Just two days to go before the first home game of the season and following the game in Germany there should be a dose of excitement around the fields of Anfield Road but instead there’s probably an equal amount of trepidation, frustration mixed in with anticipation.
What will be the topic of conversation leading up to the game against one of our bogey sides Crystal Palace? The first appearance of Mo Salah in a Liverpool shirt at Anfield should have been the number one point of discussion or the TAA goal in Germany but probably won’t be, more likely it will be “Will he stay or will he go” [Coutinho] mixed in with “Will we or won’t we sign a defender” [VVD or whoever].
Meanwhile the club are boasting about the new super store and telling fans the best way to travel to and from Anfield this season. The tourists and the day-trippers no doubt need this information – only the club forgot to tell them the best place to buy a half ‘n half – whereas the diehards don’t need it, they’ll just turn up and take whatever’s on show focusing on what’s happening on the pitch not what’s on sale in or around the Fan Parks that are springing up. As for me I’ll be doing weather watch hoping for a dry day to help with Fanzine sales – you do know what a Fanzine is don’t you?
A Fanzine gives the views of the fans, the diehard types who can remember the days when we didn’t panic each time the opposition thought about pumping a cross into our penalty area. A Fanzine tries to be slightly more open about things like the Liverpool transfer policy, assuming Liverpool’s got a transfer policy. Does the Director of Football – or whatever his tag is – Michael Edwards actually earn his undoubtedly high salary, does he in fact, exist? After all we did little or no business in January and we haven’t exactly dominated the transfer activity pages since the dammed transfer window reopened on July 1st. The latest Chief Executive Peter Moores jumped on board telling tales of how he watched the redmen when he was a lad – I think there’s a pre-ordained script now because Ian Ayre and Christian Purslow both cited similar on their CV apparently. He was wowed by the volume of support for the club/team in the Far East but, although I could be doing him a disservice, he doesn’t seem overly pro-active in leading the club forward on the transfer front. I heard somebody say – or maybe I read – the club don’t want quantity they want quality. So the diehards and club agree on something only from our perspective is there any chance of seeing something done to deliver said quality? Mister Edwards, Mister Moores anything to say?
One ordeal managers now need to cope with is the press conference which in Jürgen’s case will no doubt be a grilling on the Coutinho situation. You can no detect signs of frustration creeping in when our manager gets asked the obvious question with an obvious answer. Seven days into the season and on the back of a decent Euro result he [and we] shouldn’t be subjected to it all. I wonder what the odds are on Coutinho still having a bit of backache.