Featured: That was the week that was (Mar 2-8 2019)

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Saturday Mar 2:

 

Some ridiculous quotes from Sterling today on how pressure from the fans got to the players in the 2014 title race when we were pipped by City. Apparently all that support made them nervous. He doesn’t have to worry about that anymore. Empty seats don’t make any noise.

 

What a crock of shite though. That team won 11 of their last 13 games and the only defeat was to third placed Chelsea. It wasn’t the pressure that did them in, it was incredibly bad luck on the Gerrard slip and then a lack of quality from the bench to change things when it became clear that Mourinho had completely done a number on us and nullified what we were good at.

 

Sure though, blame it on the fans if it fuels the bullshit narrative coming from City that our crowd is not actually a help to the players, but a hinderance. We’ve dropped just four points at home all season, maybe other clubs could do with having such unhelpful fans too?

 

Staying with City, they had an unimpressive 1-0 win at Bournemouth today. They didn’t play well but they didn’t need to because Eddie Howe’s men just curled up into a little ball and begged not to be hit.

 

Bournemouth became the first team since records began to not have a shot on or off target or win a single corner. I’m not sure how that’s even possible at this level of football, but this is the problem we have now. When a lot of teams play us it’s like a fucking cup final to them because they don’t want us to win the league (not Bournemouth, in fairness). 

 

When they play City they’re happy to just not get embarrassed. They aren’t arsed about winning because hardly anybody hates City because they were so insignificant for so long they haven’t had time to make any enemies. Their biggest enemies are probably fucking Macclesfield or Oldham or someone from back in the second division days.

 

Even United don’t give a shit about them, while Everton idolise the fuckers. Hell, even Chelsea went there and bent over. Wait until you see how up for it they are when they come to Anfield though. 

 

City don’t have the kind of ‘grudge matches’ we have and it’s a big advantage. I reckon Burnley might give them all they can handle, and Palace will be up for it too. The rest? Nah, City will have it easy in all of those games, including the trip to Old Trafford.

 

Meanwhile, a hat-trick for Bobby Duncan in a 7-2 win for the u18s draws him level with his partner Paul Glatzel on 24 goals apiece for the season. I like watching them and would love for one or both to make it here. It’s so tough though, and having a good international pedigree doesn’t mean as much as it used to. 

 

Michael Owen made a name for himself at youth level with us and England, and from the first time I saw him play I knew he’d make it. He’s probably the only youth team player I can ever say I was 100% sure was nailed on to be a star, and I use him as the barometer for all the other kids that have come through afterwards. Some of them have been hyped up, like Jerome Sinclair, Adam Morgan and more recently Rhian Brewster and Duncan, but honestly none of them have even come close to looking like the sure thing Owen was.

 

Duncan is a star for England youth and once scored a hat-trick against Brazil for the u17s. People get excited about that kind of thing, but there’s a long way to go between under 17 and senior football. Hell, even when they’re a couple of years older it’s still really tough to know whether they’ll make it or not. 

 

I mean, England u20s won the World Cup a couple of years ago and their star player was Dom Solanke. The lad who scored the winning goal in the final was the bang average Calvert-Lewin. 

 

I really want Duncan to be a star and perhaps he will be. There’s a hell of a long way to go though and I’ve seen too many of these young strikers come up short because the standard is just so high these days. 

Sunday Mar 3:

 

Everton 0 L 0 Well that was shite. Not as shite as last week at Old Trafford, but it was shite nonetheless. We didn’t play well but we should have won because we had all the chances. Its like the Anfield derby, a lot of shit being spoken about how well the Blues did. They played like the plucky underdogs they are and did a great job of stopping us playing and making sure we never really got a grip on the game. The rabid nature of the crowd inspired their players to put in the kind of shift they never have before, and never will again (not unless they play us when we’re going for a title again).

 

They worked their bollocks off and rode their luck. They never looked like scoring though and that’s five clean sheets on the bounce for us now, so take all this ‘bottling’ talk and stick it where the sun don’t shine. We aren’t bottling anything, but a seven point lead is not one point deficit and that’s hugely demoralising. On the group chat some of the lads have completely given up now. Others aren’t having it, I’m somewhere in the middle. I think it’s probably gone, but I also know that there’s enough time left and one result can change everything. 

 

I’m sick of seeing fans running down other fans for their lack of faith though. Honestly, how can you blame anyone who thinks we may have lost our chance to win it? There’s been an eight point swing in a couple of weeks and we’re up against a side that amassed 100 points last season. We could still win it, but truth be told it would be a pretty big upset now if we did.

 

In a perfect world everyone would keep faith that we were going to win the title regardless of how patchy our form has been since the turn of the year. Human emotions just don’t work that way though. No two people are the same and everyone reacts to setbacks in their own way. 

 

Some will believe right until the point when it’s no longer possible, and more power to them and their positive thinking. You can’t blame anybody who has thrown in the towel though. After all, this isn’t our first rodeo and in most of the others we fell off and were kicked in the head.

 

Klopp is a big fan of the Rocky movies and has even likened the Reds to the “Italian Stallion” himself (perhaps instead of taking the lads for warm weather training he should have had them growing beards and chopping logs in Siberia?). 

 

Rocky had one big advantage over us though; he had somebody writing a favourable script for him. Whoever has been writing our script over the past decade clearly has a sadistic streak and has looked to inflict as much mental anguish on us as possible. 

 

So how can you blame anybody who fears it’s about to happen again? When you’ve been repeatedly knocked down there comes a point when you decide you’d rather stay on the canvas than get up and take more punishment. Some Reds have reached that point now, whereas others are still staggering to their feet and hoping to land a knockout blow, Rocky Balboa style. 

 

Anything can still happen, but it’s perfectly understandable that some are preparing themselves for the worst possible outcome. It’s just a natural defence mechanism. It fucking sucks though, doesn’t it?

 

As for Everton, they can celebrate their 0-0 win all their like and sing about us ‘winning fuck all’, but watch them shit the bed next time out and spend the rest of the season continuing to be the embarrassment they’ve been all year. Losers.

 

 

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[jonnyp]

New 3 v Eve 2

 

Is it a questionable that your posting came after today’s results?

[A_S]

Roughly 9 weeks to overturn the 7-point deficit, but your point stands. 

 

 

[fivein05]

“As for Everton, they can celebrate their 0-0 win all their like and sing about us ‘winning fuck all’, but watch them shit the bed next time out and spend the rest of the season continuing to be the embarrassment they’ve been all year. Losers.”

 

Question:- Who you putting your money on for the Gold cup Dave?

[dave u]

I wasn't exactly going out on a limb with that.

 

Smaller teams often suffer a massive hangover after playing in a cup final.

[The Guest]

The strangest thing about the whole Woodburn thing is that he’s never looked good enough.  The times he got games in the first team he looked like a deer in headlights.  He’s not got the aggression to make it at the top level.  It’s something I can’t believe the club didn’t see.

 

The Brewster stuff is amusing. He was talking about wanting to be here for his career etc.  It is all very nice to hear but it’s difficult to see him breaking through.  He’s obviously a goal scorer at youth level but you just need so much more than that now.  I’m not sure he’s quick enough or physical enough.  Should be interesting to see how Klopp treats him when he’s ready to play and how he reacts to it.  

[sir roger]

Solanke, a finished Sturridge and Origi have all got decent game time over the past couple of years, so maybe he is in the right position to have a chance. 

 

[johnsusername]

"Between handball, offside and VAR I’m genuinely starting to hate this game."
 

Yep.

[DaveT]

To pick up on a theme - the semi of the Youth Cup game against Watford has been set for 12pm on Sunday. So, anyone who was thinking of going, like me - would have to leg it straight down to the Twelfth Man to watch the Fulham game. Unless it goes to ET/penalties, in which case you're fucked. Why would the club accept (propose?!) this timing?

As for the u23s - Curtis Jones bounced right back on Friday at Derby, was really good. Adam Lewis was also pretty good as DM, especially after being shown up by that Everton right winger ..... who should have been sent off for an awful challenge on Woodburn, I think it was - ref didn't even give a foul! I think we all agree the refs in the PL are woeful - but drop down a level and they're even worse.