Author: johnadmin

I don’t know what was supposed to be spectacular about the pre-match explosion of lights down at Stamford Bridge because once Liverpool got going everything seemed dull by comparison. I’m a fully paid up, life and honorary member of the cynics club but those first forty-five minutes at Stamford Bridge for the benefit of Friday Night Football had to surely be the best we’ve played away from home in years. We simply outplayed and outclassed Chelsea and scored two quality goals and deserved more. Those of us who were in the hovel that is the Stamford Bridge away end revelled in it all.
It wasn’t any surprise that Chelsea got better in the second half but apart from the goal they scored, we looked pretty comfortable and we more or less matched them in all areas of the pitch.
Back to the first half, that might have been Jordan Henderson’s best 45-minutes in a Liverpool shirt? Sometimes he tries too hard to be like Steven Gerrard, but on Friday he came reasonably close to the real thing. Matip and Lovren are looking like a partnership and Milner even looked a decent full back.
I thought the away support, some who’d spent about seven hours on the Motorways of England was exceptional but the highlight for me was a lone voice. When the nutcase who masks as the Chelsea pitchside announcer wandered round the pitch at halftime with the British Olympians who claimed to be Chelsea fans one of them waved a small Chelsea flag as they went past us. As he did so, the lone voice sang out “Is that your famous plastic flag”?
The cynic tells me there’s another ‘Burnley’ somewhere along the way but for now I’ll enjoy the fruits of a victory inside the gates of Hell.

On a weekend when the hype surrounding at least one game in the Premier Division was Sky high and Mario Balotelli said joining Liverpool was biggest mistake of his life – and the list of his mistakes is very long – what a pleasure it was to watch a performance from the current crop that was more about team ethics and team work than any one individual.
I’ve long stopped getting carried away by just about anything but this performance showed we’ve got a bit of quality around the place and it was fitting that it was shown in front of the former players and no doubt a few celebs filling parts of the new Main Stand. I’ve read and heard a few comments about how Daniel Sturridge is more an individual than a team player but on Saturday he was as much a team player as anyone on the pitch. Whilst the not to super Fab Mario was having his say Sadio Manè was doing his talking on the pitch and that’s all that really interests the majority of us. Since his arrival at the club there might be as many doubters as there are believers in Firmino but on Saturday maybe he swayed a few more of the doubters into the believe camp, that first goal oozed class. And his Samba pal Coutinho wasn’t even on the pitch but for once we hardly noticed. If Adam Lallana saved fat Sam’s bacon in midweek well he added a bit of relish to this display against the Champions of England [that’s what they are].
We still made mistakes; the goal we gave away was just that, a giveaway. As somebody said afterwards, it’s part of our game now giving goals away. The goal apart I thought Lucas did okay as a makeshift central defender, I wouldn’t want him there every game but both him and Matip didn’t do too badly.
No, I don’t get carried away anymore; the win at Arsenal remains very much in the mind but so does the non-show at Burnley. The evil of Stamford Bridge waits on the Sky hyped Friday night football. Now we no longer have Skrtel Costa will be looking for someone else to leave his stud marks on.

Firstly may I add my condolences to the family of Gerry McIver who passed away during the summer. For those who may not know; Gerry was a driving force behind the HJC and did tireless work for the Justice Campaign. He was also a good friend of this Fanzine and we will not forgot what he did for us.
Like our manager, I’m glad the transfer window has closed. The media – mostly SSN – are, as Jürgen suggested, obsessed by it. Even the LFC website has a rumour column and when things appear on the clubs website some forget it’s rumour believing its fact. I’d like to think now the Transfer Window has shut and Jim White put back in his box until January, a degree of sanity will prevail – I doubt it but we can hope. I suppose we did unload Balotelli and that was Nice [pun definitely intended].
The first International break has been and gone and Fat Sam looms even larger on our screens. Who’d have thought that was possible? And there’s another break not far away. Allardyce on TV is like watching a scary film again and again – or seeing an advert for lard.
The biggest story of recent weeks – one so big it almost wiped the “Alberto Moreno is to blame for all the worlds ills” off Social Media – was, “Are Liverpool being sold to a Chinese consortium”. Whether it be fact or fiction we’ll only know when something is done or not done. Either way it will be accompanied by frenzied stories followed by denials and counter denials. It shows where the game has gone. A Premier League Club [and many from outside the Premier] being owned and run by local businessmen are as rare as a week going by without a story about Daniel Sturridge’s future or fitness. We’re in the wait and see corner as always. We leave fiction and rumour to the clubs website and the media. This Fanzine only deals with fact – sometimes!
Playing three league and one League Cup game away from home saw us going from peaks to troughs in a very short time – no change there then. Arsenal was fantastic, Burnley wasn’t and Tottenham a bit of both. It was good to go to Burton, see some goals all followed by Daniel Sturridge allegedly moaning. It all meant football was back.
Welcome then, to the latest issue of RED ALL OVER THE LAND. The first one to be on sale at Anfield this season but we did manage to sell out issue 224 at those pre and early season away games. The excitement and anticipation over the new Main Stand is rivalling the excitement and anticipation about finally seeing the summer signings strutting their stuff on the green, green grass of home. Not to mention the excitement and anticipation over a new issue of RED ALL OVER THE LAND. If there’s gonna be a let down we’ll try to make sure its not us. Yes, we all wonder what the new Anfield season will bring. Me? I’m wondering if the pies have gone up – again.
Thanks to everyone involved in producing the Fanzine and thanks to everyone who buys a copy. See you around the fields where the players car park used to be.

JJP
Still Wearing Black.

I don’t know whether we should be happy with a point at White Hart Lane or not. It seemed as if there was something missing including a corner of the ground that’s vanished as Spurs start preparing for their new stadium. The positives and negatives might have both been the same, meaning we were better than Spurs but we didn’t win. The referee was both fussy and inconsistent but our boys conceding 17 fouls didn’t exactly help the game flow along either. Over half of them for were shoves or pushes; at least when a player like Souness fouled ‘em they stayed fouled! When Matip was wrestled to the ground we should have had a penalty according to the latest guidelines and I’m not sure the Manè goal should have been disallowed. The talk about what this team requires has centred on a defender and I wouldn’t argue too much but I think we lack a physical presence in midfield and what would we have to pay nowadays for someone like Didi Hamann or a Javier Mascherano? Matip had a decent league debut and him and Lovren kept the Spurs attack quiet, in fact the first time I realised Kane was playing was when he went off. We’ll have another few days now no doubt having to digest a belly full of Sturridge stories and then they go off to play for their various countries so expect a few of them to return crocked before the Leicester game.

Organising One In A Brewery: All a bit different was our first trip to Burton Albion. “We’re heading in early to get a decent spec” said Lord & Lady Gowing. ‘Chips, Faggots and Peas £3’ said the menu. Entrance to Terrace said the sign above the turnstile. Liverpool win 5-0 against a recently promoted Championship side. The Kaiser sent out a full Premiership squad; he may have made four changes but no risks taken; no contempt for the competition or the opposition. Job done and Dancing Dan came on and scored twice. It didn’t quite wipe away the stench of Saturday but it helped. Derby County, away next. Could have been worse.