Search the Community

And so to that lot. A side who we probably want to beat more than any other due to the historical rivalry and bragging rights. We smashed the shit out of Ole’s lot at Old Trafford last season, coming away with a 5-0 win. Since then they have had a change of manager, protested yet again against the Glazers, and now there’s the possibility that their owners might actually sell provided their valuation is met. As ever, they spent a shitload of money again last summer and, though their fans are still of the mindset that they are not spending enough, performances and especially results have improved significantly enough for the Norwich scarves to be kept locked away. Since they relegated Slabhead to the bench and binned off the preening Portuguese ego, they and especially Rashford have found another gear. United legend Howard Webb is now in charge of refs and VAR, and they ended their six-year trophy drought by beating Geordie Arabia in the Milk Cup final. All seems well on Snake Mountain. Anyway: Nous. Accuracy. Skill. Audacity. Luck. Drive. Ruthlessness. Organisation. Nerve. Energy. I don’t ask for much. Last season’s corresponding fixture showcased, for the second time, an absolute gulf between the teams. By this time, Ralf Rangnick was in the away dugout and they were getting battered by everybody. The talk before the game was all about how many we’d put past them, and it wasn’t just ill-advised bravado. They were without Ronaldo after some personal tragedy that you wouldn’t wish upon anyone, and the entire stadium burst into a round of applause in the seventh minute in tribute. We were already a goal to the good after the sort of win-the-ball-back-quickly-and-break that is a hallmark of Klopp’s great teams resulted in a tap-in for Lucho. The second was the goal of the night, with crisp passing and movement ending with a brilliant reverse ball from Sadio freeing Mo, who rolled in past a flailing De Gea. Pogba cried off with an injury (he was getting overrun anyway). We eased up for the next half an hour or so, and early in the second half it was the Mancs trying to get back into the match, but we saw it off reasonably comfortably before stepping on the gas once more. Robbo put on the afterburners to race clear down the left and square for Sadio to get a deserved goal with a clean controlled low finish into the far corner from the edge of the area. Mo put the gloss on the night, being played in and dinking the ball over defender and keeper as they closed in. We eased up again after that, though of course the Kop were begging for 5 once more. 4-0 in the end. This was our most ruthless and dominated performance and result against them at Anfield in the PL era. It wasn’t even a common occurrence in our 70s and 80s heyday. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDJkq16yX5Q In May 1977, we were looking to retain the title we’d won the previous year, and Man City had emerged as the nearest challengers. QPR had gone close the previous year, and Nottingham Forest would go all the way the following year. The First Division was a very open contest in those days by the looks of things, even when Liverpool generally came out on top. Liverpool and United would meet again in the FA Cup final a few weeks later, but there was a league game at Anfield first. It finished 1-0 thanks to an early goal from King Kev, with the diminutive forward leaping like a salmon to bury a header from Doc’s cross. Even then, the media talked up the game as a dress rehearsal for the cup final. The FA Cup was by far the biggest deal domestically back then. This was also Kev’s last goal for Liverpool. He didn’t score in our last few games though his contribution is undeniable. He would transfer to Hamburg for half a million that summer. The fella from Celtic we spent the bulk of that fee on didn’t do too badly though, did he?! I can’t find highlights of the league game so here's the match report. The big box office draw in early May 1977 was the film many consider to be Woody Allen’s finest, and it’s certainly the most decorated. Annie Hall was co-written and directed by Allen and starred Diane Keaton in the title role. At the time, perhaps her biggest role had been Michael Corleone’s girlfriend and then wife Kay Adams in the first two Godfather films. Allen also starred as the (neurotic, what else?) New York comedian looking over his relationship with Annie Hall, showcased over a backdrop of how they got together and how things slowly unravelled. Can a committed neurotic ever truly settle with such a free spirit? It is definitely funny in places and very inventive but at the same time, it’s all a bit hipster in being a film that you’re told you have to like if you have any pretensions of being a cinephile. Our last few league games, while performance-wise still a mile off where we want to be, are hopefully a stabilising footing to allow us to creep back up the table and start offering a credible threat to gaining a place in the top 4. That is the most realistic aim in a season that started with us off the boil and has plummeted to some real depths at times. We were very poor against this lot back in September, and need to display a level of resilience, concentration and control largely lacking in a forgettable season. Being too open is not an option, and get beat is definitely not an option. Some fireworks in attack are always welcome, whatever the opposition. Go out there, be what we are supposed to be, do it for 90 minutes plus whatever is added on, and get the job done. Win.