By LFC Vancouver member Ste Speed, 25 October 07.

A question I’ve been asking myself almost on a daily basis lately is whether Rafa Benitez is the right man for Liverpool or not. The result against Besiktas in the Champions League this week has me further concerned. I don’t feel good about this and in fact when I think about the success Rafa has brought to our club I feel a little ashamed. I am fully aware that we remain unbeaten in the Premiership and we have had our best start to a season in many years and yet I still have a horrible feeling in my stomach that this is going to be another heartbreaking season. The real time to be judging Rafa will be next May but at this moment it is hard to not be worried. Tonight I am genuinely concerned that we may get destroyed by Arsenal on Sunday. The Gunners have been in hot form and if they were to beat us they will go nine points clear. I really believe that if that was to happen it would be too much of a gap to make up. At the same time if we were to win on Sunday the gap will suddenly be reduced to just three points and that will certainly have us smiling again.

Rafa has always made baffling substitutions and in the past they’ve usually worked out for the best. The replacing of Steven Gerrard with Lucas Leiva in the derby was certainly a head scratcher. Fortunately it turned out well with Lucas having the goalbound shot that was handled by Phil Neville for the winning penalty. Rafa’s explanation after the game that he took Gerrard off for showing “too much passion” was pretty embarrassing. How can showing passion in a derby be a bad thing? Was Rafa concerned that Stevie would get himself sent off? I would be extremely worried if Stevie wasn’t showing passion and in fact before he came off I thought he was playing better than he has since he got injured. Fortunately it doesn’t appear to have affected his confidence as he played well against Besiktas and is starting to look himself again. The passion comments from Rafa reminded me of some of the ridiculous comments Houllier used to make to the press.

It really annoys me the way that Rafa waits too long to make changes even though it’s clear that certain players aren’t having good games. In some recent games Rafa’s stubbornness with substitutions seems to have been costly at times. The way that Peter Crouch remained on the bench for so long against Besiktas reminded me of the 2007 Champions League Final. That was another game in which we looked more likely to score when Crouch was on but unfortunately he was introduced too late. In both of those games we all knew that Crouch needed to be on the pitch as early as half time but Rafa waited until near the end when it was too late. So far this season Crouch has just been completely shafted. I have no idea what he has done wrong and am wondering why he hasn’t even started a game when Torres is injured. Kuyt and Voronin are both great players but I think that they are a little bit too similar to play together. Both players are great grafters who will battle and win the ball but don’t stay in the box enough to get on the end of things. Crouch was our top scorer with eighteen goals last season, including seven in the Champions League. On top of this he was also on a scoring frenzy for England too, he was playing better than ever before. His heading was improving, he looked confidant and was scoring goals that seemed unbelievable for a player of his height. The two overhead kicks against Galatasaray and Bolton and the hat-trick against Arsenal stand out as real highlights from last season. Since Torres and Voronin have signed it seems that Rafa no longer fancies playing Crouch any more and he’s only started one league game so far this season. The problem with all this is that Crouch is a confidence player and if one of the other strikers were struck down with a serious injury I’d be worried about throwing Crouch in if he hadn’t been playing. How is he to maintain any match fitness for the games we do need him in? I’ve no doubt he will play against Cardiff City in the League Cup next week, maybe he will start against Arsenal but I doubt it as Torres should be back.

I don’t want to get too involved in dealing with the whole rotation policy. Rafa has been doing it for years with plenty of success, with Liverpool and Valencia. He also isn’t the first Liverpool manager to use this system either as I remember Kenny Dalglish using it during the 1985/86 season. I understand why Rafa uses it and to a certain extent I completely agree with it. Sometimes however, I do believe that he goes way over the top with his tinkering of the side. In the modern game there is no way that players can play all of the time but to change the side every single game can be too often. A player can be fantastic in one game but still can’t be certain of keeping his place. This is the sort of thing that can be a reason for damaging confidence in a player and that can spread. Rafa is also widely known for not forming personal relationships with players, Gerrard for one is a player who needs patting on the back and positive messages. In my opinion it is this lack of a human touch from Rafa combined with the constant changes to the line-up that are big reasons for the recent lack of confidence in the side.

As I said earlier if we beat Arsenal on Sunday then things will look a lot better. We still have a chance of advancing in the Champions League too. Things do look very bleak at the moment but our next two games in Europe are at home and if we win them we will be going to Marseille hopefully full of confidence. In the meantime the Reds have a huge point to prove this Sunday and if they can turn on the form from earlier in the season they can beat anybody. Let’s hope that the dramatic win in the derby provides the catalyst to start winning league games again and that the Besiktas game was merely a blip as we continue the great start we’ve made domestically.

What do you think? Give Ste your comments at steSpeed [at] lfcvancouver.com.

By LFC Vancouver member Keith Perkins, 21 July 07.

As the 1960’s were coming to a close, there were signs that many of the players that had brought the glory days to Anfield were beyond their best. Bill Shankly could see that this was coming and had been quietly bringing in a few young players who could develop their talent in the reserves, and then be ready to move up to the first team when called upon. Larry Lloyd, Alun Evans, Brian Hall, John Toshack and Steve Heighway, were among the players signed during that period, and would hopefully be ready to replace Ron Yeats, Roger Hunt, Ian Callaghan, Ian St. John, and Phil Thompson as needed. Some of the new signings were able to force their way directly into the first team, but some needed time to find their form. One player from the latter group was Alec Lindsay.

It should have been a dream move for 21 year-old Alec as he was signed from his hometown club Bury in March 1969 for £67,000. He was highly rated as an England Youth International, playing as a midfielder. During his last season at Bury, he helped them to finish as runners up in the Third Division and gained promotion to the Second. His debut for Liverpool came a few months later in September 1969, and was definitely one to remember. It was the first round first leg of the Fairs Cup, with Irish side Dundalk as the victims. The half-time score was 5-0, and the Reds came out for the second half hungry for more. Lindsay took advantage after ten minutes to make it 6-0. Even more goals were to come later in an eventual 10-0 rout that was watched by a certain student teacher named Gerard Houllier, who was among the crowd on the Kop. The result, and the performance of the players, may have impressed the future Liverpool manager, but it was not enough to allow Alec Lindsay to become a regular in the side just yet. He played seven more times that season, with two of those as a substitute, while he worked on finding his form with the reserves.

Alec Lindsay was a wing-half or inside forward with Bury, and would be described today as a midfielder. For some strange reason he was put in the position of striker with the reserves, and while he managed to score a very impressive twenty two goals, he was not happy in that role. At the end of his first season he was unhappy enough to feel that he would never find a suitable place in the squad and handed in a transfer request. The request was accepted, and it looked as though his Anfield days were going to be few, when it was decided that he would be given a chance with the first team in the left back position. Gerry Byrne had retired and the position was proving difficult to fill, but it was soon taken permanently by Alec as he had finally found his form. By the end of the 1970-71 season he had played a total of thirty five senior matches and had scored two goals. The end of the season was the disappointing loss to Arsenal in the FA Cup final, but the medal as a runner up was definitely not to be his last.

The next season, 1971-72, Alec Lindsay continued to improve and increased his number of appearances to forty five. The squad of mostly youngsters was maturing rapidly and were beginning to show that the glory days for Liverpool were far from over. The season ended with Liverpool in third place, just one point behind Brian Clough’s Derby County. This was a big improvement over fifth place from the previous two seasons, and only missed out on second place on goal average. More new players had been signed, including Kevin Keegan and Peter Cormack, and it was felt that Liverpool were on the verge of returning to the highest level.

The most memorable period of Alec Lindsay’s career must undoubtedly have been over the following two seasons. Liverpool were beginning to make their mark in Europe as they steadily progressed in the UEFA Cup. They were also playing consistently in the League, and were on their way to their first Championship since 1966. Arsenal and Leeds United were continually a few points behind, but could not close the gap. The Reds clinched the title in late April with a win over Leeds, and the season ended with Liverpool three points clear of Arsenal in second place. Naturally this was worthy of celebration but there was still the UEFA Cup to play for.

The semi-final first leg was against the holders Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield. The two clubs had already met twice in the League, with one win away and one draw at home, plus twice in the League Cup with a draw at home and an away loss (Spurs went on to win the Cup over Norwich). To say that the clubs knew each other well would be putting it mildly. Twenty seven minutes into the first half, Alec Lindsay pounced on a loose ball resulting from a free kick to score the only goal of the match, with the second leg to come at White Hart Lane two weeks later. Spurs thought that they could easily overcome the one goal deficit, and hoped that Liverpool would be distracted by becoming Champions just two days before the second leg in London. Spurs took the lead early in the second half, but Liverpool cancelled that out a few minutes later. One more goal for Spurs with almost twenty minutes remaining gave them hope but Liverpool hung on to win on the away goals rule, and reach their first European final since 1966.

The two legged final ended with Liverpool winning 3-2 on aggregate, and Alec Lindsay was presented with a well deserved medal having played in all but one of the twelve legs. He also had his League Champions medal, which was equally well deserved, having played in all but five matches. When the FA Cup and League Cup matches are added in, Alec Lindsay played a total of fifty nine for the season and scored five goals.

There was no doubt in any Liverpool supporters mind that Alec Lindsay was the best left back in the country. His previous roles as a midfielder and forward gave him the confidence to push forward with the attack. He was not the fastest full back in the league, but he had a knack of knowing when to move most effectively either to cut out an opposition attack or to make an overlapping run forward to put in a cross, or take a blast himself. His left foot had a surprising amount of power behind it, which came in useful for taking penalties. He once scored twice from the spot in one game, which hadn’t been done for twenty years.

Fellow Liverpool player Brian Hall described his talent this way: “One of the best left foots I’ve ever seen. Alec was one of those players who had such a lovely sweet movement and motion when he kicked a ball with his left foot that he could kick it three quarters the length of the pitch and make it look so easy.” Bill Shankly, as always, had a more colourful way of putting it, “Alec Lindsay could peel an orange with that left foot of his.”

1973-74 began with Liverpool as defending League Champions, and returning once again to the European Cup after a seven year gap. It was not a good year in Europe as Liverpool crashed out in the second round to Red Star Belgrade, losing 2-1 in both legs. Consistency was not so easily found in the League as in the previous season, and Liverpool could not catch Leeds United who went on to win by five points over Liverpool in second place. The performances in the League Cup were nothing to cheer about either, with a fifth round defeat to Wolves. But, the FA Cup provided the best hope for a trophy, and Liverpool rolled on to the final against Newcastle. The first half was slow with few chances for either side, but when the second half began Liverpool started to take control. Six minutes into the second half, Alec Lindsay made a well timed interception following an overlapping run down the left wing, took the ball toward the penalty area, played a one-two with Keegan in the centre of the area, and fired a rocket of a shot into the net. The celebrations were short lived as the referee blew for offside, disallowing the goal. Replays of that spectacular strike later showed that the ball had in fact come from the foot of a Newcastle defender after it went through Keegan’s legs, and so should have stood. The only consolation for Alec was that it is still often described as “the greatest FA Cup goal that never was.” Liverpool dominated the rest of the match and won 3-0. Alec Lindsay joined his team-mates in collecting his first FA Cup medal as the club won it for the second time.

1974 was also the year that Alec finally had a call-up for Joe Mercer’s England squad, in a friendly against Argentina. That was the first of only four caps (all friendlies owing to England’s failure to qualify for the 1974 World Cup) that came in a spell of two weeks.

Nobody could have known during that summer that Bill Shankly was to announce his retirement before the following season began. It was widely believed that Shanks had built his second great team and would want to continue on with them. The Charity Shield match was to be Shankly’s farewell with Liverpool winning on penalties over Leeds in a match that was to be remembered for other reasons. It was also to be Alec Lindsay’s last medal with Liverpool as Bob Paisley took over the management of the club. Bob’s preference was for a mix of continental style with a touch of British grit. It’s hard to argue with the wisdom of that, but for Alec it meant that he was soon to lose his place.

Liverpool were entered into the European Cup Winners Cup for the 1974-75 season, and Alec was once again involved in a memorable night at Anfield to compare with his debut back in 1969. The opposition this time were Norwegian club Strømsgodset. Lindsay scored with a penalty after only three minutes, in an 11-0 win which set a new record for biggest ever victory. The second leg in Norway ended 1-0 for Liverpool.

Phil Neal was brought in the following month and was preferred to Alec in the left back position, pushing him down to the reserves. When Phil Neal was moved over to right back, Joey Jones became the preferred replacement on the left. Liverpool would win two more League Championships, in 1976 and 1977, but Alec did not play enough games in either season to be awarded a medal. He was named as one of five substitutes as a member of the squad for the European Cup Final in Rome ’77, but did not play. His final season at Anfield was spent mostly in the reserves, and even though he won a Championship medal with them in the Central League he decided it was time to move on and was transferred to Stoke City in the summer of 1977. His final tally for Liverpool was 248 appearances, 18 goals, and four major medals, as well as 92 appearances and 39 goals for the reserves.

One year later, Alec Lindsay could be found playing for Oakland of the North American Soccer League. When the owners moved the club to Edmonton, Canada, Alec moved to Toronto where he finished his career with the Toronto Blizzard. His retirement from football came a couple of years later when he returned to Lancashire to open a pub (Foundry Arms) in Leigh.

Alec Lindsay was voted in at No. 85 in last year’s “100 Players Who Shook The Kop.”

85 - Alec Lindsay

What do you think? Give Keith your comments at keith [at] lfcvancouver.com.

Standings as of 25 October 07.
Dennis and Pat are stretching their lead on the pack ... but Ste is keeping it close!

Rank	Member	Points
1	Dennis	19
2	Pat	16
3	Ste	13
4	Kevin	9
5	Dan	7
6	Keith	5
7	Richard	3
7	Mark	3
7	Glenn	3
10	Andy	1
10	Luvdeep	1
10	Chris	1

To enter the members contest see the rules below.

RULES:

• Only open to paid LFC Vancouver Members.
• You list the names of the players you think will start the next LFC match.
• You must submit your list to lfcvancouver [at] gmail.com at least 12 hours before kick-off.
• This contest will include every match that LFC plays this season.
• The member(s) that correctly guess the starting XI will be awarded 5 points.
• At the end of the season the player with the most points will win the prize.
• What is the prize? It is a surprise!
• The standings will be included in each week’s newsletter.

Scoring System:

• 11 Correct picks = 5 points.
• 10 Correct picks = 3 points.
• 9 Correct picks = 1 point.
• 0-8 Correct picks = 0 points.

YNWA/JFT 96,

Andy Neumann