For every high, there’s a low. For every disappointment, there’s a moment of sheer joy. We Liverpool fans have been through hell. It didn’t kill us. It only made us stronger.
It’s easy to support the club when everything is going smoothly; when we’re getting results, trophies, and honours. The ones who are truly passionate can be found in times of adversity. Success, results, players, managers, and every other facet of he club come and go, but being a Liverpool fan is for life. We are the one constant in the club’s existence. We cause the heart of Anfield to beat. We cause it to pump blood so Red that nothing else compares to it.
Win, lose or draw. Whatever the score sheet says, it doesn’t matter. We are a team. The only thing that does is the Liverbird upon your chest. It doesn’t matter that there’s five stars under it; doesn’t matter that there’s loads of trophies in our cabinet. What does matter? The words underneath the Shankly Gates do. You know, the ones that say “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”
It’s an absolute honour to be a part of the greatest and most unique football atmosphere on Earth. We should not turn our backs and abuse that honour. The loss against Braga was a test. Sure, it was a disappointment, but it gave us some valuable information on the definition of a team. I signed onto Twitter immediately after the game and found “fan” after “fan” blaming single players for the loss. Some of them were even slagging off the King, who is a true gift from God after the Roy Hodgson “era.”
Lucas and Kuyt, especially, were being criticised. The criticism wasn’t helpful and constructive – it was filled with pure malice, pure spite. Have we forgotten who these players are? Did Kuyt not score a hat-trick against Manchester United mere weeks ago? Sure, Suarez did most of the dirty work, but our Flying Dutchman deserved credit as well. As for Lucas, he is still young and is getting better every season. This season in particular, he is showing he can offer more offencively, and he is only going to improve. Why not prove his worth by looking at seasonal statistics? You can’t argue against facts. A look at Lucas’ Opta statistics during his 90-minute, plus injury-time, outing against Chelsea demonstrates his improvement. His overall pass completion rate was an incredible 88.89 per cent, 81.82% when in the opponents’ half of the field. These figures are very similar to his contribution for the 2010/11 campaign to date, with an overall pass completion of 84.02% and 81.08% when in the opponents’ section of the field. One goal has been assisted and 14 chances created from a total of 1133 passes. In 2007, Lucas arrived at Anfield as an attacking midfielder, who made late, clumsy runs into the box and somewhat represented a Brazilian version of our Captain Fantastic. Look at what he’s become.
Of course, Lucas is not world-class yet. He still has loads of room for improvement. He can get caught in possession; he can give away clumsy free-kicks. However, he’s come so far from who he used to be. We, as true Kopites, must recognise that. As for the slagging off of our King Kenny, it’s so ridiculous that I’m not even going to address it.
Remember, we win as a team. We lose as a team. But we’ll always be here for Liverpool. It’s times like these that make us stronger than ever. We may not have gotten silverware this season, but we’ve gotten GOLD. It’s in King Kenny’s heart. YNWA.
If you’d like, follow me on Twitter, @AccioMaria.
you bought smile at my face : )
I believe we, as fans, are the only people who are allowed to criticize our players. Mostly, because criticism doesn’t mean we will stop liking them. It simply means you wish they would improve. You don’t criticize that which you do not care for. What bugs me is when people who have no connection with Liverpool FC whatsoever just come by and spit their venom into the discussions. We criticize Lucas, Kuyt, Cole, Stevie, Carra.. But only because we know that maybe with this little push, they’ll keep moving foward. And we all know, that at the end of the day – whether at the Kop or hundreds of thousands of miles away – we’ll always be singing their names with all our lungs, and that neither us nor them will ever walk alone.
@maria : its not that fans do not support our great club at ups n downs but our players are not consistent ! If we wana reach top 4 then we gota improve our team a lot ! Kuyt is good but not good enough just because he scored a hat trick ! Look at his goal to game ratio ! Also he never attacks the opposition ! If u carefuly watch , he takes the ball to opposition but cannot even take on 1st defender ! Also lucas is improving but stop back passes that makes a defensive play ! We need to attack n play not defend ! N what abot cole,poulsen,ngog? U tel me if there playin wil help liverpool ? We defeated chelsea n man u but we also lost to west ham n drew with wigan ! I seriously wana improve liverpool n rather not getin sentimental with poor performances ! Our players gota perform consistently n not once a year ! Facts n statistics cant tel a player’s game , so watch their game n performance !
YNWA
I totally agree with you.I silently follow liverpool’s news and defend them when i can.but when fans just start bad mouthing individuals or the team as a whole it shows what kinda of fans we have out there.and it is gross.they do not understand the meaning of respect and total loyalty to a club.they are better off supporting the mancs in this case or even everton.sure..it was a bad kick in the teeth with the loss to braga at home…but it doesnt mean as a fan you can just spit when things go wrong and lick it back when things are go great.
all i can say as a fan after the game last night is..SIGH.
disappointment indeed.imagine how the players feel..gutted!
my deduction is..We expect something good from our beloved team.And they expect something good from the fans(us).its a push and pull situation.they play well we are happy.we give unconditional support they are happy.They need our support to push forward.Everyone in the club needs it.
so those bad mouth bastards..excuse my french..but FUCK YOU!
I agree with what you are saying. But as a Liverpool supporter, i think we are allowed to be disapointed with individuals, but have to remember that everyone has an off day. But when those off days seem to become a consistent overture, then are we not entitled to have a rash opinion about them?
Cole has not shown us any form or consistency. There are a number of players who have not shown that they deserve to play for Liverpool. If they are consistently letting the team down, do we not have a right to an opinion?
Slagging them off does show a lack of respect, but so does not playing to your full potential. We gave Torres an infinite amount of patience, and all this time he was looking for a way out. Are we not entitled to feel a bit of rage?
Its a double edge sword. We should get behind our team, through thick and thin, but if we are constantly being let down by the same faces then we should have a right to express our opinions.
I just think that we all need to calm down a bit, all we are really doing is venting our frustrations, im sure that most of you have had post match insights at the pub and have gone off at individuals for the poor performances over a beer or 4, well the internet is like a big pub with many voices all being able vent. I dont think its personal. Thats the way i approach what i read from the forums.
I have watched Liverpool since the mid-1960s. I support a different club, but over many decades I’ve seen everything Liverpool has had to offer in countless games.
I remember Tommy Lawrence in goal, an ungainly fellow who hardly looked an athlete. I remember Tony Hateley who, while great in the air, was a clumsy ox on the deck.
But I have never seen a Liverpool player who looks as oafish as the big clops Carroll. This is a great lump of unequaled measure, with simian movement and a greasy-haired, unwashed appearance that is truly vile to witness. Just one look at the face of this peasant-featured urchin immediately suggests severe limitations of intellect. He reminds one of a clodhopper playing Sunday morning football for a factory works team.
Sad.
@ sir cecil that biggoted comment above is very dated and hopefully relics like u r out of football for good soon.
As for OUR players they did show no invention. In the last 2 matches ive witnessed players running into each other on more than one occassion not knowing whose job it is to do what. They look so organised as a team and they look as though they are not trying 100% apart from Kurt and Cole. I actually like Cole just believe he needs more time back in games. If he had been given that penalty everones views of him would be different. Kurt tries his bolocks off but it’s true he’s not world class. He’s only good for the tap in style goals he scores and his energy and enthusiasm. Does that mean we should critise them because they’re not good enough for the world class Liverpool team we are used to? I’d rather follow a team who tried hard and played well together but came in the middle of the table, than a team who came top but full of players who are not motivated or organised. Ive watched Arsenal loose all of their major games recently and draw yesterday. Every time they’ve tried their hardest and have been great to watch. I can’t imagine our current Liverpool coming back from 2-0 like Arsenal did against West Brom. I can see why Torres left and Reina will no doubt follow. Watch today, the whole team will rely on Suarez. Last week it was on Carrol. It was Torres when he was there. I don’t want to critise individual players but as a team they are not confident partly due to the lack of class. You look at all the other top teams and they have world class players in every area. So we either need to accept that Liverpool is no longer a world class team or get in a squad full of world class players which will probably take more than a season to gel with each other and adjust.