Maybe next time try safety first, Roy?
Richardson had just recovered from a hamstring injury and having watched him in training last week, we felt he should be given another seven days and then return for the much more winnable and crucial relegation six-pointer against Wigan this weekend.
It was just an idea and not one we thought Keane would take any notice, or be aware of. Sadly he didn’t because Rico pulled up 90 seconds into our televised game at Anfield and will now be out for another couple of weeks. The team had to be reorganised and the system the players worked on all week was thrown out of the window within two minutes of kick off. It does, however, beg the question that if an average fan can spot that a player is simply going through the motions on the training ground and not quite pushing himself as hard as the others, why can’t the manager and coaching staff? Or did Richardson declare himself fit? Whatever the answer, we’re without one of our best players again. This is his third absence through injury this season.
He has only managed nine games between back and hamstring knocks and he’s only played the full 90 minutes on two occasions in 2007/08.
So maybe a bit of caution next time, Royston?
Another disappointing aspect of the Liverpool game was the fact that we didn’t even have a go at them until we were losing 2-0. When we got going, it was too late, but their defence was very shaky and if Rob Stiles had awarded us two blatant penalties we might have got something. However, it seems to be illegal to get anything off a referee when you’re playing the big four.
I like Anfield, but their fans are oh so quiet. Maybe the reason for this is that very few of them are actually from Liverpool. For a bunch of supporters who have a go at Manchester United fans for being from Surrey, they are on thin ice. En route to Europe’s Capital of Culture we overtook LFC coaches from Hull, Plymouth and Scotland. In the pub, a Polish bloke queued at the bar alongside me. There were Germans buying burgers outside the Kop and one of our party who sat in the home end was positioned between Spaniards and Swedes.
There’s nothing wrong with the global game of course, after all Sunderland’s bars are full of Cork men every other week and I’m no one to talk because my Granny’s from Donegal. But you’d have been hard pushed to find a Scouser on Saturday and their foreign legion made no racket.
While I’m sticking the boot into hometown of The Beatles, the City of Culture craic makes me laugh. They’ve spent a fortune on organising it but the streets are still full of litter and dog crap. How much would it have cost to clean the place up a bit? After the match we hot footed it back to the promised sunny land of Sunderland for a night of beer and bars so we could carry out our post match post mortem.
I can’t remember getting home so it must have been a good night.
The league table didn’t look too bad come Sunday morning, but Fulham beating Villa makes next week’s showdown with Wigan even more crucial. Thankfully, SAFC fans still have something to keep their spirits up. Our deadly rivals Newcastle are a joke. Oh how they celebrated like it was New Year’s Eve when Keegan came back.
For some strange reason they seem to think he’s a soccer messiah, yet he’s never achieved anything as a manager. Still I’m happy that they’re happy with the fool they’ve appointed and in the four games they’ve played since he’s been back, Newcastle have scored one, conceded seven and accumulated two points.
How long before the most impatient fans in football turn against their king?
Not long, I hope…
* www.a-love-supreme.com
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