A view of LFC from across the pond

[Dougie Do'ins]

I thought the people might want to read this. Cancer + Aids don't get mentioned in name but they get referred to. Pretty much nails it all for me.

 

 

Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Reds? No One, Anymore | Bleacher Report

 

Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Reds? No One, Anymore

by Rok Stein Contributor Written on April 13, 2010

 

For the Mighty Reds, it has been a steep and long fall from grace. Liverpool Football Club have become a laughing stock. One of the most successful clubs in world history is on the slow, slippery slide, and has been now for over five years.

 

Once considered the best side on the continent, Liverpool fell behind Manchester United, Arsenal, and more recently, Chelsea, now being regarded (very kindly, I must add) as the fourth best team in England.

 

Now, in 2010, Liverpool, a shadow of their former selves, lie in sixth place in the Premier League with a two-point gap between them and seventh-placed Aston Villa. Furthermore, the teams on either side have played two games less.

 

To understand the above figure, we must first indulge ourselves in a short history lesson of Liverpool Football Club's overall accolades.

 

In the 1980s, the Mersey-side club's golden years, Liverpool won the trophy on six occasions and finished runners-up three times, an astonishing achievement, even for a Manchester United fan to admit (United equaled that record the following decade).

 

What passed for a Liverpool side in the latter stages of the new Millennium's first decade was nothing less than an insult to the great players who have worn the famous Liver bird badge, Anfield's dynasty of managerial legends and all those who have scrimped, saved, and dedicated themselves to it since its foundation 118 years ago.

 

Success in football is patchy. Manchester United went 26 years without winning the league and now Liverpool are three quarters of the way toward an identical barren spell.

 

Many people will look at the management spells of Graeme Souness and Roy Evans as a time when the club stagnated while their rivals surged past. During this period, Liverpool were said to be rebuilding and the ever-patient scouse fans seemed to accept this.

 

However, the arrival of Gerard Houllier was supposed to signify the resurrection of the Mighty Reds. It was expected that Houllier would have the kind of impact at Liverpool that Arsene Wenger had achieved with Arsenal.

 

Houllier announced a "five-year plan" to bring the glory days back to Anfield. The plan got off to a steady start with no obvious signs of improvement.

 

Then, in 2001, Liverpool won five trophies—the modern day Carling Cup, the F.A Cup, the UEFA Cup, the Charity Shield, and European Super Cup. Still no Premier League title, but surely a sign of progress, right?

 

Quite simply, no.

 

The Charity Shield and Super Cup are one-off games that amount to very little. The Carling Cup was won after a penalty shootout after being outplayed by Birmingham the whole game. The F.A Cup was won thanks to some ridiculously (and quite incredible at times) poor finishing from Arsenal, and in the UEFA Cup final, Liverpool continuously gave the lead away until an own goal in extra time sealed a 5-4 victory.

 

Since then, Houllier's solitary achievement has been beating Manchester United in the 2003 Carling Cup. Excuses were wearing thin, but not as much as The Kops patience. The five years were over and the plan had yet to see some fruition.

 

Houllier's departure in 2004 was a mix of poor youth policies (he claimed that his mostly French signings would all be the next Zinedine Zidane), his constant mention of "turning corners," lack of faith from supporters, and his failure to qualify Liverpool for Champions League football despite substantial investment in players not physically fit or mentality acute for the Premiership game.

 

But perhaps the final and most crushing blow was his statement shortly before his leave in which he proclaimed, "If they [the supporters] want to go back to the '70s and '80s, they can do that but not with me!"

 

Enter Rafa Benitez.

 

At a time when Roman Abramovich's money was a tantalizing and alluring prospect to professional footballers in Europe, Benitez managed to convince Steven Gerrard to remain at Liverpool.

 

Michael Owen was, however, sold to Real Madrid but amazingly, Liverpool won the Champions League having beaten Chelsea in a controversial semifinal (did or didn't the ball cross the line?) and came back from a 3-0 deficit at halftime to win in a penalty shootout against AC Milan, claiming the trophy.

 

Liverpool were in a dream land but not for long. A quick spike in performance of an average team on paper met an equally average finish in the coming seasons (bar last year when Liverpool finished second). Since then, all has been less than dismal.

 

Now we're at the business end of this season and while Riera is not an integral first-teamer for the Reds at the moment, his unrest—and, more importantly, his willingness to speak out—could be the tip of an iceberg that finally sinks the Spanish tactician's Anfield career.

 

We can look back and say Liverpool were weakened by the absences of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres for the majority of games after the key pair were both forced off with injury throughout the season, but to admit that would be to announce that they are nothing more than a two-man team. Furthermore, Fernando Torres' performances have been less than stellar without Steven Gerrard on the pitch.

 

To make matters worse, Liverpool's hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League have been hit with the emergence and development of other squads such as Spurs, Aston Villa, and Manchester City, leaving them with serious concerns for the future as competition for European spots have evolved from a four-horse race over the last few years.

 

Speaking to the press these days, Benitez's voice is hoarse and cracked; his face telling a true story that fourth place is now virtually a lost cause.

 

In the wake of a strangely low-key goal-less draw against Fulham in the Anfield sunshine on Sunday afternoon, the Liverpool manager's thoughts would have turned to the lost glory rather than the lost revenue that a failure to qualify for the Champions League entails—anything up to £45m.

 

But it will have a significant impact on the sale of the club and in deciding Benitez's own future.

 

Although Liverpool's owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, have appointed Barclays Capital and Martin Broughton from British Airways, to oversee the sale of the club, they have been told that they are now unlikely to get the £500m asked for Liverpool and that the eventual figure, in fact, may be closer to £400m.

 

With that price tag and a need for substantial investment in an new stadium that has more than 120 fewer corporate boxes than the Emirates Stadium, Broughton and Barclays may find the Far East the likeliest place to acquire a buyer.

 

For scousers, the reality is clear and as hard as that may be to accept, it doesn't make it any less painful when Liverpool squad member Pepe Reina exclaims that it's not important if they are playing Champions League or Europa Cup football next season. Well, I'm sorry, Pepe, but it really IS!

 

The impact of not being in the Champions League is enormous—it is around £30m off the bat, more if you get to the later stages. It is absolutely prime non-commercial revenue and you get it in hard cash. If you take over a club not in the Champions League, you might need to spend anything up to £100m to get them back up there.

 

But there is still money to be made in the Premier League, not so much by running a club but by selling it on. Three years ago, Hicks and Gillett paid £174m for the club, which had a debt of £44m. If they do manage to sell it for £500m, they will still make a very healthy profit—not a bad return for three years' work, even with all that bad feeling from the Kop.

 

But it didn't have to be like this. The resources (at times) and jigsaw pieces for a Premier League winning side were there but for the life of Benitez, he couldn't put them together. Some of his transfers were complete enigmas at best.

 

Alberto Aquilani was such an awful signing. His fee deducted Liverpool 20 million and for what? With only a handful of games left he’s still failed to make any impact. You could say he wasn’t fit, but why wasn’t he fit?

 

He was meant to be fit a month or so into the season. And if he wasn’t then why the hell buy him? In fact, there was a time I honestly believed he had been tucked away in some kind of witness protection program, his absent record outnumbering John Wayne's list of film appearances and this is the man meant to replace Xavi Alonso?

 

Were Javier Mascherano not both injured or suspended, who can say whether the Italian would have appeared at all? Regardless of his skill, talent, or ability, Aquilani has contributed very little.

 

This Liverpool team we have grown used to in recent months: slow, careless, pedestrian, uninspiring, and lacking confidence in the ability of their back four to keep the ball out of their own net can't, in my opinion, redeem themselves.

 

If people think Benitez is over-defensive, it is nothing new. Before going to Liverpool, he led a very conservative Valencia side to the Spanish title in 2001-02 and 2003-04 with an ageing Barcelona side (before the arrival of Ronaldinho, Eto’o, Deco, and Messi), standing obligingly aside while the Galácticos in Madrid were neglecting their defence. It would have been rude not to win La Liga.

 

They've also managed to mass together herds of cursed players—Lucas, Ryan Babel, David N’Gog—who tend to receive the ire of the fans but it is the key players who have not been performing also. Steven Gerrard looked mystified at Benitez's decision to replace Fernando Torres with N'Gog against Birmingham who then went on to pass up two positive opportunities.

 

It is not as though every single time Lucas kicks the ball he passes it to the opposition, loses possession, or that he concedes penalties every time he tackles an opponent. He is just so horribly ordinary and represents, in the eyes of observers, the hand brake which Benitez has permanently engaged in this Liverpool team and that's exactly what the problem is—far too many ordinary players who wouldn't be fit to be the tea-lady for Ian Rush, Kenny Dalglish, or Ray Houghton in an ideal world, a distant past.

 

Perhaps Liverpool find themselves in a situation not so different to that of Manchester United in the way Benitez has had to rely too heavily on second-rate footballers. Since when was Liverpool ever a two-man-team? Can you remember a time? If so, then enlighten me. Currently, several official squad members should not be within the same postcode of that red shirt let alone wear one on a weekend afternoon.

 

The indirect consequence of Lucas’ (and others) continued presence on the Anfield pitch is that Fernando Torres remains isolated, ill-served and burdened by the ever-increasing pressure to provide the goals that will haul Liverpool’s increasingly disastrous season back on track.

 

So far this year, a total of 54 goals have been scored and I can't see them equaling their 77 last year in the final few matchups. Alternatively, they conceded 27 last year and 33 so far this season. Now, some people are going to accuse me of presenting the

statistics in a way which satisfies my argument.

 

There is truth in that accusation, as statistics can be read one way or another. However, this does not mean that statistics are lies. Personally I like statistics. They are a great way to compare two things and also to diagnose problems. So throw my arguments out if you wish, but that doesn’t make them any less true.

 

I don't want to rant on one specific underachiever, so I will accept that, ultimately, everyone must be held accountable. If those two (you know who they are) aren't firing on all cylinders, it is tempting to believe the rest of the squad wonder why they ought to bother.

 

Yes, Xabi Alonso has left, but this season Liverpool were supposed to have signed a half-decent right-back. By and large, players who played very well last season are playing very badly this season. Admittedly, Gerrard and Torres are as open to this criticism as the rest of the squad, possibly more-so, as they have the greater capacity to perform.

 

All this kerfuffle distracts from a more pertinent observation: Benitez’s conservatism should be no barrier to success even if that comes in the form of finishing second last year. Of course, there has been bad discisions but he is not to blame one hundred percent. No, the main difference this season is the players and the boardroom. The same players, yet somehow different ones. Either they have stopped believing, or their opponents have stopped believing in their reputation. Perhaps they have just been found out.

 

Indeed, Liverpool's recent slump, if only temporarily, will now alarm even the most optimistic of Kopites—you know, the ones who hold aloft signs on the Kop reading ‘In Rafa We Trust’ or similar blandishments. Perhaps it's the defeatism he portrays in his body language in a league littered with egomaniacs and traditionalists.

 

I can’t remember whether it was Brian Glanville or Danny Baker but somebody once said that Britain needs a strong pound and a strong Liverpool. Sure, the team are no longer competitive at the level one instinctively feels they should occupy and supporters should now treat any declaration from the club with several vigorous shakes of salt. Whatever your personal allegiance, it is difficult to avoid the thought that if something is wrong with Liverpool F.C then something must be wrong with football.

 

Not the actual game itself, however. Brilliance can be seen in those talented individuals all over the continent (Messi, Rooney, and Cristiano Ronaldo, anyone?), rather it is the controlling personnel who are letting the game down who were at best well-meaning but inept and at worst malevolent asset-strippers.

 

Obviously, in Liverpool's case, there must be something wrong with a game which allows two co-chairmen to swan in, buy a club with money borrowed against wishful ‘future earnings’ and preside over such chaos.

 

It would be crass for Manchester Utd, Chelsea or Everton fans to carp in such circumstances; to do so would be to do English football a massive disservice. Manchester Utd are themselves in financial trouble but with their revenue, Manchester Utd will always be a power. Liverpool don’t have that commercial assurance. They remain a likable corner shop in a new world of mega-stores.

 

Teams are entitled to play Liverpool at football and beat them. Liverpool fans are not entitled to support a successful team. They are, though, entitled to expect hope and dignity. The club should be in credit as far as the general football-loving English public are concerned. Whatever those who fawn over Arsene Wenger would have you believe, Liverpool have given us the finest club side English football has ever seen. Their 1987/88 season should be compulsory viewing for any young player learning their trade.

 

That season they provided us with moments of pure genius beyond number: John Barnes’s wonderful slalom goal against Queens Park Rangers; Steve McMahon’s extraordinary assist for a John Aldridge goal against Arsenal, where he saved the ball on the touchline with his sole before feeding Peter Beardsley; Barnes’ through ball to Steve McMahon and back heel before Beardsley’s goal in the Merseyside derby at Anfield.

 

Those, too, were the days when Liverpool had not just a great team but were a wise club. Real 'Liverpool people' occupied boardroom seats. Recently, the club have made a habit of jettisoning perfectly sound players. Craig Bellamy, Peter Crouch and Robbie Keane have all fled, disillusioned after spells on the bench while the upper echelons remains stubbornly wedded to a confounded formation despite all evidence that it does not get the best out of these individuals strengths.

 

It is now not fanciful to imagine Steven Gerrard, for the club’s good as well as his own, leaving while he can still command a large transfer fee. I also suspect Benitez to bow out and sign on at Real Madrid.

 

Where now is the wisdom at Anfield? The air of serial competence; the sense that, even if the team are not very good, it is reasonable to believe good times are not far away. Where, too, is the quality of being admirable?

 

Until the owners depart, tails between briefcases, Liverpool will not be cured. There is only one way the club is going under its current guise. For now, sorting the club out off the pitch must take priority over any panicky short-term measures, otherwise “You’ll Never Walk Alone” will be in danger of becoming Merseyside’s anthem for doomed youth.

 

“The only way to change things in football is to win games” - Rafa Benitez.

[BolshieBastard]

Reads like it is, a manc fan gloating at us.

[Dougie Do'ins]

Reads like it is, a manc fan gloating at us.

Did'nt know he was a Manc fan but for me it's still hard to disagree with any of it's content.

[razor]

Very good read.

 

I see a certain dignity in being a corner shop, but I think that's more apt a description for someone like West Ham myself. We're a bit bigger than that.

[BolshieBastard]

Did'nt know he was a Manc fan but for me it's still hard to disagree with any of it's content.

 

I think this

In the 1980s' date=' the Mersey-side club's golden years, Liverpool won the trophy on six occasions and finished runners-up three times, an astonishing achievement, even for a Manchester United fan to admit (United equaled that record the following decade).[/quote']

 

and a few other parts give it away, really.

[Pidge]

I got as far as the words "steep and long fall" and thought 'that's a bit contradictory', especially considering we've fallen four places, not four leagues... hatchet job is cat shit.

[Coro]

 

Until the owners depart' date=' tails between briefcases, Liverpool will not be cured. There is only one way the club is going under its current guise. For now, sorting the club out off the pitch must take priority over any panicky short-term measures, otherwise “You’ll Never Walk Alone” will be in danger of becoming Merseyside’s anthem for doomed youth.

[/quote']

 

Spot on that.

[Funkasy]

all so very fucking true!

 

from top to bottom its all just so fucking wrong

 

FUCK!

[Section_31]

What passed for a Liverpool side in the latter stages of the new Millennium's first decade was nothing less than an insult to the great players who have worn the famous Liver bird badge

 

That bit's bollocks, we've had and do have some top quality players in the squad, we were also playing some awesome attacking football last season but Rafa simply decided to pull the plug on it, making out the squad is an insult to these great sides of yesteryear is bollocks, our football is yes, but we have players there who don't deserve to be tarred with that particular brush.

 

Saying Houllier didn't improve us after Evans is also bollocks, he turned us into one of the meanest defences in the league and brought in some solid, top quality players - Hyypia and Hamann notable successes.

[zigackly]

It's obvious that's written by a Manc. It sets out to seem reasonable but mostly damns with faint praise.

[Section_31]

It's obvious that's written by a Manc. It sets out to seem reasonable but mostly damns with faint praise.

 

The smug undertone of mancary masquerading as genuine footy banter is deffo there, we've all heard it in a pub at some point I'm sure.

 

"The reason youz aven't won nofin for yerz right is becoz you should nevoh av got riddoh Ince, we didn't wannim back like because iz best yerz were beyind im wonnih buh he was what youz needed like youz like."

[col06]

Reads like it is, a manc fan gloating at us.

 

I stopped reading when it mentioned the writer was a fan of them

[Sangria]

Not really interested in a manc showing our short comings I am too well aware of it myself.

[Unrighteous]

Some of it is over-dramatised... but I can't argue with a fair amount of that article.

[Paco]

A lot of truth there and it's hard to read and not accept it. Two of our last 3 big money signings have been absolute disasters and we are heading for our second worst premier league points haul under Rafa in a season we should have been going one better than last year. I don't think the article is well balanced. For someone who claims to like statistics, he fails to mention that statistically we became the best team in Europe under Rafa. There have been good times and bad but the concentration of bad this year is totally unacceptable. Minimum expectation is 4th place for this club. That's the bare minimum.

[WaltonRed]

Yank plus Manc = clueless cunt.

 

Move on people nothing to see here.

[Razoray]

"far too many ordinary players who wouldn't be fit to be the tea-lady for Ian Rush, Kenny Dalglish, or Ray Houghton in an ideal world, a distant past"

Is that a joke, good player but jesus there must be 20-30 better players he could have picked?

 

"The Carling Cup was won after a penalty shootout after being outplayed by Birmingham the whole game. The F.A Cup was won thanks to some ridiculously (and quite incredible at times) poor finishing from Arsenal, and in the UEFA Cup final, Liverpool continuously gave the lead away until an own goal in extra time sealed a 5-4 victory"

And shall we mention that the Mancs were ridiculously outplayed by Bayern in one European Cup and a slip by Mongo away from losing the only other one your lot has won in the past 42 years?

 

"We can look back and say Liverpool were weakened by the absences of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres for the majority of games after the key pair were both forced off with injury throughout the season, but to admit that would be to announce that they are nothing more than a two-man team"

Have you seen the Mancs play the past 2 league games with one player missing? Surely you'd prefer to support a 2 man team than a one man team. If the amount of appearances Torres and Rooney had this season were swapped, then I believe that the league positions would be close to being swapped also.

 

"Before going to Liverpool, he led a very conservative Valencia side to the Spanish title in 2001-02 and 2003-04 with an ageing Barcelona side (before the arrival of Ronaldinho, Eto’o, Deco, and Messi), standing obligingly aside while the Galácticos in Madrid were neglecting their defence. It would have been rude not to win La Liga"

But you forget to mention above that while the Mancs were "equalling records" in the 90's that they were doing so by overcoming footballing powerhouses like Big Rons Villa and Blackburn fucking Rvs - no offence Kenny.

 

I agree with some posters that there is a fair bit of truth in the above article but the clown that wrote it is a self absorbed Sky generation know it all "cause I heard Andy Gray say it" prick!

[Chinandeler Bong]

Agree, lots of it spot on, dont care who wrote it , its all true.

[OhioRed]

From the comments:

 

Alex Daulby said:

 

"Més que un club" The Barcelona model is the only way Liverpool can retain it's soul and remain an institution. If being a faceless corporation who's own fans choose not to wear the club colours or need to be given flags to wave is the price to pay to win the title, I'll do without it thanks.

The problem with the game is graphically illustrated at Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge. In the parts of the ground even the advertisers don't want, the clubs puts banners with stale slogans on, in the exact spots the "real" fans would have their home made ones proudly on display if they where able to afford to take their kids to the game in the way no doubt their fathers did with them.

[Newport]

Reads like it is, a manc fan gloating at us.

 

Too damn right. No matter how neutral they are trying to be you always see the snide comments shining through.

[05 Milan]

I suspect most wouldn't be having these issues with the article if he hadn't been a manc. Which is funny.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

I'd stopped reading after 'for over five years'. We've won the European Cup, gone to another final, won the FA Cup and we finished just shy of the title last year.

 

Total shit. I dread to think of the cock throbery in the rest of the article.

[ZonkoVille77]

Alot of good points and home truths there in fairness.

 

Still managed to show that he's a smug manc cunt though.

[INTORRESTING]

Not giving much credit to Rafa for finishing ahead of barca and madrid is ridiculous

[coachpotato]

Some worthy points, but let's face it, no manc can be objective when talking about us and vice-versa.