On the 10th day of Christmas, Barca gave to me, a small little Spaniard. Ok, it doesn’t fit the song. You’ve caught me out. Welcome to the 10th day of The TBT Advent Calendar.
We’ll be looking at five Liverpool players who’ve played in the number 10 role and some who’ve had number 10 on their back. Some of these players will have rocked around the Christmas tree whilst some….well, they’re the equivalent of socks when you wanted Hungry Hungry Hippos.
If you’re angry that Kenny Dalglish isn’t mentioned in here, then I refer you to the 7th day of Christmas. He gets a mention that is fit for a King in there.
Let’s start with the customary ‘smellies’ set and the man who can use that best; Andriy Voronin. During his stay at Liverpool, he made the fans happy, scoring 11 goals in 27 games….sadly these were the Hertha Berlin fans. Andriy only made 27 appeareances for Liverpool in his 3 year stay and scored 5 goals. Rafa once commented “He is clever, has great game awareness and gives us so many more options in attack. He can play behind a main striker, lead the line himself, or come into the attack from the flanks.” Sadly, Rafa didn’t keep the gift receipt. He was sold to Dynamo Moscow for £4 million in 2010.
What number 10 shall we unwrap next? The present with the vintage wrapping paper perhaps? A lovely tricky bow on top, we should surely open that. Jari Litmanen. Only around for one year in 2001-2002 but this 30 year old certainly left fans wondering “what if?”. He was underused by Gerard Houllier and only featured 43 times for Liverpool and scored 9 goals, but he didn’t score bad goals. He scored a wonder goal against Spurs, but injury hit and Jari could barely play 90 minutes and eventually he wasn’t even able to train. His oppurtunities were limited at Anfield and Houllier allowed him to leave. Jari was a broken Hungry Hungry Hippos when everyone wanted a Gameboy Colour. He came at the wrong time for both himself and Liverpool. Shame.
We’ve got a gift with an airmail stamp on here, smells a little of Sangria. Liverpool unwrapped a little gem in 2004, they purchased this small package from Barcelona in 2004. The gift was meant to bring us glory and his small stature of five foot seven inches, he certainly did. Luis scored key goals against Everton to win the derby in 2005 and he put the ball across the line, yes…across the line against Chelsea in the semi-final of the Champions League. Luis ruptured his ACL in January 2007 and would never play for Liverpool again as he moved to Atletico Madrid. He left an emotional letter thanking Liverpool fans for their support. In all, Luis Garica played 121 times for Liverpool with 30 goals, 10 of them in the Champions League, often in key games. He certainly was a fantastic present to open and is still remembered fondly by Reds.
After a few presents being unwrapped, you’ve got a fair bit of wrapping paper on the floor. You’re desperately hoping your granddad won’t stand on your brand new Subbueteo set whilst he’s dancing to terrible Christmas music. We’ve got a gift that when we opened it, we were all happy with but as time went on, some of us grew to dislike, some grew to hate and some forgot about this gifts very existence at all.
Michael Owen. The schoolboy wonder that would break Red’s hearts and eventually play out a career that never lived up to all its promise. Playing 216 times and with 118 goals for Liverpool, but in his early days, he was too Liverpool fans what Kerplunk was to a kid in 1999; class. He was quick, scored for fun and had so much promise about him. But like Kerplunk, as time wore on, the love for Michael Owen dropped, after he ran down his contract to force a move through to Real Madrid in 2005. His career stalled in reality, compared to the promise it had at Liverpool and after 4 years at Madrid, he left for Newcastle in 2009. His career is very much like Kerplunk, so much promise at the start but as it goes on, becomes disappointing, lackluster and ultimately ends in a bad way. Kerplunk usually ended up on the floor in a few pieces whilst Owen ended his career by playing for a club that made many dislike him further; Manchester United. He also allegedly played for Stoke but I think that may have been the result of a few too many beers at Christmas lunch. That’s still as of yet unconfirmed. Nobody sober would surely have chosen to play for Stoke? Surely?
That last gift left a bit of a bad taste in the mouth. We’ve got a small present left to unwrap, it’s golden and shiny and small. I hope it’s a tamagotchi! It’s a….small Brazilian playmaker! Exactly what Liverpool needed in January 2012, when Phillipe Coutinho joined Liverpool for only £8m from Inter Milan. The signing of Coutinho was a fantastic cracker for Liverpool and we’re not talking cheap Sainsbury’s one, we’re talking Marks and Spencers crackers where the jokes aren’t Nabil El Zhar like in quality!
Coutinho has certainly helped to improve the Reds and will make Christmas 2013 so much happier than Christmas 2012 was. With Liverpool flying high in the league and looking like a much better side, part of this is down to the relationship with the SAS have formed with Coutinho. He glides around the pitch as if on skates, delivering pieces of magic as he goes. His delivery would make you think that he’s Santa, as he delivers gifts throughout the game and luckily, we’ve got 2 strikers who quite enjoy putting those gifts in the back of a net.
If the Liverpool club shop produced Phillipe Coutinho Angels for the top of Christmas Trees, it’d be apt. He’s out little Brazillian Christmas Angel and we’ll need him and Suarez more than ever over the Christmas period. So, let’s hope he keeps delivering some gifts our way and we unwrap many a point over the festive season.
