Liverpool: The dead half of mercy-side

Where do i begin with this club... Hmm lets see. Rafa Benitez is an obvious candidate. Next is the ever on going never ending saga of who is Liverpool to be sold to and all to do with the ownership of that beleaguered club rotting in 18th place at the moment. While we're at that, anyone care to place bets on Liverpool's hopes of a  survival this year? I'm quite tempted really.
I said earlier that i wasn't shocked to see Liverpool lose at home to a newly promoted Blackpool. Thing is, I was surprised. I didn't expect Blackpool to score two goals. Although after that I could see a possible Liverpool fight back. And there was one briefly. But they could not even manage to pull a draw out of the hat. I feel for Roy Hodgson. He certainly deserves to be in a better position. Unfortunately, I think alot of people saw this coming and alot of them might have been liverpool hopefuls but the worst has already happened so early on in the competition. Even West Brom, Blackpool and Newcastle are in better positions right now. People might say its too early to make any assumptions but this has indeed been liverpools worst start in 51 years or so. I must have used the word 'worst' atleast 4 times in 3 lines. Dont bother counting; the spacings different when I type in my text template. Anyway, lets get passed the fact that Rafa totally made a fool of Liverpools history, the board room and the fans while he was there though more importantly, after he won the champions league. Why I say history is because they've been premier league-less since forever... the f.a. cup was won years ago and embarrasing defeats over the last few years to teams in the bottom half of the table and in the lower divisions. Boardroom? Because those clowns gillet and hicks offered rafa a 5 year contract worth 18million pounds the year he won the F.A. Cup. He should have actually left Liverpool with 15 million inn his pocket. good going guys. Fans? They probably refused to believe that rafa was leading them down never-land. And unlike other clubs where fans would apply all the pressure on the exisiting regime to get things done, the scoucers obviously made no attempt to even bring about a whiff of a change at the club though eventually, it did work on Rafa. Although, thankfully, Benitez took his 3 million and left for Inter Milan after a settlement with the American Idiots. He'll get far in his first two years. He has a good squad and an experienced one thanks to mourinho but just like he did at liverpool, he'd probably take them down without a fight after that. thats my fear for Inter now.

I've stopped laughing whenever Liverpool lose to the lower rung teams. Its not fun when you get too much of a good thing. You're actually hopeful that they'll score 3 goals and hold on for a victory. Thats something Blackpool supporters should be getting used to after last weekends result! At least they'll have something really positive to look forward to.
Back to Hodgson. He's has a lot to deal with. He still has Steven Gerrard at his disposal and Torres too. For this season anyway. I hate Liverpool. But I do feel for Roy and for the kind of coach he was at Fulham, where he really performed to the clubs maximum potential with a small budget and a small squad, he could do a lot better at Liverpool. Liverpool's history and expectations are daunting no doubt but he's got far less time to prove his worth at a bigger club after already losing out on the premier league again this year ( lets be realistic ) and losing to Northampton in the league cup. They still got the Europa League and the F.A. Cup to make something out of whatever they have left this season but i wouldn't be too sure as to whether they'd even get to the semi's of those respective competitions.

They say only time will tell. I'm telling you that they're going to extend that run of a trophy-less season and compete with Man City on that front. Remember... City are unbeaten in 34 years. Liverpool are far behind ( again, not surprising ) but they've always been playing catch up so, I'd tip them to push City to number 40 in the next 6 years. You know, have a little league of their own. Arsenal can join them too.

The Kung Fu Fighter

Thats Nigel De Jong. Manchester City's ninja in blue and the the Netherlands' oranje. You remember him from this years world cup final right? Remember that challenge against Xabi Alonso? Foot to the spaniards chest? No gold there. Luckily for Alonso! But it just tells you so much about the tackles he makes. Okay, so theres nothing wrong with being determined and strong willed to win the ball back. We all know that Scholes isn't the most flamboyant tackler around, as is Wilson Palacios, but, when you see midfielders and a few defenders make tackles the way these guys do, you do get concerned. I know I do. You dont want to see another player screaming on the pitch, frantically waving his hands up in the air in agony and despair because he knows that shit has hit the ceiling quite frankly. We remember Eduardo, Larsson, Cisse, Valencia ( although his case was a bit different ) and now Ben Arfa. The first three players aren't quite the same as they used to be. Lets hope better for Valencia. I'm a Man Utd Fan but just generally, i hope that Ben Arfa gets better too because he was a really promising talent. I dont know the extent of that injury but i didn't want to look at the second replay.

Okay, enough of the victims. Lets talk about the serial tacklers. De Jong in particular. He's done this kind of thing so often, how in the world does he always manage to get away with it??? Chris Foy the referee for that game I think, was having his worst game of the season so far. And we've only reached game number 7. He's as much to blame as Nigel is. One horrible challenge and not even a yellow card or a warning. Eph the warning. That'll be like handing over a birthday card to Nigel telling him to have another go and maybe, he'll get a congratulatory card the next time. And then the yellow cards kept on coming out like they were running out of fashion. unwarranted at most times and the first penalty that was debatable and the second that my 79 year old grandmother cried out foul for was astonishing really. The fact that my grandma could see it and not the referee, who must have been all of 15 yards away from the incident is appalling. But credit to my grandma's knowledge of the game and the doctor who operated on her eye some 30 years ago. Now this might also be my biasness towards the red half of Manchester talking but if you'd watched the Man City / Newcastle game, you'd probably agree with me too. Poor decisions all round. Johnson and Jonas' goals were well taken and superb i thought but you'd like to see a bit of better judgement by the man who dawns the fluorescent jersey.

Having ranted all of the above, it brings me to the conclusion that the premier league is one of the most physically demanding leagues in the world. Its like the movie : The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
The Good: Lots of viewer-ship. Lots of money. And lots of money.
The Bad: The English tabloids puts so much pressure on clubs, managers, players and referees too. Then you wonder why the inconsistencies with the refs, the Roonies, the Gerrards and the Lampards. thats the scourge of this league I suppose.
The Ugly: Nigel De Jong & Didier Drogba

There you have it. My thoughts on tackles and referees. I'm sure i could think of a lot more to do with what I've said above but I've just realized that Liverpool lost at home to Blackpool. Cant say I'm surprised although  I would think its time for another post eh?!