- The F.A. referees striked again in the Liverpool vs. Bolton game on Sunday. Bad officiating caused yet another club one or three possible points. It seemed as if the referees were on sided, and were fans of Bolton based on the bad calls that they have made through out the game. The first incident was shocking. Sami Hyppia, recieved a massive blow to the nose, his nose was broken after that incident. However the Bolton player was not punished by being booked which deserved a yellow card. The horrible officiating continued through out the game. There were rough tackles made towards the Liverpool squad but there were no bookings and quite of few free kicks were given. Eight minutes before the end of the painful game, Luis Garcia, the newly signed Spaniard from Barcelona scored a wonderful goal, or we thought at the moment. The linesman disagreed and called it offside thus the goal did not count for Liverpool. Six minutes later, a free kick finaly has been given to Rafa's side, the ball was heading for John Arne Riise however it was headed out of bounce by a Bolton player but there was no free kick for Liverpool, that was yet another bad call done by the F.A. referees in the game. Djibril Cisse, the French ace had a great chance of equalizing the game but due to his frustration he used too much power and not enough precision and accuaracy on the shot he took, and the ball went over the cross bar.
Clearly this game should had been a draw, after countless replays in various angles shown by Sky Sports the goal should had counted, it was not offside at all but the call stood. Even a newborn child could tell that it wasn't an offside. This is not the only game that a club had to suffer due to referees. When Southampton played Blackburn, they recieved a penalty at the very last minute of the game. The replays once again showed that it was no where near a penalty, and Southampton won the game 3-2 causing Blackborn some major points. The referees were obiviously one sided. This Saturday, Blackburn suffers yet again due to bad officiating against Manchester United. Blackburn took the early lead over the Red Devils and even though Devils had over 20 shots on target, Blackburn's outstanding goalkeeper,Friedel saved them all until the very last minute. Saha passed the ball with his hand to Alan Smith who then scored and equalized the game at one a piece. Once again the game should had been a drawn. This will probably continue if the F.A. does not do something about it, clubs should not suffer because the professionals who are there in the game to make sure that game is fair treat the opposite side unfairly. - The critisizing of the players and now the manager continues. Instead of supporting the squad, the Liverpool fans are doing the opposite. Rafael Banitez is a new manager, he is new to the Barclays Premiership but he is not new at being a manager, Banitez knows the game quite well and should not be slated after three games. So far Liverpool have won,drawed and lost a game which isn't as bad compared to the performances by other clubs. Manchester United has the same record this season as Liverpool. They lost a game to Chelsea, 1-0, won a game against Norwich City 2-1 and drawed a game against Blackburn 1-1. Liverpool played 1-1 against Spurs, won at Anfield against Manchester City 2-1 and lost the game against Bolton 1-0. Exact same record, however Liverpool is being more slated than Manchester, why? I am not quite sure but I am sure that the fans and the club itself are getting annoyed by it. Champions are not made over night and that has been proven in may occasions, however the fans fail to understand that due to the frustration that we all have when our favorite club doesn't perform as well as they should however that is not a good reason to critisize the club that you idolize and love so much, more respect should be given. One of the recent critisized players has been the Polish goalkeeper, Jerzey Dudek. After his bad performance against the Austrian champions, Gratz, Dudek was made a villian by the Liverpool fans. He improved his performance against Bolton whether you believe it or not the goal Liverpool let in was not his fault. The defence failed to cover the other side of the post and Bolton took that as an oppening to score. After that Bolton took many shots on target but Dudek did a good job on stopping them.
Only good things are to come for Liverpool. Xabi Alonso,Luis Garcia and Josemi have all looked impressive. Liverpool squad are all trying to impress the man who turned Valencia into the La Liga champions in one season. Time is needed to make a squad better and that is what Rafa wants from the fans, more patience is needed. Rafael Banitez is capapable of turning into mediocore players into stars, Liverpool does not have mediocore players, instead there are many talented players who are still casted under the bad gameplay spell of Houllier. Old habbits do die hard but the mistakes made in the past have to be looked at and then used to improve in the future. Three games have been play and more is to come, hardwork is needed to become number one under the sun, champions are not born, they are made but not overnight. Patience is a great virtue, and if the fans of the most succesful team in England do not understand that, then they should not be called "fans".