Liverpool FC: The evidence of mental fortitude
It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.- Invictus by William Ernest Henley The difference that sets apart individual champions in the sporting arena from their competitors is, almost certainly, the mental strength to win against all odds. Its the mental fortitude that they each innately have to will a victory through. For teams though, building and maintaining this state …
Rodgers Must Improve Team Selection, Learn Selective Faith
With a 2013 bolstered by tangible progress, Brendan Rodgers earned the trust of the mainstream Liverpool faithful. However, the 40-year-old manager is still learning the art of proper team selection -- if there's one big knock on Rodgers, it's his propensity to show seemingly blind faith in players that flounder repeatedly.
In the doghouse after a catastrophic 2012-13 season, Martin Skrtel appeared destined to leave the club, with Napoli his most public suitor. However, Rodgers displayed unwavering belief in the …
Brendan Rodgers | Stepping Out of The Shadows
Picture the scene…
Liverpool dismisses an iconic club legend from the post as manager. The outrage is at full tilt, and the fractions amongst the support get wider and wider.
The new manager is relatively young, he’s fresh faced and full of idea’s and he’s just walked into one of the biggest clubs in the world.
He walks into Anfield and his first official job is to meet the press; the event itself is not in the usual media room. …
Liverpool FC: Christmas Number 1
First of all I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas from myself and the rest of the AI team. I hope you are enjoying reading this on your shiny new devices or on your trusty old ones.
Brendan Rodgers and Liverpool have given the fans the best Christmas present that they could ask for. Liverpool are top yes TOP of the league at Christmas and in this article I will be looking back on the season …
Jekyll, Hyde and Liverpool FC | An Analysis of Two Performances
When the fixture list was revealed at the start of the season, December was always going to be a difficult month for Liverpool and the plan was clearly to secure points in the preceding weeks allowing the Reds to maybe drop harder ones at Spurs, Man City and Chelsea around Christmas. As we got closer to this important run, losing 3 – 1 to Hull and then demolishing Tottenham 5 – 0 probably aren't two results any expected. There were …
How do the Reds cure their White Hart Pain?
Neil Poole ponders Liverpool’s habit of falling asleep away at Tottenham Hotspurs and how it has led to nightmare displays.
I had a bad dream last night.
I was being chased by a 30 foot cockerel down the High Road towards Seven Sisters tube station. It had a booming cockney voice and it was mocking me as I ran away. “TWO ONE, TWO ONE, COCK-A-DOODLE DO”. Just as I was about to get away my mind wandered and in the …
The many facets of Rodgers' Liverpool Managerial journey thus far
Brendan Rodgers is now coming close to the midway point of his second season as the manager of Liverpool Football Club. It's fair to say that this duration should suffice for most of the club's supporters, if not all, to ascertain what his strengths are and conversely what traits of his that haven't strengthened their confidence in him in rebuilding the great dynasty of Shankly.
Young, inexperienced in many ways to shouldering this responsibility, this is a job considered night …
Sterling silver or another dull show piece?
After bursting onto the Premier League scene last season, a year on Raheem Sterling seems to have slipped under the radar a little bit. He's only made three starting appearances so far in the premier league and has come off the bench six times to accumulate a grand total of 370 minutes played. This is more than slight drop when compared to last season in which he started 11 of the campaigns first 12 games. What has changed and what …
One-Third of Liverpool's season in | Progress?
You should judge a team’s credentials after 10-12 league games, they say. Amid the annoying international breaks, spectacular goals, controversial refereeing decisions, Joe Allen's derby miss and the SAS magic, Liverpool's season has stuttered along. There seems to be a lack of continuity, fluidity and momentum. The coming 4 weeks promise to provide exactly what was lacking thus far - 7 league games in the next 30 days. From a league game every 9 days to a league game every …
Why December is important to Liverpool's season
Next month is by far the most important month of Liverpool's 2013/14 campaign on a whole. December is the month when players get tired from the past few months of football and see themselves pushed to the limit with a rush to get all of our remaining 7 games played and out the way before we can make any signings in January and freshen the squad up, and here is just why December is crucial to Liverpool's season.
The first …