You may have noticed I've almost stopped writing about things Liverpool.
It has less to do with how hopelessly inconsistent we are, because really that's nothing new. It's not even the utter bleakness of the Birmingham performance, dung though it was. It's more a matter of not needing to anymore, since finding the superb unofficial Liverpool forum Red and White Kop. (Pat's been linking to this for years but I only really bothered to check it out recently.)
Red and White Kop is full of opinions and discussions, most of them worth reading. There's a fair bit of solidarity, the right mix of local pride and international flavour, and more than a touch of cutting comedy.
Take a recent discussion about the upcoming home game against Leverkusen in the Champions League, perhaps our most important this season if not this decade.
Stephen Gerrard's suspension means the captaincy will go to someone else. Since Jamie Carragher is playing brilliantly at the moment and Sami Hyppia is going through a Jerzy Dudek phase, one of the forum members suggested the captaincy should go to Carragher and not Hyppia on the night, despite Hyppia being the club vice captain.
Some agreed.
Others laughed at the suggestion.
Others questioned if this was no more than Little Englandism, the suggestion only being made because Carragher is a card-carrying scouser and Hyppia a stranger from a land of saunas.
Others talked of a Jamie Carragher bandwagon.
Yet others said it would further damage Hyppia's wilting confidence, remembering that not only has his form gone but he also was stripped of the captaincy last season.
Others still suggested Didi Hamann should take over, as the game is against Germans (not sure of the logic there) and also it will be he who has to carry the team in the absence of Gerrard and Alonso.
Some got annoyed and, er, poetical: "Who cares who's captain so long as we batter the c**ts."
And then there was one bright spark, of the "there's always one" variety. His comment?
"We'll let Biscan wear it [the captain's armband] around his head, he can act like he is Rambo..."
I'm glad Rafa has spoken out against the team and criticised desire and attitude. I think when you realise the depth of some of the players¡Ç ability - or lack of - and then the added misfortune of Gerrard and will he stay or go bullshit, then you realise just how futile it can all be.
Our history is second to none in England and few in Europe can match our European pedigree despite our relative inactivity over the last 20 years yet we seem as far away as ever from winning the league.
Benitez seems a wise man and I am very happy for him to stay. Injuries have been unfortunate but there is still a lot of deadwood to be cleared out, and for attitudes to be changed before we can even come close to challenging for 2nd or first place.
Here are two other sites I look at. But be careful - all three combined and not much work gets done.
http://raotlforum.lozworld.com/
http://www.liverpoolway.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=3
Posted by: Pat at February 17, 2005 5:38 PM | Permalink to CommentGood site - thanks for the link. The article giving out about Alan Hansen and Liverpool transfer activity of the recent past hit the nail on the head.
Where exactly is Gaien Higashi Dori in Tokyo ?
Pat: Your comment is spot on. It was the right time for Benitez to warn the players in public, because the lack of desire against Birmingham was disgraceful. Cheers for the other two links. I'll phase them in very slowly in the interest of getting at least some work done every day.
Colm: Paul Tompkins must be about the best person writing about Liverpool these days. I agree. It's a great piece. Gaien Higashi Dori goes from Waseda through Ichigaya, Yotsuya, Shinanomachi, down past outer gardens of Meiji Jingu, through Aoyama to Roppongi (and possibly on from there but I don't know that end of the road so well).
Posted by: Setsunai at February 18, 2005 4:28 PM | Permalink to CommentTom, this is the finest book I have read about Liverpool fc and related issues that we have both discussed such as identity, corporate influence, scouse pride and so on.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1840186739/qid=1108717850/sr=1-47/ref=sr_1_2_47/202-8637812-9658239
The review is a little bland is it comes across as being just a season review but it is so much more than that. I'll bring my copy over for you next month.
Posted by: Pat at February 18, 2005 6:13 PM | Permalink to Comment