Liverpool-flavoured ramblings (coherent this time)
Before talking about our great match today, some comments about Thursday's Europa League match : (bullet-point style)
Liverpool - Napoli ; 3 -1
We won, we buried Napoli thanks to a Stevie hattrick. AND IT FELT FUCKING GOOD TO SEE STEVIE BEIN- G SO AWESOME :D
That said, there are some negatives in this match :
- First half performance was poor. Lots of mistakes were made, striker isolated in front, only one clear occasion after we had conceded. A lack of spirit, maybe, I can only speculate. Lack of a proper finish as well :(
- Poulsen needs to fuck off and quick. Not only his performance is poor in general (keeps passing backwards, lose possession) but he makes huge mistakes. This time, it was a header backwards, aiming nowhere, which ended up in a Napoli player's foot and could be counted as an assist for the fucking goal that followed. Now, everyone making that mistake I'm unhappy with (Skrtel today almost did the same) but with Poulsen, it's just one more damning thing he does. He's just a burden at the momenT I don't see why Roy keeps on playing (Actually, I have an idea about that)
- (Remarks about the defence were made prior to the Chelsea and therefore do not take into account this performance re:Carra/Konchesky) I don't always agree with Carra as CB (not that I prefer when it's RB) Yes he is a legend for Liverpool and he has done a lot for the club but he is getting old and he is not as good as he used to be. I therefore think he should not automatically start every match. I think younger players like Skrtel and Agger, even Soto should get more chances (As of now, Agger is out for a long or so I've heard, so he is out of the equation for the moment.) Recently, the pairing Soto-Skrtel has been solid, I was therefore a bit disappointed to see Carra-Soto at this match. Even more when we conceded a goal. That wasn't the only problem I had with the formation. Why no Aurelio ? Even as a sub. There's only one way he is going to get fit, it's by playing. I don't really rate Konchesky now, saw him make too many mistakes. So I would have changed the line up :
Carra -> Skrtel
Konchesky -> Aurelio (or even Kelly, since I think he played against Napoli at RB ?)
Poulsen -> Stevie.
Stevie came on at HT but for Jova. Which meant we had 5 CM at the same time. WHAT THE FLYING FUCK ? WHAT THE FUCK KIND OF FORMATION WAS THAT ?
FIVE CM AT THE SAME TIME. SMH.
- What was wrong with you, Raul, tonight ? XD You kept slipping XD (which would have been fun if it we weren't losing at the moment... Is funny now.)
- Second half was much, much better (unsurprisingly...) with Stevie in the team. It's amazing how much impact he has on the team :D LIVERPOOL'S HEARTBEAT, STEVEN GERRARD, CAPTAIN FANTASTIC. Still too many mistakes though and silly mistakes, it sometimes looke dlike we had forgotten how to pass. But Stevie saved Liverpool, although not singled-handedly !
First goal, he definitely was more motivated than the Napoli keeper to get to the ball. ("The keeped did not fancy it" XD) Said keeper got carded for moaning about it afterwards (and fake-limping, dick !)
Second goal was a pen (foul on Glen) and what a great pen. The keeper guessed correctly but Stevie's shot was too fast and too strong.
Third goal was a beauty. Lucas made a tackle-cum-pass to Stevie (and what a tackle that was !) who finished it with a chip over the keeper, right into the net. I loooove the fact that he pointed to Lucas afterwards to acknowledge his assist ♥ That was cute as hell ♥
- That challenge on Ngog was such a fucking disgrace. I can't believe none of the referees saw it. You'd have to be fucking blind. Hopefully, since Ngog played today (if only ten minutes), he is not injured. This was a leg-breaking tackle, and I hope it will get reviewed later :\
- The Kop was mostly silent in the first half, except for some moment during which we could here the Steven Gerrard song. Much more alive and noisy in the second half ;) Taking over when the Napoli fans had been silenced by our Captain ;) And of course, they were singing YNWA !
NOOOOOOOOW ONTO TODAY'S MATCH. WHICH I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE BECAUSE I THOUGHT WE WERE GOING TO GET SLAUGHTERED.
OHMYFUCKINGGAWD
WE BEAT CHELSEA
IS THIS REAL LIFE
:DDDDD
Quick comments because the match is a bit of blur right now, waaaaay too nerve-wracking !
I WAS DREADING THAT GAME. I WAS NERVOUS AS FUCK BEFORE KICK OFF. I WAS NERVOUS AS FUCK DURING THE WHOLE BLOODY GAME. I WAS EVEN MORE NERVOUS WHEN I LEARNED HOWARD FUCKING WEBB WAS GOING TO BE THE REFEREE.
BUT AT THE 11TH TORRES GAVE US HOPE. HOPE THAT WE COULD MAYBE HAVE A DRAW OR LOSE WITH HONOURS. WE WERE PLAYING WELL, FUCKING WELL. WE WERE OFFENSIVE, WE PRESSED HIGH UP, WE PUT PRESSURE ON CHELSEA. WE WERE LIVERPOOL ONCE AGAIN. SUDDENLY, THE SKY WAS CLEARING UP IF ONLY FOR A MOMENT.
WE MANAGED TO HOLD ON TO THAT SCORE FOR MOST OF THE FIRST HALF, AMAZINGLY CHELSEA HAD LITTLE OCCASION TO TRY AND EQUALISE, WEAKENED MAYBE BY DROGBA BEING ON THE BENCH, OR MAYBE BECAUSE WE WERE FINALLY PLAYING GOOD FOOTBALL.
45TH. TORRES SCORED HIS SECOND GOAL AND WHAT A BEAUTIFUL GOAL IT WAS. (NOT THAT THE FIRST ONE WASN'T.) TWICE CECH IS BEATEN, TWICE TERRY IS BEATEN. TWICE WE CAN HAVE HOPE.
AND STRANGELY AT HT YOU START THINKING THAT MAYBE, MAYBE YOU CAN HOLD ON TO THAT SCORE AND WIN. IT'S ONLY A THOUGHT BUT IT COUNTS.
AND WE DID. THE SECOND HALF WASN'T AS GOOD AS THE FIRST HALF, AND WE REALLY PLAYED WITH FIRE AS CHELSEA FINALLY STARTED TO REACT WITH DROGBA IN ITS SIDE. I THINK I'VE AGED A FEW IN THIS SECOND HALF (AND HAD AT LEAST A DOZEN NEAR-HEARTATTACKS). SOME VERY OCCASIONS FOR CHELSEA, SAVED EITHER THROUGH PEPE (WHO NEEDS A FUCKING KNIGHTHOOD) OR SHEER LUCK (THE BAR, THE BAR !), SOME OCCASION FOR US (KUYT'S WHICH I THOUGHT TOTALLY WENT IN AND DIED, MAXI'S WHICH HE SHOULD HAVE PUT IN XD TO BE THE ICING ON THE CAKE XD).
FANTASTIC MATCH. FANTASTIC PERFORMANCE BY EVERY SINGLE LIVERPOOL PLAYER (EVEN KONCHESKY MANAGED TO IMPRESS ME...)
MOTM IS LUCAS FOR ME. HE BLOODY DESERVES IT FOR THIS MATCH. HE GAVE EVERYTHING HE COULD, HE WAS EVERYWHERE, HE WAS AMAZING. HE MIGHT NOT HAVE SCORED BUT HE WAS KEY TO THIS VICTORY.
NANDO WAS AWESOME, OF COURSE. GOT HIS GROOVE BACK WITH HIS TWO GOALS ♥ (ASSIST BY KUYT & RAUL)
WE REALLY MISS KUYT WHEN HE IS NOT HERE. AND WE ALWAYS REALISE IT WHEN WE HAVE HIM BACK ♥
I WAS WORRIED ABOUT STEVIE PLAYING DEEPER IN THIS MATCH BUT IN THE END, THE SKIPPER DID HIS JOB AMAZINGLY.
HONOURABLE MENTION TO MARTIN KELLY, FIRST START IN THE PL AGAINST CHELSEA MIGHT HAVE BEEN A BIT HARD BUT HE HAD A GOOD MATCH.
THE CARRA-SKRTEL PAIRING DID WELL TODAY, ALTHOUGH THEY BOTH MADE SOME MISTAKES BUT THEY CERTAINLY DID BETTER THAN IN THE REST OF THE SEASON.
WHAT MORE COULD I SAY ? LOVE THIS TEAM TO BITS ♥ EVEN THOUGH THEY MAKE ME GO CRAZY ♥
I'M OFF TO DOWNLOAD THAT BEAUTIFUL GAME ♥
*STILL ON HER LITTLE CLOUD, DRINKING WHISKY
YNWA~
PS : REAL MADRID JUST WON THE DERBY, 2 - 0. Goal by Carvalho & Özil (pretty free kick ♥). Good match, although I expected to be more violent (so few cards !) but I think RM got a bit complacent in the second half and could have scored more than that.
In other news, Benzema will start against Murcia next week, YES !
(NEED A LIVERPOOL ICON/LAYOUT STAT.)