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Fuck it, I'm taking back control of this shit. We are looking like a rancid corpse at present. Bereft of energy, belief, incision and resilience. Some of our stalwarts of recent years barely resemble footballers at the moment, and it is certainly not helping the younger players when the experienced players around them look like they've no idea what they are doing anymore. What the fuck is going on? This is not a blip. I've seen similar from too many of our better teams, and, one extreme exception aside, it has happened the season after we finished second in the league. The fixtures keep coming, we are actually able to have a breather, but rather than steady improvement, we look like a squad in decline. Anyway: Dumb as fuck. Effluence. Ragged. Ball-less. Loser's mentality. Off-key. Out-of-luck. Shit-on-a-stick. Headless chickens. Ineffectiveness. Tactical naivety. Easy to play against. I don’t ask for much, but what I'm seeing is the above. Last season’s corresponding fixture came towards the end of season run-in. The shite were either in or close to the drop zone while we were going for the league title as part of a quadruple tilt. Lampard had Everton's players looking to waste time, dive and feign injury from the off. Pickford constantly fell on the ball and took an age over goal kicks. Anthony Gordon spent the entire game looking for fouls. Their fans were loving the 'Dogs of War' tribute act their rabble were serving up. All the main talking points were in the second half. Gordon (again) tried to win a penalty and was denied as he's the one who'd left a leg in looking for contact. Robbo nodded in the opener to lift our crowd who had been getting more and more frustrated. Div made sure of the points by nodding in a second at the far post. Ali then took the piss out of Pickford by making a routine catch and then flopping to the ground theatrically. 2-0 then, and the 3 points and bragging rights remained with the Reds. I was more focussed on what we would be doing than how Everton might fare, with a month or so of the season to go. It was better when the then defending champions came to Anfield in November 1987. Kenny and the club had responded to a trophy-less 1986/87 by upgrading the squad with the additions of Aldo (he's actually joined in the spring the previous season to get some bedding in time prior to Rushie leaving in the summer), Beardo, Spackman, Houghton and Barnesy. The latter in particular was in the sort of form that put him in the world class category, and the team was an attacking behemoth levelling all-comers. McMahon set us on our way, racing onto a delightful through-ball from our Jamaican-born superstar to fire the ball high over Big Nev as the keeper came out to smother. Barnesy upon arrival had been seen as a skilful winger who would beat players and get crosses in, but also had goals in his locker. What was less well documented was his ability to pick a pass, and he would demonstrate this ability throughout his Liverpool career. It just became more prominent after he’d lost his turn of pace and took up a central midfield role. The whole team was purring, and our Geordie striker with the wonky chin got in on the act with a brilliant second goal. Barnesy again with a great back-heel set McMahon away down our left, and his ball to Aldo in the middle saw the striker challenged by his marker. The ball fell to Beardo and he hit a left foot rocket that whistled past Big Nev and into the net. McMahon had been getting more involved with the attack all season, and those are not even my favourite moments of his. That was against Arsenal when he stopped a ball from going out for a throw-in on the touchline, his momentum carrying him into the fans in the Paddock before he raced back to retrieve the loose ball with a great dribble to set up a goal. Here’s a highlights package of that derby game. November 1987’s big box office success was Fatal Attraction, starring Michael Douglas and Glenn Close. He plays the married adulterer, and she is his one night stand who gets obsessed and clingy, and unravels to turn into a complete nutter. The film basically coined the term “bunny boiler”, as her character boils the family’s pet rabbit at one point. Seriously unhinged, and seriously difficult to kill! The most unfathomable aspect of the film though is that Glenn Close’s character is supposed to be desirable. Bit difficult when you look like Mark Hughes with tits! Douglas had a string of hits in the 80s as he emerged as a leading man, finally stepping out from the vast shadow cast by his famous dad. It’s often said that form goes out of the window when assessing the teams’ chances in the derby. And we are completely out of form. They've replaced Lampard with Dyche so you know the sort of football you are going to get. Have we got what it takes to overcome it? We normally do manage to overcome it, but I'm not sure any of our players bar Hendo are familiar with the predicament we are currently in. I simply don't know what we'll get here. Well I know a little bit. The game is on MNF so Neville will be in full-on smug mode and Carra has always being fond of the alhouse underdog mentality. We have to somehow introduce the right attitude and application, no matter who lines up in red, and get the 3 points. That’s what each league game is about now. 3 points, nothing more. The bigger picture will take care of itself provided we take care of the little details. Go out there and get it done.