Anyone seen Kenny Dalgleish? Ian Rush? Bruce Grobbelaar (never mind him)?Is it 2008 or 1978? Bell-bottoms, anyone?
Liverpool is on top of the Premier League and it looks like it just might be there to stay. Not only are the Reds three points clear of Chelsea, but Liverpool did so with a massively important 1-nil result at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea's first home loss since February 2004.
Should Liverpool win it all, it would be the club's first championship since the 1989-90 season; where have the days of DIC and Ditch Rafa gone? Hicks and Gillett? How about Kuyt and Torres? Things are lining up well at the Kop End; United is below form through October and Chelsea has more nicks than it can handle right now.
Let's start off this week's trip around the blogosphere with some insight into Liverpool's trek to the top, and toss in some Beckham, Tottenham, Porto and Martin Samuel love while we're at it.
- Reuters Soccer Blog says Liverpool has the intangibles it takes to be champion. The key is scrapping up points from matches in which it either doesn't play well, or should lose.
- EPL Talk gets sentimental about the 1970s and '80s teams. Neat video embedded there too!
- Liverpool Banter points out that now the Reds are on top and in it for the long haul, now if only the calendar would speed up.
- 101 Great Goals has a ton of links to analyses of Liverpool's win, with perspective on Gerrard and praise for the team that it looks like it will be in the title hunt for Christmas.
- In the interest of fairness and getting both sides of the story, BlueChampions laments the loss and points out some weaknesses exposed by Liverpool. Question: How does Chelsea not get more than one decent chance on goal in the final 85 minutes of the match?
- The Soccer-Blog has more on the record-smashing win, and some insight into the Tottenham situation.
- Speaking of Spurs, Harry Redknapp is now in charge and immediately, the club responds with three points and a 2-0 win over Bolton. Tottenhamhotspur says it's the ideal start if for no other reason, a confidence boost.
- Spoiler takes Redknapp on full force against the backdrop of his return to Portsmouth to receive an award. Redknapp's comments about managing a "big club" are especially inflamatory.
- The Offside has a great piece on Redknapp's disdain for sporting directors and whether managers need a boss whose buying players. Interesting points on both sides.
- Soccernet reports Portsmouth expects an onslaught from Spurs with Redknapp raiding his former club's players.
- Premier Footy says Redknapp's hiring was long overdue at Spurs. Duh.
- Calcio1 checks in on the David Beckham-Milan soap opera with a translation of an interview Beckham did with La Gazzetta dello Sport.
- Soccernews reports Beckham saying the journey to Milan is about avoiding a layoff, and not necessarily for the sake of his spot with England.
- Serie A Talk has Beckham praising Milan's training methods and points to the longevity of players such as Maldini as further evidence of why he wants to join the club.
- The Portuguese Liga is upside down. Leixoes and Nacional lead, the former beating up F.C. Porto 3-2 this weekened, despite some intervention from the referees. FootballCupLeague gets us started.
- Porto the Offside has the ugly details for the defending champions.
- And finally, Martin Samuel is always a must-read. Here's two for today: the first on Michel Platini and the Champions League, and the second on Tottenham.
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