Prior to meeting the Greeks, our form in Europe this season had been awful. We gotten decent results of course, but we had been far from convincing. I mentioned after Liberec that it was going to take good opposition to force the reds to raise their game, and that's what happened against Olympiakos. They're a good side, their record proves that, but they were made to look very, very ordinary against us, and credit for that should be given to our boys. One player who has shone all season in the European games is Nicky Barmby, and he was once again outstanding. He scored one, made one and just about shaded the star man award ahead of the once again impressive Steven Gerrard and Danny Murphy.
I'm made up for Danny. He came in for some ridiculously way over the top crtiticism a few weeks ago, but he has really come good of late and is getting better week by week. He's also started to feature in the side more and more, and Gerard's faith is certainly being repaid by Murphy.
This was a fine all round performance, and although the Greeks were denied the most blatant penalty you'll ever see, we were still good value for the win. Heskey is possibly the most feared striker in Europe at the moment. Defenders hate playing against him, and he's another who seems to be getting better by the week as well. His confidence is sky high at the moment, and such is his form that we could afford to leave both Owen AND Fowler on the bench without any problems. Who'd have predicted that six months ago?
Olympiakos gave the impression that they weren't bothered, but I think that's just their style. They were like that in the home leg as well, and never seemed to show any urgency at all. Maybe they knew they were up against a stronger side, who knows, but I'm sure we all expected this tie to be a lot tougher than it turned out. As I said though, credit for that should go to our lads.
Now at the risk of sounding like I've got a personal vendetta against the guy, I have to say that once again Dietmar Hamann was crap. On one occasion in the first half he had a chance of a counter attack. He had three runners in front of him, and could have played any one of them in, but delayed and delayed until all three had ran offside and he then gave the ball away. I was fucking furious, but just managed to contain myself.
I've never once in my life stood up and screamed abuse at one of our players during a game, and it is not something I thought I ever would do, but when Hamann did exactly the same thing in the second half something inside me snapped. It's been building up for weeks, and I just had to let it out, so I leapt to my feet and began venting spleen. "You fucking useless lazy twat Hamann" I roared. More invective was to follow, although by this stage I was so worked up I haven't a clue what I actually came out with, probably something about being a useless lanky string of piss, or words to that effect.
I'm not proud of it, in fact I'm pretty ashamed to be honest, and if I'd have heard someone else screaming abuse at one of our players like that I'd have thought "what a fucking wanker," but Hamann has driven me to it. I found out after the game that he had to have stitches in an ankle injury which he picked up early in the match, so that made me feel a bit guilty for slaughtering him. It doesn't excuse his poor performance though, because if the injury was hampering him that much he would have been subbed. Still, he played through the injury, which shows that maybe he is a bit more committed than I'd given him credit for.
Strangely though, Hamann seemed to escape criticism from the crowd, as most were more focused on giving Vlad a hard time. He never had a great game, and he missed yet another sitter (he'll be glad to see the back of these Greeks I'll bet), but he worked his arse off and never hid. That counts for a lot in my book, and when his confidence returns hopefully we'll see the real Smicer.
So it's on to the last 16, and a chance of coming up against one of the big boys. Barcelona would be nice, although it would be good to get revenge on Celta Vigo too. Mallorca are also still in it, and if we are handed a trip to Spain I may well raid the piggy bank for that one. We'll probably get another trip to Eastern Europe though. Slavia Prague are still in it, and my money's on us getting them.
TEAM: Sander Westerveld; Markus Babbel, Sami Hyypia, Stephane Henchoz, Jamie Carragher; Nick Barmby, Steven Gerrard (Gary McAllister), Dietmar Hamann, Danny Murphy (Christian Ziege); Vladimir Smicer, Emile Heskey:
