All I can say on this the morning before New Years Eve is: Thank god this wasn’t a 5am game, or I might’ve swallowed my tongue by now. But there’s no saying this game won’t make me suffer in some other meaningful way, is there?
1. Steven Gerrard vs Didi Hamann, believe it or not, was one of my most anticipated match-ups of the season. The Kaiser basically engineered the Liverpool midfield for seven years, only relinquishing that role when Gerrard started to blossom, and even then his influence on the younger generation was palpable and very much welcome. Alonso, as great is he can be, has paid huge tribute to Hamann, and they only played together for two seasons — while Didi was indeed displaced by Alonso’s presence in the center (and later Momo Sissoko), his influence certainly never diminished, and that’s still evident even now.
Today Gerrard played deeper than a deep-sea diver for much of the game, taking on a controlling role similar to that of the Kaiser, mostly out of necessity, as the City players did a fantastic job pressuring Liverpool when not in possession of the ball (in hockey terms, “forechecking”). But his composure there, I’d like to think, was a tribute to the blinkyman — who had quite a good game himself.
2. Arbeloa in central defense sort of scares me on paper, and it sort of scared me in reality as well. While the defense wasn’t exactly perforated, the relative disorganization in the absence of Sami Hyypia was sadly noticeable.
3. Injury-ridden he may be, but Harry Kewell has blossomed into Liverpool’s most reliable left-winger, staving off challenges by players such as Mark Gonzalez even while in the examiner’s room. I say reliable because he has been, in recent seasons, a fine two-way player. Not the fittest, of course, but he’s good for 60-70 solid minutes every game. In the first half, he was the only consistent playmaker, often sent a-gallop by one of Gerrard’s half-crazy, half-inspired long passes, but he also tracked back diligently to help out Aurelio against the half-crazy, half-inspired Stephen Ireland.
4. One of the more ridiculous aspects of football in the winter: players wearing fingered gloves with short-sleeved shirts. Well hey, at least it’s not mittens.
5. Compared to City, whose hustle limited Liverpool’s potency especially on the right wing and through the middle, the Reds looked a bit slow on the uptake, players hesitating just enough on their decision making to allow City to snap at their heels more than they’d like. Vassell, Dunne, and Ireland especially, and of course, Hamann, made things extremely difficult for Liverpool to really settle the game as they would’ve liked. And Ericksson kept things fresh, too, making his substitutes to keep the energy level buzzing. Unlike the Derby match on Wednesday, Liverpool weren’t hampering themselves. Like the Derby match, however, this was going to be a test of will and attitude for the players, in order to break down a tough opponent.
6. Tough day for Torres, as Richards and Dunne have corralled him all evening en route to one of his only lackluster performances in red so far.
7. Dunne, in fact, singlehandedly prevented two winners from going in, first that brilliant goalline clearance off Kuyt’s header and then an equally brilliant tackle on Benayoun inside the box, and somehow City were able to stave off what seemed like two surefire scoring chances. What a performance by the captain, overshadowing any and every effort put forth by Liverpool in the last 10 minutes. This is one result that should have went our way, perhaps, but one can’t begrudge City their success so far this season. They’ve worked hard for it, and they look legit for the first time in awhile.
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December 30, 2007 at 1:53 pm
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