For the first time all season, the Liverpool football team has done something exciting. Sadly, it seems that the excitement includes red-on-red violence, and a drunken brawl with the Portuguese police.Firstly, Craig Bellamy took a swipe at John Arne Riise with a golf club, after Riise had brazenly snubbed the Footballers' Code by refusing to take part in a karaoke session, (www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2007/02/19/sfnliv19.xml) Presumably Bellamy was madly yelling "Dribble with the ball, I say, dribble with it!" as he swung wildly at Riise's ankles. Riise is reportedly unhurt, so Bellamy must have under-clubbed, taking an 8-iron when perhaps a longer iron would have been advisable. This is what caddies are for.
Meanwhile, 15 Liverpool players have been fined for a general drunken brawl, (uk.sports.yahoo.com/20022007/4/benitez-fines-15-players-report.html), which prompted hotel guests to call for the police. Jerzy Dudek has subsequently been forced to claim on his web-site that he didn't take out an entire SWAT-team, in the style of Jean Reno in Leon.
And now Bellamy scores and sets up Risse in beating Barca! Written in the stars. Me long term Pool fan.
ReplyDeleteJust goes to show what a bit of crazy golf can do for your footballing. I read that Bellamy is set to return to Blackburn anyway at the end of the season.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think about the American investors? I'm slightly uneasy. Making a profit is something deeply embedded in the American pysche; I don't see American businessmen doing something just for the love of the game. Now, an investment from Dubai International Capital would also not have been without its problems, but because DIC have so much money, they often invest in things just for the prestige value of it.
I'm not really in a position to really know what to omake of the US investors though they did seem to make the right kind of impression in the immediate aftermath of the takeover. It is a pity football is such a huge money thing now, but I suppose the reality is that it's very hard to compete with the Milans, Man Us, Barcelonas without spending huge wads of cash.
ReplyDeleteI'd like Bellamy to stay, and behave as I think he is an excellent player. Just some real threat from the wings is all LFC really need, I think, in terms of obvious improvement.
Yep, it's becoming an arms race now, a bit like Formula 1. You need to be associated with a major production car manufacturer to succeed in F1 now, and you need to have millionaires investing in your team to succeed in the 'Premiership'.
ReplyDeleteWho is there in the Liverpool team to get on the end of crosses from the wings? Crouch can't head the ball, Bellamy is too short, and Kuyt has a very poor ratio of shots-on-target.
Kuyt while not a great finisher is at least liable to get in the right areas to get on the end of crosses, while Bellamy last night should have scored another headed goal. I don't think he gets much in the way of headed goals but it can be making the right run as much as height). I don't just mean banging in crosses though- Messi and Ronaldinho not really wingers, for example. It is the position, both wings, where Liverpool are at their weakest.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Although weren't Pennant on the right and Gonzalez on the left, supposed to resolve that problem this year? Of course, Rafa would say that his comparative lack of budget has excluded him from buying the players he really wants to. And maybe that's part-true...
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that the Bellamy-Riise incident was the most sensational thing Liverpool has done all year, one shouldn't forget they did go to Barcelona and win at the Nou Camp, something no British side has done in 30 years, and setting themselves up for an away-goals victory that sent the Champions League holders home in the round of 16. Not nearly as fun to talk about as golf clubs and such, but quite an achievement.
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