ESPN Soccernet - Correspondents - Liverpool- Embarrassed by it all

Posted by Kevin Brodie on 02/12/2012

I'm embarrassed by it all. I was embarrassed by the decision to have the ridiculous handshake ceremony. Embarrassed by Suarez during the handshake. Embarrassed that Kenny had said during the week that Suarez would shake hands and then he didn't.

Embarrassed that there was a confirmation between the teams on the other side of the hand shake line before kickoff. Embarrassed at the half time tunnel "bust up". Embarrassed that one of the worst United teams in recent memory passed that ball around with such ease. Embarrassed with the tactics and team selection.

Embarrassed by Downing. Embarrassed by Kenny's post match comments where he blames the media. Finally I'm embarrassed by Evra's post game reaction and Ferguson's comments afterwards about Suarez being a disgrace. He should leave those comments to himself as I don't remember anyone else calling Roy Keane a disgrace when he purposely tried to maim another player.

Overall though Liverpool need to focus on ourselves. LFC let themselves down badly at Old Trafford. United may have won the match, after I felt we shaded the first half, but football and LFC lost on Saturday.

I know that it easy for me to say that I would shaken hands with Evra had I been Suarez, but once the manager backed him it had to be done. If he didn't want to shake hands he should not have gone in the line up. That would have been a better solution then what transpired.

Once that fiasco occurred it gave me a bad taste in my mouth and I just wanted to get out of Dodge with 11 players and a point. Clearly Kenny went for the point as well with a 4 5 1 formation. Our defence was very good but we had a bystander in Downing, who allowed Valencia way too much room and did nothing at all except lose the ball in attack. He was a complete liability and I would have dragged him off at half-time.

Henderson, whom I rate, was also way off the pace, while Spearing was at fault for the second goal. I just don't understand how a team with Giggs and Scholes in it can overrun our midfield. United should have been attacked and we did not do it. We were negative and had we pulled it back to 2-2 (unbelievable we almost did) it would have been a joke. Only the defence, specifically Johnson and Reina were any good.

Overall it was very poor advertisement for football and for Liverpool Football Club

Comments

Posted by Andrew on 02/12/2012

Well said Kevin.

Posted by Sharky on 02/12/2012

Man United should also be embarassed. Was i the only one who watched the handshake carefully enough? Please watch it again and again. Did you notice how Suarez was shaking hands with each player who hand his hand out.He was not looking at the player who's hand he was about to shake and in passing shook all hands that were ready to shake. When he got to Evra, Evra did not put his hand out but lifted it up a few seconds later. Evra was not prepared to shake hands and therefore Suarez moved to the next Man utd player. What's more embarassing is Evra's charade at the end where he jumped around Suarez in his celebration...this was also deliberate. Ferguson should keep his big mouth shut especially as he was not so forthcoming with his own players behaviours such as Cantona's kung fu kick or Rio Ferdinand's drug charge.
However, whatever is happening is no good for football and for neither of the clubs. We all need to move on.

Posted by boon on 02/12/2012

liverpool team was never on the field, all were on the bench. Some were MIA - downing. Suarez hardly drew blood. SG didnt lead by example, he was weak against Scholes and Giggs. Henderson played like agirl. And when Carroll came in, he waited and waited as usual for ball to be played to him and of all people Rafael was taller than him. Sad state in the team. And of course the handshake shoudl hv taken place...

Posted by mikeydtan on 02/12/2012

No more excuses for Suarez, NOT bigger than LFC and England! Provoked all the fall out and faltering excuses from Kenny. Sell him for big bucks summer

Posted by richard on 02/12/2012

Because you say it's the worst United team in recent memory doesn't mean that it is. In fact, you are so wrong it really isn't worth the argument, however I will provide one because I for one am just about had enough of theis ullshit. This United Team played Liverpool off the park as they have done to teams in 90% of their matches this season. This United team destroyed, yes destroyed Liverpool with football once again this season. Albeit they won this time. This United team once again played without Nani, Vidic, Fletcher, Jones, Smalling,Young, And and yet they EMBARrASSED Liverpool. They played with Giggs at 39 and Scholes at 38 and YES, they destroyed Liverpool. This United team doesn't look like the team that started the season because they aren't --why? because they have been plagued by injuries and at various points throughout the season they were without 9 of the players that started the season. This United team is leading the league and bossing teams .

Posted by Ben on 02/12/2012

Once again it's all about LFC. Dont you guys realise to get over this properly you have to be totally over it and not fill your insincere comments with ignorant statements about Utd's past etc.

You seem to want to get over this racism issue, but only for the good of LFC & it's image and not for the good of whats right in this country and whats right in football and race relations. If Liverpool FC hadnt been typically insular maybe this whole thing wouldn't have happened in the first place, dont you think? The denials of Dalglish paved the way for Suarez to escalate it when he should have layed it to rest.

Also, i don't think you can call this Utd squad the worst in recent memory as we won the league last season and what it really means is that our apparent "worst team in recent memory" is better than Liverpool's best team in recent memory. Giggs & Scholes are playing every week because of what they are, dont think any of LFC's midfielders will equal their acheivements, ever.

Posted by Mike on 02/12/2012

I agree with what you said completely. I wanted Suarez to start on the bench so he wouldn't have to shake Evra's hand, which he clearly did not want to. But once he was, he should've forced it, which he realizes now. I think if the game hadn't been so soon after the suspension it would have been different though.

Although I was slightly proud he didn't react to Evra's attempted leg break that got Ferdinand instead, or being confronted/incited at halftime, or when Evra taunted him at the end of the game which was classless 10 year old stuff. He just walked forward. And when he scored his goal, he just grabbed the ball and jogged to the middle. He played unaffected, whereas Evra clearly did not.

This game was the 2nd worst game they've played behind Bolton. Only Johnson (although he let rooney in), Reina and Suarez (no support) played "ok". Gerrard was absolutely awful, just not as bad as Downing/Henderson/Enrique/Kuyt. I was annoyed that I was happy to see Adam come in..

Posted by Ashwin91 on 02/12/2012

Thanks alot for the post Kevin. You stated exactly what I felt when I saw this game. Total and utter embarrassment at all the levels you mentioned.

You have been always the LFC Fan and blogger of reason. Can you believe that "thisisanfield.com" was running an article about how Evra didn't want to shake hands with Suarez? This is how low our fans gone, To creating things that are not there.

Thank you for stating the issues that are really troubling.

Posted by Mark on 02/13/2012

I am a long time Liverpool supporter and never have I been more ashamed while watching my team.
Suarez is a fantastic player and can do so much for LFC, however if he cannot conduct himself with the honour and dignity befitting the history of LFC then he should no longer be allowed represent us again.

He has a history of poor behaviour and it is now up to Kenny to either find a way to pull him in line or move him on. As of today I feel there should be no more chances for a player like him. Carlos Tevez challenged Man City bosses and they have truely shown him who is boss there. I feel we need to do the same here. No player is bigger than LFC.

Posted by Petros Max on 02/13/2012

Liverpool is a big brand and for some of us in Africa, it has been a team we love to watch and support. However, recent events with Suarez and Kenny behaving like they did could shake the support we already enjoy. It was great to see the Managed Director rising above and showing strong leadership and drawing the line. Let's all make sure that at the end football wins and Liverpool FC will continue to exist even when all the current team pales.
LFC will never walk alone ....

Posted by Michael on 02/13/2012

Suarez is one of the best players we have had. He is definitely NOT a racist. Have you ever watched him in a clip " best goal against arsenal" He is basically celebrating with his black Ajax team mate and their is clearly good emotions between them. My guess is that Suarez just doesn't like The Man U captain Evra....and since Evra got him banned for 8 matches and fined 40,000 pounds....hell I am pretty sure most people wouldn't shake his hand. If anyone called Andy Carrol a white twit would there be an FA hearing..fines etc? This is just like Kenny Dalglish said...a media circus with the FA milking it.
If Liverpool sell Suarez over this I will become a Man City fan!!!! As it would be the last in a bunch of silly mistakes by a club I have supported for 45 years!!!
I am looking forward to more Liverpool goals from Suarez who is awesome and reminds me of Keegan!!! Man U would just love us to sell our best forward and call him a disgrace!!!

Posted by ukdavo on 02/13/2012

@Sharkey - Saurez said that he'd go through with it. You can't seriously tell me that Suarez was not thinking about it in that line up. I agree that the handshake ceremony was mental but Suarez's action was doubly so.

Posted by bogdan on 02/13/2012

I am not interested in any comments about ManU other than confirming what we already knew that SAF is a jerk delux, always has, always will and he gets away with murder. Who allows this pompous prick to comment and issue verdicts on other team's players? Who the f is he? Where was his righteous indignation when Cantona was Kung fu in the stands? What did he say when the buthcher known as Roy Keane was chopping people left and right? A genious as a manager a nasty prick as a man, enough said. Problem is that as some of us saw for some time, Pool is a joke of a team and KK for all our love for him is way over his head in modern soccer. He wasted 100 mil on mediocre players and blew a great chance to revive this team now that we finally had money to spend..gone..u can never ever have a great team out of Adam, Downing, Henderson and Caroll, never.
To top it all, this winter when our attack was crying out for a new striker..he stays put and keeps playing all defense all the time..sad, sad.

Posted by derek on 02/13/2012

I agree, this doesn't look good for LFC in any way whatsoever, on top of reports that Suarez may be sold come summer.. What a mess.

We need a new blogger for this page though.. I hate to be a grammar nazi, but these kind of mistakes shouldn't be in the likes of a website like soccernet.. It takes away from its value, and the lack of consistent coverage from match to match is frustrating while other clubs have such great fan analysis on their respective blogs.. Just saying.

Perhaps put a little more thought and time into your articles Kevin. Just a suggestion.

Posted by mwylie on 02/13/2012

It take a big man to admit a mistake and move on. Suarez is not that man. Dalglish can fiercely defend his player until a disciplinary board decides, but when that decision is "guilty", afterwards he's got to make his player and LFC show some kind of contrition. He never did (with no help from Suarez going back on his promise) until his bosses leaned on him this Sunday, and that's wrong. I don't know why racial abuse has come to the fore this year, but LFC have lost bags of respect for failing to hold their hand up and say "we are sorry this happened". LFC fans are no doubt annoyed that the "moral high ground" has been taken by rivals MUFC, the sanctimonious Ferguson and that crud Evra, a sh*t disturber with a motor mouth & a dirty streak if ever there was one. But it's one thing to curse your on-field opponent six ways to Sunday. It's quite another to racially abuse them. Not clear why Suarez, Dalglish, LFC and some posters here don't see the difference. And that's kinda disturbing

Posted by willis on 02/13/2012

I thought we were awful against United we allowed their midfield to run all over us. A few of the Liverpool players need to have a good look at themselves. Downing is suppossed to be a winger providing us with width and crosses. I cant remember the last time this happened hes a complete liability. United wingers had so much run and room we struggled to contain them.
Spearing who is normally reliable had a bad game and his mistake led to the second goal experience will improve him as I believe he has potential.
Henderson who has been hot and cold all season didnt have one of his better games.His header just after the break set up Rooneys first goal.
Suarez tried hard but didnt get much service we were very poor up front and our defence struggled because the midfield failed to do their defensive work.
Charlie made a difference when he came on but it was too little to late.
If we had equalised at the end it would of been unjust as united we by far the better team.

Posted by HonestJohn on 02/13/2012

Suarez IS a disgrace! He berates Evra for being black and then has the gall to not shake his hand? That's like punching someone in the face and then demanding they apologize for walking into your fist.

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