And about time too! Aren't we all getting sick of re-hashing the Man Utd match by now? I think it's been talked to death now, so it's time to bury the past and look to the future! "The future's bright, the future's Red"! If you hadn't noticed there's a match coming up Sunday, and not just any match! Get in your thoughts, predictions, line-ups and general chit-chat for the Liverpool derby, and prehaps crucial match to decide that all-important Champion's League spot.
Here's some facts from the Liverpool Echo website to whet your appetites:
Liverpool v Everton: Take it as red that Mersey derby is hottest of them all
FOR 83 years it was the fixture which had almost everything, except a sending off.
Merseyside derbies were often described as the most passionate and the most brutal in the football calendar.
But between Alf Milwardâs dismissal in 1896 to the out of character flare-up which saw Garry Stanley and Terry McDermott red-carded in 1979, not one player endured an early bath.
Since then, however, Everton and Liverpool players have made up for lost time.
It is now the fixture with the most red cards in Premiership history.
In the last decade alone there have been 16 dismissals â and there could easily have been more.
David Unsworth received the first red card of the Premier League era, just seconds before Robbie Fowler, and the former Everton defender believes that while the fixture hasnât changed, the attitude of referees undoubtedly has.
âItâs totally different to any other match,â he explained.
âThe whole build-up is different, different even to big cup ties or games against Manchester United.
âIt just means more. I know it shouldnât do. You should go into every match the same, but the derby definitely means more.
âHaving come up through the ranks like I did at Everton, even the A and B team games and the reserve derbies were always spicy.
âIt was drummed into you that you hated Liverpool and all the Scouse players felt that way, anyway.
âI loved playing in them, but I hated losing.
âWhen you beat them they were the best highs ever, even higher than semi-finals or beating United.â
Unsworth believes that the derby match is as fierce as it has ever been, but that in the pre-Premier League and pre-TV scrutiny era, referees would be prepared to let so much more go.
âWhen I started off playing in the first team you would get away with a couple of reckless challenges before you were booked,â he explained. âNowadays you donât.
âThe refereeâs intention at the start of the match is always important.
âIf he went out and punished the first couple of challenges with bookings players would watch their step more.
âBut if he let one or two go, you got the same kind of situation that we had at Goodison this season. Dirk Kuytâs kung fu tackle was worthy of a red on its own.
âThe scrutiny of the games is so intense now that referees donât let anything go.
âI saw an old derby match recently and couldnât believe some of the challenges which were going unpunished.
âIt was almost as if the referee was letting the players get on with it because it was a derby match. That obviously doesnât happen any more.â
It didnât happen on April 16, 1997 either, when Yorkshireman Stephen Lodge showed Unsworth and Fowler red cards for a flare-up better suited to Madison Square Garden than Goodison Park (Unsworth won by TKO).
âIt was the first red card of my career and it came about purely and simply because it was a derby match,â he explained.
âIn a normal league match I might not have reacted in the same way but youâre so wound up for a derby itâs much easier to lose focus.
âRobbie mentions the incident in his book and says that the suspension he suffered hit Liverpoolâs hopes of winning the league that year, so I suppose I could say it was worth it because I indirectly helped stop them winning the league!
âLocal players always used to react differently in derbies, and there used to be more local players involved.
âBut now you have more foreign players who tend to live in and around the city anyway so they pick up the vibes from the fans.
âItâs definitely a unique occasion, and all the red and yellow cards add to it.
âIâll be watching on Sunday, hoping for an Everton win â but most of all wishing I was out there playing in it.â
« Last Edit: Mar 26, 2008 06:26:00 pm by JD »
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