Liverpool need not walk alone if they can win it together

24 January 2009 20:32
Steven Gerrard: His recent shenanigans are likely to hang over Liverpool for the rest of the season You have to wonder whether the dynamic is starting to apply to Liverpool. Ever since they hit the top of the table, there have been a series of events that render it more than coincidental that results tailed off and they ceded the leadership to Manchester United, who in the 19 years since Anfield last saw the title, have pulled to within one win of equalling their record of 18. All seemed to be going well in December when the brinkmanship of their victories in autumn looked to have disappeared with heavy defeats of Bolton Wanderers and Newcastle United. Then came Steven Gerrard's Southport shenanigans, which are likely to hang over the club for the rest of the season with him being bailed on Friday until March 20, the week following Liverpool's confrontation with United at Old Trafford and the day before a game against Aston Villa.     More from Ian Ridley...   Mourinho would be ideal to pig-out with Manchester City 17/01/09   At last, a chance for justice to be done over the Tevez affair 10/01/09   Capello carrying a torch of hope for the English game 03/01/09   Was Brown wise to tear a strip off Hull? 27/12/08   A woeful week for the professionals 20/12/08   Rein in Rooney or we will all regret it 13/12/08   Teach managers how to do a Fergie 06/12/08   Ian Ridley: Chelsea grumblers forget they are top 29/11/08   VIEW FULL ARCHIVE   To follow that, there was Rafael Benitez's berating of Sir Alex Ferguson for venturing to suggest that Liverpool might lose their nerve. Much of the conflict since has been internal but spilling out on to a public stage. Benitez wants full control of transfers before he signs a new contract, reopening his rift with chief executive Rick Parry. Daniel Agger is awaiting a contract offer, while Emile Heskey is allowed to slip through the net and join Aston Villa. Amid it all, they have failed to profit from United's trip to Japan for the World Club Championship by drawing games they should have won. Now they face an in-form Wigan away in midweek before hosting Chelsea next Sunday. Topping it all are yet more manoeuvring and machinations with the owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, as they court a buyer in the Kuwaiti billionaire Nasser Al-Kharafi. Cue yet more glee at Old Trafford. Can Liverpool do anything more to sabotage themselves? From boardroom to boot room, it seems as if they need to ask themselves: Do we really want to win this? If so, Hicks and Gillett, Parry and Benitez need to assemble for a meeting to set aside differences and renew their vows of silence. Benitez, 'surprised' at the ownership moves, needs to concentrate anew on instilling in the dressing room a winning mentality if the title is not to slip away. Anfield has always housed the finest singers in the English game in its stands. Perhaps they could lend those inside the club their song sheets. That way, they might all be singing from the same ones. West Ham signing Carlos Tevez Just give us the truth over Carlos Tevez West Ham released documents that prove, they say, they had permission from the Premier League to play Carlos Tevez, despite his 'economic rights'not being owned by the club, as the rules dictate. None of this is at issue in the vexed and protracted episode, however. What prompted the FA's reopening of the case is Tevez's lawyer, Graham Shear, claiming that West Ham told him privately their deal with Tevez's people would not really be ripped up, despite informing the Premier League that it had been. In the end, it will turn on who the new inquiry believes. As ever, quite a challenge in this game. The gloves are off for this scrap A fascinating midweek Premier League programme is in prospect, with newsy relegation candidates Manchester City and Newcastle United squaring up at Eastlands. With Elano and Jo on one side and Andrew Carroll and Charles N'Zogbia on the other, it is the Lazy Gang v the Crazy Gang. ● Jimmy Bullard to Hull City? How sad. Did he learn nothing from Kaka's desire to play at the best level he can rather than move just for more money?

Source: Daily_Mail