At one point on Saturday 10 of our on-field players were from the British Isles (yes I know some of them were paddies - but in football terms that’s not “overseas”).
Add in young Robinson for Keller in the summer and we could be putting out an entirely homegrown team. This is good news for all the home countries (and the Irish too).
Not that I wouldn’t swap Michael Brown for Zinedine Zidane though.
Indeed, although they weren’t all first choice (add in Ziege and Kanoute). But it’s still nice, especially given the average ages. The Gooners, by way of contrast, managed two.
I was speechless after witnessing another Richards disaster. It’s not only what he does, it’s the confidence he destroys in players around him – when he’s playing, it’s like the last days of Glenda revisited.
I see Redknapp played 65 mins last night in his second Reserves game - a lot of genuine kids in that squad last night. By Leicester on the 22nd we may actually have a fully fit, fully available first team squad. Possibly for the first time ever !
For the punters . . . fwiw, I really fancy Everton at Brum tomorrow, and for several reasons – not the least of them being Rooney and Big Dunc are on fire and David Dunn has twanged his hamstring; 5/2 on the Tote (I need to find the second leg for a double, though).
Get in !
Here’s a thing: Dean Richards is the 10th most expensive defender in THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD.
That means there are only nine better than him - and one of them is suspended.
Rupert Lowe must be laughing his socks off. He wants Hoddle back too.
That is a genuinely troubling stat – you don’t know why his ears are so f*ucked, do you ?
Don’t know about his ears, but he always looks to me like he’s got a stocking over his head.
I really hope that Ginger Pele gets the start on Saturday.
Not one of Wenger’s stockings, I hope . . . but you’re right, possiby because his nose is so compressed. Poor bloke does look to have been in the wars . . .
Btw, you had me worried so I checked; Charlton away tomorrow (I’m there) and then nothing until a week on Sunday when it’s Leicester at home (4.05pm on Sky).
Which will mean a big drink before and after.
I’m giving CAFC a swerve - I’m a bit footballed out.
The OB always cram all the yids into the Anglitician pub by the station which gets ridiculously mobbed (its a wonder people don’t get hurt), but if you don’t wear colours (or Stone Island!) you can use the other boozers, which are all friendly enough.
OB also have a habit of using this game as a training game for their football squads so it can all get a bit oppresive, especially for yids.
BTW what is an Anglitician?
I hear (from a very good source - ie Martin Chivers, that the new manager is …Martin O’Neil. I’m still far from convinced, especially as Liverpool will almost certainly be looking for a new boss in the summer, and Newcastle may also. However big Chiv is adamant (I met him in the Captain’s lounge after the game (friend had a corpy ticket).
I’m going to try and arrange a meet up near Greenwich station - a couple of stops up the line and more civilsted in every sense.
Think it’ll be a cracking game, really loooking forward to this one and I actually fancy us.
Signs seem to point to Gardner – Pele at the back. Has to be the only way.
And big congratulations to Phil Ifil – only just turned 17 – making the England under 19 squad today. Excellent!
At least I got this part right.
What a cracking old-fashioned blood-and-guts London derby it was last night; damn, that was fun !
Disappointed to have only seen 6 goals, though . . . I really though it was going to be 4-3 . . .
And I don’t know how I misjudged Everton’s mood so much – at this point of the season that’s really crap judgement on my part. Bugger!
while you may not be able to afford Zidane, how about giving some thought to Zinidine Kilbane? 
Well I am gald I din’t go now. I can’t be wasting my time on two-bob six goal thrillers. If I only wanted to see six goals I would go and watch boring, boring Arsenal.
Now if we can just keep this up…
After a dull win and a frustrating draw, both at home, it breaks my heart to say this.
**I don’t think Houllier can ever win the Premiership. **
He can use his peerless behind-the-scenes expertise to build a team which should but, like the world-beating French national team, cannot get it to play the actual irresistible football himself. As a manager, I believe he tactically more suited to relegation fighting than championship challenging.
I believe he should move upstairs at the end of this season, since that is where he truly excels: The training facilities, the youth development, the transfer system, the big picture. He is second to none in this regard. But tactically and strategically, creating a team system? It hurts to admit it, but I think not.
We all know how Liverpool should be playing: A triple-H of solidity, Hyypia & Henchoz with Hamann in front of them, and then the entire rest of the team flowing forward like an irresistible red tide. On the left, Riise and Kewell combining power and skill in their interaction. In the middle, Gerrard charging commandingly towards the D, backed up by Hamman’s cracking low drives. On the right, El Hadj Diouf’s pace and guile gets regular dangerous balls to feet, with Finnan haring along in support. And up front, 30 goals per season each for Owen and his partner. This is no mediocre team - it challenges the very best in Europe. But that red tide is currently out, a minor nuisance to the Premiership’s cockle-pickers. Houllier appears as a kind of reverse Canute, impotently commanding it in.
When can we expect this Liverpool to appear? Diouf is no rubbish: his dissection of France in the World Cup was testament to that. And Owen has a new partner arriving in Djibbril Cisse. (As highly as I and his fellow professionals think of old Emile, he simply doesn’t take enough of his chances.) It needs someone who can create a beautifully offensive team. Leave H3 to defend while we score one more than the opposition!
I predict that Liverpool will get their CL place, keeping Houllier his job. He will then have to mount a serious title challenge or begone: From the start of next season, should Liverpool drift more than 6 points from the lead, another will take his place.
Congratulations! Admitting it is half the battle.
Now if you would just not appoint MON in the summer (as you surely must) . . .
Fwiw, I heard the fans turned on Houllier for the first time vs. Man City last week when he played deeper and deeper instead of attacking; that has to be the beginning of the end. Finally.
I don’t know about next season, though. You’re going to have 30+ points to make up on this – that’s a hell of a gap to close in 38 games.
I have always had a soft spot for the Mickeys (it’s a bog in Ireland - boom tish!). Certainly of the teams likely to win the league they are the least bad alternative when seen from N17.
I think that the absolute worst thing that could happen is that LFC scrape the 4th CL place, as it would keep GH in his job for at least another season of mediocrity (I can see it now; knocked out by latvian roadsweepers, QF in the UEFA; maybe the League cup - not good enough for a team with LFC’s pedigree.)
I’m sorry but he is never going to build a seriously challenging team. Possibly a great manager, but not much kop (geddit?) as a coach.
Martin O’Neil is the dream candidate for the LFC job (if not I am increasingly sure he’s coming to THFC - the noises all seem right as do our purchases/near purchases).
In other news is there anyone in the whole wide world who gives a stuff about Sven’s subathon friendlies? I don’t think they should award full England caps for these games anymore.
Indeed, I suspect that the only way MON might be asked if he could wait until some way into next season would be if Houllier could deliver not only the CL place but at least one cup. And which manager would stand to be tooled around so?
I still give GH the benefit of the doubt: it is merely crunch time. Now that he has a full squad, there is no excuse. Show us that Liverpool can swat aside lower teams and beat Arsenal, Man U, Barcelona or whoever is in the UEFA Cup by playing Liverpudlian football and we will cheer him into next season.
A cagey win is as good as a defeat from here on in, I’m afraid.
O’Neil is extremely proud of the fact that he has never broken a contract, therefore it is unlikely that he would move mid-season. You would need to get him in the summer.
Is there anyone in the “boot room” who could make the step up?
Phil Thompson is an able sergeant but has not quite the tactical nous required for the near-chess matches of Champions League football. Sammy Lee is a good coach but is fat, round and, I venture, bounces on the ground rather too often for a top class manager.
If there is one man who knows the Liverpool Way and has (admittedly not very successful) management experience, it is perhaps Gary Macallister - but even he would represent an enormous gamble, and could surely not be expected to compete with Lords Ferg and Weng straight from the off.
If it is not to be MON in summer (and perhaps, yes, it should be), then some other big names have been touted (Fabio Capello is a life-long admirer, apparently). However, the following might be considered: Houllier stays on until Liverpool lose a couple of games before Christmas. MON or other big name is arranged to come in, Spurs-like, at the end of next season. And who arrives to take charge for the rest of that season for a glorious one-season long rollercoaster ride?
Why, King Kev, back to his spiritual home.
I wanted Glenn Hoddle as THFC manager, and even I would baulk at Little Kev.
He’s a bottle merchant who gets duffed up in laybyes in strange circumstances. (Kev that is, not Glenn (who’s simply mental.)
You can cross McCallister off your list too. Hs is caring for his very ill wife, and wouldn’t be interested.
Some of the names we’ve been linked with could do a job at Anfield: Mourinho; Cappeli; Hiddink.
what about Steve Bruce or Mark Hughes (or is the MUFC thing a stumbling block?)
noone’s getting O’Neill.
La lalalala! I can’t hear you! lalalalala!
How much do you reckon you will offload Keane for? Brian Quinn appears to have relented his frugalty and is offering MON a transfer kitty of “the steam of his piss”.
I’m walking in a Gooner wonderland at the moment, but bitter experience teaches me not to get my hopes up. The treble will remain little more than a knob beside the bass on my sound system for at least a few more weeks.
What I can get excited about, however, is going to tomorrow night’s friendly against Brazil. It’s a bit like going to see the Harlem Globetrotters - the normal rules of competition are suspended. I couldn’t care less if we’re hammered, I just want entertainment (and to be sitting beside Ronaldo’s bird).