Cup Competions

I think I may be old fashioned but I love the cup competitions, all of them.  I get frustrated when i hear our supporters say that they don't want us to progress or don't want us to qualify for the Europa Cup because the extra games could possibly effect us, i just don't get it, surely the aim of the club, for all of us, is to be successful, to win trophies, nothing else matters other than putting trophies in the cabinet so why do we not want to progress in competitions or qualify for others.  Like everybody else I would prefer us to qualify for the Champions League but if we fail I would rather be in the Europa Cup than nothing at all.  This season I was gutted when we failed to qualify for the later stage of the Champions League and i'm certainly jealous that we wont be playing in the big fixtures and earning the big money later in the season, but i am looking forward to playing Besiktas and hopefully progressing further in the competition why shouldn't we try to win it and the other domestic cups for that matter, i'm proud of our history and everything we have won and want more.

There are lots of reasons other than just the glory that we should want to progress in every competition.  Firstly the money, i know the big money is in the Champions League but there is revenue to be gained in every competition gate receipts, television money and prize money, sponsorship, more coverage means more endorsements and we need all the money we can get to invest in players everybody does so why not try to earn some perhaps it is just a drop in the ocean but every little helps and I don't thin we can turn it down.

Any extra fixtures during the season gives the manager the option to introduce some young players to the first team squad or team.  If players are to move through from the youth teams they need to be given a chance at some point, recently we have seen Stirling, Ibe, Flannagan, Rossiter, Williams, Sinclair all be given a chance to develop both themselves and raise their profiles and value if it wasn't for the cup competitions i'm certain they wouldn't be as far along in their development as they are now and would almost certainly have to be out loans to get any experience at all.

We have a first eleven at the club or perhaps fourteen or fifteen players that are regularly used by the manager there are plenty of others who need minutes on the pitch.  We all want and can see the benefits of a strong squad but its no good if the players in this squad never get on the pitch or have no experience of playing for Liverpool they need to be ready when they are needed, this season players like Can, Markovic, Moreno and Manquillo all new to Liverpool needed to be given time on the pitch and we are now getting the benefits of seeing these very young players settle in and starting to produce.  We also have older more experienced players such as Lambert, Balotelli, Enrique and Allen who all need minutes we can't just continuously leave them out doing nothing but training then expect them to produce when suddenly thrust into the team.  The cups are important to give people chances and experience.

Most important of all though is the glory, we have a huge history and the cups are a big part of that and to keep our status in the game we need to pick up trophies we need to have Wembley appearances, we need the big games that bring out the passion in the support, we need the cups and we are Liverpool we should be trying to win and compete in every game, in every competition and this year in particular Gerrard leading the team out at Wembley in his last game for the club and then holding up the FA Cup as his last action as our captain would be a fantastic moment in our history.

@lfclumo     

Talking Rubbish

I have commented before about the issues I have with commentators and media forming incorrect opinions on players and then repeating these opinions over and over with others jumping on board until they become fact, the best or worst recent example is that Sakho cant pass everybody without exception on television was constantly telling us that Sakho cant pass and is a liability to the Liverpool team, to the point where our own fans started repeating this lie on Twitter and I actually believed it effected the player with his confidence levels dropping.  This has now been mostly corrected with many appreciating his ability and he is been classed as a ball playing defender, but we still have to listen to Michael Owen spouting the same old rubbish.  How can somebody be given a job as an expert when they are so often wrong?

This bad enough but we are now getting so many, in my opinion, daft comments made by so many people not only in the mainstream media and television commentators but also from our own fans via fanzines, podcasts and blogs that it is spoiling my enjoyment of articles and shows.

Some recent examples include television experts and commentators getting the wrong player, not just the pronunciation, the actual wrong player this happens every game when surely a major part of a commentators role is learning who the players are.  The so called experts on the television on all channels regularly are unable to tell what position on the field a player is playing or even the formation a team is using not just a little wrong or a small mistake but totally and obviously wrong.  Worse comes after the game when we here interviewers refusing to challenge managers and players on stupid comments, "you didn't see it, why the fuck not, you were three yards away and your the bloody coach, your paid to watch the bloody game" should be heard more often.

Over the years we have all grown used to lazy, repetitive, boring journalism from the mainstream especially the television they are to worried about loosing their privileged position rather than do their jobs but I didn't expect it from Liverpool fans.  I need to point out that everybody has an opinion and a right to voice it, this is not what i'm going on about its the contradictions and inaccuracies.  I recently heard the same person on a podcast say "Gerrard is vital to the team, he should be found a place" and then within 90 seconds "Gerrard is regularly off the pace, its time for him to be used from the bench as an impact sub".  When picking prospective teams i've heard on podcasts people name fourteen players as definite starters who we couldn't consider dropping and they haven't even included a keeper simply ridiculous this is not a difference of opinion its people being wrong we cant pick that many players so why say it.

We all have different opinions thats why i read and listen and i appreciate all the work that goes into producing podcasts and blogs but please don't just jump on bandwagons and please think before you speak we can only have eleven players on the pitch no matter how much we would want more.

@lfclumo   

I hate Chelsea !

I hate Chelsea, the manager, the fans, the plastic flags, the people payed to wave flags, the team, the players, everything, but I have to admit they are good at winning football matches, I hate the horrible, snide way they go about winning them, but they do win.  When the draw was made for the semi final there was no doubt that I was worried Chelsea are a very tough nut to crack and I doubted that we had enough to progress.  But then came the first leg and we out played them our new system worked and we had the better of the game, of course Chelsea got a snide, half dive penalty and the game finished 1-1 but we were the better team, despite what Mourinho claimed.  That result, however, left us needing a win at Stamford Bridge to go through, very difficult but this time I felt we were in with a chance, we could produce the same performance again.

We did produce the performance, especially in the first half but some exceptional goalkeeping kept us out with Moreno, Coutinho and Sterling all forcing excellent saves, in the second half we seemed to run out of steam, every one of our players left nothing on the pitch and worked themselves to a stand still, we had to to keep Chelsea out, they are an exceptional team with great individuals.  The injury to Sakho really cost us and was the beginning of the end, he had been imperious at the back for Liverpool.  Before the game, during the warm up he had been holding his back and it looked to me like he had played with an injury that had simply got to much Johnson replaced him and we immediately struggled and with Balotelli taking to the pitch shortly afterwards and producing nothing we were in trouble.  We did manage to hold on until the end of normal time with most of the credit going to Mignolet for a couple of really good stops.

In extra time Liverpool looked exhausted Lucas especially looked out on his feet and it was Lucas who gave away the free kick, admittedly following a terrible ball from Balotelli, that led to the goal, poor marking, again, allowed a free header and the goal.  Lambert took to the field at half time in the extra period and produced nothing with Liverpool unable to create anything in this period of the game Chelsea we simply to strong.  We did have one glorious chance to take the game to penalties when some excellent wing play from Sterling found Henderson in the box but he put his header wide when it seemed a goal was certain.

For me today we played very well up to the point where we became tired, and Sakho became injured.  The subs let us down Johnson, Balotelli and Lambert gave us nothing as has been the case from these three all season,  The manager had little choice as to what to do, I know Lallana was on the bench but when you need a goal you turn to your strikers and ours aren't good enough, I think we all know where any money needs to be spent and I could name three players who for me are not earning their wages and I would have absolutely no problems if they left the club.   

Now this may sound like sour grapes but i don't really care.  The tactics employed by Chelsea as a team and by individual players are a disgrace and i don't know how they get away with it.  We saw Costa clearly and purposefully stamp on players not once but twice.  He also had a run in with Gerrard where he pushed is head into the Liverpool captains face, three times was accused of diving by the referee and as normal spent most of his time with his hands in the faces of Liverpool defenders enough to be sent off three times if you include a yellow for diving four times in one game and unbelievably Mourinho defends this so I assume that this behaviour is encouraged by his manager this is how he is told to play by Chelsea.  If Suarez, whilst he was at Liverpool had acted in the same manner he would have been all over the front pages of the papers, had questions asked in parliament and would have been banned for most of the season, Costa picked up a yellow card eventually.

Further we see Mourinho at half time challenging the referee, putting pressure on for the decisions to be made in favour of his team, blatant cheating, this is not allowed, when he is caught by the fourth official what happens?  No action, he is simply warned that the cameras are on him and he skulks away behind a crowd of players, cheating but no action taken by the officials, again.

We watch Hazard, a wonderful footballer, or could be if he stands on his feet diving time and time again, any action taken by the referee? of course not, Mourinho has already put the pressure on in the press and as we have seen in person so nothing gets done, again

We see John Terry smash through the back of Sterling in an obvious attempt to slow him down, a reducer, any action taken, nope, again, in fact later in the game when Ivanovic hacks down the same player we actually do see a yellow card for the Chelsea player followed by a warm handshake between player and ref.

Despite this when Liverpool foul, which they did, almost the whole Chelsea team would surround the referee requesting a booking, i'm certain this is an instruction, they do this to put pressure on the referee.  Mourinho is the same, in the ear of the officials on the side lines continuously, in fact he missed his teams goal still moaning for a card to be given to Lucas several minutes after the foul.

Chelsea won this semi final because they had the stronger squad, we were not able to replace tired players with equal quality when we needed to at the end of the game and Chelsea could, on this occasion they were to strong, but i am proud of the Liverpool team we did well pushed them to the very limit, you can see by the tactics they had to employ to beat us.  We have shown that we are good enough to compete with the best teams in the country so for that well done.

@lfclumo  

Not all bad against Bolton

The FA Cup, in fact all the cup competitions are important to me, I think it is maybe an age thing but I always see the FA Cup as a major competition and one that Liverpool should take very seriously.  Having said that the league is important as well and players sometimes need a rest, we as a club need to find the best times to give players a game off and in the case of some give them minutes on the pitch or valuable experience to younger members of the squad, so when the team for this one showed that several changes had been made I was not too disappointed.  I possibly didn't agree with some of the players who had come in to the team I would rather some younger ones got a chance but players certainly needed resting and one or two coming back from injuries needed game time.

As is always the case in cup matches the opponents especially if they are from lower leagues, along with their supporters come fired up and Bolton were no exception, they started the quicker and for the first few minutes they were asking questions of the Liverpool defence.  Recently however, our defence has looked stronger and today with Sakho taking the lead we held out when a few weeks ago we would possibly have conceded, we have been struggling against strong powerfully forward lines, set plays and teams who put our defence under pressure, Heskey is certainly strong and powerful, they definitely put, or tried to put us under pressure and they had the set plays. Today we came through it relatively comfortably and after around ten minutes or so were starting to create. 

Bolton defended with a high line allowing the pace of Sterling to be a problem, we were finding it easy to play him in behind the defence but not so easy to get up and support him meaning that the Bolton defence despite being stretched to the limit at times always managed to block him out even if at times they had to resort to giving away free kicks.

In the second half we pushed up more ourselves, making it easier to get support to Sterling and making us more of a threat.  Liverpool looked very dangerous right up to the final ball or shot that, time and again was blocked out by the narrow Bolton three man central defence, Bolton gave us the wings and blocked out the middle and we failed to find a way through. The creativity was there the finishing was missing and despite several superb saves by the keeper we today missed a natural striker and in my opinion shows why we should be spending money in this area, we missed Sturridge desperately, yes he is due back but we need cover, he needs help, Sturridge will not be able to do it on his own.

Only one goal conceded in the last four games is a definite improvement, especially from where we were.  We look solid at the back for me with teams now not creating any chances against us, many not even getting any shots, even Mignolet appears to have recovered his form, coming off his line more, appearing to have more confidence and controlling his box better.  He still has problems with distribution but even this is improving, we still have a lot if work to do but at least we can see things moving in the correct direction.

Against Bolton I thought we played OK, probably deserved the win but we're lacking in front of goal and with our decisions around the box.  A great performance from Bolton defence and keeper foiled us but we are still in the hat for the next round so not all bad.

@lfclumo 

Weren't We Good

Before the game against Chelsea I was worried.  We are getting better, players and formations are developing but Chelsea are good, they have strength in every position, experienced players at the top of their game all over the pitch and on top of that they are bloody horrible, nasty, cynical, devious players with the the most horrible, devious, cynical, nasty bastard in charge, I bloody well hate Chelsea and everything they stand for.  But it has to be said that they win football games and that's why I was worried, I simply couldn't see a way we could get the result, surely they would be able to find a way through our defence, find the weaknesses in our formation, expose our wing backs, surely they would dominate the midfield and I couldn't see how we could get the goals against their defence and the quality Matic.

From the start we more than matched them, for me with none of the above coming to pass.  I'm hearing what people are saying, that early on Chelsea despite not threatening were controlling the game, not for me, in fact the opposite, they were struggling to control the game, the pressure we were putting on was starting to produce errors.  They were not in control, they were on the edge, they couldn't create, neither could we, but we were certainly not controlled.

Next came the penalty for Chelsea, again I'm hearing most people say that this was a penalty, again I disagree, for me Hazard dived into Can, if you watch the replays he is on his way down before the contact, not just fractionally but definitely on his way down, another example of cynical, nasty Chelsea football that has at least been halve earned by the managers comments in the media over the last week or two.

From the goal onwards Liverpool dominated playing some exciting quality football that deserved far more than the single goal, we should of but more importantly could of won.  What we did do is show that our players are equally as good as those of Chelsea and proved to people like me that had concerns before the game that we were wrong, we can control teams as good as Chelsea, we can compete at this level.  Chelsea never looked like scoring again, in fact only managed one more shot during the entire game, whilst we peppered their goal with efforts, teams the quality of Chelsea don't get hammered, 

they don't give up loads of clear cut chances, ever, but we did well and on another day would have got a couple more goals, a fabulous display.

At half time pundits criticised Can for his performance, again I disagree, I have already covered the penalty, and apart from that I thought he put in a very good performance against some of the world's best talent, as did our other defenders.  Lucas was superb and Henderson once again showed that he has the character to be the captain of our club, I loved watching him put Costa in his place, but for me the most pleasing aspect was seeing partnerships starting to develop all over the field, down the left Sakho and Moreno are looking good, as are Can and Markovic on the other wing so much so that we now longer have to concentrate every one of our attacks down the left, Henderson and Lucas dominated midfield and look at the quality of the names they were up against, Sterling and Coutinho also looked to be enjoying playing together more, regularly waltzing through the Chelsea team with today only the final ball missing.

The crowd also appeared to be back on form, quality support with good humour, that's how it's done Chelsea.  Hopefully all of this has given us the confidence to move on, it has me, I now can't wait for the second leg, we have a chance, I can now see how we get the win, well done Liverpool.

@lfclumo