Ahead of Sunday’s match at Anfield, Jamie Kanwar from Liverpool Kop has given a few minutes of his time to answer some of my questions.
Scott the Red: What do you make of the beachball fiasco at the Stadium of Light?
Jamie Kanwar: It was a very unfortunate incident, and according to the laws of the game, the goal should not have stood. However, every team suffers bad luck and dodgy refereeing decisions, and this incident should not be used an excuse for losing the game. As Rafa Benitez rightly admitted out after the game, Liverpool were just not good enough on the day.
STR: How do you feel about your captain in light of his drunken bar brawl?
JK: Gerrard was cleared, which was great, but he brought the situation on himself. After the initial rebuffal, did Gerrard need to approach McGhee a second time to ‘question’ him? No. If Gerrard had just kept away, the whole mess could’ve been avoided. The whole situation spiraled out of control as a direct result of Gerrard’s refusal to let things go. I think Gerrard will learn from the situation, and the hope is it will make him a better captain. I am one of Gerrard’s biggest critics but we have to appreciate that he is only human, and occasionally he will make mistakes.
STR: What did you think about the lack of attention or punishment dished out to Craig Bellamy for punching a restrained fan on the pitch during the Manchester derby?
JK: I feel the same way about that as I do about Eric Cantona’s kung-fu kick and Zinedine Zidane’s headbutt: you reap what you sow. Who knows what the fan might have done if he’d been allowed to get to whoever he was going after? He was probably a terrace thug, and in my view, football thugs deserve everything that’s coming to them.
STR: Where does your 4-1 victory over us last season rank amongst your favourite Liverpool games?
JK: It was a great victory but it is not even my top 20 favourite Liverpool games. Unlike previous Liverpool-United encounters, it is not a game I can watch over and over. It was exciting to win, but the manner of the victory was not that exciting – the game was won as a result of mistakes, set-pieces and a penalty. Give me Liverpool’s 4-0 Anfield hammering of United in 1990 any day; or the 2 games from the 95-95 season, in which Robbie Fowlers scored 2 at old Trafford and 2 at Anfield.
STR: Which playing positions do you think Liverpool are superior to United?
JK: Goalkeeper: Reina over Van Der Sar/Foster any day.
Central midfield: Gerrard over Anderson/Scholes/Fletcher/O’Shea etc.
Up front: Torres over Rooney/Berbatov.
Right back: Johnson over Brown/Neville
Right midfield; Purely in terms of specific. Measurable impact on the team, Dirk Kuyt is more effective than any of United’s right midfielders in terms of goals/assists etc.
STR: How badly will Liverpool miss Alonso this season?
JK: Liverpool have undoubtedly missed Alonso this season, but only because he was not properly replaced from day 1 of the season. Rafa Benitez made the fatal mistake of signing Alberto Aquilani, who is still waiting to make his debut 2 and half months into the season. I do not doubt that Aquilani is good player, but Alonso needed to be replaced with a player of comparable quality right from the start of the season. If that had happened, the Spaniard’s absence may not have been so keenly felt.
The impact of Alonso’s absence has also been exacerbated by Benitez’s pig-headed refusal to consistently play Steven Gerrard in central midfield as a way of compensating for Aquilani’s absence. The facts are simple: Gerrard + Torres this season = 4 defeats (Spurs, Villa, Fiorentina + Chelsea). Gerrard in midfield = 5 wins. Lucas in midfield = 6 defeats. It is absolutely incomprehensible that despite this, Benitez STILL persists with the Brazilian in midfield.
Now, unlike many Liverpool fans, I don’t have a problem with Lucas; I think he has potential and will develop into an effective player. it is not his fault Benitez keeps playing him in central midfield. However, at this stage, the only question that needs to be answered here is this: who is the better central midfielder: Gerrard or Lucas? There is only one answer, and when the chips are down , it has to be aces in their places.
STR: How highly do you rate the chances of Rafa being sacked/walking out this season?
JK: Rafa will not be sacked, nor should he be. Liverpool have never sacked a manager mid-season and the club is not going to start now, especially after last season’s 2nd place finish. On top of that, the club cannot afford to sack Benitez, who recently signed a new long-term contract.
There is a slight possibility that if Liverpool’s run continues to get worse that Benitez might choose to step down, but given his stubbornness, I think it’s highly unlikely. That might change though if he senses the fans turning against him, which is definitely possible if he continues to make the same mistakes over and over again.
STR: Is this Liverpool’s year?
JK: At this stage, the answer would have to be no. Having said that, winning the title after losing 4 of the first 9 league games is not unheard of. Indeed, Bill Shankly’s Liverpool achieved such a feat in the 1963/64 season – 4 of the first 9 leagues were lost but the club still went on to win the title. Football has obviously changed since then, but the current Liverpool team and fan base should take heart from that fantastic achievement as it symbolizes everything that is great about Liverpool.
If Liverpool beat United this Sunday and the team then goes on a run similar to Shankly’s 63-64 side (23 games won/2 games drawn in the next 30 games), then everything will be wide open.
The above may seem laughable right now but this is Liverpool – write us off at your peril. The club’s magical spirit and absolute winning mentality may be in hibernation at the moment, but it is always there, and it will return. And when it does…watch out.
STR: How important do you think the return of Fernando Torres will be to you getting a result against us at the weekend?
JK: Torres is undoubtedly one of the world’s top strikers, so he will be essential to Liverpool’s chances at the weekend. He has 8 goals and 1 assist from 8 games this
season so far, which illustrates just how important he is to the team. Having said that, the media loves to perpetuate the myth that Liverpool is a 2-man team; the stats prove that this is nonsense. Last season, the club beat Man United at Anfield without both Gerrard and Torres, and despite the recent setbacks against Sunderland and Lyon, the team has the ability to do get positive results without Torres, Gerrard or both; and previous history categorically proves this.
STR: Predictions for the weekend?
JK: Liverpool will beat United. It’s almost guaranteed if you ask me. The current slump has to end somewhere and defeat AT HOME to United is unthinkable for all sorts of reasons. Liverpool’s current run is already the worst the club has endured for 22 years; another defeat and it becomes even worse than that. A defeat will also eliminate Liverpool from this season’s premiership race; that cannot be allowed to happen, and I am sure it will not be allowed to happen. United were beaten at Anfield last season without Gerrard and Torres; there is no reason the same result cannot be achieved again.
This Liverpool Blogger seems to be fairly reasonable, so fair play to that. I am not going to visit his site, as I won’t become another number viewing his pages.
I think he is a biased as myslef in that way that he thinks his players are better than ours. I have to say, Torres is the one player in the league, apart from maybe Essien that I’d love to see at United. Not now, but before he came from Spain.
Last seasons result was a disaster, we played our big three forwards at Liverpool and then what happened at OT was unexplainable. We cannot let that happen again this year and I don’t think it will.
I think a sensible result prediction would be a 1-1 draw, Liverpool are playing so badly at the moment and they are due a break and United haven’t been top class, falling over the line on occaisions it could go either way.
Though, I am not sensible, so I will say 2-1 to us, with Owen scoring the winner, adding to Gary Neville’s 80th minute equaliser
Hey, anything can happen in football. Yes. Anything can happen. Lets not guarantee a Manchester United win or Liverpool win. This is the way of the game.
I remember Arsenal being beaten by Fulham and Hull City few weeks before Stoke did beat them a week before the Manchester United game. They had Robin van Persie suspended, Emmanuel Adebayor injured, Kolo Toure recovering from injury and being out of game fitness, Gallas being out of form like Carragher now. In midfield like Lucas now, they had rookie Denilson (who was in the Arsenal reserves the season before).
In that match, every body expected a Manchester United win, but, all though Manchester was superior in the game Arsenal unexpectedly won.
Thats normal in football.
Haha the old Owen and Neville sucker punches. Owen’s goal to deflect off his arse and a Cantona mask?
Brwah – Valencia has two goals in his last two games.
I take it those are the league stats, all they show is that in the same playing time their stats are similar. For instance in the next four league games Valencia could score two and create another two which would mean that he is “statistically more effective” and then in the next game Kuyt could get an assist to make them the same and then in the next game after that Kuyt could get fouled more and this would apparently swing the title of “most effective” back in his favour.
It’s just using whatever set of stats suit his argument at whatever exact moment in time to make an inane worthless point that can be ripped apart due to its inconsistencies and unfairness. For it to be a fair analysis, and to be fair to JK he did say any of United’s right sided players so he didn’t single Valencia out, you would have to combine all of the stats for each person who has started on the right for United. Seeing as Valencia is pretty equal on his own then I’m sure that would at least balance it out.
I’d just like to add for the record that unless you can prove some substantial difference with stats and crucially you can place them in the context they are in then they are pretty meaningless.
On paper N’Gog’s injury time goal in the 4-0 win over Stoke means the same as Macheda’s injury time goal against Villa last season. I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions from that!
Either way, Giggsy has been by far the most creative midfielder on either side. Hell he could have only played the City game and the 4000 chances he created probably will edge it.
“clean sheets is the principal way to judge a goalkeeper’s effectiveness, is it not?”
FFS get a grip! my intelligence is too insulted to even explain how daft that statement was.
Guys. My prediction for this match is 1-1 or 1-2 to United. If i’m correct is there a price? First of all, united must play their game.
Hey guys – Some of you were annoyed by my prediction of an ‘almost guaranteed win’, but I was right: we won, and I knew we would win.
The victory doesn’t really mean anything at this stage (in terms of the league) but it’s a good platform on which to build.
It doesn’t mean anything? Don’t you mean it means you’re statistically more effective than us? =D