Post Derby Day celebrations!
TOMKINS: FEELING FAR FROM BLUE
Paul Tomkins 29 September 2008
Okay, so I lied. Despite what I said last week, apparently I do feel quite motivated to write about a great result rather than just bask in the memory.
Writing an article after a good win is about 10 times easier than after a defeat or disappointing draw. Some articles I write out of a sense of duty, and agonise over for a long time, but this one is purely a self-indulgent release of joy. As William Wordsworth said in 1798, get in there!
Liverpool, as the team looking to pass the ball quickly, weren’t helped by the fussiest referee around, but that just made the performance all the more impressive; it’s just a shame Torres’ hat-trick goal was chalked off for, I presume, a wonky Y on the back of KUYT’s shirt (only visible to a trained typographer such as myself, and certain referees).
Liverpool faced the trickiest fixture of the big four, and clearly achieved the best result. Stoke’s point at Anfield was put into contrast by Hull’s victory at Arsenal, who’ve already lost their second league game of the season. That said, the Gunners are still only one win off the pace, so I’d never say losing at home to a team like Hull means they can’t win the title. But I’d be worried about their consistency; brilliant in some games, awful against Fulham and Hull.
I usually expect the Reds to play better away at teams like Stoke, when the onus is on the home side to revert from a 11-0-0 formation. Of course, that’s why Hull’s victory at the Emirates was so refreshing; they actually made a game of it (and I’d rather see teams do that at Anfield, minus the away win, of course).
Having said that, two English UEFA Cup sides have already shown scant ambition to attack Benítez’s men on their own ground, and that says a lot about how far his team has come in the last four years.
First Villa played for a draw and only had one chance of note, and then Everton offered no attacking threat whatsoever, choosing to not even throw men forward for set-pieces at one point in the second half and not managing a single shot on goal. People criticise the top four for becoming an exclusive quadropoly, but if Villa and Everton’s ambition in home games against the big boys is anything to go by, the gulf is justified.
The weird thing about the derby in the last decade is that Liverpool have only had total domination over Everton since the Reds went continental in management terms; under a Liverpudlian manager in Roy Evans, the Toffees had the clear edge. But Houllier and Benítez have overseen countless wonderful wins. That’s the irony of this fixture.
This was exemplified last season by Benítez’s decision to take off a passionate Scouser and replace him with a young Brazilian; not your typical derby decision. A year on and Benítez is still being mocked on Sky Sports for this decision, yet it won Liverpool the game. As such, it demands total respect.
That is not to say that Gerrard’s passion and drive did not get the Reds back into the game last year; clearly it did, before his adrenaline took over. But by contrast, Saturday’s performance was possibly the most mature I’ve seen from him in terms of holding his position and using the ball with incredible effectiveness. In the coming years, as he heads towards and then into his 30s, that kind of display will keep him in the team even when his legs can’t carry him around at breakneck speed anymore.
While I love Gerrard’s all-action game, at Goodison he resembled Roy Keane at his best: breaking play up, giving sensible short passes and dictating the game. Of course, Roy Keane could never pass or score like Gerrard, so if the Liverpool captain can continue to mix his game to suit the occasion and the situation, he could be even more effective.
It’s hard to explain why, as a non-native of Liverpool, the derby still means so much to me. Collectively, us ‘outsiders’ get carried along by the fervour. We also have a sense of defending our Red brothers for their local bragging rights. I’ve been to plenty of Mersey derbies down the years, and the atmosphere, which can be unpleasant at times, filters through. As far as I’m concerned, if the fans in the city feel good, the club as a whole feels good.
Local Liverpool fans can feel ‘diluted’ by out-of-towners, and I understand that; we’re all protective of what we see as ours, even if we don’t possess exclusive rights to it. I expect I’d feel the same if I was a Scouser, and that they’d feel the same as people like me if they fell in love with the club from afar, at an age when local identity was not a conscious issue.
But it’s Evertonians who seem to most resent our presence in the Red ranks. In the past two decades, unable to boast of trophies (bar one, in ‘95), better league seasons (bar one, in ‘05) and increasingly fewer wins in the head-to-heads, Evertonians cling to the notion that their support is truest in its origins.
I have to admit I’ve been on the receiving end of Bluenose abuse. My friends and I, having parked up after the journey north several years back, were the victims of a terrifying drive-by incident. Standing at the junction of Breck and Belmont Road, looking to cross and walk up the hill towards Anfield, we found ourselves sandwiched.
In events that now recur to me in slow motion, the inhabitants of a black Ford took aim and I was hit in the thigh.
I looked down to find a blotch of peanut butter on my jeans, and a piece of bread at my feet. So high were the passions riding, they were prepared to hurl their lunch as well some choice insults. (Luckily I lived to tell the tale.)
Bragging rights don’t mean a lot to me in the midlands, but the nerves are always greatest for this game. Thankfully they were put to rest within the hour.
Torres ending his drought was a major psychological breakthrough for the season as a whole; a watershed moment.
Suddenly, along with Keane, the part of the side that wasn’t clicking – for fitness, confidence and ‘newness’ reasons, rather than tactical – is now finding its feet. Keane, who is looking increasingly like the player I admired at Spurs, did incredibly well in setting up the opening goal with a delightful left-footed cross, while the link-up between Keane, Torres and Kuyt for the second goal was also top-class. New boy Riera also played an important part in winning the ball on both occasions.
With Alonso back to his best, and Arbeloa having overcome an inconsistent second season to once again look like an incredibly shrewd signing, the team as a whole looks in fine fettle. Dossena is improving gradually, and his crossing ability will be a crucial weapon throughout the season.
Skrtel is deservedly keeping Agger (a quite wonderful footballer) out of the side, as the clean sheets continue to be racked up. Equally, Babel, like the Danish centre-back, will be hard to keep out of the starting XI, but such competition for places is most welcome and results suggest that, for the time being, things are working.
It just needs Keane to break his duck and experience what Torres did in the second half at Goodison, when a player struggling for his goal touch suddenly looks like the best striker in the world again.
It’s important to not get carried away, but the evidence of the season as a whole, rather than one result against Stoke, suggests the team is heading in the right direction. So much can change in the next eight months, but at least Liverpool are looking the part: winning ugly initially, and in the two most intense clashes of the season, winning with style.
The balance of the team looks excellent, so with a bit of luck (like United had with the referee at the weekend, and Liverpool lacked at home to Stoke), the good run will continue well into 2009.
It’s clear some incredibly strong sides stand in the way of such an achievement, but a nineteen year wait for a 19th title has a rather poetic ring to it.
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