So, was he overpriced? Overrated? Should he instead play on the wing? Glen Johnson wasn’t the most straightforward of signings, right from the start. Portsmouth still owed in the region of £8m for signing Peter Crouch a year earlier; money that, with hindsight, clearly wasn’t going to be paid in cash.
Liverpool v Chelsea games are never short of drama or controversy, but this meeting comes with an extra dose of anguish and mixed feelings. A Liverpool victory will maintain our slim chances of finishing 4th yet it could also put Man Utd in the driving seat to secure their 19th league title if they beat Sunderland.
Of all the falsehoods that get spouted about Benítez, the misrepresentation of his record in the transfer market is perhaps the most baffling. John Toshack is the latest to be quoted criticising, saying that Rafa has spent €300m and only signed three good players: Torres, Reina and Alonso.
Remember Wayne Harrison? Or Richie Partridge? What about John Welsh? The likelihood is that some, if not all, of those names will sound familiar but certainly not as much as had been expected. In their youth – and we’re talking about when they were just out of school here – all three had been considered certainties to make it.
Two League /European trophy doubles, back-to-back, champions of England, champions of Europe – we were now indisputably top of the pile. A new design of scarf came out, carrying just that message; ‘champions of England, champions of Europe’ below the club crest in a triumphal scroll and ‘Supporters all over the world’ emblazoned above it.
A look at what Rafa might be thinking, as a difficult season comes to an end – but also, the possibility of a difficult situation (owners, lack of investment, no new stadium) likewise coming to an end, now that the club is genuinely up for sale.
A number of issues could be cleared up at the top and bottom of the Premier League this weekend. Victory for Liverpool over Burnley could see the latter relegated to the Championship, providing West Ham take maximum points against Wigan on Saturday. Failure to defeat Burnley coupled with Spurs beating Man Utd would see Liverpool mathematically ruled out of the running for the final Champions League place.
Zidane Clustering Theorem is designed to show that teams full of very good players are better than those with a few superstars and a collection of also-rans making up the numbers (the ‘Zidane’ referring to the Real Madrid approach during the time of galácticos.)
Ahead of our semi-final encounter with Atletico Madrid, I thought it would be interesting to look back on the other occasions when we have reached this stage of the competition, as well as previewing the game against Maxi and Torres’ former team.
Collymore has offered a three-point plan to ‘guarantee’ Liverpool the league title: get rid of Gillett and Hicks, employ Jose Mourinho and give him £100m to spend. Yes, it’s that easy. Why didn’t anyone think of it sooner?
