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Posts Tagged ‘career’

• Suárez/Evra saga casts shadow over FA Cup tie
• Steven Gerrard: ‘We all have a responsibility’

In Sir Alex Ferguson’s mind there was no reason for Manchester United to enter peace talks with Liverpool in the fallout from the Luis Suárez affair. “It is nice of them to do it through the press,” he said in response to proposals from Liverpool. “You would have thought they would come to Manchester United first. I do not see why there is any need for it but I have nothing to say about it.”

The opprobrium poured on his great rivals and old adversary Kenny Dalglish was of their own making. It was not United’s place to offer support and why should they when Patrice Evra, a victim of racist abuse according to an independent tribunal appointed by the Football Association, was the only player condemned in official statements from Anfield?

But then came the draw for the FA Cup fourth round. Things changed. It was no longer about Liverpool easing tensions before their league trip to Old Trafford on 11 February, which is set to be Suárez’s first appearance at an away ground once his eight-match suspension is complete and was the original motivation for talks between the clubs. It is now about United, Evra and 5,319 of their supporters returning to Anfield in the FA Cup three months on from the controversy that damaged Liverpool’s reputation, and the two biggest clubs in English football having a duty to act before a fixture that will be played before a global television audience.

Despite Ferguson’s reservations and authority, a meeting has been held in recent days between the Liverpool and United hierarchies to discuss ways of avoiding potential problems before, during and after Saturday’s tie. Ferguson himself has written to all United fans in possession of a ticket, urging them to give “the sort of support you are famous for”, albeit in the hope that the club’s reduced ticket allocation will be increased for future games at Anfield. Representatives from the FA this week visited Carrington and Melwood, United’s and Liverpool’s respective training grounds, to remind players and staff of their responsibilities to the game and have also written to all parties to reinforce that point.

Steven Gerrard, the Liverpool captain, is confident the message has been understood. “We do all have a responsibility,” he said. “With fair play going on and the campaigns that have been going on for a long time we all have a responsibility to ensure that this game is remembered for the football. Liverpool and Man United is a massive rivalry and of course there is going to be stuff in the papers and banter between fans but it would be fantastic if after the weekend it is remembered for being a top game and obviously, from our point of view, a Liverpool win. We don’t want any front-page stories from this game or any stories besides a football match between two top sides, and may the best team win.”

The FA will have a crowd control adviser at Anfield and has been involved in strategy meetings involving Merseyside Police and representatives from the two clubs. As the alleged racist abuse of the Oldham Athletic defender Tom Adeyemi demonstrated this month in the FA Cup third round at Anfield, clubs are at the mercy of individual behaviour. However, the police, although they do not disclose operational details such as the number of officers on duty, will have an increased presence in and around the ground on Saturday.

The match commander, chief superintendent Jon Ward of Merseyside Police, said: “If there’s any unlawful behaviour we will take action. There is CCTV in place and through working with both clubs we will identify anyone responsible and take robust action.”

There has been no joint statement or public initiative to appeal for restraint from Liverpool and United, an option taken by Chelsea and Queens Park Rangers before their similarly emotive tie this weekend. That is in keeping with a deliberately low-key buildup to the 184th meeting between the north-west rivals.

Evra is expected to play and face the wrath of Anfield, with Suárez expected to be watching from the crowd as he serves the penultimate game of his ban. Viv Anderson, the former United defender, said: “Patrice should definitely play, 100%.

“There will be a backlash but he did nothing wrong, so why should he not play? He is experienced enough and old enough to deal with it. It won’t be the first time he’s been verbally attacked. If you cannot deal with it then you are never going to make a career for yourself. Patrice is at Manchester United playing in the Premier League and is a French international. He has proved that he is able to stand up to all the outside pressures that have been heaped on him as he’s built his career.

“It is not right you have to put up with racial abuse but I am sure it has happened to him in the past. I don’t think playing at Anfield after what has gone on will bother him. There will always be something else around the corner and if you keep worrying about something then you will fold and disappear.”

LiverpoolManchester UnitedSir Alex FergusonLuis SuárezAndy Hunter
guardian.co.uk

André Villas-Boas’s attempt to integrate youthful dynamism into his faltering team fails because of the visitors’ superior knowhow

After he had checked that his ankle was still affixed to his leg and the lengthy treatment had finished, Jordan Henderson had one question for the assorted black puffa jackets on the Liverpool bench. “Who did it?”

The referee Phil Dowd did not know; the hapless official booked the wrong Chelsea player. Ryan Bertrand was on the scene but he had not perpetrated the assault. Henderson was raging. Understandably. However, when he was filled in on the identity of his assailant, he may have gathered himself.

Oh, the hulking 6ft

Bill Shankly was wrong about football’s importance, Manchester City need a stronger defence, Liverpool need a stronger attack and Mario Balotelli needs to grow up

1) Bill Shankly got it wrong

It isn’t more important than life or death. Craig Bellamy was so distraught about Gary Speed’s death there were probably parts of the day when he felt he could barely function, let alone play a key match against his former club. “It was best for us to make the decision for him,” the manager, Kenny Dalglish, explained of Bellamy’s withdrawal before the match. “Gary was a mentor for him, he admired and looked up to him. There’s no way a game of football is more important than grieving.” Bellamy, a scorer against three of his former clubs, must have spent a good part of the week imagining exacting some form of revenge on Roberto Mancini for the way he was ostracised at City, but suddenly none of that felt particularly relevant. Shankly’s was a great quote. Truly great, in fact. But not true.

2) Manchester City’s defence has sprung a leak

That might seem a little harsh when Mancini’s team have answered a call to demonstrate greater adventure this season, accumulating more goals at this stage than any other top-flight club since Tottenham Hotspur in 1963-64. But just think how formidable they would be if they could combine that kind of attacking zest – this was the first time they have not scored at least twice in any of their league fixtures – with the parsimonious defending that has made clean sheets feel almost the norm at times. They managed 29 in total last season, including 18 in the league. Joe Hart was the clear winner of the Golden Glove award – the goalkeepers’ equivalent of the Golden Boot – and the players talked of a manager who considered clean sheets to be “holy”. They are now on a run of only one in 10 and that will pain a man of Mancini’s defensive principles.

3) Anfield is struggling for goals

The official announcer gave the goal to Charlie Adam, but he was being highly generous considering the way Joleon Lescott already had his head in his own hands. The truth was that Adam’s shot, like so many others from those in red, was going wide. At other times Joe Hart was brilliant for City, and this has been Liverpool’s problem at Anfield this season: struggling for goals at the ground where they used to say the Kop would suck the ball into the back of the net. They came into this match having accumulated the third highest amount of shots per home game in the league but, more tellingly, the third lowest conversion rate. Lescott’s error means Liverpool have nine goals from their seven home games. To put it into context, that’s the same as third-from-bottom Bolton Wanderers and fewer than newly promoted Norwich City and the top division’s latest crisis club, Sunderland.

4) Stewart Downing is spending too long on the edges

He cost £20m and, for that, Liverpool might have expected more than to be approaching December without the former Aston Villa player having created, or scored, a single goal. Downing’s form has drifted after an encouraging start and the longer it continues he may find some of the scrutiny that is fixed on Andy Carroll heading his way. His sympathisers will point out that he has kept his place and these are still only the early parts of his career at Anfield. Nonetheless, it was disappointing to see him so reluctant to take on Micah Richards on a day when there were only sporadic flashes to demonstrate why Dalglish wanted to bring him to the club in the first place.

5) Martio Balotelli: still too young, too long

There have been times during Balotelli’s recent burst of scoring when many observers have been tempted to wonder if this permanently perplexing footballer had finally turned over a new leaf. Those who knew him best shook their heads, chuckled and issued the kind of fasten-your-seatbelts warning that comes from experience of knowing how he works. This was his third red card for City in 15 months, and he will miss the Carling Cup quarter-final at Arsenal on Tuesday. The truth is he might not have played anyway. The more disappointing aspect was the immaturity of the player, culminating in the now-obligatory touchline argument with Mancini, as if refusing to accept he had done anything wrong. It was a naughty-child routine we have seen too many times.

Premier League 2011-12LiverpoolManchester CityPremier LeagueDaniel Taylorguardian.co.uk