"Funny as well as insightful" Jamie Carragher, LFC   "A brilliant read. Funny, poignant, opinionated" Tony Barrett, The Times   "An essential purchase for all LFC fans" Chris Bascombe, Daily Telegraph

 





The following is an extract from 'The King's Last Stand'. It's a section of the match report from the 4-1 win over Chelsea in May 2012. The book contains a match report from every LFC game in the 2011-12 season.

 

 

 

"We really needed this. It doesn't make up for the disappointment of Wembley or the staggeringly poor home record but it was nice all the same. Everyone had smiles on their faces coming out of Anfield, and I'm still smiling as I write this the day after. The performance was fantastic from players and crowd and, bizarrely, this was the most fun I've had at the game in ages. It was just nice seeing us playing well and actually getting the goals the performance deserved for once. And I'm not gonna lie, seeing John Terry being made to look like a Sunday league clogger wasn't bad either. "Mongo no like big man with pony tail or little man with big teeth".

The great thing about it was that there was no feeling sorry for ourselves after losing the cup final. The crowd were as up for this as they've been for any league game all season and the players did their bit too. After the season we've had you'd expect everyone to be down in the dumps, but it wasn't like that at all. Seriously, if you didn't know the result from Saturday you'd have assumed that we'd won based on the two sets of fans at Anfield. Loads of empty seats in the Chelsea end, and a fired up, hugely supportive home crowd. Like I said the other day, I'd rather lose as a Liverpool fan than win supporting Chelsea.

Kenny had his name chanted throughout the game and no-one was on the player's backs either. That's not just because of the scoreline, the atmosphere was lively right from the off. Andy Carroll's all action display also helped raise the noise levels and right now his stock amongst the crowd is sky rocketing. He had great support even when things were going badly, but now that he's hit form there's every chance he could become idolised if he can sustain this level of play.

The scoreline would suggest this was our best performance of the season, and in terms of all round football it probably was as this time the goals were there to reflect our dominance. We've produced similar displays on numerous other occasions only to come away with a draw or even worse. It's unfortunate that it took until the last home game for us to get that big win, but I'm not going to let that kill my buzz. It provided some form of closure after losing to them at Wembley. Yes, they left out a lot of players and the game was fairly meaningless especially in comparison to an FA Cup final. But still, I'm glad we got the chance to get it out of our system so quickly and so emphatically.

It should really have been an even bigger margin of victory as once again we struck the woodwork twice (one from a penalty that saw us set the record for the most spot kick misses in a season), but this time it didn't matter. The woodwork actually came to our aid a couple of times too, which never seems to happen. That Torres was one of the players denied by it made this even sweeter. There have been games where virtually everything has gone wrong, but this was one where almost everything went right. About f***ing time our luck changed. Shame it took until the second to last game of the season!

In the immediate aftermath of the Wembley defeat I have to admit I was really, really dreading this fixture. Yet by the day of the game I was genuinely looking forward to it. The main reason for sudden enthusiasm was Andy Carroll. Having had time to reflect on the carnage he caused in Chelsea's backline at the weekend I couldn't wait to see if he could do it again, this time from the start. I was buzzing about what we saw from him at Wembley and an awful season could take on a more positive light if Carroll could continue in the form he's been in recently. By that I don't mean it salvages anything from a disappointing campaign, but it would certainly provide hope that things might be better next year.

Well he did more than continue that form, he actually improved upon it. Chelsea just couldn't handle him and he was the leading light in an all round team performance that matched anything we've produced all season. He led from the front and everyone else followed his lead, including the fans who were loving it. The ovation he got for chasing a ball down at the Kop end to prevent a goal-kick was spine tingling. It seemed like everyone was on their feet applauding for ages after that. He must have felt ten foot tall. At times he looked ten foot tall, as he soared above Terry and Ivanovic time and time again. Those two are no shrinking violets but they got their ar$es handed to them repeatedly, both in the air and on the ground. It wasn't just Carroll either. He dominated them physically, but Suarez was just making them look stupid with one nutmeg after another. He was mesmerising at times, and between them our front two megged Mongo three times in the opening twenty minutes. Brilliant stuff.

Having Carroll there to occupy the centre halves allows Suarez to go roaming about, just looking to get on the ball so he can do his thing. As a pairing they've been steadily improving since the turn of the year and there's definitely something there for us to build on next season if Carroll can maintain the level he's at now. I'm loving watching them develop, both individually and as a partnership, and it's a shame the season is ending just as Carroll has hit top gear.

It wasn't just about those two however, everybody performed to a high level and the two young midfielders deserve a pat on the back for how they played. Both got on the scoresheet and both looked impressive. This was easily Henderson's best game and I'm struggling to think of a single mistake he made. My only fear coming into the game was whether those two could live with Chelsea's more experienced midfield trio. Romeu is only a young lad too, but Ramires and Essien present a tough match up for even the most experienced of midfielders, let alone two lads aged 20 and 21. They were terrific though, and not just because they both scored.

I'm not kidding myself, I know Chelsea have bigger fish to fry and left a lot of key players out, but it was still a strong line up and those who were selected seemed pretty up for it to me. A little too up for it in fact. Ivanovic, Ferreira, Mongo and Essien were all booked in the first half, but Ivanovic and Essien could easily have seen red. Essien's horrific two footed lunge from behind on Carroll was a clear red card offence, and for the same referee who sent Spearing off at Fulham to only produce a yellow for that is a little bit galling. Chelsea's players did not want to lose this game and many of them were trying to show they are worth a place in the Champions League final. Cech may have made a difference though, and leaving him out was a little stupid I'd say. Generally, I thought they were up for it but were just well beaten on the night.

No-one in blue was more up for it than Torres. You could see just how desperate he was to score and to play well. He did more chasing in this game than he did in his last six months in a red shirt. He wanted it badly, but not as badly as Carragher & co wanted to shut him out. Aside from one flash of brilliance that saw him smash a shot against the bar at the Kop end, he didn't get a sniff. Carragher and Skrtel were outstanding and both full backs also performed excellently. Any time Torres got the ball our players swarmed around him. It wasn't just the fans that badly wanted him shut down, our defenders wanted no part of him coming back and scoring against us either. Torres really got it in the neck from the fans and at full time he couldn't get off the field quick enough, the f***ing baby. The lowest ebb had to have been the 'She fell over' chant after he'd slipped over in front of the Kop. Not the return he hoped for, that's for damn sure.

It's fair to say that our opening goal had an element of fortune about it, although perhaps not as much as people may think. Surely I'm not the only one that thinks Suarez deliberately played that ball off Essien? When you look at it, he didn't have any other option as there was no angle to take on a shot and the path to cut the ball back to Maxi was blocked. I reckon he knew what he was doing there, it was the high percentage play under the circumstances. The run that led to it was vintage Suarez too. Despite Romeu trying to foul him as he weaved his way down the right wing, he managed to retain his balance and drive towards the box. Over came Mongo and… whoops… through the legs and he was bearing down on goal.

For someone who doesn't have blistering pace, Suarez is amazing when it comes to going past players. It's a rare gift he has, especially when it comes to megging people. There's so many pointless stats and most of them mean nothing to me. They didn't do Damien Comolli much good did they? That said, I'd love to see stats for how many nutmegs Luis averages per game. I'd set the over/under at three. Terry was having a bad time of it regardless of which striker he was trying to mark and his evening would get worse when he did the splits as he tried to cut out a Maxi through ball intended for Henderson. Between the three nutmegs and doing the splits, it was clear that Terry was having trouble keeping his legs shut with so many scousers around. Can't imagine where he gets that from."

 

The King's Last Stand will be in stock in paperback (£10) from July and will also be available in kindle format on Amazon (£6). You can pre-order your paperback copy from our online store now, and all orders will be despatched as soon as the first run arrives back from the printers in early July.

To order your copy from our online store, click here.

For all enquiries contact dave@liverpoolway.co.uk