Luis Suarez - should he stay or should he go?

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Do you like the deliberately provocative title.. not even a question really, from my perspective anyway and probably yours as well if you followed the link to this blog on twitter anyway.

We have however had the now customary Luis Suarez transfer episode.. the stories were splashed all over the papers that read as if Suarez was on the verge of leaving Liverpool. A popular theme when the football press has nothing more pressing than the International friedlies.

It went along the usual lines.. some interview which said that he would welcome bids from clubs in Champions League. This was swiftly dismissed by Suarez who said that he expects this kind of nonsense from the press in the UK but not in Uruguay and that if they kept it up then he would solve the problem by stopping talking to them.

This of course wouldn't solve anything as they just make it all up anyway so actually talking to them doesn't make the slightest difference anyway.

Cristiano Ronaldo

It is an interesting twist on the perceived bias on the London centric press..  which let's be fair they have had quite a few column miles out of Suarez since he signed for Liverpool. I did especially like the comparison between their reaction to the form of Luis Suarez and Gareth Bale. It does seem that when Suarez is in form that Liverpool are a one-man team, but when Super Chimp hit form this season by scoring pretty much all Spurs' goals then he is being hailed as the "New Ronaldo".

I'm getting side-tracked. As I've previously stated, the press make up any shit they like anyway - Liverpool fans are more painfully aware of this than most. The press lie about things that are actually important so which footballer plays for which team is way down the list and fair game frankly.

While Suarez keeps signing new contracts (and getting pay-rises) I think it's safe to assume he's happy enough. But we have to be realistic. Luis Suarez is 26 and only 6 months in to a 4 year contract. Now we all now that contracts are really only a gauge of how much a player is worth rather than an actual commitment to be at a club for four years. But if we don't get our shit together soon, by which I mean next season, then Luis Suarez is going to start to get nervous. And if he has another daughter, but names her something like Rebanbeu then it's a pretty safe bet that he's off to Madrid.

If by March next year we are still flapping about in a similar position in the league then I'm reasonably confident that the Luis Suarez transfer stories will become more frequent and less vigorously denied, especially if Uruguay (and Luis Suarez) haven't got the World Cup to distract them.

Luis Suarez with one of the new boys.

So this leaves the ball firmly in Liverpool and Brendan Rodgers' court. If we can get through the summer (by keeping Suarez, obviously) and also not fucking up another transfer window (the most recent one being the only one for a while that we haven't) then it's time for everyone else to step up.

If Suarez keeps doing what he's been doing and everyone else starts to chip in, with a little help from the new boys then just maybe we'll be able to win the Arsene Wenger Trophy and get in the top 4.

Because the problem is that if Luis Suarez does keep doing what he has been and is top scorer in the league next year as well then he won't hang around if we are seventh.

He will go somewhere where his goals aren't being wasted.

Time to dream the impossible dream...

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11 games to go and 10 points off fourth.. not very likely is it?

Well, maybe not.. but when you look at it a bit more closely (there's going to be a lot of clutching at straws here) then maybe we're in with a shout.

I'm tempted to say Spurs are already going to be up there with Super Chimp in the form he is at the moment, but when you look at the other contenders.. well, there's a case to be made.

Chelsea are the current occupiers of the fourth spot, but they seem to be a little erratic and Agent Benitez is not being very subtle with his mission so far, so the chances are he might be shown the revolving door sooner rather than later. When you bring in other factors.. mardy fans and mardy players who both seem to hold their legendary manager in contempt, few other competitions left to get in the way, the mystifying Frank Lampard contract problems. They've only picked up 4 points from the last 12.. and some sketchy home form. They also have trips to Old Trafford and Anfield and the visit of Spurs in a tricky run of games, so it's feasible that the wheels may come off at some point.

Arsenal's ship isn't exactly running smoothly either, losing to Blackburn in the Cup and then Bayern Munich who'll bin them out of Europe in a couple of weeks. In a strange way that might actually help their cause. Teams tend to dip in form when they get knocked out of the Champions League.. but when it's already over by the end of the 1st leg, it gives teams time to get used to the idea, so it for example they get a draw in Germany then confidence rises. However, their first team did get beaten by Bradford, so we'll see how that works out for them.

However, their league form isn't too shabby. it might take a bit of a knock at White Hart Lane this weekend though, and they have Man Utd to play at the Emirates as well.They'll probably be there or thereabouts come the end as they'll pick up enough points to remain in contention.

 Everton - No.

Liverpool have an interesting run of games coming up. Hardest away trip looks like Newcastle on paper, with Chelsea and Spurs to come to Anfield. If we can get up a head of steam, and by we I mean Suarez and Sturridge before we get to those home games then who knows.

If we can take 13 points from next 5 games (Wigan, Southampton and Villa away, Spurs and West Ham at home) then we might be in with a shout. And lets face it, we've not much else to keep us occupied. Our home form has been pretty brutal if you ignore visitors from the West Midlands and we've run out of them. For the record Played 6, Won 6, For 21 Against Nil.

If we can trim it to 5 or 6 points of fourth with 5 or 6 games to go... well it's still unlikely. We're 15/1 to get into the top 4 for a reason.

Possible, not too likely.. maybe another spin in the UEFA Cup, but frankly that would be a little depressing. I don't know about you, but I kind of like seeing us play on a Saturday.. and with a bit of luck Tuesday and Wednesday next season.

Well with a shit load of luck anyway.

The fine line between success & failure

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Guess what kids - it's another - what's gone wrong at Liverpool post. Well it is and it isn't.. I'm just going to start and see what gets churned out at the end.

The last few games have not gone well - that's apparent for all to see. But it could all have been very different  if this new found tendency to switch off in games hadn't raised it's head.

In 4 of the last 5 games we have let our season unravel by conceding two quick goals, which as tendencies go is a a pretty fatal one when it comes to playing games of football.

Oldham was where it started to go wrong. Where the wheels started coming off our season. Now I know the defence got changed around a bit that game, but it also got beaten up as well. To go from 1-1 to 3-1 in the space of a few minutes (either side of half-time) is unforgivable and even more so in an away cup-tie, where the locals will go deservedly bat-shit mental. But Skrtel didn't shower himself in glory and I think this may be where the rot set in.

Then the game at Arsenal, we did actually have the foresight to actually get a couple of goals up before the collapse - but at 2-0 up you have to be closing the game out. I watched that game, initially not expecting too much, but when you get the goal your expectations rise and you suddenly have something to lose. I was nervous until Henderson popped up with the second and then I relaxed because I thought it was game over. The trouble is so did we. 2-2 - a point would have been a decent result at Arsenal, but a point is never a good result from 2-0 up.

The City game.. we played well, better than against Arsenal. We got our noses in front, something not many teams do at City but we couldn't close it out and an individual error (Ferguson short-hand for not my fault) let us down. Same as the City game at Anfield actually. 2-1 up and drop a couple of points due to fuck ups.

Then it in turned to shit.. that's the thing with draws, however respectable they may be. Two defeats in quick succession and we're suddenly talking about no wins in 5 games rather than unbeaten in 4.

West Brom - we controlled, but didn't take our chances. Even missed an admittedly soft penalty, but that was very damaging. We could and should have been looking at moving up into 6th (above Everton) with a win against Swansea tomorrow. But Foster saves the pen, we take our eye off the ball and we are back in 9th.

I saw it - I don't believe it.

That was a vital game.. all the confidence gained from respectable performances away, on the back of a few hammerings of sides at Anfield, has taken a hit. West Brom have been on a downward spiral for a while and personally I made the mistake of actually presuming we were going to batter them. This is usually when the alarm bells start ringing - I am naturally pessimistic when it comes to Liverpool - didn't always used to be that way but these things do have a habit of grinding you down over the years. I thought we'd batter West Brom and head off to Russia full of confidence.

Instead we went scared that the slightest fuck-up will get punished. Now we did well enough, we were controlling the game in the second half without looking too dangerous - although Suarez did miss several chances which is something we don't like to see.

But Hulk scored a screamer, which you can't really legislate for, but again we switched off and conceded 2 quick goals. We have seen what happens if you start doing on a regular basis. You get what you deserve frankly.

Now the defence has chopped around a bit during these games.. Agger and Skrtel have dipped. Carragher has come in and done, well better than expected considering, but if your defence isn't settled then you can start to have problems. The recent evidence for this is pretty damning.

So where does this leave us going into the Swansea game.

Well there is a likelihood that the squad will be tired, but having said that we went from the away game in Moscow to another respectable draw at Chelsea in November, but we have also played on Monday and Thursday so there is a chance we will start to look a bit tired by the end of it.

The one plus point we do have is that Sturridge is back fit again.. now frankly we should have been able to dispatch West Brom without his help (and he was ineligible in Europe) but we missed him.. almost as if we are some kind of one man team. There's some lazy ass journalism right there... always pisses me off. If they could just decide who the "one man" was we might be able to do something about it.

I did read the take on Spurs one-man team situation in the paper. Rather than criticism the headline went "Is Gareth Bale the new Ronaldo" - Now I don't want to go on about bias in papers but WTF.

Back to more relevant issues. Swansea do have a cup final to look forward to next week and that be helpful to us as although they are playing for places, players who are scared of getting injured or picking up suspensions tend to take their eye off the ball and performances can dip - well put it this way, I fucking hope so, because if they are up for it then we are going to have a very serious fight on our hands.

And we need to start winning again.. If wouldn't have taken much more in each one of those 3 league games to be looking at 9 points rather than 2. And we'd be in 6th looking at moving to within spitting distance of 4th place.. but like I said, it's a fine line.

We just need to make sure we're the right side of it against Swansea.

We all dream of a team of Carragher's

This picture doesn't really need a caption

So that's it then. Jamie Carragher will play his final game for Liverpool this Sunday... his 737th appearance for the club. Pretty special in todays era of agents moving players round just for the sake of their bank balances.

It is also fitting that he leaves Liverpool with the supporters not wanting him to leave.. well stop playing at least. You can be pretty sure he's still going to be around on matchdays, especially now he's working for Sky alongside the anti-Carragher.. although credit where it's due, he has done a good job for Sky despite being "a busy little cunt" at Man Utd.

It is curious that Carragher's  announcement that he would be retiring at the end of the season coincided almost exactly with his return to the first team. Personally I am surprised that he didn't have second thoughts once it seemed that he did have another season left in his legs. Maybe that was the problem, if he was finding it a struggle, although it didn't seem too apparent. Not enough of a problem for Skrtel to get much of a sniff of a game. The fact that he already had something lined up with the move to Sky probably influenced his decision also... I suspect if that wasn't there we'd still be seeing Carra next season. But getting paid a shit-load for sitting about talking about football doesn't seem too taxing does it. Even Andy fucking Townsend gets paid for that despite barely having a basic grasp of the game.

The Carragher Manifesto

My hope is that this isn't the last the Liverpool FC will see of James Lee Duncan Carragher.. and not just sat in the stands with all the other ex-Reds. Or working for the TV with all the other ex-Reds. After reading "The Carragher Manifesto" (I believe it was called something different officially but that's not important) I want that lad in charge of Liverpool Football Club.

Football autobiographies are usually achingly dull, but Carragher's is one of the best one's going which is actually mainly about football. There are interesting ones but they aren't really about football (for example : Tony Adams, Steve Claridge).

But why am I trying to sell you this book, you've probably already read it and if not you're more likely to be interested in what the Anti-Carragher (Rat-Boy, Gary Neville, the devil has many faces) has to say for himself, which he tends to do quite a lot more these days now he's got a job for Sky.

Actually in many ways they are pretty much the same, it's just that they played for different clubs and depending on your allegiance. You either love Jamie Carragher.. or well there's probably something wrong with you if not.

Whatever Jamie Carragher does or says just makes you like him more.. (whilst the exact opposite was true of Neville) whether it was scoring a penalty for Everton at Anfield, or looking at the interviewer as if he had three heads when asked whether he'd consider leaving Liverpool for a bigger club and then telling him "Who's bigger than Liverpool?"

Or on the eve of the 2nd leg of the 2005 Champions League semi-final when on a booking saying that he didn't mind getting booked and missing the final so long "as it mattered".

Or the the story of how Salif Diao confided in him that Everton we're interested in him, but he was worried about the Liverpool fans reaction. "No.. don't worry about that.. you go and sign for Everton." Please for fucks sake go and sign for Everton.

I got stuck in a bit of a loop then... sorry.

To get back to my point.. I want to see Jamie Carragher in charge of Liverpool. He eats, sleeps, and breathes football. He studies the game like not many players do and I believe would make a  great manager - a few years down the line admittedly, but he will one day.

Now this is a bit of a leap, but say 5 years down the line, perhaps more.. hopefully we haven't gone through too many managers by that point, because a high turnover is not a good sign - maybe even with him in as a coach before then. He's practically doing this already - I read that he barks orders at Andre Wisdom whilst on the bench apparently - you can bet that this isn't an isolated incident.

But can you imagine a better person to be in charge for the re-perching of Liverpool?

THE PRICE OF FOOTBALL

Before you read my ramblings, please check out my Just Giving link.

Football in England and for that matter quite a lot of the rest of the world is getting out of hand and quite frankly it's beginning to make me sick.

From the start of next season the TV deal from SKY, with a little help from BT, will be worth a smidge over £3bn - globally this gets up to £5bn. This seems insane, but I suspect it is anything but. Between them Sky & BT will show 154 games, which works out at £6.5m a pop. 

But you can bet that it's worth it. Advertising and well lets face it, would anyone really have Sky if they didn't have the football on. It's what their entire business model was built upon.

This however isn't my point... according to Malcolm Clark of the Football Supporters Federation.

"The new media rights deal for the Premier League, even before the foreign rights deal is announced, means they could knock around £30 off each single ticket next season and still have as much money as they have now."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19987630

Now I did the back of an envelope sums on this and this is actually about right.

Astonishingly it works out that Sky / ESPN currently pay about £44 per person who actually attends Premier League games. This is every game, whether it's on TV or not. 

When the £3bn deal kicks in, this will go up to £75 - so actually more than it costs to go in the away end at Arsenal.

It's worth noting that the linesmen at the recent Arsenal v Man City game reminded the City players that their fans had paid £62 a ticket and suggested it might be an idea to make the effort and go over to them. The Premier Leagues reaction to this was to drop him from the next game he was due to officiate.

If that doesn't tell you all that is wrong with the game these days, I don't know what does.

When you're paying nearly £50 a ticket these days you begin to wonder if it's worth it. This is brought into focus by the way that Liverpool distribute their tickets these days - which in fairness is better than the old system of just having to hammer the phones and hope your boss thought you were just being persistent with some unlikely work-related activity.

But paying £30 just for the right to be able to buy tickets and then being asked to get all the tickets you want up to December in July - a lot of money depending on how many games obviously - and then being asked to get the tickets for the rest of the season quite handily just before Christmas. You begin to realise just how much money you're spending.

Unnecessary picture of Mrs Sneijder

And when the money from the new deal does kick in, where exactly do you think the money will go?

Well that's anybodies guess - given Liverpool's recent track record quite a chunk of it might go to Newcastle - or possibly to Wesley Sneijder for his missus* to spend on whatever she spends it on I suppose, but one thing is pretty certain - It won't be £20 a ticket in the Kop for League games next season.

* I realise that Mr Sneijder has since signed for Galatasaray, but that's not a sufficient reason not to still have an unnecessary picture of Mrs Sneijder  sat there in her pants.

Luis Suarez - Read all about it...

Well he's in the papers again.. actually when is he ever out of the papers. Everything he does, or indeed doesn't do is back-page news and also sadly sometimes front page news as well.

It's fair to say since we signed him 2 years ago he had been loved and loathed in equal measure. If you read the annoyingly reasoned article by Gary Neville he made much the same point.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2261403/Gary-Neville-Luis-Suarez-nasty-little-player-youd-want-team.html

The kind of player you want in your side because of the level of skill and goal threat he possesses, but I suspect that he didn't play for Liverpool my rose-tinted glasses may view him a little differently.

It seems controversy will always follow him around and in fairness this latest one - admitting to a dive in the Stoke game earlier this season - is a little odd, but shall we say not quite so serious as some of the other things he's got himself involved with. He hasn't bitten anyone this time round anyway.

Now the incident in question was really odd. From my recollection it wasn't really obvious it was a dive until he actually appealed for a penalty. He sort of stopped, stumbled and then just sort of fell over. At first glance it looked as if he'd just stumbled, but on the replays you saw that it was a pretty odd attempt to win a penalty.

Now he hasn't done himself any favours admitting this.. although it was blindingly obvious anyway. Brendan Rodgers has condemned  his actions (diving, not admitting it) and the club will be taking action, presumably some kind of fine. You can't exactly see him being dropped.

Now it's not in the same league as Roy Keane who admitted shattering Alf Inge Haaland's leg to sell more copies of his book. I should again clarify - he admitted it to sell more books, crippling the man with a view to selling more books a few years down the line would require a level of evil and foresight that even Roy Keane lacks.

Quite how this will effect Suarez is unclear at this stage - this burst of honesty probably will give referee's less reason to give him decisions in the future, but as he doesn't get any anyway that doesn't matter too much.

The tabloids will froth at the mouth at the dirty cheating foreigner, not like out good old British players who never ever cheat, or admit to it anyway. But he's Public Enemy no. 1 as far as the sports pages in the tabloids are concerned anyway, so again no change there.


So with a bit of luck it'll just be tomorrow's chip paper - or whatever the modern equivalent is these days

#MUFC v #LFC and how good will triumph over evil (hopefully)

Sunday looms large and our trip to Old Trafford is filling me with a deep sense of pessimism. It should be said however that this is usually a good sign - any deep sense of optimism (for example the one that I felt before the Villa game) is usually a sign that.. well, we know what happened then.

Liverpool's form has picked up since the Villa fiasco.. in a previous blog I said that in the run of "easier" games we had over Christmas it was vital that we collected as many points as possible as it was going to get much harder - well we've got the "easy" ones out of the way - which we won 3 (Fulham, QPR and Sunderland) and lost 2 (Stoke - which was never going to be that easy) and Villa which really should have been.

The next few games are a little tougher. Two trips to Manchester and one to the Emirates with the visit of Norwich tucked in there somewhere.

With the trip to Old Trafford coming up on Sunday, we get the now traditional Alex Ferguson musings on life.. this time, unsurprisingly it's about Luis Suarez  who is apparently "laden with controversy", which in fairness isn't far from the truth, but the same could be said of Alex Ferguson and his frequent trips to the FA to explain his latest nonsense.. and also - I especially like this one.. "I hope we don't suffer from some of the decisions that have gone his way". Now setting aside the curious grasp of the tense in this statement - quite how Man Utd are going suffer on Sunday from decisions that have been made previously - I also puzzled by the word decisions. Decisions as in plural, meaning more than one.

Now, fair enough, the Mansfield goal the other week should never have stood. So that is ONE decision. However, I would point out when Liverpool fans have a song that goes "We're going to have a party, when Suarez gets a pen." I would suggest that it isn't a regular occurence. Actually the penalty we did get this season didn't do us too much good in the end anyway. Notice penalty - singular.

It would be nice not to suffer again from decisions going against us such as those in the game at Anfield this season.. when in fairness Liverpool outplayed Man Utd with 10 men and would have got something out of the game were it not for Valencia's balance issues.

I shouldn't let Ferguson's nonsense annoy me quite so much - he does it before every game - telling the referee, effectively his job or rather how Ferguson wants him to do his job. It also lets us know who he's most worried about in the oppositions side.. it's not usual that he starts banging on about the shite players in the other side.. or at least the ones that are less of a threat.

Man Utd 0 - 1 Danny Murphy

It's been a little while since the 4-1 at Old Trafford and longer still since the days when Danny Murphy turned the fixture into something of an away banker, but I think we can go there with some optimism.

We tend to step up in line with the quality of the opposition.. even we're on an iffy run (for example, just before the trip to Chelsea this season) we are able to sometimes raise our game.. although not it seems when we go to Stoke for some reason.

It would of course be helpful if we didn't need to keep going on about the 4-1 game (although the experience of watching that game in a Manchester pub has stayed with me for some reason) and the news that Howard Webb will be in charge at Old Trafford doesn't exactly fill me with optimism - although I do seem to remember him giving one of the Danny Murphy penalties, but that was before he was drawn to the dark side.

I do have a sense that it will be Howard Webb that will be the focus of attention come the end of the game tomorrow.. some kind of dubious sending off, most probably for Luis Suarez diving although this will recinded by the FA after it turns out that it wasn't a dive and should have been a penalty after all.. at which point Ferguson will be sat that there with a smug expression on his face while presumably stroking a white cat.. His dastardly scheme involving Howard Webb doing exactly as instructed via the subliminal press conference having worked perfectly.

Of course this may not happen at all - Howard Webb could be a force for good instead of evil - and some kind of scenario involving a 98th minute Luis Suarez winner that should have been handball, offside or both may save the day after all.

We shall see what happens, but I hope it's the latter and that the forces of evil will banished forever.

THE END.

I got a bit carried away with the good versus evil stuff didn't I.. never mind.