It’s only the presence of Steven Gerrard that occasionally lifts us out of this state of mediocrity, unfortunately, we're as close to being a 'one man team' as is physically possible.
If it wasn’t for our captain, the sad, but brutally harsh reality is, year in, year out, we would be scraping about in the hustle and bustle of mid table. I genuinely dread to think where on earth this football club would be without Gerrard, he’s dragged us kicking and screaming through the last five years, the fact that many fans openly claim they would prefer the 30 or 40 million, is quite simply mind boggling…
To quote Jamie Carragher… "I've said before I wouldn't swap anyone for Steven Gerrard. If you brought anyone into our team, whether it be Kaka or Ronaldinho, and took Gerrard out, we'd be a weaker team."
The past two games have illustrated this point more than any other. In both matches we spent the best part of an hour, huffing and puffing, playing Rafa’s ‘compact’ football, aimlessly driving balls up to Crouch and Kuyt and generally looking completely devoid of any pace, creativity or invention. Our last two matches would have almost certainly finished 0-0, were it not for our skipper, who is so obviously a class above every other player in our squad, it’s almost embarrassing, his two goals were superbly well taken, he's nearing his best form once again. Our current style of football is as bad, if not worse, than anything I ever saw under Houllier, we’re probably the most defensive side in the League, by quite some distance.
And, do you want to know something? It bores me out of my ****ing mind.
In fact, I’d go further than that, much further than that, I *hate* watching us play.
People talk a lot about the ‘lack of atmosphere’ at Anfield these days, did it ever occur to anyone that it’s almost impossible to get excited or involved watching the kind of mind-numbingly tedious football we have been subjected to, week in, week out for the best part of ten years ?
Besides, who can genuinely claim to get *excited* about the ‘race for fourth place’ ?
Our lack of movement up front is quite frankly my biggest concern with the current side, and a major, major weakness that needs to be addressed and put right, sooner rather than later. We’re so static up front, it’s untrue, and our side is positively screaming for a player, who possesses even the vaguest level of imagination in the final third. Pongolle and Cisse (who is back in full training by the way) are not world class footballers, they’re not the answer to all our problems, it’s debateable whether they were ever good enough to play for Liverpool club, but, without question, they would both be in my first choice side to face Portsmouth on Wednesday night, that is if Rafa hadn’t let them go without a penny back in return, of course. Why so ? Because they offer infinitely more going forward than Pennant, Bellamy, Gonzalez, Crouch etc combined, they, especially Djib, offer something ‘exciting’, a refreshing element of surprise, a bit of raw energy, pace, design. I’m sick and tired of watching ****e, robotic, footballers being given no end of praise, just because they ‘work hard’....
I’d love to say I trust Rafa Benitez with the future of this football club, but I don’t. Any trust I still maintain comes from the genius of Steven Gerrard, and Anfield’s ability to rouse itself for the big European nights. I still think we’ll win trophies under Rafa, in fact, our style of football dictates that, in the cups at least, we’ll always, always be a difficult side to beat, in fact, still I fancy us to lift something this season.
But will we ever win the Premiership under Benitez ? No, we wont.
It’s nothing to do with money, we’ve spent almost 250 million pounds over the past ten years on players, (Rafa’s had 80 million alone), that’s infinitely more than Arsenal, and not a great deal less than Manchester United, it’s not our fault Houllier and Benitez have pissed the vast majority of it away on players that were no where near good enough to mount a title challenge. For ****’s sake, we came closer to lifting the title under Roy Evans than we ever have done under the most recent two men in charge and at least we played good, attacking, ambitious football back then……
It’s a great shame and a source of real sadness to me that our greatest, proudest and most historic achievement, our eighteen league titles, will be, without doubt, surpassed by Man Utd, in the not too distant future, five years maybe, ten maximum.
I don’t care about the time or money I place into this football club, it’s the emotional investment that kills me, I’m not saying this to be controversial or contentious, and I apologise for the rather scattered, ‘rant’ nature of this post, but It’s just how I feel, I’m not losing interest in this club, that’s impossible, I’ve been well and truly sucked in, beyond all reverse. But I am losing faith, confidence and assurance with our current squad and manager. Steven Gerrard is the only bright spark dragging me from a state of complete apathy when I watch us play….
And all this after a win and a clean sheet, eh ? How depressing.
If it wasn’t for our captain, the sad, but brutally harsh reality is, year in, year out, we would be scraping about in the hustle and bustle of mid table. I genuinely dread to think where on earth this football club would be without Gerrard, he’s dragged us kicking and screaming through the last five years, the fact that many fans openly claim they would prefer the 30 or 40 million, is quite simply mind boggling…
To quote Jamie Carragher… "I've said before I wouldn't swap anyone for Steven Gerrard. If you brought anyone into our team, whether it be Kaka or Ronaldinho, and took Gerrard out, we'd be a weaker team."
The past two games have illustrated this point more than any other. In both matches we spent the best part of an hour, huffing and puffing, playing Rafa’s ‘compact’ football, aimlessly driving balls up to Crouch and Kuyt and generally looking completely devoid of any pace, creativity or invention. Our last two matches would have almost certainly finished 0-0, were it not for our skipper, who is so obviously a class above every other player in our squad, it’s almost embarrassing, his two goals were superbly well taken, he's nearing his best form once again. Our current style of football is as bad, if not worse, than anything I ever saw under Houllier, we’re probably the most defensive side in the League, by quite some distance.
And, do you want to know something? It bores me out of my ****ing mind.
In fact, I’d go further than that, much further than that, I *hate* watching us play.
People talk a lot about the ‘lack of atmosphere’ at Anfield these days, did it ever occur to anyone that it’s almost impossible to get excited or involved watching the kind of mind-numbingly tedious football we have been subjected to, week in, week out for the best part of ten years ?
Besides, who can genuinely claim to get *excited* about the ‘race for fourth place’ ?
Our lack of movement up front is quite frankly my biggest concern with the current side, and a major, major weakness that needs to be addressed and put right, sooner rather than later. We’re so static up front, it’s untrue, and our side is positively screaming for a player, who possesses even the vaguest level of imagination in the final third. Pongolle and Cisse (who is back in full training by the way) are not world class footballers, they’re not the answer to all our problems, it’s debateable whether they were ever good enough to play for Liverpool club, but, without question, they would both be in my first choice side to face Portsmouth on Wednesday night, that is if Rafa hadn’t let them go without a penny back in return, of course. Why so ? Because they offer infinitely more going forward than Pennant, Bellamy, Gonzalez, Crouch etc combined, they, especially Djib, offer something ‘exciting’, a refreshing element of surprise, a bit of raw energy, pace, design. I’m sick and tired of watching ****e, robotic, footballers being given no end of praise, just because they ‘work hard’....
I’d love to say I trust Rafa Benitez with the future of this football club, but I don’t. Any trust I still maintain comes from the genius of Steven Gerrard, and Anfield’s ability to rouse itself for the big European nights. I still think we’ll win trophies under Rafa, in fact, our style of football dictates that, in the cups at least, we’ll always, always be a difficult side to beat, in fact, still I fancy us to lift something this season.
But will we ever win the Premiership under Benitez ? No, we wont.
It’s nothing to do with money, we’ve spent almost 250 million pounds over the past ten years on players, (Rafa’s had 80 million alone), that’s infinitely more than Arsenal, and not a great deal less than Manchester United, it’s not our fault Houllier and Benitez have pissed the vast majority of it away on players that were no where near good enough to mount a title challenge. For ****’s sake, we came closer to lifting the title under Roy Evans than we ever have done under the most recent two men in charge and at least we played good, attacking, ambitious football back then……
It’s a great shame and a source of real sadness to me that our greatest, proudest and most historic achievement, our eighteen league titles, will be, without doubt, surpassed by Man Utd, in the not too distant future, five years maybe, ten maximum.
I don’t care about the time or money I place into this football club, it’s the emotional investment that kills me, I’m not saying this to be controversial or contentious, and I apologise for the rather scattered, ‘rant’ nature of this post, but It’s just how I feel, I’m not losing interest in this club, that’s impossible, I’ve been well and truly sucked in, beyond all reverse. But I am losing faith, confidence and assurance with our current squad and manager. Steven Gerrard is the only bright spark dragging me from a state of complete apathy when I watch us play….
And all this after a win and a clean sheet, eh ? How depressing.
you obviously don't understand the first thing about football.
Comment