9 posts tagged “soccer”
After a disappointing defeat to Chelsea in the Champions League, Liverpool picked themselves up with a 4-0 demolition of Blackburn Rovers. Sam Allardyce had made all the right noises in the run-up to this match but Rafa Benitez obviously didn't feel he was important enough to warrant a reply, preferring to let his team provide the answers on the pitch instead.
i caught the tottenham hotspur vs arsenal match where robbie keane made his return debut for the home side. he definitely fits into their style of play better than he did at liverpool. honestly, the moment he admitted he was a boyhood pool fan, we knew he wasn't going to be long at the club.
Liverpool are
perched top of the league, three points ahead of Chelsea, as 2008 winds to a
close. After 18 years of waiting, could this finally be the year the Kop
faithful are waiting for - league title number 19? We can only hope,
and take it one match at a time. Long-suffering fans will know better than to
predict victory with five months of competition left to play and distractions
like the Champions’ League and FA Cup on the horizon. Nonetheless,
despite the occasional mutterings about Rafa’s tactics, belief in the side is
growing stronger. You can’t deny today’s eleven is far more balanced than
recent teams, with a grittier edge to their personality too. There’s not much
fuss about the team, mainly mechanical precision to despatch passes and chances
when they come along. As a unit,
Liverpool defends rabidly like a pack of hounds and attack like a kung-fu master. They still lack that little bit of self-confidence and arrogance
sometimes – the kind you notice in United and Chelsea. That ruthlessness could make the difference. Albert Riera and
Fernando Torres have quickly established their importance in the side. Alonso's recovered from last season's malaise to be our one of our top performer while Yossi
Benayoun and Dirk Kuyt have also proven to be useful attacking outlets when
necessary. Emiliano Insua's been a revelation at left-back and you figure once Robbie Keane and Ryan Babel really hit top form, the red tide will be even more fiercesome. The team isn’t perfect and may take one or two more players to make
it so but it’s a really nice feeling to have your team on top for once, and not
worry that the lead’s going to be relinquished in the next game.
Liverpool is still in search of a win at the Emirates after a pulsating 1-1 draw against Arsenal. The league leaders failed to capitalise on playing against the Gunners' 10-men and further consolidate their position at the top of the table. Despite fighting back after falling behind to a Robin van Persie cracker, Steven Gerrard and co must have been disappointed with their lack of attacking thrust. I know the fans are.
i doubted albert riera's signing when it was first announced but i'm glad i've been proven wrong. For the life of me, i can't recall a time when we've had a decent left-winger at Liverpool. Steve McManaman comes to mind but he was more of a drifting right winger than a left-winger. Riera's added a lot of balance down the left and he's been a productive and valuable channel for the team.
Okay this is late I know but what a result last Saturday no?
Finally, Rafa's managed to put out a side that beat the scum in the league. And without Stevie G and Torres too. Keane and Kuyt toiled tirelessly upfront for the team and Mascherano and Alonso bossed the middle of the park. It was a gritty team display and finally, after the heartaches of the past few last-minute losses, it was definitely sweet to grab 3 points from this encounter.
Realistically though, one victory doesn't make a season and there's still a long way to go. Scum's defence was uncharacteristically shaky and Sir Rednose made some errors in team selection I felt. But keep this up and hopefully we'll still be there and thereabouts come Xmas. And I'm glad Riera played so well. Let's hope he keeps it up cos it's about time we have a decent left-winger!
Here's to a win over Marseille tonight too!
YNWA
before i tear into liverpool i have to give credit where it's due to Barnsley who despite the difference in league standings and squad value, performed well, played exciting flowing football and well deserved their 2-1 victory in the FA Cup with 2 decent goals and a solid goalkeeping display by Luke Steele. ok the gracious part is done and sit back for my first rant on liverpool for this season.
The quick overview of the match is, Liverpool created plenty of chances with Yossi and Babel starring with their runs and dribbling but one of the most incompetent strike pair in europe (kuyt & crouch) fucked up the chances coupled with a shaky defence (mainly finnan & risse & goalie watshisface). Kuyt broke his duck but Barnsley equalised when riise was too lazy to try and block a cross. then kuyt and crouch missed every chance infront of goal and benitez took off the highly effective babel for the one-sided kewell (seriously, their righback had no change against babel but kewell couldn't even get the ball past him). Then Gerrard came on for Lucas and played alongside Benitez's lovechild Alonso who was extremely poor. he lost the ball in the 92nd minute which led to the barnsley striker getting the ball and shooting through the legs of carra for the winning goal. i almost expected it really. anyway...
frustrating, disappointing, baffling. these are all adjectives i've used to describe liverpool this season (and many many other seasons HAH! older liverpool fans will understand). the same can apply to rafa benitez the manager whose days i think are numbered at anfield. we started well enough in the league but early signs were there that some of the players weren't playing as well as they could. I'm singling out our defence in particular and xabi alonso who's a poor shadow of himself this season, probably due to injury or something. i'll get to the players later on. firstly i'm targetting rafa.
the public spat with the americans was uncalled for. despite whatever differences in opinions you have with your bosses, you do not come out in front of the international media and act like a spoilt brat. that's a sackable offence in my opinion and i'd have fired him right away for that show of petulance and insubordination. You try doing that at work and you see what happens to you! frankly i'm not surprised that they are sounding out other managers, benitez doesn't hide the fact that he himself has been approached by other clubs, tit for tat i'd say and the yanks are trying to call his bluff. his rotation policy has been scrutinised over the last few seasons and this year is no different. i can understand the need for resting players if they have been overworked or coming back from injury but truly, every game? surely these professionals on millions of pounds of wages are fit enough to last more than 2 games in a week? What else do they bloody do?? he's really lost the plot this time and i don't think he knows his first team either. ok he's lost some players to injury but he should have realised that defence lacked cover at the start of the season but he failed to address that with his transfers. I think Rafa's got to stop blamin the owners and hold his hands up when he's done wrong because frankly he's bottled it during some of our crucial matches. Seriously, a replay against Luton? conceding against Waterloo? Nonsense by Liverpool standards. Red fans are a patient lot as we've suffered long enough but we seem to be regressing.
Players wise, some of them have seen better seasons.
Hyppia's getting on and we really should have prepared more than Agger to replace him but Sami's been a real trooper for us. Still, it's time to say goodbye I think. I don't understand why Hobbs has been sent out on loan too when obviously we have insufficient cover.
Finnan's been shit this season. Mr consistency has only been consistently bad. Poor control and keeps losing the ball. Not sure if the pre-season court case had a part in his confidence and mental state of mind.
Riise isn't a defender. Really. He's so poor at defending though I think he's good as a midfielder. Unfortunate that Aurelio and Arbeloa are out but why'd we sell Warnock then if we didn't have the replacements?
I was glad Momo left. After the early promise shown, I saw no signs of him improving his control, passing or shooting. Other than the fact he eats up the ground with his lanky strides, Momo caused more trouble than assists. Nevertheless I don think he was given a fair run out and the eye injury must have halted his development. I hope he succeeds at Juve. Having said that Lucas is a revelation. Him and Masch for the future is a solid pairing.
Kuyt's a good worker for us but he's a striker. He needs to score. Why is he running the lines when he should be getting stuck in in front of goal and sniffing out chances. People tend to forget these things when they play out of position so long.
Kewell's gotten his chance and has shown no signs that he should stay on really. He seems unable to beat defenders anymore although he's still lethal from set pieces.
Sigh. It's been 18 years since I pledged allegiance to Liverpool and I doubt I will ever give it up. It sucks though. You'd have thought being a supporter for so long, I'd be used to such heartache but it still rankles me. Especially after the promise of the last few seasons. Torres was supposed to complete the picture but everything's falling apart at the seams isn't it.
I think there really may be some truth to Jose taking over from Rafa. That'd be something seriously.
we were robbed. literally. poor decision by the ref. not to mention the fuckup with the yellowcards for Essien. What the heck was that about?? the FA or the referee's association seriously has to review the incidents and make a statement. I swear Rafa was going to cry during the post-match interview.
otherwise it was a decent game. it was nice to see torres score and a classy goal it was too. the boy will do well for us I think. We dominated the first half. We kinda gave it up in the second after the pen and I can't blame the boys. Why try when the referee's wearing a blue jersey underneath the black?
Despite how the game's grown professionally and financially, one thing still remains backwards in the premiership.
Refereeing.
In other news, the scums lost to Citeh. On other days, I'd be mighty pleased but I'm still peeved about the 2 points loss. I do think that Sven's doing a good job with the side though. And Micah was awesome. We should get him for Pool.
Anyway, yeah, Rob Styles is a fucking wanker.
WOOHOO!!!
Haven't been on here for a while. Been damn shitty about a lot of things and didn't have the mood or energy to pen my thoughts. But but but I had to share this so I can do my part in immortalising yet another milestone in the Reds' history!
Liverpool FC are heading for our 2nd European Champions' League Final in 3 years. A pretty impressive record under the shrewd guidance of Rafael Benitez. I'm not even thinking about winning number 6 (ok maybe a bit), we still have the final in Athens to play for come end May.
I've been supporting the Reds for 17 years and Rafa's the only manager who've made me feel so happy so far. Its tough being a Liverpool fan.
Liverpool FC 1 - Chelsea 0 (1-1 on aggregate, LFC goes through 4-1 on penalties a.e.t)
We had it all to do in the 2nd leg semi to overturn the one goal deficit from Stamford Bridge. I'd seen the first leg and I felt we were poor, especially in the first half. Chelsea's lead was not undeserved and Cech had a blinder. Yet I felt quietly confident that we could do the job back at Anfield, just like every other Red supporter urging our team on.
The lead-up to the games themselves had been strangely dominated by a vocal Benitez, who proved to Mourinho he
could give it as good as he gets. Quite a nice change from his usual quiet demeanour for Senor Benitez. The other focus had been shifted squarely on the shoulders of the KOP, our 12th man so to speak. Chelsea's players had been outspoken in their comments about not being intimidated about the raucous atmosphere they'd face in Anfield but the wall of noise was still a force to reckon with on matchday itself.
The only surprise in Pool's line up was the exclusion of Alonso from the first team and the inclusion of Zenden in the left midfield position. I suppose Rafa realised his mistake of trying to accomodate all his star midfielders in the same team, as he did at Stamford Bridge. This meant that Stevie Gerrard MBE started in the centre alongside Monster Masch, flanked by both Pennant and Zenden, supporting the front duo of Kuyt and Crouch. The back four reverted to the familiar Riise-Agger-Carra-Finnan lineup. I'm not a fan of Zenden, he hasn't really proven his worth to be a Pool player IMO but he could probably do a Vladi and help us to a 6th European title as a farewell gift. We'd been missing Finnan in the last few games too. Arbeloa got raped in the first leg by Cole. Totally outplayed.
For Chelsea, they were without Carvalho and Ballack and opted to start with a second-string back four of Ferreira-Terry-Essien-Cole, Fat Frank, Makelele, Joe Cole and Jon Obi Mikel in the middle supporting Salomon Kalou n Drogba up front. Joe Cole has been our scourge for the past few seasons, keeping him quiet would be key.
Pool obviously intended to set a fast tempo for the match, initiating wave after wave of attack but nothing that threatened except for a long range Gerrard effort that sailed wide of the post. A series of fouls in quick succession by Mikel and Cole finally led to the breakthrough in the 22nd minute. A clever freekick by Gerrard found Agger on the edge of the box and the young Dane sidefooted a beautiful curler into the back of the net. Game on!
Chelsea came back from the early Red domination with a few close calls of their own, namely a well-saved shot by Reina from Drogba and good work by Riise to outmuscle Mikel off the ball. Every Chelsea attack was being channeled via their right wing but they weren't finding much joy against Riise and it left Joe Cole isolated from much of the game. Agger was massive against Drogba and so was Carra, they handled his feints and fouls pretty well.
The next 45minutes was boring to be honest. Kuyt hit the bar and Drogba misses a sitter. Thank God.It was torture for
all, Pool fans cos it was damn drama, Chelsea fans cos they were losing and neutrals cos well Chelsea were resorting to long balls and Pool wasn't all that much better. Extra time also came and went though Kuyt was robbed of what I felt a legitimate goal by a dodgy offside decision. And at the death, Drogba had a glorious chance to settle the tie but close attention from Carra put him off a cross by the phenomenal Essien.Stevie Finnan cleared the danger. Essien's a monster. Really. He doesn't deserve to be played out of position like that. So anyway penalties ensued and I really felt a strange quiet confidence when we prepared for the kicks. I mean, there was always the worry that Cech would pull off a save or two but I thought we had Pepe.
True enough Pepe Reina showed all and sundry why Benitez brought him over from Villareal. He stopped shots from
both Robben and Geremi, who ironically, had both been employed as substitutes and I assume to play a key role in penalties. Liverpool converted all 4 kicks with Kuyt deservedly sealing the sweet victory with his conversion.
Thus Liverpool faces AC Milan for the 2nd time in 3 years in the Final to be held in Athens after they thrashed Manchester United at the San Siro. GREECE is the word!
Ratings:
Reina - 9. Excellent form in the last few games.Performed when it mattered. Class shot stopper
Finnan - 7. Rusty, didn't bomb forward as usual but probably tactical. Effective play.
Carra - 8. Solid at the back. Marshalled the backline well and constantly motivating young Agger.
Agger - 7. Responded to previous criticism well, generally kept Drogba quiet and took the goal quite well.
Riise - 7. Decent outing, not too spectacular but held up against the Blues attack well enough and supported the attack as always.
Zenden - 7. Effective performance without excelling but definitely one of his better games in our Red jersey.
Mascherano - 8. Solid and tireless in midfield. Has improved on his distribution and excellent timing in the tackles. He's only 22 can you believe it?
Gerrard - 7. Tried to take the game by the scruff but the centre was really crowded. Nevertheless never gave up and was effective in troubling the Blues midfield. Put a couple of chances wide.
Pennant - 7. Showed good skill down the right even though he had a tough time against Cashley Cole. Left the field injured after some rough challenges.Took him a while but he's really settling well into the team now.
Kuyt - 8. Tireless worker but really should have put some of his chances away especially the last minute effort when Fowler set him up. Unlucky with the offside decision and the crossbar.
Crouch - 6. Quiet game. Should have scored with that header from Pennant's cross. Nothing noteworthy.
Subs:
Alonso - 7. Surprised to be a sub but didn't really play well in the last 2 games. His distribution and possession play were crucial towards the end.
Bellamy - 6. Didn't produce anything worthy of note. Found it tough-going against the burly Chelsea defence.
Fowler - 6. Not much time to contribute although he did set up a chance for Kuyt. Was borught on specially for penalties but didn't need to take the final spotkick. Possibly last chance for silverware with his beloved Reds.
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