I DID NOT WANT IT TO END

I Did Not Want It to End

Newcastle United A

26/7/20.

I could have just carried on watching as the last twenty minutes of our season wound down in the best possible way, with the reds playing delightful one-touch, flicking football, like the true champions they are. It was an absolute joy to watch and I felt gutted when the final whistle went. Will we ever see anything like it again?

This time I had arrived within twenty minutes of kick-off and armed with some bars, given to me by work. I would not buy them myself but Carly smiled in delight when I popped the carrier bag down, in the kitchen, which smelt of freshly cooked chicken in a bag. It made me realise just how hungry I was having not had not much more than a bowl of cereal since I’d got-up.

It’s strange, I don’t eat much these days. I drink a lot more though and I put this down to my new job. You see, as I chatted to Carly and the lads, Dean and Davie, I took voluntary redundancy before being pushed and now am not stressed about which plastic part goes on in the correct order or what mill gap I’m allowed when a curved piece of plastic goes on a plane seat- anymore but have a physical pain sometimes; let’s just say, I don’t fear going to work now; besides which, I’ll never need a gym!

The lads tried to tell me the much-changed team, for the last time, in our Title winning season. Alli, Neco Williams, Robbo, Virg and Joe at the back with Millie, Naby and Gini in the middle. Up top there was Divock – build him a statue, Mini and ‘The Ox’. All the other main guys were on the bench. Just when was the last time Mo, Mane or Bobby did not start? One for the statisticians to look-up me’s thinks.

Newcastle. Ah, so much potential. And we gifted them a goal before we all realised it. Virg seemed to be on the back-foot and a quick free-kick ball over the top, which was put in by Gayle ‘Who always scores against us’ Deano said. After 26 seconds! Nuts. Stunned and shocked, even as VAR checked the goal. I thought that they were offside but Neco must’ve been playing them on. Lesson learnt there for our countryman.

That was about as much as Newcastle seen of the ball, as I cast my mind back to the game at Anfield when we had also gone behind. We had come back to win then. I hoped that despite us having won the League, that we would replicate that action as no-matter how many points we were ahead, I wanted Liverpool to win – always win, it has been instilled and ingrained back into our DNA now by Klopp.

There were crisps of differing sorts in the bowls – and I tried not to take too much advantage but was grateful as Liverpool almost half-heartedly knocked the ball about, hardly registering too many shots at goal in the first period apart from one by the ‘Ox’ which went wide of Dubravka’s right-post. Then the Ox got down the right by-line with a burst of pace and crossed and there was Virg to head powerfully into Dubravka’s top left-hand corner, postage stamp-style. What a simple, well-crafted equaliser, it meant that Virg had scored in the first and last games of our League season.

After that Newcastle may as well have not bothered. Liverpool could have scored again and as Davie finally got the half-time tea’s in, with baby Kelsey showing her ever impressive artistic portfolio of pencil drawings, and the crisps having all been consumed, the second-half was nearly under-way. Sweets were put in the bowl and Liverpool seemed to have moved-up a gear from second to fourth in one switch akin to that Niki Lauda in the film, ‘Rush’ which I’m half-way through watching. Talking of films, I chatted to Dean about the one I had seen the previous night called ‘The Post’ – quite good. He was all over it like – well, Liverpool around Newcastle’s penalty area, as modern American history is his thing. ‘Watch, ‘All the Presidents Men’ he suggested. Maybe I will – just to broaden my own mind.

We were debating about Origi and whether he was good enough – even now, as we easily recalled his vital goals on our way to winning last season’s Champions League (really – did we win that? I have to pinch myself now). And whether Divock was happy to play only fleetingly and what did he go and do, score a cracking, curling goal to put us 2-1 up! He must have heard us.

Divock was off soon though as the terrible three came on. Mane, Mo and Bob. The Geordies must’ve feared the worst. They had every right to. From the moment our main men came on, Liverpool looked totally transformed. It was first to every ball and the midfield did not look so dis-jointed to the forwards. Bobby was the orchestrator with his clever balls and first time passes as the ball was almost slid slow motion around, with first touches from the back to the front, as space was found and chances were created, with Mo hitting Dubravka’s left post almost instantly after coming on. Then he had about another three decent chances. ‘You should have had about 30 goals!’ Dean shouted at our Egyptian King who now had no-chance of retaining his Golden Boot.

As Davie urged though, we still needed that third killer goal, especially as we had seen the team concede needless goals against Burnley and Arsenal which cost us the chance of 100 points. Virg lofted a long ball forward and in the blink of a Bobby back-heel, Mane was cutting in on our left and arrowing a belter into Dubravka’s bottom left to make it 3-1. That was it. No way back for the Barcodes after that.

It should have been more as the four minutes of added on were played out. Four minutes of a season which would live long in the memory. No wonder I did not want it to end…

26/7/20.

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