The worst article I've read in relation to the Manc game

[Sir Tokyo Sexwale]

clueless bint

 

There are moments when all football managers must speculate to accumulate – and not just in the transfer market. With Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City intensifying their pursuit of fourth place, the time had arrived for Rafael Benítez to go for broke yesterday. In driving parlance Liverpool were approaching a dangerous corner and their manager needed to demand that they daringly risk accelerating hard into it, thereby gaining the momentum to overtake a queue of Champions League rivals on the home straight.

 

The price of balking at such a gamble could be not just the loss of a disillusioned Fernando Torres to Manchester City, Chelsea or – worst of all – Manchester United but a failure to find an investor willing to cough up the £100m Liverpool desperately require if the Royal Bank of Scotland is to be pacified this summer. Playing hardball with the Rhône Group is all very well but only so long as such potential partners retain the belief this is a club worth buying into.

 

The stakes could not have been higher yet the biggest indictment of Benítez is that he fudged the challenge. The Spaniard's team-sheet at Old Trafford might have been printed on a white flag. Although technically extremely adroit Liverpool looked a side configured to nick a draw; had this had been a Sunday afternoon drive, their players would have remained in light-footed, strict fuel-conservation mode throughout.

 

True, Torres was supported by Steven Gerrard in a withdrawn striking role but, behind that pair, the central midfield double act of Javier Mascherano and Lucas seemed most unlikely to make many, if any, late dashes into United's box. Granted, out on the flanks, the industrious Dirk Kuyt – who started superbly – patrolled the right wing well enough but, on the left, Maxi Rodríguez was neat but not penetrative.

 

When Benítez finally introduced the elusive fluidity personified by Alberto Aquilani's one- and two-touch game along with Yossi Benayoun's improvisation and Ryan Babel's pace, it was far too late. Exhausted by an afternoon spent assiduously chasing, harrying, tracking back and passing the ball neatly in front of United's defence, their team-mates could not muster a second wind. When a chance arrived to equalise, Torres miskicked and Benayoun's header was wastefully weak.

 

With Michael Carrick proving less than inspired and Darren Fletcher primarily about spiky scrapping, yesterday represented a wasted opportunity for Liverpool. Who knows what might have happened had Aquilani started.

 

Admittedly Sir Alex Ferguson deployed Wayne Rooney alone up front but the England striker's game was augmented by two genuine wingers in Antonio Valencia and Nani as well as Park Ji-sung's late darts from an advanced midfield position. Park had not done much before his winner but that opportunistic burst behind enemy lines was something his opposite number, Gerrard, failed to replicate.

 

Gerrard played significantly better than of late. Indeed, like Torres, he ran assiduously and intelligently off the ball, rarely wasting a pass. The problem was that once his initially bright colleagues retreated into their shells the England midfielder lacked the on-rushing infantry required to help him adequately bolster Torres.

 

Similarly Torres started well, connecting with Kuyt's fine counter-attacking cross and heading brilliantly beyond Edwin van der Sar but, thereafter, things gradually went downhill. Booked – yet again – the Spain striker's game was studded by flashes of petulance and, despite on occasions demonstrating his power to unnerve Nemanja Vidic, he appeared to lose heart after being clattered by the Serb late on.

 

Early on it seemed Benítez threatened to outwit Ferguson but, for Liverpool fans, this proved a chimera and from the moment Rooney equalised Liverpool's containment policy looked increasingly ill advised.

 

We all deceive ourselves in different ways and Liverpool's manager appears convinced he is more daring than he really is. Such resistance to tactical change calls to mind the small boy who defiantly places his hands over his eyes in the forlorn believe no one can see him any more.

 

At half-time a Chinese youth on an exchange visit to Manchester took part in a penalty taking competition. His attempt struck a post but, ignoring such narrow failure he whipped off a replica shirt and began bowing to all and sundry.

 

No one could blame the boy for a spot of self-delusion in front of 75,000 at Old Trafford but Benítez must realise that, for Liverpool now, hitting the post is not enough.

 

Should they finish fifth, sixth or – God forbid – seventh, investors may well vanish, the bank could get seriously heavy and selling Torres might suddenly become imperative. Like it or not Benítez must order his players to accelerate hard into every bend along the road ahead. There is no other option.

[goose island]

it's louise taylor isn't it? she is worse than daniel "alan smith's ambulance" taylor, but at least she normally sticks to newcastle united blogs and leaves the rest of them to take the pot shots at our manager.

 

the guardian sports writers are a f***ing collective joke.

[Hieronymus Bosch]

We would have won if she was the manager.

[Epic Swindle]

Hard to disagree with much of that to be honest. She knows less than nothing about our financial situation though.

[Billy Dane]

She needs to get off home to finish the ironing instead of wasting her time on tripe like this.

[WillG]

In driving parlance Liverpool were approaching a dangerous corner and their manager needed to demand that they daringly risk accelerating hard into it, thereby gaining the momentum to overtake a queue of Champions League rivals on the home straight.

 

Painful which sixth form mag was think taken from?

[Snoeker]

In driving parlance Liverpool were approaching a dangerous corner and their manager needed to demand that they daringly risk accelerating hard into it, thereby gaining the momentum to overtake a queue of Champions League rivals on the home straight.

 

Painful which sixth form mag was think taken from?

 

 

Top Gear, series 1

 

She is a crap journo

[Earl Hafler]

" counter-attacking cross "

 

Did she blow the editor ?

[Stevie H]

it's louise taylor isn't it? she is worse than daniel "alan smith's ambulance" taylor, but at least she normally sticks to newcastle united blogs and leaves the rest of them to take the pot shots at our manager.

 

the guardian sports writers are a f***ing collective joke.

i think she's hilarious. like some hysterical housewife writing about local crime for the WI magazine and demanding when will the police ever do anything about it.

 

jonathan wilson, amy lawrence and david conn are still worth reading in the guardian. but then those three are generally given time to research and report stories properly and not churn out pseudo-comedy crap at three articles a day to satisfy the blogs.

[Leo No.8]

Dreadful article. The whole thrust is that unless we get fourth no investors will buy into the club so we're effectively playing for investment, when someone needs to tell the stupid bint its the complete opposite. No Champions League will likely draw investors wanting to get the club at a lower price and force Gillett and Hicks out the door.

 

I still want us to get fourth, partly for the manager's sake. But it may actually work out for the best long term if we don't.

[StevieC]

 

jonathan wilson, amy lawrence and david conn are still worth reading in the guardian. but then those three are generally given time to research and report stories properly and not churn out pseudo-comedy crap at three articles a day to satisfy the blogs.

 

Interesting point. It's almost like the articles are written (a la Rod Liddle) to generate comment and links, even if the article itself is a turd.

[Stevie H]

Interesting point. It's almost like the articles are written (a la Rod Liddle) to generate comment and links, even if the article itself is a turd.

most of the guardian's stuff is these days, it's self-generating content. write something contentious to get a team's fans' backs up, get loads of emails and blog posts about it, throw out another thing about how rafa's losing the fans. it's crap. see the french football article by amy lawrence in the general football forum or any of jonathan wilson's tactics pieces for how a decent journo writes when they're given time and space to research a piece properly.

[Earl Hafler]

Interesting point. It's almost like the articles are written (a la Rod Liddle) to generate comment and links, even if the article itself is a turd.

 

Sky do it. They know they'll get hits, especially from irate fans clicking on links in forums.