Report by Dave Usher at Anfield

Oh this hurt, it really did. I don't even feel like writing about it, as the wound is still so fresh. It crossed my mind to wait a while until I'd cooled off a bit, but if I don't do this now I don't think I could face it in a day or two.

However, if swear words offend you then don't bother reading past this paragraph, as I'm in no mood to be worrying about my language. If it's a well balanced, articulate and well thought out view of the game you want, then you're wasting your time reading this.

Right now I'm feeling a range of varying emotions including anger, frustration, bewilderment, suspicion and pure unadulterated hatred. Mostly though, I'm just bitterly disappointed.

We didn't get what we deserved from this game, and of course that's very hard to take. What's even harder to take is that we lost Xabi with a broken ankle courtesy of a deliberate lunge by that cunt Lampard, and we were denied TWO clear penatlies by a bent ref, who as I write this is probably planning how best to spend his ill gotten roubles.

If Mike Riley's lawyer is reading this, let him fucking sue me as I don't give a shit. Mike Riley is a cheat. He saw that handball, he put his whistle to his mouth but then decided not to blow. I want to know what it was that made him think "no, better not give that."

I would also like to know how he could interpret Sinama-Pongolle being man handled as being a free kick to Chelsea. The man is a fucking disgrace who should not be allowed near Anfield ever again.

We've been screwed this season more than one of Wayne Rooney's ho's. Rafa isn't complaining about it, which is to his credit, but I'm getting absolutely fucking sick of us being the victims of bad referees (as well as bent ones like Riley).

If this sounds like sour grapes, then that's because it fucking is. Chelsea were shite today, they were totally outplayed by a Liverpool team missing some important players. If they're the best team in the country, then this is a shit fucking league we're playing in.

Given all the things they have going for them, it would be more surprising if they didn't win the title. But it won't be any kind of achievement if they do. They'll be the most hated champions in my lifetime too, the fucking arrogant no class twats.

Public enemy number one has to be Lampard. I've hated that prick since his summer love fest with Gerrard, and after today he's now the man I despise more than any other, the fat, moon faced cockney prick. Worse than Van Chumpstain, Shrek and the inbred brothers combined this bastard is.

Anyone who thinks he didn't deliberately set out to hurt Xabi should ask themselves this: Would he have done the same to his beloved 'Stevie'? Well given the fact that neither of them even came close to putting a tackle in on the other all game I think that question answers itself.

The chant of 'Fuck off Lampard' was a fitting one, and should have been heard more often. Chelsea were second best in the first half, embarrassingly so. With Alonso and Hamann bossing the midfield, and Gerrard and Riise marauding forward to good effect, the reds were looking good.

Then fat Frank threw his considerable weight into a lunge at Xabi, and we were forced into a reshuffle which reduced the effectiveness of the skipper. Garcia moved central with Nunez coming on to play wide right.

For all our dominance, we were finding it hard to get a clear sight of Cech's goal. Riise brought a save out of the big keeper (who in keeping with the general attitude from his gobshite club ignored the warm reception afforded to him by the Kop), and Carra saw a superb volley go a couple of inches too high just before the half time whistle.

There were also the two penalty incidents and several promising situations which should have produced more, whilst at the back we were hardly troubled. Not legitimately anyway, although Robben did manage to go clean through after looking well offside.

He seemed certain to score as he was yards clear of the defence, but Carragher did brilliantly to get back at him and force him to check inside, and then Dudek made an excellent stop. I think Finnan had also managed to get back on the line as well just in case, which was also very good defending.

Finnan was very, very good I thought. Whether it was Robben or Duff he wasn't fazed, and his own use of the ball was top class too. Finnan has really made a big impression on me this season, and there are few better right backs around on current form. Certainly not the over-rated Glen Johnson anyway, who was woeful for the second season in a row (remember Diouf tormenting him last year?).

And what of our other rejuvinated full back? I thought Djimi was different class today. He too dealt comfortably with Robben and Duff, and also got forward to very good effect. A couple of things he did were a bit risky mind, and I didn't like his backheel nutmeg on Robben at the Kop end as that could have gone seriously wrong, but overall he was very impressive.

In fact, the whole back four played well and dealt with Chelsea fairly comfortably on the whole. They didn't threaten much, but there was a sense of inevitability that they'd get a spawny goal, and I can't say I was even the slightest bit surprised when they did.

For an hour we had been in control, but then we started to lose our grip, and even though they didn't test Dudek much, the tide was turning. That's when I felt Benitez needed to get Mellor on, as we were not posing much threat up front and it was becoming a bit too easy for Terry and the imperious Gallas.

I was surprised by the decision to start with Flo ahead of Mellor anyway, especially as in training the day before Mellor had been in the 'first team' against the rest. Given how well he'd played up against Sol Campbell and Kolo Toure the other week it would have been a logical choice to start with him, bu for whatever reason Rafa opted for Sinama.

I didn't agree with that, but didn't see it as that big a deal either, as surely Mellor would come on sooner or later? As it turned out, it was later. Much later. That really did frustrate the hell out of me, as it was clear we needed Mellor to provide us with a bit more 'oomph' up front.

Yet even when they scored he left Mellor warming up for another five minutes. I can't think of any reason for this other than the suspicion I've had for a while that he just doesn't have much faith in Mellor. The lad has scored important goals against top opposition this season, but even he can't score when he's warming up on the touchline.

Rafa will make substitions when there's no need for it (Josemi for example) but when it's crying out for a change like today, he often leaves it until its way too late. As I keep saying, overall I'm very happy with Rafa, but he does do some things which really piss me off and are difficult to understand.

It's not him I'm angry with though, it's Riley, and Lampard, and Abramovich and Kenyon and Terry and Tim Lovejoy and ... well basically anyone with any connection to those King's Road bellends.

As I'm sure you can tell, I really took this defeat hard. I felt even worse after this than I did coming out of Goodison the other week, and that was the worst I'd felt in years.

This was so hard to take because of the circumstances and unjust nature of the result, and because of the animosity I have towards Chelsea these days.

There was another thing which bothered me today as well though, and even though I expect to get some flak for saying this, it is something which I don't think I should ignore.

Steven Gerrard. Well you didn't think I'd be able to do a report on a game with Chelsea without mentioning him did you?

Let me first say that I thought he played pretty well, and was one of our better players. I don't doubt that he gave his best and I have no concerns about the level of commitment he showed. He wanted to win, and did his best to ensure we did.

But was anyone else pissed off with the 'touchy feely' stuff going on with him and the Chelsea players? If it wasn't Terry patting him on the arse and them sharing a joke, it was him picking up Glenn Johnson after a challenge, or hugging Drogba and Makalele.

I've never seen Gerrard behave that way with any other group of players. Usually he'll dump them on their arse and leave them there. Not today though, it was all very polite, and it was very uncomfortable to watch.

Some will say I'm reading too much into it, but I don't think so. If however, he behaves the same way towards all the Norwich players on monday, then I'll hold my hands up and say I was being paranoid.

Their fans sang "You'll never play for Chelsea". On today's evidence, I'm far from convinced.

Tonight we should be sitting just three points behind the blues and celebrating a sweet victory. Instead, we're still looking at a six point gap, and we've lost Xabi for God knows how long.

Happy New Year? Far fucking from it actually.

Team: Dudek; Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Traore; Garcia, Hamann, Gerrard, Alonso (Nunez), Riise (Mellor); Sinama-Pongolle:

Agree or disagree? Email me at dave@liverpoolway.co.uk

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