Well, I feel a bit of a fool after my pregame quaking at the thought of Sunday's game. And then that happened. This is the reason we are footy supporters. There is simply no sport that can provide those kind of results that leave you beaming the rest of the day (even on a day when my Blackhawks continued to be vomit on ice). I don't know about you, but I was walking on air yesterday. We had forgotten what it's like when Liverpool do that, hadn't we? Probably not since last season's victory over United at Anfield had we had any result to cherish. That's a year. A full year of games that we had to treat as work or a burden. It's so good to on the other side, at least until Wednesday.
Of course, this is also helped by your much derided striker -- who still makes a very viable argument for best in the world -- returns to form and destroys a defense single handed. We've had to sift through so much utter twaddle, trying to decipher what Torres's gait on the field meant his mental state was. Does anybody really think that after a poor touch, or a missed chance, that Torres was thinking about West London housing prices on the pitch? Wouldn't it make much more sense that he was frustrated at his and the team's lackluster play and his own poor fitness? Why does it take so much labor for someone to mention that he's been playing non-stop for three years now? Euro 2008, Confederations Cup 2009, and the World Cup have chewed up his summers. And yet, here he is.
Other points:
-In my preview, I stated that Lucas in not a holding midfielder per se, but Rafa has shoehorned him in there. Then he goes out and demonstrates everything a holding midfielder should be, and this isn't the first game that he's done so this season. Pretty much everything good came from a base of Lucas in midfield, showing Zhirkov, Ramires, and Mikel their still beating collective heart.
-As you'll come to see, and probably already know, I am not Dirk Kuyt's biggest fan. Though I appreciate the work rate and dedication like anyone else, from his position I'd love something resembling inspiration. It's not his fault that Rafa Benitez shipped him out to the wing as soon as Torres arrived, and I wonder if Rafa knew that was Torres was coming eventually whether he would have bought Kuyt the previous season at all. But it's clear the team is different with him, and they were with him deployed as a second striker yesterday. That's probably where he should be anyway. And then he goes and puts that inch-perfect through ball to Torres to leave him with all sorts of options to break the deadlock. Everyone wants me to be an idiot.
-So...why did we wait so long to throw Martin Kelly out there?
-Paul Konchesky still sucks.
-Yeah, Pool rode their share of luck, but that's not illegal.
-My Chelsea friends have been running to the shelter of "Well, Lampard didn't play." Were there a lot of free kicks to deflect of somebody yesterday that I missed?
-When they finish there, it's the Drogba-excuse. Well, we didn't make you sit him for the first half.
-I still get urpy these days when Carragher is in the middle, but he's still capable of putting in his one man Alamo routine, only with a different result.
-However, after every result like this, it matters not if they don't beat Wigan on Wednesday. After all the torture and teeth-gnashing, Liverpool are level with Spurs, five points back of the top four. We're not even a third of the way through the season. Let's leave the nooses at home for a little while.
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