December 2011 Archives

You may laugh and you may jest at the title of this blog, but at some point in the future that is something I believe will happen.

Why?

Because last night our Captain Steven Gerrard, not only what a fantastic player he is but what a fantastic servant he has been to Liverpool Football Club.  

Football on Boxing Day as we all know, is not only part of the traditions that most of us follow over the Christmas period, but it is seen as a marker by many football supporters. That marker is the one that indicates to us where we will be, come the end of the season in May.

Today was no exception and the resulting game left many wondering what Liverpool need to do start putting the ball into the back of the net. It has got to the point where questions now need to be answered about several members of the squad.  These are players who simply do not want to or indeed know how to step up onto pedestal that is Liverpool Football Club. A pedestal that ensures the club's standards are high enough to ensure we also take part in Europe's major competitions.

There were the usual rumours about the team before the game, the most important being that Stevie G was about to return.  This turned out to be true, but he would start from the bench.  It was also being suggested that Andy Carroll would start rather than Dirk Kuyt or Craig Bellamy who both deserve to amongst the first names on the team sheet.  Again this proved to be true and you just knew that although the game was against Blackburn who reside at the bottom of the league, it was going to be one of those days. 

Kenny Dalglish takes his resurgent side to the Midlands this weekend, where he will face Alec McLeish's Aston Villa. Both clubs have seen change in the past 12 months and are both trying to move further up the Premier League table.

Victory for either side is massive. A win for Liverpool keeps them right in the middle of a scrap for that elusive fourth Champions League spot and maintains and their strong away form.

A win for Villa will see them edge closer to the European places and improve confidence no end.

This time last week, nobody had the slightest idea that certain forces would ensure that Liverpool Football Club and several of its first team players would be pulled through the mire once more.  We were after all looking forward to our trip to Fulham on the Monday evening and the possibility of another major win.

Since then though, Fulham have had a change of manager and the team that stepped onto the pitch had a different mentality to the one we had met during the previous season and were determined to win. What we did not know, was that they would have the help of the referee to ensure this happened.

It was one of those games, where it did not matter what happened because the referee appeared to either be colour-blind or indeed a supporter of the home team.  Every decision went Fulham's way and indeed Luis Suarez appeared to be singled out once again for some rough and tumble treatment.  There were tackles and kicks that were ignored and he was also goaded by the crowd, so much so, that he finds himself on the other end of another FA Charge.  A charge, that in my opinion appears to have been as manufactured as the decisions Fulham were given to ensure they won the game.