As much as United are a good side and Rooney is one hell of a striker, I’d like to give Mr Webb some advice.
Howard, they really don’t need your help.
Seriously.
You don’t have to book the spine of our team in the first half, give them free kicks where none exist and penalties for fouls that begin and end before the box. Thanks but it isn’t needed. They have plenty of good players who can get by on their own. It’s good of you to chip in and your excellent work at their Spurs game last season will never be forgotten but it really isn’t necessary.
Fair enough, they were losing at the time of the ‘incident’ and some of us were already muttering ‘4-1?’ under our collective breaths having gone ahead so early but they can make amends themselves. It was nice and everything but booking Torres for nothing while allowing Neville to kick Maxi in the face and allow play to go on was a bit too much. People may have noticed, people other than the 3,000 or so poor souls who were pushed around by the police, called murderers by the lovable Stretford rogues and, worst of all, locked in the ground at full time and forced to listen to U2. A sort of alfresco Room 101.
As usual we gave up once the second went in but Torres could have rammed it down their throats in the dying minutes. Still, five goals in six days is pretty decent. The substitutions were correct but should have been made much, much earlier. Babel’s in the form of his, well, for him, life and offers pace. Gary Neville is 104 years old and is the Hans Moleman of the United defence but, but…ah, too late.
Rafa’s correct to point at the ‘dive’ as the turning point but any victory there is going to be Pyrrhic at best. The highlight of the day was watching a manager stand on the touchline and openly disagree with Ferguson. Had that been Allardyce or Moyes they would have shook Webb’s hand at half time and got their player to apologise for dirtying Valencia’s shorts. Rafa’s been keen to only complain sarcastically while Ferguson can say what he likes. He reminds me of an elderly matriarch who everyone’s scared of but no one knows why.
Still, the season’s not over. The sword of Damocles has been passed to Benfica now since Lille couldn’t scare up the predictable ending on Thursday. Revenge for 2006 maybe? It’s nice to have something to look forward to even if a trophy to celebrate our being the 33rd best team in Europe isn’t much to shout about. That said, I’d bite your hand off for it at the moment. I’m not sure it will save Rafa but top and tailing your Liverpool career with a European trophy isn’t exactly failure. All’s that’s left is to watch the final act. Will he pushed or will he walk? Which is the most affordable to both parties? Some will rejoice if he goes, others will wonder who will replace him. Are there any viable candidates? I was mulling this over as I waited outside OT yesterday just as Peter Reid walked past. Try that for a sobering experience.
The key worry is that we don’t finish outside of the top four but what happens if we finish sixth and, with players gone and, with no money available to replace them, we sink further in 2011. How far are we away from a fire sale? Could that be as little as three months away? Would anyone notice?
One who can go is Albert Riera for his incredible act of stupidity. Maxi can’t play in Europe so he could have come back in. Nope, he wants a move outside the transfer window because his boss didn’t kiss his arse. Meanwhile we’re having the worst season in fifteen years.