Originally Posted by JoeSemi
I'm not sure are you aware of the long held tradition/unwritten conduct among Liverpool fans of not openly criticising or booing either the team or any individual player when 100% can be seen to be given. Hence, the outpouring of joy for Peter Crouch when he opened his account on saturday. If Peter Crouch had gone hiding over the last few months and his performance level had dropped to Beattie levels do you think he'd have been given the appreciation he got? Unlikely; and that is why he is in the team every week and Cisse isn't. Notice the lack of discontent among Liverpool fans at the minute if you can and it may tell you that things are going well and there is full faith in Rafa and what he is doing.
Erik Meijer was recently listed as the top cult-hero among Liverpool fans in this months Kop magazine. It certainly wasn't for his football ability, but for the effort he put in on the rare occasions he played. Igor Biscan got a worthy mention also. Any other set of fans would curse them until their dying day that they happened to wear their team's colours. That in a nutshell sums up how special the bond is between both the greats and not so greats of Liverpools past and its supporters. Meijer could be remembered as the lumbering Dutchman who wouldn't hit a barn door, but because he gave his all anytime he put on the red shirt he has endeared himself to a generation of supporters.
It is easy as a Rovers supporter to vent frustration at your crumbling Hoops when there is ample ammunition to fire. Liverpool, on the other hand, is different. Not only to Rovers, but to any other club. Cast your mind back to Istanbul, to the semi-final against Chelsea, to the homecoming last May, to the night against Juventus, to the streets of Cardiff before the Carling cup-final, and to the night when Gerard Houllier made his return from illness. All those occasions will go down in folklore as occasions that any true Liverpool fan will feel proud of. Not only because of what the team did, but as a way of setting themselves further apart from ordinary fans, of ordinary clubs, as someting special. What I am getting at mypost is, are you the fan who criticises at every needless opportunity or, one of the fans that fits in nicely with what true Liverpool fans are all about? I suspect the former from the trash I read from you sometimes. I don't think you'd last 10 minutes among hardcore Kopites if you trawled out some of the gash you've come out with on here recently.
Your entitled to your opinion like everybody else and thats your perogative. But when there is a marked improvement not only from the start of this season, but also a significant one from last season and you continually belittle it, I wonder why any club needs enemies when it has so-called fans like you. You go on about how "only the latest results count" and then contradict yourself by bringing up Burnley and Palace!:confused: What are you on about talking about each game as the "finished product"? The whole season is a work in progress and each game is a step to what the club want to achieve long-term. In football there is no such thing as the finished product, both on an individual and collective level. Rafa Benitez had to overhaul a club on the verge of financial disaster because of Houllier's mismanagement and has done so steadily, and not without success(may I remind you). There's no talk of 5 year plans, with a big void left to fill if it goes pear-shaped. There hasn't been any major hiccups in the tranfer market. And, there has been a gradual, but noticeable, improvement in the style of football being played. What more, may I ask, do you want mypost? Keep highlighting your dissatisfaction "until we are able to compete with the big boys". Were Milan, Juve and Chelsea big enough for you? You'd probably turned the TV off at half-time on May 25th thinking we'd been walloped again by one of the big boys. "2nd and below is for also-rans" Thank fcuk Milan were the also-rans that night and mypost was probably left with egg on his face:p
I'm thoroughly enjoying the current run of form and as D:ream said, "things can only get better"! Hopefully starting tonight by beating or drawing with the Blue Man U and topping the group.