Soccer

The kick off time was ridiculous. I know Liverpool put in a complaint to UEFA
that fell on deaf ears. However I really think that the police should get
themselves involved if it comes up in future because I'm pretty sure they have
the power to move a kick off. I negotiated an early leave-time from work and
assumed that an hour and a half from the west side of Chester would be enough.
Not so. It took me over 50 minutes to get through the Mersey tunnel. Scotland
Road was a car-park and I counted 5 cars which had overheated in the queues. In
short, a football match and a rush hour don't mix. As I said it should be police
matter when that amount of chaos ensues.

I got into the ground approx 15 minutes after kick off and I passed many fans
whilst I was legging it up Anfield Road. It's really a horrible feeling
listening to the roar of the crowd and knowing that you may be about to miss
some vital piece of action. As expected a number of regulars were not able to
make it although I know, like me, they automatically get tickets via direct
debit. So there were empty seats. But the match was a sell-out and I think the
club pulled a smart one in offering cheap tickets for kids during a half term
week although the wee kiddie next to me seemed more entertained by the puce
coloured, panting 50-something who arrived late than by the fare on the pitch.
Every time I took a swig from my bottle of water, I noticed him staring at me.
To be fair, maybe I was more entertaining. It was a bit of a turgid affair which
cagey European ties can be. I thought Kelly was our best player in the first
half (well what I saw of it). We made little head-way on the left. We probably
should have been at least a goal up by half time - I expected Meireles to have
buried at least one chance given the form he's in.

Shame that we had to lose 2 defenders because we really could have done with
reinforcements up front. I felt a bit sorry for N'gog because playing on your
own up front is hard, especially when you're not a regular starter. Having said
that he missed so many gilt edged chances and I'd rather have seen Pacheco come
on.

On 24 February 2011 at 19:28 Robert Halton <rhalton@gmail.com> wrote:

> Poulsen was a passenger. At least wee Jay will put himself about some.

There was noticeably more movement around the midfield when he came on, the
tempo lifted and the passing became crisper. Jay is reaching a big stage in his
career because he may as well move on if he can't get in the team ahead of
Poulsen. Hope the Dane is first out of the door in the summer
 
 
On 24 February 2011 at 19:33 Edward Crusoe <Edward.Crusoe@btinternet.com> wrote:

> Repka just challenged the whole of the Kop to a fight - that guy is a
> nutter!
>

His red card record is no surprise. His gestures and spitting towards the Kop
said a lot about the man as well as the player

On a positive note we're through and we've not get fielded a strong side in the
competition. It was also a decent atmosphere last night. But thank the Lord for
Dirk because an extra half hour would not have been welcome.

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