Typical Reaction to a classic Liverpool Victory

[Nicey]

Not sure if this has been covered already but I have to say I am amazed at how little praise we have gotten for going to the Nou Camp and basically making Barca look ordinary. Listening to all of the pundits on the night they would have you believe Barca were well below par but I choose to see things differently. I honestly feel they were not prepared for us having a go at them so blantly and so in there face in terms of how high up the field we were. People have passed comment on how difficult Barca seem to find it to change gears, given the room to play they are the best attacking side in the world, but football is more than just attack.

I am never surprised when we beat anyone these days because I have complete and utter faith in our managers ability to out think the opposition. Sometimes circumstance gets in the way but most times Rafa gets it right. The fact that Barca had so few chances on our goal was a testament to how solid we are. We were fantastic, our players were amazing, and for all the off performances Risse can put in at times he also can do that on the big stage. Finally one word. MOMO !

[lfc4ever]

The Guardian's Fiver strikes again:

Continuing Anti-Scouse Bias; and Clucking Disgrace

Barry Glendenning and Paul Doyle
Thursday February 22, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

CALM DOWN! CALM DOWN!

The Fiver regained consciousness this morning to find its inbox bursting at the seams with missives from gleeful Scousers eager to screech "I told you so" in the wake of our forecast that Liverpool would get beaten by Barcelona last night. "So what chances a mention of Liverpool's Big Cup win last night after your slating of their chances?" aye-ayed Andrew MacDonald, who was apparently so consumed by fury at what he called our "continuing anti-Scouse bias" that he completely overlooked the fact that yesterday's Fiver didn't actually predict a Liverpool defeat at all.

To do so would have been foolish, for there was always a chance that, in the wake of last week's training-camp shenanigans, this grand old club, steeped in 50 years of glorious heritage that money couldn't buy until a pair of Yanks stumped up the readies a fortnight ago, would send out a team to put on the most sublime exhibition of Total Football ever witnessed at the Nou Camp.

And so it came to pass ...

Employing rope-a-dope tactics similar to those employed by Muhammad Ali against George Foreman in 1974, Liverpool deliberately lulled their hosts into a false sense of security by floundering like punch-drunk bums for the first 30 minutes, before scraping a narrow win against a Barcelona side that was so uncharacteristically out of sorts that a Ladies XI managed by Les Reed would have fancied their chances against them. "The job is not done," ole-ole-ole-ole-ed Rafael Benitez awards. "We have a good chance now, but we need to be careful." The many Fiver letter-writing Liverpool supporters who were so quick to crow about their team's giantkilling this morning would be well advised to heed their manager - they know better than anyone else left in Big Cup what a great motivator the raucous sound of premature half-time celebrations can be.

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BALLS OF LILLE

There was a time when football fans who went to stadiums to egg their teams on were treated like battery chickens. That time was last Tuesday, when thousands of MU Rowdies followers were crammed into a French cage and then, in case that wasn't bad enough, beaten as they tried to scramble free. Who's to blame for this clucking disgrace? Certainly not the club that hosted the match, according to the club that hosted the match.

"It's the MU Rowdies' fault," simpered Lille chief Xavier Thuilot today as the threat of expulsion from Big Cup hovered over his football club like a gigantic hen that has the capacity to hover over a football club. "We sent their quota of places to Manchester several weeks ago but instead of distributing the tickets to their supporters on their arrival at the stadium or as they got off the bus, they sent them out a month ago - as a result, there were some very good forgeries, which allowed extra fans to enter." All of which defensive posturing drew a derisive snort from the Rowdies: "Tickets were distributed by recorded delivery 11 days before the game or for collection from February 1," thundered an official statement. "We would normally send out tickets for our home games at the DevilBowl six weeks before the match and we have no problems with forgeries."

The Fiver, meanwhile, couldn't help wondering how anyone in Lille or Lens is actually in a position to judge the quality of the alleged forgeries if, as several eyewitnesses claim, Rowdies fans weren't even asked to display their tickets upon entering the ground. But before we could learn enough French to put these questions to the relevant suits, Thuilot had trundled on to his next point, blithely denying that there had been any concern over a crush at the Felix-Bollaert. "I can tell you that nobody was crushed in the wire fencing," he squawked, nervously scratching his brass neck. "There weren't too many people in that stand," he added, as the Fiver wondered how to square that declaration with a French police spokesman's assertion that "the stand reserved for English fans was saturated".

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THE RUMOUR MILL

Arsenal Wenger has finally amassed the £6m in coppers he'll need to snag Charles N'Zogbia in the summer.

Juventus suits reckon they are just a Peter Crouch away from winning the scudetto next season...

... but they might change their mind when Gigi Buffon waltzes into the arms of waiting Internazionale boss Roberto Mancini.

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STILL WANT MORE?

In this week's classic YouTube clips: Curtly Ambrose on the rampage, the greatest football team of all, and more televisual masterpieces.

Dennis Wise as Tom Cruise, Napoleon Bonaparte and, em, a short, violent, cockney villain in the Gallery.

A remarkable Steaua comeback against Sevilla tonight would be in keeping with the fantastical life story of the Romanian side's winger, Banel Nicolita, writes Jonathan Wilson.

RTE pundits Liam Brady, Johnny Giles and Eamon Dunphy leave their moronic BBC counterparts in the ha'penny place, writes Alan Ruddock.

And in tomorrow's £0.70 award-winning pinko-liberal Berliner Big Paper: comprehensive coverage of tonight's Euro Vase action, Harry Pearson on the dangers of officials at non-league games, and Peter Bradshaw's withering one-star review of The Number 23 in Film & Music.

* * * * * * * * * *

MUSIC TO YOUR EARS

You've seen them in Big Paper, now browse online for great offers on Jazz, Blues, Folk, Classical and Spoken Word CDs. What's more, they all come with free UK p&p.

* * * * * * * * * * *

NEWS IN BRIEF

John Terry is out of the Carling Cup final with ankle-knack, but Ca$hley Hole may make a surprise return after coming through a reserve match at Reading unscathed.

West Ham manager Alan Curbishley is to star in a new mini-series called Desperate Dullards. In episode one he will rush a palpably unfit Dean Ashton back from ankle-knack and put him on the bench against Spurs on March 4.

Plucky Little Wigan have appealed against the straight red card shown to Fitz Hall for kicking a football at Watford last night.

And Manchester City have told the stock exchange that they are in discussions with potential investors who may make a massive offer for the club.

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FIVER LETTERS

"We'd just like to pass on our congratulations to Liverpool and their fans following their win in Barcelona. We're sure they will take their first-leg victory in excellent grace, and look forward to hearing their modest and restrained words of celebration - if indeed they mention it at all - in preparation for the second leg. This should lay any stereotypes of smug, whinging dullards with delusions of grandeur to rest for once and for all" - Everybody outside Liverpool.

"Gerrard's forehead, blah blah blah; Carragher's not a star player, Ratboy Bellamy; 'Ahead of the elimination of Liverpool' etc: you should stick to being clever after the event and leave your racist ole-ole, aye-ayeing for your own karaoke" - Richard Brewer (and 1,057 others).

"Can I take great delight in the misery that you and your fellow neutrals must be feeling at Liverpool's stunning victory? Could you possibly repeat the trick of rooting for Barcelona in a fortnight's time?" - Ricky Morton (and 1,057 others).

"Can I be the first to suggest a different title for Gazza's new sci-fi film (yesterday's news in brief): The Fat Tum Menace?" - Guy Bailey.

"Surely the best way for Aidy Boothroyd to scupper Ian Holloway's dastardly tacky plan (Fivers passim) would be to take the train. Then again, if Holloway caught wind of the plan and placed a leaf on the line ..." - Jim Parker.

"I think Aidy Boothroyd should consider flying from Gatwick into Plymouth's toy-town airport. Civil Aviation Authority red tape should keep the industrious Holloway from sprinkling his thumbtacks of terror on the runway. Moreover, ongoing baggage restrictions may provide a solution to the ongoing 'Darius Henderson question'" - Graeme Demianyk.

"As a pedant, I should point out that badgers do not have a mating 'season' as such (yesterday's letters). Mating can occur at any time, with the sows using embryonic diapause to ensure cubs are born at more or less the same time of year. Since mating can theoretically occur at any time, Neil Baynham (yesterday's Fiver letters) could probably answer his own question by looking at his own experience of pre- versus post-coital happiness, which may or may not have included congress with a sow" - Mike Frost.


"Re. Dickson Etuhu saying after the FA Cup defeat by Chelsea: 'What was incredible was going into the Chelsea dressing room to have a chat and swap shirts. It's bigger than my house.' He obviously swapped shirts with Frank Lampard" - Mark Andrews.

Send your letters to [email protected]. Today's winner of a Mitre Carling Cup final ball: Mike Frost.