Con Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Looking forward to watching the second leg. Can't lose really... if Bayern win then Man U are out but if Man U get through, it'll please me knowing Con was wrong again I got the possession split spot on! Almost. 26% / 74%*. I said 25 % / 75 %. *More tactically astute than Pep Guardiola, I had picked Mandzukic to start. Something as sophisticated as a false 9 is wasted on a handball defence. BTW my guesses tonight were 2:1 PSG win, 4:0 Real win, and the scores ended up 3:1 and 3:0 so not bad there. Just the goals failed to materialise yesterday. Second leg cannot be the same game as Bayern have the crucial away goal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 (edited) Liverpool fans truly believe they are some special magical club. Like you say Man Utd ruined my childhood and I will never want anything but the worse for them. In the interest of fairness, their time in the sun deserves to be over. it is a special club imo. Its a very unique city Why? its just the feeling of the club and the whole image, its a very emotional club and I pick up on it. Some people might think I'm talking shit and that's fair enough, but more than any club it has a special feeling to it. Very proud club and city. I also get the same kind of feeling from everton but not on the same level. Maybe its just me ha. Yes its the whole history of the club and city with Shankly, The Beatles etc. The first place an american girlfriend asked me to take her to was Liverpool, 2nd was Stonehenge lol Edited April 2, 2014 by PaulC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Electric Avenue Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 You have to understand the history of Liverpool the city to understand why their people are as they are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 How come the Everton fanbase isn't nearly as insufferable? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Electric Avenue Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Root cause, religion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Lions_Roar Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Anyone that's been to anfueld knows its not all that. The first time i went I expected an amazing atmosphere and it was shocking. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sellbydate Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Liverpool should be everyone's most hated club. No club has an arrogance like them. The belief that their club has an atmosphere of romance unlike any other is completely invented by them and I can't believe people fall for that shit. Man Utd were ruthlessly successful for a long period of time, have a lot of deluded fans who've never experienced anything but winning and are despise-able, but there really isn't any competition between the two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dakid007 Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Liverpool fans are eeeeeeeddddyyyyyaaaaaattttttttssssssss. Can't wait for Gerard to retire and Suarez to leave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dakid007 Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Utd played well against bayern but can't see bayern taking it so lightly in 2nd game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 Root cause, religion. What's religion got to do with it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyp102 Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 So Juan mata braks his duck against us (surprise surprise) and now looks like back to his best. If only utd had played us in jan they would probably be back in the top four again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 It was only a Mata of time before he came good though. Stop playing him on the wing and he plays well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 Has to play centrally. Thought United would win well yesterday, Newcastle were missing half their team and have retired for the season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 Newcastle have been on the beach since Christmas and their team became significantly worse when they sold Cabaye in January. Their results have been shocking in 2014. They've won 3 games since the transfer window closed and two of them were with jammy 93rd minute goals, and yes, of course one was against us... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 They will fall back into the mid table pack if they don't sign a good replacement for Cabaye next season. They will lose Remy aswell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NurembergVillan Posted April 6, 2014 Moderator Share Posted April 6, 2014 (edited) Root cause, religion. What's religion got to do with it? “”Let me try and explain Liverpool Football Club and why they have so many representatives in the media, why they seem to get away with anything, why they are so distressed about Torres leaving and why this all leads to Chelsea being openly hated. It’s quite simple and fascinating. Liverpool (the “club”, which is like any other football club, no more than an abstract concept built on concrete facts like past records, a stadium and supporters), the fans and many of their former players show the same behaviour traits displayed by followers of major religions. Once you begin to understand this and how it manifests itself, the anger dies down. The closest comparison is with the Catholic Church and Islam. Both powerful religions obsessed with being big. Obsessed with the number of followers they have and obsessed with preserving their beliefs even when faced with evidence that disproves or just challenges their long-held assumptions. Ritual, as we know, is a key element to religious behaviour. “You’ll Never Walk Alone” is an incredible example of this. It is sung with religious fervour and is about surrendering individuality for the group. It is a defining moment for all Liverpool followers. No other football chant comes close. And they ask everyone who hears it to comment on it. They ask us to confirm that it is the loudest, most awe-inspiring, most spine-tingling, most religious moment we have ever experienced. And it is repeated word-for-word, note-for-note before every match as a gospel choir would sing in church. It does not behave like a football chant. There is no humour, no taunting the opposition, no jolly lads getting ready for 90 minutes of support and abuse. It is born-again, wide-eyed fervour. Repetition is, of course, a central factor to the belief system and that is why every Liverpool follower (I choose this word above supporter), is primed to say exactly the same as every other Liverpool follower. There can be no deviation from the true path. Have you ever met a Liverpool follower who would dare to say that YNWA is a dreadful chant or that talking about “history” is a load of bunkum? This kind of deviation is not allowed and if someone dared to say such a thing then the simple answer would be that he is not a true follower because a true follower would not say such a thing. History. What is this fascination with history? Football is really only about the present and memory. It is not about history. Most supporters know all about their team. They know the great players, cups won and disappointments along the way. But history? This is something that religions do in order to create a back story on which to build a myth. Liverpool has no more history than Crewe Alexandra or Queens Park Rangers, although it has certainly had more success. Success can be measured and although Liverpool’s followers like to quote their successes (and fear being surpassed), it is something that is ultimately too risky to build a belief system upon. In fact, this season Manchester United could become more “successful” than Liverpool in domestic league titles. For this reason Liverpool’s belief system is built on an abstract concept (history) rather than something that is scientifically provable (league titles). In fact, the more Liverpool stopped winning things, the more “history” became the currency for their beliefs. Only recently have we heard commentators say on television that even with all Chelsea’s money and recent success, they will never have Liverpool’s history. Of course that is true because nobody knows what it means to have another club’s history and nobody could ever be anybody else anyway! This is a trick that religions have been using for thousands of years and why it is practically impossible to debate with “true believers”. As an aside, an interesting comparison can be made between Liverpool and Everton and one that a football anthropologist would do well to study and report on in detail. The followers / supporters of these clubs display very different traits even though they may come from the same families, live in the same streets, go to the same schools. Everton play the theme tune from Z Cars when the team runs out and talk about the School of Science. They support their club and leave it at that. I would love to see some genetic research on those who choose to be a Blue and those who opt for the Reds in Liverpool. If, as neuroscientists are attempting to locate at the moment, there is a “god gene”, I would imagine it is more prevalent in Liverpool followers than Everton supporters. (This doesn’t mean they are closer to god but more disposed to believing in one). It is often remarked that there are more ex-Liverpool players in the media and on football programmes than any other club. Match of the Day is a good example where the definition of a balanced view is to listen to Alan Hansen first and then Mark Lawrenson. But why does this happen? Again, the answer lies in religion or how Liverpool displays all the traits of religion at its worst. There are not more Liverpool representatives because they have history or had success. That would be ridiculous. And statistically Liverpool has had the same number of players in the last 40 years as any other club and they are only one of about 45 teams that have been in the top division during this period, which makes it unlikely that any club would be represented by more than a couple of ex-players on television. But, like religious followers, the ex-players are believers and believers want to be heard. (Evolutionary biologists describe the meme theory where beliefs are transmitted by individuals or a group. This may be how religions survive and so the analogy holds in this case). It is essential for the Liverpool story to be told over and over again and therefore it needs storytellers. This subconsciously propels ex-players from Liverpool to become spokesmen and storytellers and thus perpetuate the myth. The only other club that does this is Arsenal, where it has convinced its own followers first and then the wider public that it has a “way of doing things”. But we can leave Arsenal for another day. And all this brings us up to Fernando Torres. He is a footballer. He played for Liverpool. He is a good footballer. He decided he wanted to move to another club (in much the same way he decided he wanted to move to Liverpool four years ago). This happens all the time. Footballers either stay at one club all their career or move. These are the only two things they can do. We are all used to it. But something very different has happened here. In fact, something religious has happened. Fernando Torres was loved at Liverpool. He had a special status like a saint or a leader. And he became an apostate. In religious terms, this is as bad as it gets. No matter how big or how powerful a religion is, the “church” is rocked to its foundations when someone chooses to leave or step outside the line. In Islam, apostates are killed. Think of Salman Rushdie. He wrote a book where he imagined some scenes that involved the prophet having sex. This led to death threats, book burning, flag burning and the incredible scenes of followers of an enormous religion feeling threatened by the words of one man. The lesson is simple. When you are in the club, the church, the movement you do not criticise and you always follow the party line. You’ll Never Walk Alone. The Biggest. History. Fernando Torres angered his followers by becoming an apostate and daring to say that he was moving somewhere else that might be bigger. And just like across the muslim world the same reaction happened on Merseyside. Book burning, shirt burning. And to back up the meme theory, this was transmitted through the media. It was considered a subject for debate even though the conclusion was never in doubt (as it never is with religious followers). TORRES DID NOT MOVE TO A BIGGER CLUB. HE IS A BAD MAN. HE HAS LIED. And so Torres has moved from saint to apostate to sinner to Judas figure. And he has been replaced by a second coming, by a brighter future because religions don’t like to lie down and admit defeat. They are never wrong. Every Liverpool follower is now saying exactly the same thing. They did best out of the deal. They got two for one. They traded in someone past his best. They are happy. The religion was challenged but it has come out on top. They will never walk alone. I could go on about how they have created a god out of Shankly. Someone who is often quoted, even though he didn’t really ever say that much which is particularly illuminating or original. I could also mention the self-pity (another religious characteristic) and their desire to always be a part of every tragedy. In fact, once you start the more you realise how interesting it is that in England there are so many football clubs but only one that stands out for displaying the behaviour traits of a religion. Religions do need other religions in order to survive. It may be argued that through memes they create other religions themselves along their evolutionary path (Judaism to Christianity to Islam as well as the different branches specifically within Judaism and Christianity). Opposition is a necessary factor for belonging. And, for another day, this is why the new Chelsea myth exists and why “pundits” (followers of Liverpool) are openly antagonistic towards Chelsea, something which they would not do to any other club. Chelsea is a threat and must be treated that way, according to the followers of the Liverpool religion. But I don’t want to linger on Chelsea, or why Manchester United has continued being successful without displaying the same traits as Liverpool or why nobody has ever considered if Bolton Wanderers, West Bromwich Albion or West Ham United have a history. I just want to show why we all find it so frustrating listening to the nonsense that is spoken about Liverpool and by their followers. And once we begin to understand that it is like listening to a Moonie talking about being saved or a theologian cloaked in mythology masquerading as fact “proving” that miracles really do happen that we realise that we will never be able to argue with Liverpool followers. They are too far gone. And quite simply, that means they are too far away from truth, reality and knowing how to have a good time.” http://www.chelseasupportersgroup.net/2011/02/the-liverpool-myth/ Edited April 6, 2014 by NurembergVillan 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Dogg Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 So Juan mata braks his duck against us (surprise surprise) and now looks like back to his best. If only utd had played us in jan they would probably be back in the top four again. Moyes has unlocked his potential almost by luck with RVP and Rooney both out. Kagawa is even looking good. A balanced team outweighs big names. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 I can see Rooney playing as an out and out centre forward next season, with Kagawa/Mata/Januzaj behind him. Similar to the system he used at Everton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rovers13 Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 To be fair, this balanced teams has some pretty big names. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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