Broken Heart, Mended Souls

I thought I was having a nightmare.  I wasn’t.  As I groggily woke up and turned on my stream this morning I heard the words “Berbatov goes down.  It’s a penalty.”  Surely I’m not awake yet, I thought.  The game has only started.  That it had.  Was it a penalty?  From the replay I say no.  But what happened, happened.  On to the 32 minute, and I see the tackle in from Gerrard.  I didn’t think much of it at first, but then I saw Webb pulling him aside.  The screen went back to a replay and as I was cursing under my breath I heard the one word no one likes to see from a ref.  RED.  Here we go, I thought, we’re done.  The Liverpool players had other things in mind however. 

When we got to halftime (thankfully) all I could do was sit and stare into space.  One nil down at Old Trafford, down to ten men.  The one man who is Mr. Liverpool, the playmaker, the savior, was gone.  This is where the “heart” I talked about in an earlier blog needed to come into play.  I think the players read my blog (or Kenny Dalglish is at the reins..) because Liverpool in the second half played very well I thought.  We took off Maxi Rodriguez and Meireles, and on came Babel and Shelvey.  The one thing I noticed about the substitutions?  THEY CAME EARLY.  One of the things I could not stand about Roy was he would make subs starting at minute 81, and even though he’s allowed 3, he’d use 2 or 1.  Kenny however realized Liverpool needed creativity, and brought on the two players we had on the bench capable of that. 

I have always liked Babel, and though I fear his time is up at Liverpool, he showed signs of why he was considered a top prospect when bought from Ajax.  His pace and footwork were unsettling the United backline, and Shelvey was trying his very best to spark the midfield. (Though I laughed a little when he took the free kick at the halfway line) 

When the final whistle blew I was a heartbroken as any Liverpool fan, but I want to look at the positive that came out of the match.  Effort.  The lads showed heart.  To hold United and continue to press for goal, that took heart.  Players stepped up when called upon (needless to say I will be buying a Martin Kelly Jersey this summer)  Looking ahead to the midweek, it’s Blackpool away, then Everton at home this weekend.  The lad’s needed confidence, and they can take a bit from that performance.  It’s going to have to start Wednesday.  There is no room for error at this point.  Liverpool Football Club face a long, long road back to the pinnacle of football, but it’s a storm worth riding.  And we fans all know what is at the end of a storm…