3. NickoH

I could quote the old saying of ‘heart or mind’ but I’ll let my mind rule this time.

It’s that time of the year when hope is usually high on the agenda, whereas in trophy laden times gone by it was an expectation of league winning success that was top of the list.

I’ve learned over the years to suppress this hope because sometimes even a little hope can be a cruel thing and the let down felt after Christmas (at best) can be a huge fall, with many a word typed in anger towards the owners, the underperforming team and the odd shot towards Rafa.

It’s been a slow progression, rather than a big bang but Rafa is steering the team in the right direction, I’ve no doubt about that. The summer has yet again seen a steady of never heard of youngsters, a couple of promising more experienced men and the possible ‘Torres’ signing in Robbie Keane. Will Robbie be this final missing piece of the jigsaw which has become harder to find than the Holy Grail and the Loch Ness Monster put together ? Only time will tell but I think he may just be the signing to turn them relatively huge number of last seasons draws into 3 points.

Obvious but Anfield needs to become the famous fortress yet again. Rafa seems to have cracked the away games but last season our home form let us down, which was a surprise to say the least. Maybe, just maybe, Rafa needs to go for the jugular when we are 1-0 up and coasting. Many times I felt if we got the second we would go on and win 3 or 4-0 instead of settling for what we had and many times ending up with only one point.

Babel, Torres, Gerrard, Keane, etc, etc…..on paper at least give us a mouth watering combination in the attacking third and fingers crossed the defence will be a place that will need to fight for places. Skrt’s, Carra, Agger and to a lesser extent Sami will be competing for the two central spots and it’s anyone’s guess who will make the positions theirs. In Pepe Reina we have a now hardened Premier performer in the nets and I wouldn’t swap him for anyone. His record in winning the Golden Gloves (or whatever it is called) tells no lies and gives us the start of that solid background down the middle.

Hopefully the off the pitch scenario will not be filling the papers as much as last season and whatever the outcome in that ‘battle’ the results will fill the message boards and column inches of Fleet Street’s ‘finest’.

So where will we finish ? Back to my heart and mind…….heart says we can win it, possibly all the way to the last game…..my mind says 3rd behind Chelsea and Man U but a lot closer.

The other cup competitions will hold the best hope of a trophy coming to Anfield. Rafa will play a second string in the Carling Cup but it may be strong enough (if we avoid Chelsea away) to bring it back home and give us a first visit to the new Wembley and a weekend piss up in London.
The FA Cup again may offer us a visit to Wembley twice but again it depends how seriously we take it. The scares last season and eventual upset in getting turfed out by lower opposition may well turn into a Burnley moment and we go on to win it the season after.

Europe….what can I say about Europe ? Every season now starts with me actually thinking we can go all the way….Maybe it’s the confidence we have got in recent seasons that fills me with hope for the forthcoming campaign or maybe it’s just a bit of wishful thinking that I’ll be sat in a bar in Roma come May. Whatever it is, I again think we can go all the way and after last seasons English domination we might just have to get through an all English quarter or semi final clash.

My Club-My View……full of hope as usual but don’t tell anyone…..I keep these things to myself.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 7th, 2008 at 9:24 am and is filed under Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.