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It’s the lack of hope that’s getting me down

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

Football moves on so quickly that it’s extremely rare not to have anything to look forward to. But this season has been so grim, so lacking in hope that the only thing to look forward to is it having ended. And it’s been so bad that even after that, pre-season won’t provide anything to get excited about.

I can stand losing games. Even nine of them. It’s the good goals, the sharp tackles, the strength in adversity that I remember. Being robbed by bad referees, luck opponents, even beach balls has it’s own romanticism.

I can stand having bad years – we all do – and progress isn’t ever linear. As long as there’s some chink of light. Back in the early 1990s it was the emergence of Robbie Fowler. Pre Rafa it was Steven Gerrard carrying the team – a super-human effort that yielded more than we deserved.

Any even in bad years there’s always the cup competitions. You don’t need to win the cup necessarily, just win some high profile games in auspicious circumstances and have a memorable trip as a fan or a buzzing Anfield night under lights.

This year there’s been nothing. The good wins (Manchester United and Spurs at home) have only ever felt like a comma in a harrowing read. Great players haven’t performed and squad players have been diminished to mice. Recoveries from injury have only been accompanied by more injuries. The end of a tough run of games has been met only by slip-ups in 3 point bankers (eg. Wigan away).

And at the end of this 10 month torture of pulling nails against a blackboard, pre-season will see other sides spend lots of money as we struggle to not get weaker. And all the time supposed Liverpool ’supporters’ will churn out the views of media pundits who support other teams an enjoy the ratings uplift from any article that criticises LFC.

All around me I see Arsenal fans who know that they are not good enough ad likely to fall short at the end of the season. But even after five barren years they get close enough to still have hope. How I envy them now.

It doesn’t take much to give me hope. I’d rather believe in the tiny glimmers than require a mountain of hard fact for the scales of cynicism to fall from my eyes. But we’re dangling off a cliff with nothing to hold on to. At least if we’re knocked out of the cup this week, we won’t have to endure another couple of games.

So thanks for asking how I feel this morning. You didn’t really want to know, did you?

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The Christopher Buchtmann Conspiracy

Friday, February 5th, 2010

Christopher Buchtmann, a young fullback, transferred from Liverpool to Fulham on transfer deadline day in a move which revealed much about the confidence (or lack thereof) that Liverpool supporters have in their club’s administration. So why did the transfer of an under-18 German defender spark controversy?

The price was a matter of concern to many Liverpool fans. Apparently £100,000 is chicken-feed for such a promising youngster. He did only have 18 months left on his contract and he was picked up on a free transfer. But supporters on forums did not believe that it was value for money, a meaningful contribution to the player budget (even at the Academy) or have confidence that the administrators (still with a small a) would have the expertise to demand performance bonuses if he went on to be a successful adult.

Others saw it as further evidence that Rafa Benitez was wrong to conduct the extensive overhaul of academy staff last summer. They examined the role of Malcolm Elias who was the scout of young talent we had poached from Southampton but has now moved to Fulham. This view was reinforced by rumours (which just won’t go away in Sky Sports parlance) linking striking hotshot Lauri Dalla Valle with a move in the same direction – a transfer for David Amoo was later added in the mix.

For an even more select few it was evidence that Liverpool is failing to nurture promising young players. For them, Dani Pacheco should have been in the first team squad ahead of players like Voronin and Buchtmann should have had more of a chance at reserve team level, after his promotion to Melwood on the summer. Some point to him playing on the right side of midfield for much of this year and conclude that he must have been mis-treated.

Thankfully in this case it could not be used as evidence of the managers blind faith in foreign talent over local lads. The player keeping him out of the reserve team was scouser Robbie Threlfall.

For another group it was proof that there are disciplinary problems at the Academy. They point to the early departure of fellow German Marvin Pourie – who appears to have fallen put with subsequent coaches – and presume Buchtmann must have been on the ale or just showing a lack of determination.

Rumours will always spread around a football community and Liverpool is a fertile city for gossip. But the presumption that there was an intriguing story behind the move reveals much about supporters confidence in the running of the club and the unchallenged rumours of yester year.

These are the same supporters who’ve read (unchallenged) reports that Nathan Eccleston was going to move to Blackburn after being promoted to Melwood only to be sent back to the Academy because the first team base was ‘full’. Rumours also suggested we lost centreback Robert Huth last year because no-one remembered to renew his contract. And we heard of splits in the dressing room and amongst the coaches which demoralised young players.

Appointing Kenny Dalglish to oversee the Academy and taking personal responsibility for the operation may have been a smart move by Rafa but it’s not enough to give fans confidence.

Football, particularly at this level is still an opaque world, where fans see a few YouTube clips, four of five youth cup games and suddenly know the quality of a player. Where the myriad of associates (family members of the 100+ players associated with the young sides) mean that many more people might be ‘in the know’ and where simple explanations are discarded in favour of incompetece and scandal.

What if Christopher Buchtmann just fancied a bit of extra money? Perhaps that’s what brought him here in the first place. Maybe managemet has more confidence in Threlfall and Mavinga and knew his opportunities would be limited. Maybe, as a short-ish full back who’s not much younger than Insua, he didn’t fancy the challenge. And maybe he wasn’t best pleased at having to develop his right peg. Or maybe it’s all the agent / girlfriend / national team’s fault.

But the story reveals important parts of modern football: that £100,000 profit on a teenager is assumed to be bad business; there’s that much interest in an under-18 player who has never played 2 full games at reserve team level. That a little transparency is not enough; if fans don’t know the facts they fill in the gaps.

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Liverpool v Manchester City reserves: post match analysis

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

Liverpool drew 3-3 in a fast and exciting game between two accomplished sides. The reds probably deserved the point although Man City cut through them with ease for much of the second half.

The game
The game was played at a quicker tempo than most reserve team games and the persistent fine rain helped quicken the surface. Liverpool scored with their first shot after a nice move which wasn’t getting behind City. Eccleston was guilty of a bad miss which would have given the reds an undeserved two goal advantage, after Pacheco’s harrying of the defender regained possesion.

The City goal came after a point blank save from Gulacsi but the reds failed to clear the resulting ball.

Liverpool’s second came after neat and skillful interchange between Eccleston and Spearing and the latter picked his spot well from 12-odd yards out.

The reds didn’t start the second half well and particularly after Irwin replaced Plessis ran through the heart of Liverpool twice in a couple of minutes.

Pacheco had a great chance to level in the 89th – after a ball over the top from Gulacsi but the reds didn’t create much and the rain was slowing down the pitch.

The equaliser came after a food cross-field pass from Threlfall and Ayala showed superb presence of mind to chest the ball to Saric who squeezed it in the corner in what was about his only contribution.

The performances
Going to the game gave me a much better insight than I’ve had from the TV – as good as the coverage is.

I was really impressed by the way Pacheco led the line and in the first half particularly he was tenacious at closing down defenders and winning back possession. He does try to play too many tricky balls when simple ones would be better and sometimes I felt his desire to drop deep to get involved in the second half meant that the reds didn’t have an attacking outlet.

It wasn’t a game where any of the wingers prospered but David Amoo caught my eye. He’s previously been dismissed by some as an athlete rather than a footballer. However, on sevaral occasions tonight his close control was exceptional.

Jay Spearing is particularly impressive to see live. His late runs into the box, vocal coordination of midfield and hard work in defence can go unnoticed but is hugely impressive.

Ayala is so uncompromising and committed that he deserves a mention, although his distribution is as poor from viewing it in the stands as it is watching it on tele. Threlfall played well at centreback and Darby should be applauded for his effort given the cold shock of going from playing at a buzzing Anfield to a quiet Prenton Park – all inside 24 hours.

The gossip at the game was that Plessis is looking to get out at the end of the season and nothing about his performance suggested otherwise. He did provide good cover to the defence but was tentative in the tackle and hesitant on the ball.

Liverpool remain top of the table and the next game, against Man United, will go a long way to determining whether they win the league.

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