Live Thoughts: Liverpool vs Stoke (FA Cup)

I covered this match live. Here are my unedited thoughts on the quarter final FA Cup match between Liverpool and Stoke.

Welcome to another one of my live thoughts posts. This is a big match for us. A win today and we're back at Wembley. We weren't at Wembley for sixteen years and all of a sudden, an opportunity arises for two (or three) visits in one year. I love it. It's not going to be easy again today, but with us wooping Everton 3-0 earlier this week we're full of confidence and we need to continue that confidence today, and into the Premier League too. Let's see what the Reds can do.

Here are the teams:

Liverpool: Reina, Kelly, Carragher, Skrtel, Jose Enrique, Maxi, Gerrard, Spearing, Downing, Suarez, Carroll; Subs: Doni, Henderson, Coates, Kuyt, Adam, Flanagan, Shelvey.

No Bellamy, Johnson or Agger. Maxi gets a start for a change, he's either hit or miss when he starts, he can be brilliant for us at times but other times he looks disinterested. Let's hope for a maximum performance from Maxi. Pun intended. A good line up, I'm confident.

Stoke: Sorensen, Wilkinson, Huth, Shawcross, Wilson, Shotton, Whitehead, Whelan, Etherington, Walters, Crouch; Subs: Nash, Jones, Pennant, Upson, Delap, Jerome, Palacios.

It's a good side again for Stoke, strong in defence, some creativity in the middle and Crouch up front. Walters has scored against us this season already. A tough side but one we'd be expecting to win.

3' - Tug and pull beginning so far, we're trying to spray the ball around with mixed results.

4' - Yellow card for Martin Kelly early on, a nasty tackle on Matthew Etherington. Etherington is staying down. It was quite nasty. Unintentional, but nasty.

7' - Etherington gingerly gets up and is back playing. It was deserving of a yellow card.

10' - Stoke playing a little tough at the moment, rightfully so. They have the physical presence needed to compete against Liverpool.

11' - We've won more games away this season than at home - it's been a problem. But the display against Everton gives me confidence we can turn that round.

12' - Crouch! Easy save for Reina. No defenders were marking the big man which was a little concerning, but his header was tame and straight at Reina.

13' - That's an odd statistic, no Welshman has won an FA Cup as manager. That's really weird. Never knew that. Incredible.

15' - Glenn Whelan gets a yellow card for a tackle on Jay Spearing. Not as bad as Kelly's tackle earlier, but it was clumsy.

18' - Stoke starting to pile the pressure on Liverpool at the moment. A little concerning what with the match only being 17 minutes old at the moment. We started a little brighter, then there was a lot of physical battles, and the last few minutes have belonged to Stoke. We need to get the ball and play.

20' - Haha, great by Marc Wilson, a nice dummy takes out two Liverpool plays to go flying to the deck. I may be a Liverpool fan but I love a good dummy. I'm sure that'll be on Soccer AM next week.

22' - GOAL! Suarez scores a beautiful goal! We needed that!  He combines excellently with Maxi Rodriguez, a one-two and then he just shoots a crisp shot to the bottom right corner. Exquisite.

24' - Stoke attack right from the off and Andy Wilkinson whips in a dangerous and fierce cross that Jon Walters and Peter Crouch just miss.

26' - GOAL! Peter Crouch scores. Stoke pile the pressure over and over again and actually get a corner that wasn't. That corner was headed in by Crouch. Pepe Reina gets a yellow card for protesting a Stoke player putting pressure on him.

28' - Replays of the corner that wasn't, the ball came off a Stoke players head. Andy Carroll takes down a Stoke player and wanted a corner but instead it was a free kick. Tempers are definitely a little raised today.

29' - Four yellow cards now, Andy Wilkinson goes in the book for a tackle on Luis Suarez.

32' - Jon Walters in space runs with the ball towards the final third and shoots just wide of the post.

35' - Suarez laughs at the linesman for getting a decision wrong terribly. It should have been a Liverpool corner but the linesman gave a goal kick.

38' - It's a very physical match this. It's funny as the Liverpool/Everton derby match last week was quite nice, and here we are against a side we have virtually no rivalry with, and it's so much more physical than the match earlier this week.

41' - We're starting to look a little better now, we haven't been at our best today, Stoke have matched us for most of the match.

43' - Free kick just outside the penalty area for Liverpool. Gerrard's shot is over the bar.

45' - Two minutes of added time.

45+2' - Half time.

Well we haven't played that well in honesty. Or more accurately, Stoke have played very well against us. They've irritated us, they've been very physical, and they haven't let us have time on the ball. The most time we had on the ball was in the build up to the goal, a very good goal from Suarez. Stoke's response was fantastic, and even though it shouldn't have been a corner, Crouch's headed goal was a deserving equaliser. If we want to win today we need to play better, we need to keep possession of that ball and go at them. It's the best way to play Stoke, not get physical with them, they're very good at that. Play football against them. Let's see if our second half performance is better.

48' - Gerrard's free kick is tame and Robert Huth clears.

50' - We need to play better if we want to win. It's as simple as that.

52' - SUAREZ! So close! A free kick from the left wing comes in and Suarez reacts just a tad too slow to put some direction on his header, and it goes wide.

55' - That shot aside, we're still looking lost in link play.

56' - GOAL! Finally! Downing scores! An odd goal really, all of a sudden we just open up an opportunity, or more accurately, Downing opens up an opportunity, he runs down the right wing, takes a player on, passes to Gerrard and a clumsy one-two somehow goes back to Downing who gets back into the box and scores. It was the type of goal that Gerrard would score in honesty, no one on his wavelength and he just makes the goal himself! Great work!

59' - The game has livened up since the goal, we're on the front foot at the moment. Stoke haven't reacted as well as they did when we scored first which is good for us.

60' - Stoke Substitution: Ryan Shotton comes off for Jermaine Pennant. Welcome back to Anfield, Jermaine.

60' - Liverpool Substitution: Maxi Rodriguez comes off and Dirk Kuyt takes his place. Well Maxi assisted Suarez's first goal, other than that he's had a mixed game. A bit like his season really.

63' - Kuyt's first decent contribution to the match is a shot straight at Sorensen.

66' - We're looking comfortable probably for the first time in the match. We're playing the possession game, the game we like to play, and Stoke can't really make any progress at the moment which is good. We have control finally.

67' - Suarez! Good save by Sorensen. It was a long range effort from Suarez but it was bending to the bottom left corner, it was a nice strike. A little too far out and lacking in power mind, but nice.

68' - Haha, a Stoke free kick went terribly wrong. Everything was set up, the wall and everything, and a Liverpool player, I didn't actually spot who, basically runs straight to the ball and puts off the two Stoke players creating the free kick and it's all ruined! Great stuff.

71' - Stoke Substitution: Cameron Jerome is coming on in place of Matthew Etherington.

72' - Suarez tries the impossible, he dispossesses a Stoke player on the right hand side of the box, but it's a cluttered penalty area, so he tries to curl it around everyone, and it's way wide. Great idea, not good in execution.

73' - Stoke Substitution: Rory Delap is coming on for Dean Whitehead. That's all three Stoke subs now.

74' - Liverpool have a really nice counter attack going on, Gerrard whips in a long cross to Carroll who heads the ball to Suarez. He has Downing on his right, Carroll on his left and he... slips over. Ah well.

76' - The Kop are bouncing to Suarez's name in support of his efforts. He has been very good today, but he has tried too hard in times to do everything, the typical industrial Uruguayan.

79' - Jay Spearing finds some space and takes a shot and it's over the bar. Should have done better from that distance.

81' - Martin Kelly goes forward and a space is opened for him in the penalty box but his effort is dealt with really well by Shawcross who tackles to ground. Kelly is down from the collision.

84' - Every time Crouch has the ball up front, which hasn't been too often, he's been surrounded by Red shirts. We've dealt with the strikers really well this second half.

85' - I do want to go on record here to say I love Peter Crouch so much, he's an awesome fella and he did a great job with us all those years ago. Top bloke.

86' - Suarez has gone down, so has Kelly for the second time in five minutes. Concerningly Suarez didn't have any form of collision, I hope he's okay.

87' - Replays show Suarez got clipped by accident by Huth, he might have twisted his ankle or something. No idea. Bizarre.

88' - Double Liverpool Substitution:  Martin Kelly and Luis Suarez come off and Sebastian Coates and Jordan Henderson take their places. Suarez has probably been my man of the match, not that individually we have had a player that's been a stand out player.

89' - Gerrard is right back at the moment. I don't know if Carragher is going to move there, but at the moment Stevie G is playing in a position he hasn't played in for a good 10 years.

90' - Five minutes of added time. Good lord.

90+2' - Yellow card given for Marc Wilson.

90+4' - You'll Never Walk Alone is being sung at a massive volume now. You'd think we're going to Wembley for the second time in three months or something.

90+5' - Full time!

We're going back to Wembley! Two semi finals this season for Liverpool! Brilliant achievement for Kenny Dalglish and Liverpool. So happy at the moment. We've had such a fantastic cup run twice this season. Now we need to somehow avoid Chelsea and Tottenham in the semi final draw, but it doesn't matter in the end, it's always going to be a tough game at Wembley no matter who we get. We have a strong chance to win two cups this season. A cup double would really be a statement for Liverpool. Let's make it happen!

As for the match, the first half was tough. Very tough. But all the effort Stoke put into that first half was lost in the second half, and we played well enough to score a second goal. Once again we never gave a masterclass display, but we gave a decent one, and we scored another two goals at Anfield. Downing scored which is good for his confidence, as well as Suarez for his. There have been many positives to take out of this game, the biggest one being, we're going back to Wembley! Thanks for joining me again and have a good evening.

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Live Thoughts: Liverpool vs Everton (Premier League)

I covered this match live. Here are my unedited thoughts on the match between Liverpool and Everton.

Hey and thanks for joining me for my first Live Thoughts post in just over two weeks. It's been that long for a few reasons. Firstly, I've been ill recently quite a lot. I'm ill now. I've got conjunctivitis. It's fun. Hey ho. Secondly I'm cutting down on how many matches I'm covering, and I'll have a proper schedule next season about what matches I'll cover. As for this season, I'll do what I can, but it's not going to be easy as I have a lot on my plate personally at the moment. And lastly, I wanted to cover Liverpool/Arsenal but I was really busy that day so I couldn't, not that I missed much as we lost, just like we lost against Sunderland. We've only won one league match in 2012. Hell, if the league started on January 1st, we would be in the relegation zone (5 points from 8 games). It's a poor run of form this year bar the cup games. I loved the Carling Cup win. I'm loving our FA Cup run. But our league form needs to improve. If we lose today Everton eclipse us in the league. That's how bad our form has gotten. We need to win, for our season as well as Merseyside bragging rights. 

Here are the teams:

Liverpool: Reina, Kelly, Enrique, Skrtel, Carragher, Spearing, Gerrard, Henderson, Downing, Suarez, Carroll. Subs: Doni, Shelvey, Maxi, Flanagan, Kuyt, Adam, Coates.

Johnson is still injured, but it's nice to see Gerrard starting again. It's a shame he got injured on England duty but at least it's not too serious. He missed one match and came on as a sub against Sunderland. Suarez, Carroll and Gerrard start again. I'm really happy about that, they look really good up front together and click nicely. I just hope they can score the goals expected. It's been our major problem this season. This is a team that can win today - no - that should win today.

Everton: Howard, Hibbert, Distin, Jagielka, Baines, Coleman, Fellaini, Pienaar, Rodwell, Stracqualursi, Anichebe. Subs: Mucha, Heitinga, Jelavic, Drenthe, Cahill, Neville, Osman.

This is a weakened Everton side, especially for attack. Stracqualursi and Anichebe have scored 6 goals between them. I don't know what else to say, the team is strong in defence and midfield, but shouldn't pose too much a threat up front. They're there for the taking in a certain way, but definitely shouldn't be underestimated.

3' - Slow start at the moment, with Liverpool looking slightly more threatening. 

6' - GERRARD! Great save by Howard! Henderson with the follow up and it was a lovely tackle by Rodwell to stop him! So close!

8' - Pienaar! Over the bar. Leighton Baines has a lovely darting run down the left wing and cuts in parallel to the goal line, he squares it to Pienaar and thankfuly it's over. 

11' - SUAREZ! Another great save by Howard! Reina being the amazing sweeper keeper he is smacks the ball across the pitch and Andy Carroll flicks it on beautifully to the path of Suarez who was free in the box, Suarez tries to lift it over Howard but the United States keeper more than met to it. That was excellent by Carroll and Suarez then! 

13' - Three shots so far, all of them on target too. 100% shots on target rate yo! Stick that in your pipe and smoke it! Okay, I'm kidding, but it's nice that we're actually hitting the target, a problem we've had all season. 

15' - It's the 10 year anniversary match for David Moyes next week. I just want to go on record here by saying David Moyes is a phenomenal manager, and has done an amazing job at Everton. Kudos to Everton for keeping with the same guy for 10 years, it's a rarity in todays sack friendly management system. Happy anniversary Mr Moyes. 

18' - Well we're playing the better football so far that's for sure. We haven't quite got hold of the match yet though. 

21' - They just showed a replay of Carroll shoving Baines, almost hitting him with his elbow. The ref never saw that. He could have been off for that, that was nasty. 

24' - Possession - 57%/43% in favour of Liverpool. Unsurprising really. The only threat really coming from Everton are Baines' good runs down the left flank, and Pienaar's trickery in and around the box, most that's been nullified.

27' - Everton are starting to put pressure on Liverpool now. They're not dominant or anything, but they're seeing more of the ball all of a sudden. 

29' - A poor pass back from Tony Hibbert that Suarez chases goes to Howard, who's clearances somehow gets back to Suarez who's on his own up front! Tony Hibbert tackles and it's clean as a whistle,  before eventually the flag goes up as it was Carroll who passed to Suarez who was offside.

32' - Pienaar crosses into the Liverpool box and Anichebe brings the ball down, but is unable to turn to shoot.

33' - GOAL! GERRARD! What a goal! A lovely bit of attacking play involving Suarez ends with Martin Kelly in the box who piledrives the ball straight at Tim Howard, it goes to Gerrard who curls it round Howard and the defence! Absolutely brilliant, an elegant finish in his 400th Premier League appearance! 

37' - KELLY! Just wide! Another great run by our young Scouse right back, and he almost scores again! This time it was wide of Howard's right post. 

40' - We're really on top of Everton at the moment, after that little lapse where we gave them a sniff of possession we've gone for blood almost. 87 Premier League goals in 400 games for Steven Gerrard. 

43' - There's only been 3 fouls so far in this match, considering it's the league fixture that's produced more red cards than any other in the history of English football, that's not bad going. We haven't seen a very aggressive game so far. That being said, I can see the second half being a different story.

45' - One minute of added time.

45+1 - Half time.

It wasn't the best quality fourty-five minutes of football you'll see but we got the goal we definitely deserved. For a change. How many times have we got to half time deserving in front and we're not? Hopefully we can not only keep this lead, but we can build on it. We're definitely the better side at the moment, we played the better football and had the better chances. Gerrard's goal was sublime however, if you get a chance to see it please do, it's an elegant curling effort into the back of the net. Martin Kelly has had two great chances, as has Suarez, Henderson and Carroll. Things are looking good at the moment! Let's hope there's more good news for Liverpool in the second half!

48' - Rigid opening of the second half at the moment. 

50' - GOAL! Gerrard again! Henderson cuts the ball nicely to Suarez who makes a nuisance of himself in the box, darting his run into the box to the path of Gerrard who just smacks it into the net at short range! I don't know if Suarez quite laid that off, but Gerrard just banged that in! Excellent finish!

52' - CARROLL! So close! Suarez once again running between the lines, lays it nicely to Carroll who shoots just wide of Howard's left post. So so close.

53' - No Liverpool player has scored a hat trick against Everton at Anfield in nearly 80 years. That's some statistic. Hopefully Gerrard can make history tonight.

54' - KELLY! Just couldn't stretch far enough to make the clinical touch to score! Downing whips in a good cross and for some reason once again, Martin Kelly is up front and almost scores for the third time! 

55' - Steven Pienaar goes into the book for a tackle on Henderson.

58' - Martin Kelly once again makes a nuisance of himself as Carroll flicks a ball to him with his head, Kelly tussles with Distin for a bit before losing the ball for a goal kick. Kelly attacking-wise, has had a great game. He's hardly made any defensive mistakes to boot either. 

60' - Rodwell! Cleared by Jose Enrique. That was a short range effort that Enrique dealt with, easily Everton's best chance so far. 

61' - Triple Everton Substitution: Royston Drenthe, Leon Osman and Nikica Jelavic come on for Sheamus Coleman, Denis Stracqualursi and Victor Anichebe. Big changes for Everton, who are obviously trying to salvage something from the match. 

64' - Free kick for Liverpool in a decent area is dealt with by the wall. 

67' - Oh, and that's 88 goals in 400 Premier League matches for Gerrard now. 

69' - Carroll lays the ball to Suarez who tries the impossible by shooting round the keeper with the outside of his foot, it went wide. Nice try though. 

72' - Liverpool Substitution: Dirk Kuyt comes on for Jordan Hendeson. Henderson had a decent game today, he's looked a little poor of form in recent matches but today some of his passes were key, I'm sure he had a say in both goals somewhere. 

75' - Carroll goes down after a tussle with Hibbert and the Liverpool fans think penalty, but Phil Dowd laughs it off. It definitely wasn't a penalty. Not that we need it, we'll probably miss it anyway! 

78' - Downing crosses a long ball forward and it's heading towards Suarez, and Leighton Baines brings him down on the edge of the penalty area. Phil Dowd actually shows the red for a split second, but gave a yellow card. I think that's a good decision personally, just because the game has not been malicious at all and it'd ruin what's been a nice Merseyside Derby if he flashed the red. Was it a red? It's debatable. But I'm happy Phil Dowd didn't give it. 

80' - Gerrard and Pienaar jump for the ball and Gerrard elbows the South African in the face, it wasn't intentional but Pienaar is down. I don't think Dowd is giving a card. It wasn't intentional as I said. 

83' - Royston Drenthe is next in the book for a bad tackle on Downing. 

86' - I'm sure they said that more than a third of all of Everton's goals have been scored in the last 10 minutes. That's some statistic if true.

88' - "You'll Never Walk Alone" is now being sung around the stadium. I can't remember the last time I've heard it at the end of a match at Anfield actually! It's been a few months I'm sure, we've had too many draws at home this season.

90' - Four minutes of added time now, and they start with Tony Hibbert going into the book for kicking the ball at Jose Enrique.

90+2' - Jose Enrique goes in the book as well. That's a bit unfair. 

90+2' - GOAL! STEVEN GERRARD GETS A HAT TRICK! Excellent play between Suarez and Gerrard, it starts with Gerrard who bombs down the pitch and lays the ball beautifully for Suarez, who gets into a tangle a little bit, but manages to lay the ball back to Gerrard who shoots an easy goal!

90+4' - Full time!

Steven Gerrard is the first player in 76 years to score a hat trick against Everton at Anfield. Congrats to that man, the legend. I'd say this is the proper return of Gerrard, he's been influential in many games since his long term injury, but this is the first time Gerrard has been so clinical in front of goal. He was unstoppable today. If you thought Gerrard was finished, think again, he was awesome today. Kudos have to go to Carroll and Suarez as well, who were brilliant in attack again and helped Gerrard get his hat trick. Another person who deserves a mention is Martin Kelly who was brilliant as a right back and a striker for parts of the match too.

I'll finish with this. I wouldn't say this was a spectacular display for Liverpool. It wasn't. But it's the display we needed, it was the display that we've seen so many times this season, dominating possession and open play. The big difference? We scored the goals we set up. We haven't had enough chances scored this season. It's a fact. But Gerrard's hat trick hopefully suggests that we can build upon this. We make so many chances and they go to waste too often. A 3-0 win against Everton hopefully means we can now keep those performances up, but score the goals that the displays deserve. That's it from me today, have a good night.

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My Winter Wipeout Experience - Part 6

Note: This is the final part. I posted one part a day. The total word count exceeds 31,000 words so it's a long read. If you missed part 1 you can read it by clicking here, part 2 here, part 3 here, part 4 here and part 5 here!

Not long after Amy was ready to come out. If our view for Winter Blunderland was bad our view for the Winter Wipeout Zone was even worse. Our best view was of the Icy Stairs. We saw virtually nothing of the Impossible Snowflakes, we saw the back of the machine running but apart from once in a while someone’s head poking above the top we couldn’t see how bad or well they were doing.

The Winter Wipeout Zone. So much cooler in person than on camera.

Amy got shot out of something. I didn’t know what it was while we were in Argentina, but when I started to watch the series of Winter Wipeout I was so annoyed. Why? Because it was “The Human Fling”! The exact same machine that they used on 101 Ways to Leave a Gameshow! The awesome exit that inspired me to apply in the first place! To think that if I actually had a chance to get to the finale of Winter Wipeout and go in THAT, I would have been over the moon! So Amy got ‘flinged’ to the water, and she did her stuff. She gave a great effort on the course but fell off the Icy Stairs, Fright-cicles and then the Impossible Snowflakes. But she finished in an excellent 4:34, only five seconds slower than the winner the week before. Amy had conceded defeat though, she felt like she had no chance of winning. I didn’t want to say anything as anything can happen in Total Wipeout, but I couldn’t imagine John and Aarron slipping up enough to get slower times. But I still hoped on her behalf, that she could win.

Amy getting shot out of "The Human Fling"! The same thing that inspired me to apply on Wipeout in the first place!

Next up was Aarron who did a great job. Aarron was pretty much flawless apart from his fall off the Icy Stairs. Those Icy Stairs look absolutely terrifying; I hated the log jam on the qualifier which is a similar machine but those stairs look so much worse. The worst thing about those stairs is the going down, there’s a decent amount of space between the stairs going down and with them jolting it looked so hard, which is ironic, as stairs are usually easier to go down than up on in general. But the Icy Stairs aside Aarron passed the course in an excellent 2:27, over two minutes faster than Amy. He set an amazing time, a time that would have won three of the previous five episodes. Amy unfortunately knew that her luck had run out. Not that I saw it as luck but as a mixture of hard work and willpower. I was so proud of her; she was so awesome on our show and one of my favourite stories to tell in this experience. I loved Amy to bits and the best thing was, she got to do it again in the Champion of Champions edition!

Aarron's brilliant time made it as hard as possible for John to win.

Lastly was John the Policeman, or Woody as I call him. He was definitely the favourite, no disrespect to Aarron, but John was top of the qualifier and top of the Ski Lift. Yes he struggled with Winter Blunderland, which was Aarron’s round, but overall John just seemed like the better performer. Once again I’d like to emphasise we didn’t see what the finalists were being shot out of, but we did see John’s amazing dive. It was absolutely brilliant, although not the best of the series thus far, that honour in my opinion goes to Helen in the first episode (who I’ve got to know a little and seems very nice). But it was still a better dive than I could ever do, and it was fantastic. John, like his Qualifier and Ski Lift, was flawless in the start. He beat the Icy Stairs, something that Aarron struggled with. But John unfortunately got hit by one of the Ice Picks. We couldn’t believe it! With Aarron falling off the Icy Stairs and John falling off the Ice Picks, it was neck and neck. John had to complete the rest of the course flawlessly to win, and he passed the Fright-cicles and then the Impossible Snowflakes with little struggle and pressed the button!

We had no idea who won the show when John finished. It was an amazing final and it was brilliant to see it live.

It was so close. The 17 of us looked at each other in disbelief. We actually, genuinely, didn’t know who won. It was so exciting and so close. It was the closest final of the series so far. We all discussed who we thought won and I think we all were split between Aarron and John. I thought John won but who knew? Eventually they gave the Winter Wipeout trophy to Amanda and she had John and Aarron next to each other. We weren’t informed of the winner beforehand. When the trophy was given to John, we all jumped up and ran towards him in celebration. We were all so happy for him, and we gave Aarron his commiserations as well. As I said Aarron would have won three out of the five previous episodes. And Aarron wanted to get a ring to propose to his girlfriend with the money. I don’t know if he has or not since, but for him to get so close yet so far, was a shame. It’s a shame we all don’t win £10, 000 eh?

Waiting anxiously for the winner to be announced...

I want to divert your attention to something. Something that I really don’t agree with. Probably the only thing Endemol don’t do that I think is truly unfair. I’m exposing them right here and now! The Winter Wipeout trophy? It’s the same one each show! The winner’s don’t get to keep the trophy, and take it home, they have to hand it back! It’s phony! They just pose with it and hand it back and I really don’t think that’s right. Surely it doesn’t cost much to make one for each show? It doesn’t have to be pure silver or gold, it can be steel or another cheap metal can’t it? Awful.

But John Woodfield, John the Policeman, Woody, Robocop or Copper John, whatever we called him, he was a true winner. He was just better than us, on the course. He won three out of four rounds, that’s all the proof you need. And he’s such a nice guy, he wasn’t bragging and it didn’t go to his head. He was the same after he won the show as he was before we started. I was proud I was put on this show to meet him and I’m proud to call him a friend. But I can say that about all the contestants. There was no jealousy, virtually no animosity, but there was sportsmanship in abundance. We all went out to Argentina together as 20 random strangers but we all came home together as friends. We’re planning a reunion as we speak; I hope it’s the first of many. That’s not the end of my tale though!

John won! It's a shame he doesn't get to keep the trophy though, in each episode it's the same one! Blasphemous!

We went back to the tent and the 17 ‘losers’ got there first. About five minutes later the three finalists came in, back in their clothes and out of their wetsuits. We all gave the three of them a round of applause. They were excellent and put on a stellar performance for us and for everyone across the UK. It’s a shame the two runner ups don’t get a cash prize for themselves. I think a £1000 and a £2500 cash prize for runner ups would be good. But then again just to get to go to Argentina with all expenses paid, hotel paid and with spending money, it’s understandable why the top 3 don’t all get prizes. So anyway, we then all took photos of the three finalists posing together. They were so awesome yet humble about the experience. They didn’t really know how to react, being treated like stars. But they were. They were the stars of the show.

The three finalists. They were absolutely incredible. John, Aarron and Amy.

After that all the researchers and producers came in. They rallied us all together and Andy basically thanked us all for coming to Argentina and take part on the course. He said that we were all the stars of the show and that we were one of the best groups they have ever had. I don’t know how sincere he was, I mean, they have had so many groups, but it was still really nice for him to say that. Emma, the series producer, then handed out requests to the three winners, inviting them to go and take part in the Champion of Champions edition which was filmed 11 days later, and handed the three of them a bottle of bubbly each. They thanked us again but we told them we wanted a picture of them all together. They all stood there and posed, and seemed happy that we were giving them credit they more than deserved. Because in honesty, we’re not the stars of the show, they are. They take 20 random Brits over and over again to Argentina, expenses paid, and make us look like wacky stars, and edit our performances on the course to horrendously brilliant music and silly sound effects. I really wanted to thank them in my interviews but I knew my efforts would be in vain if I did. They’d just edit those parts of the interview out because they’re too modest. They treat us, as well as Amanda and Richard like stars but it’s not true. They are the true stars and work harder than anyone else to put on a good show. We just run the course, they spend hours editing it and planning ideas to make it as silly and funny as possible.

Frankie, Millie, Andy, Maisie and Emma, the researchers and producers. Amazing people.

That was the last time I saw most of the researchers. We had to go back on the bus to the hotel. I said my goodbyes to Nick, Millie, Andy, Emma and Maisie. They were really awesome people. I gave Maisie a bit of stick about being a Bluenose Everton supporter again but then we spoke about Liverpool and missing the city. I haven’t lived in Liverpool before but I am a Scouser, I lived and grew up on Merseyside and Chester before moving to Wales at the age of five, developing a Welsh accent. I’ve always wanted to move to Liverpool though and Maisie was telling me she can’t wait to see her family there again after finishing Wipeout. We said our genuine goodbyes and that was it, we were off back to the hotel. The only researcher we would see then on was Frankie, whose job was to get us back to London safely.

Frankie looked after us form the beginning. She was awesome.

We got back to the hotel and most of us had a small and quiet celebration. All three finalists popped their champagne bottles I believe and we toasted them. I had a couple of beers that night but nothing too bad. Most of us were sensible. I say most of us because, as I said earlier in this article, Sharney and Stephanie had other ideas! Not that I’m getting into them! But most of us just relaxed in the restaurant area. Eventually most of us started to leave and get sleep.

I didn’t want to leave. I was knackered, we started the day early at around 6am, and it was around 11pm by then. But I really didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want it to end. I had so much fun and met 19 amazing new people. I stayed awake for as long as I possibly could. It was pure stubbornness that kept me from going earlier. But eventually, I had to say my goodbyes and go to sleep. At least I was going to see them in the morning and on the way home.

The next morning we had to leave. I can’t remember what the timing was on that my guess is 10am, but it was much later than the early starts for the two previous days that’s for sure. This was day five of six. Days five and six were spent travelling back home. I actually got on Facebook quickly that day. The keyboards in Argentina are different and as my password has special keys in it, I couldn’t find those keys on the pad. I eventually found a way round it, by resetting my password and then activating it through my Yahoo! email account. I sent a quick message to my wife telling her that my phone doesn’t work in Argentina, that I was okay and that I’ll see her the next day. I hadn’t communicated with my wife all my time there as my phone just wouldn’t work. We all eventually perched into the bus to take us to the airport. Frankie counted us up (something she always did) and two people were missing. Who were they? Sharn and Steph of course! I told you they went on a pretty eventful night out the night before and were totally out for the count. They eventually both arrived and we gave them a massive sarcastic round of applause. They told us about their epic night out that lasted until around 7am. As I said, I’m not getting into any details. After that we were off!

Whiskey in the John, John II and John the Policeman - the three John's!

Lawrence had his travel upgraded because of his broken leg. He now had a wheelchair bless him, as well as a scan showing his actual double break. Everyone else including Frankie, were in the normal class. At the airport we all just relaxed, ordered food and took some final pictures. It was horrible really, it seemed like no one wanted it to end, but it had to. The flight back to Madrid was pretty uneventful. I was sitting on my own between two Argentinian ladies so I didn’t really have much to do, or anyone to speak to. It was a very long flight, and the fact that I was in a middle seat on my own made it for a very boring experience. I couldn’t sleep very well and because we left in the afternoon my body clock wasn’t ready for sleep yet it was the right course of action, as we were to land in Madrid at around 6am. It was the most unpleasant flight of the lot in honesty because I just couldn’t settle.

Mark with his sprained hand. Such a top bloke.

We eventually landed in Madrid the next morning, day six of six, and we all looked so tired. We were though; it was the bad timing on the plane and the fact that it was such a long flight in the first place. We got to Madrid and in turned out that our flight to Heathrow was cancelled. We all couldn’t believe it, as it looked like there wasn’t another flight for another few hours. But under some miracle (or not) they had another flight going to Heathrow at exactly the same time. It didn’t make any sense but it seemed inevitable that they screwed up somewhere and this was their making up of that fact. So in the end we were sorted. We still had a few hours to kill before our final flight arrived. Because it was so early there wasn’t any food places open, although there were a few vending machines if you had Euros. We all just relaxed, took some final pictures before boarding on the final plane. On the final plane I sat on my own again but it was on the end of a row and was next to Amy and Ben, and Sarah and Chris. That flight for some reason, I got a little more sleep on it than on the previous plane, despite it being around 2 or 3 hours in comparison to the 13 of the other flight. I think it was pure fatigue kicking in by that point.

20 random strangers met up and became great friends in 6 days. I love these people!

We arrived in Heathrow and after going through customs that was pretty much it. We all had to go our separate ways and it was the last time I saw the amazing 19 people I spent 6 incredible days with. We all hugged and wished each other the best. It was really emotional. I didn’t cry or anything and I don’t think anyone else did either but it was horrible. We also had to say goodbye to Frankie, who was awesome from start to finish as well. As a bunch of random 20 strangers I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people. I couldn’t have had such a blast with anyone else, or at least it felt that way. Kudos have to go to Endemol and more accurately, the researchers who chose the 20 of us to get together and attempt the course and have this amazing journey together. I really didn’t want to say goodbye, but I’m hopeful that it’s not goodbye forever. We’re hopefully reuniting at the end of February and I look forward to that. I miss my Wipeout buddies terribly!

After that we all went our separate way homes. I went to London Euston and got myself a nice Super Bacon and Double Cheeseburger Meal at Burger King. It was glorious. I was really full at that point naturally, and my wife called me. I had spoken to her briefly in Madrid but it was really early there, around 7am if I remember in UK time, a time that my wife is not good at in terms of being awake. It was about 12pm I believe at that point and she couldn’t wait for me to get home. The journey home was nice and quick. I then got home from the station to open arms from my wife and daughter. That was the end of my official Winter Wipeout Experience, although there are other things I can say.

We made a private Facebook group for all the contestants to mingle in. All 20 contestants joined the group, and some people actually were inactive on Facebook, but then reactivated just so we can all keep in contact. Since then we’ve shared pictures and videos, and some of the contestants have since met back up and hung out. Being skint and in Portsmouth means that it’s hard for me to make a trip to London, but as I said, I hope to do so at the end of February for the big reunion.

I remember the excitement about the first episode of Winter Wipeout being on. We, having been through what was to appear on TV was a big deal. It made the experience feel more real, rather than the hazy dreamlike scenarios that are impossible to even contemplating being genuine. They were genuine, and seeing the first episode proved that naturally! I also remember the second episode when we briefly saw clips of our group on TV falling off things in their compilation clips. I was on one of them, as was Simon, Sylvia and Scottish John. Even though you couldn’t see my face, I, and a lot of the contestants knew, that it was definitely me and I couldn’t help but mark out for that. I also remember Episode 5, an episode I was really looking forward to watching as I had recently added Gemma Murdock on Facebook, who did an amazing job at getting 4^th place on the episode and also did an excellent job in editing my clip from our show, which you can see on the top right of this page. I hadn’t asked Gemma how well she did and she was brilliant, she performed fantastically well to get as far as she did, and has since then started to blend in with the Episode 6 crew. Gemma is a true fan of the show and we’ve had many discussions reminiscing about our times on our separate shows, as they were similar experiences.

The last 10 days or so before my episode came on I was absolutely frightened. I knew I did badly, getting 19^th place and I never told anyone this. The only person that knew how I did was my wife. I told her not to tell anyone about my performance. That decision wasn’t based on embarrassment but surprise; even if I did well and got to Round 3 I wouldn’t have said anything different. I wanted my family not to know how I did, so their reactions were genuine and natural. The same applied to everyone else. At the end of Episode 5 they previewed our episode. At the end of episodes they tend to sometimes show contestants falling off things in the episode to come, and they did that as a preview for our show. When I watched the show my heart skipped a beat when they showed me falling off the log jam in the preview! I couldn’t believe it! The worst thing about it is that it showed me falling onto my back and into the water; I didn’t remember hitting my back at all! But you could definitely tell it was me, and my family saw me on TV, albeit it was for half a second! It was really going to happen!

Me on the preview for our episode, at the end of Episode 5! It really dawned how real it all was when I saw this.

Because I had appeared on TV already I decided that it was time I started officially confirming about my appearance on the show. A lot of people knew already, but we were told not to mention it on Facebook or Twitter, or anything else. So because that was the case, and everyone kept on asking if I got on, how it was and stuff, it became relatively common knowledge. So to avoid mentioning it, I would discretely reference it in obvious ways, so that people would know what I was on about. In person I talked about my experience casually. But a week before, I told everyone officially, that in one week, I’d appear on TV. I told my Facebook friends, my family, a lot of the people on my local street knew, a lot of my work colleagues knew and also all the professionals associated with our service at work knew. Everyone knew I was to appear on TV and I was cracking up! I was so nervous, partly for appearing on TV, and partly because I did so bad and I was to be a national embarrassment on TV!

My caricature drawing as done by the awesome Simon Cassini!

So, it was Saturday, 21^st January, 5:35pm BBC1. I watched the show. It was amazing. It was really odd, watching all my new friends appearing on TV. All the other episodes I’d enjoyed as I’m a fan of the show. But this was just weird. It’s hard to explain to people who haven’t appeared on Winter Wipeout, but because I knew all 19 of the other people it felt personal. It was my show, our show. I’d never watched a TV show in the same way before. I knew exactly how bad or well everyone had did, and even seen some of the things on TV being done live and in person. But seeing it all done professionally, edited and with music dubbed in, with Richard Hammond’s commentary, it was still weird. I saw everyone do their course, something I never saw in person obviously. But I knew about Woody and Lawrence beating the red balls. I saw that on the TV and it was amazing. I also heard stories like Jody’s concussion being shown on TV, and some of the awesome interviews the other contestants did. I loved what they did with Chris, making him out to be a “smooth operating” doctor, my wife and I laughed so hard! I also loved what they did with Woody, with his beep-off with Amanda, and Mark’s overexcited “Woo! Woah! Woohoo!” noises all around the course. Mark only did it a few times but they edited it in throughout the show and it was absolutely hilarious!

But as for me, John II, I was actually very happy with it. You need to remember, we have no idea what they were going to edit our shows to look like, what things we did or said that would be the outline of our segments on the show. I really thought they’d emphasise on my large size and my amazing lady like giggles, as well as the beard. When I heard the classic “Big Bad John” being played, sung by Jimmy Dean, I knew exactly who was about to appear on screen, and that was me! I liked that they concentrated on my large mass, I was by far the biggest person there and I knew I did a decent job of looking a little badass as an angry giant, and it showed. I loved the posing on the podium, the comparison to Scottish John (now called Whiskey and the John on the show, which was awesome) because we had the same names. I didn’t know they were going to concentrate so much on the Henry VIII comment, and I never thought of it as that odd a reply. But they made it out that it was odd, with Richard Hammond questioning why he was my ‘beardy hero’, as he had six wives and was responsible for many of their deaths. It makes sense why it was an odd response, but I meant that I looked like Henry VIII, not that I was inspired about his actions, but it was still funny!

But it did get them to mention the fact that I was recently wed to my wife, which made my wife giggle with glee. “Richard Hammond knows I married!” she said that a few times I can promise you! I’m glad they said it was also the last time I shaved because that was the point; it was a five month old beard and that was what got me on the show in the first place, and it was important for me that it was said when I last shaved. I do love the fact that they put on “I'm Henry VIII, I Am” by Herman’s Hermits on, whenever I did the course. That was a stroke of genius! I hadn’t heard the song in many a year (where as  a few people have associated “Big Bad John” with me a few times) so it was awesome to hear it again, and played whenever I did the course. Whenever I went into the water they played Tudor music which had my wife in stitches. It was funny, and I have to admit I loved it. The mixture of “here’s John he’s going for it on the course” and the happy “Henry VIII I Am” music contrasted with the “oh dear, John’s in the water” and sad Tudor music. It was really funny, really well done and it got a huge thumbs up from me.

I wasn’t happy they gave me the dreaded “oh let’s get back to him later on” segment! They give those to the really slow contestants and I had a strong feeling they would do it to me. Of course, doing that and then sandwiching Woody between my segments was fine. Woody, or John the Policeman as he was on the show, had the fastest time of the first round so I’m okay with him being between my clips. He was super speedy and did it in less than half my time. I knew they’d show me going the wrong way on the show, which was embarrassing, but it was okay. I am kind of disappointed they didn’t show my Granny’s House as I beat the first door, although I did get hit by “Tevez”, which was what Richard called the dog there. But my embarrassing attempt at the Big Red Balls was a highlight primarily because I stool still on the escalator, but I stood there because I was so tired at that point I wanted a little rest! What I didn’t know about my ‘attempt’ at the Big Red Balls, if you want to call it an attempt is how close my head bounced backwards towards the tip of the escalator, it was really close! I could have gotten really hurt if that happened so thankfully it didn’t. But instead, I had the embarrassment of bouncing backwards in front of the first ball, and having to swim past all four. Thankfully, because that took so long, they skipped to John the Policeman then. When they returned they showed my log jam. I was really happy that I beat the first log, and I had no chance with the second. My little bit of jiggling on the second log was quite funny to watch as well, as you could see, with Amanda laughing at me! Believe it or not I did pose at the end when I clocked in at 6:25, but they didn’t want to show that because they wanted to emphasise on how knackered I was.

As I said, I don’t remember much of my interview with Amanda afterwards but I loved the fact that the only thing they showed was me saying “I wasn’t prepared for that at all”, which made my wife’s day. She loved the fact that I’d say something so obvious and so silly at the end of such a struggled performance. It was funny, I really thought it added to my section of the show but when I said those words in person with Amanda, and the rest of the interview, I was really negative and upset. So there’s two ways of looking at it. But overall, I was really happy with how they portrayed me on TV, I loved the Henry VIII nonsense, and I loved the music even more. Considering how they could have made me looked, I got made to look like someone who really struggled on the course, but was great fun at the same time. Some have said that my part in the show was the best, and I was the most entertaining person on our show. I can’t say that was true, after all, the 19 other people were all brilliant as well and besides, a lot of my friends and family will inevitably say that as they watched the show to see me, so naturally liked my involvement most. But it was nice to see people really enjoyed it.

To wrap up this amazingly long article (Overall it’s over 31,000 words, by far the longest article I have ever produced), My Winter Wipeout Experience will stay with me to the grave. I’m a very lucky guy. People would pay thousands of pounds to do what I did and that is take on the Wipeout course. Only just over 1000 people from Britain have. That’s one in 62,262 people, or 0.0016% of the population. These are ridiculous figures, and I did it! I am very lucky and I’m more than aware of that, but I’m so grateful for the opportunity. I’m so grateful to Endemol, to the BBC, to the researchers who gave me the opportunity. I’m so appreciative to have been given a chance to travel to the other side of the world for free, with spending cash and hotel paid. I’m so lucky and indebted to be given a chance to do the Wipeout course, and appear on national TV, and appear in front of 4 million people on the telly. I’m really lucky and really amazed that I did it. I also want to thank the 19 contestants on my show for helping me have one of the best times of my life, and for being there for me when I was down and embarrassed after performing miserably on the course, and for helping me have such a laugh on the other side of the world. I want to thank individually Andy Rowe and Emma Taylor, who were awesome producers and did an amazing job with the way they portrayed me on TV, and for being really cool in person in Argentina. I want to thank Maisie, Millie, Nick, Siobhan for being amazing researchers and for helping us all over Buenos Aires and beyond. I want to especially thank Frankie for taking us to and from Argentina, for being our mummy, for counting the 20 of us over and over again and making sure that we will always find our buddies when needed. There are other researchers and people at Endemol Argentina that I haven’t named but played a part in my amazing experience, so thank you all too. I want to thank Amanda for being so lovely in Argentina, for being so humble and supportive, yet laughing at me when I fell ridiculously on course. I want to thank Richard Hammond for not ripping into me as often as he does other contestants! He was surprisingly nice and he is right, walking or running on an escalator is overrated! I want to thank Sophie for giving me some of the great HQ shots took in Argentina, which look absolutely fabulous. Finally, I want to thank anyone else I may have forgotten that played a part, everyone has been awesome and I can’t thank you all enough!

My Winter Wipeout Experience was a once in a lifetime opportunity and will live with me forever. Thanks for reading all about it and I hope you enjoyed both my performance and this incredibly long article! Take care!

Official Winter Wipeout Episode 6 Shot. Thanks for reading!

 If you haven't seen it yet you can see my performance, which was edited by Episode 5 contestant Gemma Murdock below! 

For the latest updates on my work, 'like' me on Facebook here!

Live Thoughts: Liverpool vs Manchester United (Premier League)

I wrote this live. These are my unedited thoughts when we took on United at Anfield.
Hey everyone, welcome to another of my Live Thoughts feeds, this time I'm back with the mighty Reds, and by that I mean Liverpool obviously, when we take on The Red Devils in Manchester United. A win today would mean a lot, a win over the champions would finally give them their first defeat of the season, and would make us feel like we're closer to the top than some people think we are. That being said, a top 4 finish this season is still the target in my eyes. But that doesn't mean I want more! Let's kick the Mancs out of their stride at Anfield!

Here are teams:

Liverpool: Reina, Kelly, Carragher, Skrtel, Enrique, Kuyt, Lucas, Adam, Gerrard, Downing, Suarez. Subs: Doni, Bellamy, Carroll, Henderson, Spearing, Robinson, Agger.

Gerrard starts his first game since March, seven months ago today. Hopefully some of the anxious faithful can shut up now! It's an intruiging lineup with Gerrard playing in the hole and Suarez up front on his own. It's either a piece of tactical genius or it's a big mistake. We have no height in our attack now really and if their defence wins the battle, we aren't scoring, pure and simple. But Suarez ripped their defence with his trickery last time, let's hope he has a similar game. Suarez and Gerrard combining for the first time properly is a salivating thought though.

Manchester United: De Gea, Smalling, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra, Park, Fletcher, Giggs, Jones, Young, Welbeck. Subs: Lindegaard, Anderson, Rooney, Hernandez, Carrick, Nani, Valencia.

Wow... Rooney, Hernandez AND Nani on the bench? Are you serious bro? That's a huge gamble by Alex Ferguson, arguably his three most threatening players are on the bench. It makes a very strong bench mind. Let's hope we can put pressure on them early and make them pay for their potential mistake. Very dangerous gambling by old purple nose.

1' - Alex Ferguson says that Rooney had a bad week and that's why he's not playing. He's also playing more defensively because we took advantage of a lot of space on the pitch in the last match. Fair enough. It's still a defensive approach, one that hopefully we'll take advantage of.

4' - There's a lot of youth on both sides which is good, they just said that Phil Jones wasn't even born the last time we won the league. Ouch. We do have Martin Kelly and Suarez who are both very young. 

7' - Stewart Downing stretches into a tackle and it was slightly mistimed and it was called for a foul. I do like the crunching tackles and stuff, but we only just played Everton and in these derbies you need to be careful. 

10' - Manchester United are putting a bit of pressure on us but we're defending very well. No hoels at the moment. 

13' - Free kick for Manchester United a few yards outside the corner of the right side of the penalty area, Young takes it and it's straight to Reina's gloves.

15' - Some good attacking play from United, they're starting to get on top of us . It ends with Patrice Evra crossing from the left wing to Phil Jones who can't quite get to it. Not good.

18' - It's the one year anniversary since the new American owners took over. It's been a good year I'd say. 

20' - A small amount of pressure for us gets us a corner. A quick corner is taken and Gerrard can't quite get to it. Close though. 

23' - The game is a lot more open now, with us looking a little bit more threatening. 

26' - A huge amount of dominance now, pretty much three minutes straight of us just chipping away at them. Great stuff.

27' - The dominance halts as Lucas brings down Park Ji-Sung for a yellow card.


29' - A battle between Suarez and Ferdinand and the veteran defender falls on his arse and is made to look a fool. Excellent.

32' - The game has calmed down a bit now which is a shame. 

34' - SUAREZ! Saved by De Gea! What a shame, he should have done better. He shook the last defender loose and shoots straight at the young Spaniard. 

35' - Possession so far is 56%/44% to Liverpool, which is good. We have been better in the last quarter. 

36' - Darren Fletcher wastes a good chance as Manchester United pass smoothly around the Liverpool defence, it's cut to Fletcher who takes a shot from the corner of the right side of the penalty area with a bit of space, and it's wide to the left. 

38' - The Kop is singing "I Just Can't Get Enough", I love this chant. 

39' - Skrtel goes down the right wing like a proper winger, he beats two defenders before Ferdinand stops him. Good stuff. 

40' - Wayne Rooney goes for a job on the touchline and gets booed by the Kop. As a Liverpool fan I'm happy naturally, although as an England fan I do think a three match ban was harsh. But it's Liverpool today and with Rooney not playing I'm chuffed. 

42' - Yellow card for Ashley Young for shoulder barging Gerrard.. Free kick towards the right corner flag, Charlie Adam takes it and De Gea punches it out.

43' - Lucas and Phil Jones bang heads and Jones is out for the moment. Lucas sluggishly falls to the floor. It wasn't intentional by Lucas. I hope Jones is okay. 

44' - Phil Jones is now sitting up, that's good. It looked really nasty. 

45' - Two minutes of added time, although they may be more. Jones has gone off the pitch and Lucas is staying on. 

45+2' - Half time.

My summary of the first half was that it's been an interesting game, it's not really been outstanding as such, but there's been some half chances on both sides. The best chance was Suarez's effort that was tame and straight at De Gea. I think we had the better half, but you can't rule out Manchester United, they've had their spells as well. Let's hope we can start the second half well, as their bench is really dangerous and we don't want to leave it at 0-0 when the big guns come on. 

47' - Pepe Reina doesn't deal with an Ashley Young free kick very well. Danger is over though.

48' - Downing claims that Chris Smalling was tugging at his shirt as they battle down the left flank. The ref lets it go for a goal kick. 

50' - Suarez does his magic in a tight situation with Chris Smalling and wins a corner. Smalling is lucky it was just that as it looked like he beat him!

51' - KUYT! Hand ball! It was hand ball in the Manchester United box but Johnny Evans gets away with it! 

53' - Yellow card for Ferdinand as he brings Adam down.

54' - Suarez takes a shot and it's saved well be De Gea. It was around 20 yards out and low, but there was some space in the corner of the box when he took it. 

55' - Gerrard storms into the right side of the box and takes a shot but it was too close to the end of the pitch for him to get a good enough shot and it's saved. 

56' - Liverpool Sub: Jordan Henderson comes on for Lucas Leiva. Interesting change, I think it's considered an attacking one. 

57' - Just a little observation, Martin Skrtel plays with a lot more passion nowadays than ever before. He goes forward more and he's a lot more animate. It's good. 

57' - Suarez fouls Evra and it was a little malicious. Evra is limping off. Suarez gets away with it, it looked intentional, not too dissimilar to Rooney's sending off last week, although more discrete.

60' - We're definitely playing better than Man United now, although Nani is about to come on. He's had an excellent year. Evra is back on by the way.

62' - United start an attack but we end up counter attacking it. It's end to end at the moment, a great game to watch. 

63' - Suarez dances around the Man United players in their box but he has to drift to the left and his shot is deflected. Corner. The corner leads to a retake, which then leads to a Charlie Adam shot which is from the wide and not deep enough.

64' - Patrice Evra is booked for moaning at the referee for the tackle from Suarez earlier, and for the fact that he's basically an awesome little Uruguayan menace in their box. 

66' - FREE KICK in a dangerous area. Ferdinand clips Adam down JUST outside the box. No card though, Ferdinand could have been booked and sent off for that. 

67' - GERRARD! FUCK YES! Gerrard slams the ball low into the bottom right of the United net! 1-0! 

68' - Double Man United Substitution - Wayne Rooney and Nani come on for Park Ji-Sung and Ashley Young.

69' - People are arguing that Adam went down with minimal contact but I don't think so. It was a lazy foot that Ferdinand put out and there was enough contact. No, it wasn't a double footed challenge or anything rash, but it was enough. 

70' - Haha, when you see the replay of the goal, look at Suarez! He's in the wall with the United players and he turns around and starts dancing, taunting De Gea! Fucking legend! 

73' - More statistics for you, Man United have lost the last three visits to Anfield, this being the fourth in a row if they lose today. It doesn't feel like we've been that dominant at home against them, but it's true. Also, this is the first time United have been behind in a match this season, and if they lose, it's their first defeat. Let's hope all this continues or it all means nothing then! 

74' - One thing that frustrated me about Gerrard in the last eighteen months or so was his lack of goals from free kicks. Most of his goals were penalties last season. To see him score such a fantastic free kick is great, it's a sight I missed dearly. Steve Gerrard, Gerrard... 

75' - Nani blasts the ball well wide over the bar. 

76' - United Sub: Phil Jones comes off for Javier Hernandez. Obviously an attacking sub, and it's their last one.

77' - More stats, so far, both sides have had nine shots on goal, but six of ours have been on target. United? Only two. 

78' - Nani appeals for handball when it appears to his the lower inside arm of Jose Enrique. It looks unintentional, but it could have easily been given. 

80' - GOAL! Patrice Evra! Two United corners in succession, both taken by Nani, the second lands on Evra's head and it goes straight in. 1-1. Completely against the recent run of play. Gutted.

81' - KUYT! Great save by De Gea! A lovely cross from Downing bounces in the box and Kuyt gets to it and it looks like it's going straight in but for De Gea! 

83' - It's end to end stuff at the moment. I think we should bring Bellamy on for the last few minutes. We'll see.

85' - What passion form Jordan Henderson, the ball was loose and wild and he controls it and retreats slightly backwards and slides the ball into possession. It's hard to describe what he did but put it this way, it was appreciated by the Kop.

86' - Downing! Just wide. His shot was from the left just outside the box and he hits it just over the right side of the bar. 

88' - Free kick in relatively dangerous area for Liverpool. It's about 8 yards further back and more to the right than from the earlier one. Unfortunately it doesn't really go anywhere and it ends up leading to a goal kick for United. 

90' - HENDERSON! My goodness! That was close! Great save from De Gea in the end. Really Gerrard-esque, he who shoots from the outside of the right hand side of the box and it looks like it creeps into the top left corner, but De Gea gets a great glove to it! Three minutes of added time.

90+1' - The corner is taken and we're all over them in the box! Many near chances, the best being from Suarez who tries to head backwards into the net but it's dealt with. So close! 

90+1' - Henderson! Grr! Downing crosses from the left and Henderson is in the box and he heads it just over the bar.

90+3' - Full time. 

GAAHH!! We were so close. We beat the crap out of United in the second half. If it was a boxing match we would have won this match on points. But it's not boxing, it's football. Our free kick goal was the justification for this dominance, with Gerrard slotting it into the bottom right corner. Their goal was completely against the run of play. I genuinely believe we were the better side today. They were lucky to come away with a point. They're still undefeated but you know something? They'll go back to Manchester with their tails between their legs because they were beat on that pitch today. It's a reality check for them. And for us? A fantastic second half display against the best side in the land really will do us good. Yes it was two points dropped at home. But we played with passion and quality against a very good United side. It wasn't that United played badly today, it was that we played better than them all over the pitch. Bring on the next match! I can't wait! That's it from me today, take care and spike your hair.

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