The Travails Of A Traveling Liverpool Supporter

Lately, it has been taxing work being a Liverpool supporter. Our season started so brightly despite the fact that we were lacking our captain Steven Gerrard due to that recurring groin injury because our new signings in midfield and up front – Charlie Adam, Jordan Henderson, Stewart Downing, Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll – had been purchased for an outlay of over £110 million and much was expected of them.

The void created by Torres’ sale to Chelsea seemed to have been succinctly filled and Kenny Dalglish was back in charge and settling in following Roy Hodgson’s disastrous spell handling the reigns.

But we have been unable to continue our bright start to the season. Suarez’s eight-match ban for allegedly racially abusing Patrice Evra could not have come at a worse time because it coincided with Andy Carroll’s barren spell and so we were left with no strikers able to stick the ball in the back of the net. Dirk Kuyt still possesses the required finishing prowess but no longer has the turn of pace to trouble Premiership defences, while N’Gog was sold to Bolton having spent the last four seasons doing relatively nothing.

I was at our game at the Stadium of Light against Sunderland last Saturday as well as at our home defeat against Arsenal at Anfield the weekend before and our dismal showings in both matches does not bode well for our chances of finishing fourth come May and qualifying for the Champions League next campaign. When it comes to finding a cheap hotel Liverpool centre is a nightmare of a place in which to do so, meaning I had to pay through the nose for a crummy room with no hot water, which only made Van Persie’s last-minute volleyed winner all the harder to stomach.

We have an away game against Aston Villa in Birmingham coming up where we are going to need to collect maximum points if we are to sustain our waning challenge for fourth spot in the league. An old school friend owns a chain of cheap hotels in Derby where I’ll probably stay so we can have a catch up but that means I’ll be staying in comparably crummy accommodation and so hope we get the victory that we need so that I am able to sleep.