Quote:
Originally posted by Mike
What a horrible injury to Alan Smith and what shocked me even more was there was Liverpool supporters booing him, no matter what the rivalry its not nice to see someone get badly injured.
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There's not even a shred of accuracy in that comment. The entire ground stood and applauded him as he was stretchered off the pitch. I was listening to local radio on my mobile as we left Anfield, and even one of manure's fans (surprisingly an authentic manchunian, rather than the typical cockney) called in to give us credit for that. The only player that received any boos was Neville, which was inevitable, and thoroughly deserved. Wayne ‘no medals’ Rooney got the obligatory ‘You fat b******’ chants whenever he came near the Kop, but again, richly deserved. We even stood and applauded Van der Sar as he took his position in front of The Kop for the second half.
We're the most respected supporters in the Premiership because of our sense of fair play and honesty. Your lot, meanwhile, are despised by the rest of the country for being just the opposite. But we really shouldn't be too surprised, as this is typical manure fantasy of the armchair glory seekers. A fan of any other team would've just been honest and acknowledged the respectful ovation Smith received from us. Why not just admit that you were outclassed, outplayed, and are now out of the cup to a far superior team? We beat you fair and square, and it’s time to recognise that your days in the sun are now over. Football belongs to Liverpool – your lot have had it on loan for a while, but now we’re taking back what’s rightfully ours. So convincing was our performance, there’s not really even any need to point out the exceptionally biased referee, Ferguson’s pre-match comments which ensured that was always going to be the case, and the fact that your team spent more time trying to influence the referee than they did actually playing football. Or the clear penalty we were denied when Giggs took Kewell down inside the box.
I’ve just rewound the video of the match back too, and there’s no booing to be heard at all. John Motson notes during BBC’s commentary that Smith received an ovation from both sets of supporters. The booing started after he’d left the pitch, and that was because the fourth official held up the board showing 7 minutes, when it should’ve been no more than 5. I’ve been all over the net looking for any evidence to support your fanciful allegation, and found none other than on Sky Sports’ forums. But there are claims there of an ‘Are you watching Georgie Best?’ chant that the mancs themselves never heard, and similarly supposed Hillsborough jibes that none of our fans heard.
There’s even a ludicrous claim that Riise deliberately stamped on Smith after he went down, and also a mention of the half-eaten burger that was thrown at Neville. That must’ve really hurt – poor bloke was probably expecting cake on his birthday, after all. No mention of Ronaldo escaping what should’ve been a straight red for blatantly and deliberately elbowing Sissoko in the face off the ball after manure had been incorrectly awarded a free kick shortly before Smith went down, of course. And no mention of the fact that the Police made their first arrest of the day from manure’s section of the lower Anfield Road stand before there was even 15 minutes on the clock, either. But there’s also a thread in the Liverpool section there, started by a manure fan to acknowledge our fans’ reaction to Smith’s injury, and also another started by a Liverpool fan in the manure section wishing Smith good luck and a speedy recovery. And the first players to visit the treatment room after the game to check on Smith’s condition were Cisse and Kewell.
But everything else aside, the last word belongs to Ferguson on this occasion – ‘We lost the game because our squad isn’t tall enough’.
