A rant about stupid people

I said the opening fixture was no barometer for a team’s prospects over the season. My point was backed up last night by Wigan. After their win over Aston Villa on Saturday all the media muppets were raving about the quality of their football and predicting they could be a surprise package this season. Then 3 days later they lose 1-0 at home to Wolves. Point proved.

Meanwhile, Arsenal, after the overblown reaction to their mauling of an out-of-sorts Everton, out-passed and out-played Celtic last night – as they have done to many teams over the last few years – but crucially struggled to create any genuine goal-scoring chances – their Achilles heel in recent campaigns – and were extremely fortunate to take a 2-0 lead back to London courtesy of a ludicrous deflection and a calamitous own goal. Without those huge slices of luck, Arsenal might well have been returning to the capital kicking themselves for yet again failing to convert dominance into goals. They won’t always be so lucky and on this evidence I can see them struggling to break down those gritty teams who will stick 11 men behind the ball at the Emirates as they have in recent years.

However, if you listened to half the morons out there, Arsenal are title contenders whereas Liverpool have blown it – after one game. I’ve had to grind my teeth and suppress the urge to shout at people over the last week or so after some of the rubbish talked about Liverpool and their players by people who don’t know what they’re talking about. In my office, I sit within hearing distance of a bluenose, a dirty Manc, a Leeds fan and a woman who claims to be a Liverpool fan but finds it hard to watch games in between jumping on the latest bandwagon. Despite all following different teams, they appear to find fellowship in slating Liverpool at every opportunity.

After the farcically timed England friendly last week – which I didn’t watch as England games are boring and England fans are mostly stupid – the Manc was slating Glen Johnson claiming he couldn’t defend and Liverpool have wasted £17 million on a donkey. This would be the donkey who made the PFA XI last season, who scored the goal of the season, and who is the first choice England right-back ahead of say, Wes Brown?

Yesterday, I was forced to overhear the alleged Liverpool fan questioning Rafa Benitez’s summer dealings because, in her opinion, Tottenham had a stronger bench than Liverpool. If that was the case, it was only so because Liverpool were unable to include Aquilani, Riera, Agger and Aurelio in their squad due to fitness issues whereas Tottenham had a comparatively clean bill of health. In spite of that, which of Spurs’ substitutes had more of an impact on the game than Yossi Benayoun when he was brought on? Meanwhile, after Ayala replaced Skrtel, Liverpool did not concede a goal and Voronin should have won a penalty after being unceremoniously barged off Benayoun’s through-ball. What did Peter Crouch do apart from head a ball straight at Pepe Reina? What did Jamie O’Hara achieve after replacing Modric? If Tottenham’s bench was so much stronger than Liverpool’s why did Liverpool’s substitutions have the greater impact?

The other point to consider is what would you rather, a stronger bench than your opponent or a stronger starting XI? Despite the disappointing performance, no one can argue that on paper at least, Liverpool’s starting XI was stronger than Tottenham’s. I know whose I’d rather have.

In spite of this, the alleged Liverpool fan joined the Manc, the Bluenose and the supporter of the lower division team in criticising Rafa for blowing all his transfer budget on Johnson and Aquilani.

Had Rafa gone out and bought 5 or 6 players costing in the region of £6 million each, everyone would have been saying we needed quality, not quantity. When the guy spends big (but barely half of the ‘big’ fees spent by Chelsea, Man City and Man Ure), he gets slated for that as well. There’s no pleasing some people.

Meanwhile, Johnson had a good game against Tottenham and earned the equalising penalty after some excellent work. When did Arbeloa ever do something like that?

Today, the “football panel” were mocking Liverpool for signing “cheap Greeks” after we were reported to be signing Sotiris Kyrgiakos from AEK Athens. I don’t know Kyrgiakos as a player but if we are bringing him to the club it will be as cover for first choice centre-halves Carra, Skrtel and Agger. If all three were fit, and hopefully they will be soon, Kyrgiakos won’t play (except maybe in the Carling Cup) but if we have injuries in that department (like right now), doesn’t it make sense to have an experienced international defender to be able to bring in ahead of inexperienced youngsters like Ayala?

Someone who calls him or herself a Liverpool fan should not be slagging off our team to fans of our most hated rivals who want nothing more than to believe we are in disarray and our manager has lost the plot. This person was all too happy to celebrate the 4-0 win over Real followed by the 4-1 win at Old Trafford but after one defeat, the knives are out and the manager apparently no longer knows what he is doing. When I last checked, the lyrics of the song were not “When you walk through a storm put your head down and slate your team”.

If Liverpool deliver the goods tonight – and I believe they will – it will be a different story tomorrow. Let’s face it, if they bang in six, suddenly everyone will be talking about them as title challengers. Fickle idiots.