Neil is joined by Kevin Sampson, John Gibbons and Sean Rogers as they chat about Liverpool’s progression in the UEFA Cup, Liverpool new mind doctor and the trip to West Ham at the weekend without Luis Suarez.
Music this week from Book Thieves and Kahuna
Direct link to CITYTALK: THE GOOD DOCTOR
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Just listened boys.Sounds like you are really enjoying yourselves!
Well done!
Thanks for the plug for HOPE lads. And of course for saying I look good for 40! You’re true gents.
Scot
With Gibbo letting on his favourite TAW contributor is Sean ‘no D’ Rogers, I thought I would follow suit…
Best football analysis: Sean Rogers (honoury mention to Nick O’ Prey & Neil)
People ‘I like the best’: Neil Atkinson & Gibbo
Funniest: Mike Girling
Best writers: Gutman & Henderson
Without wanting to give anyone a big head or sow the seeds of competitiveness among the team I couldn’t resist throwing in my two cents also;)
Sean definitely does a good job but my shout for the ‘best football analysis” gong would go to Kristian Walsh. Quietly reckon he is a bit of a genius, you guys should get him on more often. I am also a big fan of Hendo’s writing, and he would romp in the “best hair” category!
TAW is so much more enjoyable after a win.
Interview with Dr Steve Peters:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01k8439/HARDtalk_Dr._Steve_Peters_Psychiatrist_working_in_elite_sport/
Thanks for that, AlanG. Very insightful in to how he works.
In other news, Roy Henderson has some foresight:
http://www.theanfieldwrap.com/2012/03/stupid-football/
For The Attention of Brendan Rodgers:
How much longer do we have to suffer you and your mediocrity. You are a man of many words and few worthwhile actions. Your system is rubbish, your methods are over convoluted nonsense… You are simply not up to the job of managing our great club….you allege you have seen everything in football… You have seen and done precisely nothing… We cannot afford to give you money to spend on more average recruits.. Assaidi, Borini… Pathetic, both of them not fit to wear a D team shirt… Please leave quietly and stop further damage… How you have flown under the radar so far this year is an embarrassment to LFC and shows how low we have let our standards drop to…
I am not negative by nature, but I know someone not up to the job when I see them..
I have to agree with this.It looked as though the team abandoned Rodgers idea of pass and move and just tried to win the game today.
Pass and move is not some great innovation.We did it for years.It was flowing and fluid with players exchanging places and filling in for each other as we played as a unit.
From what I’ve seen so far Rodgers idea seems to be passing to each other for the sake of it and going nowhere.Predictable and pedantic.
By the time the ball is played to Skirtel or Agger then back to Reina then back to Skirtel or Agger then back to Reina teams have had time to set themselves.
He talks about needing to get a completely new squad.He’s got 20 odd international players at his disposal!
Emperor’s new clothes?
Good result today?
Abandoned pass and move? Did you see where the moves for our second and third goals started and how we got into their box? Blinkers well and truly on.
Let me guess Brian, you want Rafa back
I have to disagree, and I don’t understand where this is coming from after the game yesterday. The times in the match when we were playing “convoluted” football, i.e. passing and moving and keeping possession were the times we looked in control and a threat. The times when we got pushed off the ball in the midfield because we couldn’t match Diame’s physical presence (a tough one for Lucas before he is properly fit and Gerrard coming off an illness. Probably could have used Shelvey in there today) and started playing more direct football we found it coming back to us with interest in the form of an aerial assault on our 6yard box.
I don’t see BR claiming to have had done it all before, and what does that have to do with anything anyway? Dalglish has done it all but was leading us up a dead end IMO. Borini is young, needs some time to settle into the role dirk used to do for us, and has been injured for the last month so I am not sure what he has to do with anything and assaidi was a scout pick for half of what we got for Ryan Babel. Get back to us after Rodgers has had (hopefully) some decent money to spend in January.
I have been very encouraged by our movement around the box in recent games, and yesterday we got the dividends for the training that has been obviously put into that area of the pitch of late. 3 beautiful goals created by good movement (less so Johnson’s, but it created the space foe him to work into), so all those saying we don’t look a threat and only rely on probably need to revise their assessments.
Good win boys, another one next week and we can really start to feel some momentum!
Take a look in the mirror then Mike. What a tool.
Mike and BrianB glass half empty people. Your support is pathetic.
I wouldn’t even call it support! Rag reading Tossers!
not sure what game you were watching today but I thought we looked good! 2 very poor ref decisions giving a pen against and denying a pen for, plus an injury to Enrique unsettling the 1st half, made the result look closer than it should have been.
Mike and BrianB I think it’s quite clear that you’re the ‘third category’ of supporter.
We had no recognised senior striker and a 20 year old midfielder leading the line to a play away at a team who soundly beat Chelsea last week.
We destroyed West Ham first 25mins, no two-ways about it. Gifted them two goals then fought back to win it, what more do you want?
It must be terrible for them. On the one hand they want Liverpool to do well but on the other they’re happy if things go wrong. Then they can turn round and say ‘I told you so’.
I agree, Brendan had it right. Nothing will ever please them.
Obvious the progress we are making. These half time posts haha.
We looked very good? I’m a rag reading tosser?Happy to watch LFC struggle?We need to go back to square one and start again and have patience?Give the benefit of the doubt?
Let me get something straight here.I want Liverpool to win everything!If that’s not possible I want them to be nearer the top than the bottom.
I don’t want to hear bullshit about how we have a poor squad and we’ve only got one striker so that’s an excuse and everything is O.k. then!
Wake up and smell the proverbial! This was not a club that needed major surgery and certainly not a team that needed some rookie journeyman manager to come in and start talking everything down to give himself time.
This was never a Club who would have treated a Manager like Kenny Dalglish in such a despicable way and not allowed him a shred of dignity after all he’s done here.
Don’t accuse me of being a tabloid reader.Look at yourselves.Any idea about Purslow and Benitez?Any clue about Hicks and Gillette and David Moores?What about Rick Parry?
Most of your comments seem to to be drawn exactly from tabloid reports.We’ve gone through turmoil over the past few years and we’ve finished up being satisfied with mid-table after half a season.
Only those with the vaguest idea of what Liverpool Football club is all about would be happy with that!
So we finally get to the route of your anger. On the surface they’re all valid points. I’m sure we’ve all had similar thoughts. Scratch a little deeper though and it’s a pointless attitude. Yes, Kenny did a lot for our club and I’m sure nearly all fans will be eternally grateful for that but in an industry that’s results driven you need to see progress after investment and the league is the measure. Over the 18 months that wasn’t necessarily the case. I don’t really want to say to much more regarding Kenny except that you don’t get far in football putting loyalty and sentimentality first.
I want to see Liverpool be the best again. We all do. Despite how that manifests itself in our personalities when it’s not happening, we all share that goal I’m sure. There’s no magic wand though. There’s no Abramovich. There’s no Jose Mourinho. There’s nothing we could do in 2 years to be able to compete with City, United & Chelsea regularly. We can and will compete with the others. Ok, the results in the first 5 games of the new managers reign didn’t go for us but we’ve now lost 1 in the last 11. That’s pretty good progress from the first games. Next we have to turn some of the draws into wins and when you look back on those draws we were close to taking all 3 points. Maybe we are already. 3 wins in the last 5 shows improvement. So, to say about being happy with mid table shows the resentment you’re feeling. Let the past go and concentrate on the now. It’s not as bad as you make out.
Brian, I can recommend yoga – I do it myself.
Hey Mate,What a lovely reply.And full of statistics!If that’s what you like well;each to his own!
Yoga? Well,that’s great for relaxation:I’m glad you practice it.And I think a lot of supporters would be happy with that.Chill out accept the inevitable.We’re O.K!
Me? Well T’ai Chi is my thing ,a bit more cosmic and a bit more spiritual.But if you’re happy with it well I won’t argue.
A lot of people are happy to see where we are just now.You are not alone!
Good Luck and Best Wishes.
Hi mate. I’ve always fancied T’ai Chi but never got around to it. One thing that’s baffling me though, is I was under the impression it led to mental calm and clarity.
Look mate, I want to keep this civil. Like I said we all want the same goal. I’d really like to ask you though – what do you hope to achieve by constantly slating Rodgers? Believe me, with a mental shift you could be enjoying watching Liverpool at the minute. I can’t stop thinkin about Saturday and how important it is that we beat Villa. The buzz is coming back. When a team slips as far as we have (and we have mate, we’re not what we were), then there’s a danger they can decline further. We can’t take things for granted just because we’re Liverpool. It’s my view – and hope springs eternal – that we’re on a upward path for the first time in a while. It has to be step by step. There can be no leaping as we can’t attract the players needed to leap rather than step. The top players want CL footy as you know. I disagree with you that our squad last season just needing tweaking. Some of them couldn’t even be bothered trying.
It’s entirely your choice how you feel but it’s your loss as it’s quite exciting being a Liverpool fan at the minute.
Hey Robin,you seem to be getting a little agitated with me.I happen to get the impression that you are a genuine LFC supporter.And I admire you for that.
But saying “Look Mate I want to keep this civil”sounds a bit like a threat don’t you think?
Yoga is calm.T’ai Chi is clarity.
Anyway,you can believe what you like and you sound sincere in that and whatsmore I’m more than happy that you feel that way.
So keep calm and carry on as they say!
Let’s all hope that it all turns out right in the end!
I didn’t particularly want to reply again but for the record I must add that in absolutely no way was that comment meant to sound threatening. I can assure you of that. It was meant as the opposite. You’ve misinterpreted. What was meant was without trying to point score I’m genuinely interested in what you feel it achieves slating Rodgers but forget it, it’s up to you. I just feel after the turmoil of the last few years it’s time for the fans to unite again and get behind the club and bring a bit of atmosphere to the ground. That’s all.
Hello again Robin Crimes,I’ve been out of the Country for few days.But this is beginning to sound like a courtship!
No! I’m only joking!Sometimes I say things with tongue in cheek.Like when I said that your comments about “keeping it civil” were threatening.Seriously,I was only joking.
But let me make something clear.I support the Team and the Club.That doesn’t mean to say that I sat on my hands when David Moores sold us up the river nor does it mean that I accepted Purslow’s version of “Soccer Manager” when he appointed Hodgson.
There are some things I need to be convinced about nowadays and one of them is Brendan Rodgers.That does not mean that I don’t jump off my seat and shout as loud as anybody when we have a chance or actually score.
It’s just that Brendan Rodgers sounds like like Roy Hodgson,Sam Allardyce,Alan Pardew and the rest of them.I expected more than a “rough diamond”to manage Liverpool.
It probably didn’t help watching Being Liverpool and seeing him with those envelopes and trying to teach international footballers how to pass a football.
I just get the impression that the ego has landed!
I hope I’m wrong.
Everyone was right to stand up for the good of the club in the past. I just wonder if we now feel it’s our job to vet everyone and whether it’s going too far. I think at 18 months is a better time to judge because there’ll be a clear indication by then. Anyway Brian, I’m too angry to discuss LFC now. If I’m not careful I’ll end up agreeing with you. It’s not been helped by the bloke behind me moaning continually through the match. Even throughout the first half hour when we looked ok. Personally, I thought recent events suggested the selection for today should have included Henderson. Thought he did ok when he came on. P.s I may be wrong but I don’t think there was 1 song today. It was embarrassing.
Sometimes I get the feeling:I was back in the old days long ago.
When we were kids when we were young.
Things seemed so perfect,you know.
The days were endless we were crazy we were young.
The sun was always shining:we just lived for fun.
Sometimes it seems like lately:I just don’t know;
The rest of my life’s been just a show!
Haha. Even if we cleared up on the trophies again, it would never rival those early 80’s. It’s all changed now. Somethings been lost. I was looking at some old photo’s of Liverpool and Chester recently. Really enjoyed them till about an hour after i’d finished. Then, it suddenly dawned on me that I felt depressed for what’s gone.