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Back in Champions League action again. Our last appearance in this competition has no happy memories whatsoever, and on the pitch at least, our form in that game has carried on into this season. First-choice forwards that are not quite on it, and a midfield hampered by injury to the extent where it looks a bit as though none of them are playing at full pelt in order to avoid decimating the numbers still further. A trip to Naples isn’t the ideal place to start getting things back on track, but it has to start somewhere. For the fans, the shit they experienced in Paris and the shit English fans in general routinely face when travelling to watch their team in the city on the edge of Mount Vesuvius would lead me to think this is one game best swerved by the fans. The Diego Armando Maradona stadium (formerly the Stadio San Paolo) hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for the Reds. Anyway: Sharpness. Tenacity. Accuracy. Bravery. Brightness. Yer ma. Class. Unity. Nous. Tactical flexibility. Strength. I don’t ask for much. Our best result in Campania actually came during the dark days of the Roy Hodgson era, when the team’s top players were all unhappy, the previous owners had been at war with the rest of the board and the fans were practically militant. Only a couple of weeks or so before this fixture in October 2010, the interim chairman Martin Broughton, with support from Ian Ayre and Christian Purslow, had approved the sale of the club to John W Henry’s US investment vehicle New England Sports Ventures (NESV, of course now known as FSG). It was a Europa League group match in a group that consisted of the Reds, Napoli, Steaua Bucharest and Utrecht. Liverpool would top the group and remain unbeaten, but performances were largely insipid. The Napoli game saw the likes of Jovanovic, Ngog, Konchesky and Poulsen in the starting line-up, with other stellar names like Brad Jones, Shelvey, Eccleston and Joe Cole on the bench. The Italians had a young Hamsik (he must have been born with Steven Tyler’s face and a mohawk) and Cavani in attack. The game finished goalless. No need to sit through footage of this one. Just make do with a pic of Babel missing our best chance. In the run-up to Halloween, Paranormal Activity 2 topped the box office on 21st October 2010. I’ve only seen the first film which wasn’t that bad (the lead actress Katie Featherston was quite tidy), but apparently the second film is a prequel, telling the story of how all the demonic shit first started. Like with many films of this nature, it’s centred on some cursed deal-with-the-devil stupidity and things go wrong when the non-demonic side inevitably breaks the agreement. I’m using films in these threads yet it seems as though every time I write, it looks like there are loads I haven’t actually seen. I’ve seen plenty, they just never seem to coincide with topping the US box office around the time Liverpool once played our next opponent! One of the big news stories on 21st October 2010 was a bus bombing on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. The authorities believed the attack, which killed at least 9 people, to have been carried out by a pro-Islamist faction called Al-Khobar. Just another example of senseless killing carried out in the name of religion then. We are all generally desensitised to this stuff precisely because history is littered with examples. Thiago is supposed to be back in training now, but this game might have come round a bit too early for him to be considered for the squad. Hendo, Ox and Naby won’t be available. Curtis was absent from the matchday squad for the derby but might be a sub option for this one. Arthur Melo has his international clearance and might even see some involvement here, particularly as Phil 2.0 suffered a dead leg in the Everton game and might not be risked. Diogo is available in the attack again. We might be down on numbers but more importantly, we have lacked cohesion this season. We’ve also been out-worked by our opponents, and you wonder how much of that is down to us conserving energy, and how much is down to our players being physically undercooked. Napoli lost 3 of their key players over the summer in Koulibaly, Insigne and Mertens but there is a growing consensus that they have bought extremely well. Kim Min-jae in defence has been as solid as Koulibaly, and Georgian winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is being talked up as the revelation of the Serie A season so far. He has looked electric - a real livewire whom we must keep an eye on. They all call him ‘Kvara’ and let’s be honest, that’s much easier than trying to pronounce (or spell!) his name. I don’t think there is an issue with our players’ attitude or motivation, but application has been a real problem. Let’s start by addressing it now, being more mentally and physically attuned to the demands of the season, and get ourselves off to the best start in this season’s group stage. Despite what’s currently being written about us, we still have what it takes. Oh, and if any of you are travelling to Naples, stay safe.