A Perfect Day?

Well that worked out even better than most of us probably expected. The big grudge match, which was the culmination of all the fears, emotions and excitement of the previous week in 90 minutes. After the horrible season we have had to endure, until the Kings return, we all felt we were back on the right road. Our path was shaken somewhat by Torres’ departure but the swift action taken by FSG set us back on the correct path. Although our resurgence under Kenny has been instant, the previous 3 wins had been recorded against Wolves, Fulham and Stoke and while they were good performances and great results they weren’t categorical evidence of our return. We needed this win. For much more than just 3 points too. This win was our comeback game. It was a reminder to the whole league that Liverpool have not gone away. We can still compete against the best.

Of course a certain Spaniards debut in blue only added to the game. Well, he added to the game’s build up, he didn’t actually add much to the game itself! When he was substituted in the 65th minute to choruses of “You should have stayed at a big club” he had had less touches of the ball than any other player on the pitch. He had received the welcome he would have expected from his former followers the banners in the travelling Kop were funny and biting in equal measures, Breaking news: ‘ya paid £50m 4 Margi Clarke' read one, while others proclaimed 'He who betrays will always walk alone' and 'Once a red, in our hearts, you are dead, lying Judas’ amongst the banners there was one which stood out as poignant ‘Torres a pawn on our chessboard but the King remains’. Torres’ game consisted of three flash points the first was when Maxi Rodriguez forgot about the transfer window and passed the ball straight to Fernando just inside our half, he ran at the defense before blazing the ball over the bar to ironic cheers. The second was his only real chance of the game which was heroically and typically blocked by a true red in Jamie Carragher. The third was a moment which was surpassed only by Raul Meieles’ goal, it was we when Danny Agger showed a different side to his usual classy game by twatting the Spaniard with an elbow. It shouldn’t have felt so good, but I have to admit it did. Not only did he do it, but he got away with it too.

For all those who had doubted Kenny’s credentials and said he had been out of the game too long he is continuing to prove the doubters wrong with every game that passes. This was another example of his progressive modern tactics, playing a mixture of a 3-5-1-1 and a 3-4-2-1 formation. We passed the ball attractively but not for the sake of it. We played it directly at times with Dirk Kuyt putting in a lot of work up front in holding the ball up. The goal was another example of our improvement in possession with 17 passes being played before Raul struck his latest brilliant effort. This is our 4th win on the bounce now and our 4th clean sheet in a row too and this shows how it is not just in attack that we have improved. Our defense has looked solid and the switch of Glen Johnson to the left seems like a masterstroke. We have improved in every area and we must remember the input of backroom staff Steve Clarke and Sammy Lee as well as the efforts of King Kenny. The main this that has been noticable over the last few weeks has been the return of team spirit and togetherness. In almost every interview you hear the same lines being repeated, regardlesss of the interviewee, the talk has all been about being in it together, and everyone being on the same page. Its no coincidence that this return has coincided with an improvement in fortunes.

So in many ways a perfect day. We won, we played well, Torres had no impact and all this with £22million Suarez sat on the bench and £35million Andy Carrol still recovering from injury. We have had to wait a long time for this season to get going but finally we can now say it has. We still have the UEFA cup to play for and all of a sudden people are talking about us qualifying for the Champions League again. That would be a big ask and is probably not realistic, but the very fact that we are talking about that when just before Christmas we were worried about relegation battles means we are on the right road again.