It was so nice to see referee Styles give Liverpool some sanity in the calls against Sunderland. After all, I’ve seen so many horrendous calls go against the Reds in the last few years that I just can’t believe it. Chelsea has an extra point that it shouldn’t have (and Liverpool 2 fewer) on account of the atrocious PK call in August. Still, the commentators went on and on about the bad call. I don’t see it that way. Carragher was sliding into the way of a point blank shot in the box. The man is human and he has arms. He wasn’t waving them over his head, he was bracing to get a 70mph drive into his teeth. There was no TIME for malice aforethought! No way it could be avoided and no way it could have been intentional. Stuff happens, you know? And sometimes it happens in the box at Anfield to a veteran like Carragher. You don’t blow the whistle and change the game on every ticky tack thing. That’s not what people pay to see. It was hard nosed defending from a hard man.
Now, at the other end of it: How great was it to see Carragher making like a winger and doing those overlapping runs up into the box? And sure enough, when Crouchy blocked Gerrard’s drive (which I believe was on the pipes) and Torres found it and calmly slid it to Carra, Carra deliberately took an extra beat to collect himself and show a dummy to the inside, which the defender bought a little too hard, and that gave him the 4 yards to go outside and launch a beautiful, clinical hard, low cross, right through the six to Crouchy, even over several heads and not by much. Crouchy is not strong in the air with his touch–he’s more of a redirector and doesn’t put power on the ball, but that was enough to slot it into the corner. 1-0 Liverpool and the points fell at the end 3-0. Lovely to see Roy Keane crying on the sidelines on Carragher’s block. How’s it feel, Roy? Hahahaha…
The photo was taken by me at the 1998 match at Anfield where I recently discovered that this was Gerrard’s first minutes in the first team. I did not know that at the time. We had pretty good seats down at the Anfield Road end. Both Liverpool goals that night were scored at our end. It was a great night. This photo is a set piece. I can’t wait to bring Tommy over to the new Anfield in about 14 years. Maybe by then, the MLS won’t be so lame. Maybe by then, ManU will have another European Cup to bring their total to 3….
