Fa Cup, Mind Games and all that

What an unusual feeling this Monday morning, normally after a defeat I’m walking around like Droopy, glumly predicting future defeats as if I’m a masochistic Mystic Meg, yet today I’m vaguely positive.  Thinking about the actual result leaves in a post match Daniel Sturridge state, but the bigger picture leaves me far more hopeful, gazing in wonder at the Red future.  So much so I thought I would share some thoughts:

 

3 Months On

Back in November we made a league visit to the Emirates returning only with our tails between our legs.  As with any games we can look to decisions that night that perhaps didn’t go our way but in fairness the better team won that night.  Fast forward to February and despite leaving once more empty handed (and with considerable referee beef, but more on that later) the feeling is more one of that is a game we lost rather than were beaten.

Football is often a game of fine margins and on any given Sunday we could have seen Sturridge take at least 1 of his 3 excellent chances, Monreal could easily have seen red, Podolski could have lost those suggestive pictures of Howard Webb meaning the man in black could have booked him, the deflection off Gerrard could have gone anywhere else other than to Chamberlains feet and Suarez may have actually got a favourable decision. 

Some say (mostly those that support neither team playing) that this is the beauty of football, and once we have punched them in the face we may even agree!  Point is, whilst we didn’t show the same dominance as a week prior, we stepped into their backyard and outshone them.  Yes they had injuries and swapped players around but so did we.  Their reaction to winning tells you all you need to know.

 

Silver Lining

As we must in life, it is important to take positives from negatives to allow us to move on, you get lemons you make lemonade, you get locked out you go to the pub and so on.  Nobody likes losing, especially in cup competitions, we are a club that prides ourselves on success and trophies so it is gutting to exit at this stage, even more so when the carrot of a home Merseyside derby was being so enticing dangled. 

Yet it is in this where we have a silver lining, the old cliché of ‘concentrating on the league’ is boring an overused but what we do have now is 2 of our rivals in the league playing an extra game, against one another, one of which will add more to their schedule and the loser facing a negative impact losing out on a Wembley date that was so close.

Shudder

Two words that will bring a chill to any Liverpool fan: Howard. Webb. Wow, just wow!

Lets play a game, answers on a postcard and prizes to follow – Name me the opponent from these facts: Liverpool lost in London 2-1, Opposition player should have been red carded early in the first half, the scorer of an opposition goal went an entire match without being booked despite persistent and dangerous foul play, Suarez denied a stone wall penalty and the referee was Howard Webb. 

Personally I don’t buy massively into conspiracy theories centring on his previous employment, nor his poorly kept secret of the team he supports (insider knowledge klaxon alert – its not who he declared to the FA!!), the worrying aspect concerning our ‘best’ referee is that he is either incompetent or he lacks bottle.  The two incidents in question, the Eto’o foul and the Chamberlain foul he couldn’t have been in a better position to see the incident yet in neither situation does he give a foul? 

Both instances Liverpool were on the up in the game, momentum was shifting, did he not think either was a foul?  Or was he mindful that one was at Stamford Bridge and the other merely minutes after a penalty had also (rightfully) given.  He is paid to make big decisions and right decisions and in these 2 isolated instances he got them horribly wrong, having a large bearing on the end result.  Our best? Not for me.

To give him his dues though I thought he handled the Sterling incident well (apart from failing to give an obvious free kick and subsequent corner mind), and he could have easily sent Gerrard off at the end, but again did he bottle it or was that a sign of guilt?  The FA should review, but wont; he is the poster boy for them and will be protected to the hilt and continue to get the biggest games and continue to be the biggest talking point.  We all know consistency isn’t the FA’s strong point, the hammered Suarez because he trended on twitter for example…..

 

Mind Games…..

Thanks goodness we have someone like Brendan Rodgers in charge.  Wenger hit the nail on the end when he said Mourinho’s antics were embarrassing.  Worse still is the cringeworthy reaction of the press to him.  I watched the Wenger press conference and he was hounded for a response to Wenger so this whole soap opera can be continued. 

The diabolical performance of Webb at Stamford Bridge in December was not highlighted due to the performance of Mourinho in regards to Suarez (how many games in a row following that  were Chelsea players booked for diving?).  It seems that with Fergie gone people of desperately seeking someone to replace him to ‘look up to’ (that’s politely put). 

Personally, I feel we have a manager that handles the spotlight well, talks positively and with conviction without being an absolute………. (please complete that sentence, looking for new and inventive terms!)

As ever please come find me on twitter @timdibs, and comment here….