Site update - 10 July 2008
Much to the disappointment of the 'Liverpool-Kop sucks!' brigade, this site is still very much alive. The lack of recent articles is purely down to the fact that there is simply nothing interesting to write about at the moment!
It's hardly been an inspiring summer so far; Gareth Barry saga? *yawn* Dossena and Degen sign on? *yawn*. As usual, Rafa is trying to sign players we don't need and ignoring the real problem areas, i.e. Wingers and creative, attacking link-men.
But there's still hope for some excitement. Liverpool are after all linked with the likes of James Milner and Robbie Keane! Who could not be excited about qualilty signings like that?! JK
Liverpool’s recent victories over Inter Milan in the Champions League are undoubtedly great results, but the team should not get too carried away and become prematurely overconfident.
Overconfident? Liverpool FC?! Surely not...!
It should be remembered that both results were achieved as a result of playing against ten men. At Anfield, Inter played a man down for 60 minutes, and Liverpool only managed to break through right at the end.
At the San-Siro, it was 0-0 again, with Inter looking dangerous before he referee gifted Liverpool the game with the ludicrous dismissal of Nicolas Burdisso.
Predictably, the media and fan websites are painting both Inter victories as glorious triumphs of an all-conquering Liverpool team. Indeed, Javier Mascherano labeled last night’s victory as ‘amazing’, but I just can’t see how beating ten men is something to get *that* excited over.
Over the two ties, Liverpool played against Inter's ten men for 100 minutes and still struggled to score goals or really dominate. Of course, biased fans will say Liverpool dominated both games, but the objective reality is different.
Once Liverpool beat a decent team with 11 men fair and square in the Champions League, then it will be time to get excited.
I still fear that Liverpool’s overconfidence and the players’ seemingly unstoppable compulsion to massage each others’ egos after every game will eventually backfire.
This morning, the barrage of backslapping is back in overdrive, with the players bigging themselves up again.
Mascherano gushed: “It was a very good result for the team and it is one of the best. It doesn’t matter who we get next. It will be a difficult game for us but it will also be a difficult game for them. After a result like this we have to believe that we can go further in the competition.”
Jamie Carragher joined the love-in: “We’ve proved it again - We’ve proved in the last three years we are as good as anyone in Europe.”
Inevitably, Steven Gerrard had his say: “We are a force in Europe. I don’t think anyone will want to get us in the last eight”
Yossi Benayoun and Ryan Babel added to the self-congratulation, which will no doubt increase if Liverpool’s good run continues.
I just wish the players would be a little more humble and let their performances do the talking, instead of continually bragging in the press.
I go on and on about this but for me it is a serious issue and a particular bug-bear of mine. Liverpool’s players boast more than any other set of players in Europe! If I’m wrong about that, someone please provide examples of other teams that are similarly in love with themselves.
Why can’t the likes of Gerrard and Carragher simply say low-key things along the lines of: ‘We’re pleased with the victory, but there are plenty of good teams still in the competition and we’re going to work hard to reach the final’?
It always has to be ‘we’re the best’ and ‘Other teams should fear us’ and ‘we’re all world class players so watch out’.
It was the same during last season's Champions League run; the self-generated hype after the Barcelona away victory and before the CL final was sickening. And ultimately, the team did not live up to its own perceived brilliance.
Let's hope the same thing does not happen again this season.
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What is it about Liverpool and public comments?! If it’s not depressing, pessimistic negativity it’s the other end of the extreme – cocky, fawning, self-congratulatory overconfidence. The last week has been filled with this type of tedious eulogising and it's been the same all season.
Every time Liverpool have put together a decent run this season, players have been falling over themselves to proclaim each other the ‘the best in the world’. This has continued in the last couple of weeks, with Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres taking it in turns to stroke each others’ egos.
After the Middlesborough victory, Gerrard fawned:
"He [Torres] is brilliant, fantastic. The best in the world, and I wouldn't swap him for any other striker anywhere”.
After the Newcastle victory, Torres joined in the strokeathon:
"He [Gerrard] is unbelievable. The best player in the world. And he is only going to get better."
A week before that, Gerrard eulogized Torres as ‘Frightening’ in another starry-eyed homage to Liverpool’s top scorer.
Perennial press-whore Dirk Kuyt also joined in the act, describing Torres as the "very best striker in the world".
The same thing happened after the 2-0 victory against Inter Milan’s 10 men at Anfield recently. After the game, Jamie Carragher lauded Gerrard as "The best player in the world”.
In turn, Gerrard described Carragher as 'a legend' and 'one of the best defenders in the world'
Wow. Liverpool apparently have the best defenders, midfields and strikers in the world!
If that's true, how come the team is struggling for 4th place in the league?!
The season has been plagued with this type of premature overconfidence. Indeed, after the victory over Marseille in the Champions League in December 2007, Liverpool players were again out in force, smothering each other with effusive praise, with Jamie Carragher enthusing:
‘He's [Gerrard] is definitely one of the best players in the world. You look at Kaka and Messi, but they probably play for forward’.
Other comments included Dirk Kuyt calling Ryan Babel 'a sensation'; Torres claiming Rafa to be 'One of the greats' and 'more than just a Manager'; Steven Gerrard labelling Torres 'amazing' and Jamie Carragher (again!) salivating that Torres is 'world class'.
This type of fawning is typical of footballers, who think every time someone has a good game they are ‘world class’ or whenever the team plays well it becomes ‘the best’ or ‘one of the favourites’.
Regrettably, this trend for self-obsessed narcissism pervades all aspects of football, with the most pungent example being players releasing autobiographies when they’re still playing. Just like the recent spate of vainglorious comments, such behaviour is jumping the gun.
What happened to being humble in victory? Since when did Liverpool become a club that brags about its success before it’s even achieved anything?!
The club is so full of players boasting about each other’s ability that’s it’s hardly surprising that much of the season has been tainted with mediocrity and underachievement.
There is nothing wrong with having faith in your team-mates, but do we have to hear about *all the time*?!
You never hear the likes of Wayne Rooney or Cristiano Ronaldo bigging each other up like this. In fact, there are no other players in the premiership who boast as much as Liverpool’s players do.
This rampant egotism has to stop. First of all, it is incompatible with what the club is supposed to represent. Second of all, it is completely UNWARRANTED! So a few players have a few good games. BIG DEAL! What has the club won yet or come close to winning?! ZILCH, thus such praise is premature and undeserving,
The likes of Gerrard, Torres and Kuyt should just keep their heads down, get on with the job and keep their sycophantic platitudes in check until they’ve actually *won something*
And if I have to read anymore of Steven Gerrard's tiresome 'rallying calls' before games...
Aaaagh! He is the absolute master of stating the obvious and repeating the same old tired, cliched drivel over and over and over and over.......and over and over.....
I dread to imagine the outpouring of self-congratulatory boasting if Liverpool beat Inter Milan tonight.
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After having the breathtaking temerity to criticise people who had the audacity to interpret his recent, blatantly negative comments as…negative, arch media opportunist Steven Gerrard is back in the spotlight again with a cheap attempt to take all the credit for Liverpool’s recent run of good form.
People will inevitably think that my interpretation of his latest comments is unduly harsh, but one has to view the comments in the context of Gerrard’s self-satisfied, egocentric character.
When discussing the recent victory against West Ham at Anfield, Gerrard couldn’t resist painting himself as the catalyst for Liverpool’s revival:
"I know I called for an improvement recently and the way the performances have gone I am obviously pleased”.
Translation: The team’s resurgence is down to my genius and if it wasn’t for my inspirational powers of motivation, we would still be playing gutter football. The rest of the team needed to start performing at my amazing level and now I’ve dragged them single-handedly out a slump, everyone should be worshipping ME.
I love the way Gerrard refers to his recent pessimist rant as 'calling for an improvement'. What nonsense. As usual, Gerrard believed that everyone was holding HIM back and he spat his dummy out in the press as retaliation. After all, nothing must get in the way Gerrard's pursuit of personal glory.
Anyone who doesn’t have their head in the sand can see that Gerrard didn’t need to begin his answer with that line. He said it like he was answering a question but he wasn't! The line was shoehorned in because he has a self-serving, narcissistic character that thrives on praise and ego massage.
The rest of his comments were perfectly reasonable:
"We were all disappointed with the inconsistency at home but against West Ham we started to put that right. It was a good team performance, I said well done to all of them. But we have another big game on Saturday and we must keep doing this right to the end of the season. There is still a lot of pressure on us to get fourth place.
"This is now a massive month for us, it will be tough all the way now. It is important for us to continue our league form. We have won the last three and if we can beat Newcastle on Saturday we will be able to focus on a huge game away to Inter Milan on Tuesday. That's so important for us now."
He could have just dropped that first line and said the above but his thirst for praise and validation prevailed.
Gerrard made sure he spoke about the collective for most of his interview, but don't be fooled; he may refer to 'we' and 'us' but you can bet your bottom dollar that he doesn't sincerely include himself with everyone else in the team.
Gerrard's attitude is and always has been: I am the best - why am I surrounded by these crap players? This is obvious from interviews down the years and his 'I'm so much better than this lot' posturing that arises in the form of body language and sulking whenever the chips are down.
I've highlighted a small thing, but it’s yet another example of why Gerrard is not fit to captain Liverpool FC.
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Jamie Carragher just can’t keep his mouth shut these days. If he’s not consistently
whining to the press about low confidence or Liverpool’s deep seated problems, he’s on all fours worshipping someone as 'the best in the world'. Every day it seems there’s another Carragher soundbyte clogging up the media and to be honest, it’s becoming monumentally irritating.
Carra’s latest fawning comments came after yesterday’s Inter Milan victory. He drooled:
“Steven Gerrard is one of the best players in the world and I think he is made for the Champions League, when all the top teams come up against us. You see some of the names they (Inter) have got and he is the one that does the decisive thing at the end of the game. There were a lot of world class players out there on both teams and he stole the show again.”
What is it with Liverpool players?! Every time the team wins seem desperate to big each other up in the press.
The same thing happened after the Marseille victory a few months ago – Carragher, Gerrard, Kuyt and Torres engaged in a sickening public display of mutual affection that was, quite frankly, embarrassing, especially given the turgid performances fans have had to endure ever since.
Why can’t the team just enjoy the victory without all the sensationalized fanfare!? Why is there this constant need for sycophantic, ego-inflating back-slapping?
I think Carragher needs to be reminded of a couple of things:
1. LIVERPOOL WON AGAINST 10 MEN. AT HOME
2. INTER MILAN WERE A MAN SHORT FOR 60 MINUTES.
Winning in such circumstances is not an amazing achievement. The victory was not a superhuman feat of footballing excellence as the press would have everyone believe. It was to be EXPECTED. Any team playing with an extra man advantage for 60 minutes at home is REQUIRED to win. Anything else is a failure, it’s as simple as that.
So Carragher and his boastful colleagues should remember that before they start blowing their own trumpets.
Going back to Carragher’s comments, I think the following line is worthy of further analysis:
“Steven Gerrard is one of the best players in the world and I think he is made for the Champions League, when all the top teams come up against us”.
Just what is Carragher suggesting – that Gerrard only raises his game against top opposition in the Champions League? If so, why is this something to praise?
It’s all well and good scoring against 10 men in the CL, but I’d much rather Gerrard had an impact against the likes of West Ham, Reading, Aston Villa and Manchester City. If he did, then maybe Liverpool’s season wouldn’t be such a disaster.
And don't get me started on Dirk Kuyt; he's another player who loves the sound of his own voice, and like Carragher, he ALWAYS has something to say after every game.
He's been through a tough time - WE GET IT. The team is capable of playing better - WE GET IT. He's annoyed about being left out of the Holland squad - WE FRICKIN' GET IT.
SHUT UP ALREADY! Get on with improving your performances and spare us the self-serving propoganda.
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Liverpool players have been falling over themselves to praise each other after the 4-0 victory against
Marseille. Despite leaving it to the last game to qualify from a comparatively easy group, the players are acting as if they’
ve just won the world cup.
Pepe Reina led the self-congratulatory backslapping, claiming that Liverpool were now one of the favourites to win the Champions League.
‘We have been in two finals in the last three seasons and we are one of the favourites’
Javier Mascherano continued the love-in with his fawning comments about Fernando Torres:
’Fernando Torres is a monster of football. For me he is one of the best forwards in the world’
And Jamie Carragher set about inflating Steven Gerrard’s ego even more (if that’s possible) with yet more bootlicking:
‘He's [Gerrard] is definitely one of the best players in the world. You look at Kaka and Messi, but they probably play for forward’
Carragher didn't stop there, as he lavished even more slobbering praise on Gerrard:
"He'll go down alongside Kenny Dalglish as one of the greatest players ever to have played for Liverpool and at the moment he's probably in the top four or five players in the world."
These are just examples *after* the Marseille game. The whole season is littered with examples of Liverpool players praising the superior ability of their colleagues, including: Dirk Kuyt calling Ryan Babel 'a sensation'; Torres claiming Rafa is 'One of the greats' and 'more than just a Manager'; Steven Gerrard labelling Torres 'amazing' and Jamie Carragher (again!) salivating that Torres is 'world class'.
Someone give me a sick bag.
This type of fawning is typical of footballers, who think every time someone has a good game they are ‘world class’ or whenever the team plays well it becomes ‘the best’ or ‘one of the favourites’.
This trend for self-obsessed narcissism pervades all aspects of football, with the most arrogant example being players releasing autobiographies when they’re still playing. Just like the recent spate of vainglorious comments, such behaviour is jumping the gun.
What happened to being humble in victory? Since when did Liverpool become a club that brags about its success before it’s even achieved anything?!
The club is so full of players boasting about each other’s ability that’s it’s hardly surprising that the first part of the season was so atrocious. Perhaps the players should keep their sycophantic platitudes in check until they’ve actually *won something* this season?
As history proves, bigging-up a team’s chances prematurely more often than not leads to disaster. Just look at the pre-match hype everyone had to endure before the recent Croatia-England game. It was all [paraphrasing] ‘we’re so good’ or ‘we’re too good to go out’ and ‘We’re one of the best teams in the world so we have to prove it’ and ‘We have lots of world class players who will show their worth’.
And look what happened.
Pepe Reina's overconfidence even extends to baiting Manchester United ahead of this weekend's crucial clash:
"We know we must be ready for United but it could be a great game in front of our own fans — and we expect to win".
What purpose do such comments serve, apart from motivating United even more and setting the team up for a fall?!
It’s great that Liverpool are in the second round of the Champions League; It’s fantastic that the team trounced Marseille in such dominant fashion, but tone down the showing off already! It’s only December and there’s a long way to go, and Liverpool playing well for the last 7 or 8 games doesn’t mean a thing in the context of a whole season.
I dread to think what superlatives will be thrown around on Sunday if Liverpool beat Manchester United. The blowing of trumpets will no doubt continue with a fanfare of self-satisfied over-confidence, something, ironically, I’ve always associated with Manchester United.
Of course, this is a purely modern phenomenon and is indicative of the ridiculous hype that pervades the English game. I just wish the current Liverpool team had the humility and sense of previous generations, who always let their performances do the talking.
If the team is still performing at this level in May and there are trophies in the cabinet then *that* is the time to start celebrating. Hopefully, any celebrations will be in the humbler Liverpool tradition, though based on this season’s evidence, I sincerely doubt it.
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