- Anfield Index

I can still remember one of my first Christmas Eves. I must have been about four years old at the time and it’s one of those memories that stays with you despite its lack of drama. I was standing on my doorstep in Norris Green, Liverpool and looking at the night sky, hoping to see a glimpse of Santa being led across the sky by Rudolph and his mates or espy the Star of Bethlehem rising over Cantril Farm. As …

As I sit down to write this, there are actual people of intelligence preparing to watch David Moyes' Sunderland take on Arsenal in the hope that the Mackems will eke out some kind of result. This is the kind of entirely avoidable madness that leads to dark bouts of depression. To compound the lunacy, the same people will probably have one eye on Everton's attempts against the Gunners on the final day. If anything, expecting an Evertonian gift is the …

Regular visitors to these paragraphs will know that profound analytical breakdowns of systems and tactics are anathema to this columnist. It's not that I don't appreciate the folk who do that sort of thing, you understand. They provide us all with a valuable service, bless 'em. How many times have you drunkenly thrown out a stat or tactical observation that had been painstakingly compiled by one such hard-working analyst - their slaving over a hot laptop serving only to earn …

Irritation was the name of the game yesterday at Latest News Towers. Irritation with life's vicissitudes (which is not the fodder for these paragraphs), irritation with the media, irritation with the Redmen and, finally, seeing that irritation gloriously manifested in the exasperated form of Jamie Carragher (himself a regular source of irritation to this columnist, of late) as he reacted with remarkable impatience to the interruption of his analysis by the permanently gibbering Sky-candy that is Jamie Redknapp. Amidst the post-match …