Match in Mind 13, by Shadiq A-H. Free of charge.
Chelsea 0-1 Liverpool
Barclays Premier League
26/10/08
1.30pm
Stamford Bridge, London
When 86 tends to 0, 0 is equal to 3.
I wanted to try type that out mathematically but... lazy. If u dont get it, here's how soccernet.com puts it: "Xabi Alonso's solitary first-half goal ended Chelsea's 86-game unbeaten home league record and put Liverpool three points clear at the top of the Barclays Premier League."
Intro: Why did I watch this? What kind of question is that? 'Cause i wanted to see my beloved Liverpool beat Chelski and got top, of course. And we had a mini 4.11 '07 gathering to watch this... 16 people to be exact. Thanks Ming for hosting. No missing this match, then.
Tactics: Both teams started with modified 4-4-2s, specifically modified in the '2' part of 4-4-2. Chelski's was with Nicolas Anelka receiving balls mainly from the left. L'pool's had Steven Gerrard playing slightly behind Robbie Keane. Chelski unsurprisingly played many balls through their right flank, with the impressive Portuguese right back José Bosingwa in the middle of most attacks. L'pool too unsurprisingly played many aerial long balls, but occassionally stringing many many short passes, something they've been progressively doing under Rafael Benitez's coaching thing. Nice, guys. I so damn want to join u when u do that thing.
My Man of the Match: Xabi Alonso (L'pool). To think L'pool almost sold him off 3 months ago. As usual, displayed his amazing passing skills. and, he got that goal which did it. Call it lucky, but he was there where it counted. And almost scored again with a free kick which left Petr Cech (That amazingly hard to beat goalkeeper) rooted and unable to move. Could have been two goals. He also displayed great understanding with his central midfield partner, Javier Mascherano. Just makes u want to sing "We've got the best midfield in the World, we've got Xabi Alonso!".
"What the..?": Not many moments during e match, other than Chelski's John Obi Mikel not being overly rough. But many moments in the whole 4.11 gathering, haha.
Commentator's memorable quotes: I dont know who the commentator was, and cant remember any quotes. 'Cause we were being too noisy to hear the commentator, haha. But, a few quotes from the guys which cracked us up are... "Stupid Aurelio!" - Paul Chuan, "Shut up, just shut up" - Esmond Loke, "Soccer is too incomprehensible" - Jerrold Yam, "His face looks square!" - Yao Yu, "Wah he's damn slow" - Jerome Koh, "Wah Carragher damn dirty lah!" - Jonathan Whye, "Esmond, high five lah" - Shadiq, "No, Chelsea were just damn lousy" - Anthony Tan. "Oh my goodness where the h*ll is Aurelio?" - Donovan Ou Yong. "Lets go watch High School Musical now!" - Shafiq, "Guess who i saw in the train" - Isaac Lee, "No, Chelsea were just damn lousy" - Anthony Tan. "Oh my goodness where the h*ll is Aurelio?" - Donovan Ou Yong. "Wah. We're playing like Arsenal, Jerome shoot already lah!" - Loo Ming Jie. U guys, 4.11, rock.
Implications/Expectations: L'pool made 86 become 0, and 0 become 3. Now to make 18 years worthwhile. The best shot they've had at winning the league in a long time. Their display against Chelski underline their title ambitions further, more so as Fernando Torres's absence due to injury did not seem to hamper L'pool. Chelsea's unbeaten home record, which was admittedly very respectable, is over, but i think they'll go back to building a new home record in their next home match. Stamford Bridge still seems a bridge too far, unless u've got the passing of Alonso to guide u there. And.. Since Javier wants something to make fun of me with, here u go, I think I'm in (less than three) with Alonso's passing.
