Natural Born Killers

Victory is like sunrise on another day, always just over the horizon.  It's a place everybody wants to get to but only a select few have the right directions.  Even those that choose the right path might find that the number of obstacles along the way will prevent them from ever getting there.  Because football is not just about putting a ball into a net, it's not even about preventing the other team getting ultimate goal but rather making sure that it's you and your team-mates that get there first.  But the journey is a long one and in order to do that however, everyone else must be eventually be stopped.  Even the ones who have no chance of making it in the first place.

There is a line to be drawn between those that are gifted enough to be paid to play professional sports and the ones that are competitive.  Those that are simply don't just feel the grass of a football pitch beneath their feet and change, it's something that has to be there at all times in anything that they do.  It's the unquenchable thirst to win that compels a person go to any length in order to do what is necessary.  It takes a lot to look another person in the eye and take from them and because for every winner there is a loser, any sporting accomplishment ultimately is a grabbing onto what somebody else thought was theirs.  There are teams that will give you wins while others have to be earned.  Some have to be taken.

When looking for candidates - people who have shown over the years that they are not only able to rip games from the grasp of an opponent but have done on numerous occasions - two spring to mind.  Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez.  They are the tandem for which so much relies upon and that's a reference to their talent alone.  What they also possess, is the longing for triumph that goes above and beyond.  It is not the sportsman's job to be a moral compass, nor is it in their DNA to be anything other than a winner.  There is an obvious limit but those who are not prepared to go right up onto the boundaries of what's accepted have not done everything in their power to seek out success.

As far as the rest of the team is concerned, it is left with a mixture of those who don't have it (Lucas, Henderson, Downing, Cole) those who may yet but are still honing their talents to match it (Shelvey, Sterling) and those who have it but aren't in a optimal position to affect the play (Agger, Skrtel, Johnson).  Brendan Rodgers can do so much with ability and the application of it but he will never be able to change people.  Right now, Liverpool Football Club is in a shortage of players who want to take the game away from their opponents as much as those who can.

That's not to say that the passion to conquer doesn't burn bright in all of us, just that the intensity of that flame will show up when it really matters.  Taking two former Liverpool players as examples; Craig Bellamy and Fernando Torres.  Bellamy would go to war with anyone at the drop of a hat.  Whatever the opposition wanted, that's what he didn't want.  Torres was gifted enough during his time at Anfield to never really have to dig deep within him to find an extra yard.  Now that he does, the results speak for themselves.  Right now Brendan Rodgers could do with the talents of both men, but the attitude of only one.

A lack of a cutting edge comes not through the want of trying.  Precision is about seizing a moment.  You may only get one chance to win a game.  The very best see every passage of play as that instant.  They're not trying to do something that's asked of them at that point, they're trying to do everything that's asked of them.  It's about winning every individual battle along the way; a tackle, a pass, a shot - all of them have to be better.  Their mind works in such a way as to be conditioned to be so much better than anyone, they're often selfish.   You're not allowed, internally, to give yourself as much as a second to catch your breath because everyone that passes is another one in which the game could be won.  Luis Suarez has said as much himself.  That's why they're such a danger to opponents.

Tactically, the team is not set up for the onslaught.  The passing game is more of a gradual death than a sudden one and we're far more likely to suffocate a team than deal them a knock-out punch.  That step up in tempo or rhythm that people want to see when they talk about attacking play or movement, in a way goes against what we're trying to accomplish.  There should not be a step up in the speed of what we're playing because there should be no need for it, unless the team is trying to simply hang on in the face of opposition pressure and even then there should be gaps that are exploitable.  It's not about starting slow and then building up a head of steam until they can't withstand any more.  It's about not starting slow.

When the time comes in January to add players to the squad, Brendan Rodgers and the management must think long and hard.  The team is crying out for attacking talent, of that there is no doubt.  But it also needs a certain type of person.  Someone who is both capable of sticking the ball into the net on a regular basis but also has something more.  Someone who is fully prepared - when necessary - to pull the trigger.  Brendan Rodgers isn't going to stick the knife in carelessly, like the villain in some low rent slasher movie.  It's going to be slow and gradual.  Make them suffer.

After last weeks creditable draw against Chelsea last week, once again attention turns to what on paper appears to be a fairly straightforward three points.  That phrase has been used so often now it's gone beyond the realm of cliché and is now a parody of itself.  There are no easy games and the club itself is seen as something of a pushover, especially for those teams whom Liverpool are supposedly vastly superior to.  Wigan last tasted defeat at Anfield way back in 2009, having earned two draws and a victory in their last three visits.  That day in December was incidentally the last time home or away that Roberto Martinez's side were beaten by any Liverpool manager.

As an epidemic, the continued prosperity of mid-table and lower league clubs needs to stop.  The only way to achieve that is through a series of lessons.  One at a time, Liverpool has to re-instil the image of fear that teams used to have.  That's not to say it has to be complete domination.  Those calling for a dismantling of epic proportions will only be disappointed and most likely echo those feelings onto the field when things do not immediately transpire in that way and in turn make it all that much harder.  Once again those words that everyone is sick of hearing will be repeated ad infinitum.  Patience and professionalism.  It doesn't matter how comprehensively a team is defeated.  How hard they are knocked from the road.  What matters is that they are.  Eventually, the road will be clear.

(A) Chelsea - Pre Match Thoughts

Premier League

                                            Sunday 11th November 2012
                                            Stamford Bridge

                                       Chelsea VS Liverpool

Of all the football teams that there are in this league, all the rivals that only ever seem to intensify, none have had more influence over Liverpool Football Club in it's recent history more than Chelsea. Once upon a time we clashed to get into the Champions League and Rafa Benitez's term as manager was littered with iconic meetings between the two clubs. Even as recently as last season, the campaign was seemingly defined by that heartbreaking loss to Roberto Di Matteo's side in the FA Cup Final.  It's the turn of Brendan Rodgers to feel that weight of history. He's been here before, when he was a part of the Chelsea back-room staff. Never before will he have walked the corridors and stood in the dressing rooms at Stamford Bridge with more to gain. Losing here - against a side which could easily give Manchester's United and City a run for their money in the title race - would come with no shame nor surprise. Win it however and suddenly everything looks a lot brighter for Brendan Rodgers.

 If recent history is anything to go by, we have little to fear from today. Having won the last three visits to Stamford Bridge in the league, as well as coming here last year and dumping them out of the league cup, certainly there is every reason for the players to feel confident in getting a result. This Chelsea side are a much different animal to the shambles which presided over the Villas-Boas era and has even evolved beyond the team which managed to edge by us at Wembley in May. Eden Hazard and Oscar have come into this team and given it a much needed freshening up, coupled with the form of the ever impressive Juan Mata and we have on our hands a team that appears to be able to score at will.

Given their offensive strength, this will be the teams biggest test so far this season in terms of trying to keep a clean sheet. There has been the suggestion that we're going to be delivered a blow in that area too, with Martin Skrtel missing the game with a virus and Jamie Carragher coming in to replace him. Also, it's been heavily mooted that we will once again be playing with three at the back, much like we did so well against both Everton and Anzhi. Normally I'd favour having Coates over Carragher but for this game and this system, I think it could definitely work.

 As ever, there will be a lot of talk surrounding the two front men of either team. This time it seems to be the issue of whether they might be teammates in the future. There's been no suggestion from the club in regard to Fernando Torres' potential return to Anfield but that hasn't stopped the rumour mill continuing to run with it. I really don't know how I'd feel if it happened and while I do think it's a possibility, the chances are remote at best. Onto the striker that we do have, it's fair to say that if Chelsea can thwart Luis Suarez then it's unlikely we will be taking anything from this game. His scoring rate has been very good so far and while our over reliance on him is a little alarming, it speaks to the talent of a man who can do brilliant things like he did against Newcastle last week. It's also the one area of the pitch in which our opponents do look vulnerable, conceding more than enough goals in the league and the match up between David Luiz and Suarez does look like one in which we can come out on top.

 Even when we were a lot better than we are right now, this is the kind of game in which you'd be happy with a point. Our recent good record in this fixture counts for nothing and if anything means they're more likely to buck the recent trend of Liverpool victories. The match winner last season - Glen Johnson - will return and that will be a huge boost for us, given both his obvious talent and connection with the club he's looking to go back and haunt once again. I don't think it's impossible to go here and get a result today but it would be very impressive. We always put in a performance in these kind of games and in many ways, Wigan at Anfield next week is more important for that very reason. Whatever we pick up here will be a welcome bonus to that.

Forgive and Forget: A Tale of Two Strikers

The marriage of player and fan is rarely a happy one.  Before the ink on the contract is even dry, people all over the world have pinned their hopes and dreams on someone they're not ever likely to meet.  While clubs reward talent with obscene sums of money, it is the love and support of the fans that cement the legacy of a professional footballer.  For example; Dirk Kuyt has the same number of winners medals with Liverpool as El-Hadji Diouf, who meant more to the club?  In return for our devotion, their duty is to step out over the white line and do the things we don't have the talent for, with the minimum requirement that they put in the same kind of commitment to the cause that we do.  It's not an arrangement that most of them can adhere to.

Ending a relationship can be very painful.  The spark that first united tends to either fizzle out or explode.  When something that was seen as a promising partnership dissolves into nothing, while unpleasant can be very easily rationalised.  It's the ones that were taken close to heart that leave the biggest emotional damage.  With whom we placed out trust and believed - with no real foundation - that they would never hurt us.  Two such cases spring immediately to mind.  Similar in name, nationality and position.  Everything else about them - and their time at Liverpool - is at opposite ends of the spectrum.  They are Fernando Morientes and Fernando Torres.

Heroes on different sides of the same city, Torres and Morientes both rose to prominence in Madrid.  Whereas the one they called El Niño was a fully fledged product of the Atletico youth academy and the one to whom everybody looked toward, Morientes was a fairly modest acquisition - 6.6 million euros in the summer of 97 - from Real Zaragoza bought with the intention of being nothing more than a back up striker.  Despite occupying the same space on the field, their on field play is far removed from each other.  Torres' best form has been as a result of a team suited to play through him - unlike Morientes who was always cast in a supporting role.

They arrived at Anfield under different circumstances and at separate stages of their careers.  One arrived as a star of world football - albeit a faded one - with all the medals to prove it.  The other was an incredible prospect but also an expensive gamble, a risk many teams had decided against taking.  In addition to everything else, their fortunes at Liverpool contrasted dramatically.  Torres dazzled while Morientes couldn't quite match the heights he'd reached previously.  In the end, both of them have reasons to be unhappy with the way things ended up.  While neither of them became heroes, one of them became a villain.

If it's possible to comprehend, twelve years ago Real Madrid were even more untouchable than they are now.  The Galácticos - even as a concept - were a world away from the chaos of Roy Evans and the functionality of Gérard Houllier that followed it. Steve McManaman's transfer over there was one of bemusement rather than contempt - after all - nobody could turn down the chance to play in that team.  Despite assembling a team made up from the best players around the world - and Macca - there still remained a Spanish focal point within the team; Raúl and Morientes.  While the former was far and away the heart and soul of Real Madrid, Morientes played his part in what was one of the best tandem strike partnerships of the last twenty years.


The fans loved him but he was no Galáctico. Players came in to replace him on a yearly basis.  Still he remained loyal to the team even though never being at the forefront of either the manager or the directors plans and in the process added to his incredible medal collection, ending his stay at the Bernabéu with a total of three European Cups and two La Liga Titles among others.  After being sent away to France he would eventually get one over on those that had looked him over by knocking them out of the Champions League in 2004 while on loan at Monaco.  After returning to Madrid, there was another striker to be found that had been bought in his absence; Michael Owen.  Little did he know that it would not be long before he was to go the other way.

With six months of the season still to go and an ever worsening striker crisis, getting somebody in of the quality of Morientes was a coup.  Slightly past his peak, that didn't change the fact that his game was seemingly perfectly suited to the Premier League with his strength and heading ability as well as a magnitude of experience having played at the highest level in Spain for so long.  His first goal arrived almost a month later, grabbing the equaliser goal in a comeback victory over Charlton.  Though it took a while in coming, it had all the hallmarks of a striker who had been among the very elite.  Taking the ball outside the box, skillfully dragging it past the defender and then smashing it beyond the keeper from the edge of the box.  The hope was that it would be the first of many.  It wasn't.

Four months after the arrival of Morientes came Champions League glory in Istanbul.  Had he not been cup tied and subsequently been anything other than a spectator that night, his place in Anfield folklore would be assured.  He would have his part to play in the FA Cup success a year later but would be overshadowed - as with everybody else - by one Steven Gerrard.  That summer saw a return to Spain for the original Nando, to Valencia where he would forge another partnership with one of their young prodigal talents, this time it was David Villa in place of Raúl.  The overall feeling of Morientes' fifteen months at Anfield was one of disappointment.  He seemed to have everything that was needed to succeed over here and the sheer mystification over why he did not faded him into obscurity inside many Liverpool fans minds.  There was no ill will there whatsoever, sometimes you have to just accept when things aren't meant to be and move on.  Having said that - even when it does seem like it's meant to be - things don't always work out.

Twelve months after one Spanish striker left Merseyside, another came in.  This was a younger, flashier model than the Fernando that Liverpool had sold on to Valencia.  Fresh faced, rosy cheeked and eager to incorporate his ever growing talent to the Rafa Revolution, Torres was every bit the marquee signing that had fans drooling with anticipation.  He was not a member of Real Madrid's exclusive club but a boy who at times alone carried the weight of ambition from his hometown club, much like Steven Gerrard.  Torres and Liverpool was like a whirlwind romance and Anfield fell in love with him faster than he could get around Tal Ben Haim.  He would very quickly go on to be regarded as among the best strikers in world football.  There appeared to be no limit to the heights he could take the club.  The fall would be just as great.

A partnership formed as records tumbled and debt mounted.  On the back of yet another successful tournament for Torres and Spain, Liverpool would embark on a campaign that would see them as agonisingly close to the title as ever before.  Missing out by just four points having lost only two games, it was an opportunity lost.  With things at boardroom level now worse than ever, it was only a matter of time before things went sour on the pitch.  Seventh place the following season would see Rafael Benítez depart as manager of Liverpool and in his place was a man incredibly out of his depth.  Injuries - by now - had taken their tole on Torres, with every international break that passed being the cue for another problem with the star striker.  Broken down and incredibly isolated by the inept tactics of Hodgson, salvation came in the form of Kenny Dalglish and a change in ownership.  No longer would the club have to sell in order to buy.  Three goals in three games under Dalglish and with the prospect of playing with Luis Suarez looming on the horizon things were looking up for Liverpool and Torres.  Then he did the unthinkable.

Many people see Manchester United as the antyhsis of everything Liverpool stand for.  At least we both have tradition in common.  In the modern era, Liverpool and Chelsea are a much better fit as nemesis to one another.  What began with Abramovic taking over was only accelerated by the personalities of Mourinho and Benítez.  The continual - seemingly annual - engagements in the Champions League only harboured that ill feeling long after the self proclaimed "Special One" had left Stamford Bridge.  In dealing with Hicks & Gillette that rivalry was forced to take a back burner as we got our own house in order.  Once that arduous process was completed there was one final insult left to add.  Torres had turned blue.

The fact that it was Chelsea rankled, but it hurt more to know that Torres was just another in a long line of those players who say one thing and do another.  His goals made us cheer but it was the boy himself to whom Liverpool took to heart.  His quotes about the city and Liverpool fans, were in the end nothing more than a well executed PR exercise.  It hurts because of the fact that there was this perception that Torres was more than just a modern footballer.  That he would go to Chelsea and embrace that club in much the same manner as he did Liverpool - despite the way they will have reacted to him during his time as a red - feels hollow and empty.  That his goals dried up or whether he comes back to form is inconsequential.  Torres chose to walk alone.

There are a plethora of reasons why transfers don't work out in football.  In many cases it's simply a case of the player in question not being good enough - either physically or mentally - to do the job.  Part of the reason why we love the beautiful game is because it's one with an infinite number of possibilities and they sometimes involve the unexpected.  Even when things do go according to plan the world of football is such that circumstances - even people - can change overnight.  Should we then not try?  Not open ourselves up to sharing their professional moments and our personal moments of joy for fear of eventually being hurt, or that they will fail us?  Life is all about taking chances, whether it's five yards out with an open goal or opening our hearts to someone.  With some it's love at first sight.  Others take a while to get used to.   A few don't work out at all. Plenty more fish in the sea.