Just back from Anfield, disappointed yet somewhat pleased. The Joshtax arrived on time, as did Dougal's train, surprisingly. Even more of a surprise was that Dougal managed to get off at the right station! A short trip along the M62 and we parked just doon the road from the ground and made wor way to the Cabbage where Mungo was wating with tickets (and a considerable amount of alcohol already consumed). The pre-match festivities were made by the appearance of an old friend, Dancin' Dave, He sends his regards to all and his love to LR.

Inside the ground, the Toon Army were in top form. YBR's selection saw Hughes return at LB (or was it left of a back 3??) with Quinn playing ahead of him, Bassedas deservedly being dropped, as was Lua x2 who made way for the Nob's return after suspension. The game was end-to-end, and one of the fastest I have seen in a long time. We gave as good as we got and time flew by.

The Toon Army took the p!$$ out of YMO who put a header wide. My heart sank at this point 'cos I knew The Dwarf, The Dwarf would come and make them regret that chant. Hardly had it died down than he was thru, leaving Braton for dead (if only). Shay stood his ground, but YMO slotted it past his right hand and into the corner of the net. Memories of SJP a couple of seasons ago came flodding back. What followed, perhaps bore out what Rik posted after the Soton game, somewhat tongue-in-cheek. As Barton made his was past Shay to "discuss" what went wrong, I could swear that Shay stuck out his right arm and gave WB a hard shove on the shoulder. Methinks Shay was a tad p!$$ed off being left so exposed. Signs of things to come.

The pace was relentless and the half passed very quickly, and despite being behind 1-0, I thought we'd done pretty well. Certainly a huge improvement from the debacle of last Tuesday which was incorrectly billed as a football match. Shay made some good saves, but one was ourely down to his own mistake. Yet more fannying around at the back found the bakk at his feet. Quinn was spare out left, and Shay nonchalently tried to lob the closing Gary McAlister. I can only presume that GMc was so surprised that his initial control let him down and he allowed Given to recover. If that had gone in, we could have collapsed, but as it was, we went in 1-0 down at HT and had acquitted ourselves pretty well. Goes without saying that the Toon Army were in awesome form, no doubt spurred on by the team's vastly improved performance over last Tuesday and vice versa. The Jorman got what he deserved.

YBR must have had words at halftime, and we came out even more fired up. We started to control the game for long periods, and only the lack of a final penetrating ball or good finisher prevented us from equalising. That and Hyypia and Henchoz who mopped up everything. Nobby had a good chance when a cross from the left flicked of Hyypia's head and he outjumped the defence, only to see his header cleared off the line. If we'd scored it wouldn't have been anything less than we deserved.

But YMO had other ideas. Picking up a ball from Murphy (I think), he chipped a great ball over the advancing Given. We didn't deserve that, yet Shay had still had to make a number of pretty shark advances from his goal to smother the ball at the advancing forwards' feet. But not that time. 2-0 yet little difference between the sides.

We continued to press, and a good opprtunity was saved by Westerveld, who then proceeded to make a great throw out to Robbie F***er who had come on as sub for a pretty ineffectual Heskey. As RF advanced, YMO broke wide down the inside right channel, completely outstripping the defence and he picked up the inch-perfect diagonal ball from RF. He kept his composure and slotted past Shay. A great goal, but there wasn't a three goal difference between the sides.

The Toon Army continued the non-stop chants and completely out-classed the lot from Anfield. If only our team could do the same. As for the players on the pitch, everybody was significantly better than Tuesday. No complaints about effort. Now it was down to ability. I'm afraid Barton's days must be numbered. Quinn looked a bit slow but still put over some good crosses. Hughes was out of place. He isn't a left back. I thought Dabizas did OK, keeping control of Heskey. But nobody had the pace or nouse to keep on top of Michael Owen. He was back to his brilliant self. He thrives on pace and a pinpoint pass. Both were in evidence today. Nobby had a decent 2nd half - certainly improved over the first. Acuna covered a lot of ground and harried in M/F. Speed was pretty much his usual self. I think it was him who missed a good opprtunity with a clear header in the fist half from a corner - or it could have bee Dabs. Cort's control is lacking - at least as far as a first touch is concerned, tho when he does have time to control it, he holds it up well and laid it off well too. Gallacher covered every blade of grass on the pitch. I could only assume he was knacked, as he was subbed by Lua x2 while Bassedas came on for Acuna. Strange decision again. Cort was eventually subbed by Ameobi, but all three substitutions were too late IMHO.

So, we left with mixed emotions. It wasn't the rout it might have been and indeed we didn't deserve to be beaten by 3 goals. The difference was in the final pass and the running off the ball. Until we can start to deliver that, no matter how much fancy build-up there is (and there was a lot of good fancy build ups today), we still won't score enough goals. If ever a game cried out for LKD, this was it.

At the end, almost all of the team came over to applaud us, led by Warren Clapper Barton. Nobby trudged off to the tunnel, only to be immediately turned back by YBR who made it abundantly clear whcih part of the stadium he should be headed for. I suspect this could be his last away game for Toon.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2001

Answers

Thanks for a great report Screacher. A disappointing result but it's pleasing to see an improvement on Tuesdays dismal display.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2001

Forgot to say - the orificials were sh!te. Why don't we ever get a Simpson ref?

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2001

Alan Mullery watching the game for Sky said the missed header was by Bassedas, so even those jam jar bottom glasses aren't strong enough.

Michael Owen has played 6 League games against us scoring 0,1,3,2,2,3 he can sing a lovely rendition of 'can I play you every week'.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2001

Thanks for the report Screacher, pretty much bore out what they were saying on Metro. Michael Owen sounded a different class today and I can't think of any defender that can handle that amount of pace and and finishing ability, but what I did pick up on was that ALL THREE of his goals coming from one on one's with the keeper, how come he got that amount of space to run into?.....Just a thought like, as I wasn't there this afternoon.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2001

Thanks for the excellent report Screach.
Just couldn't face even listening to it so went off up the coast (sunny but bloody freezing) to avoid it.
Sounds like there were a few crumbs of comfort for us today, but the result was sadly all too predictable.
I'm fed up with us being sh*te.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2001

just knew it was going to hapen, YMO drools like a rabid dog whenver he sees our defense. Dabz must have bliddy mares about him.....

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2001

Houllier was full of praise saying its alway a ggo d game vs the toon and said Owen loves playing us adding it was a pity he didnt start at our place. Mebbes the message about "heart" is getting through.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2001

Great report Screach, many thanks. Wouldn't be suprised if you're right about Nobby.

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2001

Great report Screacher! Can`t say I was shocked at the result, you kind of felt it was a forgone conclusion. Nice to hear that we played a bit better though.(:o)

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2001

Cheers Screacher - much apprecciated.

I was discussing the Liverpool midfield the other night with Loony, gus and Tynedale and we MUST be able to get one or two of their midfielders - we counted 7 without even thinking about it:

McAllister, Barmy, Berger, Murphy, Hammann, Gerrard, Redknapp...

Compare that with: Lee, Acuna, Speed, Bassedas, Dyer, Solano, Glass, Luax2 [for starters] and you begin to see the real gulf in class...

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2001

Yes, YMO was the main difference, but had he been on the bench and RF started in his place, we'd still have lost. Fowler and Owen make space for themselves. The midfield spot their runs early and can play a good ball into that space for them to run onto.

One thing I missed off my report. McAllister didn't figure too strongly in the game. I put this down to the job Acuna did, man-marking him for much of the game.

To be honest, before the game, and having witnessed Tuesday's debacle, I'd have settled for 3-0 at the start. Liverpool are pushing for a CL spot. We are treading water. They have something to play for. All our lot have to play for is their place in the side next season, and with the rumours flying round, it's wasted effort for some of them. But they did step up and nobody could fault their attitude this time. Perhaps if they'd played like that last saturday and on Tuesday, we'd have comprehensively won those matches, thus bringing out greater confidence and inspriring us to better things.

Still, by the end of our next match, we'll have played the FAC finalists in successive games. Another performance like yesterday and we might just beat @rse - especially if it's like last year's fixture ;-) Interesting when we come to the Villa match. COuld they be vying with the Mackems for a UEFA spot?? Probably not.

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2001

Thanks Screacher. Good to hear they made a bit more effort. Bobby's swearing at them pep talk on Thursday must have done some good.

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2001

Much appreciated Screach. Like Clarky, I didn't bother listening to the match, choosing to cut the grass instead ( I haven't got a hedge ). After Tuesday, 3 - 0 was nearly a draw as far as I'm concerned.

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2001

I largely agree with Screach who very kindly lent me his away shirt but immediately undid the good work by leaving a tube of locktite superglue on the car seat so that I would get stuck and wouldn't be able to go. I got back from London at about 4.30 in the morning, had a shower, took me medications and ate a slice of taost and marmite before leaving to go to Newcastle Central Station to catch the Liverpool train. Hallucinating with exhaustion, I forgot to buy my ticket and got bollocked off the ticket inspector although he did let me pay on board. The carriage I was in was full of Makem, Geordie and Boro Reds going either to Liverpool or Manchester. Both groups were taking the piss out of the lovely Geordie Toon fans for the team being so shit. Twats: I hope they end up in that circle of Hell reserved for GloryHunting gets and then get reincarnated as Darlington fans. Otherwise an uneventful journey apart from my mate at work phoning to tell me that she had got off with a lad the previous night. Was delighted on arriving at Warrington a) to remember to get off the train and b) find Screach and Josh. Parked up, Screach and Josh bought some chips and I sprained my ankle (possibly the previous evening's Oranjeboom still in my system) and got no symapthy from that callous git, Screacher. We walked (I hobbled) to the pub which was about 16 miles away and we were delighted to see Mungo almost as soon as we arrived). He was on great form as usual although ever so slightly pissed. Saw various away regulars around the place, which is always nice. I went to the loo to change into my shirt and this roar from the beer garden cme up "We are the Geordies. Unexpected as it was, I almost wet myself with shock. Screach and Josh suggested that I should have started a chorus of Blaydon Races from the ladies but I thought it disrespectful of the Geordie National Anthem tocaterwaul it from the throne. Anyway, walked down to the ground and had a laugh at a lad whose mate was about to step into some horseshit saying "How, man, mind the Sunderland". Got into the ground and bellowed a lot. Lads tried hard and you can't really slag them off although Liverpool were in a different class. The Toon fans could probably be heard in Dublin. We were on exceptional form. There were the usual Toon choruses, some real abuse of the Scousers and the ref as well as some great spontaneous efforts. "We've outsung you once again", "Jesus is a Geordie" (at the bearded bloke behind Screach and me) and much much more. WAs very tearful (see other thread) at end but delighted and proud to be part of the wonderful Geordie choir. On way back to car, threw my dummy out of my pram at how much I loathe Scousers and Liverpool FC, but Screach and Josh were very much more philosophical and calmed me down a bit. On way back, had to change at Manchester Piccadilly and York and got home at 11.45. having been mocked by Scousers, NE Reds of both persuasions and a posse of Boro supporters who showed their originality by singing "Peter Reid's got a f....g monkey's heed". Whatever happened in the game, though, I'd do it all again today to be part of the black and white army, to see Screach and Josh et al and to reconfirm the faith. Roll on next season and many great aways.

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2001

BR is criticising Dabz and O'Brien in the Sunday Sun this morning, saying they played "like dummies". I really don't think it is wise to pubicly criticising indivudual players like this. However open and honest it may seem, I really don't think it does anything for internal harmony and mutual respect.

Other papers are also saying O'Brien, in particular, looked poor.

What's the view of those who were at the game?

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2001

Clarky - O'Brien didn't have his best game and IMHO, neither did Dabs, but there was defence weakness that started with no one at the front being able to hold up the ball, with Acuna being our only midfield bulldog (and he was the last man on the ball several times yesterday as he was on Tuesday) and the back lads being put under constant pressure by our own midfield and front lads. Barton had a mare and Hughesie was out of position (but actually didn't do much wrong). The point of this wittering is that I think Bobby should be moaning about our defence as a team, not about individuals.

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2001

....... I think he and his coaching staff should be doing something about it at The Riverside, rather than publicly slagging off the players.

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2001

Great reports folks. Love your commentary, Dougal! You really do have some adventures! Don't tell me Screach parked amongst the 4000 hills of Blackburn, Lancashire again! ;-))

The Toon Army could certainly be heard many times during the webcast, unfortunately the broadcast booth seemed to be located miles from the away end so not as loud as we exiles would like.

Also great to hear the team did indeed seem to put in some effort. That much did come through on Metro. I certainly don't feel a miserable about this result as I did on Tuesday. Then again, it's probably just giddiness at not losing by 10 or 12 goals. ;-)

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2001

Bliddy Yanks. Their geography is about as good as their timing in the war. Fercrissakes woman, the nearest hills to Liverpool are at Helsby, and as that's as close to Liverpool as my gaff, I'm hardly likely to park up there. Especially as Josh was driving!

I don't blame Dabs, nor even O'Brien. At least Dabs showed some adventure - no doubt led on with the battle cry od "Advance" which YBR let out earlier in the week.

In reality, we were probably naive (again). Liverpool came at us and we came back at them - always a recipe for the counter attack. However, I maintain that if we played tha style more often, we would win more often. It worked for KK. I guess the thing is to pick the games you will take to the opposition. You would probably not do it against the taeam with the fastest, if not most mobile (I reckon ManUre are more mobile then any in the EPL). Yet despite that, if those clowns that played on Tuesday night but put their clown-suits away yesterday can di this more often, I'll be a happier man. I might even have to use my passport for more than boring business trips.

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2001