Number 19

May 16, 2011 Leave a Comment

As a Liverpool fan and blogger, it would be cowardly of me to ignore “number 19″ – as much as I’d like to.

I’ve thought long and hard about what to say about Manchester United’s recent record-breaking league victory.  It’s traumatic enough for me to simply type “Manchester United”, so this it’s safe to say that this isn’t going to be easy.  I considered writing a piece in which I congratulated them for their achievement, but which also threw in loads of back-handed insults.  But that would make me look like an idiot.  As much I have a natural antipathy for the aptly named Red Devils, you cannot help but praise them for how successful they’ve been over the last twenty years.  Even though it makes me feel sick to say so, and it’s something I don’t plan on ever saying again.  Well done.

I will pick up on one point: the whole “knocking Liverpool off their perch” fallacy.  OK, I know that it’s continually picked up on because it makes great copy, but can we all just agree now that it’s not true?  Liverpool, sadly, fell off their perch before Ferguson won his first league title.  Although it’s taken them the best part of twenty years to surpass Liverpool’s record, I think we can all agree that the battle was lost quite some time ago.  Now it’s just official.

So, what does conceding this record actually mean to me as a Liverpool fan? Not a lot.  I’ll continue to be endlessly and unrealistically optimistic about the upcoming season.  Some people mock this unfounded belief, but it’s all about concentrating on the fortunes of your own club and not worrying about what everybody else is up to.

Damn, I couldn’t get all the way through without having a little dig.

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Blackburn Rovers 3 Norwich 1

August 25, 2010 Leave a Comment

Last night I dusted off my “Occasional Norwich City Supporter” romper suit and headed up to Ewood Park to watch the Canaries play Blackburn Rovers in the Carling Cup.  Luckily, we only travelled the 25 miles from Warrington, and I could only admire the dedication of the several hundred Norwich fans that made the trek from Norfolk.  I say “admire”, but part of me thinks they’re bonkers.  Such is the life of a travelling football fan.

Anyway, let’s get the match out of the way.  For the first hour, the teams looked relatively evenly matched in terms of ability.  The big difference seemed to be the clearly noticeable extra pace and power of the Premier League side – best demonstrated in Shaq look-alike Chris Samba.  It made the gulf between the two divisions look as vast as it probably is.  That said, it remained 1-0 until way into the second half and, despite Rovers having some good chances, there remained a possibility that Norwich could have got back into it.  That was until Norwich substituted 3 key players (Martin, Holt and Hoolahan) around 70 minutes in, and the game was Blackburn’s from that point on.  A late consolation goal from Askou made the arduous drive back to Norfolk slightly more palatable for the hardy away fans.

Now, the other stuff.  Ewood Park was a pretty nice stadium, and a good place to watch football.  They’ve also got an impressive big screen that you could have easily have watched telly on (a crucial factor I look for in any stadium).  I sent a few tweets during the build up and was excited to get retweeted by the Football League (the world’s original football league).  I then got a personal welcome tweet from what appears to be Blackburn’s official Twitter account.  It was a nice touch, whether they were official or not.  Perhaps the most mind-blowing aspect of the evening was Rovers’s snack-bar.  They had a meal deal that featured “double chips”.  It really makes you proud to be from the North West when you see phrases like double chips.  The pride made me shed a single, fatty tear.

All in all, it was a great evening.  It’s actually surprising how much you enjoy a live football match when you’re not emotionally attached to either club (which was even more pleasant following Liverpool’s drubbing on Monday).  I heartily recommend going to watch whatever football clubs play in your area, especially if they’re not in the Premier League.

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To LFC Blog or Not To LFC Blog

August 23, 2010 Leave a Comment

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged about Liverpool (the football club, not the city).  Strangely, the last game that I wrote about was the corresponding fixture to tonight’s match, an away game against Manchester City (it ended 0-0, stats fans) back in February.  Part of me thinks that I should start again.  The cynical part of my brain thinks that Liverpool are a good subject for attracting visitors to this humble blog.  The other part of me thinks that it would be a dreadful idea.

My enthusiasm for the task certainly wasn’t helped by my insistence on forcing myself to write a “match report” about every single match, regardless of whether I had seen it or not.  Combining this with the many frustrating, wasted afternoons spent attempting to watch matches on dodgy internet streams and the enjoyment was soon drained from the writing process.

The logistics of the process were, of course, only part of the tale.  My apathy was largely due to the horror of watching a team in decline and a club in meltdown.   The press only seemed capable of filing negative stories relating to Liverpool last season (not that there was much to cheer about) and it all took its toll on me.  With a torrid season finally over, I contemplated writing an overview of the campaign, taking a look back on where exactly things had gone wrong.  In the end, it seemed like it would have been a punishment that I didn’t deserve.  I’d just wait until things got a bit more positive at Anfield.

Well, with Benitez inevitably gone and a new manager in place, it seems like the Reds may have finally turned a corner.  The signing of Joe Cole brought the rarest of things: a positive news story and a sense of optimism.  Now, last year’s beleaguered squad somehow looks quite useful, with just a handful of modest signings.  It’s amazing (not to mention inexplicable) how things suddenly seem so different after the summer break.

So, should I start writing about football again?  It’s currently half-time against Man City and Liverpool are behind to a Gareth Barry goal and were completely outplayed for the bulk of the opening 45 minutes.  Although I’ve by no means given up on the match, it really hasn’t put me in the best frame of mind to publish a match report.  Of course, we could score a shed-load of goals in the second half and then I’d be loving it.  Such is the lot of a football fan and blogger.

Perhaps this emotion shows that I shouldn’t be tied to just writing about the matches.  Perhaps I should just write about LFC in more general terms and not be tied to the roller-coaster that is a football match.  It also means that I don’t miss half the game by making tedious notes about what has happened.

Anyway, I’m off to attempt to enjoy watching the second half. Come on, you Reds.

P.s.

Just as I was about to publish this post, City scored a second goal.  It’s official: I hate football… for now.

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English Premier League – Norway’s National Sport

August 14, 2010 Leave a Comment

With the new Premier League season starting today, where better to be than Norway, the home of English football.

In a country where everything is ridiculously expensive (we’ve just had a chicken kebab for dinner that cost £8), the national sport of English football seems curiously subsidised.  The subscription for the Premier League TV package costs £19 per month, but this includes coverage of most matches over 3 channels.  Much of the pre-match build up and some of the commentary is even in English.  It’s quite unbelievable.

Anyway, we’re in the middle of watching Tottenham v Man City (how Spurs aren’t winning is a mystery), so I’m going to concentrate on that.

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Manchester City 0 Liverpool 0

February 21, 2010 1 Comment

Surprisingly, this wasn’t one of the two televised matches this afternoon.  Even more surprisingly, I was able to get a decent internet stream to watch it on.

Well, I say that I watched it.  I forgot that the match was on, and by the time I found a decent stream about 30 minutes had gone.  Then my parents came round for a visit so I was only half watching until about 75 minutes in.  Then the stream went squiffy and it took me about 10 minutes to get another one.  But, I definitely got to watch the last five minutes and stoppage time.

I didn’t miss much.

From what I saw, both teams were pretty awful.  The ‘race’ for fourth place looks set to be an exceedingly tedious one.

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Arsenal 1 Liverpool 0

February 11, 2010 Leave a Comment

On the whole, I’m not a superstitious person, but there’s one spurious belief that I have:  don’t tempt fate.  One specific sub-set of this rule is that you shouldn’t record Match of the Day before your team play, just in case they don’t win.

This is an unnecessarily obtuse way of saying that I missed the match last night and I’ve not seen any of it.  Under the circumstances, this is a good thing.  On the back of two bad losses, to Man United and Chelsea, it’s not entirely surprising that Arsenal pulled out the win.  I can’t comment any further than that really.

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Liverpool 1 Everton 0

February 6, 2010 2 Comments

There’s always an extra edge when you play in a derby match, but the crucial thing today was for Liverpool to try and pick up all three points.  Yes, I know it’s a cliché, but it also happens to be true.

Like all true derbies, there wasn’t a great deal of football played, but the Reds were certainly up for the fight.  They were almost up for it too much when Kyrgiakos was sent off for a two-footed challenge after 34 minutes.  There was no doubt that he deserved to receive the red card, but Pienaar should have probably been sent off a few minutes earlier for a reckless tackle on Mascherano.  Liverpool managed to get to half-time without conceding and so were able to re-group.

The second half wasn’t as much of a challenge as you might have expected – Everton were toothless in attack.  The Reds were able to take the lead on 55 minutes with a Dirk Kuyt header, from a set piece.  This was quite staggering as Liverpool are woeful at set pieces.  The fact that Kuyt was a yard from the line, in the middle of the goal, was surrounded by Howard and Neville, and didn’t jump, all just made the goal more unlikely.

From that point on, the result looked fairly comfortable – far more comfortable than Everton should have made it.  Pienaar was eventually sent off, for a second booking, in injury time, and that was about it.

As I said at the start of the post, the three points were crucial, especially as Liverpool play Arsenal and Man City away in the next week.  Fingers crossed for those matches, I suspect that they’re going to be a lot tougher than today.

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Liverpool 2 Bolton 0

January 30, 2010 Leave a Comment

Do you remember the days when I’d spend Saturday afternoons frustratedly trying to get the match on an unreliable internet stream? They seem like such a distant memory.

This match report comes ‘live’ from me watching the potted highlights on Match of the Day. Which I’ve sky-plussed.

You can’t really tell how the game played out from such brief summaries, but it didn’t seem a vintage Reds performance. Dirk Kuyt gave Liverpool the lead in the first half as he bundled the ball in the back of the net. It wasn’t pretty but they all count.

The performance seemed to pick up in the second half, despite Ngog missing an open goal. The game was sealed on 70 minutes, when an Insua shot took a wicked deflection off Kevin Davies.

Liverpool’s league form hasn’t actually been that bad in the last 6 games, despite some lacklustre performances. Let’s hope that the quality of play now starts to improve.

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Wolves 0 Liverpool 0

January 27, 2010 Leave a Comment

Another disappointing result for Liverpool: a toothless goalless draw.

Luckily, it wasn’t on telly and I didn’t think to get an internet stream, so there’s two hours of my life that I didn’t waste.

My football blogging has been rather half-hearted lately, truly reflecting Liverpool’s indifferent season. Let’s hope that they have an upturn in their fortunes soon, if only to make me more enthusiastic in my writing.

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Liverpool 2 Spurs 0

January 21, 2010 Leave a Comment

It was a crucial win for Liverpool last night, both in terms of league position and for the players’ fragile confidence.  The match was bookended by two Dirk Kuyt goals.  The first was a classy strike on 6 minutes, the second was a cooly struck, re-taken penalty, in injury time.

The result may well have been different had Jermaine Defoe’s strike not been incorrectly ruled offside.  This decision says more about the current muddle over the offside rule than any incompetence on the part of the officials.  You can’t have such an important rule be so open to interpretation.

The Reds deserved the win, though, and it certainly made a pleasant change.  It was a battling rather than classy performance, but that was what was needed at this point.  The players looked up for the fight (especially Carragher) and the crowd really got behind the team.  Hopefully this will be the start of something of a revival, but I’m not convinced just yet.

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