I already know the responses to this thread -
So are we not allowed an opinion anymore?
Are we meant to blindly follow the manager?
Why can't we say a player had a bad game?
Is that not allowed anymore?
So with that said, I'd just like to say that we currently, as a football club, have some of the most fickle, want it all now, spoilt (despite the fact we havn't won the title for two decades), demanding whopper fans in the country, and frankly, a lot of people following this club now sicken me. Not just get on my nerves, but genuinely sicken me.
The after match thread yesterday was a disgrace. And I don't mean the above, people just having an opinion. I mean the knee-jerk, demanding, slagging off of players, writing off of players, questioning the manager (to the point of wondering what a previous manager would have done with the money we've spent), and basically running down their own team after the first game of the season which didn't even end in defeat.
I know the fans who will take exception to this post already in here. I know exactly who will pipe up and tell me to shut the fuck up. Possibly one has been banned already, and another will certainly pop up. Because I know the kind of support we have and they would be two of the prime examples.
You didn't even have to be a betting man to know that if the first game of the season didn't end in a win, then the whoppers would be out in force, and the after match thread would be full of posts writing players off, crying about new signings being awful and generally being doom and gloom. Henderson is a waste of money. Carroll, despite having a good game I thought, is a waste of money, Adam is a overweight midfielder not as good as Alonso. etc etc. And don't get me started on the Aquilani love. But why? Why do people write off players after ONE game?
Andy Carroll for me, had a good game. Yes, he faded second half, but so did everyone else. And yet Suarez after the first 20 minutes, had arguably a worse game than Carroll and gets off pretty free from any criticism. Which is a good thing, because we know how good he is, but a player can have an off day too. So why should he get stick? Yet Carroll gets it in the neck, and primarily because in the back of the mind of all the demanding fans who destroy his every touch, he cost £35m and should be scoring hat-tricks every game.
Henderson, on his full home debut, had a quiet game against his old club, and he's suddenly a waste of money again. Why? He's a young lad, why can he not be given time to settle?
I saw someone say Downing was, is and always will be average. And this is because he went quiet in the second half. Had he played like he did in the first half in the second half, would that even have been levelled at him? Or are fans now lying in wait with their pre-conceived opinions on a player, and as soon as they get chance, wheeling them out and crucifying them for no other reason than to say 'I was right'? And yet that despite him having a fairly effective debut.
And the crowning comment from yesterday was that 'the jury is still out on Enrique'. Despite him having a very solid debut, after one day in Liverpool and being thrust into the team. 'Jury is still out' is the most ludicrous statement I think I've seen in RAWK in a long, long time for someone making their debut after one day at the club.
And it goes on. With each draw, it's the end of the world. With each game a player doesn't play to the ludicrous standards our fanbase (certainly in here, maybe not at the game) now have, they get written off.
They aren't supported anymore, they are judged.
Fickle fans lying in wait to destroy their every touch, rather than say 'unlucky lad' and get behind them to spur them on if they aren't having a particularly good game. Every misplaced pass now means a player is abysmal. Someone's favourite will get away with a misplaced pass (Suarez most of yesterday) and yet someone they deem 'average' (Downing, Adam) will get hammered if they aren't laser like in their precision. It's fucking pathetic.
At the moment, after that after match thread yesterday, I don't think I'll be posting much in the main forum. It's dominated by whoppers. Fans who don't seem to know what support is. But then they'll get annoyed that they are even being questioned.
It's not about having an opinion on a player, manager or game. It's about the knee-jerking black or white responses. If a player misses a chance, he's now a waste of money. If he misplaces a pass, he's a waste of money. Rather than just having a bad game, or he's still a good player, just off form.
Maybe fans have moved on and I havn't moved on with them, but if the way to support your team is to now be utterly despondent after a draw, crucify players on their debut, pick holes in their play and generally write them off after ONE match, and even question the manager to the point of comparing him to an ex-manager (it happened yesterday 'What would Rafa have done yesterday?') then I'm glad I havn't moved on with our fans.
I know who'll get in a strop with this post, and I know who'll cry about 'I'm entitled to an opinion' but they'll miss the point. I don't give a shit if someone doesn't rate someone, or a player, or thinks someone had a bad game when I think they played well, but the reactions in the after game thread yesterday wasn't supporters for me. It was demanding, spoilt morons. People only too ready to start moaning and slagging off, pre-armed with pathetic bile towards players they've decided they don't like after one match.
I don't even know why I'm writing this after one match to be honest. It could be knee-jerk in itself, but just remember where this club was 12 months ago and be glad you're even watching it in the premier league and talking about title challenges. The fact we havn't won it for 20 years surely precludes this spoilt attitude our support now has? Money spent or not.
Feel free to say 'I have every right to an opinion', but you'd be missing the point. The team had a game of two halves yesterday, one they won, one they didn't. We had 4 debutants. We didn't lose. They don't deserve some of the knee-jerking shit flung in their direction by the 'I want us to fight for the title!!!' demanding support we now have. If Chelsea (they currently are), Arsenal or even Man Utd draw, are they also shit?
Get a grip and get behind the team.
