMcC]

Fucking hell, Ireland have better writers about Liverpool than the English national press.

[aws]

Originally Posted by James H

I believe they have United and Chelsea writers as well.

Isn't the Chelsea writer that dopey cow?

[PaulMcC]

And the Mancs do care about us.

Why else would they sing about us every game?