BEING LIVERPOOL

http://i.imgur.com/usSG9.jpg

http://msn.foxsports.com/video?videoid=b410ed11-f81a-4eb3-8d0d-78364d285ca1&src

*rubs hands*

AS FATHERS two small babies holding hands?
AS BROTHERS suarez & carroll do maverick & iceman
SEE THE PLAYERS suarez signs something
AND THEIR LIVES playing some pingpong

the roar of charlie adam as he heaves his vast bulk over the bar. brendan intoning "work and train like you're number 2"

"the season that will change their lives...FOREVER"

i missed the clip of brendan bollocking sterling, can anyone find it

lucas doesn't look too happy there in the og pic

cant find the sterling clip (taken down prob) but i saw it a few days back. its funny, rodgers giving it his best solemn school principal voice "youll be on the place back home" and sterling looking all shocked and appalled

plane not place duhrr

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQH3Ber7XaQ

What's up with the colon?

lol oh god i wouldnt have been able to not burst out laughing in that situation

the colon does seem to strike an existential note

was wondering what on earth you were talking about with that 'colon' thing. then i realised you were referring to the title.

aw crap im out of the country when this is on :( gonna have to wait until the end of the month for moody lucas

oh yes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuF3MRj7JJ0

that's a link to the first episode

fox knocking the links down fast, about to watch this one now

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xtlxpu_being-liverpool-episode-1_sport

it's pretty tame in fairness, although i had to cover my eyes for most of the Red Sox scene

"... cementing a now three-year lull of mediocrity for a club virtually synonymous with glory"

they spelled "twenty" wrong

How have they had 20 years of mediocrity?

on rn

yoga scene reminds me in one swoop why I stopped playing organised football

What channel?

channel 5+1

Superb, a channel I have. Thank yew.

bet the work of phil collins sounds mint on stevie g's big white piano

This was kind of boring but I still enjoyed it. It really needs some on-camera interaction to liven things up, thus far it's all very party line and everyone's being seen the way they'd want to be seen. And lose the weird bits like the long set-up for the scousers v cockneys v latins v rest of the world tournament, then nothing happens and nothing is made of it.

Some things I particularly liked:

• Stevie G's house looks opulent at first, then cut to Bren's gaff which is fucking ridiculous. Lucas, by contrast, appears to live in a normal house;
• on a similar note, Bren first appears in what looks like a red Ferrari or Porsche. A few minutes later he's talking about his nice car, while getting into a big black number. Need to keep an eye on this imo;
• everyone wears Warrior, all the time - except when Borini has his medical, for which Dr Zaf Iqbal gets changed into his best suit;
• really weird seeing Adam, Cole, Aquilani et al lurking around the place, seems like years ago;
• Liverpool appears to consist of Anfield plus boarded-up pubs. It's not all like that.

for which Dr Zaf Iqbal gets changed into his best suit;

which doesn't /fit/! suit jacking bunching up when closed is nagl

Loved the Lucas/Suarez/Coates bit. Sad seeing Lucas doing that rehab knowing that he's now out for another 2/3 months.

Would like some more Rodgers/Flanagan-type moments and to see more of the training sessions, just to get an idea of what they actually do. Looks like there's going to be footage of a pre-match tactics meeting at some point, which will be interesting.

Surprised they left the Carroll stuff in what with the deadline day disaster.

Loved how Borini looked like an awkward kid on his first day of school when he was waiting inside Melwood.

rodgers is a bit creepy with all the touching and low-talking

twice got bored and waylaid watching this so i've only seen half but yeah it was striking how the south american lads seemed to live in nice normal places where actual families could live and grow compared to the bizarre gross showhomes the brits took joyless pride in

also yeah wtf the touching... hand cradling the back of flanagan's head looking deep into his eyes, right in his personal space

probably wouldnt be so bad if you didnt feel like he'd learnt it on a course

That's using your accent to good effect imo, and a very efficient way of hinting at psychopathy. The owners seem like decent coves; I never did get round to watching the QPR doc but I imagine Briatore as basically the opposite. I question why they need a three-hour briefing from Bren on playing style though.

I once had occasion to do similar, actually. I was running for a train and blundered into a street performance where this clown (like I'm not kidding, an actual fucking clown) was frolicking around, repeatedly blundering into my path for the amusement of the throng. I explained right into his ear, in a very low voice, that this was very funny but it was stopping *right now* - to my surprise, it proved to be an extremely effective technique.

Bren otm imo.

are you implying that Northern Irish accents are inherently scary?

I will admit to a certain degree of cowardice there, yes.

I once had occasion to do similar, actually. I was running for a train and blundered into a street performance where this clown (like I'm not kidding, an actual fucking clown) was frolicking around, repeatedly blundering into my path for the amusement of the throng. I explained right into his ear, in a very low voice, that this was very funny but it was stopping *right now* - to my surprise, it proved to be an extremely effective technique.

wtf! stifling lols here.

The clown was very skilled; although he was the one who kept getting in my way, he somehow made it look like I was repeatedly blundering into him. He stank, too, is the other thing - clowns should smell of balloons or bubble mix or something, but this guy smelt like he'd put in a week's hard graft out in the fields.

Anyway, this is still kinda boring but good watching nonetheless. Fenway Park looked like a brilliant venue, and the fans descending on it brought a tear to my eye. I ought to be too old for that tbh. There isn't enough match footage, but what there is is filmed beautifully, and I do love seeing action from uncommon angles.

This week's undoubted highlight: Andy Carroll taking a baseball in the face in the Fenway Park nets.

Also, John Henry might be the least charismatic guy I've ever seen. I'm kind of gripped whenever he appears; I'm wondering how he's going to suck the momentum out of, say, a bunch of reserve-tea era sitting around, and he never lets me down.

BR saying "El jefe" to Enrique in the lift was comedy gold. It was the way he actually said it too, kind of mumbled it mid-giggle.

Jonjo "King of the Golf Course" Shelvey obviously wasn't paying attention when Brendan told him to stay on his feet!

Wonder why they edited out the "You kids should be like sponges" bit of the Sterling incident, I liked that.

The look on Adorjan's face after JWH asked him if he knew who he was!

Interesting that Enrique's wife is expecting. I wonder if that's anything to do with his poor form - supposedly new dads' testosterone levels drop way down. For obvious reasons, but if that's right it's got to have some effect on maraudingity and tackliness.

Sterling is probably just used to it.

Even more boring this week. Bless 'em, but I'm struggling to feel it for the security guys at Melwood ("sometimes the scales push the bins up against the wall so they can see over; me and jimmy go over and sort them out") or the canteen staff ("they eat a lot of pasta; fish, they eat a lot of"). And if man-waits-for-fax-then-pulls-fax-off-machine hasn't been made into an animated gif yet, it needs to be soon.

Ian Ayre on a motorbike was horrible. Zaf Iqbal in not one but two suits, both ill-fitting, I feel is a cult in the making.

Possibly revealing: Joe Allen really, really not wanting to take a view on what number he should wear. Bren steps in with some strong leadership there.

Possibly planted: Lucas and Suarez sharing maté at the wheel of Suarez' car. Next week: Luis indulges in some illegal logging while Coates tucks into a high-quality steak.

The Scales=John Scales ?

ffs you'd think apple would know what scallies are

Daniel Agger's striking tattoos are a testament to his love of Liverpool - the city and the football club. The defender had the initials YNWA - for You'll Never Walk Alone - inked into the knuckles of his right hand and he has revealed it was an easy decision to have it done.

Jesus, that club … http://duncanjenkins.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/such-little-thing-makes-such-big.html

that guy you mean

I don't understand that story at all. A man who supports LFC creates a persona with the same name but who supports OAFC and he goes on Twitter posting transfer rumours and starting line-ups and lots of people (especially MUFC supporters apparently) follow him.

The stuff with the LFC guy is awful, but I just don't get how that became a thing in the first place.

a bloke lies on twitter and some press guy is a dick, dismantle football i'm just so shocked.

lmao at the 'the press will run stories about you!' like oh yeah i often read the football pages with headline 'guy on twitter is a dick'

What's the story here? Guy employed to manage coverage of football club attempts to manage coverage of football club?

he does it by claiming fans of football club like smearing poo tho

That's what he was doing though, no? Albeit that it was merely by coincidence (after trying really hard to make it look like it wasn't a coincidence).

I dunno, I'm just sorry I spent time trying to understand wtf it was about.

The last time a Twitter story gave me a headache like this it was Tim Burgess and his imaginary online coffee shop.

The PR dude should probably reconsider his chosen career though...

Good point. Going in over-the-ball like that, he could probably cover for Shelvey.

Back to the show. This week's was pretty good, now the fanning around is out the way. It helps that there's a big defeat to agonise over, though tbh it needed a lot more of that, for entertainment's sake. I was not enormously impressed with Bren's response, actually. Reassurance is fine because they were decent 'til everything went wrong, but I don't see the point of his being mildly peeved about the decisions ("never a red card; no way were they penalties") - either lose it big style or analyse honestly imo. But then I'm a terrible psychologist.

Carragher's quite engaging, I'd like to see more of him. I liked how he brushed the cameras off then went to hunt around for his son's kit in the boot of his car.

The poet guy is really getting on my wick though. What kind of poet is he supposed to be? "A diehard red / I'm the real McCoy / 'cos I was groomed / from a little boy". Maybe he's the kind of poet who writes anniversary cards.

His little piece at the start was interesting though, about The Kop's kids' pen from back in the day. Then later there's the Spirit of Shankly supporters' bus heading off to West Bromwich, and there's maybe one guy there under 45. I think this is a structural problem in England - the thing that finally kills the epl might turn out to be old age - but it did remind me of an old post here suggesting Liverpool-as-big-club might in fact be Wolves, just thirty years later. That haunts me.

Finally caught my first episode of this. That poet/"playwright" is awful. Felt bad for Borini and his six changes of address in 14 months especially now he's broken his foot. I think my favorite bit was Gerrard on the training pitch muttering "Jay Spearing," does he always call him by both names?

But then I'm a terrible psychologist

Professionally?

Thoughts on week five, part one:

• if you're going to start with an homage to You'll Never Walk Alone, do you: (a) hold a long shot of the Kop singing it; or (b) get the world's worst poet to recite it, 'with feeling', in an empty pub?
• Agger's necklace tattoo is vile;
• crikey, Bren's laying his cards out early - before the first Hearts game, he's telling Shelvey he can be his goalscoring midfielder 'for the next ten years';
• the footage from Tynecastle was rubbish, it's the best ground in Scotland imo and there was nothing made of it other than the roar intimidating Carra's son.

Poet seems to be channeling David Stubbs' WSC character.

He loves Jonjo does Brendan.

So we have to wait until next week to find out the City score?

This got better. Highlights include a bit about Shankly (unfortunately with the poet guy having his say), some good dressing room footage (the more cramped the better, right?), some completely inane bowling alley outing, and Mrs Reina wearing heels around the house. The Reinas are all very cute. Bren has very nice handwriting, but his speeches are starting to irk me a little though, everything ending 'okay?'. And nearly every fan being old is really starting to worry me - especially when there was a quick pan across the City end, and it's all young lads having a blast.

But it was pretty good. And they did finish up with the singing Kop after all.

I once saw Steve Harkness at that bowling alley.

Interesting that when Brendan's going through his XI with Shelvey he has Gerrard on the right. Wonder if we'll see that when Lucas is fit.

I love the training ground and dressing room scenes, stuff like Pepe telling Jay Spearing where he wants him for corners. Fascinating to hear what these guys actually say to each other.

Pepe telling Jay Spearing where he wants him for corners

"go to bolton"?

Edge of the box.

Gerrard's comments in the dressing room before the City game seem to be totally at odds with how BR wants them to play. Not sure how helpful Gerrard shouting "No risks. Let's not overplay, if it needs to go it can go" is to BR. Although ironically, perhaps Skrtel should have taken his captain's advice!

He's not really a shouter, is he? While I'm all for nonTerry types as leaders, I'm not sure footballers respond the same way. I did like that he was wearing shirt & tie before leaving for the game though, while everyone else wore Warrior - that's the kind of leadership I can get behind.

From the trailers it looks like this is going to conclude by stretching the City game over a whole episode. I'm wondering if this, plus the non-event features that've been taking up screentime in the last couple, means they intended to run this thing through to the Man Utd game, before realising just how downbeat the last few episodes would be.

Being.Liverpool.Part4.To.Bleed.Red.720p.HDTV.X264-DHD

honestly

http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/gif-luis-suarez-liverpool-trolls-david-moyes-with-a-diving-celebration-in-front-of-the-everton-dugout/

Final episode, first half:

a really terrific sequence on the City game. This is what the series should've been all along: the struggle of the match, with the behind-the-scenes footage speaking for itself. There isn't much dialogue as such, but it's totally compelling to see the incidental activity and the body language at halftime and afterwards. You feel for Skrtel, he is gutted.

No criticism from me (except for Bren driving yet another car), this was great.