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Sunday, November 11, 2007 , 6:08 PM

Liverpool (81" Torres, 85" Gerrard) 2-0 Fulham

Woohoo! We didn't end up in a draw! We won 2-0! Haha and it's Rafa's 200th appearance as our manager, congrats to Rafa, here's wishing him many more victories to come! XD It's really surprising that Rafa didn't do any tinkering with the squad this time.

Fulham kicks off the first half, and Murphy makes an early strike 17 seconds into the game, Reina saves it effortlessly. Fulham's playing long balls into our half. The lads in Fulham are really well-built, very stout and most of them look really rugged. Haha I think Kuqi looks like a lumberjack. XP Crouch always has these little nifty touches, great movement, he isn't just an aerial threat y'know! But it's really hilarious when he does stepovers, well-executed but hilarious. =D Shall not do a minute by minute report on tonight's match since it's pretty even, especially in the first half, we dominated the game but struggled to break through Fulham's defense.

Sami Hyypia nearly gave us the lead at the 6" and 8". Haha he shows potential for a striker, Rafa are you taking this down? Ex-Liverpool lad Danny Murphy almost gave Fulham the lead a couple of times in the first half. I don't know but at the pace Fulham's playing, they might not last very long, it's gonna show in the 2nd half, hmm...we'll see. Minutes to half time, a free kick's awarded to Liverpool after Murphy's foul on Aurelio. Aurelio finds Crouch lurking in the box, Crouch heads from the right but it bounces off the crossbar. Saw many near goal attempts in the 2nd half, we had 13 goal attempts by the 60" compared to Fulham's 4.

Rafa makes a switch at the 62" with Babel coming on for Riise, so now we have Babel on the right and Benayoun on the left. Rafa makes a switch again at the 70", Torres came on for Voronin. Woohoo a Crouch-Torres pairing, aerial attack! Lucas's on for Mascherano at the 80". Pressure's on Torres to break the deadlock (break the recent spate of draws).

Finally at the 81" Torres puts us on the scoreboard after a nice pump towards Fulham's end by Reina, Torres runs down the right flank and shoots the ball through the defender's legs and into the back of the net. Woohoo~ That was an awesome goal laa! For once I'll admit that quality comes with quantity. :D

Move over C.Ronaldo, cus' El Nino's here ;)

Haha and that's why Rafa splashed big bucks for the 23 year old, quoting the commentator "he makes the difference between wins and draws", that's a spot-on description for El Nino. =DDD 83" Babel passes the ball to Crouch and he makes a fantastic run down the middle towards goal but is brought down by Fulham's no. 3, the replay shows him tapping at Crouchy's ankle. Many people didn't seem to agree with it being a foul, but consider the speed Crouchy's at, even a slight tap/trip's gonna bring that beanpole down (refer to the chapter Centre of gravity in your secondary school Physics textbook). Gerrard walks up to take the penalty and strikes, blasting it into the bottom right corner of the net!!! 2-0 for Liverpool!!!

Lil' trivia here: Sir Elton John's uncle Roy Dwight was the only Fulham player to ever score a hat-trick against Liverpool in 1956. Pretty neat huh? XD And Liverpool continues our unbeaten record!!! XD We finally scored a 3-pointer!!! Haha this is gonna give our Liverpool lads a major morale boost, following our 2 consecutive home wins! Just when we're picking up momentum, we're off on our international break again, no problem though, we're gonna come back for more! :D Though I wouldn't like to see Owen up against us on the 24th, Liverpool once (and still does) means so much to him. Hmm...but that's life for you I guess.

This season (like many others) has been one helluva roller coaster ride for Liver lads and fans alike, but boy whatta ride~ :DDD Sitting pretty comfortably on the league table at no. 4. Fire away Livers! YNWA~

Watched a lil' of Barca's match against Getafe (check out the commentator for la liga, his accent is really amusing!) and by half-time Barca's actually one down after a goal by Getafe's Manu. Went to check and the full-time score was 2-nil to Getafe. o_0! Football's always full of surprises, eh?

By the way, Mascherano has again reaffirme d that he's gonna stay on for Liverpool for many, many years to come. Here's an Mascherano's declaration of love for Liverpool from liverpoolfc.tv:

Javier Mascherano has once again spoken of his desire to stay at Liverpool so he can form a long-term partnership with "one of the best players in the world".

The player Maradona described as a 'monster' is desperate to extend his Anfield deal beyond the summer, claiming Merseyside is the best place for him to become a world-beater.

"By staying here I will become a better player and that way I can help Liverpool to be more successful," said the 23-year-old, who already has 33 international caps to his name.

"It would also be fantastic to form a long-term partnership with Steve Gerrard - everyone knows he is one of the best midfield players in the world."

Mascherano's declaration comes just days after Rafa Benitez reiterated his desire to keep the midfielder at the club.

"I am calm and relaxed about it," added the Argentine. "From my point of view it is simple - I want to play for Liverpool, I want to sign a permanent deal.
"I have told Rafa Benitez this and he has told me he wants to keep me.

"I have had enough of travelling the world from club to club. I want roots, and I want them here in Liverpool. I don't want to move again next summer but if I do not sign for Liverpool then I will not play for another club in England. Not Manchester United, not Chelsea or Arsenal.

"If I am not with Liverpool I don't want to be in England. It would be impossible for me to play against them in the Premier League because of the respect I have for the club. I want to stay in England, but only with Liverpool.

"The club created an opportunity for me which I am grateful for so no other English club will come into my thoughts."

Good news good news! Mum's just called Starhub the other day and tweaked with our cable TV plan again! So, now we're gonna have Ch 56, which means I CAN FINALLY GET TO WATCH JAM HSIAO JING TENG making his 3-time monumental PKs against Yang Zong Wei on Chao Ji Xing Guang Da Dao on television! No more dealing with blurred, pixellated online videos! XD His 6 month contract with Chao Ji Xing Guang Da Dao officially comes to an end today! :D

Exams are lurking, let's get this over and done with and go crazy after that, shall we? ;)