Liverpool 2-1 Middlesbrough: Hometown Heroes
There was a lot of excitement in anticipation of the first home match at Anfield in the Premier League. I had wanted to see our new number 7 notch a goal in front of the Kop and witness a potentially deadly partnership blossoming between El Nino and Keano; or as one of the lads would call it, El Keano.
The first 10-15 minutes of the match appeared bright for the Reds as we looked to be in control with some nice runs and Kuyt had a fierce 25-yard drive turned away by Boro keeper, Ross Turnbull who was standing in for Brad Jones who was injured during the warm-up.
However, Boro was not to be overawed and understandably so having beaten Spurs on the opening day of the season. Their confidence saw them keep their shape and game plan of putting men behind the ball and hitting the Reds on the counter. We did not help ourselves as our performance were still not up to mark but I think we did better than when we played Sunderland last week.
The Reds were having a tough time penetrating Boro and the referee, Mike Riley did not help matters as he never provided Torres and Keane any protection from the Boro players. Towards the close of the 1st half, signs of the El Keano partnership reared its head as Keane side footed the ball to put Torres thrugh only for Huth to block his shot.
The Kop was buzzing and hoped that the players would come out and knock Boro back but more of the same awful performances by the midfield were in store. At that time, Stevie G was almost invisible; Xabi and Yossi kept giving the ball away. Kuyt with his Eveready-bunny performance was not going to help our cause at that point.
The clock was running down and Southgate called on Mido to add some attacking bite into proceedings. Boro were rewarded with a wonderful 25-yard strike 20 minutes from time by the Egyptian who scored his 2nd goal of the season, after coming on for Boro as he did against Spurs last week. It was deserved for the visitors as they took the game to us right from the get go.
It looked like one of those games where the Reds were going to be locked out as the visitors began to see the real possibility of a first victory at Anfield in 23 years. And who could blame them. We were dishing out drivel and it was quite evident as Babel didn’t even get a touch on the ball until about 10 minutes after his introduction.
We did start to approach the game with a lot more urgency but by then, my head and my heart were both telling me ‘we suck’ and were going to lose this one. Best we could get is a draw.
The drawing goal did come 5 minutes from time but via a very unlikely source of none other than our Carra-diator. The scouser let fly from the edge of the box and his luck was taken off Pogatetz as the shot deflected it off the Boro captain and wrong-footed Turnbull who was diving to his right. The Kop exploded and then all the nail-biting started. Could we? Couldn’t we? 3 points. Is it possible?
The only thing Riley did all night was to put out 3 minutes of injury time and some more after injury to a Boro player. With time running out, the script was set for Captain Marvel himself to rescue the 2 points that looked destined to be lost. Xabi’s best pass of the night was to float the ball over the top and it broke for Stevie G to lash into the top corner for a hard- fought win.
This sort of play-like-crap-but-win-in-the-end performance were trademarks of championship winning sides like manscum and chelski. Hopefully, it’s our turn. Let’s not get carried away though because the performance in the last 3 games including the UCL qualifier against Liege will be punished eventually. Good wingers, anyone?
There was a lot of excitement in anticipation of the first home match at Anfield in the Premier League. I had wanted to see our new number 7 notch a goal in front of the Kop and witness a potentially deadly partnership blossoming between El Nino and Keano; or as one of the lads would call it, El Keano.
The first 10-15 minutes of the match appeared bright for the Reds as we looked to be in control with some nice runs and Kuyt had a fierce 25-yard drive turned away by Boro keeper, Ross Turnbull who was standing in for Brad Jones who was injured during the warm-up.
However, Boro was not to be overawed and understandably so having beaten Spurs on the opening day of the season. Their confidence saw them keep their shape and game plan of putting men behind the ball and hitting the Reds on the counter. We did not help ourselves as our performance were still not up to mark but I think we did better than when we played Sunderland last week.
The Reds were having a tough time penetrating Boro and the referee, Mike Riley did not help matters as he never provided Torres and Keane any protection from the Boro players. Towards the close of the 1st half, signs of the El Keano partnership reared its head as Keane side footed the ball to put Torres thrugh only for Huth to block his shot.
The Kop was buzzing and hoped that the players would come out and knock Boro back but more of the same awful performances by the midfield were in store. At that time, Stevie G was almost invisible; Xabi and Yossi kept giving the ball away. Kuyt with his Eveready-bunny performance was not going to help our cause at that point.
The clock was running down and Southgate called on Mido to add some attacking bite into proceedings. Boro were rewarded with a wonderful 25-yard strike 20 minutes from time by the Egyptian who scored his 2nd goal of the season, after coming on for Boro as he did against Spurs last week. It was deserved for the visitors as they took the game to us right from the get go.
It looked like one of those games where the Reds were going to be locked out as the visitors began to see the real possibility of a first victory at Anfield in 23 years. And who could blame them. We were dishing out drivel and it was quite evident as Babel didn’t even get a touch on the ball until about 10 minutes after his introduction.
We did start to approach the game with a lot more urgency but by then, my head and my heart were both telling me ‘we suck’ and were going to lose this one. Best we could get is a draw.
The drawing goal did come 5 minutes from time but via a very unlikely source of none other than our Carra-diator. The scouser let fly from the edge of the box and his luck was taken off Pogatetz as the shot deflected it off the Boro captain and wrong-footed Turnbull who was diving to his right. The Kop exploded and then all the nail-biting started. Could we? Couldn’t we? 3 points. Is it possible?
The only thing Riley did all night was to put out 3 minutes of injury time and some more after injury to a Boro player. With time running out, the script was set for Captain Marvel himself to rescue the 2 points that looked destined to be lost. Xabi’s best pass of the night was to float the ball over the top and it broke for Stevie G to lash into the top corner for a hard- fought win.
This sort of play-like-crap-but-win-in-the-end performance were trademarks of championship winning sides like manscum and chelski. Hopefully, it’s our turn. Let’s not get carried away though because the performance in the last 3 games including the UCL qualifier against Liege will be punished eventually. Good wingers, anyone?
11 comments:
i've missed to watch that game cause i was in the stadium watching kedah - selangor piala malaysia final.
how is torres and keane?
is there chemistry between them as torres and gerrard for the last season?
Anyone here know why there won't be a live telecast on Astro of the 2nd leg vs Standard Liege?
The chemistry is getting better, but they will still need a bit more time. Some good linking play between the 2 of them.
Will need to check astro as the last game was also confirmed to be on pretty much on the last minute. Keep our fingers cross! ;0)
:O
No live telecast for us against Liege? Must be joking. Let's check that darn schedule.
AS for El Keano. Like JonC said, it is getting better with each game. We can begin to see some form of understanding between them but not to the Gerrard-Torres partnership yet.
i think the credit should goes to keane as well, it was him who found our skipper 18yards, and the rest was all done by captain marvels !
hard fought win? 'play like crap but still win the end' performance?
geez, it didnt seem hard fought to me. the Reds just laid back and tried to pass the ball around but stringing simple passes together was even a big labour to them. the 'hole' between the defense and midfield was just that - a hole. no one was there to link up play forward. Boro saw that and fully exploited it to their advantage, resulting in a goal.
play like crap but still win? we were lucky it was Boro we're playing. If it was any top sides, we would be behind 3-0 by the 85th min before the Reds awoken frm their slumber. then lets see if captain marvel can score 3 goals in 5 min of injury time...
3 goals in 5 minutes difficult ler .... but 3 goals in 6 minutes, it has been done before - in Istanbul 2005!!
Beating Boro is what I called winning ugly and it is something that has been missing since our last championship.
I think the current spine of the team has grown and as such, mentally, the team is stronger and much more stubborn to admit defeat. This is the difference between winning and losing especially when playing against the top teams.
Let's see how many last 5 minutes games we win the EPL crown this year and let us not forget, Big Ears and possibly No. 6 if we qualify wwwooohhhhhooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
TQ i think you know how i felt since u're right next too me. My sentiments was exactly like yours. i lost count how many times i shouted "keep the ball on the deck" , "movement! runner!" and "midfield too thin and spread out!"
joe.jr,
Istill can't seem to locate a confirmation on the Astro website on the live telecast of the return leg of the UCL against Liege.
However, Albertus said that it was on 811 at 3am on the 28th morning. Then again, they are showing the US Open tennis.
We SUCK! Popped down to the local mamak from the office for a quickee, saw some hairy ape very nearly make a fool out of Carragher and the screamer by Mido :( Didn't see any way back for us so went back up to complete another overdue set of accounts and found out the next day that we won and carragher scored :)
We still suck though in my opinion, but winning ugly has its merits too eh?
CONFIRMED!
Liverpool vs Standard Liege
UCL 3rd Round Qualifier, Leg 2
Channel 811 Astro, 3.05 am.
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