"Their keeper made a great save in each half, particularly the one from Stewart Downing - it was a great, great save. And then there was the one from Gabby later on. We had two go inches past the post too.

REDS AROUND THE WORLD: MALAYSIA
Jonno Lim, Malaysia 13 January 2009

Meet 32-year-old events manager Jonno Lim, who helps run an independent supporters’ club and gets up at the crack of dawn to catch the Reds in action with hundreds of other fans in a crowded Malaysian bar.
Like most things, my association with the Malaysian independent supporters' club started with a few beers. After meeting on the fans' forum Red and White Kop (RAWK), we decided that as there were a fair number of us Reds in the same corner of the world, the least we could do was watch a game together in a bar.

Liverpool ran home 3-0 winners over Everton at Goodison Park that day in August 2003, with Michael Owen scoring a brace and Harry Kewell getting the third goal just before the final whistle.

Having supported the club from afar for so long, it felt very special to be enjoying a Liverpool victory with a few like-minded people. I had watched the Reds with friends before, but nothing like this. Even the owner of the Boardwalk on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur was a Reds fanatic, so it became known as the closest thing any Malaysian Red could get to the special Anfield atmosphere.

There are so many Liverpool fans in this part of the world, and they all have their own story to tell. Some adopt the Reds because of their history, others simply get drawn in by the miracle of Istanbul in 2005 or the breathtaking 'Gerrard Final' of 2006.





The only reason I can offer for following the Reds is probably quite similar to most people's - all of my family are massive Liverpool fans. It goes way back to the seventies and beyond, so it was a no-brainer for me to be the same as them.

My earliest memory is of Michael Thomas and Ian Rush securing the FA Cup for Liverpool with great goals against Sunderland at Wembley in 1992. I can also vividly remember Neil 'Razor' Ruddock holding his head after scoring a late equaliser in the dramatic 3-3 draw with Manchester United in January 1994.

Nigel Clough scored twice that day, but the look on Ruddock's face will remain with me forever - the ball hit him on the top of his head before going in the net and he seemed in quite a lot of pain while celebrating his decisive goal at Anfield. I couldn't stop laughing.

As time went by, my Liverpool obsession grew. We experienced many joyous Saturday and Sunday nights at the Boardwalk over the years and celebrated many great Liverpool victories there. But our friend, Bala, soon told us he had to sell his bar and we were left with nowhere to watch our beloved Reds during the early hours of the morning over here in Malaysia.

And when the new owner of the Boardwalk told us they would not be opening for the 2007 Champions League final clash with AC Milan due to the fact it would be kicking off at 3.30am over here, we knew that we had to act quickly to find a new venue.

After a long and frustrating search, we finally found a small pub that would open for the match. We got in touch with our friends and fellow supporters to join us for the big game, as we knew that whenever Liverpool was involved in a big European game, it was guaranteed to be something special.





We only really expected about 50 people to turn up at the most, but the bar ended up being crammed full with about 200 fans, all screaming at the screen, willing on the Reds. We were all disappointed that Rafa's men did not win that night in Athens, but a few of us knew right then that not only did we need a bigger venue, but also a proper fan club to bring all of these Liverpool supporters together.

We called our new supporters' club 'MyRAWK', as most of us had met through RAWK, while the ‘My’ stands for Malaysia and also gives us a sense that a certain part of LFC can belong to us individually.

Things were tough at the beginning, but settling on the M Bar as our exclusive home for watching all the games helped us a lot. The owner agreed to open up at all the unsociable hours involved in supporting a club many miles away and laid on a host of generous drinks offers.

What started as a small MyRAWK blog soon turned into a full website, and before long we had Liverpool fans joining us from all over for our match-viewing parties. From local lawyers to homesick expats, tourists to ex players (Ian Rush once even joined us - that was a very special day), the M Bar is now full of fervent fans week in, week out. I usually take up the microphone at each event and am always proud to be the official master of ceremonies.

We even have our futsal team and are also in the process of setting up a full 11-a side side. Our interim team recently won our first trophy, the Christmas Cup and one day we hope to have a proper team which takes part in the local social league.




But due to the exchange rate and distance, not many of us have been lucky enough to get over to Anfield. I am currently saving up to make the pilgrimage one day next season with a few other fans. I'm sure that once we get up close to Liverpool's hallowed home, there will be many of us who will be close to tears, as this would be nothing short of our visiting our very own Mecca.

One of our newer members, Phil, who now lives in Liverpool, always talks about how unbelievable it is that a bunch of guys who have never seen the Reds play up close can wake up in the middle of the night to support a team who are playing nearly 7,000 miles away, only to go back to bed and rise for work less than two hours later.

But none of us at MyRAWK would have it any other way. Witnessing another Liverpool victory make all the long, sleepy days in the office after a match worth it - and believe you me, there have been a lot of those in recent years.

Jonno was speaking to Joe Curran

SOURCE

Too bad for Kuyt last min missed...Or else he will be the new cult hero.

Spurs got held too...We have to resort to HOPING and PRAYING.

sack benitez x3. Come make it more

Really negative lineup at start. Looks like he looking for draw. Aqua / Maxi should start instead of Degen

The 4th candidate now is ManC.

No point to look on others and hoping and praying other to draw or loss, if ownself cannot win a match.

Liverpool supporter should be glad that Kuyt header doesn't go in, if not, there will be excuse season start from here again.
I preferred Liverpool to lose this match if they are not playing well to serve as wake up call, if not, major overhaul will be delayed by a few lucky win, which is badly needed now.

There is nothing to play for furthermore, if loss against Spurs, season for Liverpool could ended already.

If a manager put up 8 defensive player in a match, how do or can supporters expect to win a match. the mentality is like more a relegation team that hope for a draw only from the match, which 1 points is considered enough with this kind of mentality. <--- this is Liverpool???

If Liverpool plays this line up against Chelsea or MU, then may be can find excuse or reason from it, but against Stoke???? This feel embrassing.

They are our next opponent though.Letting them losing confidence and off form is sorta great news to us.

They are our next opponent though.Letting them losing confidence and off form is sorta great news to us.

Rafa Benítez deserves the chance to overachieve with Liverpool again
It is always hard to tell much from Rafael Benitez's manner, so guarded is he in public, but those who see a dead man walking must have felt a burst of schadenfreude when he emerged for his Friday press conference clutching his notes.

A Nixon-style resignation speech? No, a Clinton-style apology.
That simple assumption of responsibility, that simple act of modest contrition, punctured some of the mounting hysteria and bloodlust.


This is a man who is not doing his job very well, a man who used to do his job very well indeed less than a year ago. Is it entirely heretical to suggest that Benítez might deserve a chance to put right the mess he has made of this season?
This kind of hysteria is ultimately driven by results, but they have been bad for a while. Suddenly we have reached the tipping point.

The ex-players are wheeled out to pronounce the death sentence but, when it comes to running a multi-million pound football club, do they have credibility? Ronnie Whelan has not managed for eight years but when he did it was Southend and some clubs in Cyprus and Greece. Jason McAteer? He was sacked as John Barnes' assistant at Tranmere this season. Not exactly judges with gravitas.

What about the supporters? There has been fierce loyalty to Benítez at Anfield over the years, especially when he has taken on Tom Hicks and George Gillett. Now a significant portion of the support has turned on Benítez.

It is easy to pour empty flattery on to Liverpool fans, but really they are not much different to football fans the country over. More active than many in taking a direct interest in how the club is run on every level, sure, but still prone to shouting one thing at the final whistle and thinking another when reflecting in the pub.

The mentality of the pack, the mass, the herd develops its own momentum and, from the outside, it is hard to see Benítez surviving beyond the end of the season. This is a real pity because Benítez – eccentric, political, stubborn and vindictive as he can be – is a man who has been overachieving ever since he arrived at Anfield.

Take this rather imperfect analogy: Benítez as a Formula 1 driver. He comes in and starts driving for a team that has a resonant name, a history full of great deeds, fresh memories of famous victories. The problem is, the car isn't good enough. The owner's not putting the money in, the marketing guys can't get the lucrative sponsorship deals and the engineers are complacent.

Still, Benítez drives out of his skin. Race after race, he squeezes every last bit of juice out of this failing car and delivers some famous victories. Then, bang, he loses it. Perhaps it was the persistent technical disasters, that prompted it, but suddenly he is suffused with self doubt: he can't pick the racing line, he breaks too early or too late. He's struggling just to finish, let alone compete.

Now what do you do? Fire the driver? The car is still worse than its rivals – worse and getting worse. For one bad season in which he has failed to overachieve again? You need a special combination of ambition and patience to succeed driving in this team – a combination that is rare enough.

For a start, Liverpool will not sack Benítez before the end of the season (barring open player revolt or a truly comical series of results). Who next? Jose Mourinho? Guus Hiddink? Great drivers but are they going to risk their reputation getting into this car, with its huge expectation but poor performance?

The silver in the trophy cabinet can skew your perspective of a football club. If you are brutally objective about Liverpool, they look like a club equipped for the 20th century not the 21st. Compare them to one of their potential usurpers in the top four, Tottenham Hotspur, who they host at Anfield on Wednesday. It's not a flattering one.

Spurs have not won an away game against the big four since they won in the League Cup at Anfield in November 1998 – that's no away win in 65 attempts. Historically, Liverpool are the superior club. But you look at the future and there is only one club pointing in remotely the right direction.

Tottenham turned a profit last year. The diggers are in at their new training ground at Bulls Cross in Enfield, which will be one of the very best in the world. Planning permission is in for a new 60,000 stadium – the only significant debt the club will take on will be directly linked to the stadium.

If the success of Arsenal's move to the Emirates (the corporate dollar pays: 20 per cent of supporters generate 80 per cent of the earnings) is any guide, Spurs will be able to service that debt with ease.
Liverpool's huge interest payments means that their parent company made a £42.6 million loss in the last financial year. The new stadium in Stanley Park was supposed to be finished by 2012 but remains in limbo, waiting for global economic recovery.

Their debt stands at £240 million but without a hike in match day or commercial revenue, or substantial outside investment, they will spend all profits servicing it, rather than playing catch up on the field. To get Liverpool pointing in the right direction, Christian Purslow, the chief executive, has to turn a tanker in a canal.

On the pitch, Spurs have a squad full of young hungry internationals with a high market value. Even more importantly, they have some of the most promising academy players in the country: John Bostock, Dean Parrett, Andros Townsend and Ryan Mason should all break into the first team in the next few years.

Liverpool have three world class players (Gerrard, Reina, Torres) and a motley crew of the not-quite-first-rate and the definitely-second-rate. The academy has not produced a player deemed fit for Liverpool since Gerrard and seemingly will not any time soon.

Benítez has certainly been one of the main architects of this season's eyesore, but he is also responsible for the construction of some of this club's finest recent monuments.
Dealing with controversial owners and dwindling revenues, Benítez has proved he can get this club punching above its weight. He deserves another round, a chance to put right the mistakes he has made.

its karma after we took after aston villa last min goal. Omfg.

hi guys. first of all, i'm a chelsea fan. and i just want to give my opinion. for a big club like liverpool, surely the current condition is very bad. for me, i still regard rafa benitez is one of the manager in football world. IMHO, the current problem faced by the club is from the owners. do you ever feel there is thing call LOVE that comes from your owner? for me, they disrupt liverpool and honestly, the thing that keeps the team together is the FANS, and the song of YNWA.

managers do make mistake. let us be fair to rafa, he do that mistake under pressure. no transfer kitty, sell players but cannot use the money and many more.. i really pity him. any manager that faced with the problem surely take time to recover or not at all. every team need new player. new player keep the competition healthy, bring new mood to other player in making friends etc

next is about the team itself. for me, liverpool need a backup striker. since liverpool like to play with torres up alone, why not try to get andre-pierre gignac to the team? he is strong, nice ball control and a classy finisher. the midfield department of liverpool is superb although an addition of strong and HIGH player (in ballack mould, during his prime era hehe) surely can give tactical advantage to the team. hopefully maxi rodriguez is not a flop. from what i know, he is a very good player. maybe he can fill in the gap during the absence of benayoun.

every team must admit no striker/forward is 100% efficient (scores on every chance presented to him). with this in mind, the success of the team will fall on the rigidity of the back line. if you score a lot of goals, but the opponent also hit you back, that will be pointless. in the first season of mourinho in chelsea, the team only conceded less than 15times all season. some people may say attack is the best defense, but please.. this is just ridiculuos. football world is evolving and for me, this statement is wrong.

Okay firstly, other than Manchester United, who else's manager doesnt disrupt the team? You'll have to get along with it.
No transfer kitty? Teams like stoke city spent less, and they manage to snatch a draw from Liverpool. Not every owners can provide a large amount of transfer kit for u to buy superstars. Take United as example, they sold Ronaldo and Tevez and cant even sniff a rumour from the transfer window while Sir Alex continues lying about the "No suitable player in the market". But still, they are in the race for the title. If u bring in new player, u would have to slowly build on his team chemistry, which Liverpool dont have the time for. They need instant results to get back into the race
Torres' back up striker, N'gog. Lets just hope Maxi dont get destroyed by Rafa's management.
easy for u to say after ur team scored 7 times earlier against sunderland. So, what is football evolving, in your opinion? Concede less means can win? The premier league now shines on all the strikers. Any team could easily score 3 or 4. The era of "clean sheets" has disappeared IMO. Its not like Terry or Cavarlho is the star of the team now. It is Drogba who score goals.

its official: Lucas suck.

i think Rafa's going with a safer bet...a defender rather than Aqua who's a little less experienced with English football (not that Degen has much more, coz most of the time he's with the physios) and having maxi right into the thick of English football is just too big a gamble...

but i think its at least positive that he's putting in more attacking minded guys (maxi and aqua) even after taking the lead....

Attacking football gets you goals but defending wins you the championship.
Obviously strikers get the applaud but great defenders are the unsung heroes in the team.

Excuse me sir, what are you trying to implicate with the bolded statement?

Attacking football gets you goals but defending wins you the championship.
Obviously strikers get the applaud but great defenders are the unsung heroes in the team.
Do you think MU/Chel/Ars can secure every match with 3-4 goals albeit leaking goals here and there?
Terry aka Mr Chelsea is not the star of the team? lulz

The problem is Liverpool has none on both.

Defence leaking goal almost every match, I can only remember only 1-2 match Liverpool manage to have a clean sheet since the season start and almost leaking every away match.

Striker no firepower at all, but can't blame the players if manager decided to put 8 defensive players in yesterday match, and 2 DM holding players every match. Who will feed to ball to upfront and create goal opportunity if like that?

Macherano and Lucas are not known to put some thru pass, and craft out goal opportunity. So does Degen, and Aurelio. So technically there is no midfielder to put some passes that create goal opportunity, that's why my view yesterday match was 8-0-2 formation. (Aurelio is good in set piece and quality crosses)

Liverpool supporter can accept can't win the league or miss out 4th place due to lack of transfer kitty to buy top player, but what supporters feel bad is that, Liverpool is playing crapping football at the moment, and strange tactic all along.

I don't feel excited and hopeful on every match Liverpool plays currently.
Last time, whenever Liverpool plays, I think most supporter will think, tonight most probably can win. But now, supporter mind will be, today will ne another crap football display and loss?

Occassionally off-form, loss, ok, can accept
Occassionally, no luck, loss due to sucker punch by opponent counter attack goal, ok
Occassionally, some deflection goal by opponent, ok, luck factor

But at least the team perform well, play well and threat to opponent goal which at least supporter feel hopeful when seeing the match time.
But we only see crap and disjointed play all along.

Rafa first year keep on rotating, which a lot of people already said doesn't make sense. It took full whole year, before Rafa changes the rotation policy.
Now it is obvious playing 2 DM holding midfield is not working at all.

We don't have choice. First players like Torrers and Gerrard injured. Then last season players like Alonso no more in the team. Problem is we don't have back up players in order to play a winning tactics. Yes we have many players, but these players were not welly exposed to games. Is just like like asking them do something which they not familar. Of course the game is competative not like in training ground, everything can be predict. So this is how we ends now. Blame the manager never really mould up a backup squad. These are the players were choose to bought by Rafa. So how you want to judge by this? Super cheap players? Losing and struggle with low division team is our big big problem. Clean sheet as long we able to score more goals than what we conceed then is win. We are bad in defence and attack, so how to win? Cannot scroe goals? Better play for draw, so 8 defensive players onl yesterday game. Very safe game to play.

20m for aquilani
18m for johnson

is the way too expensive.. we shuld get 1great player woth tat money before buyin both...

20m for aquilani
18m for johnson

is the way too expensive.. we shuld get 1great player woth tat money before buyin both...

Manager should be the one shoulder all the blame, because he is the one responsible to choose, to buy, to train, and how the team plays. Rafa is not a new manager in Liverpool anymore, the result of having which players, who being bought or sold is down to manager responsibility. Yes, Liverpool doesn't have large amount of money that can be spent to buy top players, at least play some decent footballl, also can.
It is a total Rafa team now.

Bare in mind, Liverpool purchase are not super cheap one as well, it might not top class, but a team that spent 20 mil (Aqualani), 18.5 million on Johnson (which total spending of 40 million) is something ordinary club is not affordable one. 

Cannot score goal, play for draw as Liverpool team against Stoke(which is classified as big 4)?
This is not a right mentality. It is suicide tactic, tell opponent, hey we cannot score one.

Then what about against Chelsea, Arsenal or MU time, play for to lose 0-1, considered as "success"? 

If one aims to not win, then one never will win. See why there is giant killing in FA cup, because the lower league team has the right mentality to win and fight for it and believe even technically they might be not good in term of skill. At least supporter feell every cent worth by seeing the team play like this even loss the match one.

Cannot score, then try how to score or play differently or search the formula to score goal!
Liverpool is not that bad until reaching the state cannot win against Stoke and resort to ultra-defensive to seach for a point.

We are not talking about winning the league or playing free-flowing football like Arsenal, Chelsea or MU. We are talking can't even play decent football against Stoke, against Reading!

Bare in mind, all the team players are professional footballer, they are not considered newbie in football, when you are professional, when team needed you, you need at least carry out the task. I don't like the excuse some players are not exposed to game. If keep on with this reason, then they never will expose to the game. Just like Aqualani case, keep on saying not match fit so cannot play, if not playing him, how can he gain the match fitness.

if you said 'great' players ... such as kaka, c.ronaldo, messi, can liverpool afford them ?

rafa is like wenger and fergie, sign 'unknown' players and hope to establish them ... either fail or success ...

the point is 3/50 rafa forge are all failed unlike wenger..

finally established player like torres / masch can prove without a doubt

Again bollocks. Although i have little love nor pity for rafa, I have even less for those who gleefully jump on the bandwagon and start blaming the cold weather on the stubborn spanish bugger.

Late last season we were all clamoring for an attacking right fullback. We got one.
Then Alonso finally showed Rafa the middle finger and left, and we had to find a replacement....

athough to say that Aqualani's not a flop at the moment is akin to saying that Kewell was no flop either - he just wasn't fit often enough 

insua already attakin right back so no point bring in glen for tat kind of money.. he's good without a doubt but he come in a wrong situation where we nid 1 defensive sb..

He couldn't even get a game at West Ham before he joined us, so give the spanish bugger some credit.

I'm like an ogre, living alone in my swamp, calling for Rafa's head with a few like minded doubters... like since two seasons ago... and suddenly i wake up and notice that there's one thousand and one campers erecting 'rent-a-tents' around me so forgive me for being sceptical and nasty

You by any chance a Malaysian politician? Your "i didn't mean what i say, so stuff it" sure sounds familiar.

Side back i mean in tat post not right back

Which side  Left/ Right ?

Anyway guys, leave it ...

Who are we going to face on the next EPL match ?

bramble is great back up for us too

OH MAI GAWD!? Insua is a leftback? I thought he was always playing in the right D:

Do you guys realize that skeleton202 is actually an arsenal fan?

His post in arsenal's thread.

Do you guys realize that skeleton202 is actually an arsenal fan?

His post in arsenal's thread.

we shuld use obertan on RB he is damn fast,,,

against spurs, Liverpool need a pacy left back to cope with Lennon direct and tricky run. plus now with spurs implied early ball into the box, insua going to have his hands full against Lennon.

As for defence, Krgriakos would be useful against Crouch. his display against Stoke was impressive. Defoe will surely provide threat either from inside or outside the box. Mascherano and Lucas must be at their very best to contain Spurs creativity coming from the likes of Krncjar, Modric and Huddlestone.

Reports claimed Gerrard clashed with Benitez's assistant, Mauricio Pellegrino, over the hamstring strain which caused the midfielder's substitution, although Liverpool's manager yesterday denied any altercation. 'There was nothing,' said Benitez.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/...l#ixzz0cqIkaMJo

“From the people I know close to Jose, he will not join a financially unstable club. If Liverpool got themselves into a solid, stable financial condition with the funds to invest in new players then Jose wouldn't think twice about joining Liverpool if the opportunity arises, but not in the current conditions.

''Liverpool need a pacy left back'' but who?
paced or not we only aurelio & inusa 

whenever wat kind of player & tactic we use , we still we concede goal

WE ARE CURSED!!!!!

Reina looked unsteady and struggling, especially with long balls. Ngog's  terrible strength, control and passes...Poor performance from Aurelio and Degen too.

On the contrary, I think he was one of our better players last night.
Already mentioned it earlier in the old thread - it is not a stroke of genius starting defensively, fluking a goal and then put in your attacking options. Shouldn't it be attack, score and then defend lead with the defensive guys and not the other way round? 
WTF is this? Copy pasta-ing your older post is the new black? First fk222, and now this fella. You guys are attention whores or just plain f*cking idiots? We read ya wall of text the first time. No need to repost it lo.

insua already attakin right back so no point bring in glen for tat kind of money.. he's good without a doubt but he come in a wrong situation where we nid 1 defensive sb..

yeah let's rest aquilani till end of season.. after WC then he'll be injured.. then rest him one season.. WOW season 2012 aquilani can fully fit.. then got Euro 2012 .. then again he injured one season... tat is f***..

haha! maddie...i think ryan babel is overrated la...who the feck plays with his head down, staring at his own legs and  still tries to take on a player n squeeze out a pass....i did have high hopes on him....DID...   no longer  

that's the thing. he didn't always play while staring at his own legs. First time i saw him, I said to Duke and the rest in the pub that it was nice to finally have a direct attacking threat ala Robben, a winger who other teams would want to have on their team.

methinks the same is happening to Reira. Something in training is turning good direct talented wingers into muppets.