July Monthly Review

It's the first time in history that the season starts so early, and we already played 3 games.

Stevie G is gone and back, and played very well to prove his heart is with us. With 6 goals already scored, he will be favorite to be our top goal scorer. Defense is OK but the backups seem to be not as good as the first team, and Hyypia seems to be getting old. Carra is as solid as ever and even managed to score a goal! Midfield is very strong with Stevie G and Alonso leading the guys, but the strikers need to work harder.

Men of the Month: (1) Gerrard 8.00 (2) Alonso 7.50 (3) Cisse 7.25. With 6 goals scored who can knock him off as man of the month? Xabi's passing is as good as ever, and Cisse also scored 2 goals.

August Prediction:
8/2 FBK Kounas (H): Should not pose too much problem, but we need to show respect to them.
8/10 KF Tirana/PFC CSKA Sofia: If we pass through we will most likely face Sofia, Let's be careful.
8/13 Middlesbrough (A): Season opener and see Zenden back. We should be much better physically, so let's beat them.
8/20 Sunderland (H): First home league game and we should win this game.
8/24 KF Tirana/PFC CSKA Sofia: Get through this and we will be in the group stage.
8/26 CSKA Moscow (N): A glorious friendly, but we should win it.

Match Report 050726 at FBK Kounas: Carra goal

3-1 and the most important thing is Carra scored his first goal in 6 1/2 years - or first goal of this millenium, or 3rd goal of his career. Rafa challenge him to score 3-4 goals this season and he will do it. His post match quote is class: "I probably deserve the match ball after that. Me scoring one is like someone else getting a hat-trick."

We were a bit shaky in defense but fortunately we managed to gear up and win the game. Crouch really provided another dimension and this is what Rafa has been looking for. Sissoko also has a good debut too after Gerrard scored his 6th goals of the season. The only minus is that defense is shaky - Riise didn't play well in defense and Hyypia was slow. But this is still pre-season so let's hope things will get better.

Player Rating:
Reina: 6.5 Not much to do, but did make some saves to keep them scoring
Josemi: 6 Better than last year, but still need to improve to convince people
Carragher: 8 Scored the great header and regained us the lead. Class
Hyypia: 6 At fault for the first goal
Riise: 6.5 His best position is definitely left midfield
Potter: 7 A good game from the young guy
Gerrard: 7.5 Still dictating the game with an assist and a penalty
Alonso: 7.5 Great passes as usual
Zenden: 7 Great cross that lead to the equaliser. Rafa bought him with a great reason
Crouch: 7 Good performance with another assist
Cisse: 7 Scored the equaliser but missed a hat trick

Substitutions:
Sissoko: 6.5 A good debut
Luis Garcia: 6.5 Another good display
Morientes: 6.5 A good substitution display but we need more goals from him

FBK Kounas: 6 Provided a few scares to us but at the end the difference in class proved too much

Rafa: 7 Now we understand why he bought Zenden and Crouch. We definitely need more goals like this

Man of the Match: Carragher. Gerrard may have contributed more but Carra goal is really a historic moment

Travel into the unknown

FBK Kaunas is a relative unknown team and they will be physically fitter as they are in the middle of their season. Our condition is getting better and better now, but we still need to guard against complacency.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Carragher
Hyypia
Whitbread
Riise
Cisse
Gerrard
Alonso
Zenden
Morientes
Crouch

Result 2-0

Match Report 050719 at Total Network Solutions: So far so good

3-0 again and Gerrard scored another 2. But the scoreline is really not important as the game is already sealed when Cisse scored in 1H. Now we need to step up the condition as Kounas will be physically better as they are in the middle of their season.

With Crouch signed it will be interesting to see if Milan will be sold. Maybe Rafa is thinking to use Crouch as a Koller to helo Milan? Time will tell.

Player Rating:
Reina: 6.5 Not much to do
Finnan: 6 Out of position a few times
Carragher: 7 Captain in 1H and perform as good as ever. Almost scored
Hyypia: 6.5 As good as usual
Riise: 7 This time as left back and still provide the assit to Cisse
Potter: 6.5 Probably be content to be a reserve player this season
Alonso: 7.5 Dictating midfield as he should be
Hamann: 6 Missed a penalty but really doesn't matter
Zenden 6: Provided a few good crosses but Crouch has not yet arrived so there is no one to receive it
Le Tallec: 6 Need to improve or else he will be down the rank
Cisse: 7.5 Opened his account this season, more to come

Substitutions:
Whitbread: 6.5 Doing very well to fight for a first team place
Gerrard: 8 Scored 2 goals as a super sub
Luis Garcia: 6.5 A nice assist

TNS: 5.5 At least they have a shot on target!

Rafa: 6.5 Still pre-season time, but we need to improve a lot next round.

Man of the match: Gerrard. Who else can it be?

Be cautious and courageous

Rafa again "rest" Milan and Jersy, perhaps their future may soon be over... The condition of the players are better now especially after the friendly against Leverkusen. Let's get the job done.

My team prediction:
Reina
Finnan
Carragher
Hyypia
Warnock
Potter
Gerrard
Alonso
Zenden
Morientes
Cisse

Result 4-0

Match Report 050713 vs Total Network Solution: First of many from Stevie G

3-0 and Gerrard scores a hat trick! It's the first of his many for us, and it almost wrap up the tie. Rafa may want to try a few options in the 2nd leg.

Credits to TNS they played bravely and it was not until the last minute that they concede the third and crucial goal. If not the second leg will be tricky. Their goalkeeper has done a good job in keeping the score more honourable.

One thing worth to note is that in the second half the team seems to be tired. With the Swiss training camp coming up, the players need to train up physically as soon as possible.

Player Rating:
Reina: 6.5 Easy debut with almost nothing to do
Finnan: 6.5 Not really tested
Carragher: 6.5 Same as above
Hyypia: 6.5 Same as above
Warnock: 6.5 Same as above
Potter: 6.5 Good display in 1H but tired in 2H
Gerrard: 8.5 A good hat trick to start
Alonso: 7.5 A good display with lots of nice passes
Riise: 7.5 Good game, but not as impressive in 2H apart from the assist
Le Tallec: 7.5 Nice assist, but should have scored
Morientes: 7.5 Should have scored if not for the good display of the TNS captain

Substitutions:
Zenden/Cisse: Good display in general especially Zenden

Rafa: 7 Not really a test, but the way he treat this game is well appreciated

TNS: 6 They fight till the end but the last goal probably kill them any hope

Man of the Match: Gerrard. Need to keep up the display though.

The journey starts here!

So, the journey starts here. We got a few new faces and Stevie G stays for good(hope he won't change his mind again in the future), and a few new faces are expected to come. It's really an exciting season and with Rafa, maybe we can achieve the unexpected again (a League/CL double?)

The good thing of starting so early is that by the time the league starts, we will be the best team in terms of physical. Although the down side will be we may not last for the whole season - and that's where the rotation strategy comes in play, and Rafa is no amateur in this. Finger crossed, with a healthy squad and good rotation, we can maintain the good form over the season.

Rafa has a recruited a lot of good players to provide challenges in every position, the only exception is maybe the defense. A few players like Upson and Milito have been mentioned and Rafa will have his only idea, don't worry. And if he really can get Crouch and Figo we will have more attacking options as well. It will be interesting and exciting to see how Rafa findtune the team to each match now that he is more familiar with the Premiership.

Going back to the TNS match, on paper it's a easy win. But Rafa is very honest. Instead of the normal no complamancy/show them respect talk he also mention one key point - that we have the quality and skills but we lack the physical as we are only back from training for 2 weeks. So the players need to be very careful.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Finnan
Carragher
Hyypia
Riise
Garcia
Hamann
Gerrard
Zenden
Cisse
Morientes

Result: 4-0

Hope this is the end

Stevie G is now staying. Hope this won't happen again and he will stay on till he retires.

I think everybody need to be blamed and do something to repair. Now that everything is clear let's move on to win the big thing.

Credit to the man, he did resigned the captaincy and credits to the team (Rafa and the senior players in particular) they let him be the captain. Now it's up to him to put his head up and perform consistently.

In Rafa we trust. In Stevie G we have hope.

Dramatic turnaround

So, he decided to stay. But is he still deserve to be captain? I don't think so. Hand it to Carra, and prove you are committed.

We are all hurt. And it takes time to heal.

You'll always walk alone

So you decided to leave. It's nice to see that the one who claimed he loves the club, yet always blackmail the club, is finally leave. Yes, you have done a lot of great things to the club, but now they are history. And let's bring on captain Carra - a guy who may not be born to be a red, but he is a true red unlike you.

And if you think you are bigger than the club, go. We don't need you anymore.

You'll always walk alone. All the worst.