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| The Don't Buy The Sun posters were out in full force as the team and fans paid their respects for the minutes silence... |
Dalglish has started quite a strange team in a sense, whilst it had both Suarez and Carroll up front which was expected it had Daniel Agger playing at left back. It wasn't a perfect idea but it doesn't really matter now because it all worked out in the end. Brad Jones as predicted started in goal for the Reds.
For those of you that enjoy the posts i do when i end up chatting to you about my day watching the match then you'll probably like this one, it's bound to contain anecdotes of me and my brother in the pub haha.
Liverpool started lively as they have done so often in many matches both in the league and the cup, fortunately for Liverpool though things tend to turn out better in their cup games after starting well. Jay Spearing i was particularly impressed with mainly because he always gets stuck in, you could tell he desired to rise to the occasion and he made some important tackles on Saturday.
At a point in the game where if i remember rightly Liverpool had 75% of possession you wouldn't then expect Everton to go and grab a goal, of course they managed this through Liverpool failing to keep possession in what should have been a simple clearance.
For me it wasn't Carragher's fault, I'm the first to admit even though I'm his biggest fan that he hasn't been up to scratch of late but that goal wasn't his fault. Carragher was simply trying to do what Agger should have done two bounces earlier, Carragher was just unlucky that his attempt deflected off Cahill. The fact is though, because it came off Cahill, Jelavic should have been offside but the
Thankfully this didn't matter either but it could have been a very different and aggravating story!
By this stage me and my brother were just annoyed at the nature of the goal, we were right behind Brad and were just gutted that there was nothing he could do about it and his clean sheet had been ruined due to a defensive blunder.
Half time came and i think the Liverpool players were thankful. Things were starting to get a bit nervy and the lads just needed to calm down. We were well and truly still in this not forgetting too that just a goal would push the tie to extra time.
Liverpool began the second half in a similar fashion to the first, maintaining possession and creating trouble in the Everton box. There were a fair few balls whipped in from the likes of Stewart Downing but nobody could quite get any accuracy on the end of them.
The most prominent example of accuracy failing was the Andy Carroll missed header. When it came to him it looked so easy that he just couldn't miss and without knowing it had gone about 3 miles bloody wide me and my brother were already jumping around the pub going mental. It was hilarious!
For those that don't know, my brother is the reason i support Liverpool. When i was growing up he was mad on them, he watched every game, had videos (that's right folks, back when DVD's weren't around!) of old matches, shirts, posters, magazine subscriptions, the lot and that's what got me hooked, i just followed suit with what my brother was doing and learnt what Liverpool FC were about along the way. However, unlike my loyal and passionate self, my brother when he was about 19 started going to Wolves games and then gave in to the fact he could catch a bus to the match whenever he liked and started buying bloody Wolves shirts, so long story short he now supports Wolves, so he says...
But if you could have seen him, prancing around like a right idiot with me after that Carroll miss and for the eventual goals, I'm sure you'd believe me when i say he's still a Liverpool fan really, he tries to hide it but he's always loved um! And it was brilliant yesterday because that's the first time I've watched a full Liverpool match with my brother since i was little.
So back to the game and away from my life story! Haha
Liverpool got their equaliser just after the hour mark and this time it was Everton's turn to succumb to a mistake.
When Distin clumsily gave away possession whilst Suarez was on the prowl, everybody immediately saw the chance in front of the Uruguayan. The Blue side of Wembley prayed for a miss whilst the Red side was almost certain Suarez would put this away.
And with a lovely finish, that's just what he did! Wembley went mad and so did the pub, there was one sole Everton fan in the pub i went into and he looked absolutely gutted, brave bloke though tbf! Haha.
With an equaliser my brother was convinced we'd go on to win it now, I on the other hand still had bad feelings that my prediction of it going to penalties was beginning to come to fruition. I knew however that one thing we required was substitutions.
At 75 minutes Maxi came on which i thought was a brilliant choice. His two goals against Blackburn only backed up the praise i always give this man and despite his age i still think he deserves more starts. Maxi was followed shortly after by the introduction of Craig Bellamy, "the trick up Dalglish's sleeve" as my brother correctly described him.
Just 4 minutes after Bellamy was introduced he had chance to take a free kick to the left of the box gained by Steven Gerrard after he was fouled. It was a silly challenge from Coleman because Gerrard was relatively non-threatening at this stage and I'm sure the Everton player was turning in his sleep last night.
Craig Bellamy delivered a great ball into the box and up rose the ever trying Andy Carroll with his face away from goal to flick the ball into the back of the net and secure Liverpool's place in the final!
Carroll worked hard throughout the 90 minutes and it was nothing less than what he deserved to get the winner, especially considering Fellani was ragging on his shirt at the time!
I said to my brother after we celebrated the none existent Carroll goal that he missed the easy header against Blackburn but scored the hard one and i was saying how he'd probably go on to do it again and he soddin well did!
Once again me and me brother were dancing around and he even starting signing there's only one Andy Carroll! Haha. Bearing in mind we're in the middle of Wolverhampton sitting in a pub that actually has Wolves flags up, i thought it was quality.
The final whistle blew and as Brad Jones dropped to the floor pointing to the sky whilst Gerrard pounced on Andy Carroll's back, Liverpool fans could once again boast about a Wembley final!
We never seem to make it easy but that just doesn't matter, we're there. Kenny's face was a picture at full time and i truly hope he leads the Reds to another cup victory in May!
I'd just like to end on saying what a wonderful Hillsborough Memorial Service once again at Anfield to mark the 23rd anniversary of the disaster. And full credit to Dirk Kuyt for doing a reading during the service. *#JFT96*