As you all know Rafa is fast approaching his 100th consecutive game with a changed starting XI. In honour of that feat LFC Vancouver is starting a ‘Guess the Starting XI Contest’.

RULES:

• Only open to paid LFC Vancouver Members.
• You list the names of the players you think will start the next LFC match.
• You must submit your list to lfcvancouver [at] gmail.com at least 12 hours before kick-off.
• This contest will include every match that LFC plays this season. Starting with Blackburn.
• The member(s) that correctly guess the starting XI will be awarded 5 points.
• At the end of the season the player with the most points will win the prize.
• What is the prize? It is a surprise!
• The standings will be included in each week’s newsletter.

You can send comments or questions to the Andy [at] lfcvancouver.com.

YNWA/JFT 96,

Andy Neumann

By LFC Vancouver member Steven Speed, 15 November 06.

After the Arsenal defeat on Sunday I have nothing good to say about the current state of affairs. About the only positive I can take at the moment is that it can’t get any worse. At least we’ve now played (and lost) all our most difficult games this season away to Bolton, Everton, Chelsea, Man Utd and Arsenal and now there is an opportunity to go on a run and get into the top four.

Rafa is once again under the spotlight for his team selection, particularly with the midfield, what on earth was going on with Zenden and Gonzalez starting? As soon as I saw their names in the starting lineup I was in shock & there was a loud collective groan at LSPH when the other members saw the lineup. With the injury to Sissoko there is no longer an excuse for Gerrard not being played in central midfield. Personally I believe Warnock should play left back and Riise should be on the left wing where he does the most damage. Gonzalez is not coming to terms with the pace of the Premiership and the lack of supply from the left definitely hurt Crouch and Kuyt up front.

So if I have nothing good to say about the current situation I was wondering what on earth I was going to talk about this week and I have decided to write my memories of a very special week in May 2001.

It was the week when Liverpool completed the historic treble of trophies, it started with the ‘Owen Final’ and ended with the clinching of a Champions League spot at Charlton.

I watched the FA Cup Final against Arsenal at a barbecue being held at the house of family friends of my best mate Pat. It was gloriously sunny outside on that Saturday, has there ever been an FA Cup Final played without sunshine?

Unfortunately these family friends were quite a reserved lot, unlike me and Pat, so it was difficult getting any atmosphere from them during the game. I don’t recall a great deal about the first eighty two minutes except for the Henchoz handball, the Ljunberg goal and the fact we got absolutely pasted beyond belief including us clearing off the line a couple of times.

The game looked dead and buried, we were creating absolutely nothing and heads were going down fast. Then we got a free kick when Gary McAllister stepped up to take it we sensed something magic about to happen. McAllister was in the middle of an unbelievable spell of goals and man of the match performances at the end of that season. Starting with the last second winner in the derby, he seemed to score the winner in a series of important one nil wins against Bradford, Coventry and most importantly Barcelona in the UEFA Cup semi final.

The free kick was knocked in an Arsenal defender headed the ball into the air it bounced off Babbel and fell in an amazing position to the one man you would bet your house on to score. Pat and I went absolutely berserk, our hosts were clearly happy and excited but managed to maintain their dignity as Pat and I jumped all over the furniture almost landing on people’s heads!

We managed to compose ourselves and sit back down for the restart just hoping we wouldn’t blow it and hang on for extra time. We barely had time to discuss the goal when Berger hit a long ball over Arsenal’s midfield. We saw Owen sprinting onto it but clearly Adams and Dixon easily had him covered. How wrong we were as the entire season flashed before our eyes when the ball crept past Seaman and into the corner of the net. Oh my god, the house went insane as Pat and I burst out the patio doors and into the garden, shirts flying in the air in our dance of jubilation. Lovely moment as Fowler and Hyppia invited club captain Jamie Redknapp, out injured long term, down onto the pitch to help lift the trophy. I remember his dad Harry, was commentating on BBC at the time and he had tears in his eyes at the moment, as did we. Incredible scenes that never seemed to end as the music was blasted the cans of ale were cracked open and the party just went on and on.

The next few days went really fast and in a blur as the anticipation built for the UEFA Cup Final in Dortmund against unfancied Spanish side Deportivo Alaves. It had been sixteen years since our last European final and the hype building up to the game was massive. I don’t think I’ve ever felt as excited before a game as I was feeling before this one. In the month before the game I had spent two weeks doing a temporary job booking travel packages and tickets for the big game. How jealous I was of the thousands of customers I dealt with over those two weeks, but it all added to my excitement for the match.

The venue for my viewing of this one was quite different to one on the previous Saturday as my dad and I watched this game in The Sefton Arms pub in West Derby Village, Liverpool. Unfortunately I was here in Vancouver watching Istanbul 2005, but how I imagine the atmosphere back home on that amazing night was probably a more extreme version of my experiences during the UEFA Cup Final 2001.

Obviously the pub was unbelievably crowded when we got there, fortunately my dad’ mates had saved us a tasty speck near the big screen and with pints in hand we were ready for kick off. We were never too nervous before the start as none of us had ever heard of Alaves so didn’t think we had much to worry about, surely we weren’t going to blow the treble now, especially after all we went through to win the previous two finals that season.

We didn’t have to wait long for the breakthrough from a trademark Babbel header followed shortly after by a terrific Gerrard shot. We were two nil up and absolutely flying, even when they got one back we weren’t bothered especially when Owen went clear through with the goalie and there is usually only one outcome in that situation. This time however the Alaves goalie came bursting out of his area and dragged Owen down, fortunately Michael was clever enough to go down inside the area. It was a penalty and surely a straight red card for the goalie. It seemed to take forever while the referee made up his mind before brandishing a yellow to the sound of loud expletives in the boozer. I had a flashback to this during the Gatuso incident during the Champions League Final. Up stepped Gary Mac to coolly dispense with the penalty and restore our two goal advantage.

Half time arrived and people were already ordering the champagne there and then, I couldn’t recall ever seeing such a one sided European final before. We were so far on top we were even starting to take gentleman’s bets on how many we’d end up scoring, five, six and even seven was mentioned as it was very possible that Alaves would completely collapse if we scored early in the second half.

So a quick trip to the bog and another pint ordered and we were ready for the restart. Jubilation was soon turned to complete shock and silence as our defense collapsed and Javi Moreno fired two quick goals to level the score at three all. We had gone from absolutely flying to basically hanging on for our lives as Alaves began to pile on the pressure with wave after wave of attack dealt with brilliantly by McAllister having the game of his life.

Twenty minutes to go and onto the pitch to replace the hapless Heskey comes Robbie Fowler. Loud cheers and God chants mixed with adults only insults directed at Heskey go up round the pub. The arrival of The Growler combined with Alaves taking off their most dangerous player Moreno, seemed to give us a second wind as we began to create more opportunities. Then the ball fell to McAllister who played a tremendous ball through the Alaves defense. Fowler picked up the ball on the edge of the box and we all shouted for him to pass to Owen who was free in the area, instead Fowler decided to shoot and absolutely buried it in the corner. The pub descended into absolute mayhem, my dad was in the bathroom at that moment and came running out the bathroom in time for the replay describing scenes of men pissing on their keks in a rush to see what all the screaming was about. My own reaction was to stand still on the spot, arms in the air screaming “Fowler, Fowler, Fowler” over and over again for about a minute as fellow fans shook me out of it.

Surely that had to be it now, we couldn’t take any more drama, clearly Houllier was thinking the same way as he took Michael Owen off. Nobody said anything but I had a horrible thought of what the hell is he doing, what if it goes to extra time? My fears were well founded as Alaves equalized again in the ninetieth minute from a header by Jordi Cruyff an ex Man Utd player, bloody typical.

Final whistle blows and everyone just collapses onto each other, I don’t know how I managed to not throw up or have a heart attack on the spot. The first half of extra time goes without incident as it looks like it’s heading for penalties as both sides look knackered. Then in the second half things go crazy as Alaves get two players sent off. The second leads to a free kick on the left edge of the box. Up steps that man (of the match) McAllister again to take it. The TV camera gets a close up of his face about to take it and he has that same look in his eyes as before the derby winner just weeks earlier. We sense that something is on and next thing you know the ball is in the net and it’s a golden goal. What a way to end such a dramatic game, in the pub we all go absolutely berserk and the noise was so loud that the commentary on the TV was drowned out. None of us knew who had actually scored the winning goal and speculation was rampant as to who got the final touch, it took a while till we realized it was actually an own goal.

‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ was played loudly and repeatedly as we watched Robbie and Sami lift the trophy and then the disco music came on and we danced into the night and got absolutely bladdered.

Cut to four days later and it’s the final game of the season and our fourth ‘cup final’. Victory over Charlton would guarantee us third place in The Premiership and a Champions League place in the following season. The first half we were hardly in the game at all, the players appeared to be still hung-over from the previous two games and it looked like Charlton were going to do us. It was a completely different story second half as we absolutely battered them and eventually won four nil.

The parade followed the following Sunday with the all three trophies proudly on display. It had been a long time since I had a day like that related to Liverpool FC and it was tremendous, that atmosphere in town was awesome and however you imagine it to be will probably be correct.

What a season that was, it really did look like the good times were just around the corner, an awesome summer followed.

Its memories like these that keep me believing during the bad times, for example every Premiership away game this season. I have a weird feeling that come next May we will be witnessing another parade around Liverpool.

I’d love to hear any recollections from other Reds about your memories of these and other classic games.

You’ll Never Walk Alone.

What do you think? Give Ste your comments at steSpeed [at] lfcvancouver.com.

Standings as of 19 November 06.

Rank	Member	Points
1	Glenn Whyte	0
1	Ste	0
1	Lance	0
1	Keith	0
1	Quentin	0
1	Andy	0
1	Dave Curtis	0
1	Dennis	0
1	Mark Ashton	0
1	Glenn W	0

It has been seven matches and no winner yet! The contest is not as easy as one would hope, don't forget to email your starting XI for the Aston Villa game.

To enter the members contest see the rules above.