Friday, May 13, 2011

Fulham v. Liverpool

It seemed about time for a blog post and considering I have been out of the country for the past week and not keeping up with the Red Sox, I have decided to shift gears. Liverpool Football Club is the newest acquisition of the Fenway Sports Group, so this is somewhat related to the Red Sox. On Monday, I was fortunate to be in London watching my team, Fulham, get absolutely embarrassed by the North England club. The final score was 5-2 and Liverpool (Maxi Rodriguez) scored twice in the first seven minutes and once in the first 30 seconds. The Reds came screaming down the field and showed why Simon Davies spent most of the season on the bench. Here are some more observations from my first EPL game.


· Craven Cottage is a great place to watch a game. Ironically, it is similar to Fenway as it feels like you are on the field. I was so close to the field I could hear Clint Dempsey tell the ref to “fuck off” more than once.

· The Liverpool fans are fanatical. Their chants started before the first whistle and didn’t stop for 90 minutes. This was a regular season game of no real consequence and the atmosphere was electric. I don’t think we have a U.S. equivalent. Even Sox v. Yanks regular season games can be slow and pedestrian. The only potential equal might be college football or basketball, but their fan bases are built into the student body.

· Luis Suarez is the real deal and everyone knows it. Not selling Torres is what got Roy Hodgson sacked and Suarez is more than comparable as his replacement.

· The speed and accuracy of the game is incredible.

· Dirk Kuyt is a lot bigger than you think. Dude must be a gym rat.

· If Liverpool’s right back, Glen Johnson, was American he would probably lead the NFL in rushing. He is compact and explosive.

· 18 year old left back John Flanagan was impressive. He was very composed on the back line and fit right in next Jaime Carragher.

· I am calling it now; Liverpool will be at the top of the Top at the end of 2012. Steven Gerrard will be back and Kenny Daglish seems poised to lead the lads to another title.

1 comment:

Dennis said...

I'll take the field. I'd put Liverpool at about 12 to 1 to be champions in 2012.