Walk Alone? Not With 95,000 of Us

The 'Kop' at the MCG

Yesterday I returned home from my pilgrimage to Melbourne to participate in one of the most amazing experiences of my life as a sports fan. If you’ve been hiding under a rock, the Liverpool Football Club of the English Premier League came to Melbourne to play a preseason friendly match against A-league side Melbourne Victory. Fellow EPL team Manchester United took on an A-League All Stars team in Sydney on Saturday night, but as a Liverpool fan I was one of thousands of Reds fans who descended on Melbourne for the event.

The news has attempted to show just how incredible the atmosphere was in the city and at the match itself, but it also isn’t able to do it justice. I have been to some incredible sporting events in my life and sat in some massive crowds, but very little compares to what we experienced on Wednesday night.

Whilst I’m sure Liverpool expected there to be a solid turnout at the game and to make some money whilst also giving their players a taste of another country, I don’t think they were even remotely prepared for the outpouring of passion from Australia’s Liverpool faithful. I am also about to make a statement that may be completely biased but I still believe is true, but I think Liverpool fans, at least in Australia, are the most passionate and hardcore fans of any EPL club. It is possible they are rivalled by some of the fan bases of smaller clubs, but those clubs don’t quite have the numbers to rival it.

Having been in Sydney for the build-up to the Manchester United match, Sydney did not feel like it was invaded by Red Devils. The match sold out and plenty of United fans got to experience seeing their favourite team play, but the entire city of Melbourne was covered in red as well as all the flights in to Melbourne from Sydney and I’m sure elsewhere. Then on Thursday the entire Melbourne airport was once again covered in red as the fans flew back to their cities of origin.

I am not sure what percentage of the 95,000 in the crowd on Wednesday was actually from Melbourne, but I would suggest that a large portion were people who travelled for the match. It was truly an incredible experience, starting from arriving at Sydney airport on Tuesday morning.

I personally bumped into several people I knew that I had no idea were even heading to Melbourne for the game as well as all the people I did know were coming and planned to meet up with. The walk to the stadium almost felt like being part of an army going to war, back in the days when armies used to actually march into battle like that.

The MCG being completely red (besides the pocket of very vocal and passionate Victory supporters) was a sight to behold and then we sang ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’. I posted a video of this on my Facebook, but again it doesn’t do it justice. Until Wednesday night the most amazing singing experience I’ve witnessed was ‘Advanced Australia Fair’ being sung before the Socceroos qualified for the 2006 World Cup against Uruguay in 2005, but this blew it out of the water.

I had goose bumps the entire time and it was one of those moments you know as it is happening that you will remember for the rest of your life. Other friends of mine have said they were in tears, but the joy and togetherness and emotion of the experience was palpable all around the stadium. It honestly felt like all these strangers were part of your family for that moment in time. These are the moments where sport is more than just some meaningless game, but actually does make the world a better place.

Later that night a stranger in a Liverpool shirt asked if we were from Melbourne so we could give him directions. We told him we weren’t but we looked up where he wanted to go on my phone and helped him find it. I’m not going to lie, if he wasn’t in a Liverpool shirt I probably would simply have said I’m a tourist and didn’t know where the pub he wanted was, but on that night I felt compelled to get him to where he wanted to go because we were family.

The game itself obviously wasn’t the greatest football match ever, but seeing Steven Gerrard score in person is another amazing experience that added to the night. Also seeing his celebration and how stoked he was to be able to deliver for a crowd he admitted he didn’t expect made it even more joyous.

I was particularly impressed with youngster Jordan Ibe as well as Andre Wisdom playing centre back. Raheem Sterling continued to look like a threat every time he touched the ball and after a slow start Fabio Borini looked dangerous as the game went on.

On the negative side there was the continued incompetence of Jordan Henderson and Joe Allen also continuing to struggle defensively in midfield. But the biggest negative of course was the attitude and body language of Luis Suarez. When Suarez got on the ball he looked dangerous every time and of course he finished the match with a lovely assist, but his lack of work rate, sour attitude and refusal to even celebrate the goal he created showed where he is at mentally.

Every fan I spoke to seemed to agree that Suarez was sending a clear message that he no longer wanted to play for Liverpool and we may well have witnessed his last ever appearance for the club. I still hope he decides to stay and if he is to be sold, I would hope that it is not to a direct rival to make the top four in Arsenal. But clearly he doesn’t want to be there and something has to change one way or another.

The 2013/14 season could be a bounce back year for Liverpool, but selling Suarez on the eve of the season will be seriously detrimental, especially if they are unable to secure an adequate replacement on short notice.

However, the main story is the success of Liverpool’s first trip to Australia and playing in front of the biggest crowd in their entire existence. I’m sure they will be back soon, probably to play in Sydney next time.

Pepe Le Pew

Reina disappointed after conceding a goal

It was not too long ago that Pepe Reina was one of the best goalkeepers on the planet, or at least in the English Premier League.  He is a multi-time Golden Gloves award winner for conceding the least goals during the season and while Liverpool has struggled around him, he has been one area of the team where there weren’t any worries.

Every once in a while he would make a silly mistake which would raise eyebrows, but honestly, so does every goalkeeper. When a goalkeeper makes a mistake, due to the nature of their job it is magnified by the likelihood that it leads directly to an otherwise avoidable goal.

Reina has been a member of the all-conquering Spain squad that has dominated football over the last few years; however he has been the backup to Iker Casillas for the most part.

Also, Reina is only 30 years old, which in goalkeepers terms, is a baby. Goalkeepers’ primes are typically later than outfield players and no one finds it surprising for a ‘keeper to play into his early 40s. Therefore, barring a transfer request, Liverpool fans figured that they had their long term goalkeeper locked up for years to come.

But then this season happened. To be fair, there were signs last season as Reina started making a few more mistakes than previously, but he was still a solid keeper and no one was really calling for his ousting. But in the 2012-13 season so far his performances have been nothing short of horrendous.

When he was injured and replaced by Australian Brad Jones in goal, no one seemed to be overly concerned even though Jones isn’t particularly good either. The downgrade from Reina to Jones simply wasn’t that significant and that itself is a massive problem when a team is trying to qualify for the Champions League.

After a terrible start to the season, Liverpool have been on the right track in the last couple of months as they work their way back up the ladder and are now at least in contention to qualify for the Europe League. Players and manager Brendan Rodgers are still talking about making a charge towards the top four, however unlikely that may be.

But how much closer would they already be to that if they had 2007 Reina in goal as opposed to 2013 Reina? It seems baffling for a goalkeeper to be significantly better at 25 years old than 30 years old without something like the Petr Cech head injury to explain it.

With rumours that Barcelona are interested in bringing Reina home to his junior club when current stopper Victor Valdes moves on in the offseason, Liverpool and Reina have come out saying Reina is going nowhere and plans to see out his contract which runs until 2016.

In the past that would delight me, but after Reina cost Liverpool more points with a horrible mistake against Man City this week, I think it’s time the club give serious consideration to replacing him, or at least buying him some legitimate competition.

Young English starlet Jack Butland was available during the January transfer window and Liverpool were linked with him, but in the end they never big and he went to Stoke after rejecting a move to Chelsea. Liverpool should have made him a priority, but that opportunity is gone now.

There are plenty of other good young keepers out there all over the world (including here in the A-League) and Liverpool need to start taking a proactive approach to finding their future goalkeeper, because the future might be sooner than they think.

How long can a team realistically give a guy to turn around his form when it is in such a crucial position? Does someone earn the right to play their way into form when each mistake they make has a serious impact on the position of the club?

Were Liverpool to sell Reina in the offseason, I would approve of that but that’s not to say I think he will never be able to find his form again. It’s entirely possible that after some time off during the summer he will be back and as good as ever. It’s also possible that he can recapture that old form, but only with a change of scenery and a new club. However, it is also possible that Pepe Reina will never be able to find his old form again.

Some players have slumps and then come back from them, some players gradually decline as they get older and some players simply just lose it.

We can’t know which category Reina falls into until we see what happens in the future, but Liverpool also can’t put all their eggs in one basket and hope for the best.

Whether they sell Reina and move on or whether they simply buy another keeper to push him for a first team place, Liverpool has to find a way to fix their goalkeeping issues so they can go back to focussing on the outfield issues that have already been widely accepted.

The Rodgers era has finally started to show some positive signs with Daniel Sturridge’s arrival and even Jordan Henderson showing signs of life along with the emergence of Raheem Sterling and Andre Wisdom, but a lot of that hard work is quickly undone when you can’t trust the man at the back.

What's Wrong with Arsenal?

Arsene Wenger

A friend of mine who supports Arsenal recently suggested to me to write about the struggles the Gunners are going through and whether the club should bid adieu to Arsene Wenger. Most of the Arsenal fans I know and most of the stuff I’ve seen online, suggests that more and more Arsenal fans are ready for Wenger to leave and to start the next generation, despite the fact that Wenger has had so much success at the club in his long reign.

As a neutral observer, it’s an issue I’ve been back and forth on because I always respected the way Wenger was able to develop talent and always keep his team competitive without spending the same amount as other top teams. However the recent form (not including their most recent 5-2 victory) has really made it hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel for the current setup.

Arsenal has certainly had some hits and misses in their transfer activity in recent years, but the same can be said for all the teams fighting for Champions League spots. The problem is for clubs like Arsenal, as well as Liverpool and Tottenham etc. is that they can’t just continue to buy their way out of trouble the way Man City and Chelsea do. When money turns out to have been wasted on guys like Marouane Chamakh, it is money that now can’t be spent on someone else.

Historically the way Arsenal avoided this problem was they were better than anyone at finding young talent around the world, usually from France or Africa, and then developing them into world class players. Yes they still have Jack Wilshere and others, but the depth of talent coming through simply isn’t there anymore. The reason for this is that the rest of the clubs in the Premier League and around Europe have caught up in terms of scouting and Wenger can’t get the hidden gems he used to for such minimal fees. Buying young players is still a valuable strategy, but the prices are now inflated even for youngsters and it can only work in conjunction with a broader transfer strategy.

Another issue is that Arsenal under Wenger have always had to play this great to watch style and end up passing the ball into the net after breaking down the defence. For this reason I’ve always loved watching their games, but realistically it’s not a strategy that will always work. There seems to be very little Plan B when they can’t break down a defence. Not every team can be Barcelona and when the talent isn’t quite what it used to be, the tactics need to adapt. Nowadays the game adapts and changes year to year, if not even in the middle of a season and if a manager gets too stubborn, it can undo a lot of hard work.

One manager will try something new and it works and very quickly everyone is copying it. Eventually someone else figures out how to beat that tactic or formation and everyone adapts again. Wenger still wants Arsenal to be the team that went undefeated in 2003-04, but in all modern sport it is ‘adapt or die’.

For that reason I think it’s time for Wenger to move on from a club that he returned to glory. That being said, if I were the owner of another lower EPL team looking for a new manager, I’d show up to his door with a truck full of cash trying to entice him to do it all over again.