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So, I assume everybody has heard how the loyalists of Stamford Bridge managed to scramble themselves a Torres banner, a small sign of welcome for their new striker, but it ended up little more than a xeroxed copy of the flag that always hung for him at Anfield? Well, if you hadn't, I suppose that now you have. So there's that sorted.
Oh, almost forgot: For good measure, they included the Liverpool banner's outline of the Shankly Gates when they were copying it over.
I suppose they can take pride in at least managing to make it blue instead of red, but hey, lesson learned: This exactly is the sort of thing that happens when you make your own flags rather than just letting the club hand you a mass produced plastic offering...
* Over at Well Red, Gareth Roberts talks of the new hope surrounding the club under Kenny Dalglish in the reflective glow of Sunday's match against Chelsea. It's a well done piece, with a well deserved smirk in Chelsea's direction for their obsession with Liverpool's history and their need to elevate themselves beyond it, at least in their own heads, and even if the reality hardly flatters. Still, I suppose there always is a touch of amusement to be found when a Chelsea fan talks of Liverpool as their rival when the feeling is hardly mutual.
Best of all, though, might be his identification and formal naming of the pernicious, TalkSport regurgitating Liverpool fan who still exists in various dark corners and enjoys nothing more than spewing misguided hatred for Lucas. He calls them Luddites. I rather like that.
* It's a few days late, but there hasn't been a link roundup since it came out, so anybody looking for a good football podcast should wander over to Propping Up the Table for a review of the transfer window. Given that one of the three hosts is a Liverpool fan and another follows Newcastle, there's a good deal of talk of the whole Torres-Carroll-Suarez axis of transfer insanity. Or it might just be that the Torres-Carroll-Suarez axis of transfer insanity was a pretty big part of the transfer window no matter which club is the object of your affections.
There's also a good overview of transfer action in general, and some discussion of FIFA's upcoming financial fair play regulations for those who want to brush up on that side of things.
* "Before the drugs got him, before the drink and the strippers and the countless strung-out nights in fleabitten hotels, before the nightmares and the doubts, Dominic Corcoran was a miniature golfer."
Now that you've been baited by his narrative hook, I'll point you towards Brian Phillips, who ponders the relative ease with which many outlets responded to an already established story--a disinterested Fernando Torres fails to impact the match against his former club and maybe it's that he again lacked service, or maybe he's past his prime, or it might just be that he's still in a lingering sulk--while failing to adequately address the earlier shocking 4-4 draw between Arsenal and Newcastle since it didn't fit neatly into any pre-existing narrative. It's tangentially--at best--related to Liverpool, as always seems to be the case when I find some thin excuse to link to The Run of Play, but for the handful of you who enjoy when I occasionally go off the reservation with a Beckett pastiche or some such silliness, it's a must read on the place for story in how we interpret this sport we all love.
Well, this is certainly odd, isn't it? I mean, a whole week to wait between matches and all of a sudden I can't stand the break? It would have been hard to imagine that a month ago, though I suppose at least there are a couple of internationals to half dread, half distract us on Wednesday. In the meantime, while you ponder just what sort of flag might be best for you, have a bit of history...