Well we managed it... only just, but only just is just enough. That sounds a bit weird but it actually that does make sense without me particularly meaning it. Never mind.
The media delight in telling us that that this will be Liverpool's first Wembley appearance in 16 years (whilst neglecting to mention that we would have been there 11 times since had they not knocked the old one down.) But why let fact get in the way of a good statistic that makes us look shite.
We are set up for the game that Craig Bellamy would have picked for himself to make his Wembley debut, which in itself is a little bit strange as you would have thought he'd have played there by now, but apparently not. I suppose for the bulk of his career before they knocked it down he was at Norwich, so maybe not so surprising.
He picked up a suspension from the Euro's qualifier against England a few months ago, but I suspect in hindsight this is a more fitting game for him.
Bellamy was outstanding last night, and although I now have a (small) wound on my leg courtesy of his goal last night from landing on the seat in front of me, I think on balance I'll forgive him that.
I was surprised really, how little Man City showed last night. Yes they went in front twice, but on the balance of play Liverpool were more dominant and created more - you only have to consider that Joe Hart was their man of the match to give you an idea of how the game went.
The penalty that we got was - let's say - a bit of a home decision, but after seeing the replays that you could see that it took a big deflection of Micah Richards' leg first, but if you go into challenges waving your arms around then that's a risk you take. It is summed up best by the conversation Dalglish had after the game :
Reporter: "What did you think of the penalty decision?"
Dalglish: "What do you mean?"
Reporter :"The handball"
Dalglish : "Exactly."
He does tend to be more entertaining than either of a previous 2 managers when it comes to the post match interviews - Rafa, because he wasn't too confident with his English and Hodgson, because he was a dick.
I was also surprised at the lack of impact that Aguero made after coming on (at half time)- comparable with the impact of Andy Carroll's performance last night (with 2 mins to go).
We face up to Cardiff at the end of February, but it would be a mistake to think the the job is done. Liverpool are 5/1 on to win it, but the last time we played lower league opposition in a final (2001 League Cup vs Birmingham) was not exactly easy. And you just have to look at last year when Birmingham (again) were supposed to roll over and die against Arsenal - and rather hilariously didn't.
So it's set up.. Bellamy beats his old team, to set up a final against his home-town team.. and considering we should have Suarez back by that time it may prove entertaining, especially if Bellamy doesn't have to do all the running on his own again.
He just needs a better song.... "Craig, Craig, Craig, Craig Bellamy!!" < Needs work.
No comments:
Post a Comment