Pride and Passion!

A few friends came over from Karad (around 4hours from here) just to watch this game together. How cool is that? Me being the only Liverpool fan in this place was supported by 3 Chelsea fans. They also belanja me makan chicken briyani afterward.Hahaha!

Well I thought the first half was tight. We started better and had better chances. The first real chance came from Aurelio's free kick when Torres was fouled by Evra. Van Der Sar had to literally claw the superb curling ball from Aurelio out and still managed to recover and position himself well to deny Kuyt's follow-up. Having said that, Kuyt was probably guilty for not taking some chances and turned them into goals. We could've had 4 or 5 goals.

You know you deserved it when the opposing manager himself said that you were the better team. Lucas and Mascherano totally boasted the midfield, something we haven't been doing lately. Carrick and Scholes looked out depth and uncomfortable. Giggs tried to play the game from the periphery, and probably one of the causes why Johnson's attacking movement was limited, besides the latter probably still not having full match fitness. Valencia was causing all sorts of trouble on our left hand side. Rafa must have thought that this would happen, so he put Aurelio at the left midfield to provide a lifeline for Insua when required, and boy Aurelio was boss, attacking and defensively. He could have done better with Benayoun's cross from the right hand side though. Insua markedly improved in the second half, I'm quite worried about the way the oppositions are now channelling their attacks through the inexperinced Insua guarding our left side. He looked out of pace against Valencia today.

That would be the best performance I have ever seen from Lucas. He was everywhere,literally. His positioning has improved, so is his tackling (we could do with less freekicks conceded though, I always close my eyes whenever we concede freekicks), and he can pass. In the 2nd goal buildup, he delayed the pass to Ngog, thus releasing the latter free and putting him one-on-one with Van Der Sar,and we know what happened afterward.You should see Lucas' celebration after the 2nd goal! Mascherano was immense too, doing his usual stuff. Pity about the suspension though, but nobody is complaining! Everybody is having a good time, just enjoying it. =)

Benayoun was one of our best player too, as usual offered his creativity and the confidence to take on the defense. Starting the game at the right flank, he and Kuyt interchanged positions throughout the game. Provided the assist for Torres' opening goal. As usual, a high energy display from Kuyt, much to the annoyance of the opposition's rearguard, but could have done better with touch and finishing.

Johnson didn't look like he's 100% fit yet, but he did enough against Giggs at the right side. Our backline was tremendous today, Carra was back to his usual reliable self! He was lucky not to be sent off for professional foul,but that's the only flaw in his performance today. I'm not complaining, he did the right choice by hauling that Judas down, otherwise that would have put Owen one-on-one with Reina. And the tackle on Carrick was superb, it could have been a penalty, but even those mancs weren't complaining, so why should we? Again, he made the right decision, Carrick would have taken a shot and scored if Carra didn't interfere.

Agger was superb too, especially that tackle on Giggs. Reina didn't have much to do. The only real save he had to make was from Rooney's weak header from Valencia's cross. Torres? What more can I say, even at 80% fitness, he gave United's backline a torrid time. And Rio Ferdinand really helped too, by preferring to jog alongside Torres and gifting him a yard of space, which was exactly what he needed to clinically finish the ball.

In conclusion, in an out-of-10 scale, 10 being the best, everybody in Red shirts deserves a 10. And so does the middle-aged Spaniard in black suit at the byline..=D