The ultimate game of two halves? Red Faces 1 RedScouse 2 – first half, we deserved nothing, we were terrible in the first 45, primarily I presume that the events of Wednesday were still stuck in the players mind. That said, their goal was slightly on the iffy side – touch of offside perhaps?
The ref was giving us nothing, and basically was acting like a total cunt. Didn’t excuse our play though, Lund was looking out of it – I seriously think he should spend time on the bench, he looks totally unfit and whilst I still don’t believe he’s a bad player, he clearly needs a good rest and a proper pre-season.
Second half was slightly better until they scored from a corner. Sully totally flapped at it – now, is it me or is Sully playing crap at the moment? Or “less focused”, should I say? 2-0 down, and you definitely got a feeling of deja vu. Again. However, something weird happened. We actually picked up the tempo again, admittedly putting Dry Martini for Lund made a world of difference. It was mainly our pressure from there on, true Liverpool had quite a few breakaways and should maybe have put the game beyond reach, but then I think we were pushing up front way too much again. Cost us the game against Man U, certainly.
Our goal? Can’t remember how it happened, but it was either Trond or Dry Martini who netted, I think it was the nut fiddler myself (though Sexy Boy will claim it). Nice to see it was a nog scoring, certainly after all the shit they’ve had to endure recently.
So what? Well, a good performance from the above-formentioned people, Hughes played very well, but for two things – one, towards the end of the game, he seemed to slip back into what he was doing at the beginning of the season, mainly trying to keep the ball too long to himself. Secondly, his set pieces were awful again. That said, he distributed the ball very well, and was certainly defending well when needed.
Double H played well, the most notable thing being that scary run he did in the dying minutes. Trond was solid, Andy Roberts played and wasn’t too bad, sadly his passing was his downfall. Defence? Well, Jupp didn’t do too badly either, though I think that having KC back there will help us. Blackwell tackles hard, but his apparently clumsyness still scares the shit out of me.
Cort and Gayle? Hmm, still not entirely impressed by either of them, Cort doesn’t seem to want to tackle for some reason, though Gayle was quite OK today. Lund, I’ve said previously needs a spell on the bench. Overall, not a bad performance, though the first half let us down badly. I get the feeling that we will get some points on the board soon, the general level of performances suggest that. The way we came back as well suggested that. One match this season, the whole thing will click into place and we will give somebody an absolute pasting. Hopefully it’ll be the match that ensures we survive this year.
One more thing that put me in high spirits today – the crowd. Apart from the 200% muppet who sits near me, whose sole reason for being there was for people to start singing “Olsen Out” (he was amazed that the people doing the chanting were the same ones who chanted Olsen Out on Wednesday – er, no they weren’t, pal), and also refused to cheer for our goal, the support was generally good. Subdued in the first half, granted, but got going in the second half.
There was no Olsen Out chants, in fact the support for the manager seemed quite good. I think this contributed to our spirited second half performance – read the notes I wrote yesterday about Leyton Orient vs Chester to see what I mean. True, there were a few boos at the end when Drillo clapped the fans, thankfully most people clapped. The most poignant thing was at the end : whereas Wednesday saw “Olsen Out”, today saw “We’re Proud Of You”. Couldn’t have put it better myself.
Whilst I’m proud of the general conduct of the crowd today, I definitely am NOT proud of what “greeted” me in today’s News Of The World. Get this – according to their “world exclusive”, SH is not going to sell his shares to BRG after all, he’s apparently set a deadline for them to be bought, he’s decided that now is the time where he’s going to pull the plug on the deal.
Worse to follow – he’s going back to his Hiram Fiream role, it says, and first thing he’s going to do is sack Drillo and put in JK because he and Drillo “don’t see eye to eye”. Yup, that’s what you read. This of course coming from the same man who only a few months ago was claiming to all and sundry how he was the one to get Drillo into WFC, and how the last two years under JK had gone stale (his words, not mine).
Now, this story has been repeated on Craptial Gold, which worries me slightly, although both the NOTW and Crapital are SH apologists which may say a great deal. The thing is, this story totally defies logic. Firstly, the timing is appauling : with 4 games to go, you do NOT sack your manager whoever he is. Even those who want Drillo to go accept that a change of manager now will do us more harm than good.
Secondly, the report says that “the move is likely to be welcome by fans and players alike”. Well, judging by the comments I heard about this story, the opposite is true. It may please the David Buchan types, but nobody else. And as for the players, well, if half the stories eminating from the training ground when JK was there are even remotely true, he will be as welcome as a dog turd in an operating theatre. Thirdly, what good will it actually do? Short term (ie this season), we may stay up due to this, ahem, “fresh” impoteus, though from what I’ve seen, I still don’t reckon we’ll go down anyway.
So then what? Will JK’s rebuilding in the summer involve absolutely nothing at all? Will he get shot of the Nog players? Who knows, I doubt if he does really know what to do. And isn’t he still awaiting the all clear from the doctors? Fourthly, and maybe most importantly of all, this will seriously piss off KIR, who I doubt will be welcoming SH with open arms again. And remember who owns the 80% of WFC. I’m not too sure if he realises this, but SH is just as likely to get fired as anyone else, the pressure put on him by KIR to quit will be so great that he’ll just have to leave.
The main reason behind this story must surely be publicity. BRG yesterday was down the training ground, telling everyone of his plans for the training ground etc to anyone who asked him. He was very aimable, apparently, and appeared to have a big plan. Later, he went and talked to each and every player – Nog and “British” one alike – and the vibes he was giving was positive.
My guess is, SH is seething that BRG is getting good press and wants to hog the limelight yet again. Trouble is, he’s losing a lot of friends by doing it. Everyone is being favourable to BRG because of the training ground thing, and assuming he’s actually allowed to deliver it, it seems 99% likely that he will. Couple that with the possible free travel to Bradford, and it’s certainly gets BRG on the right foot with most people.
And that’s why I reckon SH has done this – he believes that the JK/SH partnership was loved by all, and he wants to re-create that to boost his – and JK’s – egos. However, by doing this, SH is being an utter retard : he was very receiving of the adulation he got when he said he was going to sell his shares, but when push comes to shove, he doesn’t seem too keen on actually letting them go. Hence this story today. I will say this only once : the sooner the guy fucks off out of WFC totally the better. We definitely don’t need him.
More sad news, one Stanley Reed has had a stroke. Hopefully he’ll get better soon.