Is that the sound of desperate Koppites?

Last night I ate my way through almost a full tub of M & S ‘Extremely Chocolaty Mini Rolls’, one bag of cashew nuts, one bag of Walkers ‘Gary’s Lamb Curry’ crisps and an eight chunk Dairy Milk such was my apprehension watching Liverpool struggle to a 1-0 extra time victory against Standard Liege.

Dirk Kuyt eventually bundled home Ryan (not Marcus) Babel’s cross after 117 agonising minutes. Ironically it was probably the first time in 210 minutes of both legs that a Liverpool player had proffered a cross from wide. Hernandez reflects the commonly held opinion that Liverpool needs a winger, fast.

I wholeheartedly agree and I also endorse his contention that Albert Riera will not suffice. Stuart Downing has Premiership pedigree and is available for around £14 million. If Liverpool cannot muster such a sum in order to launch a realistic challenge, there is something seriously amiss at Anfield.

Comments

deiseach said…
Markus Babel. Freudian slip? Wishful thinking? In joke? Chocolate poisoning?
28 August 2008 at 16:56
Owen Polley said…
Whoops Ryan of course.
28 August 2008 at 17:00
Hernandez said…
You definitely get the sense that the Americans have underestimated the amount of investment required to win titles. The failure to cough up an extra £2m for Gareth Barry speaks volums. But then, perhaps deep down they aren't really interested in winning titles.
29 August 2008 at 10:07
Owen Polley said…
Because I don't believe that Barry is where the investment is needed most I wasn't too upset about the failure to get him, failing to get a winger is a different matter. What about Silva from Spain? As you say they simply don't appreciate that it takes sustained investment in top quality players, rather than bringing in one (perhaps two if Keane shows his worth). I'm dreading two weeks time.
29 August 2008 at 11:19
Anonymous said…
It isn't the Americans or money that are the problems it is Benitez.
29 August 2008 at 13:17
Hernandez said…
So if we got rid of Benitez who would step in? Allardyce? Curbishly? Moyes? The truth is theres not a lot out there. Mourinho, a proven Premiership winner (twice) would have been good but he is taken now.
29 August 2008 at 13:40
Owen Polley said…
Certainly I don't think that there has been much progress under Rafa. Champions League aside, have we actually got any better since the Frenchman left? I'm not too sure. Certainly the brand of football we're playing is pretty dreadful to watch. I take the point that there isn't an obvious candidate to replace Benitez, but I suspect that the fractiousness caused by Hicks & Gillett has actually deflected criticism away from the manager. Certainly getting rid of them is a priority, but will Rafa ever bring the title to Anfield? I have my doubts.
29 August 2008 at 14:43
Hernandez said…
I doubt whetehr ANY manager will bring the title to Liverpool until Ferguson retires.
29 August 2008 at 15:53
Owen Polley said…
It isn't down to Ferguson alone. Arsenal and Chelsea have done it. There's no reason why Liverpool couldn't launch a challenge. None whatsoever.
29 August 2008 at 15:57
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Football fever in Russia

Russia Blog is getting excited about Euro 2008. Indeed it is drawing parallels between Guus Hiddink and Peter the Great in terms of successful Russo-Dutch exchanges of expertise. Meanwhile, in Moscow, fans have been taking to the streets in order to celebrate the national team’s achievements.
Read more

Stormont might not collapse but paramilitaries continue to disfigure Northern Ireland

Image
The devolved institutions in Northern Ireland are supposedly ‘teetering on the brink’ of collapse yet again.  After repeated failures to agree a balanced budget or implement welfare reform created months of uncertainty, the Executive’s future is now in doubt because the PSNI believes members of the IRA were involved in murdering a republican hit man.  Despite its apparent seriousness, this particular predicament is unlikely to bring the shaky edifice at Stormont crashing down. The IRA was supposed to have disbanded its military ‘structures’ and decommissioned its entire arsenal of weapons back in 2005.  It was on the basis of this understanding that power-sharing resumed in 2007 and the DUP entered government with Sinn Féin.  From the outset it was a fairly flimsy pretext.   Less than a year after John de Chastelain, the retired Canadian general, oversaw decommissioning, the Independent Monitoring Commission reported that the IRA retaine...
Read more

Walker loada rubbish

Former BBC employee Brian Walker has overrun Slugger O’Toole lately with countless poorly structured, poorly written posts. It is possible quickly to recognize and avoid these by subjecting each Slugger piece to a cursory inspection and identifying those which feature characteristic lack of paragraphing and a tenuous grasp on the technicalities of linking source articles. Although I generally evade Walker’s posts by this method, occasionally (and unfortunately) I have persevered and found that their content is as unrewarding as the style in which they are written. Today, for instance, I inflicted upon myself Brian’s thoughts on a mooted Fianna Fail / SDLP merger . In actual fact, he is right to welcome news that the Southern Irish party has dropped this proposal from its agenda; however, the logic by which he arrives at this conclusion is parochial nonsense. To summarise, Walker believes that pursuing realignment with larger parties, whether they are from the rest of the UK or fro...
Read more