The built-up to the match was increased ten-folds by the British media preying for Rafa’s head especially with rumours that Guus Hiddink and even The Special One, Jose Mourinho purportedly interested and in line to take over once the manager’s seat is vacant. Further pressure was piled on Rafa especially when the book-makers reduced the odds of Rafa getting the sack immediately should Liverpool fail to beat Spurs. Never before has a Liverpool manager been sacked in mid-season and the Kopites wasn’t going to nothing about it and let it happen. The hardcore Kopites, on seeing the injustice brought on their beloved Rafa instead, came out in full force to show their ‘Scouse Solidarity’ for Rafa, his background team as well as with the players as they arrived at Anfield for the match. This was probably the right tonic needed for the players.

It was a surprise line-up from Rafa as it read:-
Reina, Carragher (captain), Kyrgiakos, Skrtel, Insua, Lucas, Mascherano, Riera, Degen, Aquilani and Kuyt.

Old ‘arry Redknapp could not have asked for a ‘weaker’ line-up especially without Gerrard, Torres, Agger, Benayoun and Johnson. The main surprise was that Kuyt was going to be the man up front with Aquilani in the hole whilst Degen and Riera will provide support by coming in deep from the opposite end. Some of the journalist might have been quietly confident about writing an obituary for Senor Rafa and probably already half way through the main text anyway.

Instead, the Kop had rocked loud and clear and it was reminiscent of a European Cup tie rather than a mundane BPL league match but it did not matter as the Scouse Solidarity was there to support Rafa and the players. Anfield was abuzz with the support for the players. Even Steven Gerrard who is currently out with injured hamstring was in the stands boy it must have been an unusual experience for the Captain Gerrard who would usually be in the field instead of enjoying this spectacle on the stands. It probably reinforced that his decision to stay was the correct in view of his clarification that there was no bust-up with Rafa and that he’d be in Anfield for a long time.

A quick team huddle in the pitch before kick-off and already the commentators were rubbing their hands gleefully in hope that the night would end with Rafa’s head on the floor. They were in for a big surprise ……

The team played with a new fervour not seen in Rafa’s team this season (except maybe the Man Utd game & 1^st half of Arsenal game). The team played with gutso and believe that belie their position of 4 points behind Spurs and several rungs below them.

In a rare show of nerves, Pepe dropped a low cross from the left and needed to react quickly to recover as Defoe was lurking. Immediately, Pepe pumped the ball upfront for Kuyt who chested the ball down to the on-rushing Aquilani who took the ball on his stride before releasing it gently to setup Kuyt for his shot on to goal to beat the despairing dive of Gomes for Liverpool’s first goal on the 6^th minute. Aquilani was hurt as he played to setup Kuyt’s goal when Dawson tackled from behind and took Aquilani’s ankle. Aquilani required treatment for the tackle and Dawson was unpunished for his misdeed. Kuyt’s goal. Anfield were at fever pitch now and every player in Red had an extra spring to their step and movement and the believe returned to the team with each and every pass.

From one of the corners, Kyrgiakos and Crouch tussled for the ball and there were plenty of shirt pulling but fortunately for Liverpool, Howard Webb did not see it that way and Crouch was adjudged to have fouled Kyrgiakos instead.

The 2^nd half was more exciting as Spurs had to pour men forward to look for an equalizer but the Liverpool back four held firm and limited Spurs to few shots from outside the penalty box. Kyrgiakos had another slip-up when he under hit a pass to Pepe Reina with Defoe lurking and somehow managed dispossess Pepe and drive the ball over the line but fortunately, the linesman gave an offside as Defoe was coming back from an offside position.

In the 2^nd half, the returning Reira could have doubled the lead for us but just a fraction too high and the header rebounded off Gomes’ crossbar and Spurs were able to clear to safety. Reira also showed what the team had missed from him as his delivery from crosses and set-pieces were dangerous as it was driven in with pace and swerve and had Gomes flapping a few times.

Degen showed that he can also play on the wings and have the appetite for BPL games as he got stuck in and getting an earful from Carragher in the process. Degen’s speed caused issues for Spurs as he was continually hacked down by the Spurs midfield and defenders.

Degen, Kuyt and Kyrgiakos had wasted some good chances when they rushed their shots and wasted them. The crowd had begun to worry about another late sting in the tail as the second goal was not forthcoming eventhough we were the better team and creating various chances.

Aquilani also played his heart out and most times were spent helping out the midfield to check the Spurs attack and he showed some nice touches and some ‘hollywood’ spray passes which unfortunately Kuyt was too slow to respond to. Aquilani was subbed (on the 79^th minute by Ngog) and you could see he was knackered and left the pitch to a standing ovation from an appreciative Anfield crowd.

Shortly after replacing Aquilani, Ngog created a chance for himself in the penalty box with some clever piece of footballing skill and managed to forced a save from Gomes. The Spurs defenders had a tough time coping with Ngog’s speed and clever skills in the short time that he was in the game. During injury time, Bassong chopped down Ngog when the latter was about to go 1 vs 1 against Gomes. Penalty duties were undertaken by Kuyt but he had to re-take it a second time after infringement by Lucas. Kuyt made no mistake from the re-take and made the 3 points safe and a glorious night for the supporters.

Kyrgiakos was massive in the middle of defence as was Skrtel who managed to keep Defoe checked throughout the game. Carragher was leading by example when he chased a lost cause and somehow managed to win a penalty which got the crowd going again. Even Degen had a good game on the right and was like a speeding demon on the right wing – if only he had the confidence to take the shot, he could have had a goal to his name.

The team will now have several extra days to recover before the Wolves game at Molinuex to keep the momentum going by getting another 3 points. Let’s hope that Rafa and his staff can maintain his winning streak as we face a  tough February 2010 with Bolton, Everton and Arsenal fixtures.

Will Tan,

* Editor’s Note: Sorry for the late posting! As most have known, we stumbled to a draw at Molinuex and Spurs are now in front at 4th place by 3 points. All the good work done, has gone to waste with our inept display – half the team went asleep in the late kick-off game on Wednesday morning and didn’t turn up for the game. We were lucky the defenders did though. Krygiakos played a blinder to give us only our 4th clean-sheet of the season.