Paul Tomkins' LFC Blog

Caution: summer ahead

(Piece submitted to .tv at the start of last week, but which has been held off due to Glen Johnson not officially signed at the time. As it hasn't appeared yet, I'm putting it on here.)

While there are a number of journalists I like and respect, I find it’s best for my peace of mind to not focus too much transfer speculation in the newspapers.

I’m sure if you combined just a few different reports, you’d conclude that Liverpool are losing the entire first team to various other clubs, and buying 179 players in their place. While there are good journalists, there are those who appear to have been sampling the kind of mushrooms that aren’t really advisable to consume. 

Obviously there will be truth in some stories; but I think I once saw a stat that only about 10% of transfer gossip tallies with subsequent transfers. 

Other stories may be true but for one reason or another don’t come to fruition, but you do suspect some journos have an ‘invent and submit’ button on their keyboards that automatically throws a few random names and prices together in time for the print deadline.

For my sanity, I find it’s best to just wait and see who arrives and who leaves.

I don’t want any player the manager wants to keep to be sold, and I want him to get his first choice targets, but it’s rarely that simple. Stirring the pot is what the media has to do, to hit its own targets. Agents also benefit from creating unrest. 

Whatever happens will happen. If anyone genuinely wants to leave Liverpool, then I won’t lose any sleep; the club needs those who want to stay and fight for that 19th league title. And I’m sure most do. 

Likewise, if anyone Liverpool are trying to sign wants to earn more money elsewhere rather than compete in the Champions League and contest the title, then however gifted they are, they are no loss. I want players like Fernando Torres, who eschew silly money to be part of a top-class team and play for fans who adore him.

I understand the desires of those targets who want regular first team football, which is rarely guaranteed at a top four club. This summer is vital for a number of internationals, with the World Cup on the horizon – where achievement is the ambition, not money. 

But Liverpool need those determined to prove themselves in the year beforehand, even if it means fighting for a place in the team.

Then there’s the issue of transfer fees, and what a player is ‘worth’. 

As each individual is different, there is no set value. It’s about how much the selling club need to hold out for, and how much the buying club are prepared to pay. If supposedly overpriced signings lead to success, then they are worth the money. Does Alex Ferguson care that people said Michael Carrick “wasn’t an £18m player”? 

Of course, a transfer merry-go-round appears to have been started in motion by events in Spain.

Real Madrid, humiliated by Liverpool last season and envious of Barcelona’s historic and über-stylish success, have gone into overdrive, spending more than the entire cost of the current Liverpool squad on just two players, and their largesse won’t stop there. 

The era of the galactico has returned to the Bernabeu, and the repercussions are being felt across Europe. 

Chelsea are threatening a return to big spending, having slipped to the third-best team in the land; Manchester United have £80m for Ronaldo and AC Milan are flush with £60m for Kaka; and Manchester City are determined to be taken seriously, with more money than anyone else, but hampered by a fairly mediocre recent history and no Champions League football to offer. 

As a result, at a time of widespread economic belt-tightening, several clubs appear to be abandoning anything that holds up their metaphorical trousers.

The knock-on effect seems to be general price rises, and an even more frenzied summer of speculation than usual.

The hidden factor, as ever, is that of wages. Liverpool pay very good wages, but have only the 4th-highest wage bill. Manchester United and Chelsea pay between £30m and £60m more on wages per season (based on the most recently published financial figures).

If you want a £30m player, you also have to set aside £30m for the wages of his full contract.

The way they are going, Man City, with their apparently bottomless pit of money, will also overtake Liverpool in this area, if they haven’t already.

The trump cards that the Reds have are: a sixth-successive season in the Champions League; a manager voted the best around by the readers of newspapers in several major European countries; a side capable of challenging for the Premiership title; and a cachet that, with all due respect to City and even Chelsea, puts the club up there with the likes of Barcelona, AC Milan, Bayern Munich and Juventus, thanks to serious European success and a massive global fan-base. You can add Anfield and the Kop, too.

Who, then?

Predictably, I am often asked who I think Liverpool should sign. Like most fans I have my favourites: those who look like good players to me. 

But this is always the problem with any fan’s wishes – it’s almost the dreaded ‘Director of Football’ approach: enforcing your tastes on the manager, telling him (in your mind, or on a forum) what’s best for his team. 

It is the man in charge of the side who knows best what he wants to add to the system, and so my wish is always that the Liverpool manager gets the players he wants, whether they are ones I happen to appreciate or not. 

Because let’s face it, not all star names will fit the system, and sometimes the manager and his scouts will have spotted something in a more unsung player. 

Look at Dirk Kuyt: I can think of far more vaunted wide-men, and yet he was the 6th-top scorer in the entire Premiership last season, and the league’s 6th-top assist-maker, with not one single winger ahead of him. Given that he doesn’t take the corners and free-kicks that help players rack up assists, that’s a great contribution, even before considering his work-rate and general team-ethic. He’s not flash, but he delivers.

The manager and his scouts will check a player’s background, his attitude, his lifestyle. They will be the ones looking into the player’s eyes in a negotiation, to find out what motivates him. Bill Shankly always preferred players with less skill if they had more character. A lot has changed in the game, but core attributes, like commitment and temperament, remain crucial. Not tricks on YouTube.

We can all drool over superstars, but it can do more harm than good to bring in a top player who’ll disrupt the great team spirit; earning big wages – or rather, failing to ‘earn’ them. Again, you can’t quantify such things, but that’s why good managers try to buy strong characters who won’t upset the apple cart. 

Of course, a manager can also try and find the solution from within the squad. We might think a certain position needs addressing, but he might know who’s ready to step up.

Emiliano Insua developed brilliantly last season, and let’s not forget Yossi Benayoun’s transformation from squad player to one of the league’s brightest lights from February onwards. 

In the coming season, Ryan Babel might yet be considered for more time in his favoured position behind the main striker – that’s something only the staff will know. Then there’s David Ngog and Krisztian Nemeth, both of whom could be ready sooner rather than later, and also Lauri Dalla Valle and Daniel Pacheco, who also have bright futures ahead of them.

My point always comes back to the manager knowing best. Not only does he have a better footballing brain than any of us (and if he didn’t, we’d be in the role instead), he also has an infinitely greater amount of information relating to his current team, his budding youth prodigies and his potential targets. 

By contrast, we’re looking through a fog.

It doesn’t mean that every signing he makes will work out, or that every promising kid he rates will make the grade. But it does mean he is in a far better position to make what are always going to be judgment calls: who to buy, who to promote to the first team, and when.

Also, Liverpool are getting to the stage now where there’s less scope for improvement. Certainly the spine is hard to better; I wouldn’t swap these players for anyone. It’s hard to find top players prepared to play second fiddle, so maybe an impact sub is better to find than a bigger name.

Above all else, anyone who can improve the Reds’ First XI could be worth his weight in gold. You pay whatever it takes to make your team better, within your budget. 

Glen Johnson fits the bill of what I’ve been talking about: someone who can add pace, skill and crossing ability from right-back; doubling up as a winger, which a) allows Kuyt to drift into the box and b) takes advantage of the massive space the Dutchman’s movement can open up. 

Johnson’s also big enough, and quick enough, to do a job at both ends. His defending is certainly underrated, perhaps because he was in a high-profile team when still very inexperienced (and reputations stick), and because, as an overlapping full-back, he will naturally be caught out of position at times; after all, you can’t be in two places at once. 

All the same, defenders tend to improve under Rafa Benítez, and at 24, Johnson has plenty of scope to get even better.

I’m still a big fan of Alvaro Arbeloa (who has also done very well on the left, particularly when man-marking), but Johnson is the perfect overlapping full-back – and if there’s one thing Liverpool have lacked in comparison with the other top four teams, it’s the ability to get in behind the opposition with very quick marauding defenders who become wingers when in possession. 

Players like Evra, Boswinga (early last season), Sagna and Cole have been as crucial to the good results of those teams as some of their more illustrious names. Arbeloa, by contrast, is more of a defender who gets forward, rather than one who naturally excels in the final third.

Again, there are no guarantees that players who improve the team in theory will do so in practice. They could get injured, or homesick, or wilt under the pressure of a massive club; you just hope that good judgement comes with good luck. 

In the case of Johnson, he’s matured, having been too young when moving to Chelsea, and crucially, is improving rapidly. But his talent has been there for all to see since his West Ham days. 

He has plenty of big-game experience, and unlike some players, hasn’t wilted when playing for England, all of which suggests he can handle the pressure. 

The fact that Chelsea wanted to buy him again for four times what they sold him for, and that other top clubs were interested, shows his worth. Whatever people think he was worth, others were prepared to meet the asking price. 

And adding a new dimension to the Reds’ play could yet prove priceless.

www.paultomkins.com - support my writing by buying my books. 

Click here to Pre-order 'Red Race'.

'Compendium' and 'Red Race' available only from my website, 'Dynasty' and other books from Amazon and most good bookstores.

"Tomkins not only shows why he is a prolific, talented writer but also cements his status as very knowledgeable and passionate Red. In my opinion this is Tomkins' best work to date; a thoroughly excellent read."

Vic Gill, Shanks' son-in-law and former LFC trainee

“The project that Tomkins has taken on here is highly ambitious: assessing each of Liverpool’s managers since Bill Shankly. He does this in his own irrepressible style of analyzing in detail every area that falls within a manager’s remit. And whilst Tomkins has a talent for such a task, where he excels here is in approaching each manager without any apparent pre-conceived ideas.”

Paul Grech, Squarefootball.net

"A unique analysis of the club's managers, which is no mean feat given the extensive bibliography of the club... informative ... another perspective on the last 50 years at Liverpool."

Programme & Football Collectable Monthly

****

FourFourTwo

Yossi Benayoun (Excerpt from Above Us Only Sky, 2007)

Yossi Benayoun’s arrival at Liverpool could be seen as something of a good omen. A £5m signing from West Ham, he became the third Israeli to join the Reds, following Avi Cohen and Ronny Rosenthal, both of whom won the league title in their time at the club. Indeed, Rosenthal had an incredible impact after arriving in late March 1990, scoring seven goals in eight league games in helping the Reds finish strongly to see off Aston Villa for the championship.

Benayoun impressed Benítez in La Liga when at Racing Santander –– a somewhat unfashionable Spanish club. Arriving in England 12 months after the Liverpool manager, the attacking midfielder enjoyed a superb first season in English football. It ended with the Israeli as one of the stars of the FA Cup Final, overshadowed only by Steven Gerrard, whose two goals, sumptuous assist and penalty success stole the headlines and cup from the Hammers and Benayoun. 

Upon his signing, some Liverpool fans suggested Benayoun was not as good as Luis García, the man he effectively replaced in the squad, but the Israeli’s record in the top Spanish division, in a weaker team, was arguably more impressive than the departing no.10’s. 

Also, Benayoun was only 21/22 at that time, and fresh from Israel. And before West Ham’s myriad troubles in 2006/07, which could be seen as extenuating circumstances, he had proved he could more than cut it in the more physical English game, winning rave reviews and being courted by Arsène Wenger at Arsenal. Of course, Luis García himself split the fans, between those who loved his game-winning ability and those who lamented what they saw as his sloppiness in possession.

Benayoun had begun making waves in Israeli football circles by the age of 11, and become a national celebrity by 13. At 15 he was snapped up by Ajax, recent European Champions, where he became the star player and top scorer in the youth team. As a result, he was offered a four-year professional contract. But Benayoun failed to settle in Holland, and within a year had returned to his homeland, where he would remain until his national service was complete at 21.

It’s fair to say that Benayoun is a ‘footballer’s footballer’. He’s not overly flashy, and has a low SOR (Step-Over Ratio). He hasn’t played for fashionable clubs or a major nation, and as such will never be a worldwide superstar. 

But he really understands how to do those classic Liverpool-like things: find space, pass and move, and play with intelligence. He’s a team player, who should prove comfortable taking part in the fast, passing football that helps to unlock defences. Closer to a Ray Houghton than a John Barnes, he has a lot to offer, as seen against Toulouse, when he put in a fine performance topped with a canny through-ball to Kuyt for the fourth goal. 

His problem will be getting a regular game on the right-hand side of midfield, where Jermaine Pennant began to really impress in the second half of the 2006/07, and where Steven Gerrard and Ryan Babel can also be utilised. 

Benayoun will need to show a lot of character to keep his form when in and out of the side, as it will take exceptional performances to come as close to cementing a place as anyone can get under Benítez. But the Israeli is also a player who can cut infield from the left, or play as the second striker, so he’s not hamstrung by a lack of versatility.

Above Us Only Sky was not reprinted, despite demand, following behind-the-scenes developments at the club shortly after its initial release.

www.paultomkins.com - support my writing by buying my books. 

Click here to Pre-order 'Red Race'.

'Compendium' and 'Red Race' available only from my website, 'Dynasty' and other books from Amazon and most good bookstores.

"Tomkins not only shows why he is a prolific, talented writer but also cements his status as very knowledgeable and passionate Red. In my opinion this is Tomkins' best work to date; a thoroughly excellent read."

Vic Gill, Shanks' son-in-law and former LFC trainee

“The project that Tomkins has taken on here is highly ambitious: assessing each of Liverpool’s managers since Bill Shankly. He does this in his own irrepressible style of analyzing in detail every area that falls within a manager’s remit. And whilst Tomkins has a talent for such a task, where he excels here is in approaching each manager without any apparent pre-conceived ideas.”

Paul Grech, Squarefootball.net

"A unique analysis of the club's managers, which is no mean feat given the extensive bibliography of the club... informative ... another perspective on the last 50 years at Liverpool."

Programme & Football Collectable Monthly

****

FourFourTwo

Why should Rafa congratulate Ferguson?

I see that Rafa Benítez is being criticised for not congratulating Alex Ferguson upon United’s success.

After the West Brom game, Rafa said:

"I prefer just to say well done to the club, a big club, a good club. Normally you have to be polite and respect the other manager but during the season we have seen a lot of things that I didn't like, so that's it. I say congratulations to United because they have won. And that's it."

Surely that’s more than enough? After all, Ferguson is hardly noted for his grace in defeat, is he? When Liverpool had humped his team 4-1 at Old Trafford, Ferguson said United had been the better side. That’s the mark of the man’s generosity. Very humble, Sir Alex.

The fact is Ferguson dislikes anyone who has the temerity to put up a challenge to his side. Arsene Wenger is now his best pal, given that Arsenal are a distant 4th. Years ago he despised him.

And anyway, why should Rafa congratulate a man who, in conjunction with his fat-headed best pal, launched a hugely personal attack on him, calling his actions ‘beyond the pale’ over some innocent gestures that only two men in the whole world took offence to, and only did so six days after the event? (Not that they discussed and planned it during their regular phone chats.)

Rafa’s ‘rant’ may have been badly timed, but it was an open and honest assessment – at least from his point of view. Ill-advised it might have been, but there was no deceit involved. He told the watching world what he thought, for better or worse.

What Allardyce and Ferguson conspired to do was dirty, underhand, personal and pathetic. It involved managers of two different Premiership clubs trying to discredit another.

But it’s been wiped under the carpet, as has Ferguson’s laughable pre-match press conference for the Fulham game, when he bizarrely listed a load of inaccurate figures about Liverpool’s spending. You’d think Rafa’s ‘rant’ was the only thing that took place this season.

United won the league, so congratulations to them. Yes, they benefitted from the worst refereeing decision of the season when they appeared to be choking big-time against Spurs, but their extra experience and depth to their squad saw them over the line, Howard Webb’s inexplicable intervention notwithstanding.

But next season could be when it gets really interesting. 

www.paultomkins.com - support my writing by buying my books. 

Click here to Pre-order 'Red Race'.

'Compendium' and 'Red Race' available only from my website, 'Dynasty' and other books from Amazon and most good bookstores.

"Tomkins not only shows why he is a prolific, talented writer but also cements his status as very knowledgeable and passionate Red. In my opinion this is Tomkins' best work to date; a thoroughly excellent read."

Vic Gill, Shanks' son-in-law and former LFC trainee

“The project that Tomkins has taken on here is highly ambitious: assessing each of Liverpool’s managers since Bill Shankly. He does this in his own irrepressible style of analyzing in detail every area that falls within a manager’s remit. And whilst Tomkins has a talent for such a task, where he excels here is in approaching each manager without any apparent pre-conceived ideas.”

Paul Grech, Squarefootball.net

"A unique analysis of the club's managers, which is no mean feat given the extensive bibliography of the club... informative ... another perspective on the last 50 years at Liverpool."

Programme & Football Collectable Monthly

****

FourFourTwo

The Greatest Gift

Sent this to the official site, but will use it here too. Very personal piece, and explains why I may be writing a bit less in the coming months, and possibly not updating the blog very much.

Sanguine’ is a great word. It can be a colour – blood-red – and it can also mean cheerfully optimistic.

The Newcastle game marked the end of a difficult week that has led me to think of this particular word. 

Having had to drop out of attending a couple of recent games at fairly late notice, I was all set to take my place at Anfield for the visit of Newcastle. 

Then, just before the weekend, my dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer. 

I’d like to say that football paled into insignificance, and that I lost the heart to travel up to the game from the Midlands, but on this occasion I took a leaf out of his book: life goes on, and it’s there to be lived. Perhaps it’s an attitude that can be labelled ‘sanguine’.

If he wasn’t going to let it get him down, I wasn’t going to miss the chance to see old friends and revisit old routines, and to meet some new faces, in the blood-red world that floods Anfield and its surrounding streets. On this occasion, football offered a chance to celebrate life.

Because of all the things my dad has given me, football is perhaps his greatest gift. 

Borne of working-class parents, both of whom were from keen footballing families, my birthright was a game whose beauty I find ever more beguiling. Not for me some silly sport. 

It’s a decade since I was last able to play (and still nothing gives me the escapist joy that that used to), but even just this weekend, with other things on my mind, the breathtaking beauty of Barcelona and (while not quite as awe-striking), the super-slick pass-and-move of Liverpool, brought home to me just how good for the soul a good spectacle can be.

I’m no footballing snob, and often baulk at the notion of it being “played the right way”, because, providing it’s within the laws, teams have to play the way that gets them results. 

At different stages of a side’s development it has to play in different ways; it has to be improved in stages, with the resources at hand. And sometimes great drama alone makes for a great match, with ‘good’ football out the window. 

But when it’s technically good, and there is passion and commitment, it lifts the spirits. It elevates.

Times change, bad habits creep into the sport, and it is not without its dire games, but at its best it is incomparably majestic. And it was given to me at a young age; I didn’t have to go search it out. Football was in my blood.

As supporters we can get caught up in the result-at-all-costs, the rivalries, the culture of being a fan – and all of these things are important parts of the sport’s rich tapestry. But the game itself is beguiling. 

I fell in love with football at around the age of seven (the age of my own son now), and at the time, with no concept of glory-hunting, I was seduced by the best team of the day. Now, by proxy, my family are quasi-Liverpool fans, because of what it means to me. My mum is more nervous than I am during games.

My earliest memory of football is of Kenny Dalglish leaping over the advertising hoardings at Wembley in 1978. I can still recall how I found his celebration more fascinating than the goal itself, and needing my dad to explain the preceding beauty of what looked, to me at least, like one man simply kicking a football past another.

As the years passed, I came to appreciate the subtlety of Souness’ reverse pass, and the skill – and calmness – required for Dalglish to dink the ball over the keeper, with total control: just the right amount of lift, just the right amount of pace on the ball to see it over the line. 

But it was the thought of “where’s he going?” as this delirious man in a red shirt, with the broadest smile I’d ever seen, ran <i>away</i> from the pitch that made the impact at the time. Crazy!

There may have been others, and the ticker-tape showers of Argentina 1978 sticks in my mind, but the next game I recall sitting down to watch with my dad was a year later, as Arsenal, leaving it close to the final whistle, came back from 2-1 down to beat Manchester United in an incredible FA Cup Final. Seductive stuff.

But by then I had my club; I had the Panini sticker album, and pride of place was Liverpool’s badge.

As illustrated by the difference between the seven-year-old version of myself and the older, wiser (and balder) version regarding that 1978 European Cup Final goal, our perceptions, and appreciation of the game changes at different stages of our lives. We learn more about the sport, but also about the human elements that underpin it. 

We better understand success and failure, and the rewards of putting in the effort for what it gives in return. We better understand psychology, whether consciously or not, and how our attitude affects what we achieve. And unless our heads are full of cement, we will have learned from innumerable mistakes along the way.

As a kid who started out playing on the wing, my dad was always telling me to stay out wide, find space. But all I wanted to do was follow the ball, be involved. 

I thought that I’d be isolating myself, withdrawing from the game; instead, I would have made myself a viable option for a pass. But I felt I knew better. (Of course, it might have been nice had my dad not tried to shoot me with an elephant tranquiliser every time I wandered infield, but that’s another story.)

I’ve said it before, but the years unravel the threads of everything I thought I knew, to leave me feeling more ‘philosophical’, more humble. 

Every new thing we learn opens a number of pathways to our own ignorance; it’s one new thing we understand, but which makes us aware of lots more things we don’t – like entering a house, and familiarising ourselves with the hallway, only to then be confronted by five mysterious doors. Each door we then open leads to five more.

And in this piece, which I guess above all else is about the circle of life, and the generational DNA transfer of football, I am led to think of the young, fresh-faced players starting out in the game at Liverpool now; those already making first-team appearances, and those ready to contest yet another FA Youth Cup Final. 

I think of myself at that age, and shudder at how horribly unprepared I would have been for what it would have thrown at me (had I been anywhere good enough, of course). I grimace at thoughts of my 19-year-old self; and yet now, at twice that age, I expect kids, with maturity beyond their years, to deliver me my weekly or bi-weekly football fix, as do millions of other fans.

I think that it is only now, as I near 40, that I am somewhere close to being mentally prepared for the life of a professional footballer. Unfortunately, my body gave up on that dream many years ago. 

I finally feel mature enough to cope with it all; it’s just a shame that it arrived several years after most players have retired. It’s a bit like the mechanics finally getting the wheels on the Formula One car, but after the race has finished. 

And yet I ask a lot of this next generation of Liverpool players, who are ever more adrift from me in years. Not so long ago, every player was older than me; now, with some of them, I’m old enough to be their father. I’m a whole generation older than the last time Liverpool won the league. Eek.

And as I edge closer to my 40s, different things have become important to me; I’ve grown beyond the superficialities of the game. Skill alone is not enough. 

The character of Liverpool players seems ever more important to me, and in this sense Rafa Benítez has assembled a near-faultless squad. 

It’s often something a lot less visible than a great goal or clever trick that youngsters will view on Youtube – we don’t see countless replays of a great covering run, or a player <i>not</i> getting involved in a silly scuffle 30 yards away. Character can often be something you feel, something you sense: the collective spirit of a team, rather than disparate parts out for themselves.

With the Reds needing to win the remaining three games, I can rest assured that nobody will go flying two-footed into a needless challenge that curtails his season there and then, and risks the limbs of an opponent.

Players may get sent off (although rarely under Rafa), but 99.9% of the time they keep their heads; we see personal responsibility mixed with a team ethic. It’s no coincidence, no accident. 

Players who continually transgress are not indulged by this manager. It doesn’t mean that they are all therefore inhuman or robotic, or that they won’t err in some way, but there is a basic honesty to their football, for each other, and on behalf of the fans.

So I can identify with this team, perhaps more so than any during my adult years. Yes, it’s now playing some beautiful football, and has scored three or more goals for five consecutive games for the first time since I was first beguiled by Kenny Dalglish three decades ago, but even before this recent run, I could sense it was on the right track in its approach to games.

The right attitude is at the heart of it all. 

We all have choices relating to how to view a challenge or a setback.  We all decide how to face up to bad luck, or an unfortunate situation. We can bemoan our luck, but self-pity is no help; we have to move past that, and be constructive.

Without having M.E., I’d never have met my girlfriend, a fellow sufferer. Had I not had the ‘bad luck’ of losing my design job due to ill health, I doubt I’d have had the courage to follow my dream of becoming a writer; I needed to lose everything to have the opportunity to start afresh. 

Do I wish I was cured today? Of course, not least because I could make more use of what I’ve learned, and put more energy into being a father. 

But I also wouldn’t change the past few years, because it has brought non-material rewards I wouldn’t swap for the world. And I may still be learning from the experience. I’m not perfect, but I’m a better person for it.

Do I wish my dad had been diagnosed with something treatable? Of course. But he feels he’s had a good life, and seems intent on celebrating that fact for as long as it now lasts. I respect that. It’s not about giving up, but accepting what cannot be changed, and making the most of what can.

And whether it be sanguine, or philosophical, or any of the other words used in this piece, it’s an attitude I hope I now have too. It may not have been mine at 19, or 27, but at 38 I’m shaped in a different way. 

And so, as I try, as ever, to apply this thinking to football, I reach the following conclusion: 

Win the league or not, I’m proud of the virtues of this team: fair play, collective spirit, hard work, refusal to capitulate, and a desire to play football to the best of their ability. Thank god I’ve was lucky enough to be born into a situation that allowed me to appreciate it.

Postscript: thanks for the emailed messages of support, they are greatly appreciated. I may well end up writing plenty of pieces in the coming weeks/months to keep myself occupied, if I have the energy, but I wanted those who regularly check the blog for updates to know that I may not feel like doing so.

Persecuted and Abused: An LFC Writer's Woes

It’s been a stressful week. Frankly, I don’t know how I’ve coped. 

I’ve had to endure various humiliating insults, which I thought I’d got used to after years of exposing my opinions to world at large.

The internet is the insulter’s dream medium, with its faceless warriors, but now it’s spreading into my personal life. It’s a cruel, cruel world.

It all started at some traffic lights, near to my house, that were out of action. A policeman stood in the road, and unprovoked, he began making hand gestures in my direction. He seemed to be telling me to go and do something with myself, further up the road; shocked, I remained stationary in my car, a quivering mess.

Then the driver of the vehicle directly behind mine started aggressively honking his horn. What had I done to upset him so much? Was he the child whom I’d called names at primary school 30 years ago? I’d obviously done something very personal to upset him. Wracked with guilt, I got out of my car and, my knees digging into the tarmac, begged his forgiveness.

He shook his head, and rolled his eyes to the heavens. Is that where he suggests I’m heading. He then started pointing at the road ahead - maybe he meant I’m destined for hell?

Then there was the angry email from a woman psychologically scarred because I was sneering at her in my profile picture. Wherever she moved in front of her computer, I was giving her a contemptuous look. She admitted to serious self-esteem issues, and didn’t need me belittling her with my smug ugly mug.

My day got worse. I stopped off for a coffee at a famous café chain, on a very busy lunchtime. I pointed at the mini croissants and, above the din, shouted ‘two’. 

To my horror, the shop assistant stuck two fingers up in my direction. Admittedly they were shown in the manner of the inoffensive Churchillian victory salute, with the word ‘two?’ mouthed back at me, but they could just have easily have been the other way round, and we all know what that means. 

Appalled, I collapsed into a heap by the chocolate shaker. 

On advice, my solicitor has started proceedings against the chain, and my therapist reckons it could take years for me to overcome the slight. At the doctors the words ‘post traumatic stress disorder’ were mentioned, but admittedly only by me.

Such cruelty is unforgivable. I didn’t bother to ask what any of the people meant by their gestures. I went to where I knew they wouldn’t be, but they weren’t there. That just shows the type of people they are. 

Despite not bothering to discover if I’d got the wrong end of the stick, I’ve gone to the world at large with my gripes. You would too, if such unspeakable things happened to you.

 

www.paultomkins.com - support my writing by buying my books. 

Click here to Pre-order 'Red Race'.

'Compendium' and 'Red Race' available only from my website, 'Dynasty' and other books from Amazon and most good bookstores.

"Tomkins not only shows why he is a prolific, talented writer but also cements his status as very knowledgeable and passionate Red. In my opinion this is Tomkins' best work to date; a thoroughly excellent read."

Vic Gill, Shanks' son-in-law and former LFC trainee

“The project that Tomkins has taken on here is highly ambitious: assessing each of Liverpool’s managers since Bill Shankly. He does this in his own irrepressible style of analyzing in detail every area that falls within a manager’s remit. And whilst Tomkins has a talent for such a task, where he excels here is in approaching each manager without any apparent pre-conceived ideas.”

Paul Grech, Squarefootball.net

"A unique analysis of the club's managers, which is no mean feat given the extensive bibliography of the club... informative ... another perspective on the last 50 years at Liverpool."

Programme & Football Collectable Monthly

****

FourFourTwo

Apologies Not Enough from the BBC

It’s all very well the BBC’s Radio One Newsbeat team offering an on-air apology for their awful mistake about Hillsborough, in which they claimed that the official report blamed Liverpool fans for the tragedy. But that won’t correct the mistruth in the minds of all those who only heard the original broadcast, and who missed the retraction.

They could be like Sun readers who have only encountered scurrilous lies, and one very belated, half-arsed ‘apology’ that was more about scoring points over Trinity Mirror and easing the outrage aimed at Wayne Rooney. Liverpool fans may know the truth, but it seems clear that plenty of other people do not.

My days of belonging in the Radio One demographic are long-since past (and I wouldn’t wipe my arse with The Sun, even had it not printed the most offensive front page in history), but perhaps that makes it even more irresponsible. Radio One has broadcast an awful lie to a new generation of Britons, and, at that, one given to spouting ill-informed nonsense on the internet, will only lead to more ignorance.

Saying sorry is all very well and good, but it cannot take back what was said, which is now in the public consciousness; in the way that a canny lawyer will say something highly contentious that will be struck from the record, but not struck from the minds of those who heard it. 

Repeat lies often enough, and they take on the appearance of truth. The saying goes that ‘history is written by the winners’, but these days it’s written by the mass media. 

Of course, it will never be written by the losers, and in this case, Liverpool fans are the losers; at least until enough pressure if put on organisations and the government to right some wrongs. The promised full disclosure of documents from 1989 is a promising start, but it’s also been undermined in the very reporting of this fact by the BBC.

It is grossly negligent of the BBC to make such a mistake. We all get our facts wrong from time to time, but not all of us are at news organisations with the gravitas of the BBC; and in my case, most of the facts I get wrong will be something like being a few percent out with rotation figures. 

I don’t broadcast ludicrously untrue ‘facts’ like the Munich air crash was caused by Manchester United players, or that the Zebrugge ferry disaster was the fault of passengers rocking the boat. 

The victims of other tragedies don’t get blamed, to compound the pain of families and friends, but it still seems acceptable to do with to those at Hillsborough twenty years ago. 

However, having said all this, if I was to make a report about events of which I had no first-hand knowledge, I’d at least do some basic research into what took place. If I was quoting the official report, I’d make it my job to know what the thing said, not broadcast the wrong conclusion.

Steven Cohen, co-host of the World Soccer Daily radio show in the U.S., is another who has been propogating lies. Last week he claimed that Liverpool fans failed to take responsibility for Hillsborough, as well as stating that if 6,000-8,000 ticketless fans had not shown up, the disaster would never have happened.

Was he there? Did he read the official report? No, and clearly no.

His logic seems to be that because no other tragedy had occurred at the ground, it was the fault of Liverpool fans; never mind that plenty of Sheffield Wednesday supporters knew the risks at Leppings Lane, or that there were previous problems at the ground, albeit ones that didn’t lead to deaths.

Cohen is the apotheosis of ‘big gob’ broadcasters, who spout their mouths off for the sake of ‘colourful’ shows, never minding the fact that they are totally ignorant.

These people wouldn’t be so glib if the same things happened to them: gross inacuracies about their personal lives smeared across other news media, from which they would struggle to recover; lies that blackened their names, and ruined their reputations. 

Then again, some such people don’t have much of a reputation to lose in the first place.

After all, sewer rats aren’t too bothered by shit.

The Return of the King: Dalglish Coming Back?

The news that Kenny Dalglish may return, in some capacity, to Liverpool is almost too good to be true. Quite simply, the timing could not be better.

Dalglish’s presence may have undermined previous managers, but Rafa Benítez now has the strength of position to have someone like the legendary no.7 onboard without it causing an imbalance of power. It is an appointment to make when on the rise, not when in disarray.

I think it’s clear that Kenny’s management days are behind him. In my first book, Golden Past, Red Future, I was a little critical of Dalglish as a boss; not necessarily from his time at Liverpool, but how he, along with managers like George Graham, Graham Taylor and Howard Wilkinson, struggled after the influx of continental players and managers, from the mid-’90s onwards. He seemed a bit of a yesterday’s man in the new era.

Looking back, I’m not sure I agree with those assertions; at least regarding Dalglish. (For Taylor, Graham and Wilkinson, it still rings true.) 

When writing Dynasty, I looked into Kenny’s career after leaving Liverpool, and realised just how many good players he bought as Newcastle manager –– such as Shay Given, Nolberto Solano, Gary Speed and Didi Hamann –– as he looked to put some steel into the exciting but fragile side Keegan had assembled. He also came close to winning a trophy, losing the 1998 FA Cup Final to Arsenal, albeit after a 13th-placed league finish (having guided Newcastle to 2nd in his first half-a-season on Tyneside).

Indeed, his tactics at Newcastle were actually very modern: trying to create an organised side that could defend, from which to spring forward. The problem was as much to do with Newcastle fans’ impatience, and their desire for ‘sexy’ football; problems that haunt them to this day, as they lurch from one appointment to another, craving winning football with style, when to start with, any kind of winning football should be enough. 

Dalglish was seen as dour, when in truth he was merely setting some foundations, at a club where Kevin Keegan had abandoned such principles (including abolishing the reserves, which now seems like a dereliction of duty).   

So I feel I was wrong to use Dalglish’s failure at St James’ Park as an example of the ‘old guard’ having become extinct. The dinosaurs did die out, but he was not necessarily one of them.

I also thought his success at Blackburn was somewhat ‘bought’ (albeit well bought!), and that, allied to the fact that he inherited a world-class side at Liverpool, a few doubts were left in my mind as to whether he was right up there with the very best of the best. 

However, in the detailed analysis I’m undertaking for my new book, Red Race, I’ve reassessed his time at Ewood Park as part of a detailed study of success in the Premiership era; I’ll save the details for the time of release, but suffice to say that it now looks far less like a ‘bought’ title to me, and yet another case of media misconceptions. 

I do think Dalglish left an imbalanced squad when he resigned from Liverpool, and this is a criticism made in Dynasty that I feel abides. In his final season, the average age of his strongest XI was 30, some 2.5 years older than any other managers’ best team. And that didn’t include Alan Hansen, 36, who was about to retire. It was side heading rapidly over the hill.

Of course, Kenny had personally tempted a young Robbie Fowler to Liverpool, while Steve McManaman and Jamie Redknapp were about to make the breakthrough, as was the underrated Mike Marsh. Steve Staunton was also only 22 at the time. 

But the quality of the majority of his signings after Hillsborough were the exact opposite of those made before the tragedy, and that reinforced the notion, backed up by physical symptoms (such as a serious rash), that he needed a break. 

If the pressure to win trophies was immense beforehand, Hillsborough probably added even more weight: the desire to win things for those who perished. If anything, Hillsborough showed the staff just how important the club is to its fans. Rather than show that football wasn’t important, it paradoxically proved that, to the lives of many, it is the thing that gives greatest joy, outside of their families.

So I don’t think Dalglish’s time as a manager was flawless. Having said that, he won a greater percentage of games than any other Liverpool manager, and built the most exciting Liverpool team: the sublime 1987/88 side. While he’d inherited a great side, he certainly put his own stamp on it in that vintage season. And to come back and win the league again, with Blackburn, with very different tactics, shows the quality of the man.

It’s also true that I have objected to the fans who, in recent years, have called for Dalglish to manage the Reds again; I felt that the game had moved on, and that he’d been out of the loop for too long, making it too much of a risk. A decade is a long, long time in football, and in terms of leading a club, it’s important to look to the future, not the past.

That didn’t stop Dalglish being a great football thinker, because that was never in doubt, but it did mean not continually harking back to the past in order to move forward. And I always felt that Benítez was the right man; however, now the time seems right to bring back someone who symbolises success, as an ally. It is the kind of appointment that a manager has to sanction, aware that the two men can work together.

I’ve actually long-since felt that King Kenny should be a figurehead at the club. In truth, I always envisaged an ambassadorial role similar to Bobby Charlton at Manchester United, but it would be better still if Kenny were to act as a sounding board for the current manager, on hand to offer advice; Benítez doesn’t need anyone to tell him what to do, but if someone else can help find an extra couple of percent here and there, it could be priceless.

It was an appointment that almost happened under Roy Evans in 1997, but Evans understandably felt that the first run of bad results would lead to calls for Dalglish to replace him; no manager can work under such pressure. Evans was a great club man for Liverpool, but he didn’t have the managerial cachet that Benítez carries.

Now that Benítez is in a position of strength, it makes sense to get the club’s greatest figure working on his, and its, behalf. 

In recent years my admiration for Dalglish, my boyhood idol, has grown, not least in the way that he has continually preached common sense in defence of Benítez, while other players take the lucre to stick the boot in. 

Some ex-players sicken me (some of the stuff Ronnie Whelan has come out with about Rafa in the past year borders on spite), while others, like Alan Hansen, can wind me up at times, but at least try to be fair, and have my enduring respect.

But Dalglish knows just how hard the manager’s job is. He knows what it’s like when, even though his team was still winning the majority of its games (not to mention trophies), his decisions and tactics were continually called into question, as he moved into his final couple of years. 

“Too defensive”, “pig-headed in not playing Player X (Peter Beardsley)”, “never keeping the same side”, “never names the side until an hour before kick-off”, and so on. 

It only needed zonal marking to sound like a critique of Rafa Benítez. In one game at Highbury, Dalglish fielded three ‘defenders’ in midfield (albeit versatile players). Liverpool won the game. But still he was criticised.

But perhaps the best thing about the appointment, should it happen, relates to a closing of a cycle; things coming full circle. 

Twenty years ago Alex Ferguson wanted to “knock Liverpool of their fucking perch”, and now, as he nears retirement, the Reds are emerging as a real threat, with a young, rapidly improving side. I don’t see any great chinks in United’s armour, but it is they, as reigning champions (and in Ferguson’s case, one obsessed with Liverpool), who have the most to lose. 

Kenny Dalglish is the only man to consistency eclipse Ferguson during his time as a manager. Ferguson didn’t get near Dalglish when he was in charge at Anfield, and when Kenny came back with Blackburn, he eventually got the upper hand again, before moving upstairs at Ewood Park with the title in the bag. 

Psychologically, it would be a big boost to everyone at Liverpool to see him back, with that vast experience to draw upon, and the stature, to project around Melwood and Anfield, of an ultimate winner symbiotically linked to the club. 

Symbolically, it would send out a powerful message: the King is not dead. 

Long live the King.

www.paultomkins.com - support my writing by buying my books. 

Click here to Pre-order 'Red Race'.

'Compendium' and 'Red Race' available only from my website, 'Dynasty' and other books from Amazon and most good bookstores.

"Tomkins not only shows why he is a prolific, talented writer but also cements his status as very knowledgeable and passionate Red. In my opinion this is Tomkins' best work to date; a thoroughly excellent read."

Vic Gill, Shanks' son-in-law and former LFC trainee

“The project that Tomkins has taken on here is highly ambitious: assessing each of Liverpool’s managers since Bill Shankly. He does this in his own irrepressible style of analyzing in detail every area that falls within a manager’s remit. And whilst Tomkins has a talent for such a task, where he excels here is in approaching each manager without any apparent pre-conceived ideas.”

Paul Grech, Squarefootball.net

"A unique analysis of the club's managers, which is no mean feat given the extensive bibliography of the club... informative ... another perspective on the last 50 years at Liverpool."

Programme & Football Collectable Monthly

****

FourFourTwo

Ferguson and Allardyce: Grow Up

I am still in shock at the reaction of Sam Allardyce and Alex Ferguson to a gesture made by Rafa Benítez after the second goal against Blackburn Rovers last week.

I’ve never heard anything more pathetic in my life. The gesture that has led both men to publicly attack Rafa is so vague that he may as well have blown his nose or belched and been labelled as ‘disrespectful’ towards the Blackburn manager. 

I’ve watched the incident in question over and over, and for the life of me I cannot see what they are getting at. 

For anyone to suggest Rafa thought it was game over with a two goal lead and 60 minutes to play is outrageous. 

How can they infer he meant this from one movement of Benítez’s hands? After all, I can’t understand 99.9% of the strange semaphore he comes out with, so how the fuck can people get uppity about this?

A goal is scored, and for once Rafa smiles. He does not pump his fists, or turn to the Blackburn bench. He does not drop his trousers and moon Big Sam. 

His action of crossing his hands, made in the direction of the Liverpool players, could have meant anything; most likely, it meant ‘forget my previous instructions’ over the free-kick. He’s used the same gesture before to say “no, no, no” to his players to stop what they’re doing; never “game over”. 

My guess would be that he told Xabi Alonso to hit it towards the far post, as most managers request, but that the midfielder went for the near post. If anything, Rafa looks embarrassed.

However, if Rafa thought it was game over, why didn’t he take off Torres there and then? Or any other players? It’s patronising to suggest he would have thought that.

After all, this is a man who never sees any game as over until the final whistle; a man who was incredibly pissed off that his team only beat Aston Villa 5-0 having eased off in the last 20 minutes.

How it can be interpreted as anything more is alarming, and indicative of two managers ganging up on another like a pair of classless bullies. 

[As has since been pointed out to me, Allardyce had no problem at the time, no problem after the match when shaking hands, but as soon as he mentions it in a press conference six days later his good friend Ferguson is doing the same thing at the same time. Collusion? I think so. The Guardian's Fiver sums it up perfectly, even pointing out that Ferguson backed up Allardyce even before Allardyce had said anything publicly! - FIVER ]

Ferguson has allies at numerous clubs, including several ex-players who have worked under him. In this case he is getting into a battle that is not his own, and yet again, for a man who never talks about Rafa Benítez, he’s talking about Rafa Benítez.

Rafa has brought on a fair amount of the Ferguson media storm himself, notably by responding in January to Ferguson talking about Liverpool with a list of what he saw as facts about United, but there is this very alarming collective amnesia when it comes to acknowledging that Ferguson has never been slow to rise to the bait, or indeed, launch his own verbal attacks.

After all, Ferguson spent a press conference after the defeat by Liverpool stating woefully wayward figures [which were laughed at by some Fleet Street journos] about Rafa’s spending. How has that been so quickly forgotten? He spent the week before they lost at Fulham consulting with people at his own club about money spent by Liverpool, which is very bizarre behaviour.

And look at this equally bizarre reporting on Football365:

“And while Ferguson has tried to resist the temptation to respond, this time he felt he needed to make a stand against the Liverpool manager.”

This time? 

To me it’s been constant [and tiresome] tit-for-tat between the two men, with the media acting as the tell-tale. One says something, the press goes to the other and says “he’s talking about you”, to which he replies with his own comeback. And repeat.

But this is starting to seem a bit more sinister. This is some kind of witch hunt, focusing in on Benítez; finding him guilty of something “beyond the pale” that, frankly, is not even remotely clear-cut.

Listen to this pathetic drivel from Allardyce:

“I wanted to clarify his gestures. I think you'll see them as pretty dismissive to me and to Blackburn Rovers' team as a whole.”

How? Because some paranoid manager thinks so, it is so? 

“I think they are disrespectful and quite humiliating.” 

The only humiliation was from the way your team was outclassed, Sam, after you left a top-class striker, Benni McCarthy, on the bench, despite his good record against Liverpool, and played a lumbering centre-back up front.

“I waited to have a word with Rafa Benitez in his room after the game but as usual, and unfortunately, he didn't turn up.”

Why not just go and wait in Rafa’s house, Sam? Camp out in his shrubbery? Stalk the man?

It’s his room, and up to him where he is after the match; presumably he has better things to do that deal with some pathetic gripes from a man sounding like a two-year-old girl. 

But even though Sam didn’t get his clarification, he’s attacked Rafa all the same. Tried by the kangaroo court of Ferguson and Allardyce, Rafa has been found guilty of something any normal court would laugh out on the grounds of it being utterly inconclusive.

"I was hugely disappointed by those gestures and having re-looked at them this week I think I'm right and I think everyone will see why I'm complaining."

Everyone? I know I’m biased, but Jesus Christ, I can’t see a single thing wrong with Rafa’s gestures. They were made in the direction of Liverpool’s players; not Allardyce, not the Kop.

"The game is hard enough as it is without a fellow manager trying to do, what seemed to be, an undermining gesture."

Ah, fucking diddums. “What seemed to be...” basically means “what I interpreted it to be, as a very, very paranoid man”.

Then Ferguson wades in.

“... arrogance is one thing. You cannot forgive contempt, which is what he showed Sam Allardyce last weekend. When Liverpool scored their second goal he signalled as if the game was finished. I do not think Sam deserved that.”

"Sam has worked so hard for the LMA (League Managers' Association) and he's had a weakened team. I just thought it showed contempt.”

Again, how can the gesture Rafa made be interpreted this way by any sane individual? It’s all a case of reading far too much into a tiny little gesture that could mean a million and one different things. 

"In my experience no Liverpool manager has ever done that. It was beyond the pale."

Beyond the pale? Did he piss on someone’s grave? Call someone’s mum a whore? Microwave someone’s goldfish?

No. He made one simple gesture. To his players. And he looked happy that his team had scored – the disrespectful sod.

The whole thing is pathetic. The next time Alex Ferguson spits out his chewing gum after a goal, or waves his fists in the air in celebration, will we get such a load of old nonsense? 

[Addition: talking of Ferguson growing up, here's evidence of the 67-year-old acting like a 6/7 year old a couple of days later, when his team failed to win a penalty.]

www.paultomkins.com - support my writing by buying my books. 

Click here to Pre-order 'Red Race'.

'Compendium' and 'Red Race' available only from my website, 'Dynasty' and other books from Amazon and most good bookstores.

"Tomkins not only shows why he is a prolific, talented writer but also cements his status as very knowledgeable and passionate Red. In my opinion this is Tomkins' best work to date; a thoroughly excellent read."

Vic Gill, Shanks' son-in-law and former LFC trainee

“The project that Tomkins has taken on here is highly ambitious: assessing each of Liverpool’s managers since Bill Shankly. He does this in his own irrepressible style of analyzing in detail every area that falls within a manager’s remit. And whilst Tomkins has a talent for such a task, where he excels here is in approaching each manager without any apparent pre-conceived ideas.”

Paul Grech, Squarefootball.net

"A unique analysis of the club's managers, which is no mean feat given the extensive bibliography of the club... informative ... another perspective on the last 50 years at Liverpool."

Programme & Football Collectable Monthly

****

FourFourTwo

Liverpool Pride, Liverpool Passion: 4-4 at the Bridge

To score four goals, and still be in with a shout with five minutes remaining of an 180-minute tie – that looked over after 90 – was an incredible effort by the Reds. It did the club proud on the eve of such a significant anniversary.

I was all set for a brave display but somewhat relaxed low-scoring draw, and then had to contend with nerves appearing 30 minutes into the match; it was going horribly wrong as far as my calmness was concerned, as the Reds powered to a 2-0 lead. I hadn’t even considered a two goal advantage on the night, let alone one so soon.

For me, a draw over the two legs would have been the fair result. Chelsea clearly outplayed Liverpool in the second half at Anfield, but not by the margin the Reds outplayed the Blues in the first-half at Stamford Bridge; where were all the tacky plastic flags then? 

That said, Chelsea were excellent in the second 45 last week, and that was where the tie was won. 

By the time Liverpool were searching out the late goals in the second leg, the shape of the team was rather pear-like, so the sucker punch was always on the cards. But it took a disciplined display to get the game to such a knife edge to start with.

The difference was that Liverpool just couldn’t get that crucial third goal either side of half-time, when Petr Cech was hanging on like a child’s dislodged milk tooth twisting on the slenderist slice of gum. They got a goal soon after, and from that point stepped up about five gears; having been in reverse to start with. 

Drogba, who got the vital strike, is one of the few players I genuinely despise. Part of it is because he’s so good, so unplayable, when his head is right, and the damage he’s done to Liverpool in the past; but that part is ‘hate-respect’, which I reserve for those capable of giving our defenders nightmares. 

His attitude in the first half of the season stank, and while that was Chelsea’s problem, it does show his two-faced character. But how the hell do you defend against him when he acts like he does on the pitch? It’s just ludicrously unfair. 

If he stays strong, the defender bounces off his considerable frame like a rag doll on the bumper of a speeding 4x4. If the defender uses any kind of strength back, Drogba, if he can’t get through on goal, collapses in a heap and holds various parts of his body. So defenders have to stand off him given his tendency to just collapse, and no wonder he powers past them as a result.

All players milk situations a little, go over when there’s sufficient contact, and even the occasional dive has to be accepted given that no team – no player, even – doesn’t go to ground too easily now and again, but he takes it past professionalism and into a whole new realm. In every match he collapses six or seven times. 

In the first half he rolled off the field, then back onto it to get the game stopped. He’s a beast of a man when he wants to be, and acts like Samuel L Jackson’s featherweight character in Unbreakable the rest of the time.

And despite his histrionics, six goals and four substitutions, only three minutes of time was added. So much for 30 second per goal and substitution.

But the overriding emotion as a Liverpool fan, on an already emotional week, is one of pride and of spirit. Everything was always going to pale into insignificance with remembrance of what took place at Hillsborough, but Liverpool, as a team, reminded us all why we love football so much in the first place.

Everyone in a red shirt bust a gut. It was especially pleasing to see Lucas score, when so many Liverpool fans were moaning on message boards before the game, and for the Reds to net two in the final ten minutes without either Gerrard or Torres. And I was pleased to see Kuyt yet again pop up with what could have been a remarkably vital goal.

It was a shame Ngog’s late drive at 4-4 was cleared off the line, as it would have given him a big boost as he starts to look the part, and possibly won the Reds the game, even if Chelsea would still have edged through. 

And while the home side showed character in the second half, Liverpool’s remarkable never-say-die attitude to games this season, with yet more late goals, shows that there is something special brewing; anyone who still thinks it’s an accident, or that these are ‘lucky’ late strikes needs to wake up. It’s about fitness, quality, belief and unity. It’s about being a very good side.

I do dismay when I encounter some reactions to Rafa’s team selections before the game; the negativity that can be spouted even before a ball has been kicked. 

He picked a side to play the same way that they had at Old Trafford and at home to Real Madrid; and yet again, the Reds scored four goals, and could have had many, many more. For part of the game, I was wondering if Cech’s headgear had fallen over his eyes, so disoriented did he seem. (I know Pepe made a mistake on the first goal, but lord help us if he ever gets that nervy).

The top scorers in the Premiership, and now four goals against both Real Madrid and Chelsea in Europe, and yet still Rafa’s criticised for his team being defensive. 

You don’t win by a three-goal margin by being gung-ho to start with – you do it by playing sensibly; as we saw in the final stages, by the time Liverpool did go for broke, there were gaps at either end, as the game was stretched beyond breaking point. You can’t start matches like that.

If you have two ‘holding’ midfielders, part of that is to allow everyone, particularly the full-backs, licence to bomb on. You need to be solid in order to play fluent winning football; you need to stop the opposition to get possession.

The manager got it spot-on, and I have no complaints about the performance. And so much for Chelsea’s man-marking at set-pieces, too.

While I think an aggregate draw would have been fair, I’ll admit that Chelsea did enough at crucial times to feel that they deserved their victory. However, it just needed one more chance at 4-3 on the night to fall Liverpool’s way, and no-one could have argued with them having deserved the most remarkable comeback since Istanbul.

Rest up this weekend while the other teams do battle, and put in the same intensity against a potentially very dangerous (but hopefully jaded) Arsenal next week, and the season as a whole could still go down to the wire. 

When you keep refusing to give up, miracles can happen. 

Insua, Ngog and 'Defensive' Liverpool

(Irony alert.) It was great this weekend to see so many teams defending set-pieces perfectly with man-marking. Blackburn’s Christopher Samba did a brilliant job against Torres, who is five inches shorter; Newcastle dealt brilliantly with Stoke; and Bolton, Chelsea, Arsenal, Hull and Aston Villa all defended corners and free-kicks to perfection. Over the weekend, not one single goal was scored as a result of the man-marking system.

Apart, of course, from all the goals scored as a result of the man-marking system.

Insua

How good was Emiliano Insua against Blackburn? Everything he did was spot-on: from his defending, to breaking upfield with skill and delivering some lovely crosses, as well as some sweet first-time passes. 

While he impressed in the reserves, he has shown that sometimes very good players look even better when surrounded by top talent. Even though the opposition is stronger and the pace of the game far higher, they have team-mates who can read their intentions.

I have a feeling the same will be true of Nemeth and Pacheco, given that their movement and vision will work better with those clever enough to be on the same wavelength.

Ngog

I’ve seen enough little signs to start believing that David Ngog has really turned a corner. Against Sunderland, and in his brief cameo yesterday, he showed the strength that was absent from his early displays (which, in fairness, was to be expected, as a skinny teenager fresh from France). 

Toughening up is a natural process, and the way he’s started shielding the ball gives me great hope.

He has skill, pace, and his youth record shows that he has an eye for goal. A lot of strikers start their senior careers slowly in terms of goals: players like Shearer, Henry and Saha took a long time before they became prolific, despite, like Ngog, having good youth records.

This season has been a great education for the young striker. Now he appears to have mastered the physical side of the game, his confidence can blossom, and he can express himself. Next season should see him make a far bigger impact, and show why he’s one of France’s most highly-treasured young assets.

Also, his three goals have come at a rate of one every 184 minutes of football (or one every two full games), which is only 19 minutes more than Torres is averaging this season. For the record, Robbie Keane scored once every 255 minutes in a Liverpool shirt.

Defensive Liverpool (Not)

Another thing that irks me about Andy Gray and his ilk is how Liverpool are seen as negative for bringing everyone back for corners. Leave a few players up, they say. But they just don’t get it.

I’ve never seen Liverpool break quicker, or better. If you have players up the field, you look long to them; they then have a 50-50 battle with defenders (more of whom have been kept back), but it’s actually more like 70-30 because it favours the player who isn’t facing his own goal, and who only needs to make a decisive clearing contact, rather than a controlled contact. 

If Torres or whoever does win it, they need to hold it up and pass back, to oncoming players. 

Instead, what Liverpool do is break in great numbers, springing forward into oceans of space, with the pass from the back hit ahead of them. Everyone is facing the opposition goal, and they play forward passes into open areas. Five, six, seven runners swarm forward.

By bringing everyone back, the space is created to attack once the ball is won. Go back and look at how many Liverpool goals, and near misses, have come from the Reds defending a set-piece, and how quickly the ball is worked from front to back. 

Even Mascherano nearly scored yesterday, from such a break. The little Argentine, who was like a man possessed, sprang into space created from initially getting numbers back.

Fergie Vs Rafa, round 13,239

I found it interesting that the journalists on Sky’s Sunday Supplement all portrayed Rafa as the man stoking the fires, and that Ferguson is not really getting involved. While they admitted that the newspapers make a bigger deal out of it all, and ask the leading questions, I do find their selective memories on this issue highly amusing. 

Both managers appear to be responding to questions asked, which are then put back to the other man in the next press conference. But I can’t believe that they totally overlooked Ferguson turning up for a press conference armed with his wayward figures on Liverpool’s spending. This act, which was on a par with Rafa’s ‘fact’ list, seems to have been swept under the carpet.

They kept bringing up Rafa’s fact sheet, but what about Ferguson getting his sport technology department to source information that had nothing to do with his club, having been humped 4-1 at home to Liverpool, only to lose 2-0 at Fulham shortly after? 

As ever, there’s an inequality in the reporting. Part of it is staying onside with Ferguson, because he just refuses to speak to any media outlet that upsets him. That’s part of his intimidatory tactic of threatening to take his ball away.

I do honestly think that Ferguson is scared. It might not be giving him restless nights, particularly as United still have the advantage, but he has made it clear enough times that dethroning Liverpool has been his aim at Old Trafford; so by that token he has to fear a role reversal. 

If Chelsea were putting the most pressure on United, it would be a totally different story. That it is Liverpool adds an extra edge; there’s more for United to lose, clearly, because as well as the title, it would mean that they threw away an ‘unassailable’ lead to the one team they’d chew off their own legs to stop winning another title. 

That’s what rivalry does. By contrast, Liverpool have never been expected to win the title this season, merely challenge for it, just as United began to do in Ferguson’s sixth season (when United finished 2nd, but learnt how to handle a title chase).

I still think this title is United’s. Liverpool have the league form and momentum, but United have the point extra and game in hand, with time running out. Whoever wins it will deserve it, but despite playing far worse than Liverpool for the past month, United have again started doing enough to eek out victories. 

However, whatever happens, Liverpool have set down a marker ahead of next season. Interestingly, both Chelsea and Arsenal have also shown signs of great improvement in recent months. So next season could promise to be tighter still.

Chelsea’s main problem is a squad getting old, and more managerial uncertainty on the horizon; Guus Hiddink seems to be a perfect fit, but insists he’s not staying. Arsenal’s problem is the complete opposite: total managerial security, but perhaps not enough experience.

As for the ‘war of words’ between Rafa and Fergie, I’m tired of it all: “he’s talking about me...” “no, he’s talking about me”. Maybe they should just ‘get a room’?

But it’s nice to see Liverpool in a position in the league where such contretemps are possible in the first place; you only tend to get tension between managers when they are neck-and-neck.

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