The path to Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield never runs smoothly for me. 3rd time on the trot it has been subject to a delay outside of my control. I won’t go over the historic ones but let us just say they haven’t had a negative bearing on me reaching the match. Today came close. Very very close. The most intriguing thing about RAWK for me personally has been the fact that I joined thanks to a family member. Said family member gets married. His wife’s uncle a few weeks back realised that I am the same Harinder off RAWK as on.
He’s been here for quite some time - hello GinKop
Back to late arrival. It wasn’t Gin. It was an older link of sorts. RAWK not only combining family but old friends too. Good old AP823. His first cousin is a very old friend from back in the 90s. We’d lost touch and then as fate would have it we were reunited thanks to AP and me guessing from his surname and location of living that quite possibly he may know said friend.
RAWK is now also Friends Reunited
Both AP and his cousin (Laks) were taking their respective other halves to Anfield for the first time. Laks is already infamous. He’s the same lad who went on TV way back when we needed secure 4th once under Houllier and effectively told Sky Sports to do one when asked outside the ground before going in. Good man. AP823 is now infamous and extremely lucky. He had decided to begin celebrations on Saturday night. On Sunday morning he replied positively to a 12.30pm pick up in West Bromwich.
He just didn’t answer the phone when I was getting there. On time. Again. And again. And again. Cue the search for AP akin to the search for Spock. I ring his cousin. He rings AP’s sister who in turn rings AP’s fiancé who is not a happy lady. His sister rings the hotel. AP wakes up. AP rings me. Hallelujah.
Lady luck had shone upon him. I’d parked in a hotel car park to await his call. Just happened to be the hotel he was at. So at 1.30pm we finally leave West Brom an hour later than anticipated. My head kept on saying “we need to be in early, we need to be in early, we need to be in early”.
The next part is fondly known in the US as taking the fifth. All anyone needs to know is we got there just after 3pm in traffic and average speed cameras. No laws were broken.
I’d been a little narked by Tim Sherwood’s comments. We have all the pressure on us, we are the ones who need to cope. Etcetera. Etcetera. Etcetera. Here is a reality bite for you Timoffy. We aren’t the ones getting smashed off the park by the likes of us, City, Chelsea etc.
Norwich too Tim. Norwich.
Upon arrival we all noticed how quiet it was outside. Complete opposite compared to the inside of Anfield come 3.45pm. The Kop seemed to glow. Banners. Flags. Scarves all over the ground. Even the stewards were up for this. A quick scan of the ground simply showed a proud Liverpool awaiting the Tottenham Hotspur Blue and White barmy. And then comes the first goosebump moment. You'll never walk alone belts out in amazing fashion. It doesn’t matter that George has stopped playing it. We are deciding when this will end. Together.
First halfAnd we’re off. And we’re in the lead. And We are Liverpool. Tra-l-la-la-lah. 1-0.
For goal 1 Sterling was unplayable. Sterling is amazing. They can't cope. Danny Rose. A Rose by name who wilted by nature. Cross via Johnson and thank you. If Kaboul didn’t put in Sturridge would have. If this is playing under pressure then Tim is probably wondering what happens next
What followed was just controlled, measured and utterly a joy to watch. The nearly goal that followed the first. Lovely cross. If headed in possibly an amazing SAS goal that could kill Spurs here.
Why aren't we hammering them at break neck speed? Very very composed play. No rushing. No panic. A serene destruction of sorts. Is this the "death by football"? Has it arrived without us realising? We don’t look anything near breaking a sweat and they don’t look as if they can do anything. There is nowhere for Spurs to go.
He's Robert Soldado. He'll give a shit if he's arsed. He'll give a shit if he takes a laxative more like
Almost every break of play the attacking unit is switching positions. So much interchanging. I can’t keep up. I can’t care less. This is beautiful.
Their defence was scared of everything in my opinion. Anyone attacking is either bundled or tripped. And what absolute shit they are. Even with Suarez not getting hold of everything just him and Sturridge around the box has led to an all too common approach to defending by the opposition...
...The 'oof
2nd goal. Michael Dawson is a gift that keeps on giving. I’ve never truly rated him. When Suarez got the ball and went for the shot I thought he was going wide. He didn't. He smelt Kaboul's nappy and thought Delfina has done this a few times and then thought time for a different number two
3rd. We thought it was in. Damn that goal line technology. How good was the cross though? Inch perfect. Still 2-0 though
Coutinho through ball to Henderson too. Now would be such a great time for the third. Everything looks so positive. The passing, even the misplaced passing or stumbling, leaves you believing.
Gerrard is in full command here. Just everything about him is oozing the champion he knows he is and the league champions elect we are.
First half musings• Free kick choices eh? :-)
• Soldado is hilarious. Hair must never be out of place
• Seeing is believing. Has anyone seen Timoffy?
• Gylfi. Wrong club. Great choice. We bought Coutinho. Cheers fella
• They are shit beyond belief. We are destroying them everywhere and it doesn't even look hard
• Bar Lloris save has anyone done anything for them?
• Who the hell is dancing and screaming in the Spurs technical area and just where the hell is fackin' Tim?
• Go on. Have a go at Johnson. Do it. I dare you.
• Show Spurs the way to go home?
• I missed you Rob Guttman
Second halfIn the first half and for the first 10 minutes of the second Jon Flanagan got stick from a person behind me. Why are we ignoring the words of our manager? I think I said something along the lines of “Really?” to him so what came next ensured silence courtesy of the Scouse Cafu himself!
His turn was sublime. Actually it was more than that. It was Brendan Rodgers inside and out. Calm. Collected. Confident. Authoritative. Flanagan. His pass perfect. Coutinho goal. Beauty. 3-0. All you see is the ball leave his feet and arrow into the goal with precision. Just what is left for us to do now other than score some more? There is no Tottenham here. No fighting cock spirit. More fighting crock than fighting cock. In the words of John Travolta for all the misguided youth of today in Norff Landan “What will they say, Monday at school?”
“Ohh Timmy baybee, can’t you see? When Liverpool are done. You might get sacked, you might get bumped, there’s nothing left for you now!”
I digress. 3-0. It’s on. Still.
Sterling. Sturridge. Back heeeeeeeeeel. Nooooo. Ohhhhhh. Lloris :-( That would have been an audaciously brilliant goal but sadly wasn’t.
A note on Sterling. Hands down man of the match. Sublime in every way today. Sterling holding off Dembele too was brilliant. A man twice his size couldn’t get the ball off Raheem. His advancement in the last 3 months has been nothing short of miraculous. Having said that our whole team’s advancement has. Take a bow Liverpool FC. This is what all of us waited for and patiently you’ve delivered something special.
Henderson. 4-0. Well that was audaciously brilliant. He’d missed what looked like an obvious goal earlier and his head could have gone down. Previously we may have even expected it. Not anymore and most definitely not today. With Gerrard off the pitch and resting he must have been thinking the same as the rest of us. If this goes in then who’ll stop us?
It did. I went batshit crazy along with everyone else.
I then noticed that the Upper Centenary heckler was quiet. Not even a peep. Those who sit there know who I’m talking about. Deep scouse accent. At West Ham away last season he was the one on the receiving end of a “sit down Joe Pesci” when he had a go at Jonjo Shelvey. When the hecklers are silenced, left with nothing to moan about, what do they do?
Credit to the travelling spurs fans who knew they were beaten. They gave us a great laugh with a hearty rendition of “Where is our manager?”. If only anyone knew. I couldn’t see him in tracksuit and gillet but then to be fair I wasn’t really looking for him in the second half. It was that kind of day that I only realised Howard Webb was the 4th official when we made our substitutions.
And then it came again. You’ll never walk alone. At a slightly lower octave and sung slowly and melodiously throughout all the stands. Cue the absolute idiots who took this as a sign to go home. We are at home. We are going to be officially top of the league at the final whistle. Why on earth would you leave? This team doesn’t just deserve applause. It deserves our time and appreciation to the fullest.
How that appreciation came. The Roar.
THAT roar. If you missed it and only heard of it and are laying claim to it having left at 88 minutes you’re a fool who’s kidding no-one. Those who were in the ground know. I got goosebumps explaining it to my wife this morning. The team came together as they always do in the middle of the pitch. We are all singing and applauding to “We’re gonna win the league” and then an almighty roar. Just wow. I can’t even write about it without pausing for reflection. A release of so much. The nervousness. The pain. The anticipation. All let out.
We believe. If this a performance under pressure then bring it on.
I’ll see you again at West Ham. Until then we must be mindful of two things. The team needs us. The families and survivors of from the events of April 15th 1989 need us. The inquests have begun. Don’t jeopardise them. We have a lot of emotions that will be tested. We must remain calm.
Our families of the 96 and the survivors will never walk alone.
