I was actually pretty optimistic when I got up in the morning on Sunday. I mean we had Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres fit again, not to mention a healthy looking Aquilani who to my surprise started from the bench. We were also playing at Anfield.
We started off really well, repelling anything that came forward, keeping Arsenal on their heels each time we advanced. The players looked up for it, pressuring and snapping at anyone not in red whenever thay had the ball. This is it I thought! This is the way we should be playing! It was proven last season that when we took the game to other sides, even the great European teams cringe with fear.
Alas, our second half performances reinforced the stereotype that while we play good football after going behind, we often fall back into a false sense of security after going ahead. Forget that we have a stonewall penalty disallowed by a certain Howard Webb who like our players, seems to be off the pace this season. Forget that we had the lion's share of possession in the first half. In reality, our over reliance on Fernando Torres stood out like a sore thumb again. Our no.9 has clearly not regained his match fitness and sharpness. Arsenal came back with aplomb in the 2nd half, despite no change in personal. In fact, they ended the game with more possession than us. What happened? In the postmatch interview, both Fabregas and Vermaelen attributed it to the hair dryer treatment they received from Wenger at halftime. If this is true, it just comes to show how tactical know-how isn't what gives you the edge over relatively similar astute opponent. Drive and determination gives you that little bit extra you need, as we clearly lacked that in the 2nd half. Perhaps Rafa should start throwing his shoe about the dressing room more. What I find most distressing is that Almunia was a relative spectator the entire 2nd half as he didn't have a single save to make.
Yes, Howard Webb had a really poor game but I urge everyone to look beyond that, and at the bigger picture. I don't pretend to know what the solution is but something has to be done if we are to finish in the top four. The way we are playing, I don't see us finishing in the top 6 even, considering the likes of City, Villa and Spurs seemed to have improved over last season. This to me is a very real and big concern. Something that blind faith alone will not mend. Do we need more players? Do we need new owners? A new manager? I don't know. All I know is that we aren't playing with a positive vibe and this needs to be addressed.
Added on December 14, 2009, 11:37 amOn another note, was anything done for the 50th anniversary of Bill Shankly's appointment as Liverpool manager?
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Tribute To Bill Shankly, 50 Years After His Arrival At Liverpool FC
With arms aloft, scarf tied tightly round his neck and celebrating with the Kop, the iconic image of Bill Shankly has become what defines Liverpool Football Club.
The benchmark for any future manager, player, member of the backroom or supporter, and what they strive towards, was raised to unprecedented heights as the man from Glenbuck realised his managerial potential to unleash a new era in British and European football.
It was April 1973 when Shankly and Anfield, a pair of footballing souls intertwined, rejoiced together at winning the First Division championship for the third and ultimately final time.
And immortalised in statue form outside Liverpool’s home today, Shankly’s presence is as keenly felt now as it was between 1959 and 1974.
To know of Shankly has becomes almost a right of passage one has to pass when the love of Liverpool is handed from generation to generation.
A man idolised by thousands, but who thought of himself as merely one of the people, Shankly would be talked about like a member of the family – his resignation in July, 1974 was grieved in a similar way.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of Shankly signing for the Anfield club, replacing the departed Phil Taylor, and ushering in a revolution, taking Liverpool from the humble surroundings of the Second Division to where the club stands today – as an outfit with a revered history and one with a now global appeal.
Everything which has already been achieved and that which will be won in the future by Liverpool, will have been done so with the foundations built under the Scotsman’s reign.
There is almost as much myth and legend surrounding the tenure of Shankly as there is truth, but it makes his legacy that more epic, inspirational and glorious to Liverpool supporters.
Anecdotes from former players and fans detailing acts of generosity, an unrivalled competitive streak and quotes of poetic quality all add to the aura Shankly had and still holds to all associated with Liverpool.
Talk of the former Preston North End player and Scottish international never ceases, but with such a poignant anniversary and in times when the current Liverpool are looking for inspiration, it was natural those he encountered began to reminisce.
Kevin Keegan was somewhat of an unknown when Shankly plucked him from Second Division Scunthorpe United but by 1971 but the Liverpool fans had learned to trust in everything their manager did – it came as little surprise Keegan would be one of the most stellar signings the club have ever seen.
“He brought me to the club, he believed in me and he inspired me. That first meeting with him changed my life forever,” said Keegan.
“Apart from my parents, Bill was the most important person in my life.
“Bill’s departure certainly played a part in my decision to leave.
“No disrespect to Bob (Paisley), but when Bill left half the club went for me as well.
“Bill took Liverpool by the scruff of the neck and put down the foundations on which the club’s been built.”
The Second Division title arrived in 1962 with a team comprised of players such as Ron Yeats and Ian St John and signalled a remarkable turnaround in the club’s fortunes as the former Huddersfield Town manager had transformed a club with a run-down stadium, training facilities not to standard and an average playing squad.
“When we won promotion to the First Division I went to a shareholders’ meeting and they were so thrilled about it that they presented us with cigarette boxes,” Shankly said.
“I told them, ‘we got promotion, but you don’t think that is satisfactory, do you? Next time we come back here for presents we will have won the big league, the First Division’.”
The gifts no doubt became grander after a first ever FA Cup triumph followed in 1965, when Leeds United were dispatched 2-1 after extra-time, and then being named the best team in the land the season afterwards, using just 14 players.
It would be seven years until Shankly brought silverware back to Anfield but he did it after building his second all conquering side – out went those including Roger Hunt and Tommy Lawrence and in came Ray Clemence and John Toshack.
Pipping Arsenal to the championship by three points in 1973, Shankly revelled in his ‘finest hour’ hailing the league win.
“This title gave me greater pleasure than the previous two, simply because here we had a rebuilt side, some of them only two or three seasons in first team football and they stayed the course like veterans”, he said.
“I wanted that title more than at any time in my life.”
More glory followed in 1973 as the club’s first European trophy was secured with a 3-2 win on aggregate against Borussia Moenchengladbach in the final of the UEFA Cup – lighting the touch paper for Liverpool to become European trailblazers.
His final trophy arrived 12 months later when Liverpool beat Newcastle 3-0 in the FA Cup final courtesy of Kevin Keegan’s double and one from Steve Heighway.
“These are my kind of people.”
Shankly sensed something special when he became Liverpool manager half a century ago yet few of the club’s supporters would have predicted just how monumental a 15-year love affair it would become.
But as evocative as the recollections of other people are, the words of Shankly himself are those which resonate the loudest.
"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that,” is the line which crossed the most footballing borders.
Though when uttering, “If Everton were playing at the bottom of the garden, I'd pull the curtains,” he probably spoke loudest to the Liverpool fans.
Yet they were silenced when Shankly announced his shock resignation from the Anfield job – though the irrepressible Ayrshire man did it in his own style by announcing the signing of Ray Kennedy and then his own departure.
“It has been a momentous day, but his signing shows that I am not running away. Maybe it will be said that one of the last things I did at this club was to sign a great new player,” he said.
It is fitting that Shankly would have the final word.
This post has been edited by Duke Red: Dec 14 2009, 11:39 AM Attached image(s)
Dec 14 2009, 11:31 AM
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), and pace has become increasingly important. If you are a winger, you either need to be quick, tricky or both. Kuyt has neither of this traits. What he does well is he tracks back to help defensively, and he runs himself to the ground. Going forward, I personally think he has good movement off the ball. Yes, Kuyt does play on the right but like Babel, he usually players on the right side of a trident in attack, he isn't stuck wide right like he is with us sometimes. Anyone remember last season when we started playing positive football for a change and Kuyt was played further up the park where he flourished? He ended the season with 15 goals to his name. That's my take. If you sympathise with Lucas, why not Kuyt?
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