Oddly, the three hard games don't overly concern me. We battled well against Arsenal before someone shot an albatross for luck, took what was coming at City and United was neither a classic comeback performance nor the cricket score some would like to believe. It's the other two that burn like a paper cut. Two defensive midfielders against West Brom at home rang an eerie bell and the pre-match surrender at Birmingham told of low expectations and the yellow sludge of mediocrity. If we're going to just fight for parity with the mid table how do we see it as progress and the mythical new broom?
Give him time, Karl.
Our confidence is pawing at the floorboards in the basement at the moment, right until the moment when something goes wrong. Cole's sending off saw a charge and Dracula's second angered a few enough to, you know, pass the ball forward. Other than that Liverpool has all been about containment and seeing what we can get. I'd like to think that there's a spirit there but for some reason we need to be slapped in the face first before we're prepared to stand up. Why is this? Is there a sense of 'Oh, Christ, here we go again?' as the players walk out? There wasn't yesterday. They were too busy giggling with their United mates.
It's early days, Karl.
Yes it is, but we are yet to see a good first half performance or one game where both the full backs have been okay. Shouldn't we at least go for the throat until the terrible realisation hits that we're not an especially good side? We were so close with Steau as we were unstoppable for the first twenty seven seconds but even then they came back once they realised that we have an underbelly which is the colour of mustard.
True, it's been a bastard of a fixture list and the next few games should be easier before we play that team in 19th place (we can't even enjoy that as they're grabbing our skirts at the moment). Other teams have their problems save for Chelsea so we should at least be able to see what the top half of the table looks like. Villa are struggling, Spurs have dropped some silly points and even United are relying on a couple of geriatrics, a cheating winger (a first for them) and the new Kevin Lisbie. If Ancelloti doesn't have the League sewn up by February I'd suspect an Italian/Moggia match rigging scenario.
Worse news was to come on the morning of the game (no, really) with Hicks' plan to refinance on his own and keep control, if you can call it control. I'm not sure why fans are shocked by this as he's not exactly great at keeping promises. To paraphrase Obi-Wan, a billionaire will always find another billionaire to follow him. Whether he'll be successful remains to be seen but it'll keep RBS out of the picture. Obviously, Torres and Reina are now 'definitely' leaving now according to the press, both being financial experts and privy to the intricate workings of the boardroom.
Speaking of the golden boy he's taking some stick from one of the greatest midfielders to ever grace the game. It's clear to a myopic mole that Torres is suffering from a lack of service rather than attitude and Jamie should recognise an inability to pass the ball forward to a good position rather than passing it crablike by Lucas and Poulsen. After all, he…no, that's enough sarcasm. Last night I found myself in the unenviable position of being in full agreement with Shearer, who might know something about strikers, about the reason Torres has only scored one goal. He can't score if we have two defensive midfielders knocking it to each other in the centre circle. He still managed to win the pen and then, ahem, cheat O'Shea to win then free kick. He's definitely going, you know. Next up we have the Carling Cup. A tricky tie but with a good spirit and following wind we should be able to force extra time.
Oh, Jesus.