Author: John Pearman

It was like going to the local dance hall and copping off with the Ugly Bug that no one else wanted.  Who cares? Not me. Moyes admitted the People’s Club should have been down to ten after ten minutes but was back to whinging mode by complaining our goal was offside.  He’d have claimed something no matter what. It’s Moyes. It’s Everton. It’s the derby. When Jota scored Anfield shook. The game wasn’t pretty.  Hey, sometimes the ugly bug is all you really wanted.

Welcome to Issue 311 of Red All Over The Land.

First an apology about Issue 310 and a raft of typos.  That was my fault as I didn’t check the final draft before sending it to Paul the Printer.  However, in my defence I had one of those Glitches on my PC whereas I saved stuff but then there was a problem, and the saved draft went missing somewhere in cyberworld and couldn’t be traced.  No wonder I sometimes turn to brandy as a medicinal requirement.

Folk singer Pete Seeger once sang, It takes a worried man to sing a worried song, I’m worried now, but I won’t be worried long.  

We bowed out of Europe over the two ties with PSG.  There’s no point in dwelling on the games because I think most accepted Paris had been the better side over the two games.  I missed the League Cup Final due to a previously arranged five-day break in sunny Sevilla that turned out to be soggy Sevilla.  It gets a mention in this issue, that is both the final and Sevilla.

Bill Shankly was quoted as saying, “The league is our bread and butter” and as we head towards the final straight who’d have thought we’d enter it leading by what the Horse Racing world would call a distance.  Even I, captain-in-chief of the pessimists, started to think that a bus trip along the Strand looked a certainty.  We even know how many points we need and hopefully, we can tick them off sooner rather than later so the bubbly can be ordered – even opened – BUT!!!!…It takes a worried man to sing a worried song,
I’m worried now, but I won’t be worried long.  Or will I?  

A month ago, things felt a bit different but, have tired legs, something we should be very familiar with, caught up with us again?  Arne’s team selections have been questioned in some quarters and those injuries, the ones Mikel Arteta and Stephen Warnock said we haven’t had, are happening now.  We’ve had injuries all season and what others said was down to them having a reluctance to give us the credit we deserved.  Yes, I agree, some of the team selections have baffled me.  Out of form players have been picked and as the front cover, and a later article, suggests, Harvey Elliott has been underused. 

However, I’d rather be where we are than where Arsenal are.    

Unlike the last Issue, which was out of date before it was printed, this one can look forward to the games that lay ahead and just having league games to concentrate on must please the manager in some way.  Only I don’t buy into that Blessings in Disguise rubbish.  We all know exactly what is wanted.  We all have a part to play.  I hope Anfield can be as intimidating as it used to be in the distant past.  There can be no excuses for failure either on the pitch or off it.  This is an opportunity nobody could have foreseen.  As one eminent politician once said, It’s Time To Do.  However, It takes a worried man to sing a worried song, I’m worried now, but I won’t be worried long – hopefully.  

JJP: I recently got complimented on my recycling skills.  The wife said when it comes to rubbish I’m up there with the best.

Had a week in Sevilla, thanks for all the Paddy Day greetings. Gave football the widest of berths but back in the groove now.

“Concentrate on the league” is what a lot of clubs and fans say when getting knocked out of Cups. Mind you, they’re usually clubs and fans looking at the league from a different perspective to Liverpool. Now we’re out of Europe, beaten on penalties by a PSG team that had looked fitter, faster and better organised than we were, we can contrate on tying up the Holy Grail.  Sunday’s another final and the injuries that according to some pundits we never have, could be stacking up.

We were playing one of the worst teams the Premier Division has seen if you look at Southampton’s record.  So at halftime they’d been better than us and didn’t look like the worst team in the league, they deserved to be ahead. Cite what you will but that first half was unacceptable. Three changes at the break and a different story but two Mo pens still needed. Darwin Nunez scored and caused chaos. A 3-1 win in the end and another step on the road to parading the trophy down the Strand.