lucozade

What if Kenny Dalglish and Brendan Rodgers are both good men. Who have both contributed to Suarez's development but not as much as Suarez, who at 26 is getting closer and closer to his peak, has himself through his own efforts. What if they both deserve credit and both give all that they have to doing their best for LFC and the only people who don't deserve any credit are the kind of cunts who get into these kindergarten discussions? I mean the factors that go into the rate at which players settle and at what rate they develop, improve and when they hit their peak and when they are in form, are long and many. We aren't even privvy to quite a few of them. This is such a shit discussion. Christ sometimes I wonder why we have so many fans who, no matter how well LFC is doing will always find some stupid shit to squabble over and a way to suck the fucking joy out of it.

Disregarding excuses and the whole "or bust" connotaion. Truthfully this is a really interesting league. It's very open and 6 teams do have a mixture of factors for and against them this season, that mean, it is more evenly matched than before. Lady luck and where the injuries fall could decide a lot. Man Utd are only a longer term injury to Van Persie away from not climbing out of the hole they are in. The focus is on the departure of Fergie but not replacing a player as crucial as Scholes & having a past his use by date Giggs, and an older defence, is equally important. They haven't done enough to refresh their squad and I wouldn't assume they will stay in the top 4. Perhaps Fergie was canny to retire when he did. Arsenal don't have that much strike power, They are dining out on a great run of form from Ramsey, there goals are coming out of midfield. They wanted Suarez for a reason and Ozil is a quality player but he's not a Suarez. Is Ramsey going to stay this prolific all season? I won't bore you all by going through the various issues and achilles heels of our opponents. Mourinho, who I hate to agree with, has said this league could be won by 6 sides and Jose didn't include us in the numbers to be nice. Long story short. We really have a shot here. I think it's understandable that many of Rodgers most ardent supporters want to manage expectations down because they want the perception to be that if he does well he's over-performed and if he doesn't they don't want him under too much pressure and I can relate to where they are coming from as he deserves support & time. However, we have a shot this year let's not adopt some defeatist attitude, let's not build our opps up into unassailable bastions of invincibility. We are in a fight, and to be one of the four best when the fight is finished is indeed very possible, more so than previously, so let's back ourselves, let's believe in ourselves and let's believe in Brendan. We're a contender, a genuine contender.

He's doing a great job. Brace yourselves. I feel a massive outbreak of cautious optimism coming on.

I think his main strength is he's a cunning shithouse rat. A clever political animal, arselicker, and super salesman. I don't think very much is his fault though, he is the master of the 'let me tell you what you want to hear' self-promoting spin that weak 'stakeholders' love and that has been earning the obsequious promotions since the dawn of time. He is a survivalist, he would sell his grandma, and his soul not far behind. He does the bidding of those above him - he has 'no spine' to go along with 'no conscience'. He is a flexible, adaptable, ingratiating corporate animal. He greets everything those above him say with "positive enthusiasm" and questions nothing. He is a conduit not a decision maker. He is a consummate relationship manager with an approval seeking disposition. He is an FSG facade, there is no substance there. He's just a front man. Well, that's what I think... and you did ask.

Let's take stock when the window closes before we hand out credit, criticism or anything in between.

Comes off the bench, carrying an injury and takes the piss big time [YOUTUBE] [/YOUTUBE] The ultimate piss-taker la pulga And who can forget this memorable piss-taking goal [YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blsCccZxU_M[/YOUTUBE]

Homeward bound

Oldies but goodies. In the treatment room In the bootroom

There is a direct quote: "I didn't say that, maybe someone else did and the main thing is that I am here now with the national team," citing Japan's Kyodo News Kyodo is one of Japan's biggest and oldest press services. It's the equivalent of PA - The Press Association in the UK. It's a wire service with over 1000 journo's working for it. Guess we just wait for something official as there may be a few more swings left in this roundabout.

The clause which Gordon Taylor has been widely quoted on, referencing 40 million and Champions League qualification, did not drop from the sky into Suarez’s contract. There were talks, there has to have been, so Suarez is telling the truth about that much. As the 40 million sum would have been negotiated, so talks were held and an agreement would have been reached about the clause that was to be added to the contract. Suarez and/or his agent would have intended the clause be a release clause. They would not have held talks in the hope of having an essentially meaningless clause added to his contract. We can’t say anything else with any certainty but we can deduce that much. So it is clear that the following has to have happened. 1. There has to have been talks 2. Suarez has to have let the club know he wanted a release clause 3. He has to have been on the level with LFC and given a full season’s notice that he required something written into his contract to let him leave for CL football this Summer if we didn’t qualify. If the above at an absolute minimum didn’t happen, there would be no clause for Gordon Taylor to talk about. So, it is probable on balance that Suarez believes a verbal agreement was reached between all parties and that his contract reflected that. He and his agent have acted in a way that is 100% consistent with a total belief that, that was the case. He now finds it is not. That the contract which would have been drafted by LFC and its lawyers does not contain a release clause that reflects what he believes was verbally agreed. Yes, he’ll be angry at anyone on his side responsible (the clause will be in english and so he would have needed to rely upon expert advice) for the failure to pick this up but his anger will be strongest towards LFC because he will genuinely feel they’ve breached his trust & good faith and it is possible that we have. Why should Suarez be so slated by so many in the fan base, looking at this objectively there is a reasonable likelihood that Suarez has some genuine grounds for grievance. None of you can say with any certainty that the club didn’t give certain assurances during talks and hasn’t conveniently distanced themselves from them now. So as I said, Brendan is insisting Suarez must apologise, well I don’t think we should hold our breath and I’m not even sure an apology is owed One other thing, Suarez did not lie when he said he would like to leave England and the English media specifically behind him. He would. It’s the truth. He also wants to play CL football, he told the club of this over a year ago. These are not mutually exclusive concepts. The one statement doesn’t make the other a lie. He wants to leave England, he hates the English media and he wants to play CL on the continent preferably. However, he hasn’t been able to get that. If he must remain in England because he has zero option then he still wants the second part of his wish list, he wants CL. It’s really fucking simple. He admitted he said Negro. He admitted he dived. His honesty has been problematic. However, we are now meant to believe he has turned into a machiavellian style man giving interviews to the Telegraph & Guardian consisting entirely of a web of lies? Hmmm, yeah, right. Why would a bloke from Uruguay who was loved by the Ajax fans but left there, why would he have any special loyalty to us? Even Carra says we aren’t a good enough side for a guy of Suarez’s ability. CL is his dream and he wants to improve as a player. He has a finite career. And the obvious irony is he is being called selfish and some kind of childish cunt for wanting the very thing, that we want him to stay and help us to get. How fucking ironic. I don’t think Suarez is blameless but I won’t call him all kinds of names either as I think this matter isn’t as simple as many make out. I don’t think a formal apology should be requested.