The photo above is one fan’s take on Liverpool’s outgoing (going, gone) Yank owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett. (Sidenote: that pair also bears a strong resemblance to Backpost readers Prison Mike and Ref Baiter.)
On Sunday at Goodison Park, another fan held a sign that read: Agents Hicks and Gillett: Mission Accomplished.
No, the departed American owners were not well liked in Liverpool.
So what advice is out there for the incoming American owner? Perhaps the Daily Star put it most succinctly: Splash Cash or Kop Are Going Down.
New owner John W. Henry was in the house on Sunday, fresh from promising to restore the club’s winning ways, and he got a firsthand look at what that will require. Everton dominated much of the game and fully deserved the three points on goals from Tim Cahill and Mikel Arteta.
The loss leaves Liverpool in 19th place, with only goal difference keeping them out of the cellar.
U.S. keeper Tim Howard made six saves to earn the shutout.
In other Yanks-in-England action, Clint Dempsey started, went the full 90, and picked up a yellow card in Fulham’s 2-1 loss to Tottenahm.
Eddie Johnson came on in the 84th minute of the Cottagers’ loss.
Stuart Holden started and went the distance for Bolton, which got a 90th-minute winner from Ivan Klasnic to beat Stoke City 2-1 at the Reebok.
Brad Friedel started, played 90 minutes, and made four saves in Aston Villa’s 0-0 draw with top-of-the-table Chelsea at Villa Park.
Friedel’s understudy, Brad Guzan, and young U.S. defender Eric Lichaj both dressed but did not play.
At the Molineux, Marcus Hahnemann was beaten by a 53rd-minute penalty from Mark Noble that lifted West Ham to a 1-1 tie with Wolves. Hahnemann made three saves in the match.
Jonathan Spector did not dress for the Hammers.
Elsewhere, Manchester City got two goals from Carlos Tevez—who now has an astonishing 28 in his last 31 league games—and a beautiful stoppage time strike from David Silva to hold off scrappy Blackpool on the road by a 3-2 score.
The win puts City in second place, two points behind Chelsea.
Manchester United could only muster a 2-2 draw at home against West Bromwich Albion. After the game, the Red Devils heard out-of-favor striker Wayne Rooney, who played only 19 minutes on Saturday, announce that he won’t sign another contract at Old Trafford and will look to ply his trade elsewhere. Yikes.
In London, Arsenal rejoined the title chase with a scrappy 2-1 win over visiting Birmingham, but the victory lost some luster when 18-year-old midfielder Jack Wilshere was shown a straight red—and got a three-match suspension—for a reckless challenge in stoppage time.
Newcastle captain Fabricio Coloccini pulled a stoppage-time equalizer out of his hat to counter a double from Wigan’s Charles N’Zogbia—a former Magpie—in a 2-2 draw at St. James’s Park. Coloccini’s strike prevented a third successive loss for newly promoted Newcastle.
Blackburn hosts Sunderland today to round out Week 8.
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