It had been a long time coming this. We usually don't even score against Boro, never mind pick up three points, so this was pretty satisfying. It was also a good footballing display, and the two goals were extra special. Seeing Jari in the starting line up wasn't a total surprise, but I'd expected it to be Michael who was rested. I know Michael hates being left out, but having played the full game in Rome, and with Fulham coming up on wednesday night, I did think he may have been given the afternoon off. The dilemma for Thommo though, is that not only is the lad scoring in every game he plays, but he's not ideally suited to starting the game from the bench and then coming on later, particularly on cold days such as this.
Maybe it's better to start with Michael and then bring him off later for his own protection rather than having him on the bench. The ideal scenario is to have him start, wreak havoc on the opposition and then let him put him his feet up for the final twenty minutes or so. Just like today actually.
Jari's presence in the side meant that most of our football was played on the floor, to feet, and there were very few long balls played. I'm not criticising Heskey, or the style of play, but is is a fact that the style changes when Jari is in, and Emile isn't. Let's face it, it has to. Emile can't play like Jari, and vice versa, and it's a good sign that we seem to be equally comfortable playing either style.
Jari was excellent, and displayed on several occasions that he does indeed have eyes in the back of his head. The cut back to set up Paddy's goal was a ball that only he could have even seen, let alone executed. Pure class. He actually lasted the ninety minutes too, which must be a first (in the Prem anyway).
It wasn't exactly a shock that Michael opened the scoring, but it will have surprised many of us that it came via a twenty five yard piledriver! Off the top of my head, the last goal I can remember him scoring from outside the box was against Grimsby a few years ago when he hit a hat-trick (he scored a similar goal for England at Wembley too, but it wasn't for us so it doesn't count!). Seriously though, if Mickey starts knocking them in from that far out, then God help the rest of the league.
They tried forcing him on his left foot, but he's overcome that. Never mind, he can't head a ball. D'oh! He can't score from far out though. Wrong again. I've long since ran out of superlatives to describe St Michael, so I'll just say that I wouldn't swap him for anyone in world football. That's the biggest compliment I can give him.
It wasn't just his finish that made the goal special though, as it all started in our own box when the excellent Murphy (who would have been star man had it not been for the once again supremely efficient Hamann) remained calm under pressure and played an excellent ball out of defence to McAllister (I think). He found Berger who's first time lay off released Owen and the rest is now history.
What was really noticeable during this game was that Michael was dropping very deep to pick the ball up. He wasn't playing on the shoulder of the last defender as he normally does, and when we were breaking he wasn't running in behind, but kept coming short to pick up possession. This certainly confused Southgate and Ehiogu, particularly with Jari doing the same thing. They didn't seem to know whether to stay in position or follow their men or not. You have to assume that this was a deliberate ploy by the reds, possibly to get midfield runners in behind. It's something that needs a little more work on the training ground though on this evidence. That's not to say it didn't work, just that it could work better, particularly when Vladi comes back.
Vladi's replacement, best mate Paddy, has been struggling to hit top form after his injury problems. He was almost there, but just not quite. I've commented on how good he's looked in the reserves, but it just wasn't quite happening for him in the first team. He was a bit hit and miss early on in this game, but you could tell he was getting there. He set up Michael for the first, and then duly knocked in the second himself with a trademark Berger goal. After that it was business as usual for the brilliant Czech.
Some Sunday newspapers have been doing abit of shit-strirring about Paddy, suggesting he hasn't been offered a new contract because the club are worried about his form. Bullshit. Houllier is Berger's biggest fan (even more so than me, and I fucking love the guy!), and contract talks have been planned with his agent for some time. I seem to remember reading comments from his agent saying he was coming over in January to sort it out, but the Sunday press have been trying to sell Paddy for years. Still, with Fowler gone they need to write about something I suppose.
Anyway, the goal was all that Paddy needed to get back to his old self. After that he was ace. There's not a harder working player anywhere in the Premiership as far as I'm concerned. No-one chases back as much as Paddy, and he's always up there when we attack too. If he can avoid any more injuries and produce his best form there'll be no stopping us. Paddy's good for about ten goals a season and at least as many assists.
That second goal killed the game, and other than a brief Boro flurry just after the break (McLaren had obviously given an arse kicking after a woeful first half display), it was one way traffic. It could be argued that we should have gone after them and put about five past them, but I think we just have to accept now that we're not the type of team that wil do that. It's something that has bothered me for a while that we never seem to hammer anybody, but I'm starting to think now that it's because we pace ourselves.
It's a long season, and it's all about conserving energy. At the end of last season everyone kept expecting the wheels to fall off. It's just too many games in a short space of time they said. We actually got stronger though. Maybe that's due to the amount of energy that is being conserved by just playing out games when we're in front rather than piling forward trying to rack up a cricket score. I could just be talking bollocks of course, but it frustrates me that we never hammer anybody, and at least this way I can try to justify it and take some comfort.
We probably could have scored against Boro at any time had we needed to, but instead we just kept knocking the ball about making them chase it, and it seems that the lesson taught to us by Barca has been learnt well. Maybe now when we go in front we'll keep the ball, instead of giving it away needlessly, as we have tended to a lot in the past.
Michael should have claimed his 100th Liverpool goal, but got under his shot horribly. He's fucking shit that Owen lad, we should sell him next.
With his job done, and more games on the horizon in the coming weeks, Owen was replaced by Heskey, who was sporting a snazzy new pair of boots, which made him look like George Weah! We could have brought Stevie G on too, but there was no need as the game was won comfortably and Boro weren't posing any threat at all, other than the occasional flash by the hugely talented Boksic, who looks to have gone a bit fat these days, probably a sign of the lack of ambition he has. He's happy to play for a shite outfit like Boro and pick up his massive salary. A waste, as the guy is so talented he should be gracing a much bigger stage than Smogtown Central. (Had to get that little dig in due to the irritatingly sad, small time mentality of the Boro fans. "Sign On", "Calm Down", "Sit Down Pinocchio", we were 'treated' to the full sad bastard reportiore from the Teessiders)
Sami and Steph were in cruise control, and Carra and Riise were more occupied going forward than defending, with Riise excellent once again. Carra was just Carra. A few times their left winger Alan Johnstone tried to run at him, and I was just sat there shaking my head saying "no chance lad." The only winger that has ever given Carra a problem is Overmars, purely because he's the quickest thing on two legs (along with Mickey of course). Everyone else is wasting their time trying to go past JC. Ain't gonna happen.
As I said, Murphy was excellent, as was Paddy, and Gary Mac was much improved than of late. Still not in the form of the back end of last season though. Didi was just awesome again though. The longer the game went on, the more influential he was. He breaks up so many opposition attacks it's frightening, and whenever he looks like he's in trouble, he'll win himself a free kick. He's the master of that particular art. He's running away with the star man awards this season, and it's got to the stage where he's our best player every week.
It was a good day all round really, with every other game going our way. There was actually a cheer on the Kop when the news that the mancs were losing came through. Now usually I'd be frowning upon that, as it got to a point a few years ago when we were more interested in their results than we were our own (remember when we were losing at Anfield to Leicester, but everyone was more concerned with their game away at Juve?), but this time it was different.
The cheer and subsequent "Paolo Di Canio" chant (someone obviously got their wires crossed about who the goalscorer was) was not down to an obsession with the mancs, it was purely because of the comedy value of the whole situation. They have become a national joke of late, and the fact that they were losing AGAIN was extremely funny, particularly with us extending our lead at the top. A few years ago it was us who had the dodgy defence, squad of players who didn't give a toss and a manager who had lost the plot. What goes around comes around though.
Now we have a group of players we can be proud of (I was watching them chasing and harrying as if their lives depended on it, when we were deep into stoppage time with a comfortable lead, and it made me proud I have to say), a manager with a long term vision of where he wants us to be, and we're sitting pretty at the top of the table. The fact that the mancs are in such a mess is merely the icing on the cake.
If we beat Fulham on wednesday, we'll be six points clear of the field, and a hell of a long way ahead of the mancs. Arsenal look the biggest threat, but they have a dodgy defence (on the flip side they're way better than anyone else in terms of attacking football). Leeds are the other main contenders, but as I've said so many times before, no-one will ever convince me that they are anything other than average, so it's in our own hands.
If we can avoid defeat until the new year, we should be very well placed to end the wait for Championship success. The games against Chelsea and Arsenal will be crucial, and you wouldn't bet against us at this stage. After this game we had a little 'fanzine Christmas get together in town.' The next one is planned for when we clinch the title, so for anyone who wants to come, try to keep February clear as it should be a good night!
TEAM: Jerzy Dudek; Jamie Carragher, Stephane Henchoz, Sami Hyypia, John Arne Riise; Danny Murphy, Didi Hamann, Gary McAllister, Patrik Berger; Jari Litmanen, Michael Owen (Emile Heskey):
