At present the club is in turmoil. Cast aside are Rafa Benitez's promises and guarantees of 4th place and the holy grail of Champions League football next year. To make matters worse, Everton are breathing down our necks like a rabid dog and in fine form; Utd are once again now favourites for the title; and our talismanic striker - the simply sublime Fernando Torres - is out for the rest of the season with a knee injury which renders our hope for glory in the Mickey Mouse Europa League all but gone. BUT, my issues are not with the Liverpool team. They are with the people who control the club.
Despite his moderate success as Liverpool Manager, Rafa simply has to go. He has had his chance to bring success to the club and other than the Champions League win in 2005 (which was more down to experience and skill of Didi Hamann and heart of Steven Gerrard, than Rafa's catalan tactics), he has for the most part been average. Something that the Liverpool supporters deserve better than.
For reasons unbeknown to me he has gotten rid of good players such as Robbie Keane, Peter Crouch & of course the majestic and adored Xabi Alonso. Not only that, but they were never replaced. Instead, he spent £20,000,000 on a relatively unknown Italian by the name of Alberto Aquilani. An Italian may I remind you who was also injured and has still yet to nail down a place in the Liverpool starting line up, despite the season being just weeks from its conclusion. An Italian that has only scored once in the Premier League which was in a 4-1 rout of a sub-par Portsmouth side on March 13th.
None of us like failure or to admit defeat, but for Rafa to simply continue as Liverpool manager through another season is just wrong. His stubbornness has to come to a head and even he has to realise that it is maybe time he came to an agreement with the Liverpool board and stepped aside before more damage is done. Hopefully the temptation of Juventus and the thought of a mediterranean tan will be just too good an opportunity to miss. And that maybe, just maybe, next season I can enjoyably sit through a full Liverpool match without feeling the need to keep changing the channel over and back to save my nerves from causing me a heart attack or my rage from kicking the dog......i really should get a dog...
Anyway, now that I've given all you Everton (spit), and Utd (spit again), supporters a little chuckle and a wry smile - back to the real world. In my last blog I spoke about my completion of the first module from my Nutrition & Weight Management course. Its currently with the assessors and I will be notified of the result within 8 weeks...whoopee! On its completion, and the fact that I have around 2 weeks grace until I begin the 2nd module on May 1st, I decided to put what I learned into practice. During last week I kept a food diary of everything that I ate and drank and the times of their consumption, along with any exercise activity completed. Last weekend, I reviewed and assessed my current diet and made the necessary adjustments to bring my ratio of Carbs/Fat/Protein and Calories, back into within the recommended guidelines for someone of my height, weight and activity level. My findings were as suspected - over and above the suggested levels. I was not eating enough fruit and veg, I was drinking too much alcohol & coffee and not enough water, I was eating too many carbs (crisps, sweets, coke, bread etc), I was not getting enough protein and surprisingly was not eating enough fat. Overall this equated to around 300-400 calories above what I should have been eating. So a change was due.
My diet for this week was a planned and thought out affair. For my breakfast most days I had porridge oats (the proper ones, not those kiddies Oatso Simple fakes) with skimmed milk, 1 scoop of protein power and washed down with a glass of pure orange juice (again the 'not from concentrate' variety). Lunch was a healthy sandwich of chicken breast, and various salad with no mayo of course. Mid morning and mid afternoon snacks were fruit and if I got peckish throughout the day I simply ate a few raw almonds (packed with good fats and protein). Dinner was also a healthy option of either Paella, baked potato or a healthy chicken curry. I increased my fluid intake to around 4-5 litres per day made up of water and herbal teas such as green tea and lemon and ginger tea. I actually didn't miss the tea or coffee one bit. I ate no chocolate, crisps or sweets and everyday took a multivitamin and a fish oil capsule.
My only down fall this week was that almost every night I had a glass of wine as I was unwinding before bedtime. And of course the full bottle of wine that somehow slipped under the radar on Thursday night haha! - Hey! It was a tough week! :-)
All in all my diet now is almost at pin-point accuracy, the ratio of macronutrients are bang on (carbs/fat/protein) and I am within the total calories allowed. Without getting into too much information, there are still a few tweaks that can be done as regards micronutrient (vitamin/mineral) levels such as zinc, iron, copper, blah, blah, blah etc, but I wont go into that at this stage.
For my week of changes I feel more awake and alert, less bloated and notably 2-3lbs lighter. My energy levels have risen a lot despite no exercise, and my em.....digestive system....is working like Swiss Rail haha! Next week I plan on continuing to evaluate and tweak my diet in similar fashion and look forward to the findings over the next 7 days.
I have also began work on my very own website "www.O'NeillHealth&Fitness.com" and although it is not published online yet, it will be completed soon enough, and I think, will surprise a lot of you! :-)
As an update on other things going on, it is now only 4 weeks until the arrival of baby O'Neill and both my wife Dervlagh and I cannot wait for the little guy to come....sleepless nights may be upon us but the joy of holding your son in your arms is too great an occasion for them to have any effect.
I am also going to attend saturday college over the summer months to attain my Tai Chi certification - So watch this space for developments on that! Should be interesting.
Lastly I feel it just, to give out some heart felt sympathy for all of those affected by the big bad volcano in Iceland (no not the shop...thats just fine lol). Can't be nice stuck in a strange and distant land with no way out....then again, you could be stuck in this sh*t-hole with your hopes of a foreign getaway all but crushed! haha! - Gerard....I know your out there thinking the same, but your stuck in San Diego so your one of the lucky ones you jammy sh*t! :-)
So on closing my latest blog post I will do so with a merry chuckle I got this morning from the Liverpool website and the genius of none other than Sammy 'hub-caps' Lee. As if things weren't as bad as could possibly be, in light of the club's recent defeat to Athletico Madrid, and the epic road trip which preceeded the affair, was it too much to ask for a statement that said "Don't worry we may be down but we're not out", or as Arnie would say "We'll be back!".....no not our Sammy...
Headline news on the Liverpool website is this: "Sammy Lee believes Liverpool will have to hit the goal trail if they are to see off Athletico Madrid's Europa League challenge." hahaha. You don't say SAMMY!
Oh well, at least there's one good thing from that....with comments like that, next year good old Sammy will no doubt have been hired by the pundit team at RTÉ and can continue to flood our mere mortal minds with such wondrous comments, all the while seeking admiration from Eamonn 'mines a guinness' Dunphy and Johnny 'I used to play for Leeds' Giles.
Meanwhile back at Melwood, there will be one less idiot to deal with at LFC..........!!
See you all soon,
Be well and good luck!
Paulsy. :-)
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