The Soccer Blog: Always Look on the Bright Side of Mondays

Tuesday, 30 November 2010

Always Look on the Bright Side of Mondays

By: Noel | November 29th, 2010
carragher injury

Henry and Carragher and the FA cup are a few of the Liverpool topics floating around the intertubes today, and since it’s Monday and I’m sure we’re all in an awesome mood after yesterday’s disappointing result, let’s skip the frivolities and get right to it…

* It’s a long article, and it covers ground that most Liverpool supporters will already have a fair handle on, but a new Newsweek piece on NESV and John Henry taking over the club is a worthwhile, even handed, and well researched look at the club from a bit of an outsider’s perspective. As much as anything you could call it a bit of a “Liverpool 101,” and as such it’s an enjoyable enough read on its own merits, but perhaps also the sort of thing to pass along to those who still don’t quite understand your peculiar obsession. It bounces all over the place, from the Boer War to Tom Hicks, though there is generally an effort to place the club into topical context by using the Red Sox as a handy comparison:

Liverpool followers make their counterparts in Boston seem like dilettantes, and Fenway sound like Wimbledon. Red Sox fans don’t generally follow the team en masse to Cleveland or Detroit, the way thousands of Liverpool partisans do to Manchester, London, or even Rome or Istanbul. Nor—like Chris Gladman, who prepared for the Chelsea game at the Flat Iron—do many name their only sons after their favorite players. For Red Sox fans, “tragedy” consists of a few fabled miscues on the field and in the front office, like selling Babe Ruth and failing (egregiously) to sign black ballplayers. Liverpool, by contrast, experienced genuine tragedy when 96 of its fans were crushed at a game in Hillsborough in 1989. Outside the stadium, next to an eternal flame, a plaque lists all the names; always, there are fresh flowers beneath it. Charges (unfair, it turned out) in the British tabloid The Sun that hooliganism rather than police ineptitude was to blame only intensified local resentment; Hicks’s apparent friendliness with Rupert Murdoch, the Sun’s owner, was yet another strike against him.

Certainly worth a read if you’re looking for something to pass a bit of time with on a Monday.

* In more immediate news, the draw for the third round of the FA Cup–the more prestigious of England’s two top flight cup competitions–took place to determine pairings as Premier League and Championship sides join the competition against survivors from League One and Two, and with 64 teams scheduled to face off across 32 matches only one of the games will involve two sides from the top flight. And that match will be the one that Liverpool plays against United at Old Trafford on either the eighth or ninth of January. I’d complain about getting the hardest draw in the round, but we all saw what happened when Liverpool got one of the easiest draws in the Carling Cup so perhaps it’s best just to sit back and let things play out.

* Meanwhile in player news, Jamie Carragher came away from yesterday’s match with a dislocated shoulder. It’s unclear how long he will miss with the injury, though Hodgson suspects that “it will be quite long because it’s a serious injury,” and various news outlets are speculating that means up to six weeks. Here’s hoping Agger can find his way back to fitness quickly, though Hodgson’s talk of a lack of center back depth is unfortunate considering the generally positive performances of Kyrgiakos so far this year as well as the presence of Wilson and Kelly on the squad, not to mention that Daniel Ayala has been Hull’s player of the season so far and is on a loan that would allow him to be recalled if the club truly felt it was short on options.

Ed or I will be back later in the day, but in the meantime–in honour of the Eureka! moment that was yesterday’s attacking display against a top-half opponent on the road even if the result wasn’t what we all would have hoped for–here’s something to help pass the time…

Some Related Liverpool Posts:Dirk Kuyt Injured—Mondays Have Earned Their ReputationSquad Announced; Fernando Torres Has Been Paying AttentionMatchday: Liverpool v. TrabzonsporWhat’s Liverpool’s Best Eleven?Match Preview: Liverpool v. Bolton, 10.31.10

Category: Team News

Tags: And Now For Something Completely Indifferent, Daniel Agger, Daniel Ayala, Danny Wilson, FA Cup, Jamie Carragher, John Henry, Manchester United, Martin Kelly, Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Team News
« Spurs 2 : Liverpool 1 – Better Performance, Bitter Result | Home | Blog Pollin’: Performances, Results, and Reactions »Red2deathThat match-up at OT provides some silver lining for the horrible weekend which saw Liverpool go down and Utd atop the league. I honestly thought Chelsea would prevent them from getting #19 this season, but it seems things are magically turning their way, as it has done so many times in the past.

In any case, match at OT is always a chance to put one over the scum. Forget form and circumstances and whatever. This is anyone's game. (Yes, even though we have Fergie's pet poodle as our manager). If Roy says sit deep and play hoofball, well f*** Roy and let's play for Liverpool - Gerrard and Torres and Reina aren't gonna take Utd lying down.Tom FooleryIts always degrading to put hope in another team preventing Utd from the title, it really should be the reds in control of our rivals destiny (in an ideal world). But, alas...this is far from ideal. I can't bring myself to hope for Chelsea to improve, their poor form lately has been a highlight of the season. I have to put my trust in Wenger's boys, one of the last clubs I regard as having any integrity, and I always enjoy their football. So, help us Obi Wenger Kenobi. You're our only hope.
In the mean time, El Clasico is about to begin, and unlike Hodgson, I won't be hoping the 'great Jose' prevails...you ignorant prick Roy.NoelEl Clasico broke the internet for a few minutes there.NoelI really believed that with United getting older and not being able to spend because of their own debt issues, along with Chelsea being Chelsea and Arsenal looking as though they finally might get over that hump, United didn't have a chance this year (or going forward) at actually passing us. So seeing them top is certainly... bothersome. But I'm still sticking with them not having the squad to be there at the end of it all.Red2deathI've probably said it before, but I do feel that Utd are just another LFC-Hicks disaster waiting to happen, only on a much larger scale. I just hope they don't get #19 before that. And it looks like the Glazers are willing to throw more money at the team before the banks call their time. Days of buying 30m Berbatovs and Nanis and Rooneys aren't over. Won't be long before we see Bale in a Utd shirt - bet he can't resist the lure of becoming the next Ryan Giggs.BillIntercepted email from Hodgson to Old Red Nose

Dear Alex

We wont be turning up on the 8th of Jan to play the FA cup tie as I don't see the point.

So good luck in the next round.

Always yours Roylfc4eternityI just intercepted this email from Red Nose;
'Hello Woy,
Please turn-up, I have this life-time agreement with Big Sam that whenever his teams 'come to play' us, they turn up but don't bother with the football side of things (know what I mean? nudge-nudge-wink-wink-saynomore squire)-maybe we can agree the same sort of thing?, your bud Alex'

I'm sure I don't know what he means!"Apartments NerjaNice trip to Old Trafford in 3rd round of FA cup!blog comments powered by Disqus