Records, are meant to be broken. :)

Liverpool   2-1   Manure

Brown OG (26),                   Tevez (3)

Babel (77)

And finally... a long awaited win (we haven't won against Manure for 4 years since Rafa took over at the helm) to Liverpool! YNWA! YNWA! Go pop a champagne, wear your Liverpool jersey (if you haven't already) and run around your neighbourhood belting out You'll Never Walk Alone and every single Liverpool FC song or cheer, cry your happy tears! 

Liverpool didn't just win a match today. We proved a point, and that's Liverpool isn't just all about Torres and Gerrard. 

We simply outclassed an underperforming Manure today, among a few others, Van der Saar was severely off form even his lucky tyco save against Kuyt couldn't vindicate him, having a bad day? Not to mention, cards were flying here, there and everywhere for Manure. 

The atmosphere was waaay beyond electrifying, it's hard not to shed a tear or two to hear the Anfield faithful sing You'll Never Walk Along amidst the sea of red, banners, scarves, flags. It's always a carnival atmosphere whenever Liverpool and Manure meet. Liverpool stands out that way for me at least, the feel good factor, sticking together despite all the slack we've got and trudging on. You'll Never Walk Alone... 

We did almost everything right, well except for the starting minutes where Berbatov hit in a brilliant assist to Tevez's goal at the 3rd minute. Even Rafa's substitution was spot-on, he subbed in Babel for Reira and shortly after his decision was rewarded by Babel's goal, credits to Mascherano who nips the ball past Giggs, 1-2 to Kuyt who finds Babel, and he lobs it coolly into the net, brilliant connecting play=>brilliant goal!!! Babel's truly our super sub man.

Pity for Manure at the 26th minute though, when there was a lack of communication between Brown and Van der Saar, I know Van der Saar has a habit of running out la, but this time... it's a split second decision and he made a mistake which gave Liverpool the equaliser. The deflection of the ball was totally unpredictable and this time it's too Liverpool's favor. :D

That 'Oops!' Moment

VDS: [Insert any swear word here]! Why'd you do that for mate!?!

Brown: I swear I didn't see you comin'!

VDS: !%^$&$&^%

And knock knock Andersen? Were you even playing throughout the 94 mins??? I totally forgot he was on the pitch the whole time. And yes Berbatov's displayed great vision in his 3rd min assist to Tevez, but after that he kinda slacked off a lil', I didn't really notice him after that, hmm maybe it's partly cause the Liverpool lads kept going at Manure's goal.  

Haha and Papa Rafa looks friggin' cute when he did that flapping dance thingy when he cancelled out the substitution (the linesman was already flashing the substitution board) when Mascherano picked up an injury around the 70+ minute. And Hyypia came on for Maschie. Whenever I see Hyypia beside Skrtel on the field, I keep thinking of 'The Protege'. Skrtel's totally Hyypia's protege. Hai if it's time for him to go, I'll be super sad (then Carra and Stevie will be the remaining ones from the old squad), but I guess that's the natural cycle with footballers and clubs, hey if I can get over it when Mikey left, it'll be ok. :) 

And Riera's is a rising talent to look out for. What a debut la! He's pretty well-rounded, he's got nifty dribbling skills, solid ball control,`he almost bears a similar resemblance to Alonso, though executed a lil' differently, Alonso provides awesome range to the team by long passes, Reira delivers that through cutting across flanks, driving the ball around. He's able to create space and thereby opening up options. There's a point of the match in the middle of 1st half where Alonso attempts a long range at goal, and then minutes later, Reira had a go at an almost similar long range attempt. Reira's definitely Liverpool's answer to a winger. And he likes having a go at goals when he sees an opportunity, Liverpool can surely do with more hungry players like him. :D And I'll definitely be watching out for him. :D

Umm Reira, you can work on that smile though. X)

We varied our passes, we played the ball around fast, I really loved it during those one touch passing moments, and yes the boys were definitely strong in the air, we kept the ball in play and in possession even when we did aerial/header passes. My eyes never left the screen for more than 5 secs, tonight's game is the most exciting match I've watched so far this season, and I'm sure there're many more good times to come. 

And the similarities don't just stop there, both clubs are major clubs in Northwest England. Both has red as their club colors. Even the current owners/chairmen are Yankees! Which brings me to the point, both are Yankees how come ours are so ULTRA KANASAI one huh!?! My patience has seriously spilled over its limits already as far as Hicks&Gilette are concerned. 

While every other club are busy prep-ing for the season, we're still experiencing rifts in the boardroom, most recently, even Jamie Carragher has lashed out at H&G (read TNP 12th Sept '08 for more details). I am totally on his side, I bet almost everyone in Anfield is unhappy with H&G, and this time Carragher had to take on the role of the 'bad guy' to voice out their sentiments. Bloody yankees have been profiteering from the club (merchandise sales, ticket sales... the list goes on), and instead of using that lot of money on improving and developing the club, they channel the money back into their baseball and various sporting clubs back in America. WTFWTFWTF right? We need someon who's adept at management but also seriously passionate about Liverpool FC at the helm lor! 

And the final similarity (the most unsettling one too) that I'm gonna mention is both teams are almost similar in terms of club records, with Manure being one title away to equal Liverpool's record of 18 league titles. Now, they're getting a lil' too close for comfort. At this crucial point of time, we actually have two half-hearted (actually H&G=2 x 1/2=1 whole... but that's besides the point) Yankee chairmen! Omg. Don't get me started again. I really think there's a cycle in football clubs leh, hmm as in most clubs  follow a pretty similar pattern (rise and fall, together with the transition period in between) which can be observed in nations, economies, businesses blah blah blah. I guess it's really true when they say what goes up must come down. If it hols true then it's about time Manure start... XP

Yes indeed, whenever both these teams clash head-on, there'll ALWAYS be a furore over it, uh huh I won't lie, I'm a little tensed and nervy before these matches, but will the actual match itself be as red-hot silin' as its pre-match hype? There were several times where I almost dozed off watching the game conclude in a low or no-goal draw. BUT!!! With new additions into both teams, in the form of the two strikers, Robbie Keane (Liverpool) and Berbatov (Manure), and both of them were former team-mates (for 2 years) back at Spurs. Not to mention a Riera debut! So many new and exciting elements! Woolala! I know I know our track record against Manure has been less than stellar, I'm not gonna lie, we haven't won a single match against manure since 2004. But like all Anfield faithfuls, I'm gonna bet on Liverpool to win! Liverpool 2-1 Manure (FT).

I'm sooper dooper glad that Stevie and my husband Torres are gonna feature in tonight's match after initial fears that they may be deemed unfit. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! YNWA! With a liverbird upon our chest, march on, march on~ With the Liverpool lads! Yay! A rhyme. :D