Welcome to Issue 257 of Red All Over The Land.
We’re top of the league by eight points and life should be good – and it is. What’s happening is hard to believe isn’t it? What we’re seeing is the stuff our dreams are made of and we should thank everyone connected with Liverpool Football Club for their efforts. I’ve reached an age in my life when it’s best to live for the moment and that’s what I’m doing. I don’t care what tomorrow holds, I know I’m seeing something special with this team of ours and its bloody great.
After the Manchester City game the talk should have been about football but it wasn’t. Firstly VAR was the main topic on the agenda and that was followed by events surrounding Joe Gomez and Raheem Sterling.
We all know why VAR was brought into football but instead of ending controversy, its doubling it. Manchester City felt so aggrieved after our victory they’ve complained to the powers that be about the performance of the referee Michael Oliver. That’s their choice but aren’t they whinging just a bit too loud? Last season at their place in a game far more crucial to both sides Vincent Kompany should have been sent off only they didn’t say anything back then; possibly because they won. Liverpool took it on the chin and carried on. Liverpool, as far as I know, didn’t send in any official complaints following the shameful performance of Martin Atkinson at Old Trafford. It was mentioned in the immediate aftermath but again, we got on with things and left it there. We’ve had decisions go against us this season, we had them go for us. There’s no doubt VAR needs sorting out but that’s down to those who run the game. We all agree it’s a shambles but that’s not why we beat Manchester City, we were simply better than they were on the day.
If we needed something to shift the topic of conversation we probably have to thank Raheem Sterling. His unprovoked attack on Joe Gomez when the players arrived for International duty took over the minds of Sky and the media and maybe allowed Pep Guardiola a cooling off period. Although when his next press conference comes around I think I know what the first question from Sky could be about. I’ve always rated Sterling as a player, right from the first time I saw him in the Liverpool Youth team. He’s been given a lot of credit over the last year for his stance on many issues. However, still a bit of growing up to be done maybe?
Success brings its own problems and over the next couple of months it looks like wall to wall football for our team. I know players are treated differently now but fixture congestion is nothing new. The fact the EFL seemed unwilling to bend to help out might be understandable if you’re a Villa fan. The Premier League allowed us to cancel the West Ham away game but we’ll pay for their kindness later. Until the game in this country sorts out a mess of it’s own making, we all have to live with it. Fans and players alike.
JJP: How many roads can Pep walk down, before he can see we’re top? The answer my friend is blowing in the wind , the answer is blowing in the wind