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Liverpool 3 Manchester City 2 (Apr 13 2014)


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What a day that was. It not only lived up to expectations, it surely exceeded them. In fact, it was so intense and at times traumatic, that it felt like a night game. Most of the great Anfield occasions seem to have come ‘under the lights’ but in terms of day games I’m struggling to think of one to compare with this. Absolutely spine tingling stuff from start to finish, and if we manage to see this one out and go on to win the title then this is a game we’ll be telling our grandkids about. It will be there alongside all of the great Anfield occasions, as make no mistake about it, we beat a seriously fucking good team here.
 
The players had been given an incredible welcome on Anfield Road as the coach made it’s way to the stadium. A similar thing had taken place before Sunderland of course, but this time there were at least three times as many fans lining the streets. Expect even more for the final two home games.

The place was completely buzzing in the build up, the streets were busier than I’ve seen all season and presumably the pubs will have been hit in the pocket as everyone seemed to be hanging around outside before this one.

After one of the most incredibly silent of ‘minutes silences’ prior to kick off the noise was ear splitting once again. Credit to City for the respect they showed, even unfurling a banner showing unity with us in the campaign for justice, but I don’t think that will have come as a surprise to anybody as City have always been a decent bunch. Equally it will have surprised no-one that the pond life following Chelsea failed to observe it during their game at Swansea, as they’ve always been… well.. a not so good bunch.

There’s always a danger that sombre occasions such as this can have a negative effect on the team and put added pressure on them to get a favourable result (see United’s loss to City on the 50th anniversary of Munich for example), but Rodgers had said beforehand that it would inspire his team and so it proved.

The boss had spoken of ‘unleashing the fans’ on City and I think everyone knew it was going to be one of those Anfield occasions when the crowd would undoubtedly play a huge part, and more often than not when Anfield is like this the result tends to follow. It’s remarkable really, down the years there have been so many of these massive games, but they’ve almost exclusively been in Europe and losses have been incredibly rare when crowd and team have been as one. This was the biggest domestic game we’ve had in well over 20 years though, probably since the ill fated Arsenal game that decided the title in 1989 in fact.

Whilst it wasn’t exactly going to decide the title, it was certainly going to give us a much better idea of where we stood. Lose and we were pretty much out of it. Draw and we’d be relying on Everton doing us a favour. Win, and it was still in our own hands. We won, but in typical Liverpool style it wasn’t straightforward; it never is. But it wouldn’t be the same without the odd heart stopping moment would it? For Eidur Gudjohnsen read David Silva being a stud’s length away from converting Aguero’s pass. For the ‘Ghost Goal’ see the late Skrtel handball that wasn’t given. Things could so easily have gone against us but they didn’t. I said weeks ago there is a ‘2005 feeling’ about what’s happening this year and I’m even more convinced of it now.

This was just a pulsating game from start to finish, two great attacking teams going at it hammer and tong. It won’t be like this in a fortnight, Chelsea could play like City if they were coached that way; they have bags of talent in their squad but Mourinho would rather bore his way to victory than play like us or City, the massive shithouse. I’m not sure Pellegrini is a particularly great coach, but what he is is a man who recognises the attacking talent he has at his disposal and allows them to go out and play to their strengths, and they’ve been hugely entertaining this season. If we’re the best side to watch in the country, City are a very close second and this was a hell of an advert for the English game.


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Just for the sake of accuracy Dave, it's Demichelis, not Di Michelis or Dimichelis. I know you're thinking of putting out another book and that in the past you've made a point of leaving all the original typos and grammatical errors in, but I think it would be good if you made the necessary amendments to these reports before putting them in a book, and you can do it without changing the content in any way. 

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What a performance in that first 35 mins of the first half!

What a finish by Stirling - Sturridgesque!

What a result in the end!

What a team we've become and what a manager to get such consistent brilliance out of them like this!

They owe it to themselves, and their immense skipper, now to make sure they finish this job off (starting with those odd looking, big eared farmers) after that yesterday. If there's any justice in this crazy world then they'll somehow find a way to make it over the finish line in first place. 

What an awesome ride this season has become!!!!!!!!!!!

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I have never cried at a football match but I came damn close during this game. Just the raw emotion of the remembrance before and the dream looking like it might die, took it right out of me. I was exhausted at the end, had to go straight into the Albert for a beer.

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As ever agree with everything. Stevie G, love the man. Worried about Sturridge though. He looks shattered and is only playing 1 game a week. Hope Luis keeps it in check. I love his commitment, drive and desire, never mind his ability, but he did go down theatrically to much. As Stevie says, it's over, we now go to Norwich!

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Great report Dave. Taking out all the hype about diving, hand-balls , pen claims in the end it boiled down to Silva missing his chance and Coutinho grabbing his.. Neither side was going to recover from a third goal. Please God don't let us fuck up against Mourinho 

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A gutting defeat for whichever team was to lose. As it happened, it was City.

 

But it WAS a game to remember, and a truly fantastic spectacle for what's good about attacking, entertaining football. 

 

Great report, and it accurate reflects the 'enormity' of the occasion which went beyond the title challenge itself. 

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Man City boss Pellegrini stayed behind to shake every Liverpool player’s hand after defeat

 

Manuel ‘El Ingenerio’ Pellegrini may be a bit dull and unspectacular in media terms, but the man is a gent (OK, apart from that time he went off on a half-baked conspiracy theory after losing to Barcelona).

Despite losing the potential title-decider at Anfield yesterday – and being denied a couple of penalty shouts – Pellegrini chose magnanimity over bitterness, and stayed behind on the pitch to shake every last Liverpool player’s hand, where most managers would have been down the tunnel no sooner had the final whistle been blown.

http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/gentleman-man-city-boss-pellegrini-stayed-behind-to-shake-every-liverpool-players-hand-after-defeat-vine/?

Nice touch

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A gutting defeat for whichever team was to lose. As it happened, it was City.

 

But it WAS a game to remember, and a truly fantastic spectacle for what's good about attacking, entertaining football.

 

Great report, and it accurate reflects the 'enormity' of the occasion which went beyond the title challenge itself.

I do honestly wonder how Abramovich will react to both teams' football this season. I imagine hs wants his side to be entertaining but they're basically Wimbledon on steds, while other sides are wanting to play good footy.

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Man City boss Pellegrini stayed behind to shake every Liverpool player’s hand after defeat

 

Manuel ‘El Ingenerio’ Pellegrini may be a bit dull and unspectacular in media terms, but the man is a gent (OK, apart from that time he went off on a half-baked conspiracy theory after losing to Barcelona).

Despite losing the potential title-decider at Anfield yesterday – and being denied a couple of penalty shouts – Pellegrini chose magnanimity over bitterness, and stayed behind on the pitch to shake every last Liverpool player’s hand, where most managers would have been down the tunnel no sooner had the final whistle been blown.

http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/gentleman-man-city-boss-pellegrini-stayed-behind-to-shake-every-liverpool-players-hand-after-defeat-vine/?

Nice touch

 

 

He and Rodgers are a breath of fresh air after the era of Ferguson's constant sniping. We still have Jose the bitter paranoid, mind.

 

It's nice to see, though, from Rodgers and Pellegrini.

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He and Rodgers are a breath of fresh air after the era of Ferguson's constant sniping. We still have Jose the bitter paranoid, mind.

 

It's nice to see, though, from Rodgers and Pellegrini.

 

Exactly why Maureen should never even be considered as a potential manager for us.  The classless cunt.

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