For those of you just joining our soap opera, As the Liver Pools, here's the story thus far...
Our captain, Steven Gerrard, is in court over affray charges from last season, Xabi Alonso could be going to Real Madrid any day now, Mascherano's agent is holding us hostage, Aurelio is out 'til Christmas, Agger is out for a month, El Zhar and Skrtel are also injured. It sounds like the other guys are picking up knocks, but that's normal in football so we'll call that neither here nor there. I'm not sure which I hate worse, the transfer window, or pre-season friendlies.
So far, there's only one good thing I can think of that's come out of this summer...
Even though I'm sure that El Niño's new naña is quite adorable, I still can't help but feel the summer time blues. Here we are, exercising the young talent, whatever that is, and we have not done more than draw a pre-season game yet. Now, I know that these smaller clubs that we're playing are super excited to have a chance against the Reds and are going all out while we're doing jumping jacks, but shit man, a win for confidence would be nice.
I'll tell you a secret, I'm the most afraid of Chelsea. Carlo Ancelotti obviously knows what he's doing. He fits into the Chelsea system where he trains the players and focuses on matches while someone else picks who's on the team. He has a talent for handling the press, he's very charming, hell, he's charmed me with his little jokes whether they be intentional or unintentional. And also those big squishy cheeks I just want to pinch. How do we compete with that? I think Rafa's laying off the pastries, but is fertilizing the goatee.
So yes, kids, I do have my worries, but they are only worries because even though we have our troubles, and the heart of our team has his legal troubles, the soul of our club is still around. He's out there teaching the younger players every chance he gets at the academy and will one day be screaming from the Reds' touchline at the first team. Jamie Carragher is the unsung hero that never asked to be sung about. As long as I know that Carra's in the mix, somehow I sleep a little better.