Monday, October 8, 2007

Fizzling out


RE: LFC v Spurs

Two managers with points to prove & a battle of opposite ends of the table. What can I say? It was an open, entertaining game with the end result benefitting nobody in particular. This 2-2 draw sums up how both sides have spectacularly failed to live up to early season promise - LFC to be among the premiership contenders & spurs to finally make it into the top four. Both are fooking way off the mark.

Once again, it appears that our push fer the long awaited no 19 has fooking fizzled out before Nov. The optimists will point that it was a much improved display but fact remains, the usual suspects such as Arsenal & the Mancs have fooking put daylight between us & themselves.

Ok, we tried & should have buried Spurs by half-time. But who's fooking fault is that?

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

So did you watch the match?

I intended to but sadly my exams are demoralizing me from attempting fate! Thus I had to miss another game! Study Study! (or at least pretending to!)

Anyway, I followed it on espn soccernet gamecast and from what I saw, this surely can't be blamed much on Benitez!

Even with Torres, Liverpool still lacks the cutting edge up front! Hope the shooting gets better!

International break has given Liverpool a bad streak...let's hope another break turns it around!

YNWA!

anfield devotee said...

yes,, me blood pressure was totally fooked up.

Jon-C said...

What will the Rafa basher say about this one? I put the blame solely on the players. Although a much better display (the first 25 mins anyway) we still can't bury the opponents.

Should have wrap it up in the first half itself - trying to play like Gooners pulak by over doing on the passing. Hyypia's inclusion really made us played deeper. Stevie G was again drifting in and out of the game - not enough of his surging runs.

Mascherano will get my nod over Sisoko any day - he was every where and challenging for the ball. The only scary part was he played higher than "captain marvel" near the end when he was suppose to be the holding midfielder!!!

In a nutshell, we still need to work on the pass & move thing A LOT. Not much support to the strikers from a deep playing midfield (try to cover too Hyypia VERY apparent lack of pace?) Nearly pulled all my hair out watching the match. *Sigh* Draws don't win you the premiership!

mark said...

There is a distinct different being a Rafa bashed and a Rafa doubter. I am of the latter variety given our recent performances. Again we created but again we were wasteful despite the additions of Torres, Voronin and Babel.

Hyypia looks way way past it to be honest. His only remaining asset is his aerial ability but he was twice beaten to the ball by Berbatov and it proved to be costly. Reminded me of our Heskey - Owen combo. The manner in which we defended against Spurs route 1 approach was unforgivable.

redgav said...

This is getting to be like a yearly ritual where we get our hopes up in Aug and be all deflated by Oct/Nov. I am still a diehard supporter but isn't it getting more and more painful every year esp now with the voices of the Arsenal fans getting even louder! On top of that, the fooking MU is ahead of us again! This is becoming unbearable!

anfield devotee said...

Again, as I have said many times before, I am NOT anti-Rafa, though I have had reservations since his spectacular tactical blunder in last year's European Cup final.

Although it was a better performance, could it have gotten any worse than it was v marseille?

It is still Rafa's responsibility to get the desired results after making so much noise bout challenging fer the league. Fooking hell, looks like its all over again by Nov, tak malu ke u guys?

Bernard said...

Can't say I'm "Tak Malu" cos the years of disappointments have helped me establish an extremely tough & inpenetrable hide against any brickbats & negative comments from other supporters on the lack of achievements.

Yes we have the CL 2005, FA Cup 2006 & CL Finalist 2007 but could this have been a false dawn?? But its a funny old game as Greavsy used to say so I'm maintaining my stand to reserve judgment on how the season will turn out for us till at least after the X'mas/Jan games. Case in point: see what happened to Hamilton in Shanghai yesterday?

Anonymous said...

I think Rafa never promise any title but he just said it's always a game at a time and trying to improve from last season.

At current state, a game fewer than last season's winner, man utd, Liverpool is just 1 point behind. So it is a massive improvement!

The ones talking about titles are fans. No one else! Maybe plundits make silly noise when Torres came but Rafa surely did not promise any title this season!

As for shame-shame, Liverpool fans can never feel any shame! Should not ever! Because we are the greatest fans on the planet. I will only feel shame when fans turn their backs! Will never have anything to do with Liverpool unless any player or manager did some unethical stuff!

Anonymous said...

My mistake! 1 point behind IF Liverpool win the game in hand! If not, 4 - still a massive improvement!

mark said...

It's not so much that we are only a point behind the mancs because they themselves had started the season poorly. Fact is were lucky to escape with point at Fratton Park. We were even luckier to come away with a point against Porto. We failed to break down an average side in Birmingham. Marseille beat us. We failed to convert against Spurs and too add insult to injury, we gave away 2 cheap goals. We had a good start against 2 relegation candidates (though 1 may argue that Sunderland will stay up) but that was it. The immediate future looks bleak given the way we have been playing.

Anfield Devotee will tell you I'm usually one of the more patient and optimistic fans but we've never been able to match the other top sides in terms of financial prowess. Not so this season which is why my patience is running thin. There can be no excuse for failure this season given the quality we've paid for.

theALBERTUS said...

Osh Kosh B'GOSH!

If Rafa wins us No. 19 this year, all these comments would bring a chuckle wouldn't it fellas?

Oh Lordy B'Gordy!....my only cents of tha' day!

Jon-C said...

I'm on the fence with regards to Rafa. I do question some of his tactics and team sheets when i feel it is warranted and to say i've not been left utterly frustrated and pissed with Rafa is an understatement! ;0) I'm with unker bernard on this one, wait till x'mas before i load my AK-47.

Macha, you no basher lah, you only Toshack lover only! Muahahahaha

Anonymous said...

A string of bad performance is no hiding facts! Even Rafa himself acknowledges it!

Why are we blaming on 1 person and say "Walk Alone" when we sing YNWA? Ironic!

Mancs are playing poorly winning the 1-0s and Arsenal are off to a flyer without a rotated side! Let's see how they wil last!

On Liverpool, if only Styles got it right, Liverpool will have an additional 2 points!

If players scored half of the shot attempt against Spurs, that's another additional 2 points.

Football walks on a very thin line between winning and losing. A shot on target and off target is just mere inches sometimes. A block from the defence takes just a foot!

Loudly we all fear and cry but I hope deep down all are praying nonetheless!

mark said...

IF Rafa wins our 19th, I'll be elated and I'll stand corrected. IF we start picking up points soon, I'll be overjoyed. Until then, I can only comment on the present can't i? What IF we don't? See why I don't like talking about "what IFs"? I am basing my comments on observations and facts. I know 1 fact is that we were piss poor against Marseille, Birmingham and Portsmouth.

Does all this mean I don't have faith and hope? If so, I wouldn't still be supporting this club all these years would? Constructive criticism goes a long way. I was one of Carra's biggest critics earlier in his career when he was out on the flanks. Fairplay to him now that he's been moved to the centre. Likewise I find some of Rafa's decisions questionable and I will bring it up. If he changes his tactics and we start winning, fairplay to him. I support the club first and foremost and IF we are moving further and further away from our goal, I will be critical of players and the manager. I don't support blindly.

anfield devotee said...

@dam: Fer Fook's Sake welcomes all yer comments & it is a pleasure having you in these discussions.

But just let me put a few things straight - we are NOT fly by nite glory hunters. We have been supporting this club fer nigh on two fooking decades. Some of us have gone to extreme lengths to support our beloved Reds.

Sorry, but no such trivial matter as EXAMS ever stopped me from going to Anfield!

Now, pls stop bringing up this YNWA as an excuse. We are there to support Rafa but the football has been very poor. And fans have the right to voice their dissatisfaction.

This is after spending tons of cash when proviously he bitched about having NO budget. Its all about the footie la, bro. When its crap, its crap. C'mon la, mau menang league, spurs at home has got be THREE FOOKING POINTS!

He did NOT promise the title but he did promise to challenge fer it. Doesn't look like it, does it?

As fer the malu but, hey, we are Kopites sampai maut la bro. Not one, not two but a whole gaggle of us have got HUGE fooking LFC tattoos to symbolise our allegiance fer life! But like heaven & hell, there can be no PRIDE if there ain't no MALU . . .

Don't take this the wrong way, just had to vent after last nite's result. Its Spurs with a dodgy keeper & dead man walking manager la, fer fook's sake . . .

ISA said...

my take on the spurs game, we were lucky...I honestly didnt see any improvement from the marseille game. still disarray and aimless at times. extremely static most times. tak ada movement, kalau ada pun macam lori balak making 3-point turn. best move : when voronin should have smacked the ball from torres instead of laying it back for stevie..

We are still not winning the second balls and admit it lah...even finnan admitted it...he just swung his left boot hopefully for the cross...and nasib baik torres bukan kepala mancis..

As for promises of the title..hmmm..as LIVERPOOL, dont we go into every new season with hope that we'll be top in May? For me, its the raison d'etre for faithfully, painstakingly, gut wrenchingly BUT proudly walking around with the LIVERBIRD on my chest...

malu? to be a RED? unggak bisa tahu perasaan itu pak..

ISA said...

by the way, got me fan card today..finally....

YAAAHOOOOO...now can apply online for match tickets and bitch live at anfield...

Anonymous said...

Anfield Devotee: I should be thanking you for having a blog for me to share my thoughts!

I will never doubt any Liverpool supporters here! From the display picture and comments, I am very well aware of the 2 decades of support most of you have for the team and also the tattoos as symbols of your unconditional love to the club!

I am just in my early 20s and I won't claim I have supported the club for more than a decade! Not until next season! Though, I consider I am born to support the Mighty Reds and I literaly meant it!

My mom gave me a Christian name (though I am not Christian) Kevin. Guess what? It's after the legendary Kevin Keegan! Or at least she told me so and I believe me mama!

I am sure all of us love Liverpool unconditionally! I know I will be with Reds even if it goes down to Championship!

I guess I choose to have that kind of support to the manager and players as well as long as they make up part of the club.

Gerrard has voiced out to the fans to trust him that there's no crisis whatsoever and they will come good. For now, I still continue my trust in rafa and the players!

I guess I am just appealing that support from within to the team as a whole because I believe in inner strength which was apparent to me when Liverpool went 3-0 down to Milan in 2005. The same goes to games like the 2001 FA Cup against Arsenal and UEFA Cup against Alaves! I kept my faith then choosing to let my heart pumps madly rather than giving up and I am keeping faith now!

Fellow Reds, Keep Faith!

anfield devotee said...

@dam: Good to see u took the comments in the right spirit.

So do u sport a Kevin Keegan-style perm as well?

Isa: Waaaah, kaya raya ah counsel Isa, cakap merana but planning to go to Anfoeld every other week . . .

As fer the MALU issue, please note that it is NOT in relation to being shy about being a Kopite. It is the shame we feel among us that our team is playing like a bunch of fooking amateurs.

mark said...

We may voice our dissatisfaction amongst one another but you can bet your bottom dollar we'll stand together in the face of adversity. Opposition fans will still see a united (I hate to use that word) front. Some of us still wear our kits out the next day even after a defeat, more so in defiance but also with a great degree of pride. This amount of complaining does not mean we're abandoning the club because we don't care. It's because we care a great deal that we cannot stand to see what's happening.

KL Ocs Kid said...

thank god torrres save the KOP...but i dunno why they pass all the ball to opponent..ef u see k!...hopefully...they will bouce back for the next match...come on Alonso..we need you and i miss garcia so much!http://kopnews.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

anfield devotee: NO! I don't have that Keegan perm! That is the reason behind I never adopted the name!

I respect him as a player for the Reds and all....but the hair....it just isn't justifiable! Not then, not now!

@_@

ISA said...

mr.anfield devotee..aku bukan kaya (before anyone thinks otherwise). Its just that i finally have a bit of extra cash for my passion...got wifey's approval too. At least its better than spending tons & tons of money at some sleazy karaoke joint..hahahaha

anfield devotee said...

isa: Eh? Karaoke joints sleazy? That's not what you told me the last time!

He he . . . just joking!

Bernard said...

Farking hell...we'll be closely monitoring Tuan Isa's spending habits AFTER Raya & see if the KTV's are still as sleazy as he says!