this season as a liverpool fan
You often wake up, vaguely recalling the previous days events. Wondering if your memory is depicting images of the previous day, or the recent dream that took place as you snored heavily. I often awoke, wondering why oh why had we played with wing backs. Why oh why was Pellegrino often chosen ahead of a fit and running Sami H. It's those thoughts that prompted me to write this post. I'm not sure why. But i need to get the frustrations of the past season as a Liverpool fan off my chest, and where better, than here. The world can choose to read, or ignore. I don't care.
We'll start from the culmination of the previous season. A poor display away from home, the defeat to Marseille in the Uefa cup 5th round. The recruitment of a pathetic Harry Kewell. All of these added to the loss of Gerard Houllier. Gerard was a proud man, he'd restored the glory days unseen at Anfield since the days of Dalgleish and co. He brought us joy against such glorious and historical european clubs like Barcelona, Roma and Lazio. He'd turned a team of spice boys into actual footballers. He'd destroyed the boot room, and set up a coaching and staffing policy adopted only by the best. He'd started, what Benitez was soon to build on.
I always respected GH. I cried on his departure. Tears of sadness. Tears of relief that a man, who so nearly died for our club, was able to walk away freely, with his life intact. And our new appointment, Rafa Benitez, was a welcome arrival in my opinion.
We'd heard great things about this man. The things he'd accomplished at Valencia were profound but true. He'd turned an average Spanish club, into a European dominating workhouse. He was the instigator in the sale of Mendieta. A man who had the world at his feet...who is now unable to control the Middleborough team against their lesser opponents. Things were good as a liverpool fan.
So what could Rafa Benitez(RB) bring to the club? Firstly he installed his new right hand man, Pako Ayerestan, and a second Paco as head team coach. He wanted things done his way, and you could see the Spanish shine through from day one. He finalised the deal made by GH for Djibril Cisse. A man we heard so much about. A man who was faster than Henry, had a deadly eye for goal...A man who's season would almost see him lose his leg. A man who would, over the coming months, defy medical belief and play in the biggest game of his career.
RB continued to instill a Spanish influx. We saw one of Spains most exciting players, Xabi Alonso, sign for a mere £10m. The Spanish answer to Stephen Gerrard for that money? We had a shrewd transfer manager on our hands. He then splashed £6.25m on a little Barcelona B player, known as Luis Garcia. A man who stole our hearts against Juventus and Chelsea. A man who consistantly frustrated the fans with his reckless passing and woeful trickery. But a Red nonetheless.
A further few signings came through aswell. Antonio Nunez from Real Madrid, and Josemi...the premierships shittest right back.
The first game this season was AK Graz. A 2-0 away victory assuring us more or less of champions league football this year. A 1-0 return defeat dented this, but nonetheless, we were there. It was ours to play for.
Opening game of the league campaign, away at Spurs, 1-1. We looked at that as a poor result. At least Djib was off the mark...We were disappointed with 1-1. But damn we'd have taken a further 11 1-1's away from home this season.
The champions league kicked off. A 2-0 victory over Monaco. A good start by Rafa's red revolution. We had hope.
Our biggest game of the season so far came away to Manchester United. A 2-1 defeat, and both goals as a result of woeful defending at corners. The zonal marking wasn't working. We had a problem in the Premiership.
What came from that, was a constant barrage of criticism, from pundits, media and fans alike. Why were Liverpool a jekyl and hyde team? Why were they superstars in Europe, and mere children in the Premierleague?
I was asked at the start of the season, what i relistically expected from the first year of RB's charge. I asked for a 4th place finish, and to qualify for the knock outs of the Champions league. I did not care for a British cup run. I wanted us to be successful in Europe and prove we can do it.
I never knew we'd do that to such a great extent, we jeapordised our league position.
Half way through the season, we were being mocked by the blue half of the town. They had a belief on winning the league or finishing 2nd. It seemed a certainty that Chelsea had the league in their grasp. Arsenal began faltering after THAT match against Manchester United. Their unbeaten run coming to an end.
January transfer window opened. We lost Henchoz and gained Pellegrino. In hindsight, would Benitez do that again? I believe not. We also saw what was said to be the greatest transfer Liverpool had made in over 10 years. A Spanish champions league final goalscorer and winner on several occasions was coming. An established striker in Spain and France. Fernando Morientes. We believed once more. The previous 4 months had been a blip. The club was ready to storm the final few months and take 4th.
I missed out the injuries. Many say we had a problem. the depth of our squad was that, that 1 or 2 injuries could force us into trouble.
We didnt have 1.
We didnt have 2.
We lost 7 first teamers between 2 months. First we lost Djibril Cisse. A horrific leg breaking incident, which, had the paramedics not been on form, could have seen the loss of his leg. It was fractured in 2 places. He would not play for the season.
We lost Xabi Alonso cruelly, in a challenge on new years day vs chelsea. We were dominating the game. Any football fan will tell you this. The injury to Xabi by Fat Frank Lampard saw the game change. One player really did make all the difference. But by god, i bet Chelsea would swap all those results for the one that really mattered!
Needless to say, injury upon Injury, we continued to battle away.
We made to through, amazingly, to the knock out stages of the champions league. It was heart in mouth action. we needed to win either 1-0 or by two clear goals should Olympiacos score against us in the final game.
Olympiacos scored. It was over. We were diabolical. How could we put 3 past them in one half?
Enter sir sinama pongolle. Those who criticised floppo, ate their words, as the 2nd half saw a new approach. within a few minutes, Floppo had got one back for us. But we needed another two. The minutes went by, chance after chance was missed. 80 minutes, no more goals. Then, a wonderful move by floppo, a ball into the box, there was neil mellors head! 2-1! ONE MORE GOAL, thats all we needed. We had 10minutes to get one goal.
A man who was in the media limelight, Steven Gerrard, fans adament he would leave for rivals Chelsea, the media never laying off him. Was he the man? You hear the saying, cometh the hour, cometh the man. This saying applied perfectly to Steven Gerrard. Captain Fantastic to us reds. 86 minutes, and ball, 25 yards out, it drops invitingly to Gerrard. Sinama is free, you scream for him to lay it off, but no, he's going to strike it. You see, week in week out on the Kop, the wayword Gerrard efforts, flying wide, hitting the first man, tamely rolling...not this time. This time its sweet, its good, the Kop holds in breath, willing the ball in....It's there. You gasp in amazement as nothing matters in the world, Steven Gerrard just became the hero. Would you believe it? You couldnt help but stare in disbelief. we'd made it to the knock out round. 4 English teams were there.
We were laughing.
We were dancing.
We would never walk alone.
The premiership was looking like a bigger task. Whenever we won, Everton would win. Whenever we lost, Everton would win. We couldnt gain ground. We were losing it.
Uefa cup next season, Channel 5 coverage. Bring it on.
We sufferred from a lack of depth. We played a game on saturday, we would escape victorious, we'd play in the champions league, and raise our game and win that. But when we would play our next league game, we'd lose. Regardless of the opponents, we suffered the worst european hangover seen in football. We never won a game following a champions league match.
Our players weren't interested. The glory of Europe brought more than the glory of england.
My housemate asked me, would i rather we got far in the champions league,and finished 5th.
I said yes.
Who remembers 4th in the league? But who remembers the champions league winners?
It was no contest.
Benitez fielded strange teams. A reserve team took us to the final of the League Cup. This was good.
Our reserve team got us beaten by Burnley in the FA Cup. traore with the most bizarre own goal seen in time. This was bad.
We were flying through the champions league. We'd beaten destroyed the german team Bayer Leverkusen home and away. This one was for england. This was definately good.
We were losing games on a weekly basis in the premiership. This was bad.
The good wasnt GOOD enough. We wanted 4th aswell.
I woke up early on a friday morning. I couldn't sleep the night before. It was the morning of the Champions league quarter final draw. I saw downstairs on my own from 7am, watching the build up. I'd written out the possibilities for who we may draw.
Juventus
Inter Milan
AC Milan
Lyon
PSV
Chelsea
Bayern Munich.
The ones crossed out, were the ones i didn't want to face.
We got Juventus. I was downbeat. Overcome the old lady? Never. But that was our season. You don't give up hope until its gone.
The carling cup final came between our games against Leverkusen. We were leading after the first few minutes.Riise giving us joy. We held out.They couldnt create. Chelsea werent beating us this time.....And it wasnt chelsea who beat us. A free kick deflected off the head of Steven Gerrard saw an own goal give them hope 10minutes to go. Chelsea were back in it. Gerrard was a villain again. So much had been said about him going to chelsea in the summer...and he'd gifted them the equaliser. A conspiracy was thought up.
We ended up losing after extra time. We were downbeat. I cried that night.
I'm not ashamed.
This is football.
There is no shame in football, unless you support Manchester United
Juventus. One of the worlds biggest footballing teams. Host of legends, some past, several present. The creative flair of Nedved. The supreme finishing of Del Piero and David Trezeguet. The unmistable power and height or Ibahimovich. Against the irish man Steve Finnan, the fake left back Djimi Traore. The has been Sami Hyppia. And the most improved center half the world may ever see, Jamie Carragher.
Carragher epitomised everything good about this Liverpool team. He was strong, merticulous, quick, versatile, and showed an amazing eye for the game. He read this game like it was nobody's business. Surely he was going to get that England first team jersey?
I'd been mocked in previous seasons, saying Carragher should get in the England squad. Now people love him. How times change. But if it were to happen to one player, Jamie was the one for me. This guy is liverpool. He bleeds a Red, more truer and pure than anyone. You know, 90minutes, extra time, replays, Jamie is there for you. We had a new idol. He became our king. And he would have to put in a royal performance to keep the quality of Juventus out for 180 minutes.
The first leg was at home. This is always a disadvantage, the media say. But we were at home to Leverkusen, and we progressed.
We came into this game on the back of a 1-0 victory at Bolton.
Life was good.
We were confident.
Capellos Old Lady stood, as the champions league song blared out.
We started off well. Much the better side. Passing about, running down the wings. Juve looked rattled. They never expected us to fly out from the blocks.
And 10minutes in we had our reward. We were amazed. Overjoyed, we believed. A corner flew in, a flick on in the middle, and there was Sami Hyypia with the most delightful of volleys any Red will say they saw. We'd done it. We'd got a goal. We were ecstatic. Screaming at the top of our lungs. This is what football was about. The season was building in the Champions League.
A nervous time ensued. Luis Garcia was having a nightmare. Caught out with his passes left and right, getting caught with the ball, caught without the ball. He looked like a little boy lost.
It was 25minutes, Scott Carson had nothing to do, Le Tallec was experiencing joy, not only at being picked to play, but for having space. He found the ball off Steve Finnan, he flicked it inside, and Luis ran onto it...."hit it" i screamed, and boy did he do that. 30 yards out, Luis Garcia volleyed over the worlds most expensive goalkeeper Buffon. Money does not buy you goals like these. Determination does, and belief produced. We were in heaven. 2-0 up inside half an hour against a team noone had given us a chance of beating.
Ecstacy turned to anger and near trauma. A Superb save from a Del Piero shot, and an offside goal which looked onside, saw us escape into half time 2-0 up. We couldnt...could we?
Second half saw Juve push into it more. They got a crucial away goal from a shocking bit of defense from a corner. (why are we conceeding from corners all the time?)
The ever ready Carson made his one and only mistake, and it cost.
We escaped 2-1 victors. Who was next? An away game at Man City.
We'd beaten Juve, we must beat City?
The story of our season...
We lost 1-0 away.
The return leg to turin followed. 0-0 would be enough. we knew this. And what ensued from kick off was the perfect defensive display ever.
My mate told me he'd never seen Juventus play so badly. It wasnt that Juventus were bad, it was that Liverpool defended like lions. And there was one lion with a 23 on his back, who stood above the rest. Jamie Carragher thwarted everything. Not for the first time either.
We'd made it. There was nothing to say. They had few chances. We had a few that fell to Baros. But neither side were clinical. The full time whistle came, we were dancing once more.
Champions league semi final, and an all english semi against Chelsea.
Dreams can come true.
We beat the best in Italy, now for the best in England.
The premiership form continued to disappoint. Victory over Pompy, followed by defeat against Palace, and a draw vs Boro. We should have won all 3. Ha, no luck.
The day had come. We were away at Chelsea for the first leg. Benitez vs Mourinho. History vs Money. Honesty vs Arrogance. Liverpool vs Chelsea. Stamford Bridge was euphoric. The Chelsea fans truely believed they'd make it to the final. They'd beaten us 3 out of 3 times this season. So who was doubting them?
I'll tell you who doubted them:
Jerzy Dudek
Djimi Traore
Jamie Carragher
Sami Hyypia
Steve Finnan
John Arne Riise
Xabi Alonso
Igor Biscan
Steven Gerrard
Luis Garcia
and Milan Baros.
That's who.
We were fortunate at times. Chelsea dominated the leg. We defended, Fat Frank missed a sitter. Cech pulled off the save of the season thwarting Milan Baros. Riise set himself up, only to find it on the right foot he only uses to stand on.
Full time, 0-0. We were jubilant. We'd be able to bring them to ours, a one off game. Winner takes all. We weren't there to make the numbers.
We believed.
The draw at boro came, and saw a remarkable goal of the season candidate from Gerrard. This guy wants to stay. We know it in our hearts.
Here it was....Tuesday the 3rd of May. Please, if we win just one more game this season, let it be this.
Liverpool vs Chelsea. Judgement day. For Chelsea, they'd won the League the previous weekend. They were confident. The best team in England, playing a team from England. No problems. Right?
4 minutes in...Wrong!
What happened will forever be debated. It will never be cleared up and given a 100% answer...but all we'll see in the record books is Goal, Luis Garcia (4) Liverpool 1-Chelsea 0.
We were 1-0 up, so early in the game.
We couldnt understand, we didnt care. Did it cross the line?
Who cares if it was over the line or not? After suffering to a deflected Joe Cole goal at Anfield in the league, and after watching in horror as Steven Gerrard headed into his own net in the Carling Cup final, we deserved some luck against Jose's men.
Garcia's early strike perversely gave Liverpool a problem. Do they attack and look for a second or sit back and hold what they have? As soon as they sorted out their tactical plan for the remainder of the game, Chelsea hardly got a look-in.
The kop was ecstatic. Chelsea had their chances, a Fat Frank free-kick saved by the impressive and unflappable Dudek.
And then...90minutes came...and the 4th official...to the disbelief of reds everywhere, held his board up....SIX minutes of injury time. Liverpool fans were perplexed. Liverpool players didnt care. They were confident....but not cocky. What happened next could have changed this entire article....but didnt. An open goal, Eidur Gudjohnsson, the devil in Chelsea clothing for his play acting against Xabi Alonso in the first leg which saw Xabi suspended, missed a sitter which can only be described as harder to miss than score.
And so our European adventure, which came to within four minutes of ending back in December before Steven Gerrard sent a shot crashing into the Kop net against Olympiacos, takes us to Istanbul and our first appearance in the European Cup final for twenty years.
This team, described as by many as the worst liverpool team in 40years, will be playing to have their names shared alongside greats such as Ian Rush, Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness, Phil Thompson et al. The biggest prize for a club...and we're in the final.
Our season ended with a 2-1 victory over Aston Villa. We'd finished 5th. Everton got the final spot.
Yes we're bitter. Yes we're jealous.
But we'd have taken this season had it been offered to us.
I write this, 2 days prior to the champions league final. 3 days from now, i'll be sat either crying, or crying. It's that simple. Tears of joy or tears of dispair. There's a difference. And i may just experience it.
The greatest game of my life as a Liverpool fan. of over 17 (i decided at 4yrs old i'd be a red, i could have followed everton like my dad...but they were doing better than liverpool. i've always preferred the underdog) years of unbridled passion, it culminates in this one day.
People who don't understand football, will no doubt understand little of how an occasion can effect a person. But anyone who is a football supporter, i'd like you to share with me, the feeling of knowing your team, is going to compete for the greatest prive in club football.
I wish you all could experience it. The hairs stand up whenever anyone mentions AC Milan.
I watched a trailor for it before, i nearly died. My heart was going. I'm nervous already, and have another 48 hours to contend with.
I pray, and i cheer, with every single Liverpool supporter out there.
Lets do this for Shankly, lets do this for Paisley, lets do this for Dalglish, Souness, Aldridge, Livermore, Rush, Roy Evans, Gerard Houllier, Ian Callaghan. Lets do this for every single one of the players who played for Liverpool. Fuck it, lets do this for Sir Matt Busby. Once a Red afterall. Even to the current crop, lets do this for Owen, for Fowler, for Patrik Berger.
Had it not been for each one of these players, I doubt i'd be writing this.
One last thing needs to be said, avoiding all cliche;
You'll Never Walk Alone.
No matter who you are, where you're from, who you pledge your allegiance too, join me on the most spectacular occasion i will ever have seen.
The 2005 Champions League Final. 25-05-05....Istanbul. Liverpool vs AC Milan.
Here we go.
Chris