Sometimes you can't win

The 1-1 draw with Everton in the cup was nowhere near as painful as the draw in the Premiership, but still not good. But being realistic this is a match where there is no good result - winning would not have got us 3 points, or made up for dropping 2 in the league. Losing is never good. A draw is the worst of all worlds - with a match we really don't want.

Following football really is a pastime for masochists. As a friend said, you should try supporting Swindon.

The moment we lost the Premiership

85 minutes into the derby game with Everton, 1-nil up, and we take off Torres and put on Lucas. Lucas! Not Mascherano. Lucas! Inevitably he ran around like a headless chicken, giving away pointless fouls and not touching the ball. Also inevitably 2 minutes later Everton equalised. And thus ended our challenge for the Premiership. Still it was a lot later than usual.

And yes we are still 2nd, but with the filth a game in hand and ahead on goal difference we are in the ackward position of having to beat Chelsea in the next match just to stay in touch. What would normally be seen as a good result (a draw) will probably mean that the filth go from 8 points behind us to 5 points ahead of us in 3 weeks. And that, my friends, is the sound of the Fat Fergie crowing...

January gym bunnies

Good intentions and new year's resolutions mean that the gym is full of people trying to reverse the ravages of time. Including me. But it is so hard to get motivated when you can't get parked.

This level of drive and determination is why I need to lose 20kg!

It's 2009

So this decade is already on it's last legs. Where did it all go? Nearly 20 years since Kurt Cobain killed himself, more than 30 since punk, and 20 since the Mighty Reds won the league. Funny where the time goes.

Meanwhile, I can hardly bear to think about our chances of winning the Premiership. The longer we stay at the top, the harder it will be to take if we don't win. It is hard to realise that we actually do have more points - that the opposition don't have games in hand. So what I am hoping for this weekend is a 0-0 draw between Chelski and the scum with 3 sendings off per side. It could happen!

Lolpolarbear

more animals

Let it snow...

Very Christmassy round here with 4 inches of snow. So, now is the time we discover that the Purple People Carrier has a flashing light to tell you that it is skidding. It was on and off like a strobe at a disco. The Breadcrumbs were severely disappointed to still be going to school, but did manage to make a snowman in their pyjamas. Why it wasn't in the garden I'll never know (thank you Groucho). And of course to fall out over snowballs in the ears. It must be nearly Christmas!

you can get what you want and still not be happy

A great lesson in life.
The mighty Reds are top of the Premiership, and a point clear. And still I feel disappointed we didn't beat West Ham but drew 0-0.
It is going to be a tough old season.

Oh the Huge Manatee...

I laughed like a drain...
click here for dirigible fun...

http://www.drgblz.com/

I have a bad feeling about this...

Denial is just a river in Egypt, and I am sitting on its banks to prove that point.
Meanwhile, half a world away, the USA votes. The media are already acclaiming President Saint Obama. I hope that they are right, but I am worried. Nothing against the guy, but I suspect that the gloss will soon come off and the media will quickly turn on him as a glossy liberal with no clear economic policy. Maybe not - I was wrong about Mandela.

Also meanwhile, the Mighty Reds are playing up a storm while I am out of the way and my season ticket ticks down. Having seen the highlights of the defeat at Spurs I am somewhat mollified - we did hit the post 3 times. Sometimes the ball just does not want to go in. Still too early to talk of winning anything - not the Liverpool way -be it is nice to still be in the race come November.

The Truth

One thing that really ticks me off is having to sit through the anti-piracy videos on DVDs. I mean I bought the effing thing, so I am not the person they should be lecturing.

XKCD have it nailed.... http://xkcd.com/488/

A huge sucking sound

So apparently our entire economy is broken. In fact the whole of global capitalism is broken. And according to David Cameron, it is all Gordon Brown's fault. I don't know how long that line of argument can hold when the people with the biggest problem appear to be in Iceland - and I hadn't noticed us taking control of Iceland recently.

Meanwhile, the Mighty Reds continue to perform better than expected. I don't like to even mention it in case I jinx something. Got to give kudos to Hull City though - even if they go down eventually it is a major achievement to be 3rd after 7 games and to have beaten Arsenal and Spurs away from home. Go Tigers (but please remember to lose at Anfield).

When Saturday comes

At last we beat the Scum. Sorry to be so pathetically crowing about one victory, but the relief is fantastic. At the match we didn't sing to celebrate we just roared. And roared. And roared.

When Man Utd scored after 3 minutes I thought we were going to get pasted. And we were very lucky to get the equaliser. And another referee might have thought that Robbie Keane was interfering with play by standing on the goal line for the winner. But then again, we all thought Vidic should have been sent off for his tackle on Keane, rather than his elbow on Alonso.

And anyway, it is over now. And we can move on. But without a particular monkey on our backs. No, we are not a better team than them - but at least we have regained some pride.

Onwards and upwards...

PS I am finally begining to feel that it is late enough in the year for the football season to have started.

Beijing 2008

I miss the Olympics. It was great to wake up every morning and have some wonderful sport to catch up on. It is just too early for football - even if the mighty Reds were briefly top of the Premiership. I haven't given up on there being a summer yet - I can't think about football.

But tonight LFC have the first of their "make or break" games of the season to determine whether we get into the knockout stages of the Champions League. The team have been playing like they think it is too early too, so I hope that they come through.

Bolt was amazing - I watched his heats in the 100m in Schipol, and had to say to a colleague "he's fucking jogging!". It all seemed so easy for him. Wonderful stuff.
Asafa Powell must have been gutted.

More statements of the Bleeding obvious

I'm slowly watching the New Final Honest Really the Last We Mean it Version of Blade Runner. And it is good. Really good. This is a film I thought I knew and loved, but when I think about it I had not watched it in a decade. I have an old DVD kicking about somewhere, but it didn't do much for me. The new version is just so beautiful. And slow. And opaque - they don't explain much early on; it just starts.

Hardly an original thought I know, but it is good.

Peggy Sue still lives

Quite marvelous really. I was just listening to Buddy Holly through the random wonders of i-tunes when it occured to me that the person the song is named for (but was not originally written for) is still alive. The 50s seem impossibly far off and far away, as if they only ever happened in the movies (and in America). But in human terms they are close enough that millions of people still around lived through them, and are not even particularly old. I mean 70 is old, but nowadays not that old, and that would make you 18 in 1956 - old enough to get Elvis. My 60 year old sister (and that is quite a thought) saw the Beatles.

Some of the old Blues guys currently touring are being feted more for being alive than what they actually do, but it is quite a thought that there are musicians around who played with Robert Johnson.

Perceptions

No matter how bad was for you yesterday, it was worse for John Terry and Nicolas Anelka. Missing penalties in the European Cup final must be gutting. Particularly for Terry, who should have won it but his foot slipped.

How quickly the story changes - Ronaldo would have been the villan despite his wonderful season for missing his penalty with one bit of trickery too far. Instead his story is of success and not falling at the final fence.

As Kipling said, those twin imposters...

and that's the season

So, we lost to Chelsea, and that's the season over. I could hardly watch, but realistically we were not up to the job. Riise's own goal ended up being too much of a blow. When we had the upperhand we didn't push, and Drogba beat us. That is why he is so annoying - that is what he can do if he doesn't fall over all the time.


Now in Egypt with the world's most expensive internet connection...

drawing to an end

The season is now just about finished. We are safe in the 4th Champions league spot. So, it is a question of whether there are 3 more games this season or 4. After the gut renching disappointment of Riise's owngoal in the 95th minute, my hope is beginning to drag itself off the floor. Realistically though, we need to score at a ground where we have not scored for years, and where we usually get a drubbing. The Champions league magic will have to be especially strong, especially as Chelsea are on a high after beating Man Utd. Realistically we stand no chance. The only positive thing is that because we have to score it is not a problem if they score first. Oddly, them scoring the first goal changes little.
Now is the time for Torres to pay back his transfer fee.

Oddly enough if Man Utd get through against Barcalona I would feel better about losing to Chelski - better them than the scum.

Meanwhile I feel shattered - run over by a truck. I need a break. Only another 3 weeks and I can have one. By which time the season will really be over.

Well that sucked

So I stayed up until late to watch the mighty Reds overwhelm Chelski, and then throw it all away in the fifth minute of extra time. 1-1. Still all to play for, I guess, but realistically it looks like Chelski will be in Moscow. The luck is with them.

Retro

So, I am officially getting old and stopping listening to new music. As witnessed by the fact that my favourite listening at the moment is those radical new acts Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell. Still, occasionally I listen to the Byrds.

Ho hum. Senility cannot be far away.

Tomorrow is the next big day - the Mighty Reds vs Chelski. Again. I don't know how to feel. Dread and hope combine to neutralise me.