by Neil Atkinson | Jan 27, 2017 | Footie
I CRACKED a bit on Wednesday. Which was problematic because I cracked a lot on Saturday. There isn’t that much more to crack. I realised I’d cracked when I dropped to my knees on the aisle and slapped the concrete repeatedly after Daniel Sturridge’s...
by Neil Atkinson | Jan 26, 2017 | Footie, Match Review
THE cusp. The abyss. The tightrope. All modern Liverpool seasons end up there at some stage. It’s what they do when they reach it that counts. Almost every football season when you watch Liverpool is death or glory. Sometimes that’s the case because good...
by Neil Atkinson | Jan 21, 2017 | Footie, Match Review
I’M 36 today. Liverpool last won the league when I was nine. It’s hard to escape the crippling feeling that, at best, it next happens when I am 37. At best. Without sounding overly dramatic it is difficult to put into words how that second half felt. When...
by Neil Atkinson | Jan 18, 2017 | Footie, Match Review
WHERE’S the balance for this? Where is the tone? Because it is the rhetoric which tends to let these affairs down. For all the talk of the magic of the cup, and while acknowledging that tonight was a significant game for Plymouth Argyle and for two or three...
by Neil Atkinson | Jan 18, 2017 | Footie
REPORTS today suggest that Xabi Alonso has told Bayern Munich he plans to retire at the end of the 2016-17 season. The Spaniard has been at the Allianz Arena since 2014, having previously been at Real Madrid and, of course, Liverpool. His stellar career has spanned...
by Neil Atkinson | Jan 15, 2017 | Footie, Match Review
CAN I tell your congregation how a resurrection almost feels? There was something about that little cup run combined with Sunderland combined with everyone else winning football matches for what felt like forever which hurt. Which dented. Which made you wake nights...
by Neil Atkinson | Jan 11, 2017 | Footie, Match Review
THAT should probably be all over bar the shouting. Liverpool were dreadful for the first hour of that game and they were poor for the last half an hour, but they remain in the tie. Had you offered Claude Puel and his side a one goal lead before a ball was kicked, I...
by Neil Atkinson | Jan 8, 2017 | Footie, Match Review
GOOD lord. #PrayForGibbo. As ever a long season finds a way to get longer. At least this wasn’t heart-renderingly intense. The third round of the cup rarely is. I have no issues with the selection. Maybe Daniel Sturridge ahead of Divock Origi or Ben Woodburn,...
by Neil Atkinson | Jan 2, 2017 | Footie, Match Review
THERE is a scene in Paul Thomas Anderson’s best film Punch Drunk Love when the lead character played by Adam Sandler is embarrassed in a restaurant and then goes to the bathroom and absolutely kicks fuck out of it. He wallops it from pillar to post. He...
by Neil Atkinson | Dec 31, 2016 | Footie, Match Review
WEEKS before this. This: What a game this will be. Two sides who will want to play and be able to play without fear. First vs second or third. A close affair to see in the New Year. Can’t wait to take it to them. Stick it to them. Show them who is better. Should...
