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From The Times

October 6, 2008

Fernando Torres inspires Liverpool fightback

Manchester City 2 Liverpool 3

 

Oliver Kay

Sometimes, just sometimes, it is all about the game. A serious-looking injury, a red card and a backdrop of financial intrigue might often be enough to reduce the football to a side issue these days, but as the dust settled on an extraordinary afternoon at the City of Manchester Stadium yesterday, it felt fatuous to focus on anything other than an irresistible Liverpool comeback.

 

At half-time they were 2-0 down to a Manchester City team who seemed intent on claiming a big scalp to convince the rest of English football that they have more to commend them than the fabulous wealth of their new Arab owners. On another day this might have been the story of the collapse that followed, as City fell to a third defeat in four Barclays Premier League matches since the takeover five weeks ago, but Mark Hughes did not feel as if his team had collapsed or were even robbed. He felt more as if they had been run down by a red juggernaut.

 

It remains to be seen whether Liverpool have the class to become champions for the first time since 1990, but on this and recent evidence they seem to have the resolve. It required a monumental effort to recover from their two-goal half-time deficit, but from the moment Rafael Benítez’s team reappeared after the interval it seemed plausible. Fernando Torres, hitherto anonymous, plundered goals in the 55th and 73rd minutes and then, with both teams reduced to ten men after City had Pablo Zabaleta sent off for a wild challenge and Liverpool lost Martin Skrtel with a twisted knee, Dirk Kuyt pounced in stoppage time to complete a famous fightback.

 

Liverpool have previous for this, but their most celebrated comebacks of the Benítez era have come in cup competitions. Now, in his fifth season in charge, they appear to be applying the same spirit in the Premier League; of their seven matches this season, this was the third in which they have come from behind to secure victory in the closing stages.

 

“I’m really pleased with the result, though I’m disappointed for Martin with his injury,” Benítez said afterwards. “The positive thing was the reaction of the players after a bad first half. We made two mistakes for both goals, but the reaction and character we showed in the second half was key to winning the game. It is better for me if we don’t concede those goals, but if you can win, it shows that the players are ready to win every game. Physically we are in good condition, so credit to our fitness coach. We also have great belief and mentality.”

 

These are the type of attributes that Hughes is trying to instil in a City team high on flair but low on what he called “resoluteness”. It is a young team, with eight of the starting line-up aged between 20 and 24, and at times it shows. Zabaleta was guilty of recklessness in diving in dangerously on Xabi Alonso when he was sent off in the 67th minute, with his team 2-1 up, a naivety evident throughout the City team during the second half.

 

“We had spoken at half-time about the likely response of Liverpool,” Hughes said. “We needed to be ready for it and we weren’t.”

 

It had been going so well for City as they took the game to Liverpool. Shaun Wright-Phillips nicked the ball off the ponderous Fabio Aurélio in the nineteenth minute to set the ball rolling, sending in a cross that resulted in Álvaro Arbeloa presenting the ball to Stephen Ireland, who volleyed high into the net for his fourth goal of an impressive campaign. Three minutes before half-time it was 2-0 when Javier Garrido curled a wonderful free kick inside the near post, his first goal in 35 appearances for the club.

 

Liverpool were struggling, with Torres seemingly frustrated into submission by the persistent attentions of Richard Dunne and Micah Richards. But, as at Goodison Park eight days earlier, Torres came to life in the second half, reducing the arrears in the 55th minute when he bundled home a low cross from Arbeloa and then rose at the near post to head home Steven Gerrard’s corner.With Zabaleta off the pitch, the momentum was with Liverpool, particularly after the introduction of Robbie Keane, but it was the other two substitutes, Andrea Dossena and Yossi Benayoun, who combined to set up Torres, whose shot deflected into the path of Kuyt, six yards out.

 

The celebrations were of a type usually witnessed in late April, rather than early October, but the euphoria was understandable. After a fightback such as this, you are entitled to celebrate.

 

Manchester City 4-1-4-1: J Hart 6 - P Zabaleta 5, M Richards 7, R Dunne 8, J Garrido 6 - V Kompany 6 - S Wright-Phillips 7, S Ireland 6, Elano 6, Robinho 6 - Jô 5. Substitutes: G Fernandes, (for Jô, 71min), C Evans (for Robinho, 80), M Petrov (for Elano, 85). Not used: K Schmeichel, T Ben-Haim, D Hamann, D Sturridge.

 

Liverpool (4-2-3-1): J M Reina 5 - Á Arbeloa 4, M Skrtel 6, J Carragher 6, F Aurélio 4 - X Alonso 7, J Mascherano 4, D Kuyt 6, S Gerrard 6 - A Riera 6 F Torres 8. Substitutes: A Dossena (for Aurélio, 71min), R Keane (for Mascherano, 71), Y Benayoun (for Riera, 81). Not used: D Cavalieri, D Agger, Lucas Leiva, R Babel.

 

 

From The Guardian

Last-gasp Kuyt keeps Liverpool flying high

Daniel Taylor at the City of Manchester Stadium

The Guardian, Monday October 6 2008

 

Some days in football are just golden. For Liverpool, this was one of those rare occasions when everything came together and an admiring audience was left to wonder whether they might, after all, have the wit and gumption to sustain an authentic Premier League challenge rather than just flit around the edges.

 

What other conclusion can be drawn from the way Rafael Benítez's players responded to going two goals down by dismantling Manchester City? Their passing was stylish, their spirit one of togetherness and, in arguably the most dramatic game in England's top division so far this season, it culminated in that most dramatic and brutal of football moments - the stoppage-time winner that leaves opponents helpless to do anything about.

 

By then, the blood had drained from the faces of those City supporters who, at half-time, were giddily asking each other when, if ever, they had seen their team play so exquisitely. For it to end this way represents a bruising experience. Typical City, you could say. Yet that would be doing a huge disservice to the way Liverpool played in the second half and, in particular, Fernando Torres's ability to penetrate English defences. The Spaniard was majestic, his fourth and fifth goals of the season bringing the game level, and it was his deflected shot that fell to Dirk Kuyt to complete this remarkable comeback.

 

"The reaction we showed in the second half was fantastic," said Benítez, eyes sparkling. "The character, the determination. The thing our players showed is that they always believe. They went out in the second half believing they could win. It was a result that came from their mentality."

 

He was entitled to eulogise about the quality of Liverpool's play and City's supporters were wrong to try to pin the blame on the referee, Peter Walton, for sending off Pablo Zabaleta for his challenge on Xabi Alonso midway through the second half, with the score at 2-1. The red card badly undermined City's chances of holding on but the video replays do not support the Argentinian's protests. "I've seen it in slow-motion and I can understand why the referee has gone for his red card," Mark Hughes, the City manager, who was indignant at the time, acknowledged.

 

Liverpool were level within six minutes, Torres heading Steven Gerrard's corner past Joe Hart after a diagonal run to the near post. Torres, paradoxically, then skied his easiest chance of the game but the second half had become a story of near-unremitting pressure on Hart's goal. The game had been turned upside down. "I've seen a lot of Liverpool and in the first half I think we caused them as many problems as any other team this season," Hughes reflected. "We took the game to a very good side and I think we were excellent."

 

Stephen Ireland had volleyed City into a 19th-minute lead and when Javier Garrido curled a wonderful free-kick past Pepe Reina four minutes before the break, at the height of their superiority, it was starting to feel like this was the day that the Premier League's newest billionaires gave the Big Four a jolt where it matters most: on the pitch. Everyone's eyes naturally fall on Robinho but it was another Brazilian, Elano, who was running the game. It was not that Liverpool played badly, just that City were magnificent.

 

But then it changed. Ten minutes into the second half, Gerrard played in Alvaro Arbeloa who crossed for Torres to slide in Liverpool's first goal. And thereafter Gerrard, Alonso and Kuyt dominated in midfield. Benítez brought on another striker, Robbie Keane, to help out Torres and, a man down, City could not cope with the speed and accuracy with which their opponents moved the ball.

 

Finally, the substitute Yossi Benayoun slipped in Torres for another shot at goal, his effort clipped Richard Dunne and Kuyt swept in the rebound to consign City, these Champions League wannabes, to the highly unsatisfactory statistic of four defeats in seven league fixtures.

 

Liverpool are unbeaten and they did a lot here to suggest they might have the durability not to drift out of the title race in the same way as previous seasons. The perfect day? Not quite, on an afternoon that saw Martin Skrtel carried off on a stretcher with a knee injury. He will have a scan today to ascertain whether there is knee ligament damage.

 

Their team may never pull off another comeback to compare with the 2005 Champions League final but this recovery will live in the memory.

 

Man of the match: Fernando Torres (Liverpool)

 

 

From The Daily Telegraph

Dirk Kuyt keeps Liverpool flying after comeback against Manchester City

By Mark Ogden at City of Manchester Stadium

Last Updated: 10:32AM BST 06 Oct 2008

 

Dirk Kuyt struck his first league goal for 11 months deep in stoppage time to claim three points which should have been Manchester City’s as the home side paid the ultimate price for failing to conclude their business after making all the running.

 

As the two teams trooped off at half-time, the statement of intent that manager Mark Hughes had demanded from his City players – a victory against one of the 'Big Four’ – appeared not only within their grasp, but inevitable.

 

City had just inflicted on Liverpool their most traumatic 45 minutes since AC Milan rattled in three goals in Istanbul during the first-half of that incredible Champions League final in 2005. Goals from Stephen Ireland and Javier Garrido had put Hughes’s men 2-0 ahead and it could have been more.

 

But what happened next in Istanbul, the dramatic second-half fightback that transformed Liverpool from losers into glorious winners, was repeated here and two Fernando Torres goals, either side of Pablo Zabaleta’s dismissal for a shocking foul on Xabi Alonso, set the scene for Kuyt to secure a remarkable victory.

 

Benitez said: “At half-time, I just said to the players that they had to score a goal and get back into the game because we had had a poor first half. We made two mistakes and conceded two goals. But the reaction in the second half showed determination and character. It was fantastic.”

 

Hughes’ men had gone into this game determined to strike a blow against the club perceived by many to be most vulnerable to the threat posed to the 'Big Four’ by City’s new-found wealth.

 

The home supporters even taunted the travelling fans with chants of, “We’re gonna take Gerrard” and “Shall we build a ground for you?” as their team dominated in the opening period.

 

Ireland’s opener, a powerful volley from 10 yards, and Garrido’s free-kick were the least that City deserved, but Liverpool have scored all but one of their league goals in the second-half of games this season. No wonder the Marseille coach, Eric Gerets, compared Benitez’s players to Duracell rabbits.

 

The fightback began after 55 minutes when Torres, released by Alvaro Arbeloa, scored Liverpool’s 1,000th Premier League goal with a typical predator’s strike. Eighteen minutes later, with City handicapped by the loss of right-back Zabaleta, Torres equalised when he headed in Gerrard’s corner at the near post previously guarded by the dismissed defender.

 

By that stage, City were beginning to cling on to the point as Liverpool chased the winner, but they themselves were reduced to 10 men when, having used all three substitutes, defender Martin Skrtel was carried off with a twisted knee that may yet prove to be knee ligament damage.

 

There was still time for one more red wave, however, and Kuyt, a scorer of so many crucial goals for Liverpool, delivered once more when he pounced on Joe Hart’s save from Torres.

 

City manager Hughes said: “We were excellent in the first half because we really took the game to a strong and adept Liverpool side. We gave them as difficult a time as anybody this season.

 

“But we spoke about the likely response from Liverpool at half-time, so I’m disappointed that we let them back in so early on.”

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Fair play - I'm looking forward to your presentation, I'm having trouble sleeping at the moment.

 

Oh, and the irony of me telling you you've got too much time on your hands when I spent 5 minutes copying and pasting newspaper reports has not passed me by...

 

I didn't like to mention it on the thread. Instead I have hired a plane to fly past in half an hour with RED THORPEY IS A MASSIVE HYPOCRITE on a banner behind it.

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Mark Ogden of the Telegraph clearly didn't watch the match.

 

Torres was "Released" by Arbeloa for our 1st goal. Ah, no he wasn't he hit a cross first time actually.

 

Liverpool had a traumatic first half like Istanbul where we should have been further behind then 2-0? Ah, no we didn't, we should have gone in 1-1 actually except for some shoddy defensive work for the first.

 

Kuyt pounced on Harts save from Torres? Ah, no he didn't actually, he knocked in a deflection off keane. The first time Hart touched the ball in that move was to take it out of the net.

 

People like him should be suspended by his paper for clearly not doing his job. He hasn't watched any of the match and just picked info off some shite he heard down the pub.

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