Let's get the job done

A win tonight, together with PSV not losing, will see us through to the last 16. Rafa seems to have found the right team, and let's welcome Smicer by going through!

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Finnan
Carragher
Hyypia
Riise
Gerrard
Alonso
Sissoko
Luis Garcia
Kuyt
Crouch

Result: 2-0

Match Report 061028 vs Aston Villa: A great win

3-1 and it was a really great performance especially first half. We were simply flying high and banged 3 goals in 15 minutes. After that we relaxed a bit in second half, but we never look in danger. Everybody contributes to the win.

Player Rating:
Reina: 6.5 Made a great save to keep the score at 3-1.
Finnan: 7 Sent a nice cross to Crouch for the second goal.
Carragher: 7 Solid defense and contributed to the first goal.
Hyypia: 7 Solid defense and a nice assist.
Riise: 7 No goal but played well.
Gerrard: 7 Was unlucky not to score.
Alonso: 7 Control the midfield as usual.
Sissoko: 7 Doing the dirty works well.
Luis Garcia: 7.5 The Luis Garcia we love to see is back.
Kuyt: 8 Scored a nice goal for his dad.
Crouch: 7.5 Scored a hard taken goal.

Substitutions:
Pennant/Zenden: 6 Did well when coming on.
Fowler: 6.5 Almost score but the ball was a few yards away.

Rafa: 7.5 Seems to find his team now. Great selection.

Aston Villa: 6.5 Was humbled by the mighty red machine. However they will finish in top 8th.

Player of the match: Kuyt. A nice taken goal that opened the floodgate.

Keep winning

After the roller coaster win in midfield we are now back to our bread and butter - the Premier League. Aston Villa has yet to lose a game this season, but this is now the time. In doing so the defense will need to be alert and help Reina to build up his confidence again.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Finnan
Carragher
Hyypia
Riise
Pennant
Alonso
Sissoko
Gerrard
Fowler
Crouch

Result 2-0

Match Report 061025 vs Reading: A classic cup game

4-3 and we are through to the next round of the League Cup. Reading provided some scary moment to us towards the end, but we are happy to go through. However, Rafa need to help Reina to rediscover his goalkeeping ability sooner rather than later.

Players Rating:
Reina: 5 Lost confidence after conceded the first goal.
Peltier: 6.5 A good debut.
Paletta: 7 Dream debut with a goal.
Agger: 6 Glad to seem him back.
Warnock: 6 The most senior of the back four, but didn't inspire the others enough.
Pennant: 7.5 Lively with 2 assists, and rewarded with a start to face his former teammates in Birmingham.
Sissoko: 7.5 Did well to protect the back 4, and after he is rested, we can see the difference.
Zenden: 6 A good if not impressive performance.
Riise: 7 A good game with a goal.
Fowler: 8 Captain Marvel back to his best. Scored one and made one. Rafa should consider playing him more.
Crouch: 7 Scored a nice goal.

Substitutions:
Guthrie/Smith: 6 Happy to have their first taste of first team, although none of them did have significant impact to the game.
Kuyt: 6 Hit the crossbar.

Rafa: 6.5 A nice mix of experienced and youngsters. Although he still had no solution to the defensive leaks.

Reading: 6.5 Credits to them to provide us some scare, but it will be a different game 10 days later.

Man of the Match: Fowler. Showed why Rafa should play him more.

God, please save us

After the defeat on Sunday pressure is now on Rafa, especially on his rotation policy. I still believe in him and from now on, players need to stand up and be counted. This is the first time ever we face Reading, and Fowler will be in the squad. God, please help us.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Peltier
Carragher
Pallata
Warnock
Pennant
Sissoko
Zenden
Guthrie
Fowler
Kuyt

Result: 2-0

Match Report 061022 at Manchester United: A very poor performance

0-2 and we don't look like we can get anything from this game right from the beginning. Despite playing 4-5-1 we still lose the midfield battle. Kuyt was left along up front and have to face 3 to 4 defenders all the time. And defense still showed leakages everywhere.

So another away game lost and we are already 11 points behind the leaders. It will now be very difficult to keep pace, but Rafa need to stop the leakages and start winning games, especially away from home.

Players Rating:
Reina: 6 Made a few good saves but cannot prevent both goals.
Finnan: 6 A poor game.
Carragher: 6 An OK game in general, but he was limping and so could not clear the ball that lead to the second goal.
Hyypia: 6 His indecisive moment lead to the first goal.
Riise: 6 Had 2 shots wild away from goal.
Luis Garcia: 5 Another invisible display.
Gerrard: 6 A poor game from our captain.
Alonso: 6 Failed to show an impact.
Sissoko: 6.5 The best player of the team.
Gonzalez: 5.5 Apart from a dash he was in general invisible.
Kuyt: 5.5 All by himself up front and only had a tame header.

Substitutions:
Pennant: 6 Almost invisible.
Crouch: 6 No impact apart from a crazy challenge on van Der Sar.

Rafa: 5 Forced to play 4-5-1 as Bellamy was injuried, but the playing of Gerrard on the right in a 5 men midfield is a total mistake.

Manchester United: 7 An easy win for them. But it was only we were poor.

Man of the Match: Sissoko. Tackle everywhere.

Let's kickstart the season from Old Trafford

Rafa has yet to beat Manchester at their home ground and yet to win an away league game this season, and this is the perfect place to break the duck. Gerrard will be back to the squad and the team seems to be staring to gel, so be careful at the back, and Crouch will continue his scoring run at his favorite ground.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Finnan
Carragher
Hyypia
Riise
Gerrard
Alonso
Sissoko
Aurelio
Bellamy
Crouch

Result 1-0

Match Report 061018 at Bordeaux: One foot on qualification

1-0 and with this first away win of the season, we already have one foot stepped on qualification. If we win the next game we will already be qualified.

With all the injuries Rafa has picked a somewhat attacking mind but weak in defense midfield. The first half was very boring without many chances for both sides. But in second half Crouch managed to score a header from a nice Bellamy corner. Defense was solid under the leadership of Carra as we managed our first clean sheet away from home.

This is a well timed away win as we will be visiting Old Trafford in the next game. Stevie G will be back, and as Rafa said now that the internationals are over, we will have better training routines and our season really starts from here.

Player Rating:
Reina: 7 A much improved performance.
Finnan: 7 Nice performance.
Carragher: 7 Leaded the team with example.
Hyypia: 7 A good job.
Riise: 6.5 Busy as he was constantly exposed by Gonzalez's lack of defensive duty.
Luis Garcia: 7 A lively performance.
Alonso: 7 A good performance.
Zenden: 7 Slot into the midfield well.
Gonzalez: 6 Ineffective in attack, and lack of awareness defensively.
Bellamy: 7.5 Good performance with a nice corner assist.
Crouch: 7.5 Missed a glorious chance in 1H but fortunately scored one in 2H that won us the game.

Substitutions:
Kuyt: 6 Replaced Crouch but without too many contributions.
Sissoko: 6 Provided some steel in midfield when we needed it.
Warnock: 6 Had a nice run but unfortunately his finishing was not good.

Rafa: 7 Urged the team to respond and get his call answered.

Boardeaux: 6 Poor in attack. May at best challenge for the UEFA Cup spot now.

Men of the Match: Bellany/Crouch. Nice combination for the winning goal.

Rafa:

We need a result

A draw will not be a bad result, but if we win this game, we will be half way through to qualify. With Stevie G injuried Rafa is going to resuffle. And Carra the captain, lead the team to glory.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Finnan
Carragher
Hyypia
Aurelio
Luis Garcia
Alonso
Sissoko
Gonzalez
Bellamy
Crouch

Result 1-0

Match Report 061014 vs Blackburn Rovers: Disappointed

1-1 and the result is very disappointed. Although we won't expect the team to win all home league games. but the fact that the team did not wake up until 2H is really disappointing. We are now 8 points behind the leaders and some people have already written us off. Not Rafa. He will do his best to drive us back to the right route.

Players Rating:
Reina: 6 Indecisive at the goal conceded, but at the end did make some good saves to keep the score.
Finnan: 5.5 Guilty of the goal conceded.
Carragher: 6 Need to raise his game as well.
Hyypia: 6 Was getting slower and slower...
Riise: 6 Suffer as a group of the defense.
Pennant: 5.5 Had a day off and only offered poor crosses.
Gerrard: 6.5 Performance hindered by the injury.
Alonso: 6.5 One of the better player.
Aurelio: 6.5 Played very well in 2H as left back and provided a nice assist.
Bellany: 7 Finally broke the duck against his old team. A lively performance.
Crouch: 6 Had 2 chances early but then faded out.

Substitution:
Luis Garcia: 6 Provided another dimension to the team.

Rafa: 6 Inspired the team in HT, but still need to sort out the leakages.

Blackburn Rovers: 6.5 They played well and may deserve to win as well. Fortunately they don't.

Man of the Match: Bellany. It's written in the script.

Start winning

After the international break we need to start winning games. We are lucky that Gerrard can be rested, and with lots of players playing for the national teams, Rafa should start players who are overlooked like Fowler and Aurelio. And we will see Bellamy start scoring against his old team.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Finnan
Carragher
Hyypia
Aurelio
Pennant
Gerrard
Alonso
Gonzalez
Fowler
Bellamy

Result 2-0

September Monthly Report

3 wins, 1 draw and 3 defeats. We won all our home games but none of our away games. In fairness the fixture has been unkind to us and we have now played 3 of the toughst away game, with the 2 remaining coming up in the next 2 away games. There was a big concern that we have yet to get any points from these tough games yet, so Rafa need to work out a good game plan to start winning away. Starting from Old Tradford.

Players of the Month: (1) Kuyt 6.93 (2) Gerrard 6.90 (3) Agger/Sissoko 6.70. Kuyt worked very hard and was rewarded for 2 nice league goals. Stevie G has yet to score, but continue to shine from any place in the midfield. For Agger and Sissoko, they provided defensive comfort especially in the home games.

October Prediction:
10/14 Blackburn Rovers (h) Would be nice to see Craig score against his old club to kick start his scoring streak.
10/18 Bordeaux (a) We visit Smicer, and if we get a win we will be almost there for qualification.
10/22 Manchester United (a) The place we start to win away this season.
10/25 Reading (h) League Cup game with Dudek, Fowler and the young guns having a chance to shine.
10/28 Aston Villa (h) Villa has yet to lose a game this season and it will be a tough game for us.
10/31 Bordeaux (h) Reteurn of Smicer.

Match Report 060930 at Bolton Wanderers: Heartless display

0-2 and our display was very poor. We started very brightly in 1H, but after a ridiculous error by the assistant referee, we were one down and ever since then, the players just conceded defeat. Rafa's tinkering tactics is once again under fire, but as Xabi said, we need to focus on the big picture.

Players Rating:
Reina: 5 Very poor performance. The freekick was an error, but he should do better for both goals conceded, especially the first one.
Finnan: 5.5 Exposed by Bolton and let Campo headed in the second goal.
Carragher: 6 Can't do anything to help.
Hyypia: 6 Called up to face the physical challenge from Bolton, but at the end it was not effective.
Riise: 6 An average display.
Pennant: 6 Ineffective.
Alonso: 6 Failed to make an impact.
Sissoko: 6.5 Played very well but Rafa was forced to take him off for tactical reason.
Gerrard: 7 Played well, especially in 2H when moved into middle, but couldn't help.
Bellamy: 5.5 Simply ineffective and still searching for his first league goal.
Kuyt: 6 Failed to make an impact and was forced to be subsituted after he suffered from an injury.

Substitutions:
Crouch/Luis Garcia/Zenden: 6 All failed to make impact.

Rafa: 6 I think he should not say things in the press to fire Bolton up. It is a challenge for Rafa to heal our away day sickness. Starting for our next 2 away games at Old Trafford and Emirates Stadium...

Bolton: 7 They have more heart to win it, and nothing else.

Man of the Match: Gerrard. Sissoko also ran close.