More Questions Than Answers

photo by Ian Wilson	via PhotoRee

Some observations and further questions upon watching Liverpool - Stoke City:

• The bias in English football commentary is striking and very obvious at times. Witness the gem that came out of one of the announcer's mouth at the beginning of Wednesday's Liverpool match against Stoke City: 

"[There's] Just a totally different feeling about [Liverpool] since Kenny came back in. I saw them a few weeks ago, against Blackburn, and they were absolutely dreadful."  

Ummm, maybe I have this wrong, but I think Liverpool is 3-2-1 since King Kenny returned, with victories over Stoke, Wolves and Fulham.  They're not exactly setting the world on fire.... They've managed to lose their biggest star, and replaced him with some very expensive question marks. Is that a totally different feeling, or a totally different standard?   You decide. 

• While I'm at it, I might as well bring up the double standard among the scouse fans, as well. Can you imagine the howls of derision Uncle Woy would have endured if he not only let 'Nando fly the Kop (er, coop), but if he also changed the team formation as radically as Dalglish has?  Liverpool showed off a 3-5-2 tonight vs. Stoke.  I can't see Roy Hodgson getting anything but stick if he tried to change the system in such a manner.

• What in the world would inspire Stoke City to sign John Carew? I consider him a poor man's Emile Heskey, and that's not saying much. The guy may be big, but he's relatively immobile, and doesn't seem to creat much on the offensive end. Why would Stoke not only sign him, but then keep Kenwyne Jones on the bench to start Carew?  Baffling.

• More biased commentary, and utter bull$hit, as the announcers laid down a clownish amount of praise on Dirk Kuyt, thus confirming for anyone in doubt that they were watching this game through Liverpool-red colored glasses:

"Anybody watching this game tonight, watch Dirk Kuyt. If you want to play striker, watch Dirk Kuyt, what he does in this first half. He makes himself available, he holds it, he lays it off, he spins when he's laying it off. It's been a master class performance from a striker this first half."

• Did the announcers not notice that Kuyt missed putting one of his two shots on target (the one from point blank range, natch), Liverpool didn't score, and that up until the point of the comment Kuyt had done next to nothing notable? If that's world class, I prefer John Carew as my striker.  At least he's big.

• I just thought of this when I saw them sitting next to each other on the bench tonight: Is there a stranger looking guy in the EPL than Jonjo Shelvey?  Now imagine what he would look like with Luis Suarez's teeth.....  THAT would be a truly freaky sight.

At full-time it was Liverpool 2- Stoke nil, and Luis Suarez benefiting from an own goal.  Liverpool may indeed be turning things around, but on this observation there's still quite a ways to go.

This is a perplexed farlieonfootie signing off for February 4.