What a game! I have finally come back down to earth after the euphoria of yesterdays game. If this is the kind of stuff we are going to see all season from Liverpool then I think it is best I contact my doctor early and put him on stand by because I am not sure if my heart will be able to deal with this! Yet again, just like last week, I thought we did not play particularly well but we got the 3 points. In the first half we looked good at times but we were just lacking that little bit of extra quality to break Middlesbrough down. I thought for a while “Here we go again, another 0-0 draw at Anfield”.
Last season, draws at home virtually cost us a challenge for the Premiership and we just have to win all our home games starting with the likes of Middlesbrough and beating Chelsea and Manchester United when they visit Anfield. I must say that when Mido scored in the second half and we went 1-0 down, I thought it was over. We did not look like we could score during the game and I wondered when on earth we were going to get an equaliser from and who would have thought it! Seeing Jamie Carragher step upfield and fire a shot (which I think was going wide anyway) catch a deflection and go into the goal. I was overly joyed that we had equalised as I do not think I could have stomached the fact that we lost to Middlesbrough at home. Now I am not too sure if that goal will be credited to Carragher but try taking it away from him!
As the match went on, I thought it would end in a 1-1 draw and we would take the 1 point and move on but there is no such thing when Captain Fantastic is around. Late into stoppage time, Alonso launched a hopeful ball into the box which was not cleared well by the Boro defence and you do not give Gerrard such space and time from the edge of the area and Gerrard calmly and accurately placed the ball passed the Boro keeper. I was on cloud nine after that goal just as I am sure all of you were. What really touched me was the reaction of the players when the final whistle went; it was like we had won the European Cup again. You could see how much that win meant to the players. 20 minutes before that, many would have thought we were going to leave the match with no points and then we leave with three.
I know it is an old cliche but “This is what Champions are made of”! We did not play too well just like we did not play well against Sunderland but we got the win. Now we need to look ahead to the match against Standard Liege and make sure we come through that one with no problems.
We played like champions. It makes me think of el Special One.