A new record for a lack of enthusiasm

THEY’RE doing it on purpose. How stupid of me not to have figured it out sooner.

Seriously, has a team at the top of the league ever been greeted with such little enthusiasm? As the points tally rises, so does the brickbat count. Liverpool could be the most despised team in Europe by May — and champions.

There, I’ve said it. Place your bets for the most sensational relegation in football history because they’re doomed now, jinxed but good.

We of the pessimist persuasion have been studiously ignoring the elephant in the room, focusing on style of play allied to the paucity of adventure and goals.

That annoying graph of insignificance, The League Table, was merely gumming up the works as far as we were concerned.

Wait till the luck runs out, wait till we play the harder games, wait for the injuries to kick in, wait till the others get their act together. After 16 games, it’s starting to sound moronic.

We’re there. It’s vaguely conceivable we’ll stay there. Monger as much doom as you wish, but the possibility has to be met head on now.

Trudging through 250 minutes of brick-wall head-banging against Fulham, West Ham and Blackburn certainly ought to have stemmed the post-Ewood flow of jubilatory arrogance.

Is that where we’re being amazingly clever though? People talk about the pressure but there’s not been too much so far, for a team in such a good position.

Excuses were made after the two goalless debacles at home, but you get used to anything and everything being blamed when things go awry.

Check the odds at the bookies, listen to the ‘experts’ and it’s clear we’re not being taken remotely seriously.

The worrying news of Torres’ prolonged absence, since disputed by Rafa, ought to keep those odds temptingly high. The improvement in results during his absence defies logic, but that’s been a swear word at Anfield lately.

It’s not like he’ll face much threat from Keane on his return, or from Kuyt judging by Saturday. We’d found a role for the Dutchman but whenever he’s asked to fulfil his old duties he’s found wanting.

Having been praised to the skies on this page Alonso’s form dipped slightly and by coincidence so did ours. That goal was welcome in many ways.

For 65 infuriating minutes expectations fell and hackles rose. We weren’t helped by a lenient ref. Who’d have thought a team managed by a cornered Ince would try to kick its way out of trouble? We’ve come out of this dump with broken limbs before now.

Everyone’s being snooty about The Guv’nor and his critics but I’ve no sympathy for him. He’s paranoid if he thinks people are after him because of past exploits.

We could just as easily claim that his managerial career has been fast-tracked as a direct consequence of them, and he wasn’t complaining then.

So what if Blackburn’s board do buckle under the fear of losing riches and prestige? That’s what attracted Ince to them in the first place. If everyone’s so peeved that a young manager isn’t allowed time to learn his trade, ask him why he was so keen to leave MK Dons at such an early stage of his development.

Where was all this disgust with knee-jerk administration when the media darling Redknapp ousted Ramos? At least Keane earned his kudos by getting Sunderland promoted, even if he has made a pig’s ear of it since. Chimbonda, Diouf and Cisse? Hmmm…

Maybe I still resent Ince’s appointment as Liverpool captain, a hollowed-out husk of the colossus that turned it around for United!. We bitterly recall the time he publicised a newspaper utterly despised on Merseyside whilst still wearing the armband.

On Saturday I enjoyed the result if not the performance, revelled in the vertiginous giddiness that top spot brings — especially to our younger fans who are lording it over everyone, even their craven Red elders, at the moment. God bless ‘em.

My mood certainly wasn’t helped by a long uncomfortable journey home, availing myself of the dubious delights of the Lancastrian public transport system. Football fans are still treated like cattle.

All the friends who drove me to away games have now fallen foul of the credit crunch. It’s become too much for them, even these short journeys up the road.

* For information on Steve Kelly’s “Rotation Rotation Rotation: a season at Anfield”, visit www.ttwar.net