Red Diary 1 - Villa (A)
Red Diary - Week Two 27th August 2002
In Part II of his Red Diary Liverpool supporter Joel Rookwood is at Anfield for his side's first home game of the new season.
Planet Anfield has been a hotbed of activity over the last seven days, particularly regarding transfer speculation. Patrick Berger was again linked with a move to Celtic, Blackburn's Damien Duff finally dismissed the possibility of a move to Anfield, and Southampton's Wayne Bridge was not for the first time mentioned as a possible Liverpool target. Critics argue we need a wide player if we're to win the league this year, and the Spanish-based wide-boy Munitis is now the latest to be rumoured to be on his way to Merseyside. His club Real Madrid are reportedly keen to offload the player in a bid to reduce their wage bill, surprise surprise. I'm not holding my breath.
The big news of the week though undoubtedly relates to our first home
fixture of the season, with the visit of Southampton. Now to say we owe
this lot a good hiding would be an understatement. They took a point from
Anfield last term, and before that had the audacity to humiliate us at
their new ground, inflicting a 2-0 defeat. The pain of this loss was compounded
thanks to the genius who decides the fixture list, scheduling this game
on a Wednesday evening. We left the ground that cold Janurary night at
10.30 pm, with a six hour coach ride back to Liverpool ahead, with the
excitement of a new day of work the following morning. Nice. We had suffered
in the way hard core fans are meant to suffer, and responded by demanding
justice on Saturday. We weren't to be disappointed.
I woke early on Saturday, and after a weekly dose of the football show, Soccer AM, I set off on the twenty-five minute walk from my house to the ground, and was soon standing in my strangely irregular regular pre-match hangout. 'The Albert' pub, outside the Kop is where I claim residence on match days, but over the summer the pub has been renovated almost beyond recognition. Reassuringly however, it still has the old Liverpool memorabilia on the walls, and still generates heat on a par with your average sauna.
The group of regulars who meet whenever and wherever Liverpool play, rehearsed
our catalogue of anthems for the next two and half hours, with songs detailing
Liverpool favourites from St John to Ste Gerrard. Ten to three was soon
upon us however, as the group went their separate ways to find their respective
seats, filing into Anfield in time for a rendition of 'You'll Never Walk
Alone' which booms out over the tannoy as the teams emerge onto the pitch,
and is always taken over by the Kop, who seem to favour their own timing.
The anticipation and excitement of the afternoon's activities was delayed though before proceedings began, with an impeccably observed minute's silence for murdered Soham school girls Jessica and Holly, a show of respect displayed at grounds all over the country. Also remembered was Nessie Shankly, the wife of the legendary Bill Shankly, who passed away earlier this month. Every man, woman and child in the ground rose to their feet to applaud, and as we clapped I couldn't help but think of one of Shankly's famous quotes. In reply to a question regarding whether he took his wife to a game on their wedding anniversary he said: 'It wasn't her wedding anniversary. It was her birthday, because there's no way I'd have got married in the football season. And it wasn't Rochdale, it was Rochdale reserves.' Nessie is now back by the great man's side, and as with Jessica and Holly, both are and will be sorely missed.
Liverpool were sharp out of the blocks, producing a commanding first half display. We were solid as ever at the back and lively in midfield, as the superb opening goal after three minutes served to testify. The industrious Heskey set up the chance which was duly converted by the brilliant El Hadji Diouf, making his home debut, and the two combined in a similar fashion for Liverpool's second. From that moment on, the remaining minutes, all forty of them, were merely a formality. Southampton fashioned only two chances in the entire game, despite enjoying periods of possession. The home side had a goal disallowed before eventually adding a third, a penalty dispatched by Danny Murphy. Murphy was outstanding again, and together with Gerrard and Hamman orchestrated proceedings in midfield. Substitutes Cheryou and Smicer both made an immediate impact and were also impressive.
Riise replaced Owen near the end, the latter having had a quiet game. Apparently when Owen's not on form we don't score goals, but Liverpool certainly proved that goals can and will come from a variety of sources this season, and in a weekend when both Arsenal and Manchester could only pick up a solitary point, we stake our claim to be taken seriously this season. Next up, a trip to Blackburn, and it's the Souness and Thompson show again. It's a Wednesday night fixture, so I need to catch my boss in a good mood to request the afternoon off work.