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In 1965 Liverpool, the Champions of England had been drawn at home against the bottom side of the Fourth Division, Stockport County in the FA Cup fourth round. Liverpool was on a long unbeaten run, Stockport weren’t, in fact just the opposite. Maybe, for the only time in his life Bill Shankly felt over confident – so he gave the game a miss and went to watch Liverpool’s European quarter final opponents Cologne instead. There was no such thing as rotation and no one in their right mind would have fielded a weakened side in an FA Cup game, it would have amounted to sacrilege. Had Liverpool lost it would have surely gone down as one of the biggest shocks in the history of the FA Cup and been viewed as even worse than the loss against non-league Worcester City a few years previous. It came close to being just that. Liverpool came from a goal down to scramble a one-all draw but had to thank a last minute goal line clearance by Gerry Byrne for keeping them in the Cup and getting a replay that would be played the following Wednesday. Liverpool won and went on to win the FA Cup for the first time in their history. So our side having to go to a team of Plymouth’s status in the FA Cup is nothing new. We got through and like the performance of Stockport all those years ago, Plymouth’s brave showing will soon be forgotten by all bar their own because that’s way it is. I don’t feel the need to rotate in the way Jürgen does and did. Every team from The Premier Division have had a fixture glut and, in fact, Plymouth’s probably played as many games this season as we have. Next week we have to find a way past Southampton in the League Cup but maybe we should remember Southampton’s played more games this season than we have. There’s no doubt English football is overloaded with fixtures and Cup competitions the majority no longer care about. You have to get on with it. More worrying for me is no matter what our line up of recent weeks we’ve stopped scoring, we’ve stopped having shots on target in the numbers we were having. Five goals in the last six games and the number of shots on goal have probably just crept past a dozen. That’s what we have to put right and I’m sure The Kaiser will do just that. In the meantime, we won last night and more game time for the kids, as things are just now, I can handle that.

We started the day second, ended it third but if results had swung a different way we could have dropped to fifth and if you’d have said we could have a point from our trip to the swamp, I’d have gladly taken it. Even more so when I saw our starting eleven. Just one question on that, shouldn’t someone with a desk job have sorted out whether Matip was eligible a bit sooner? As far as things on the pitch went, we deserved the draw but in fairness, they deserved their point as well. TA-A let nobody down and Lovren and Mignolet looked top draw as far as we were concerned. I’m hoping now we’re over our ‘blip’ – four games without win is something even if it’s not a ‘blip’ – and we can now see Coutinho playing full games. If you view the top end of the table we’ve only got to go to Manchester City, the rest have got to come to us, we’ve got 10 homes and seven away so more than a few reasons to be cheerful if we can get back to winning ways. I don’t think we should be fielding the Under 21 side down at Plymouth either. If its match time Little Phil wants get him on the pitch and maybe give Sturridge a go, the Cups are worth it and winning games isn’t a bad habit.

League Cup Halftime Report: Well that’s all it is, isn’t it? If it’s right then time to get players to bend over for a communal arse kicking. At Sunderland tired legs were blamed, at St Mary’s there had to be another reason. Forebodings and bad feelings are taking over; we’ve gone from goal happy to almost wouldn’t score on a night out with Wayne Rooney. Round of applause for Karius though, if hadn’t been for him we could have been out of it. Fair play to Jürgen who didn’t make any excuses and told it like it was; although I think his after match comments in the dressing room might have been worded slightly different. There’s this gut feeling inside me saying teams have sussed us; pack the place and let Liverpool have ball knowing we don’t have keys to unlock the bolted doors. Our defenders make a mistake and we pay but it ain’t new, been like it all season, in fact the last two or three seasons. Organisers and leaders needed, apply within!

Happy New Year to one and all and welcome to Issue 229 of Red All Over The Land. I’ve started with a new idea which is guest writers on the opening pages and you will have by now, hopefully read Kevin Sampson’s New Year message. My intention is to try and change a few things as we move towards the spring and maybe even brighten up the whole Fanzine; although amongst the things I received for Christmas was a vinyl copy of Leonard Cohen’s final LP, so morbidity is still with me. The way I’m looking at 2017 is, if vinyl can make a comeback, so can the printed word and that’s good news for Fanzines such as this one.
On the football front I spend time wondering what this team of ours can achieve and what should we realistically expect – or hope for? Firstly though, what have we achieved? Well we’re going to games at Anfield believing we might win whereas last season I’m not sure that was the case. Jürgen Klopp seems to have changed the player’s philosophy and they go out now with far more belief than they’ve had for some time. We’ve seen them win games with quality football or by grinding out a result. Everton [away] and Manchester City at home being examples of winning in a slightly more ugly fashion than we’ve become used to. In those two games the reinstated Simon Mignolet never had a serious shot to save which probably says a bit more about the maligned defence. There is still a vulnerability there but at least The Kaiser seems to be working on it. I’ve never been Simon Mignolet’s biggest fan but he’s far more secure than Karius. I think had Mignolet been in goal then we may not have fallen apart against Bournemouth and we might have done better against West Ham; but that’s water under the bridge. Vulnerability reared its ugly head at Sunderland as well where our sluggish showing was matched only by a totally inept referee. I’ve a feeling Jürgen might be getting a letter from the FA about his comments.
So what can we hope for? I’d view a top four finish as success and if we can win a Cup, then that would make it a real successful season. With a few additions to the squad in the summer we could be a genuine force next season.
I think we’ve got the best manager in the Premier League; he knows success only comes via hard work. I’m not suggesting managers like, Guardiola, Conte and Mourinho don’t work as hard but they only manage where there’s money. Jürgen Klopp has never had that luxury – not in the same volumes. He’s building for that eventual new dawn and whilst we saw so many things emerging in 2016 I honestly believe a lot more will emerge during 2017.
Enjoy the Fanzine and weather permitting I’ll be selling somewhere around what used to be a street.

They say it’s grim up north and in Sunderland it certainly was. My New Year Resolution of going to games full of joy and expecting a win has been binned. I don’t think Jürgen was overly chuffed either. The effort put in against Manchester City might have been good reason to explain how we played but we still should have won. I hate to give Moyes due credit but he probably got his tactics right just as Jürgen got his right against City. Sunderland, like Everton, were in our faces and wouldn’t let us settle but there were also times when we wanted to make five passes when one might have done the trick. Even after Manè put us 2-1 up there was a foreboding feeling around the away end and with referee Anthony Taylor proving his many doubters right he gave Sunderland the chance they wanted. Not even the most one-eyed of Sunderland fans shouted for the free kick that led to the second penalty. How bad was Taylor? Well when both sets of fans boo him at the end it tells you a story. When Sturridge was injured even the Sunderland keeper was trying to tell the referee but he ignored him and that tells you something else about him. Maybe he is a Manc of some sort after all? Sunderland deserved the draw but the fixture planners and TV match snatchers had played their part. It’s football now and the level playing field is a thing of the past.