Nice One!

Liverpool 1 - Manchester United 1

What a bloody brilliant game today! Despite a goalless first half and then a draw at the end of it, I think the overall match was great and very entertaining. We deserved to win, to be fair, and it was surprising that we didn't but, as Stevie G said post-match, to get a point from the champions of the league is a decent result.

Liverpool dominated in every aspect but, as seems to be an unfortunate trend sometimes, the scoreline. Possession, shots and more were in our favour, but still it was a 'well worked' (and not at all jammy) header from United's Javier Hernandez that denied us our rightful three points. You could argue that Steven Gerrard's free-kick goal was a bit soft, but all I can say is that if you can't get the basics of a wall right (i.e. stick together so you actually block the ball from the keeper), then you don't deserve to have won the Premier League... The way we continue to be treated by referees is, as usual, disappointing but (after the mention of two or three hand-ball decisions being ignored in the box, our goal kick being given as their corner - which they scored from - and a missing yellow card) the less said about that the better!

I think Stevie G deserved man of the match, but Luis Suarez was in with a good shout again. He seems tireless and nearly found the back of the net numerous times. He has such a natural talent, I just hope he realises that and doesn't beat himself up that he hasn't scored. I feel so giddy! The heartbeat of LFC back for ninety minutes, scoring his first goal of the season against the old enemy was simply amazing. The usually underrated Dirk Kuyt had a fine chance too, and the fact he didn't score is more a credit to United's keeper De Gea than it is a discredit to Liverpool.

Keep it up lads, YNWA!

P.S. A long overdue shout out to Matt, hope your own Merseyside team is inspiring you as much as mine is!

Dutch Day Afternoon

Liverpool: 3, Manchester United: 1.

What. An. AWESOME. Match. I knew all along that our last game against West Ham (which saw today's score reversed in their favour) was just the calm before the storm, and that we'd win today. United were without a couple of their regulars, yeah, but they really didn't have anything to offer. Even with the ref helping them out with little decisions and penalizations (that's a word now!), they just couldn't muster anything troublesome.

That's not to dis United, though, it's just a comment. Of course they had decent opportunities, the most scary one being Berbatov's post-hitter, but they were simply out-classed. And what class! Dirk Kuyt with his first LFC hat-trick - well deserved due to his underrated abilities - Gerrard nearly netting a couple himself, Suarez 'lending a hand' in all three goals and nearly scoring besides, Andy Carroll's not unpromising debut, a compact defensive display, passes sticking a lot better... So much praise, so much to congratulate them on! A joy to watch, thanks Liverpool :-)

Where to Begin Once More?

And where did I really end in the first place, if at all?

I guess the biggest news is that I'm now seeing someone. That's the phrase I use even it does sound dated. Hey, retro and archaic runs through my veins. Anyway, she's awesome and I'm overly-lucky. This is where the cynics start to drool and gnash their teeth, blunted by a life of feasting on lambs. Well, all I can say is that I can be cynical too, but not in this instance...

Liverpool. Where to start again there? Flippin' heck... Worst start to the season in something like 57 years, then a 4 game winning streak including 2-0 against Chelsea (yes, the current leaders of the Premier League). Great! What could be better? Steven Gerrard scoring a hat-trick you say? No, he did that against Napoli, silly! So the last couple of games were Wigan Athletic and Stoke. I don't believe you should ever think a game is gonna be easy - then your effort will be all skewed while they could be going into the game dreaming about how a giant-slaying would taste really nice right about now - but after beating Chelsea they should've been a doddle. We drew 1-1 with Wigan and managed a 2-0 defeat at Stoke, with Lucas being sent off in the 'dying' minutes of the second half. Bloody wonderful... Come on lads, West Ham next. You CAN do it, so bloody well do it!

Next, badminton. Ups and downs lately really. The main problem I'm having is beating myself up about a couple of dropped points which genuinely fucks me up for the rest of the session (excuse my language there please - touchy subject). Let us hope I grow a brain sometime soon and not let it get to me. I don't care if I don't win all the time, after all I'm a sportsman and love a challenge, but I HATE it when I know I can be doing a lot better.

Then, finally, onto Martin Scorsese's 'The Departed.' Oh my sweet Lord what a fine film! It's one of those I keep hearing people say, "Oh I recorded it but I haven't got round to watching it," or, "It was on the other night but I missed it." WATCH THE DAMN FILM PEOPLE! Well, if you like crime films... Bloody marvelous!

Peace out, sorry about the long blog. Long blogs need to be shortened...

Buona Notte

Hullo there. Just got out the shower. The shower was good. Bit hot though. Bit of a problem coz it means you sweat a little bit after you've got out, meaning that you are instantly losing your freshness the moment the water stops dribbling all over ya.

Saw part of Transformers 2 today with special commentary. I can't remember if I've already blogged about this, but you can download an amusing commentary from somewhere on the internet which you play over the film. The guys make sarcastic comments and stuff in real time so it can be pretty funny. Oh and Megan Fox is hot Francy, no doubt in my mind. Yes there are hotter people, but she has enough 'alluring qualities.' Hmm, think I have written about this...

Badminton was okay. A couple of new girls came tonight that haven't played before, so the challenge pour moi was to limit my play in order to give them a chance. Played against my game partner in singles and we didn't have enough time for a decider (we'd both won one game). He trashed me at pool in the bar though, both games skillfully executed in contrast to my extremely annoying performance where I kept being as close to potting balls as I possibly could without actually sinking the buggers... Dolly Peg's career in this field has been suffering a bit of late too, check out her blog from my 'Blogs I follow' section somewhere on this virtual slab of fun.

Sooo; last night Liverpool comfortably dominated Portsmouth 4-1. A fantastic sight to see us play normally and well. First and last Liverpool goals netted by Torres, second by Babel and the third one was Alberto Aquilani scoring his first for Liverpool, so well done to him. Belhadj scored the final goal of the game for Portsmouth, a nice little consolation goal that didn't spoil the mood for me. Our skipper had a bit of a to-do with Michael Brown. The Pompey player ran into Gerrard's forearm in a clumsy fashion and hurt himself a bit. Gerrard's arm was only in the way due to a sudden gust of wind. Only joking; it was a nasty and ill-calculated incident, but thankfully he wasn't punished because the FA says you can't punish a player retrospectively when the referee has already meted out 'punishment' (a free kick in this instance). Brown didn't exactly look hurt anyway, so though it was a stupid thing to do, there was no damage done really.

I'll round off with a negative. Despite the chance that this may be read by the friend I'm about to complain about, I don't care. He knows that he's been really disrespectful to me so he's brought it on himself. Not gonna name names, but I've got a mate who likes some weird banter. I very rarely give anyone any stick, even in jest, because it's not a clever thing to do. This guy, however, keeps coming out with odd insinuations and nasty comments. After he has any drink at all, like last night, he gets much worse. He just wouldn't shut up despite the fact that I obviously wasn't amused. Don't wanna go into what he said, but there was another friend in the room at the time, and now everything's awkward because his idiotic behaviour has shifted the mood of our group.

Maybe I won't finish on a low. The hols are coming up soon, so is my birthday, so is my fedora hat and, as soon as tomorrow comes, it'll be Saint Patrick's Day! Hoorah!