Liverpool 2-1 Manchester United: My Verdict

This is quite frustrating. The internet is catastrophic, my writings are not autosaved. And after some half an hour of writing, UTP blacked out.

But hey, there's nothing to be angry of. There's nothing to be mad of. After all, this is a period to cheer, a period to be happy. The fact that it is victories like this that makes my day. I'm carved with a smile all week long.

There was nothing in my previous post. It was just an honest expression of my extreme burst of joy. This post is how last night could possibly change my life.

Let me unroll some pre-match stats. Liverpool have not scored against United in the league since September 2004, and that was an own goal by O'Shea. The last Premiership goal scored by a Liverpool player against United was further behind in April 2004, Danny Murphy converting the spotkick. That match was also the last time Liverpool had won against their arch rivals. The last league goal from open play was even way back in 2003, scored by Harry Kewell.

And Manchester United have kept seven consecutive clean sheets against Liverpool in the league (although Liverpool did score and won against them, Crouch heading in the solitary goal en route to Liverpool's FA Cup triumph). In any given season, there is no fixture that is bigger than this, except for cup finals where silverware is at stake. Apart from that, this is the biggest fixture that could possibly be. But disappointingly, Liverpool is making it very hard to win against the Devils. Don't mention about winning, they can't even score. Liverpool is my number one football club, but it makes me really jealous to the likes of Manchester City and West Ham and even Portsmouth who could beat United fairly regularly. Why can't Liverpool do that? Why can't Liverpool even score?

And to make things worse, Liverpool's form going into this match is devastating. The goalless draw against Aston Villa is one of the worst performances ever. For a team that strings hundreds of passes across the pitch with zero shots on target, I just wished things won't get worse against United. But with Liverpool, you can't lose hope. With Liverpool, I'm always optimistic. Even with nothing good to look forward to, you just always hope that things will be better. There was this outlandish thought of mine, maybe, just maybe, Benitez is purposely instructing his team to put out a shitty performance so that United will underestimate them. Of course that is totally illogical, but the thought calmed me a bit.

I hate early kickoffs, but what to do. After settling in my seat, in less than three minutes, United were up front already. Fuck. Is this yet another same old story? Or will it be worse? This is Anfield, a fortress that has kept Liverpool 'unbeaten' in the last 53 league matches, except for two defeats, both against Manchester United. Why oh why can't we score against them?

Liverpool started to pile up the pressure from then on. Finally, I get to see some play going forward. And with an incredible piece of luck, Liverpool equalized. The goal drought against United was ended with yet another own goal. My God, how relieved I felt at that time. When Liverpool went behind, there was this sort of numbness to me, some sort of dejection, that I can't hope for much. But when the equalizer came, all the blood came rushing to me. And I started to feel the tense just like I always do.

Some say Liverpool might have got lucky with the equalizer. Well, yes, I have to agree. But I would also add that Liverpool were very unlucky not to level things up earlier than that, when Kuyt somehow hit a body from the corner kick, when scoring might have been easier.

Liverpool continued the dominance into the second half. I'm getting very used to this, Liverpool dominating against United but failing to find the breakthrough, while United, against the run of play, will somehow find their goal from a setpiece or something and steal the three points. While I definitely hope that Liverpool will not lose again, even if we come out with an undeserving draw, I would still be happy. This is, by far, the best performance Liverpool have up. Attacking play, with shots on and off target, definitely much better than the superfrustrating goalless draws against Villa and Standard Liege (if you consider regulation time only) and the last gasp wins against Sunderland and Middlesbrough.

But with all the pressure Liverpool were piling up, a draw would be very unworthful. With every attacking play, I was out of my seat, ready to celebrate if the ball hits the right side of the net, but most of the time I had to sit down again in disappointment. Then came the moment. Mascherano ran down the right, cut inside, and just as I thought the ball was going out, he kept it in, and Kuyt took over from there. Then he squared the ball into the dangerzone, I was up, hoping that somebody in red will meet the ball. Came Babel and he hit the ball and the ball hit the back of the net. OMG what joy it was! It was indescribable. I jumped out and screamed. Never ever in my life had I celebrated a Liverpool goal like that. Not the goal against Olympiakos, not the goal against Chelsea in the semis, not the penalty against Arsenal in the quarters, not even the goals against West Ham at Cardiff or against Milan at Istanbul. None of them gave me the immense immediate joy like this. I even fell down after that, spilling my lychee drink on me. It was very embarassing, but I can't really care about that. When you're in such ecstatic joy, you don't really care about things like that.

All Liverpool had to do now is hold on for the next twelve minutes or so. Oddly, for me, it wasn't the longest twelve minutes I had to endure. I remember, the six minutes of injury time against Chelsea at Anfield in 2005 was far longer than this. And even more amazingly, Liverpool were still attacking, going for the third goal, quite - I would say - uncharacteristic of Liverpool. Kuyt could've done that, but he found van der Sar too big to avoid. Keane is having another frustrating match, he is trying too hard to impress that he chases the ball too much, and when the chances do come, he's too nervous to convert them. But at least, he got the better of his ex-teammate. Riera was a Manchester City reject, but he did win his debut in the sky blue shirt against United, and he did it again with Liverpool, and what a debut performance it was from him. Vidic was sent off later in the match, but he could've got two red cards.

I can't really describe how big this win is. Liverpool have been consistently supplying United with six points every season, and this season Liverpool have taken away three already. Even if United win their home fixture, the gap has been closed down by six points. What a big step that is. And, to note, although winning the Premiership would be the ultimate target and the ultimate joy, winning this match feels good enough like winning the title already. Thank You God, thank you Rafa, thank you Babel, thank you everybody. You have made my day, my week, my month, possibly my year. I will never forget this win. And I wish I will always dream of the Babel goal until I wake up.