Liverpool's 2-0 win over Chelsea woke me up. Literally. After working til the wee hours of the morning the night before (if that makes sense) and having to be back in work about 3 hours after the eventual end of the match, (thank Fowler for the time change in North America) the plan was to stay prone on the couch. Relax (never going to happen) and enjoy (kick every ball) the match on TV. Well, that went out the window the second 'You'll Never Walk Alone' was thrown to by the broadcast.
I went from a zombie to a person that felt as if I had about a gallon of black coffee in me. The sound was just different (and remember this is just from TV) from any game so far this season. It was a fuller, deeper rendition than I've heard recently. I was automatically on the edge of my seat, well couch actually.
It never seems to fail. When the supporters sound like this from the off, and continue it as the game starts the team always responds. They don't always win, but they always give a performance to be proud of.
After the emotional lift of the win against Napoli on Thursday Liverpool were always going to be going into this one with confidence as high as it's been all season...by a mile. Imagine having met this lot a few weeks back...I shudder at what the result might have been. However all of a sudden we were a much different group for the league leaders to face. They knew it, our team knew it, and the supporters could definitely feel it. The Kop's cacophony coming through my speakers told me that.
By now, we all know the changes that were made (a couple forced) to the starting 11 for the Napoli match, but just let me say that I was hoping Martin Kelly would get his chance. More on him in a bit.
How many times this season have we heard commentators of varying skill describe Fernando Torres as 'diabolical', 'disinterested', 'off the pace' etc? At last count for me it was 3,515,428.
I was just making it 3,515,429 when Torres smashed (well almost) the ball past Peter Cech for 1-0... The ball actually hit the net 1.9 seconds after the latest slating of Torres, this time by Efan Ekoku, who I personally think is one of the better guys around.
The goal was a thing of beauty and I later read Kuyt referred to as Dennis BergKuyt because of the inch perfect ball that made the goal possible. Really though, what were Chelsea thinking? How can they expect just 2 England internationals to stop Torres when he's in full flow? 'El Nino' left Terry and Cole for dead. Clearly more help was necessary.
As the crowd went nuts, and the commentators all of a sudden fell in love with Nando again I thought 'we're going to win this' and of course I was proven correct later in the day...However this was Chelsea and they would respond, wouldn't they? Apparently not, at least not until the second half. There were plenty of reasons for this. Three of them were Drogba, Essien, and Lampard, none of whom were playing (Drogba would come on later). The main reasons for Chelsea's lack of goal chances though, were wearing red. Lucas had his best game for the club. This player has taken more abuse than any LFC player should ever have to, but he just keeps trying, keeps improving, never hides, and Sunday he took what could have been a massive step in his career. There was a snarl to his game, he got stuck in. He won numerous fouls and only conceded one or two. He didn't lose possession. He was fantastic.
The rest of the midfield excelled as well. Gerrard pinged a few nice balls around, made a few charging forward runs, and threw himself into a couple of nice challenges. Meireles and Maxi were strong.
Hodgson seems to have taken a shine to Maxi and his run of games looks to be paying off with improved play. The main thing for me in this area of the park was that we didn't concede possession in dangerous areas thereby blunting Chelsea's ability to counter-attack.
Between the midfield and Torres there was the SuperMan that is Dirk 'freaking' Kuyt. (proof below)
I'm sorry, how long has it been since Dirk played? Weeks and weeks, and he stepped in a ran about 4,000 miles against the champions? He supported Torres with the assist of the season so far, got forward to pressure Chelsea's defenders along with Torres, something we have not done nearly enough of this term. He was everywhere, all the time. He may not be the most technically gifted player, but he steps up in the big games with big plays.
Then came the second goal. The owner even thought it was perfect, and he'd know, after all he's seen, what, 6 or 7 goals in his life. Just kidding John, keep up the good work.
It started with Lucas and Meireles forcing Cole into a mistake. For some reason when this happened (probably the sleep deprivation) I thought of a wolf pack. The reds were hunting the ball in packs. You know the scene in 'The Hangover' where the bearded dude says he used to think of himself as a one man wolf pack?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdMxRG9Jol0
Well Liverpool had been playing like that for long stretches this season. In this game Liverpool players were supporting each other all over the field. In the build-up to the Torres' 2nd this 'hunting' paid off. Meireles quickly got the ball wide to Fernando....from there everything was in slow motion. Would he drag the ball wide as he has done so often? No, without even looking up, he came inside took a couple of touches and unleashed a shot that one of the top keepers' in the world (the best in the world was at the other end, and he made his own significant contribution in the 2nd half) didn't even move for, he didn't have a hope in the world.
Let's be honest, there are only two names in the EPL that could have scored that goals and they are...
Fernando and Torres. End of story. But not the end of this post. Almost.
Martin Kelly may not be known to many supporters of other Premier league sides, but this kid has a great future. Starting his first league match, in front of The Kop, against the champs, with Malouda, Cole etc.. all in good form he didn't looked out of place at all. In fact he was very, very good.. On this evidence Glen Johnson may have a job on his hands to get back into the side.
I won't dwell much on the 2nd half. Chelsea took the game to Liverpool, as you would have expected them to. The crowd, outstanding all day, raised the volume with about 20 minutes left to help push the boys over the finish line.
Pepe made 2 outstanding saves. I'm counting the Anelka shot that he only got a piece of that then went up off the bar as a fine save because of the power the Frenchman got behind it from pretty close range.
The funniest moment of the match arose from the end of that sequence. Carragher, having a mini 2005 revival kind of game crucially got position on Drogba as the ball came back off the bar and was able to shepperd it back to Reina. As Jamie was starting to get up Drogba playfully pushed him in the back a few times as if to say 'come on brother you just kept me from scoring there' and when Carragher was back on his feet Drogba gave him a big hug. Bizarre. That Drogba sure is an enigma.
Shelvey, N'gog, and Spearing all came on the near the end. Shelvey has played some important minutes in the last couple of weeks. He has something about him, there is no doubt about that.
As the game ended and the players were congratulating each other and the supporters I couldn't help but notice that Kelly had Malouda's shirt on. That's one scalp down and many more to come for him...and hopefully for LFC, as the prospects for the season suddenly look decidedly bright.
Allan Cole
