The Vuvuzela Verdict

The World Cup has come and gone. And it’s left a few, hopefully lasting moments in our footballing memory. There’s plenty of reviews on what has happened in South Africa over the past month. Was it the best tournament in living memory? Were Spain deserving winners? Were Holland really nasty? Did the vuvuzela cause any deafness and so on. My review will be a bit different. A bit like those pre-World Cup movies where they build up to the final by featuring different teams. (I’m sure you’ve watched those) Instead I’ll go player for player, not necessarily the best, but those that left a lasting impression on me over the course of the tournament. They’re in no order whatsoever.

Mesut Ozil

A breath of fresh air over a smog covered Schalke skyline. Which was incidentally where Ozil started his career at. Replaced Johan Micoud and then Diego at Werder, if there was one player who the Germans can lay claim changed their whole system of play, it’s our boy Ozil. Drifting from wing to wing, taking on defenders and operating between the opponent’s midfield and defence, he created havoc. His style of play allowed Podolski and Mueller to remain on the wings which made the German offence devastating. A bronze medal for his efforts.

Keisuke Honda

Hands up to those who thought Shunsuke Nakamura would’ve been the mastermind of a Japanese run into the knockout stages. You were wrong. So was I. Shunsuke was perenially on the bench, while Honda was swerving and bending the Jabulani and his hips while beating the Danes and Cameroon at the same time. Listed as a midfielder, he basically played the target man upfront for Japan and did a mighty good job at it. Trapped and shielded well, which allowed Endo and Okubo to join their not-so-frequent but successful forays into the opponent box. The coach Okada had predicted a semi-final spot for his charges, and we all knew that was almost impossible to achieve. But eventually, a crossbar’s breadth separated Japan and Asia, from a win away from the Semis. Proud showing. Read South Korea and Lee Chung Yong too.

Luis Suarez

Should be remembered mostly for his outrageous flapping at the football against Ghana, which hides his poise and balance – ingredients found in an excellent attacker. I say attacker because of his style, a perfect poster boy for the modern striker in which he floats around the hole, swan dives with Forlan perfectly, excellent control, dribbling and superb technique on the football. Plays with a buckteethed smile and always looks happy. Him, Forlan and Uruguay’s enthusiasm in this tournament should neutralize the sourness of a Ghanaian (African) failure to make the final four.

Andres Iniesta

The World Cup winner for Spain. Spain only scored 7 goals on the way to the trophy. However, if ever 1-0s can be convincing for the fans, it definitely is Spain’s method in arriving to it. Controlled and passed, shimmied and dummied, backheeled and flicked to everyone on the field who were accomplished on the football. The old adage is very simple, you can’t score without possession. Spain dominated possession so much that it was very hard for teams to score against them in the rare occasions they had the football – they just didnt know what to do with it. If Xavi was the heartbeat of the team, Iniesta was the veins of the team – supplying the lifeblood to the attackers. Well done Espana, Campiones de Mundo 2010.

Wayne Rooney

As an England fan, Rooney left a lasting (non)impression on the followers of the Three Lions. At the turn of the year when Rooney was scoring right, left and center, I remember saying England might as well not show up for the World Cup if Rooney got injured. Didnt quite work out that way did it? Some attributed it to the burden of expectation, the gruelling Premiership schedule or that the English just didn’t care. Easy solutions to all the three listed above. This was the tournament that finally made England and the English realise what their deficiencies have been since 1966 and end their incredulous claim to be among the favourites every four years. Start from the back, use the midfield and pass to team-mates are among the very basic lessons learnt from South Africa. The Premiership is the largest importer of foreign talent in Europe, maybe that needs a re-think too.

Team of the tournament –

Enyeama (Messi doesnt know me, but if I see him I will say hello – after being named MOTM against Argentina. All round decent bloke.)

Maicon (devastating, huge as a Predator, best player in his position by a country mile)

Mathijsen (Mike Tyson? Might not have the punch of Iron Mike but does a great job of harassing)

Pique (on one hand I have Johny Evans and on the other, nahh he won’t make it… OOPS Sir)

Taye Taiwo (small, zippy, nifty, hard. No, not Evra)

Xavi (runs an average of 12.7kms a match, passed 669 times in 7 matches and still maintains that ‘I love football’ enthusiasm.)

Iniesta (Powder grew up with a skin pigmentation problem, God made up for it by putting in extra points on footballing talent perhaps.)

Schweinsteger (did decent as a left winger despite his huge frame, think he’s found his best role at the finals. A run from deep defensive midfielder. Cant think of a similar player in this role. Can you?)

Ozil (gives back the meaning to how the number 10 is the most influential in a team. Eventhough he wears 8. You know what i mean.)

Donovan (enthusiasm, pride and will to win. Captain America remade his name at Everton and carried the form all the way before Gyan became party pooper)

Forlan (shame on all of us for only remembering this fella who couldnt score in almost 30 games. Its not always about the Premiership you know!)

*Checkout every single goal from the World Cup by heading to http://bleacherreport.com/tb/b4Vdb*

*This round-up taken with permission from Rants Of A Red blog belonging to fellow MyRAWKite – Haz.

Rafa Benitez.

MyRAWK el-Presidente William Tan takes a look at potential candidates for Rafa’s hot seat if the gaffer decides to pack his bags for Italy.

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The exhibitionist = Jose ‘the Special One’ Mourinho

The diver = Jurgen Klinsmann (dived a lot when he played in the EPL in the 1990s)

The bridesmaid (or bridesman??!!) = Claudio Raineri (the perennial runner-up ….. may change at the end of the Italian Serie A 2009/2010)

The sadist = David Moyes (current manager of Everton, can or not?)

The pessimist = Roy Hogson

The adventurous = Steve McClaren (just won the Dutch title)

The optimist = Frank Rijkaard

The sentimental = Kenny Dalglish

The unexplained = Chris Houghton (just won the championship with Newcastle)

The understudy = Sammy Lee

The conformist = Avam Grant (conformed to the parameters set by Abromovich and also the confines of Portsmouth and yet still continue as manager ….)

The illusionist = Martin O’Niell (his infamous illusion is make the team challenge for the title but at the end of the season, always outside top 5)

The graduate = Juande Ramos (‘graduated’ from Sevilla and spent one season in Real Madrid. Then he got the sack …. )

The messiah = Kevin Keegan (as Newcastle fans loved to call him)

The conqueror = Quiqui Sanchez Flores (Current manager of Atletico Madrid)

The one-season-wonder = Phil Brown (got Hull to EPL and then lost it when he blasted the squad in the middle of the pitch at half time last season!)

The battered = Ronald Koeman (beat his teams a few times but he won once when he was with Benfica in 2005/06 Champions League)

The bully = Sam Allardyce (need we say more??)

The nemesis = Alex Mcleish (haven’t been beaten by Rafa since took over at Birmingham City)

The victim = Martin Jol (victim of boardroom tussle at Tottenham Hotspurs a couple of years ago)

The pragmatic = Roberto Martinez (current manager of Wigan)

The emotional = Steve Bruce (he looks like he’s about to burst every time the camera zooms in on him!)

The nice guy = Zianfranco Zola (too nice to be manager)

The road runner = Jacques Santini (had a short stint with Spurs – 13 games and ran off!!)

The traveller = Guus Hiddink

The Michael Bolton look-alike = Bruno Metsu (the guy who conned Gerard Houllier in respect of the capability of El-Hadji Diouf in World Cup 2000)

Lastly not forgetting (though they will never leave current their comfortable nests nor will the Anfield faithful accept them),

The whiner = Arsene Wenger

The whiskey nose = Sir Alex Ferguson

And finally,

The believer = Rafa Benitez!! The incumbent and for those supporters who still believe he is the best for the club.

So, take your pick for the best candidate but remember though, LFC has no money to hire let alone spend money on players next season… unless new owners are found!

MyRAWKites @ Masters Football Malaysia Cup 2009

“Wohooo!!!…another event where we can get up close n personal with our beloved team in the world…Liverpool F.C. Well, itz not the current Rafa Benitez squad but itz the ‘old horses’, i mean legend of the team…the Liverpool Masters team which consists of Paul Jones, our temporary backup goalkeeper during the Gerrard Houllier regime in 2003, scouser turned blue nose Don Hutchison, ex-spice boy turned pundit Jason McAteer, the joker Mark Wright n the ex Gunner that shattered our hearts in the 1988-89 season before he joined Liverpool, Michael Thomas and Mark Walters too during the Souness era.They were joined by John Durnin and Jimmy Carter who were in the Reserves during their prime and were unfortunate not to make it to the first team due to the presence of strikers like Rush and Aldridge and later on Fowler and Collymore. The Masters Tournament 2009 (which was LFC won last year) which was held at Stadium Putra, Bukit Jalil on the 22th of November.

Me n my loyal compadre and co-Scouse fanatic Ivan, made our journey from Malacca around 12 pm and as usual during this month, it was a rainy day. We arrived around 2.45pm to greeted by plenty of activities at the entrance of the stadium and we see lots of Liverpool fans arriving just like us! We’ve met up MYRAWK’s Jon C upon arrival around 3pm near the stadium entrance and hung around the entrance pending the opening of entry into the stadium. Meanwhile we checked out the mini events that was held around the stadium. LFCM got a booth for doing their membership drive and selling their merchandise, Pizza Hut selling their pizza for snacks, Fly FM roadshow and even mini footie event such as checking the level of your shot power and accuracy. Suddenly, the players from the tournament with the likes of Andy Cole(urgh..), Ray Parlour(yawn), Ian Walker and a few others came by outside the stadium to sign autographs and photo session with the fans. Most were friendly and warm and smiled and laugh with those seeking autographs. Our beloved tv footie pundit Jon Dykes also came by doing interviews and take photos with fans.

Prior to the start of the tournament proper, there were 2 warm-up games, one featured the men between two amateur teams which i forgot their names and largely forgotten as it was rather bland. However, the second match had the male hormones flowing as it featured the women’s match. One of the female team comprised local radio DJ’s with the likes of Hitz, Fly etc whilst the other teeam featured DJ Hunny, Serena C and lots more. A lot of ‘ wooohingss’, whistling and shouting came from the guys from all the corners of the indoor stadium ahem…including us during that ‘hot chicks playing footie’ game. However, the truth were that it was clear that the girls team were not ‘proper’ football or futsal players and most of them were running aimlessly and it was more like watching a herd chasing a ball. There were even shouts of refund of money from one supporter due to the standard of game on display.

After the warm-up games, the real games started…and our mighty Liverpool Masters team won all their games during the group matches against Sheffield United, Manure United and BPL All-Stars. We’ve beaten Manure in a thrilling and closely fought and literary fiery encounter (much like an EPL match!!) which ended with 4-3 scoreline in the group game. We met Manure again the final and were actually leading the game into the final 30 second of the match until Jesper Blomqvist equalised with the score at 4-3 and eventually lost to them at the penalty shootout. No extra time was played and the match went to penalty kicks. During the penalty shoot-out, ‘Don’ Hutchison got his penalty saved. Kudos to the LFCM fans who sang YNWA and their kop like chants during the game although the ‘Torres’ tune was sung, it seemed out of place! During the prize giving ceremony a mob of the so called Manure fans who suddenly emerged out of nowhere taunting the Liverpool fans during a rendition of YNWA along with the sound of their irritating small trumpets after their team emerged as the winner of the tournament.

A truly great event from first til last eventhough my idol Rush and Barnes didn’t come for the tournament this time. We also understood that McManaman was in town but did not play in the tournament. Hopefully next year’s tounament would be better and the LFC supporters from MYRAWK and LFCM would be seated together to make more noise. A great thanks to MYRAWK’s Jon C and William for getting us the tickets. Sad to see the LFC Masters team lost the game but as they always say ‘Form is Temporary, Class Is Permanent’. They’ll win it next year and who knows? maybe ‘God’ will play for us next year if u know what i mean.

It was more fun than I had anticipated and would certainly be joining my fellow MyRAWKites for next years’ EPL Masters!! Not forgetting the 5 seconds of fame on Astro Supersports which my mom saw me and the rest of the MyRAWKites!!! It was certainly worth the trip from Malacca and seeing fellow Reds who were really a joy to mingle around with.

YNWA

-Darren Teow-

Contributed by Tan Pei Ru
http://humbuggersland.blogspot.com/

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Rafa, Rafael!

A couple of things I have in mind right now.

Liverpool rose to the occasion once more and bagged ourselves a victory against Debreceni. It was not enough. Lyon failed to level the score line against Fiorentina and we are now thrust into a whole new arena called the Europa League. Well, it isn’t exactly new- just polished, shined and smacked on with a better name.

If you thrive on what the media has to say about the fans’ reaction in general, you would think that each and everyone of us are pissed, disappointed and most probably going to have a terrible day at work tomorrow. I beg to differ.

Let me remind you this. Every single opinion of every single Liverpool fan on Earth counts. I won’t deny that I have friends who are upset out there, but to hell with it. Give me a couple of minutes to compose myself and I would rather take the more optimistic route, support the club and see where that goes instead. Why pile on more unnecessary pressure? We are SUPPORTers, right?

Some prefer to support the club and only the club itself. I assume they mean the well-being of the club. If the owners or the manager isn’t doing a good job- they have got to go. I don’t actually have a very big issue with this but what ticked me off were the things they laid out against a pretty decent manager who is supposedly failing (can’t believe I am using this word-the season hasn’t even ended) this badly, for the FIRST time in five bloody seasons. Furthermore, they just assumed that he has reached his peak. What proof do you have of that? There are always ups and downs to the footballing world.

Forgive me for I am all but a newbie supporter *roll eyes* but clearly, it doesn’t take years of fan-ship to see that it isn’t the Liverpool way. I am not saying that they are wrong. It’s just that I feel that Rafa’s been done in. In my eyes, calling for the manager’s head just because we find the club spiraling downwards reminded me of the primitive and sad practice of abandoning a wife just because she suffered a miscarriage.

Would you still call for his head if a fortune-teller told you that Rafa will make us the first ever winners of the Europa League?

Rafa has a lot to show and he has won the trust of many supporters. He deserves to be given time. The owners? They have shown us too little to win over the hearts of millions. I believe that Rafa is currently the only man brave enough to hold this club together. Everything is falling apart so I don’t think it is good idea to ram down this sole remaining pillar of support. Even if he has been left with no choice but to head for the door, he will no doubt have my backing until the very end.

It is really not that bad a season, folks. Smacked right in front of us is a chance to create a new slice of history. There is nothing wrong with holding out with Rafa for another seven months or so. The best have to fall sometimes. What we need to do is to swallow that bitter pill, pull ourselves together and keep marching forward.

Lucas FTW!

If Rafael Benitez leaves at the end of this season, or any sooner, he would leave behind not so much a legacy, but most likely another promising and unfulfilled chapter in Liverpool FC’s Premier League era. After Gerrard Houllier’s unfortunate capitulation that followed a moving revival – which came on the back of the official end of the Boot Room tradition – it would be a huge step back from what was arguably the club’s greatest European night only 5 seasons ago.

To leave behind not further great European triumphs or League successes, but instead just endless saturated and tired discussion/debates of what he did and didn’t do, his managerial shortcomings and all would’ve been a grossly unfair hallmark of his tenure here.

Perhaps the hallmark of the Rafatollah era would’ve probably been the endless questions on his judgment as his decisions have often been derided and brought painful consternations amongst even the most faithful of Kopites, let alone the incessant and unforgiving media.

However, jokes aside, if I had a chance to put my two cents worth on what would be the hallmark of Rafa’s era, I would opt for a probably uncommon answer.

Timing.

To say the hallmark of Rafa’s tenure had been the debates that raged over his decisions would’ve not been inaccurate for many a supporter, however, jokes aside, a careful observation of his reign so far would evidence great and littered examples of impeccable timing.

Perhaps the most damaging yet exhilarating one yet would be his 2004/05 European Champions League triumph over the mighty AC Milan. Many have speculated that he is currently his own victim for this very success. This victory itself was even littered by further examples of almost divine timing – from Hamann’s introduction at the second half, to Smicer’s redemption goal after four seasons of loneliness, to the countless timely yet desperate lunges by Gerrard and co.

There are also many other good examples– the manner of the qualification into the knock-out stages of the afore-mentioned Champions League win, the manner of his FA Cup victory the following season, the numerous inspired substitutions he made, Gerrard’s huge Chelsea turnaround (though this might not be directly connected to Rafa), the tactical switch of Carra to centrehalf (although this is partly one the lasts of Houllier’s great legacy, but credit to Rafa too for sticking to Houllier’s judgement), the tactical switch to the right for Gerrard, the purchase of Alonso when the Kop was crying out for another Molby, the signing of Torres when the Kop finished crying for the next Molby and started crying for another God, the (finally) end of Parry’s tenure, last season’s 4 goal victories over Real Madrid and the Mancs and many others.

All the above came at the right time. Just when we thought we were out, he pulled us back in. Just when we thought we’d meander, he shepherded our fierce loyalty and passion back in.

Nowadays, many can somewhat feel the moment coming – that moment of another Rafa milestone. Every single time, this feeling will be preceded by a really fitting setting, a setting with a lot of relevance about it.

But not everything was as well-timed though. There was of course the infamous spat with the Yanks, where he was accused of breaking the club’s tradition of washing dirty linen in public (although that wasn’t the only tradition broken following the Yanks’ takeover), the now famous Rafa’s Rant on Fergie, his now old habit of rotation, his puzzling substitutions, his selling of club darling Alonso, the confession of his man-love for Barry and many other examples too.

Gareth Barry.

Speaking of the 28 year old, this Saturday’s match will be the first time Rafa comes face to face with the player he openly courted last season. A player whom, on his day would’ve given Hargreaves and Carrick a really good run for their money in the center of England’s midfield, turned his back at Rafa at the end of last season and signed for Citeh this summer. He’s not having a particularly great season so far. Rafa’s comments about prioritizing Barry over Keane in a recent interview with The Times might hold some relevance too. Not to mention Rafa’s remarks after Barry signing for Citeh. Barry will have something to prove, although unfortunately only possibly against Aquilani, the successor of the player he was allegedly replacing.

This match has plenty of relevance indeed. In case many have forgotten, it was against Citeh at Anfield back in August’04 that the club won after going down 1-0 at halftime. The last time we did something like that was May’99 against Spurs. That wasn’t the only comeback in Rafa’s first season, and tenure. In fact, many would argue that comebacks are the hallmark of Rafa’s reign.

This match will also reunite Rafa with Craig Bellamy, a player whom he had to sell to fund the transfer of Fernando Torres, his replacement. Although, in the same interview mentioned above, Rafa mentioned he’d wanted Keane too actually, a player of similar ilk to Bellamy – able to play as the second striker, across the line behind the main striker. Bellamy is playing very well so far, and has finally looked settled, even forcing Tevez to the bench. It’s anyone’s guess if Rafa would’ve wanted Keane if Bellamy was still around. This game might just give us a hint of a combination Rafa might’ve ended up with, should he have had enough funds in the last two seasons without having to sell, though it’ll be from the tactically unproven Mark Hughes.

Mark Hughes, the man who held Liverpool to a draw at Anfield last season, one of the 11 draws suffered, 7 of which were at home, which was effectively Liverpool’s Achilles heel.

And despite spending close to 100 million pounds on 5 marquee players for this season, and facing the inner Citeh blues as to doubts of his credentials as a top manager, especially following Citeh’s current drawing form plus an unsettled lineup plus transfers choices, it won’t be Hughes lining up for the media spotlight initially reserved for him before the season began.

It’ll be Benitez instead, who is coming into the match on an even worse record of 1 win in the last 9 games, having lost 5 games already this season, while standing at a qualification knife’s edge in the Champions League. Not to mention with a healthy list of injured players.

This match is also coming off a two week international break, which gave some respite to Rafa’s squad for prior to an already season-defining run of 6 games starting with this game.

And the whole world will be watching too, because it’s the earliest game this Saturday with its afternoon kick-off. It’s like someone had set this up. It’s as if everyone’s expecting a show.

Talk about timing.

This Saturday couldn’t come any sooner.

INNER CITEH BLUES

Jamal Raslan
http://aYardAhead.blogspot.com/

Contributed by Jamal Raslan

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I’ve always wondered why I find it hard to drag myself to write about Liverpool, week in week out. I’ve always seemed to have something, if not a lot to say about things, especially when things are this bad. This is the worst run of form that we’ve had in 22 years, ironically in arguably the better years that we’ve had in that period. No one can explain it.

Not even the manager.

Hell in fact, probably even God would’ve been stupefied. Although he’s currently enjoying some sort of an Indian summer in the faraway lands of Australasia, it probably wouldn’t take half a second for him to cast his gaze over this side of the earth and wonder what the hell is going on.

Actually, there can be no other appropriate expression than that right now– what the hell is going on.

There are just so many ways that hell can actually be related to Liverpool FC right now – the afore mentioned fact that we are in our worst run of form in the last 22 years, we are currently in what is possibly our worst run of injuries in the last 10 years losing 9 first time players at one point, we’ve lost a key player in our spine to another Perez mega project, commercially and financially the club is in it’s most limited and restricted periods, getting beat by a beach ball, Stanley Park doesn’t look like it’s getting built anytime soon and lastly the fans, whom have always been the club’s most distinguishable features apart from Gerrard, are starting to divide themselves into two and debating on Rafa’s position, something which is blasphemous and forbidden just 6 months ago.

And the most hellish thing that is happening to us right now, on top of all the above, is the fact that it’s happening to Liverpool FC.

Yes, it’s happening to us.

On the back of one of the most glorious seasons in the last 10 years, where we did not lose to any of our top 4 rivals, beating the Rentboys, the Mancs and Real Madrid both home and away, scoring the most number of goals in the last 10 years, scoring the highest points tally in our Premier League history, all while missing both Gerrard and Torres for a combined third of the season and coming back from numerous games and winning them.

Just what the hell is going on?

As I write this, it’s half time at Anfield with us trailing Birmingham by the odd goal. It’s a surprise scoreline really, considering The Blues were trailing 15 minutes in, and equalized through a soft set piece goal 15 minutes later, before taking the lead through a strike which will definitely be a contender for Goal of the Month for November. But the most surprising part of all was that for the entire half, the team, which included the fit-again Riera who then injured himself with 5 minutes left and the steadily improving Ngog in Torres’ place with Kuyt captaining the side with Gerrard warming the bench, played well.

Yes, they played well. Although my Kop eyes are young, the team played well.

Lucas was a steady – and steadily improving – influence at midfield, biting timely, harassing effectively, running the game smoothly while occasionally – although with increasing regularity – making up for the absence of Gerrard’s incisive passing with his own. Johnson showed why we missed him during his injury, proving already just a quarter of the season in that he’s worth every single penny spent with his direct running, skinning the whole left wing, reassuring covering and physical presence just about every time the ball comes his way. Ngog consistently showed flashes of what Rafa has been seeing in trainings, sneaking in and out in between defenders, showing a good physical side to his game to hold defenders off for the pass, and most of all, wanting the ball played to feet before turning to take the first defender on.

I can go on and on. We were assured in possession, not wasteful, patient, passed the ball well, spread the game and shrunk it with good control, and created opportunities for almost everyone from midfield to the forward line. For my money, as good, if not better, as how our second string side performed against Arsenal in the recent Carling Cup defeat, having given them a considerable run for their money. Any other day, this team – the same team that went into halftime 1 goal behind – would’ve been 2-0 up.

No doubt about it.

Which was the exact reason why Rafa put this team out.

Yes, I admit, the starting lineup didn’t make perfect reading. Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Insua, Benayoun, Lucas, Mascherano, Riera, Kuyt, Ngog. Ideally, we’d have Gerrard, Torres and Aquilani in Ngog, Riera and either Benayoun, Lucas or Kuyt’s place. But things are from ideal right now. It’s Hell. In case you’ve forgotten. And four weeks ago, everyone would’ve been happy with the above starting lineup. In fact, everyone would’ve been calling out for the line up during the good times of last season.

So what was different then?

Let’s see – Carragher wasn’t suspended, Gerrard wasn’t just coming back from a groin injury, Torres didn’t have his hamstring killing him, Alonso was still here, Johnson was still playing with Portsmouth (and hasn’t just recovered from his injury), Riera was fit and playing, Lucas was fit and waiting for playing time and Aquilani was fishing with his club doctor while Agger was watching from the balcony.

I could go on and on.

If we had put out this lineup last season, it would have been because of opportunity. But today, it was because of necessity. The necessity made even more certain by the fact that Voronin could not make up for Gerrard’s absence in his run of 3 games, that Babel is not tactically aware enough yet to complement a more calculated team yet, and that Torres needs a rest after playing 3 straight games (whilst scoring 2) while still recovering from injury.

But we would’ve still put the same team out, although with starkingly contrasting differences in expectations.

I am going to say that our usual suspects’ performances – Lucas, Ngog – have been really good considering our reduced expectations and reservations about them.

I am going to say that in spite of missing 3 of our first team players – Gerrard, Torres and Aquilani (yes, he is in the first team) – the rest of the patched up team (inclusive of all those who were somewhat rushed from injury) we’ve been seeing from the Lyon defeat at Anfield have been playing consistently well with each other, and that the team’s understanding hasn’t deteriorated since then. The initiative has been the same, the mentality has been the same, the approach has been the same, and the intent has been the same. And proof of that were moments of brilliance and excitement and surprise and positivity, all throughout the match.

And that was the same thing I saw in the second half against Birmingham just now.

Yes, we looked desperate. And I agree with everyone out there we didn’t get the results we wanted and expected, but I will defend the team by saying that they did not play badly from that Lyon defeat at Anfield.

You may chose to be in denial, or take the high ground on this matter, but I chose to see the positives. In each of those matches – Lyon, Manchester United, Arsenal, Fulham, Lyon and Birmingham – the team has more than held it’s own against its opponents. It may have lacked cutting edge, or incisiveness at vital moments, but never in any of those matches did we feel that team that was playing could not do the job.

I will agree that individual mistakes, individual lapses of concentration, individual lack of determination, individual inability to hold composure and individual bad judgment were all the reasons why we have only won 1 out of the last 9 games. The rest of the time, I’m sure none would’ve been unhappy to see the way the team played.

We’ve never seen our second team play good enough. Even through last season. But this season, I’ve seen a lot better. It is gross injustice to not let the teams that played those 9 matches take anything positive away from those matches, especially if in the joy of last season, all of us would’ve been even more pleasantly surprised with the very same performances.

Yes you may accuse me of trying too desperately to look for positives. You may even accuse me of trying – valiantly – to make a mountain out of a molehill, but it’s this very same mountain that Shankly was thinking about when we were relegated. And what did we get?

Not a bloody mountain. But instead a history. A bloody glorious history.

And our history has taught us many things, things that we forget in the heat of the moment, in the despair of a defeat, in the frustration of a draw, in the intoxication of expectation – the virtues of patience, perseverance, persistence and perspective. Manchester United won the title last season on the back of 4 defeats and 6 draws, which is a total of 24 points dropped. We’re currently on 5 defeats and 1 draw, which make 17 points dropped so far. We can still afford to drop another 7 points and win the title, meaning we can still afford to lose 2 more games and draw another one, or lose 1 more game and draw 3 more games and still win the title. However, considering how open the league is this season, we might be even able to afford to drop a bit more.

Yes, things don’t look like they’re getting better any time soon. But is there anything we can do about it, anything constructive? Yes.

And that is to keep looking for positives, and merely acknowledge the negatives. We’ve stopped the run of defeats with our fighting draws. Gerrard’s back. Aquilani’s back. Torres is going to get some rest with the 2 week break. Johnson is back. Agger is back. Skrtel is back. Ngog is coming on nicely. Lucas is showing his potential. Yossi’s made it to the first team. So a lot has changed positively, albeit just in little bits and pieces. Hell, even Degen has shown that he can actually play a bit of football.

And if that’s not enough, then there is the last thing we could do.

Sing our lungs out, loud and proud. Quiet and dignified. And do not stop.

For the day the sweet silver song fills the golden sky.