Ignore the 'jumpers for
goalposts' score line. Some games you just don't get what you deserve. Not for
one minute am I writing this piqued with a sense of 'we wuz robbed' injustice.
But we surely deserved more, and on another day under the gaze of more benevolent
football gods we might have been better rewarded for our efforts, but today “Unseen in the background, Fate was quietly
slipping lead into the boxing-glove.” -P G Wodehouse.
The day began with a march to the
ground by a couple of thousand 'We'll always be blue' protestors which although
ultimately futile represents a sentiment shared by the huge majority of fans
(and certainly more than Vincent Tan's dissenting '10%'). A sense of rebellion
was in the air which, in a full house, made for a cracking atmosphere.
Those of us who were anticipating
humiliation at the hands of an opposition who have emerged as genuine title
contenders were recalibrating our mindset from resignation to hope within
minutes of the start as we forced the early pace. After 2 minutes Campbell
turned Gerrard on the edge of the box and was the victim of a desperate lunge
from the England captain's no doubt cultured left peg, earning the scally a
deserved yellow card.
The 5-4-1 formation was working
well with wing backs Fabio and John getting forward at pace, Medel and Mutch
controlling midfield and Bellamy and Campbell making darting, incisive runs.
After 10 minutes we were rewarded for our domination as Mutch appeared to be
gifted the ball on the edge of the box and was given the time to choose his
spot, planting the ball coolly past Mignolet.
For the next 10 minutes the
Canton End choristers ran through their entire repertoire of Scouse-bating
numbers, some bordering on the amusing but referencing the usual tired old
clichés and received wisdom about 2008's European Capital of Culture and a fine
city to boot.
The only drawback about
Solskjaer's adventurism is the high probability that quality opposition is
likely to take advantage of the spaces that inevitably open up. And so it proved
when the powerful Johnson got behind John to fire in a low cross for Suarez to
send the ball past Marshall for the leveller. A couple of Liverpool fans
sitting in the Ninian Stand announced themselves with ill-considered revelry
and were persuaded to vacate their seats whilst they still had a full
complement of limbs, each located in the sockets that evolution or God (depending
on your point of view) had determined / predetermined.
With exactly 19.27 minutes on the
clock Vincent Tan's fabled 10% (more accurately approx. 90%) raised their (our)
blue and white scarves above their heads and joined together in a rousing
chorus of 'we'll always be blue', drawing applause from the Merseysiders and
spurring on the boys in red (the home team) to retake the lead as Mutch again
found himself in space to set up Campbell to slot the ball past the keeper.
2-1!
Shortly afterwards, a rampaging
John did old man Gerrard for pace as the youngster was sent sprawling. Surely a
second yellow and a sending off? Just like Rooney before him, Gerrard has the
benefit of 'national treasure' status which apparently offers him immunity from
such sanctions. This is just one of many incidents that should exercise the
MOTD pundits and have conspiracy theorists nodding sagely.
Liverpool were proving capable of
breaking at a frightening pace, as organised as fleet-footed automatons. On 40
minutes Coutinho got round the back of the trailing defence and sent in a low
cross that was met by a marauding Skirtel to level the scores and make the half
time oranges slightly less palatable.
The half time chatter was
complimentary but realistic, the consensus being that a point was just about
achievable, given a fair wind and a helping hand from Lady Luck who has yet to
take her seat at the CCS this stadium despite increasingly desperate overtures.
In the event, divine providence
would have been no match for the continuing partiality of referee Neil
Swarbrick who time and again gave the benefit of the doubt to the opposition.
I'm not suggesting conspiracy or collusion, it's just that some referees are in
awe of a player or a team's reputation and are overly lenient.
Ten minutes into a finely
balanced opening to the second half Suarez or Sturridge - I can't recall which
one but they're interchangeable in their propensity to irritate - was adjudged
to have been fouled on the edge of the box. The resulting free kick was blocked
by the wall and the follow up blast at goal almost decapitated Kev T-C whose
battered noggin deflected the ball out for a corner. With both T-C and Mutch,
who'd also been felled in the box, statutorily sidelined Skirtel found plenty of
space to edge Liverpool into the lead for the first time.
This is a rule that must be
revisited. Two players are genuinely injured, one of them completely pole-axed,
but are capable of playing on after treatment. The rules don't allow the ref to
discriminate between a genuine injury and fabrication. At present there is a
presumption of guilt.
The away fans found their voice
for the first time during the game and you sensed that the tide had turned.
When only 6 minutes later another Sturridge overlap found Suarez it was 4-2.
SAS for them but S.O.S for us as the call went out for reinforcements. Zaha and
Daehli came on for John and Kim, soon followed by Jones replacing Bellamy who
left to a standing ovation from all corners.
Olly's folly in resorting to a
reckless all-out forward assault may have had some justification if it was predicated
on a solid impenetrable defence but the fundamental flaw in his strategy was
again cruelly exposed as Liverpool broke away for the Johnson-Suarez-Sturridge
combination to stroll in a fifth.
A well-worked move which
concluded with a Jones knock-down for Mutch to grab his second gave the crowd
something to sing about for a short while, but the knowing 'we're gonna win
6-5' was inevitably short lived as Suarez chased the ball down and with the assistance
of a blatant shove in the back and another generous assessment from the
trailing ref, was able to tease Marshall before stroking the ball into the net
to complete his hat-trick and a barely credible 6-3 victory.
For the neutral the afternoon
provided wonderful entertainment but for the partisan, to quote Wodehouse, “The fascination of shooting as a sport
depends almost wholly on whether you are at the right or wrong end of the gun.”
