Friday’s news of NESV’s completion of their acquisition of Liverpool FC brought with it a renewed sense of optimism….for the future. Any fan who thought finally getting rid of our previous owners would reap immediate results was, sadly, as deluded as our manager when he said that yesterday’s performance was the best he has seen in his time at Anfield. His post-match interviews yesterday, were fiction worthy of the Man Booker Prize itself.
For years now, one of the few compliments Kopites have received from the wider footballing world, has been an appreciation for our collective footballing intelligence. Knowledge of the game has been bred into all of us. It is one aspect of the Liverpool Way. Roy Hodgson’s comments about the performance, our dominating the second half, being unlucky to lose are insulting to say the least. It might not have been pleasant to hear the truth but dont lie to us Roy!
The truth is that Everton were better, played with passion, pace and pride. Of the twenty-two players on the pitch yesterday, only 2 of our Redmen would find their way into the Everton XI. Losing is never acceptable but it is excusable if the team have played with the attributes we have come to expect. Yesterday, we played like relegation candidates. This is most certainly not the Liverpool Way.
Neither is calling for the manager’s head after 3 months, but we can all see it’s not working. There are many players we are told, are magnificent in training but find it hard to reproduce on match day. All I can say is Roy’s tactics must be unbelievable during training, because he looks completely out of his depth in the heat of battle.
The feel good factor of having new owners and derby day should have been enough motivation for Liverpool to put in a display worthy of the wearing the red shirt. At Goodison Park, yesterday, the only pride and passion seen in red was displayed by the away fans. Our players must shoulder their share of the blame too. A wooden display in a wooden stadium.
Roy said judge him after 10 games, well he has had 8 and by the time we kick-off on Sunday against Blackburn, there is a very likely chance that we will be rooted the foot of the Premier League table. Psychologically, the rot looks to have set in already. Two games to turn it round. Blackburn at home, Bolton away, target 6 points. Provided the performances are a genuine improvement on those witnessed so far, a return of 4 points will be acceptable, anything less should be meet with a P45 for Mr. Hodgson!
YNWA
Julian