201st Merseyside derby, one of the most important derby of all times. With Everton 7 pts ahead and vying for a remaining Champion's League spot, this match is almost like a 6 pointer for us. We started the game brightly... full of passion and hunger. We were all over Everton in the first half. Marcus Bent and gang rarely troubled our defense. Pellegrino and Carragher blocked off every Everton's attempt to initate an attack. Finnan and Warnock played well to stop the opponent's winger from charging down the flanks.
The opening goal arrived on 27mins when Hibbert brought down Garcia at the edge of the box. Hamann steadily tap the ball into Gerrard's path for him to coolly slot it past Martyn. The 2nd goal came shortly after. Morientes tried to lob the ball past Nigel Martyn. The keeper did not know whether to save or tip it over, and ended up pushing it onto the bar. In comes 'snipping' Garcia who cleverly headed the ball into the net (thank god he did not try to volley across the bar this time round). The whole of Anfield went into a state of frenzy. Everton tried to regroup themselves and look for some inspiration but they never looked like finding it.
Then came on a series of unfortunate events. Misfortune never strike once, twice, thrice, fourth... it struck fifth at Anfield yesterday. Warncock was the 1st to come off after taking a knock to an ankle. He was replaced by Nunez. Riise was dropped to LB and Garcia switched to RM. On 40mins Hamann was the 2nd to be substituted. He looked to have twisted a knee and was replaced by Egorrr. Then Morientes twinged a thigh muscle and was replaced by Smicer. With Morientes leaving the ground, Garcia went down on the ground in agony with an ankle injury. Having used up 2 substitution in the first half, Garcia had to stay on the pitch and continue playing regardless of his injury. For most of the 2nd half, he was just a passer-by in midst of all actions. Just when you think things cant go any worse, Milan Baros received an instant red card for his crunching tackle on Stubbs. For the remaining near 15mins, we had to play with 10 men. Frankly speaking, had Baros scored in his 2 previous 1-on-1 attempts (the first was when Stubbs fell on the ball in his own half. Baros picked up the ball and went solo all the way till he lost the ball to Hibbert due to poor control. the second was when Baros managed to turn and shake off his marker only to find himself shooting onto Martyn's shoes!), we would have easily wrapped up the game without the need to go thru a pulsating last few mins with Everton coming in waves in search of that equalizer (after they pulled 1 back courtesy of a low corner shot from Cahill).
No doubt it was a sweet victory for us having close down the gap to 4 pts, our red army had suffered huge loss as well. Baros will be suspended for 3 matches. With Morientes, Pongolle, Mellor all out from injuries, we might have to play the next few games without striker! With Alonso still out from injury and Hamann likely out for 10 days, the only person to fill up that CM postion will be the 'effective' Biscan. Wat a price to pay in exchange for a victory against the Bluenose.
