Liverpool top the league, topple the Blues

Oh my. Every fan knows you should never tempt fate so there goes Scolari with:

“When I look at them I see a team that doesn’t accept they might lose – and that is why I feel it’s possible to go through the league season undefeated.”

Not this season though.

The really odd thing is that they looked more like equalising at the end of the first half than the second. Where was the bombardment? The record just seemed to slip quietly away. Scolari is definitely doing well on the sub-plot of making the Blues more popular than under Mourinho - British people always warm to a loser.

Michel Platini can stick his Premier League envy, and Scudamore can shove his NBA-loving attitude and BigBank CEO-like arrogance; David James should be running football…

…or at least replacing that lazy prat Lawrenson on MOTD. In his excellent Observer column today, J-Mo makes the point that football might not be recession proof after all and the “TV-money” isn’t the most important thing that can save it; fans are:

“What has kept us all going - so far - is the loyalty of the fans. This is where football is really blessed… Predictions are that unless there is mass unemployment, football fans will hold on to their season tickets. I had a cleaner at my old house up in Liverpool and I remember her saying she had taken out a four-year loan just to buy a season ticket to Anfield for her son… Clubs would do well to remember this and repay their fans’ loyalty in other ways. I’m a big supporter of football kits as value for money, but perhaps we could go one season without a new kit. Or next year’s season tickets could be held at this season’s prices.”

But where the Pompey goaltender really scores is against his mates and colleagues:

Arsenal’s fragile minds collapsed under pressure from Drogba and Liverpool were being played off the park before Mascherano’s mouth was sent down the tunnel. Alan Hansen says it’s United’s to lose, but football is a funny game.

Our pals at Chickendinner.co.uk tell us what “the past” has to say:

As if Keegan didn’t have enough to worry about, his shower of a squad are robbing Newcastle blind

Just to add to Newcastle fans’ sense of indignation at the ritual suicide their team seems intent on committing, figures published today show that they are subsidising their “players” to the tune of an eye-watering £62.5 million annually.

That wage bill was an increase of 10% on 2006, due to the signing of Damien Duff, Obafemi Martins, Joey Barton and David Rozenhal. The figures, which appear in today’s Newcastle Chronicle (for full story, click here) paint a picture of an off-field performance that nicely parallels the current on-field fiasco.