| February 5th 2000 |
| Liverpool 3 Leeds Utd 1 - League | ||
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Kopites feast on Hamman, Berger and Spuds (I'll get me coat.)
JMac & JJP report. Message Board regular OST will add his comments later in the week.
Speechless... JJP reports |
Day of the season so far. No doubt at all. A blistering performance, both on the pitch and
on The Kop, with a result that outstripped, in importance and style, the wins over Arsenal
and Leeds last August. In fact, it was probably our best performance in the league since
the win over Newcastle just over a year ago when we came back from 2-0 down. And to put a
top hat on a marvellous day - the social side was just brilliant. The sing-song and
piss-up with the Borussia boys in The Albert afterwards was as good as December's
ShanklyDay. I was in town early as I had to meet up with Tower and Jonny from Monchengladbach at The Adelphi at 10:30. I was not surprised to find so many gruff, bleary-eyed, unshaven Germans (and that was just the girls) wandering around the foyer suffering from with intense hangovers. They'd obviously enjoyed their ribald Friday night out in Flanagans. Some of our RAOTL message board regulars met up with them and I'm sure Scouser Tommy will be penning a suitably graphic account when he gets back to Germany. The early start I made to the day meant I was stood, smacking my lips, at the bar of The Globe at 11:02, a full 120 seconds after opening time. I was astonished to find half a dozen people already in there, and saw that some old guy was half-way down his pint already. I was on my second bottle when Scouser Tommy arrived with his famous banner in tow. Soon afterwards Louise appeared so red-eyed and hungover that I felt obliged to check for her pulse - she felt that bad that she could only manage shandies until shamed into a proper drink by Hanover's answer to Oliver Reed. Nico and his footy team from Antwerp then arrived and we had a boozy couple of hours until I had to leave for Mathew Street to meet-up with RAOTL's Parisian correspondent Pierre Head a.k.a Gary Dempsey. Gary has recently returned from Argentina where he met up with our very own Boca Red. I've a photo of Boca and Gary in the Liverpool Bar in Buenos Aires and it'll be on this site shortly. Gary's dad, Stan, was also there having flown in from Ohio for the game so he must have been the most out-of-town attendee at the game, I reckon. After a couple of Guinesses in The Grapes we took a cab up to Anfield to the Little Salisbury where tickets were exchanged - and also where Johnner and I exchanged knowing nods in recognition of a wee, 'shared secret' (I can say no more) - and more beer was downed with Alan Woods, Greg, Dave and Lee from Sankey. By 2:30 I was feeling more than little tired and emotional and it's just as well we had to pack up and head off to the ground. We were all inside by 5 to 3 and everyone felt a bit better for the copious pre-match entertainment we'd enjoyed in the pub. Anfield then witnessed a rousing YNWA that reverberated around Liverpool 4. Everyone seemed up for this one. The Reds obviously were and they tore into Leeds from the first minute, not giving them time to compose themselves at all: Gerard, Hamman and Berger were everywhere, snapping and battling. The defence was standing solid and even though Titi and Big Eric were having less than inspired outings (tho' Eric worked like a horse, as usual) it was no surprise when we took the lead with a well-hit (if deflected) free kick from Didi to break his duck. Ironically, this was the signal for Leeds to come more into the game and the game developed into a frantic, almost classic, encounter. Five minutes before half time I did what I never normally do - at least not at home games - I went for a slash and instead of returning to my seat, I made for the bar for two pints of fizzy, overpriced Carlsberg and one atomic-heat steak pie with added magma gravy. Though it seemed impossible the second half was even better than the first. Leeds seemed stuck in their own half of the field as Red shirts swarmed all around them. Steven Gerard is beginning to look like the new Souness/Gerry Byrne/Steve McMahon and Paddy was having a field day, running at Leeds and causing panic all over the front line. Leeds did, occasionally, look quick and dangerous on the break but Sami and Stephan dealt with most things quite comfortablly. I tell you if Jap Stam ('The Skull') is worth 10 million quid then ... what price Sami - bargain of the season or what? A deal that's now beginning to look as good a piece of business as Clemence or Keegan, methinks. Then just as it looked we had the 3 points firmly in our grasp we allowed Leeds back into it. A quick break down the left and the ball was crossed. Our previously impeccable defence stood like statues as the cross bounced in the area (my old PE teacher at SFX, Tom Brophy, would have twatted me for that) and Bowyer snapped it up and headed firmly past Sander in front of Royston Vasey's finest in the away enclosure. Did we have the resolve and spirit to claw our way back? Too bloody right we did and St Patrik had one belter well saved by Nigel Martyn shortly before delivering the coup-de-grace in front of an ecstatic Kop. Smicer cleverly won the ball out by the Main Stand and cut infield, Titi was jockying for a through ball on the edge of the box but Vladdy picked out Paddy, his Czech-mate, with a square ball. Paddy, standing about 30 yards out, took one simple touch to set it up before hitting a rising shot that simply tore past Martyn, through the net, destroyed The Kop wall and ended up lodged in a tree in Aigburth. That was the cue for the Red 42,000 inside Anfield to go beserk and the celebrations began in earnest. The YNWA in the last five minutes was as good as any this season. Spud's goal in the last minute was the icing on the cake and was, arguably, a better shot than Berger's. But as Paddy's came at such a vital time, and whilst the game was still in the balance, it has to be Goal of the Day. After the game we swarmed into The Albert to celebrate. Fifteen minutes after the final whistle it was packed solid from the bar to the front door and poor old JJP couldn't get past the doorstep. Meanwhile I was balancing on a window ledge trying to attach OST's 'Scouser Tommy' flag to the curtains. After I'd done this I discovered there was no longer any floor space for me to get down into so I had to stay up on the window ledge for about half an hour. I didn't mind - it meant I didn't have to go to the bar. The singing went on for 2 or 3 hours and we took great delight in singing the Roma 77 songs to bait the 70 or so Monchengladbach fans that had joined us for a few beers. They in turn responded by going through their repertoire and the evening dissolved into a mutual appreciation song-fest. Sorry if I'm a bit vague but it really was one of those nights ...(JMac) (JJP adds ...) I’m speechless, not lost for words but my voice has all but gone because this performance was nothing short of awesome. The Arsenal show was special but that was too one-sided in many respects but this was a game that took me back to the old Shankly/Revie battles. To pour scorn on the performance of Leeds would be doing our brilliance a disservice and I for one thought that Leeds played some great stuff but just couldn’t match the performance of the men in Red. Not for the first time this season – and I don’t think that it will be for the last – they were magnificent. I’m warming to this team and this management. Somehow you get a feeling early in a game don’t you and you seem to know what it’s going to be like. Like against Middlesbrough it was obvious almost from the off that it would end nil-nil. Likewise for this one you got the impression that this would be something special from almost the first minute. The players looked up for it – as they should, of course and the crowd sounded up for it – as they should, of course. Leeds fans always help generate atmosphere as well and out of all the teams that come to Anfield they seem to have a similar outlook to us. We’ve both been through hard times but both are seemingly climbing back. Considering we were playing without truly recognised strikers I was looking for something special from Titi and hoping that ‘Mad Erik’ would finally deliver the goals – or rather a goal. But the very fact that they came from three players who are more or less of the midfield variety was to more than compensate for our loss of Robbie and Michael. What goals they were and surely even MOTD cannot hide away any longer from awarding ‘Goal of the Month’ to a Liverpool player any longer? However, do not hold your breath or bet on it! Talking of MOTD just how many times did Barry Davies tell viewers that Dietmar Hamann’s goal was deflected? As if it made any difference and he even had to mention it to GH after the game. Sure it glanced off a defender but it could well have still flown past Nigel Martyn. At halftime it was incredible that it was only 1-0. Berger had hit a scorcher that was brilliantly saved and we had missed a couple. Sander had also pulled off a blinding save as well but that, I think, the only time that Leeds had really threatened. We started to get a bit concerned around us in the second half because as well as we were playing we couldn’t get that second and as that well worn out cliché goes, "one goal is not enough." So it proved when they equalised. Just why Bowyer was left on his own I don’t know but he was and just for a while I thought that Leeds might just squeeze past us. But why do I doubt this team, maybe it is because of what used to be. ‘Mad Erik’ nearly got that elusive goal – what about that cross-field ball from Stevie Gerrard? The that goal from Paddy cam and when it ripped into the rigging I knew at that moment just why John Mackin drools over his picture every night, I thought about buying one myself! Anfield exploded as the ball rested in the net and judging from the celebrations on the pitch I got the impression that the players rather enjoyed it as well. Anyone else see Sander leap on top of Paddy? Once back in goal Sander had to revert to keeping them out and he did. I was one of his biggest and fiercest critics at the start of the season when he never came out to catch a ball but he looks to be getting the hang of it now. But reverting back to that "one goal" thing again the fingernails were being whittled down a bit and it got even worse when they stuck "three minutes" up on the board. I was struggling to see out three seconds let alone three minutes. Then Danny got the ball and we watched. One of the lads in front of me shouted, "Stick it anywhere Danny!" As the ball followed the flight path of the Berger exorcet and everyone went berserk he smiled and said, "That’ll do nicely!" Strange that afterwards Danny expressed more or less the same view. You can always tell what it means when you come out of Anfield as well can’t you? Smiling faces everywhere and people nodding in a satisfied sort of way. AD Block 109er ran out of the Kop jumped up and down, planted a kiss on the face of a RAOTL seller and continued to hop, skip and jump his way across the road. John Mac, high on the freebies that his German friends had bought him in The Albert pre-match did likewise and what a daft hat he was wearing. As the Flag-Pole corner ensemble started to depart rumour spread that the Editor was breaking into a smirk, but that was and is just a rumour! When I left for the game my girlfriend said to me, "Hope you have a good day" – I sure did!
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