FT: Birmingham 2-2 Liverpool

Woah yet another roller-coaster ride, and I mean this for both Liverpool and Birmingham (more for Birmies I suppose, considering the fact that they desperately need a win to get them out of the bottom 3 and clear of the relegation zone).

Yes. We suck for the majority of the game, the lads woke up about 20 minutes to full time. I have to say that strike by Forsell was sheer class.

My man of the match is definitely Pennant. This may be a lil' ironic, especially for Birmies fans, since he's an ex-Birmie himself. He is as pivotal as Gerrard in today's performance, his crosses and his ability to drive the ball into vital positions before launching decisive crosses and passes is simply phenomenal. Pennant played a huge part in both goals (Crouchy's at the 63" and Benayoun's which was deflected in by Jaidi at the 75"), hauling a lethargic Liverpool back to level with Birmies after a 2-0 deficit. He's been really good for the previous games as well, so do watch out for Pennant y'all, he's on a blazing run.

Haha and Benayoun too! Thought he did really great as usual, love love lovvvee some of his nifty touches on the ball, there's something special about him, can't really put it to words but yeah he's got a knack of grabbing goals at the unlikeliest times and when we need it. Oh oh and anyone agrees with me that he has this Johnny Depp (in the movie "From Hell") vibe about him? :D

And many times during the later part of the 2nd half, you can hear the fans singing the Torres song again, haha funny bunch. They must be calling him on to get that winning goal after equalising. And minutes towards full-time, the Anfield faithfuls sang the signature "You'll Never Walk Alone". :) Totally resonates with Stevie's quote "As a team, we win, lose and draw together".

I'm glad to see Riise smiling today, can tell he desperately wanna right his wrong, but maybe just not today, maybe at Stamford Bridge, I'm sure our lads are looking to break that stupid curse. Stamford Bride might be a fortress, but take a page from our own local history, even the most impregnable of fortresses crumble. So fingers and toes crossed!

On the other hand, I'm seriously turned off by Lucas's performance tonight. Just count the number of times he gave the ball away, and the number of times he made some really stupid mistakes. Uurgh. Voronin didn't look too stable himself today either, he's Mr. Meatloaf but he's more like Mr. Jelly Legs today, falling a lil' too easily all over the place today, failing to put himself in the right position in the process countless times.

Yeah but Birmies sure put in a good fight today, and I'll be sincerely wishing them all the best wherever they might be playing come next season. Salute!

LFC vs CFC (CL semi 1st leg)

O WHY RIISE, WHY!?!

WHY CAN'T YOU CLEAR IT THE STRAIGHTFORWARD WAY!?!

When it comes to defending, NEVER be fancy. Play it safe. Boring, yes sometimes. But the key is, it friggin' works.

I shan't be too harsh on the poor lad, he must be killing himself inside now, I doubt he's gonna get much sleep tonight. See how all the other Liver lads were trying to console him and the way he hangs his head low dejectedly. Sigh. Such is the beautiful game of football.

But honestly, I'm not too worried (a lil' worried but not to the extent of being concerned) though. I think we'd a better game than Chelski tonight. But I'm not gonna say anything that might jinx our performance. So... that's that. :)

p.s. Riise is not a Chelski player. Chin up Riise, chin up. You'll never walk alone. :) Not even in shame. It's Liverpool, mind you, we don't play the blame game. Turn this shame into strength to shine in the next leg! :)

edit: Looking at statistics, Liverpool has never scored and won at Stamford Bridge, but statistics are statistics, they never really say anything. Quoting Rafa in the liverpoolfc.tv website, "We'll change the statistics". When asked about this goalless record at Stamford Bridge under Rafa, Gerrard replied bluntly: "We haven't played there with Fernando Torres, have we?" I especially love this quote from Gerrard to comfort Riise, he said: "These ties are decided on small details and Chelsea have had a bit of luck here at the end, but maybe we'll get that luck at Stamford Bridge. This team wins, loses and draws together". Well said, Captain. :,)

Yes it might be difficult, but hey, to come back from a 3-0 deficit was MORE than difficult, looking back, it still seemed like the impossible to me. But the fact is, we did it. Come on now lads, we can do it! :D

During the first half, both sides got off to a slow start. Gradually, Liverpool was gaining on momentum and they were pumping in wave after wave of the red attack. When Kuyt fired that volley into goal and put us 1-0 up against Chelski, I was thinking we're gonna get one more if not more! But man, Cech was one helluva crazy keeper, if I had to pick a MOTM from the Chelski stable, it'd be him. Urgh. The way Chelski played last night, reminded me of some spoilt, rich, bratty kid who's just playing for the $$$ and could care less whether they win or lose. And at the very last minute, when Riise knocked in that header for them, Grumpy Grunt and the Chelski brats celebrated it like they'd won the finals. Just look at Grumpy Grunt, that dirty look on his face after Riise equalised for them, his expression gave it all away, he didn't think the Chelski brats would equalise much less win in this 1st leg and Riise's goal was like a godsend. Why why why? As I've repeated in one too many posts, Liverpool always has a knack of putting ourselves in disadvantage after putting up an awesome performance.

It could have easily been a 2-0 or even a 3-0. At the 84", Gerrard flicks the ball to the ground between and past Makelele's legs and whacks it towards the net but it flew a lil' over the crossbar, rendering a full-stretch save from Cech. Then at 86", we see a mis-step from Torres which broke his run down the left flank and towards Chelski's box, before that he kinda killed his real chance at goal after putting in one touch too many. He really should've chested/flicked the ball down on the ground, contain it, aimed and shoot. But I guess things just don't go that way in reality, there're prolly a gazillion things that he'd to consider before blasting it, stuff like inertia, finding his comfortable angle (you know, like we tend to position our pens in a particular angle when we write, just feels more comfortable and...right) etc etc.

On-pitch matters aside. Did you guys see the banner (made by Liverpool fans for a Liverpool fan) for Liam Harker during the half-time interval? Well, Liam Harker is a 17 year old teenager who was diagnosed with stomach cancer and he was given only 2-4 weeks to live and was allowed home to spend his final says with his loved ones. He is an avid fan of the Rafa reds, and his only wish was to spend his final days in a Liverpool jersey signed by the players he idolises, and he even requested to be buried in a Liverpool shirt when he died. Hence, the people at Liverpool contacted Liam's Dad and invited them to tour Anfield and meet the players and Rafa himself. But Liam's doctors advised against it considering his health condition, hence, he was presented with a jersey signed by his favorite Liverpool players. Read the full story here.

This is the spirit of Liverpool, of the Kopites. We support one another, we look out for one another even in times of trouble, I've prolly said this a gazillion times when I was asked "Why Liverpool?" back from my secondary school days, the special thing about Liverpool FC lies not only in our rich heritage and history, but also how well our fans have kept to the "You'll never walk alone" motto, we care and look out for one another like we'd to our family. And I guess this is the main reason Torres said if there's an English club he had to go to, it'll only be Liverpool. Which is also why I need (more than I want) to fly to Anfield and catch a live game standing in the Kop, standing with and amongst fellow Kopites, to cheer and sing all the signature songs with them, "You'll Never Walk Alone" of course is the holy grail of all the Liverpool chants. Call it a soccer pilgrimage if you may, there're things in life where you die-die must do or you don't feel whole, yes, this is my ultimate die-die must do thing in life. Our hearts go out to Liam and his family and loved ones, you'll never walk alone, Liam.

p.s. NEW LIVERPOOL HOME KIT IS GONNA BE UNVEILED THIS FRIDAY!!!

Mums. Soccer.

Just popped some pills for a headache. Now, I'm not one who'd succumb to pain easily and pop pills for that easy way out, but I've had 2 major headaches within the space of 1 week. I am the culprit's none other than the exam period. Lol. Usually, I'd rather wait it out until the pain cleared up. But this time, it hurts so bad I just wanna take my eyes out, literally. @_@ Lol, nah kidding.

Yes I owe Yutini and Roo drinks. T_T Shan't go into further details, let's just say I sulked the entire way back home after taking a major detour. No thanks to PC man.

Just ordered McD's for dinner, cus' I was hungry. I prepared the exact amount of money beforehand. When the deliveryman came, I was gonna put the money in his hands, when my mum popped outta nowhere (like how Stevie G did when he popped out of nowhere to grab that goal in the previous match) and grabbed the money away from me, and she proceeded to go get her wallet whilst saying "Give him $11, give him $11!" So there I was standing at the door with my hand sticking out, and looking like this @_@?? (Yeah pretty much) and she stuffed the $11 in his hands.

Lol. Please, not that I'm a giam siap person, I'm quite generous *ahem* but correct me if I'm wrong, do people still give out tips these days? I reminded my mum that the additional cost for delivery is $3, and she said along the lines of "Yeah but the deliverymen don't get any of it." In retrospect, that statement hit the nail on the head. I totally appreciate your generosity mum (hey I earned a free meal! XP) but can you warn me beforehand next time? Lol. Mums can be the most random people you'd ever meet. X)

Okay, Liverpool vs Chelski. Champions league semi-finals leg 1. Yes I admit I'm a little nervous, but hey it's the semis, it's normal to be nervous, right? And it doesn't help that my friend who I shall dub "Jose Moaninho" sms-ed me this "Anfield FC 0-2 Stamford FC (FT)". U_U"" Tsk. I shall not say the truth and say we're too good to jinx the match tonight. And he went on to stress on the fact that the 2nd leg's at Stamford Bridge. Please, we're Kopites leh, how can underestimate us. Wherever the lads go, we'll follow. Because You'll Never Walk Alone. To which he puked zzzzz.

Pre-match

In remembrance of the 96 (all Liverpool fans) who perished in the Hillsborough Disaster.

Steven Gerrard will make his 300th league appearance for the club as Liverpool look to consolidate fourth spot against Blackburn!

Rafa Benitez makes three changes from the Arsenal victory in midweek, with Lucas, Alvaro Arbeloa and Ryan Babel coming in for the suspended Javier Mascherano, Sami Hyypia and the injured Peter Crouch.

The Reds XI in full is: Reina, Arbeloa, Aurelio, Skrtel, Carragher, Lucas, Alonso, Gerrard, Babel, Kuyt, Torres. Subs: Itandje, Riise, Hyypia, Voronin, Benayoun.

------------------- Kick off: Liverpool vs Blackburn ------------------------

All the goals in the vid below :)

BBR puts pressure on LFC.

Lucas a little slow in getting used to the pace in midfield.

23" Nice job by Kuyt to win the ball back at the far edge of the box after Torres loses possession.

Rain beating down hard now.

25" Gerrard runs for the ball and straiht for the box as he attempts to shoot, Samba bumps Gerrard off. Foul denied.

26" Gerrard missed! (??? What happened)

Somethin iffy about Torres today. A lil' half-hearted in connecting near BBR's box.

2 penalties denied for Gerrard. The latter seems a legit penalty beacuse it was on the edge of box. A possible red.

Ref must be an Arsenal fan.

My MOTM candidates for 1st half: Alonso/Kuyt

Hyypia and Benayoun looks set to come on.

34" Santa Cruz shoots from (left) near edge of the box. Blocked off by Reina.

Torres doesn't seem comfortable with wet conditions.

MOTM: Kuyt (good in regaining possession)

37" Torres misses a good chance for goal.

38" Tugging at Torres. Free kick. Kuyt with a header but missed by inches.

BBR's a very physical team, bulky in size.

42" Babel drives ball around to find an angle but rockets it into the stand after a nice ball in from Kuyt.

SOT 1-1

1 min added time.

----------------------------------- HT -------------------------------------

1st half analysis:

Lol John Burridge, the football channel's in-house analyst is wearing flamboyant colours again. Yellow coat and a pink blouse!!! LMAO.

Telestrator: Alonso and Lucas will win the ball for Gerrard in the middle so Stevie can go down BBR's half.

Loses some momentum tonight cus' of the CL campaign earlier this week?

Nokia MOTM: Torres 44% (Torres is an phenomenal player, but his performance in the 1st half just doesn't merit a MOTM in my P.O.V)

----------------------------------2nd Half-------------------------------------

Sun's out after first half rain. No changes to either side.

46" Gerrard getting the ball in quickly (cross)

Not much forward passes from Alonso

50" Gerrard wins a corner. (2-0 corners)

51" Free-kick to BBR after Kuyt's foul. Pedersen takes it.

54" Corner to Liverpool deflected, Lucas picks it up and shoots but it's wide.

Benayoun looks set to come in for Babel.

David Pleat pronounce his name as Ben-Ya-Noon AGAIN.

59" Santa Cruz lose the ball to Benayoun connects with Lucas and squares to Stevie, he shoots. 1-0 to Liverpool. Good ball control by Stevie as he manouevres around BBR defenders.

Stevie's prescence is more felt in the 2nd half.

Lol. I was in the liverpoolfc.tv forum and when Stevie scored, this guy prompted everyone to sing the Stevie song (created by the Kopites, like duh). Haha sing along to the tune of the song "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", or better known as the Carlsberg song. Lol.

You're just too good to be true
Can't take the ball off of you
You've got a heavenly touch
You pass like Souness to Rush
And when we're all drunk in the bars
We thank the Lord that you're ours

You're just to good to be true
Cant take the ball off of you
Oh Steven Steven Steven Gerrard
Oh Steven Steven Steven Gerrard
Oh Steven Steven Steven Gerrard
Oh Steven Steven Geeeer-raaaard
Oh Steven Gerrard

Because he hates Man U
Oh Steven Gerrard
He hates the Blue***** too
Oh Steven Gerrard
You're a Red through and through

65" Gamst runs in diagonally and shoots but flies over the edge of post.

66" Corner to BBR, Bentley shoots and skyrockets the ball way over the net and into the stands.

70" Skrtel brushes Roberts off the ball as he runs into the box. Yellow to Skrtel after replay. Free kick taken as is easily cleared by Arbe.

73" Substitution done by BBR, Dunn in Vogel out. McCarthy in Pedersen out for.

Nice square ball in from Lucas, Lucas to ??, Alonso shoots but is just wide over the net.

Poor play by Benayoun, he overdid his run and miss a great goal scoring opportunity. Corner taken by Gerrard. Deflected off, Lucas picks it up and pumps it but is wide.

79" Free kick taken by Bentley, just missed the top left corner of net.

Nice 1-2 work tonight by the Liverpool lads.

80" Sliding tackle on Torres by Emerton and nothing from the Ref. Good ball in by Stevie tho.

Trips up Torres, Ref signals play on.

82" Torres's 30th goal of the season!!! Great ball in from Stevie and Torres heads down the lower right of the net. AHHH!! TORRES!! El Nino!!! 2-0 Liverpool!

85" Torres out, Voronin in.

87" Riise in, Alonso out.

89" Voronin to Babel, Babel to Benayoun but BBR defender stretch, ball goes Riise's way and he finds Voronin and he scores!!! Lol I think Mr. Meatloaf kinda overstretched his calf muscle while getting that goal, it's kinda funny how he was grimacing in pain, celebrating with the rest of the lads and saying a thank-you prayer all at once. Haha!

92" Cross shot in to Santa Cruz from BBR and Santa Cruz shoots, final score 3-1.

------------------------------------FT----------------------------------

MOTM: Gerrard 61%

Ok ok so like you guys gotta know the Torres song from the Kop! :D

Video of the Kop singing along to the Torres song. This is the spirit that sets Liverpool FC apart from the rest. Someday I'll be there, jumping and cheering on the lads! :D

His armband proved he was a red~
Torres Torres~
You'll never walk alone again Torres Torres~
We bought the lad from sunny spain~
Pass the ball he scores again~
Fernando Torres Liverpool's number 9~
nananana nanananana~

And I went on to watch the Manure vs Gooners match.

Ronaldo overdid it at 15" should cross it in for park earlier cus he's ready for it. Sigh he thinks he's too good for him is it? Don't trust his team-mate's ability, tsk tsk. Arrogant son-of-a-mofo!

34" Manure gives ball away cheaply, Adebayor shoots but missed, nice ball in by Hleb though.

35" Looney shoots but is just wide, 3 Arsie defenders scramble to close down on Looney.

47" Adebayor makes it 1-0, Van Persie crosses it in, Ade gets a strong header into net.

50" Van der saar prevents Ferdiand from own goaling for Arsie

Handball by gallas in the box, penalty.

Anderson sub for Scholes.

54" Park Ji Sung off Tevez on. Tevez looks like my Brazilian Ronaldo! Me like! XD

58" Yellow to Carrick, free kick to Arsie

60" Walcott in for Eboue

62" Adebayor picks up a yellow after a rough tackle on Anderson but too exaggerated

64" Great strike from Tevez but it's just wide over the crossbar

67" Great ball in from Clichy on the left flank, but woodwork denies him a goal

70" Looney strikes aft a pass from black guy(manure) and Jens blocks it, a threatening free-kick to Manure, Hargreaves strikes and it's in

75" Bendtner on van persie off

Hoyte on Toure off 84".

Liverpool 4 - 2 Arsenal. :DDDDDD

Freaking hell! Liverpool are through to the Champions League Semis, I didn't do a minute by minute report on my notebook this time cus' I was so high-strung throughout the game, but yeah I'm happy to see Torres and Crouchy in the starting line-up. And and our big guy Hyypia actually scored through a mighty header! Hyypia is the real deal y'all! So you guys can call him 'striker' for all you want, cus' he is now. Lol! To be fair, Arsie really played well last night, they were practically tearing our defense down and came at us relentlessly. My heart was literally in my throat when Diaby scored, but since we were playing at home I'm pretty confident we'd equalise. Hella rollercoaster ride last night, I guess you gotta have a healthy heart for matches like these.

That solo run by Theo Walcott from deep in his half all the way to Liverpool's and that amazing cross to Adebayor who finished the job. That run was friggin' amazing, he ran past 3 or 4 Liverpool defenders (they fell like bowling pins as they passed them by) before that decisive cross. And the last man to guard Walcott was Skrtel, who can't hold down the fort and did you guys notice his expression? He was lying on the field on his stomach and his face simply collapse onto the field cus' he prolly know it meant an Arsenal goal. Lol I guess Skrtel's got a lot to learn since he's made quite a few glaring mistakes but yeah no source of concern as yet, give the lad some time. That's the Rafa way. ;D Otherwise, great ball control, great dribbling (see how basic drills are good for you now? huh, huh? Lol) and of course Walcott's got youth on his side. Ahhh~ Like how Mikey Owen used to be...

Last night's performance and atmosphere was nothing short of that 2005 Istanbul where we actually came back from a 3-0 deficit against AC Milan. BEST CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL EVER. We cried, we laughed, then we cried happy tears at the very end. The fans play a huge part, we cheer, we tear, we went through the highs and the lows with the lads, it is this togetherness that made Liverpool stand out for me from the others. YNWA.

Flash-back to 2005...


Lol I'm not a wimp but I still do get emotional when I watch those replays.

I empathise with Arsies, I really do, I mean c'mon Liverpool experienced the same thing the same disappointments countless times, they played immensely well especially in the 1st half. But one thing's for sure, nobody steps out of a field losers, Arsie's young squad's gonna mature and develop as players from this experience despite the disappointment. And I can bet fo sure Wenger's not gonna go easy on his lads in the locker room alright.

And there were these 2 guest commentators/analysts(?) on ESPN, P.Thompson (ex-Liverpool captain) and F.McLintock (ex-Arsenal captain), and they were debating over that (not so) controversial penalty in Liverpool's advantage after Babel was brough down by Toure. It was legit. End of story. Haha but it sure was funny and heartwarming seeing 2 elderly folks bickering over something they hold so dear even until now.

Lol everything aside, I'm SOOOOO FIRETRUCKIN' HAPPYYYY WE DID IT! And so we're gonna face Chelski again in the CL. Ahh what's new? Lol but yeah I'm in a supa dupa good mood this morning. XD

Yeah! It's the last week of school y'all. Okay while that entails the beginning of the exams *cringe*, it also means the holidays are comin'. Yessss! Don't you just love the 3 months long semester break? I'll most prolly be taking a week's break before looking for a job, anyone has a job offer please drop me a message, lol or if you haven't and is also gonna look for one, join me in the job hunt then! I wanna make lotsa moolah, save some of these babies, and hopefully travel if I have nothing else to save for? Lol.

Alright let's just skip the nasty exams bit, and head straight to the stuff I'm gonna do after all that. I'll be getting the ukulele that I've been lusting for, since forever. Lol. I'd love to get an ukulele from its motherland, which is the Big Island, Hawaii, but yeah as the hokkien saying goes "When there's no fishies, shrimps are just as fine" (HAHA! Does that sound weird or what?). In retrospect, aren't the shrimps like more expensive than the fishies? Hmm I'd much prefer the shrimps to fishies though to be honest... ok ok back to the topic. I've asked JJ to keep a lookout for shops selling ukus, since I can get to choose and compare prices before getting my hands on one. Davis Guitars replied my e-mail and they're selling them for $50 (which is cheap, right?). So if there's nothing from JJ's side, I'ma head down to Davis and bring that baby home with me. Hell yeah! Lol I'm totally excited about that.

Oh okay what else, yeah yeah, I wanna meet up with my butties so bad too. Since like we're all busy doing assignments (rushing assignments/deadlines) and prepping for the comin exams, we're gonna go crazy after it all, yeah. Lol I so feel like going to K now. Rahhhhhhh! I'm so good at the screamo genre, like seriously. Hahaha.

Alritey, that's it from me for now. ;) Will be watching the ManUre match against Roma. I enjoy watching footie as a neutral ever so often. XD But I'll tend to side with _ _ _ _ obviously ^3^.

p.s. I've officially ended (ruined) my alcohol rehab after downing my first glass of red wine since umm weeks (?). Although it's Chilean wine (bleargh I hate Chilean wine usually, I don't fancy spicy wine, like spicy wines may complement certain food but I usually drink wine as they are and they're not good on an empty palette I tell you!), I'm taking it without complaints. Arrr smelly people can be so fickle-minded. Oh oh talking about smelly, looks like I'll be putting my smelliness to good use real soon. No shizzle. ;D

After Anthony Bourdain, I've taken an immense liking to Globe Trekker's host, Ian Wright. More on him next time. ;)

Random

Okay so with the exams (under 2 weeks' time) and ASSignments (all due next week) breathing down our necks, I shall end this pointless post (pointless to you guys I guess, lol) with a motivational quote from Ricky Gervais in BBC's hit comedy series The Office, it is crazily witty and funny, and the best thing is it packs a whole lot of sense.

"Life is just a series of peaks and troughs. And you don't know whether you're in a trough until you're climbing out, or on a peak until you're coming down. And that's it you know, you never know what's round the corner. Er, but it's all good, you know. "If you want the rainbow, you've gotta put up with the rain." Do you know which 'philosopher' said that? Dolly Parton! And people say she's just a big pair of tits."

-Ricky Gervais in The Office-

Lol my favorite part is that lil' Dolly Parton bit, that cracked me up quite a bit. XD

And to my friends out there who feel life's a bitch right now with all the pressure, keep your heads up and just keep swimmin'~ ;)

I'm watching the repeat telecast Sony Ericsson Open right now, with tennis hotshots Federer facing off against Roddick, these guys are pretty evenly matched, but I gotta say I'm on Federer's side of the fense. :D They say Swiss-made timepieces are the benchmark for precision and accuracy, I gotta say Federer (Suiss) is nothing short of those qualities alright.

Hmmm but I think I can beat Federer though, yes yes... most certainly... in Wii that is :D