The Final Whistle

On a night when Liverpool scored four goals at Anfield against Arsenal, Andrei Arshavin – largely anonymous at the start – popped up to reply with four goals of his own, and Liverpool’s four weren’t enough to secure the win they so desperately needed.

What do you say to another scintillating attacking performance by Liverpool, who dominated in possession, corner-kicks, shots on goal (and on target), but lost out in defence? What do you say to the second 4-4 draw in two weeks which left you breathless? What do you say about fans who sang their hearts out even after the final whistle, when they knew that Man Utd have a chance to go six clear at the top…?

All you can do is applaud the players for fighting their guts out…applaud the most loyal fans in the game…and walk on with heads held high and hope in our hearts…and look forward to another fantastic season.

It was really frustrating watching Liverpool try to break down a resolute Fulham side. Although the Cottagers didn’t play as well as they did against United before the international break, They gave the Reds a hard time…and the woodwork saved them not once, not twice, and not even thrice…but an incredible four times!!!! Twice from Dossena, and once each from Torres and Alonso.

It was beginning to look like one of those days…until Benayoun stepped off the bench, and popped up to score a late winner after coming close a few times. Now, the onus is on Man Utd to regain the lead by beating Villa on Monday…TFW will be watching that game closely…

On a separate note, there were reports that Voronin had hopes his display for Ukraine against England in their World Cup qualifier would be able to impress Rafa and help him win his place back with the Reds. This is contradictory to reports a couple of weeks back, when he said that he would never go back to Liverpool, even if they wanted him, for the way they had snubbed the on-loan Bundesliga top scorer. Interesting that his latest comments came on the back of a good run of form by Liverpool which saw them thrash Real Madrid and United, and cut United’s lead to one point to go back into the title race…and how his earlier comments coincided with a poor run which saw them lose to Boro and had seemingly fallen out of the title race.

If you ask me, Liverpool doesn’t need such a two-faced player, whose loyalty to the team is dependent on their league position…they’d be better off selling him permanently to Hertha Berlin, and then using the money to go towards buying David Silva from Valencia. Despite Rafa’s denial, it seems likely that Liverpool will bid for the Valencia playmaker come the end if the season. TFW will also be following that with great interest…

In other EPL news this week, as expected, Alan Shearer’s return to Newcastle did nothing to help them in their fight against relegation, and instead, falling 2-0 to Chelsea thanks to goals by Lamps and Malouda…did the Geordie faithful actually think Shearer’s return will miraculously turn their season around? I think they’d be better off watching ‘Goal’ instead…then again, I am not sure which would be more of a fairy tale, given their current situation…

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On a…well…more or less related note, Man Utd came from behind to beat Aston Villa 3-2, thanks to a late, late goal by a 17-year-old Italian Cristiano Ronaldo wannabe. Same arrogant look, same irritating hair…

Anyway, that means it’s back to the ol’ drawing board for Liverpool, as they try to chip away at Utd’s lead and hope the Red Devils slip-up…

Urgh.

In the space of two days, the world has been turned upside down by two earth-shattering events…

Firstly, Alan Shearer has been appointed as manager of Newcastle United despite not having any managerial experience at any level. He is their fourth manager this season, and shows that Newcastle (or at least, Mike Ashley) is getting really desperate…to either keep the club up, win over the Geordie faithful, or both…

After Kevin Keegan was shown to be the false messiah this time round (following Big Sam’s sacking), Newcastle have turned to the big-name managers such as Joe “Foulmouth” Kinnear and Chris Hughton, who have failed (surprisingly!) to deliver the goods.

Following last season’s speculations and clamouring by the fans, Newcastle have turned to their former hero, Alan Shearer…best known for his trademark “one hand aloft” goal celebrations. One wonders if he has what it takes to keep Newcastle from the drop…he is a hero on Tyneside as one of their greatest strikers ever, but without any managerial (heck, even coaching) experience, one wonders if he can indeed, be Newcastle’s saviour this season. He may be able to command the respect in the dressing room, but how far will that take him?

Hey Mike, i also do not have any coaching or managerial experience…why not hire me? I mean, how much worse can it get?

Secondly, after the previous round of World Cup qualifiers, one scoreline stood out from the rest…the score between Bolivia and Argentina read 6-1…when i first heard it announced on the radio, i thought that the BBC newscaster had got it wrong, and i am sure i can be forgiven for thinking that Argentina had once again swept aside their South American neighbours to post another three points on the board.

However, when one sees the same thing on TV, as well as on the internet, one begins to wonder if it is at all possible that all the news media have got it wrong…or did mighty Bolivia really beat Argentina? And not just beat…it was a whitewash…probably far whiter than Maradona’s face at the final whistle…

So, hell really hath turned cold…

And the best excuse anyone can give after losing to Bolivia at La Paz…”it was all down to the altitude”…

Now where have i heard that one before?