Is this true? We do seem to be playing more longball football. Why? From Tommy Smith:

Having watched Newcastle United beat Everton at Goodison Park last Sunday in a dire game where neither team enhanced the reputation of the Premier League, I went to Anfield on Saturday to see if Liverpool could cope with the Newcastle way of playing the game.

Its called the "Route One Ball" or better known in the football world as the common or garden "Ale House Ball".

For those who dont know what Im getting at, the way it works is that any Newcastle player, anywhere on the pitch, who has possession of the ball takes a stride back and then launches the ball as far up the pitch as possible and hopes that either of the two big centre forwards Shearer or Ferguson manage to get some sort of touch on the ball and create problems in the opposition penalty area.

Now to my surprise having seen them hardly touch the ball last week at Goodison Park and for 67 minutes not get a kick or header at Anfield, I was amazed when Alan Shearer actually put the ball in the net for Newcastle and incidentally it came about through a high crossed ball from the left wing "surprise"!

As the teams lined up to kick- off again, it crossed my mind that if there was one thing missing at the present moment at Liverpool was the ability to kill off the opposition after taking the lead in the game, especially in the home games, and if we dont acquire the killer touch we will have an awful lot of drawn games and its going to be some sight at 40,000 fans going home with no fingernails.

Now dont get me wrong the squad of players we have this season at the club are without question playing with a much better attitude and 120% commitment in every game, there are exceptions, but I dont have to comment on them because they are in the minority. I would like to add Im not too happy with these players who might carry the flag for Liverpool but are not prepared to die for the club on the playing field.

There are one or two talking points that come to mind that I would like to comment on.

Number one the leaving out of Michael Owen, who I think cant be fit or Im sure he would have taken part in the game. I think Gerard Houllier took the best safety option because Michael has made more come backs which has failed to get him 100% fit on a regular basis so his resting wont do him any harm.

It was good to see Titi Camara on from the start and he rewarded the manager and supporters with a great goal, which in my opinion justified his selection.

Redders back with a goal It was great to see Jamie Redknapp back on the pitch even though it was only for the last twelve minutes as a substitute, he managed to score for us and for those people who are criticising and forecasting his departure from Liverpool, dream on, we are building a good squad of players at Liverpool and Jamie is a good player and I am sure as the Club Captain he has a great future at the club.

Summing up the Newcastle game I honestly think Liverpool deserved the win, but I repeat we must become more ruthless and kill off the opposition if we are to become the best once again, personally I cant wait for Liverpool to get back to winning some trophies and get back on top of the tree, the reason being I can once again have a nice summer holiday basking in the glory rather than day dreaming.

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2000

Answers

Have i missed something here? Dougal saying ", personally I cant wait for Liverpool to get back to winning some trophies and get back on top of the tree, the reason being I can once again have a nice summer holiday basking in the glory rather than day dreaming Dougal now a Liverpool fan, has she been seduced by DD at the weekend?

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2000

Had you chosen to read this, you would see that it was written by Liverpool legend Tommy Smith. I was merely breaching his copyright by pasting it here((-:

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2000

OK , so I'm a bit thick, but it was misleading.You should have put the quote it Italitics or something. Next time you steal someones stuff and paste it remeber that some of us are simple people.....

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2000

Ace/rik, "Italitics", that's a new one for me! ;-)

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2000

Bud, I think they are something you would pick up in a B & B in Rome!!!

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2000