Reds by a Blue.

Hi all, a little bit of introduction myself, I am Andy, Sheena's boyfriend and am volunteering to guest blog for the Man U - Liverpool match.

As many would have known by now, yes, I am a Chelsea fan of almost a decade.
Well, I nearly became a Man U fan, and almost became a Liverpool fan ten years back.
You see, in 1997, the title was down to Man U and Liverpool during the last few weeks of the 96-97 season. Half of my class are Man U supporters and the other half Liverpool supporters.
For me, I have always only watched the Italian Serie A from young and Supported AC Milan since Marco Van Basten days and have not heard much about EPL( except that year when Blackburn shocked everyone by winning the title with Alan Shearer).
I would be a Man U fan now, if not for that fateful FA Cup final in 97, Chelsea VS Middlesborough.
I was fishing for a team to support in EPL and could not decide on which red(Arsenal was nowhere then)

That night, the live telecast, I was on the phone with one of my good friend Jonathan(who is a die hard Man U fan) and he was the one who told me to watch out for Chelsea and Boro.
Then, there was Juninho, Ravanelli, Emerson etc for Boro, who were relegated from EPL due to a 3 point deduction because they refused to turn up for an EPL match due to injuries to their squad. Their only hope was the FA Cup.

Chelsea, on the other hand, had Roberto Di Matteo, Gianluca Vialli, old Man U fav Mark Hughes, Frank Sinclair(the own goal king), Dan Petrescu, Dennis Wise, Ed De Goey and Ruud Gullit as their manager.

It took only 45 seconds for me to become a Chelsea fan.
The fastest goal in FA Cup history.
By Roberto Di Matteo.
The rest is history for me......

Ever since I watched EPL, any match between Man U and Liverpool has always been electrifying.
Sadly in the last few seasons, it has been second best to Man U - Arsenal as Liverpool has under-performed season in, season out.

This fixture was not going to disappoint again, as I predicted and surely it didn't!
Liverpool have done well this season and despite the on-going "should Fergie go" and "has Fergie lost it" saga, Man U have actually done very well this season too!
Beating Chelsea, Arsenal and now, its time for Liverpool.

Before the match, Sheena warned me not to bet on Man U as it will cause them to lose blah blah blah
Well, I couldn't anyway under her super heavy supervision......

With Richardson in midfield with O'Shea, I told Sheena that Fergie might just wanna hold out for a draw as they do not have their usual midfield of Ronaldo, Scholes, Park and Smith available.
Too defensive.
Liverpool on the other hand fielded what could be their best team possible.
But I singled out Rooney as the player who will make a difference to the match.

True to my gut feelings, Man U absorbed waves and waves of attack from Liverpool in the first half. And they were lucky to remain in a 0 - 0 draw after the first 45 minutes.

When Saha came on the for the second half, I could see it was time for Man U to attack, counter attack. As Liverpool would have done.

Instead of Liverpool wearing down the Man U defense and hoping Wes Brown and Rio Ferdinand would commit the mistake that would give them the break they were looking for, the England pair went from strength to strength and instead, it was Liverpool who are breaking down.
They got desperate.
Harry Kewell, showing glimpses of his old self, when he was feared by all right defenders in that Leeds jersey, looked likely to be the man who would once again give Liverpool the win, but it was not to be.
By the time two-thirds of the match passed, he was looking more like the flop of the kop again, due the the good work of the best right defender in the world at the moment, Gary Neville.
I told Sheena if by 70th minute Liverpool still don't get a goal, sure "pun chek" one.
It turned out to be true again, and Lady Luck shone on Man U as the man who kept them out the whole night got a hand to Ferdinand's header but still could not prevent the Goal.

I would say that Man U have done extremely well in completing the Hat Trick of ending Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool's unbeaten runs.
But they have to maintain that form.

Hmmm, the match aside, as Sheena requested, a Chelsea fan's point of view towards Manchester United and their fans.

Personally, I have nothing against Manchester United or their fans, their true fans I mean.
I mean, I was cheering for Man U on that historic night in 1999 when I witnessed that 2 goals which gave them the treble, nearly 5 am in the morning.
And many of my friends are Man U fans and yes, I own a Man U jersey.
(eh... Peter Schmeichel's)

But what I really dislike are the fair weather Man U fans.
1 example, my JC schoolmate, a girl.
(no prejudice there, Sheena's a girl too)
She didn't even know that Gary Neville is a defender...
(She thought he's a forward)
Of coz, her fav player is Beckham.
Another is this IRC friend of mine, whose fav player in Man U is Michael Owen!
(Ok, that happened years ago, it just cannot get off me)

I believe the same is happening to Chelsea right now, too many fair weather fans.
Then I would be the only idiot wearing an Autoglass jersey walking among all the Sharp and Carlsberg Jerseys, now, you'll see Samsung everywhere.
Thats why I never bothered to get a Samsung shirt.
I had every season's till Fly Emirates.

Like those who claim they die hard Man U but doesn't even know who Karel Poborsky, Andrei Kanchelski, Brian McClair and Gary Pallister are, not to mention names of those great players before them, I equally dislike a self proclaimed Chelsea fan of years who doesn't even know who Gavin Peacock, Kevin Hitchcock, Frank Sinclair, Tore Andre Flo, Franck Leboeuf and Terry Phelan are.
Its a disgrace to be a fair weather and claim to be a decade long die hard, to both the club and the fans.

Anyway, even though Sheena and I support rival clubs in the EPL, life goes on la.
Eh, she don't play for Man U, I don't play for Chelsea, so whats the big deal?
Actually the whole point of football is to watch and enjoy.
There's always a winner and a loser in the end.
After fighting for almost a year, we simply gave up and just enjoy the match.
(though she still sulks when Man U lost to Chelsea and gloats when Chelsea lost and yet claim I do... haha)

Once again, congratulations to Man U for beating Liverpool.
Shall end it here because I think I'm just gonna type some more nonsense if I go on.
Long day at work and its time to sleep.
So long, everybody.

Andy (damnpissedwithlogin.blogspot.com - dun bother reading, have not updated for a month. hehe)