Rumblings may continue on Kop but recent routine suggests Reds will be on song again

I was at Anfield a couple of years waiting for a Champions League game to start back when a somewhat obsessive Manchester United supporting friend texted to ask how the pre-match atmosphere compared to Old Trafford. Clearly, he wanted to hear one thing but the reality is that there’s no comparison. When they belt out “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” in the build up to a big game, it is, in all honesty, fairly awe inspiring and you’re left with the impression that Liverpool is not a place you want to go for a big game if you’re easily intimidated by a club’s supporters.

Sadly, for the club’s long suffering fans, Rafa Benitez’s men themselves are rather less menacing on the road just now with 1-0 defeats this week at Wigan and Lille shunting the club a little closer to the ignominy of elimination from this year’s Europa League and an obligation to compete in next year’s.

The Spaniard is going to have to hope that the noise from the Kop undermines the collective nerve of the French when they come calling and, before then, that Portsmouth finally start to show signs of surrender this weekend in the face of ongoing financial crisis and all but certain relegation.

Avram Grant’s side have thus far steadfastly refused to throw in the towel although it’s just possible at this stage that the players will see their FA Cup run as providing the basis for some sort of triumph in the face of adversity while easing up on their levels of effort in the league.

Benitez will certainly be hoping so because, while everyone keeps on saying this and yet he seems to soldier on regardless, the former Valencia boss really can’t afford any more setbacks. In the wake of their remarkable 4-2 win at Stamford Bridge, Manchester City are now two points clear of the Merseysiders with two games in hand while Aston Villa are four points behind but with three games in hand, leaving Liverpool with rather a lot to do over the closing weeks of the campaign.

Heading into this weekend’s game, the mood at the club scarcely looks ideal either. Steven Gerard is potentially facing new disciplinary problems over a two fingered gesture during a game, Jamie Carragher has been hinting to the press that he’ll abandon ship if he doesn’t get a sufficiently attractive new deal, Alberto Aquilani is back on the bench despite, one presumes, being fully fit at this stage and even the normally saintly Fernando Torres appears to be showing signs of his frustration at this stage with the striker having picked up three bookings in his last four games.

The manager is predicting a comeback against Lille and really the tie should hardly be beyond them at 1-0 with the home leg to come but few will take Benitez’s word for much at a time that his “guarantee” of a top four finish looks increasingly dubious.

Somehow, though, his side has a habit of producing a decent result just when the pressure is really mounting and while backing them has not tended to get me very far in the past, I’m going to back a hunch at Portsmouth at home will bring some relief to the singers in the stand and have them predicting, yet again and most likely wrongly, that the team is finally turning that elusive corner.

Bets

€25 double on Tottenham (-1) to beat Blackburn Rovers and Liverpool (-1.5) to beat Portsmouth @ 3.2.

€15 double on Galway United (-0.5/-1) to beat Bray and Middlesbrough to draw with Newcastle @ 6.46.

€10 double on Stoke to draw with Aston Villa and Birmingham to draw with Everton @ 10.56.

Categories: Soccer