“Liverpool’s season started disastrously. Crashing out of the Champions League in the group stage despite a relatively favourable draw and struggling for consistency in the Premier League, serious pressure was building on manager Brendan Rodgers as his expensive summer signings failed to live up to expectations. However, since December their form has turned around dramatically, and the Merseyside club now find themselves as the league’s form side. Rodgers deserves serious credit for the turn around, having changed both the team’s personnel and its formation, switching from variations of either 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 to a 3-4-3 (or, to be pedantic, 3-4-2-1) shape.” backpagefootball

“This is an article that is nominally about football, but is just as much about the pressures of modern life and the plight of men (in particular, but not exclusively). This is both a very personal account and an observation of how others behave. It is about being a football fan, but also the impact of social media on our appreciation of life (and sport), and how constantly striving for more can lead to increased unhappiness – even if you attain it. Football fans – and here I naturally include myself – act as if they are mentally ill. It’s a form of mania: fanaticism, the act of being obsessively concerned with something. As someone diagnosed with depression, and who probably has a few other issues as well, I feel able to make such a comparison.” Tomkins Times