Tuesday, October 19, 2010

There is hope yet for Liverpool

One cannot have everything. It sure helps that most of the sports teams I root for have been winning. Lost in all my writing about the Ateneo Blue Eagles, the New York Yankees, the New York Jets, and Barcelona FC among others has been the sad plight about Liverpool FC. I've been watching week after week. Well, sometimes because I switch off my computer when it looks like a loss if forthcoming. It's not being a fair weather fan because I have been watching religiously for over a decade now and there is no Premier League title in sight. Six points in eight matches and the team is mired in the relegation zone! How the mighty have fallen!

Will it get better any time soon? Not until Roy Hodgson is still there. the team's performance is really unacceptable and this is such a dispirited bunch. There's talent there for sure but more than a change in ownership, corporate sponsor, and manager, there has to be a change in attitudes, faces, and atmosphere.

Right now, I cannot care for what happens in Old Trafford and Wayne Rooney's musings about leaving. We in Anfield have our own set that is humiliating and painful to swallow.

I am happy over the purchase of the club by New England Sports Ventures and appreciate the prudence and restraint offered by John Henry and Tom Werner. While they are welcomed albeit just a bit short of wartime liberators, some scoff that they are using a baseball model to resuscitate Liverpool.

They are not. They are smarter than that. And as Henry said, there is no "Sheikh" right before his name. Nor is he Roman Abramovich. But he and his cohorts are winners for sure (and it pains me to say that believe me) and they are crafting a plan to get back to the top. It just doesn't include mindless buying of players such as the former manager did. "There were big financial issues but in the end we made the decision that we wanted to compete at this level. I know some people are saying that this was a cheap price. There is now way we look at this as a cheap price for this club." said Henry. When he had in his possession the book "Football and its Fans: Supporters and their Relations to the Game: 1885-1985" then I have to respect that because it shows that he wants to know what makes this team click.

With the 4-4-2 formation not working, Joe Cole in poor form, no one feeding Fernando Torres, the midfield in shambles, and Pepe Reina competing with Edwin Van der Sar for the Robert Green Award, all we can ask sometimes is that people listen and then do something about it.

This doesn't guarantee a quick turnaround as the 2-0 loss to Everton showed. It's going to be painful but there turnaround will come. YNWA!

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