Ludogorets Razgrad – A view from Ibiza

It’s Tuesday the 16^th of September and 2014 and we are back where we are meant to be – The Champion’s League. Now it’s one thing for Liverpool fans to travel the continent watching our beloved reds in the places they are actually playing, but we all forget sometimes the regular struggles and adventures encountered attempting to watch the game when on our other travels – work trips, city breaks, weddings abroad and summer holidays.  Having moved away from Liverpool I am finding it difficult enough to get to Anfield as it is, but I was a little bit gutted to have to miss my first European game at Anfield for God know’s how long due to being on my 6^th night of a week on the party Island of Ibiza.

Now don’t get me wrong, Ibiza is one pretty amazing place to be, and my compatriots and I had enjoyed a truly glorious week of partying, beaches, laughter, cocktails and the odd ‘recovery’ smoothie. My great mate, fellow Tom and regular match going companion since our Uni days and I were desperate to catch the Ludogrets game having missed our loss to Villa at the weekend and having only vague recollections of being told by someone in a darkened techno filled club that we had lost one nil. I hadn’t believed them, only to wake up and realise that it hadn’t all been a bad dream. So the three football hating females who made up the rest of our crew; reluctantly agreed after five football free days to find somewhere for us to watch the game.

We headed for the rather unglamorous and ‘Brits abroad’ end of the Playa Den Bossa strip and quite easily found a classic holiday establishment which appeared to trade as everything from a bar; to a supermarket; to a games arcade and sometimes pizzeria which had ‘Liverpool – Ludogorets’ scribbled on a blackboard. As me and Tom sat down and ordered  Cervezas we agreed that despite being on one of the most beautiful party Islands in the world, we both rather wished we were in that standing Kop as usual. There is something quite wonderful about watching your team in some Spanish basement dive though, dodgy Sky, a group of sunburnt lads from Yorkshire playing pool and an ancient gamer flashing in the corner. We had hoped to combine the game with some food, but as we were looking for something nicer than a soggy pizza, food was off the agenda for 90 minutes. Our supportive females purchased an array of English crisps to keep us going. You can’t beat a pickled onion Monster Munch when you’re abroad.

So we kicked off and I think we can all agree that we were rather taken aback at the quality, pace and inventiveness that Ludogorets showed. Even we could see without sound from the rather jittery satellite that ITV had built the game up as ‘returning European giants’ against unknown minnows, but you’d think everyone would realise by now that any side getting to this stage of the Champion’s League are no push over. It was the first time I’d seen Lallana in a Liverpool shirt, which I was excited about but our line up certainly had a fresh look to it what with all our new faces and recent injuries. It was perhaps no surprise then that we looked a little disjointed at times and struggled to get into much of a rhythm. I am not one to be negative, but I am sticking by my unsure first impression of Lovren and I think he was lucky not to concede a penalty early on. Sterling, Coutinho and Henderson produced our best football of the first half with a brilliant and pacey move, only for Lallana not able to quite provide the finish.

So a typically frustrating opening first half of European football and not a huge amount to get excited about.  After attempting to show an initial interest, with questions like ‘is it home or away’ and ‘what is Liverpool’s away kit like?’ our girls were now more concerned with having a cigarette outside and the fact that Olympic gymnast Lewis Smith and his mates had taken over the pool table. Tom and I settled in for the second half and more Cevezas. I felt that we really started to open them up a bit more after half time, but continued to look a little fragile at the back. Henderson produced a brilliant ball for Manquillo only to hit over – but it was a difficult chance for the impressive right back. Mario looked full of endeavour but was struggling to get in goal scoring positions. I think it’s patently obvious that he will perform better with someone alongside him up top and I think that showed with the introduction of Borini – perhaps not out in the cold after all? He should have scored with his second touch of the game, heading straight at the keeper. A glorious chance. Sakho and Lovren can’t seem to handle when one of them should go to get it and the other one cover… we still looked a little all over the place at the back and got off lightly when they hit the post.

Then the moment came… Mario’s moment. A slightly scrappy, bobbly take in the box, which sat up and he finished expertly with the outside of his boot. A poacher’s goal in front of the kop. He is going to be a hero, I’m certain of it… it just feels like the perfect fit. So absolute relief in the basement – among myself and Tom at least. Now could we just kill the game off? Apparently not. We seemed intent on getting a second, with Moreno caught ahead of Sterling as we lost possession and Ludogorets countered quickly. Even with our left back out of position, again the central two were easily split with a decent pass though and with Mignolet rushing out mindlessly they easily slotted in the equaliser.

Cue heads in hands. But then came a poor pass back and poor control from their keeper - credit to Manquillo for not giving up on the loose ball and then inviting the foul for the penalty. We had our second chance. Gerrard took it like only he can, with absolute composure and calmness. Cue absolute delirium from two slightly sunburnt Toms. The girls were just glad it was all over, and to be honest, in some ways so was I. There was a feeling of relief as opposed to jubilation over an unconvincing Liverpool performance. A really tough game – but we got through it. Having Champion’s League football back at Anfield gives me a buzz that nothing else can – even in Ibiza.

August Review

This article first appeared in Issue 203 of Red All Over The Land and incredibly fails to mention a certain Mario...

City

The nervous and quite frankly fortunate opening day win over our feeder club felt like an age ago by the time bank holiday Monday came around. In all the excitement over Mario, I’d not given the huge game against City much thought. Sub consciously I think I just didn’t want to think about it, such a big test so early on is always going to be tricky and after the incredible ride of last season, now there was some expectation. Whether we liked it or not.

So what of the game? Well it was disappointing; there is no way around that. We did indeed play well for the first half an hour… but there are worrying signs and I just hope they begin to go away soon. I’m not one to be negative, but our lack of a cutting edge finish up front concerned me massively. We looked to be a little bit rusty, but perhaps that is to be expected.

We played some nice build up stuff, but without really threatening Joe Hart massively. This season was always going to be a lot tougher than last due to the fact we’re no longer a ‘surprise package’ and we’re now without Suarez. Teams will try and stop us coming out of the blocks quickly… they’ll be all over Sturridge and Sterling and getting space will be trickier. The first two opening games have indicated that. However, City away is undoubtedly just about one of the toughest games we’ll face this season and so early in the season I don’t think there is any need to panic or become too downhearted.

Johnson

The way Glen Johnson is being treated by some is an absolute disgrace, the fact his injury was met with pleasure is just not how Liverpool fans behave and personally I still don’t think he has been performing that badly. He does look like he is coming to the end of pretty distinguished career, but Rodgers obviously still values his experience otherwise he wouldn’t continue to play him. It’s another example of Liverpool’s true support just being eroded by idiots and the moronic Twatterati (@anfieldshrine by the way.)

I’m glad we have Manquillo in though, he looks a talent and Flanno still definitely has a part to play. You could certainly make an argument for Flanno being as strong as anyone else we have for either full back position.

Agger

Between City and Spurs the inevitable happened and ‘Dagger’ departed. I was accused of being rather sentimental about the whole thing… indeed accusations of downright man love were levelled at me, but I don’t care… I was absolutely gutted to see him go. I get it… he is injury prone… perhaps not as commanding as we would like… out of Rodger’s plans, but I still think he is one of the classiest defenders we have had in the last 20 years and deserved more from his Liverpool career. But it’s more than that; he clearly ‘got it.’ His love and loyalty for the club, city and fans is unquestionable and it is a trait that is becoming less and less common. I’d take the likes of Agger over some mercenary any day of the week. The fact he wanted to return home to Bronby rather than play elsewhere in the Premiership or Europe says it all and I’m about to scour the Danish side have certainly found themselves a new follower in me.

Spurs

What a difference a week makes and all that. Another great performance and result away at Spurs, it was never going to be quite like last season, but it wasn’t far off. Mario looked good, he should have scored, but that will come. Sterling was outstanding again… although how he didn’t finish after THAT run we’ll never now. Moreno bounced back from his mistake against at City the best way possible with a worldie of a goal. Our captain marvel made a good point, if a Barca or Real left back had scored that goal everyone would be creaming themselves (he didn’t quite word it like that.)

Finally, something that shouldn’t go unnoticed was the fact we kept a clean sheet and about time too. I’m still not sure whether we have properly resolved our defensive problems, I’m not convinced by Lovren but Sakho actually appears to be our strongest option if you believe the stats. Getting a settled back four would be a start, so let’s see who Rodgers sticks with.

So, it’s been a pretty hectic start to the season, just the way we like it… now we just have to endure a ‘International break.’ Luckily I have a wedding to go to – bring on Villa.

Finally…

Well done to MK Dons who beat some mid table Premier League side in the league cup… I forget who it was. 

Oh and finally... finally... a certain someone arrived on Merseyside...

It was beautiful, exhilarating and dangerous… but it’s over.

We’ve all had those relationships. Perhaps when we were younger, first loves… whirlwinds of romance with a stunningly beautiful girl, who many say is too good for us. It’s something which we can concede to a point, but we also back ourselves and know that they’re the lucky ones too. We’re a catch. The sort of girls who are so beautiful and exciting and good in bed that they are; by definition; also a bit mental. But who cares about a bit of crazy when you’re having the time of your life?

Mad all night benders… hours within the throws of passion, she does things to you that you’ve never known before. Your mum hates her. She is beautiful to watch, you can’t take your eyes off her. No one can take their eyes off her… everyone wants her, but they don’t see the crazy. The crazy doesn’t affect them. It gets to the point where the crazy starts to outweigh the fun… the mental ‘episodes’ are getting to you… you begin to wonder whether it’s worth it?

Well Luis… it’s been amazing… it’s been beautiful, exhilarating, passionate and dangerous… but I fear it’s over. I think we need to go our separate ways.

The moment our Luis had a little nibble on the shoulder of Chiellini I pretty much shrugged my shoulders. The media, twitter and of course Evertonians pretty much combusted… but I just felt weary. I had a feeling of ‘oh here we go again.’ I was defensive of Suarez, but I was also not massively sympathetic. My feelings of support towards him didn’t exactly strengthen on the announcement of his punishment. Again I felt sorry for him… in my biased view I felt that the ban was overly harsh and particularly unfair to his club, MY club. When he bit a player in a Liverpool shirt, Uruguay didn’t suffer, but when he does it in a Uruguay shirt, Liverpool suffer? It doesn’t seem fair.

Then the transfer rumours re-surfaced… will Liverpool cut their losses? Barcelona begin to court him and Suarez suddenly turns on his heels and releases an apology with no mention of his club or the supporters he apparently feels so attached to. Our beautiful, crazy, fucked up girl is flirting. But fuck it… do we care? Have we had enough… is it time to move on?

I’m starting to think that when it comes to Luis Suarez, we remember the incredible whirlwind relationship that we’ve had, but be content that it’s coming to an end and look forward to a new dawn… one which is more stable, with just as many beautiful girls and incredible times. Just without the drama. 

RAOTL at 200 - Why we need fazines

(First published in issue 200 of Red All Over The Land. - May 2014)

Without wanting to be too sycophantic, I wanted to mark RAOTL’s 200th issue by talking about the fanzine itself. Reaching the milestone of 200 issues is such a wonderful achievement and something to be really celebrated.

I can’t remember exactly how my relationship with RAOTL first began, but it was about 17 years ago that as a young (and for some reason besotted Liverpool fan) my Dad decided to take me to my first game all the way from our home in Wiltshire. He had no affinity with the club, and we had no ties with the area, but for some reason I had chosen Liverpool as my club. Being an out of towner has always played on my mind, but a lot of my future life choices were consciously or subconsciously driven by the men in red. I ended up attending Liverpool University, and living in the city for 10 years.

Anyway, in those early days I began to get involved in the fledgling online community of Liverpool fans, creating my own fan site ‘The Anfield Shrine’ and writing articles for other fan sites. I assume that one of my early games I must also have picked up a copy of this very fanzine. My enjoyment of that first copy is for me why fanzines are so important. As a young lad not local to the city, Red All Over The Land as a fanzine was one of the first ‘unofficial’ sources Liverpool content that I consumed.

I think I've always had a slightly subversive side with a love of all things underground and non-corporate and that is exactly what attracted me to the concept of a fanzine. I love the fact that fanzines aren’t necessarily glossy, well art worked, slick productions - that is the beauty of them. In the world of modern, corporate football, they are one of the last bastions of individuality, humour and independent thinking. These days of course, the development of the internet has meant that there are countless independent fan blogs, websites and forums… and as much as I can enjoy those too, for me they are not enough. I would never want to see the death of the physical fanzine. Fanzines, and specifically RAOTL, are part of the match day experience for me. I don’t buy programmes, but a physical copy of a fanzine is something ingrained in and older school match day experience that true football fans still crave. Match days are all about flat lager in packed pubs, weaving through the crowd as you walk up to the ground… dodging discarded chip trays to keep a new pair of Adidas pristine, hearing the shout of ‘hat, scarf or a badge.’ That is a real match day experience, not the Sky Sports Ford Focus experience that we are fed on TV. Fanzines are very much part of that real, grassroots, honest experience that we are coming closer and closer to losing.

So I raise a glass to RAOTL on its 200th birthday, and especially the long suffering but fantastic and eternally committed editor JJP (Who was on the front cover of issue 1 Ed? Billy Liddell?) Praise has to also go to the likes of Andy Knott, John Mackin, all the match day sellers and everyone else who has contributed along the way. I urge us all… don’t let the fanzine die. Here’s to the next 200 issues.

You can subscribe to Red All Over The Land for next season on the website.

GUEST POST - Legacy - by Paul Grant

One of the new generation of Kopites leading the way these days with intelligent comment and loyal, passionate support, Paul Grant writes a guest post for The Anfield Shrine looking at what legacy our current side could leave behind... whatever happens this season..

As we our currently facing our biggest title challenge for 24 years, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on just how far we have come, not only in the past few months, but since Brendan Rodgers took to the throne in summer 2012. Without commenting my opinion on whether I think we will eventually win it or not I will take a look into the possibly legacy that Rodgers and our current squad can leave.

Despite having the wonderful presence of Kenny Dalglish leading us to our first trophy in 6 years and taking us to a FA cup final there was no denying that we finished in our worst league position for 50 years. Deep down I believe we all knew that it was time for a change in the hot seat, even if it meant sinking possibly lower. The owners were left with the daunting task finding us that man who would reshape our team from top to bottom in order to lead us success in years to come, that man was Brendan Rodgers.

Looking at Brendan’s previous track record there was certainly a sense of doubt, admittedly from myself also. Sacked after 22 games in charge of Reading, and despite leading Swansea to promotion to the Premier League there was whispers of him just simply inheriting Roberto Martinez’s side. We heard in the very first few weeks about how Brendan is going to take us not only back into the Champions League elite but hopefully lead us to a title challenge and by how we would do it playing an attractive possession style game, somewhat similar to his Swansea side who he lead to 11^th in his debut Premier League season.

In the early days, although it didn’t seem the results were going our way, we could certainly see the managers imprint on the team, shown through signings like Joe Allen, and despite only finishing 7^th in our first year with the new boss we knew that things would certainly be a lot brighter in years to come.

Fast forward 12 months, a lot has happened, on and off the pitch. We currently sit 4 games away from our first league title in 24 years, and whether we manage to pull it off or not, there is certainly no doubt that not only Liverpool fans, but football fans in general are amazed at the job Rodgers has done with Liverpool. Despite missing out on numerous transfers since his arrival he has managed to get 110% out of every single player on the pitch. Even one of the few tactical criticisms of Rodgers football about being too predictable has certainly been blown out the water. 5-3-2, 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3, 4-4-2 diamond; we have seen it all this season and there is no doubt that it has worked well to our advantage, one perfect example of Rodgers influence on players is to look at Steven Gerrard.

“He’s over”, “His legs are gone”, “He’s a shade of the player he once was”, just a few comments I recall from the past few seasons about Steven Gerrard. Now sitting in his deeper, playmaker role for us leading us to an impeding 19^th title there is no doubt that Rodgers has not only improved him as a player overall but has probably extended his career for another 3 or so years.

Being of the younger generation of Kopites, I have grown up with Gerrard, in fact I attended my first Liverpool game not too long after his debut. There is no doubt for me that he is the greatest Liverpool player, admittedly it is hard to say this as I never grew up with the greats of Rush, Dalglish, Barnes, Souness, Keegan, Liddell etc. but I think most will agree it will certainly be hard to deny him of that title if he leads us to the championship.

Another example of Brendan’s terrific man management is his handling of the Luis Suarez situation. Around a year ago, I remember getting outside Anfield to read this confusion on my phone that Suarez had disgraced the club by biting Branislav Ivanovic’s arm. I was horrified, not only by the incident but the seemingly certain departure of the player. Again, fast forward 12 months, he has transformed his game and is now widely regarded as one of the best in the world, 29 league goals, despite missing the first 5 games through suspension and with 4 games still to play he has certainly sent shockwaves around the world, mainly to certain Premier League defenders.

There is always arguments about the legacy of players, who is determined as the greats, no doubt if Michael Owen and/or Fernando Torres would have stayed with us that they were certainly destined for legacy at the club but their departures have somewhat of a sour taste in our mouths, that is one reason why I really would love for us to win this league title. Not only would one of the greatest strikers in the world almost certainly be staying with us for at least another season but he would be propelled into Anfield greatness; and despite all his negatives there is no doubt that he brings many smiles around Merseyside and we hope it continues for years to come.

But regardless of how these next 4 games end up, there is no doubting the great job that Brendan Rodgers has done for our team over a relatively short time period, and hopefully continues to do. No doubting that Gerrard is one of the greatest players to wear the famous red shirt. No doubting that Suarez is one of the greatest strikers to play for us and is possibly one of the best in the world. We must not forget that, no matter how this season ends, but there are also no doubts that not only those 3, but the other players who have all chipped in with their bit this season will earn a place in our hearts for the rest of our lives.

Tweet Paul @PaulGrant94

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Rodgers continues to talk a good game...

I am now wholeheartedly ashamed of my initial doubts about Brendan Rodgers considering the season we are having. If he brings us our first ever Premier League title and first league title for 24 years, I won't just eat my words, I'll write them on myself and run down Bold Street naked*.

With Liverpool fans not only starting to dream, but actually believe, Rodgers continues to impress me with the way he is handling the situation and talking up, and down, our chances. He is managing to keep everyone's feet on the ground while also instilling the confidence and belief in the players that has got us to where we are with 6 games to go.

A story that emerged today have particularly impressed me. Luis Alberto and Iago Aspas are two players that have been in the virtual Anfield wilderness this season, with no starts for Alberto and very little action for Aspas they are two players who most of us won't have given a thought to over the last few months. I'm sure many would expect them to depart in the summer. However, at this crucial time of the season Rodgers has decided to discuss them... their good attitudes, their attributes and their ability to contribute.

Why? Well I think it's a master-stroke.

Firstly, he is showing the man management skills that we hear so about and installing some confidence in two players who must be struggling with the fact they have offered so little in such an incredible season.

Secondly he is underlining the team and group mentality, in that we are all in this together... we win as a group and we lose as group, everyone has something to contribute, from the fans, to the starting eleven, to the fringe players.

Finally, as we enter the crucial final phase of the season, he is reminding two fringe players that their chance may yet come, in whatever guise. He is readying them to potentially make an impact and become heroes. Imagine... not that we want to, that Suarez or Sturridge get injured on Sunday against West Ham? Or we suffer injuries in midfield. Football is a cruel mistress, if by some strange occurrence either of these two players get thrown into the mix of a title challenge... Rodgers wants them to be ready to seize their moment. And so do we.

*I won't do that. No one would want to see that.

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AnfieldShrine Awayday – St. Bloody Mary’s

I hadn’t been to an away game for years, I think my last being a glorious FA Cup trip to St. Andrews to see us hammer Birmingham City 7 nil. My away record overall doesn’t read quite so well, having witnessed, among others, a drab nil nil draw at Leicester City and losses to Bolton, Portsmouth and Southampton. The scene of that last embarrassment was our destination today. Having recently moved back south to Wiltshire, Southampton is now my closest premier league ground and with my Dad’s connections to Southampton and some Saturdays in the 70s spent at the old Dell, we had earmarked this away game as a potential one to get to. A speculative enquiry to the editor of this fine fanzine about any potential spare tickers bore fruit in the week leading up to the game.

As it turned out my Dad couldn’t make it, so I turned to one of my previous away day cohorts and fellow southerner, Joff. We all knew before this game that our record at St. Mary’s was not brilliant, add to that the fact Southampton are the only side to have beaten us at Anfield this season and a very capable team and it was clear that this was a huge game for us. As you may have noted from some of my previous columns, I am very much a reluctant pessimist and I’m still in a constant state of anticipation that our season will come crashing down around us at any moment. Given that mine and Joff’s away record is not the best, we set off with much excitement, but prepared for the worst. Our aim was to enjoy the away day experience that we’ve missed so much and the experience that makes for such a refreshing change compared to the sometimes clinical and staid modern football roadshow of a home game.

It was a beautiful morning and really felt like the start of spring. A cheap and relatively swift train journey from Salisbury found us in Southampton for around 2:30pm, by which point we had already consumed a relatively large amount of Jager, helped down with Red Rhino or some other Red Bull imitation and some accompanying Birra Moreti, just to add a touch of class to proceedings. Joff had cunningly smuggled said Jager in mini bottles of Vimto, in case any overly enthusiastic southern constabulary took affront to our public drinking. The plan would only fall down if for any reason a desperate mother asked for a refreshing swig of our Vimto for their thirsty child.

More glorious sunshine greeted us in Southampton and having gleaned from a few away guides and fellow travelling reds that Yates of all places was the ‘designated away pub’ we started walking up the hill in that direction. Knowing that the giant doormen on the Yates doors were unlikely to let us in with 2 or 3 glass bottles of premium lager and some ‘Vimto’ we decided to finish off the rest of our liquid picnic in the nearby park. It’s funny what an away day does to you, or allows you to do. If I found myself sat in a park downing makeshift Jagerbombs from plastic glasses acquired from a ‘Pumpkin’ train café, I’d start to have serious concerns around where my life was going, on an awayday however, it’s all part of the day and perfectly acceptable. Just don’t tell Thatcherites.

Yates hadn’t really started to liven up when we first arrived, and I completely understand the irony behind my declaration that it was ‘full of wools’ considering we were about as wool as it comes, but there was a definite feel that it was very much heavy with Southampton based Liverpool fans with no real sense of ‘atmosphere.’ There were even some normal Saturday afternoon shoppers / drinkers trying their best to enjoy their beloved Yates experienced and rubbery Hunters Chicken.

A highlight was probably one of the oldest DJs I’ve ever seen trying to make us feel at home by playing any remotely Liverpool related song, extremely loud, and drowning out any attempt at a song from Liverpool fans themselves. We were treated to everything from The Beatles, to The Zutons with some slightly odd versions of our terrace favourites thrown in.

As more and more reds piled in and more and more shit lager flowed the ‘atmosphere’ did begin to pick up and the songs soon got going. By about 4pm we were in full flow and bouncing around spilling our shit lager all over the place.

It was around this time that we realised we’d better think about heading up to the ground to meet JJP and get our tickets. It wasn’t much of a walk up to St. Mary’s, and to be honest, it was a bit of a blur.

We spotted JJP and his compatriots outside the away end, and shared introductions before heading in. It was great to see the Ed. after such a long time and I must thank him again for sorting out the tickets.

The atmosphere inside the ground was already building nicely, as you’d expect with thousands of scousers having a long trip down for a 5.30pm kick off and plenty of ‘ale time.’ By this stage my pessimism and nervousness had pretty much evaporated in vapour of Jager and Carlsberg.

Quarter of an hour in and that pessimism evaporated further as Suarez finished brilliantly from what initially looked like a lovely through ball from Sturidge, but in fact turned out to be quite a fortunate deflection off Fonte into Luis’ path. It’s bit of luck like that which you need to be successful, especially at places like St. Mary’s.  I know it’s a cliché but I think if you’re positive, luck does come your way.

The travelling Kop were rapturous and bounced to the stalwart Suarez song, but on the pitch Southampton weren’t going to just roll over as they spent the remainder of the half playing some nice stuff and knocking on our door. Lallana was unlucky not to draw them level as his clever shot rebounded off the post and Mignolet pulled off a brilliant diving save to deny Rodriguez.

Half-time was spent on a raucous concourse as ‘We are Liverpool…’ didn’t let up and nor did the flagrant disregard for the smoking ban… which even as a non-smoker I can’t help admire.

Sterling replaced Coutinho 10 minutes into the 2^nd half and made an immediate impact to slot in yet another Suarez assist. Then we felt we could relax a little and really enjoy ourselves and the scouse presence in St. Mary’s didn’t let up in terms of volume.

A great early evening was wrapped up as Gerrard dispatched his 90^th minute penalty with the sort of composure that we have become accustom to and there ended a genuinely fantastic result for Liverpool FC. 

I would agree with Rodgers that this could well have been up there with the Arsenal rout, not necessarily in performance or style but certainly in terms of importance and setting a marker.

The ‘we’re going to win the league’ chants were inevitable considering the immediate excitement, but as always I am trying to apply some restraint and realism.

As I write this, 2 weeks have passed without us playing again and we are now fast approaching the much anticipated trip to Old Trafford. I can appreciate and welcome talk from the likes of Fowler about really compounding Utd’s misery and we are in the unusual position, probably in my entire lifetime of going in to this game as favourites, which is always a danger. But we should be confident, no doubt.

I would rather we take the Mourinho approach and continue to play down our chances, and equally play up Utd’s threat… we don’t want any sort of complacency creeping in.

By the time you read this we’ll know the result… so let’s just hope my pessimism continues to be proved wrong. Whatever happens, we’re in for one hell of a ride before the end of the season and let’s just not forget how far we have come.

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