As a Liverpool Fan – Which way to walk?

I am so confused.  Being a Liverpool fan this does seem to be trend of the season.

I was so excited at the start of this Premier League season.  We made some signings I was excited about like Charlie Adam, and Jose Enrique, and some signings that I wasn’t totally sold on, such as Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson.  Plus I was hopeful that a full season of Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll together up front would easily put us in the Champions League for next season.  I even went so far as to make a bet with a friend of mine that Liverpool would finish ahead of Spurs by the end of the year.  Yea, I’m feeling that a bit now, but the season is not over yet

However I could not predict how much the opening game of the season against Sunderland would set the tone up until now.  Liverpool play a strong game at home, and come away with a draw.  Sound familiar?  It sounds all too familiar, but Liverpool have just dropped too many points at Anfield this season.  Outside of a few games (including the recent Merseyside Derby) they have looked pedestrian at home.  There does not seem to be any fear in opposing teams when coming to Anfield and it shows.  I understand that hiccups at home happen, I mean Manchester United lost to Blackburn at home this season (and that could cost them)

But it is not all doom and gloom with Liverpool.  We captured the Carling Cup, albeit in a match that was a lot more exciting than it needed to be, and while some at Liverpool may think we are above the Carling Cup I am going to be most optimistic.  If this was a team that had been together for three or four years, then yes I’d feel that the newest trophy in the Anfield cabinet would feel cheap, but it does not.  This team has only been together for less than a year and already we have a trophy and remember there are only four up for grabs.  And we are still inline for the FA Cup, and I hope that the players who have finally achieved a medal in England will use it and build off that experience to do the unusual double.

Liverpool is in a great place in terms of ownership.  Being Canadian I am a fan of the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team, and we are in the same division as the Boston Red Sox which are owned by John Henry.  He is the model of to how to run a team.  He took Boston from a team who had not won the World Series in 86 years to two since 2004, so I feel that he knows what it takes to build a strong team and also how to run a team properly

This then steers me back to something that then makes me question where we are headed this season.  The Luis Suarez/Patrice Evra incident was a terrible incident, and I am not here to take sides but after The FA made their ruling, right or wrong I just feel that Kenny Dalglish and John Henry did handle the situation with respect and dignity.  I just feel that things were made worse and sent the wrong message to Liverpool fans.  And then the issue was blown even more out of proportion by Suarez refusing the shake Evra’s hand at Old Trafford.  I just think that all he needed to do was shake Evra’s hand and get back to the business of scoring goals for Liverpool, because we need them badly

Lastly we come to King Kenny.  I know his place in Liverpool history, as a player and a manager.  But I do not feel that Liverpool’s future is in the past.  Anyone seen Moneyball?  If not you need to it is a great movie.  But at the end of the scene the bright up and coming General Manager of the Oakland A’s Billy Beane is approached by the owner of a much larger club and offered the largest contract ever offered a General Manager in the history of Major League Baseball.  The owner was John Henry and he saw the bright mind and bright future that Beane offered.  While Beane did turn them down (this does not spoil the movie), Henry still hired a bright young GM named Theo Epstein who followed the practices of Beane.  I am just not sure if there is not a bright manager out there (maybe in Madrid) who is the driving force to lead Liverpool to future glory.

Again I may be off the rails and when we play a complete game where Gerrard, Lucas, Suarez, Kuyt and Carroll all play together that things might turn out different.

As always, if you think I’m off the rails or making a little sense, please feel free to comment.  Just keep it respectable.