There is decision to be made on where the 2018 World Cup takes place today and I hope it is England, but what happened after the game last night was shocking and very embarrassing and I hope it hasn't hurt our chances.
Sure, they won a match and it was against us, the bigger team from the City where they take their name, but really, invading the pitch, throwing flairs and provoking violence. Was it really necessary?
Football's coming home in 2018, but what happened last night was just silly, but maybe we shouldn't be surprised because of who we were playing and what the result meant to them, but we also need to put things into context and not worry so much.
Time for a little perspective
This was posted in a comment last night and while I've not read every comment yet, this one stood out. My justification is irrational and ignoring facts apparently. When people write that, then go on to make a statement not based on fact, it makes me chuckle.
It is a transitional season, because we have a new manager who is changing things. This is a fact and we can't get away from it just because it doesn't fit in with what we think we should have in terms of League position. If people are unsure of what a word means, they should look it up before making comments.
The manager also inherited a squad that was playing one dimensional football and there are no prizes or awards for finishing sixth. Sixth is nothing. We effectively stood still for three seasons. If someone just wants to finish sixth, then it really shouldn't matter if it actually turns out to be seventh or eighth.
We can not keep looking back and think we had anything special. We were standing still and playing retro football. Things are now changing and when things change there will be times when things do not go to plan and that usually happens in the beginning and why people call it a transition.
The numbers don't lie
But, just so we are clear. After 15 games with O'Neill in his first season, we had twenty-three points. With Houllier we have seventeen, but he wasn't in charge for for the first three, didn't have a transfer window or pre-season. Things are not really that bad. This is when you really do have to show your faith, not when we are hitting long and playing for sixth.
We lost a football game last night, that is all, but there are many positives to take from it and I'm taking those and I'm not unhappy. There is a bizarre upside to last night also; the clowns showed their true colours for everyone to see.