In the last few weeks we've had the manager's criticism over Ferguson (justified but a little strange), his post Stoke comments about Gill (that'll show 'em) and now the decision to go public on his contract negotiations while attacking Parry. Now, I know these things are secondary but shouldn't there be something in there about managing the team? Why does he feel it necessary to talk every time someone shoves a mike in his face? This from the man who brilliantly gave us 'Jose likes to talk' after Mourinho's barbed comments about our side before one of the semi finals. Nowadays he's not on the front foot so much as building the ring. Why was it necessary for any part of his contract negotiations to be made public unless he was using a bargaining chip?
He's got form here, of course. Attack Rafa and he'll point at a public march. The club won't sack him because of Istanbul while he won't resign because…because…See that's what worries me. What's keeping him here if he genuinely believes he's being harshly treated? How far away are we from a speech about 'Liverpool can't win the League because refs give United everything' or his contract specifications were too binding or the towels in the dressing room aren't soft enough? To me, these aren't rants or mind games, these are the words of a man testing the water. 'I told you I wasn't happy'. I hope I'm wrong but I'd like to know exactly what he wants. David Gill's resignation? Rick Parry's head on a pole? Which is the more likely?
So much for Newcastle. Everything seemed glorious then. What's happened since then? Kuyt on his own up front at Stoke and then last night's derby. The Everton game started well but the way our heads went down after the Orange Munchkin's equaliser was very distressing. You've got five minutes to win the derby, lads. Why exactly are we passing it square to Sami? Where was the side that broke City, Boro and Wigan's hearts? Setanta might have interviewed Tim Howard on the pitch when we kicked off for all the work he had to do. The heads went down and Rafa looked shell-shocked afterwards. Please don't blame this on anyone else. We became complacent and lost out to poor defending.
It would be harsh to blame it on the quality of the starting line up. Xabi deserved his place ahead of Mascherano and having £41m worth of striker gave us hope. It nearly worked too despite having half of it make very confusing runs towards full backs or at Torres. It'll come with Robbie but hopefully he's learning that we have a system here that doesn't necessarily see him as the focus. He's a game lad but he was woeful yesterday. His signing is reminiscent of Siralex buying Veron and trying to shove him into a midfield of Beckham-Keane-Scholes-Giggs - hardly the shabbiest of midfields. What is Robbie Keane's position and when is someone going to tell Robbie Keane?
We may have not seen the best team in England last night but apparently we saw the best referee. Howard Webb came with a reputation of letting the game flow and he certainly did that. By practically telling the players that he's not going to book anyone for the first half hour he let our lads be hacked to pieces. Kick away, lads. All that passing stuff gets in the way of the long ball. It's no coincidence that we've not had a fair game since the Ferguson comments. The ref at Stoke might as well have put two fingers up to Rafa after every decision. Mind games? To gain advantage?
And what of the School of Science? Aren't they glorious? Tony Hibbert's perfectly measured seventy metre balls to Sami's forehead, Cahill's Corinthian spirit of shrieking at the ref every time a decision went against him (twice - I counted), a manager who runs to the side of the pitch and gestures 'dive' when Torres is kicked off his feet in from of him and a set of fans that think a 1-1 draw is a win. Don't get me started on 'United, United top of the league'. Still, Wayne'll be pleased once they've stopped burning his bonfire up the road. What a strange band of mutant troglodytes they truly are. Irony is just another word they don't understand.
Okay, let's try to be positive. I'll admit that this is what we all wanted - a genuine challenge and maybe a cup but we seem to be manacling ourselves lately and confidence is becoming an issue. Everton were useless after our goal yet we sat back and invited them on. We were unlucky on the night and we've got a great squad but there's an edge missing somewhere. Something bubbles from within. Let's hope that we remind the other lot who's boss on Sunday. Wigan, however, is the important game.
It's hard to assess Liverpool of late. Most were furious with Yossi and Lucas for conceding late free kicks but had they skied their chance they wouldn't have been mentioned. Equally you can't always blame the manager when he starts with his most attacking line-up. I'm not saying 'Rafa out' but I want him to admit his mistakes, work on the team's confidence and shut up whenever Geoff Shreeves ambles down the corridor.
Support Ray Of Hope and help raise funds for former Liverpool legend Ray Kennedy