A Tale of 2 Cities
September 19th 2010 19:25
Ok, a tail of two cities; 2 teams with American owners; 2 teams with unsustainable debt against them meeting for the bragging for the North West rather than the usual title deciders – the days in which these two team could simple afford anybody they desired have now gone with that option now sitting with Man City and Chelsea to a lesser degree. Despite this, todays derby is still the derby to watch for passion and hatred (well the fans at least); Man U had dropped several key players in mid-week in preparation for today but this only lead to Ranger getting an unlikely draw against them in the Champions League. Liverpool went down the same path by dropping several key players for Thursdays Europa League fixture against Steaua and that’s were I’ll start this post.
An relatively empty Anfield had to tolerate the wind and the rain (that’s not a YNWA pun) to watch Liverpool’s latest episode of Thursday night togger; the teams were announced and as expected no Gerrard or Torres were present – I believe they prefer a nice restaurant meal and a trip to the local Odeon on a Thursday rather than playing footy in the rain (I obviously made this bit up!!!!) The kick off happened and within 25 seconds Joe Cole was through on goal and slotting it in; yes Liverpool went out and attacked in the first half but that pretty much summed up Liverpools first half. Steaua then played and worked half and had the better of the first half including finding an equaliser and missing several good opportunities. Second half started and Liverpool found another gear (not reverse; they kept that for todays game) – all of a sudden Liverpool starting attacking and scoring; Ngog, yes Ngog knocked away a brace including a penalty; this was met by a massive claim on Channel 5 that ‘Ngog just can’t stop scoring’. Even Lucas popped off the bench to lash a long range effort in to the roof of the new; this goal finally proven that he is a Brazilian. Anyway 4-1 win and little else to say.
Now to todays game – the Man U fans welcomed the Liverpool fans warmly with ‘sign on, sign on - you’ll never get job’ amongst other classics; I have just spoken with my employer and it seems this song is not factual correct. On a political point, both Liverpool and Manchester rely heavily on the public sector for employment so with this coalition government we may all be signing on soon enough. The small Liverpool contingent gave as good as they got including several Rooney and old/young brasses songs – soon to be released on itunes for 79p each (this is all not factual correct either). Anyway all the good players came back to the starting 11 except Rio who felt ill and handed his sick note in to Taggart and was excused from PE. First half kicked off and Liverpool’s midfield looked good in the Sky graphics department but far less effective on the real pitch; they didn’t chase the ball or close down and Man U used this space to attack wide and cross the ball in a lot; the number of corners they won was so vast that Steve Hawkings was brought in to quantify the number. The vast majority of balls were cleared without issue and as expected the Man U players fell over and then jumped up and ran after the ref claiming penalties; all of which from my neutral opinion were blatantly fouls on the Liverpool boys. Liverpool simply didn’t turn up for the first half yet again and as the half was coming to a close the Mancs scored; a corner in which Berbatov (Count Dracula hair-do needs mentioning at this point) outheaded Torres (definitely, wrong player to be marking) and the man on the post had gone off for a stroll and the ball went in. Andy Gray, Jamie Redknapp, Glen Hoddle, Richard Keys and Alan Smith then gave us their expert opinion (I think we get more sense out of a wino at a bus stop then we do from this lot). They deduced that Liverpool hadn’t turned up. Second half began, then Count Berbatov scored quite a special goal as he controlled and instantly over-head kicked over Reina – Carragher will be disappointed as he also went for a stroll during the cross and was marking the wrong striker. Liverpool look done for but no; Ngog appeared and Man U committed football suicide by bringing Torres down for a penalty (Johnny Evans banged on for about an hour after conceding this penalty). Gerrard stepped up and placed the ball past Edwin. Then minutes late O’Shea for some reason brought Torres down outside the box (some wanted red for the challenge but it was a yellow); Gerrard stepped up and placed the ball through the wall as Fletcher decided his colleague had a BO problem and left a massive hole in the wall. 2-2 and somehow Liverpool were back. Then Roy stepped up and said Raul you playing too well, so I am pulling you off and putting the ineffective Joe Cole in your position; then the midfield disappeared again so the manager realised he was playing a LB at LB and immediately responded by bringing out most talented CB off the bench and putting him at LB.
All these changes caused Liverpool to lose momentum again and revert to first half hoofing – I will also note that Nani is a bit of an old woman; falls over a lot and complains a lot; he went off eventually to replace his tenalady pads (after Agger threatened him) but ultimately yet again Man U crossed late on and Count Berb scored his hattrick by heading in another cross (sloppy marking again); then Liverpool responded with a dull silence of nothingness. The game ended in the style of the Empire Strikes Back but in all fairness most Reds will admit we deserved nothing and got nothing; except Roy who thought it was all pretty equal (Really Roy, it wasn’t)
Highlight of the day was Ferguson who claimed the result was a travesty; then realising that Man U had won and then got confused and claimed it should have been 10 – 0. He’s a good sport and a charmer (that’s irony for you). Ultimately, without Mascherano Liverpool lack a ball winner or anybody to play the ugly football – maybe its time to change tactics and play to our strengths not play to our 4-5-1 tactic
An relatively empty Anfield had to tolerate the wind and the rain (that’s not a YNWA pun) to watch Liverpool’s latest episode of Thursday night togger; the teams were announced and as expected no Gerrard or Torres were present – I believe they prefer a nice restaurant meal and a trip to the local Odeon on a Thursday rather than playing footy in the rain (I obviously made this bit up!!!!) The kick off happened and within 25 seconds Joe Cole was through on goal and slotting it in; yes Liverpool went out and attacked in the first half but that pretty much summed up Liverpools first half. Steaua then played and worked half and had the better of the first half including finding an equaliser and missing several good opportunities. Second half started and Liverpool found another gear (not reverse; they kept that for todays game) – all of a sudden Liverpool starting attacking and scoring; Ngog, yes Ngog knocked away a brace including a penalty; this was met by a massive claim on Channel 5 that ‘Ngog just can’t stop scoring’. Even Lucas popped off the bench to lash a long range effort in to the roof of the new; this goal finally proven that he is a Brazilian. Anyway 4-1 win and little else to say.
Now to todays game – the Man U fans welcomed the Liverpool fans warmly with ‘sign on, sign on - you’ll never get job’ amongst other classics; I have just spoken with my employer and it seems this song is not factual correct. On a political point, both Liverpool and Manchester rely heavily on the public sector for employment so with this coalition government we may all be signing on soon enough. The small Liverpool contingent gave as good as they got including several Rooney and old/young brasses songs – soon to be released on itunes for 79p each (this is all not factual correct either). Anyway all the good players came back to the starting 11 except Rio who felt ill and handed his sick note in to Taggart and was excused from PE. First half kicked off and Liverpool’s midfield looked good in the Sky graphics department but far less effective on the real pitch; they didn’t chase the ball or close down and Man U used this space to attack wide and cross the ball in a lot; the number of corners they won was so vast that Steve Hawkings was brought in to quantify the number. The vast majority of balls were cleared without issue and as expected the Man U players fell over and then jumped up and ran after the ref claiming penalties; all of which from my neutral opinion were blatantly fouls on the Liverpool boys. Liverpool simply didn’t turn up for the first half yet again and as the half was coming to a close the Mancs scored; a corner in which Berbatov (Count Dracula hair-do needs mentioning at this point) outheaded Torres (definitely, wrong player to be marking) and the man on the post had gone off for a stroll and the ball went in. Andy Gray, Jamie Redknapp, Glen Hoddle, Richard Keys and Alan Smith then gave us their expert opinion (I think we get more sense out of a wino at a bus stop then we do from this lot). They deduced that Liverpool hadn’t turned up. Second half began, then Count Berbatov scored quite a special goal as he controlled and instantly over-head kicked over Reina – Carragher will be disappointed as he also went for a stroll during the cross and was marking the wrong striker. Liverpool look done for but no; Ngog appeared and Man U committed football suicide by bringing Torres down for a penalty (Johnny Evans banged on for about an hour after conceding this penalty). Gerrard stepped up and placed the ball past Edwin. Then minutes late O’Shea for some reason brought Torres down outside the box (some wanted red for the challenge but it was a yellow); Gerrard stepped up and placed the ball through the wall as Fletcher decided his colleague had a BO problem and left a massive hole in the wall. 2-2 and somehow Liverpool were back. Then Roy stepped up and said Raul you playing too well, so I am pulling you off and putting the ineffective Joe Cole in your position; then the midfield disappeared again so the manager realised he was playing a LB at LB and immediately responded by bringing out most talented CB off the bench and putting him at LB.
All these changes caused Liverpool to lose momentum again and revert to first half hoofing – I will also note that Nani is a bit of an old woman; falls over a lot and complains a lot; he went off eventually to replace his tenalady pads (after Agger threatened him) but ultimately yet again Man U crossed late on and Count Berb scored his hattrick by heading in another cross (sloppy marking again); then Liverpool responded with a dull silence of nothingness. The game ended in the style of the Empire Strikes Back but in all fairness most Reds will admit we deserved nothing and got nothing; except Roy who thought it was all pretty equal (Really Roy, it wasn’t)
Highlight of the day was Ferguson who claimed the result was a travesty; then realising that Man U had won and then got confused and claimed it should have been 10 – 0. He’s a good sport and a charmer (that’s irony for you). Ultimately, without Mascherano Liverpool lack a ball winner or anybody to play the ugly football – maybe its time to change tactics and play to our strengths not play to our 4-5-1 tactic
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