January Month Report

4W2L with all 4 wins were in the League and we lost both FA Cup and League Cup to Arsenal. It is now too early to call, but it may be a blessing in disguise as it ease up our schedule (look at Arsenal) and we may yet try once more to overtake Chelsea and to challenge the impossible dream. As Rafa said we will just keep winning and see how far we can go. And there are a few hurdles in February that we need to overtake first. Sissoko and Zenden are already back so will provide some cover to the team. Rafa will have the luxury to worry who to choose from.

Players of the Month (1) Kuyt 8.01 (2) Crouch 7.65 (3) Pennant 7.52. 4 goals in January from the hard working Kuyt brought him another top spot in the month. Crouch also did well and also scored 4. For Pennant, he scored a superb goal against Chelsea, and has been lively in other games as well.

February Prediction:
2/3 Everton (h) We need to get a revenge after the humiliation in September.
2/10 Newcastle United (a) Rafa probably won't play 3-4-3 but could play 3-5-2.
2/21 Barcelona (a) A very difficult game, but Rafa has extensive knowledge in Spanish football and will have us well prepared.
2/24 Sheffield United (h) We lost 2 points at their venue, and we need to get 3 at home.

Match Report 070130 at West Ham United: We edge closer

2-1 and we are within two points of Chelsea although with one more game played. We need to keep winning and see how far we can go.

Rafa was very bold and played another 3-4-3. It paid off brightly with 2 superb goals in the first 8 minutes of the second half, the first one came within 12 seconds. After that we slowed down a bit and let them sunk one in, but at the end it was still a comfortable win.

Players Rating:
Reina: 8.5 Made many good saves.
Carragher: 7.5 Superb in defense.
Hyypia: 7 Good display at the 3 men defense
Agger: 7 At time a bit sloppy.
Finnan: 6.5 Lost the ball too many times.
Gerrard: 7.5 Inspired the team to another win.
Alonso: 7.5 Dictated the pace very well.
Riise: 7.5 Worked very hard at left back.
Bellamy: 7 Worked very hard but missed a few chances to put the game beyond West Ham's reach.
Kuyt: 8.5 Linked up with midfield very well, and beautifully taken the goal to put us ahead.
Crouch: 8 One goal, one assist from the big man.

Substitutions:
Pennant: 6.5 Lost the ball that lead to the West Ham goal.
Gonzalez/Fowler: 6.5 Not enough time to impress.

Rafa: 7.5 Brilliant touch to start 3-4-3, and provided a joke to us by slipping on the sideline.

West Ham: 6 Need to improve in order to survive.

Men of the Match: Reina/Crouch. Steered the team to victory on both ends.

Keep it up

A win at West Ham will put us within 2 points of Chelsea - at least for 24 hours so we need to keep the momentum. They are suffering from a second season syndrome and we have a good rest over the weekend so we would be ready both physically and mentally. Also the transfer of Neill to West Ham certainly will add more sparks to this game.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Finnan
Carragher
Agger
Riise
Pennant
Gerrard
Alonso
Aurelio
Bellamy
Kuyt

Result: 2-0

Match Report 070120 vs Chelsea: Compresensive Win

2-0 and this is a comprehensive victory. Chelsea has lots of problem and also lack any fighting spirit, and we were never get challenged. Credit must be given to Rafa in his spot-on tactics.

We are now almost certain to finish top 4, and now we should push forward to challenge second place. And who knows what may happen after that?

Players Rating:
Reina: 7 Never really tested.
Finnan: 7 Solid defense.
Carragher: 8.5 Rock solid and marked Drogba completely.
Agger: 7 A solid if not spectacular display.
Riise: 8 Came close twice, and was unfortunate not to score.
Pennant: 7.5 Opened his scoring account with an absolute cracker. As Rafa said sometimes he should be more selfish.
Gerrard: 7.5 A comfortable display.
Alonso: 7.5 A nice display with guts.
Aurelio: 7 A good display both attacking and defending. Linked well with Riise.
Kuyt: 8.5 Scored a nice goal, but should have score more.
Crouch: 7.5 Missed a few good chances.

Substitutions:
Bellamy/Gonzalez: 6.5 Not enough time to impress.

Rafa: 8 Spot on in his tactic. And what a cool display.

Men of the Match: Carragher/Kuyt. Two giants in the team.

One step at a time

It is well documented that we play poorly vs the other big 3, and now it is Chelsea at home. They are having a lot of problems and it may or may not be the best time to play them, but if we want to get closer, this is the best chance. Of course, our defense need to be very alert, the midfielders try their best to create chances, and the strikers to grab their chance. Above all, Anfield needs to support the players.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Finnan
Carragher
Hyypia
Riise
Pennant
Gerrard
Alonso
Aurelio
Bellamy
Kuyt

Result 2-0

Match Report 070113 at Watford: A much better performance

3-0 and although this is only Watford, the result is timely and will boast the team before the Chelsea match.

Rafa is very bold in playing a 3-4-3 formation, and it worked really well as the Watford pitch is very narrow and their attackers are well contained by our triple tower at the back. On the other end of the pitch, the Watford defense has serious problem in dealing with the speed of Bellamy, and the aerial attack of Kuyt and Crouch.

After this week's game the first 4 is sailing farther away from the rest of the league. And starting next week we will try our best to get higher position. Starting vs Chelsea.

Players Rating:
Reina: 7 Not much to do.
Carragher: 7 Solid performance at the back.
Agger: 7 Good at defense and had a goal correctly ruled out.
Hyypia: 7 A much better performance.
Finnan: 7.5 Nice wing back performance and was alert to get the ball in for the first goal.
Gerrard: 7 A quiet performance.
Alonso: 7 Good distribution.
Aurelio: 7 A nice performance especially from dead ball.
Bellamy: 9 Scored one and made two.
Kuyt: 7.5 Played hard and was unlucky not to score.
Crouch: 8.5 Scord two and made one.

Substitutions:
Pennant/Riise/Fowler: 6.5 All come on after the game is sealed.

Rafa: 7 Bold move to play 3-4-3 and get the reward.

Watford: 6 They were playing for one point at home and look certain to be relegated.

Man of the match: Bellamy. Very effective match.

Sort out the mess. Now.

After a week of two humiliating defeats it is now back to our bread and butter. Watford is still at the bottom of the league and everybody expects us to win. And we need to.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Finnan
Carragher
Agger
Riise
Pennant
Gerrard
Alonso
Aurelio
Bellamy
Kuyt

Result 2-0

Match Report 070109 vs Arsenal: Nightmare V2

3-6 and we conceded 6 goals at Anfield the first time in 77 years. Basically it was like 6 vs 11, with the whole defensive line invisible. What's more, Gonzalez and Luis Garcia are both injured and we are suddenly short on the left side. And Rafa will need to answer questions for his tactic in this match.

Players Rating:
Dudek: 2 With each Arsenal shot converted into a goal, the only credit he got is for the saving of the penalty.
Peltier: 5 Poor defending.
Paletta: 5 Helpless against the Arsenal attack, but somehow he has 2 assists.
Hyypia: 5 Slow against the youngsters. But did score one header.
Warnock: 5 Also poor.
Gonzalez: 6 injured early in the game.
Guthie: 5.5 No impact.
Gerrard: 6.5 Failed to inspire the team despite scoring one goal.
Aurelio: 6 One of the better player, his freekick lead to the first goal.
Bellamy: 5.5 Failed to trouble the Arsenal defense.
Fowler: 6.5 Scored a nice tap-in, but his teammates let him down.

Substitutions:
Luis Garcia: 6 Played OK but was unfortunately injured again.
Alonso: 6 Not much impact, but what do you expect when the team is already 3 goals down?
Carragher: 6 Had a shot but was saved.

Rafa: 4 Need to address the psychological impact of this impact to the team, and there will be lots of questions asked on his team selection and tactics.

Arsenal: 7 Aided by our inability to score and defend.

Man of the Match: Fowler. I think Rafa should start him more.

Respond

Winning the League Cup is not the same as winning the FA Cup, but we need a response after the shocking result on Saturday. Both teams are expected to make changes, and Rafa need to find a way to convert possession into shots, and shots into goals.

My Team Prediction:
Dudek
Finnan
Carragher
Hyypia
Aurelio
Pennant
Gerrard
Alonso
Luis Garcia
Bellamy
Kuyt

Result 2-0

Match Report 070106 vs Arsenal: Dream is Over

1-3 and our quest for defending the Cup is already over. If it is fate that we won't win the Cup in successive years, I would rather lose now than later. But Rafa need to find a way to beat Arsenal. It's really disappointing to have 62% possession and 15 shots vs 5 shots and yet we lose 1-3. Maybe we should play like Sheffield United or Fulham.

Player Rating:
Dudek: 5.5 Rafa promised to play him in the Cups, but on this instance he could have done better to try prevent the goals.
Finnan: 6.5 The unsung hero and constantly overlap with Pennant to provide crosses.
Carragher: 5.5 Need to forget this performance and raise himself for the League Cup game. Responsible for the third goal conceded in particular.
Agger: 6 His worst performance in a Red shirt so far.
Riise: 6 Not much contribution.
Pennant: 7 Worked very hard but get struck against the tough Arsenal defense.
Gerrard: 6 Couldn't raise up the team.
Alonso: 6.5 Was incorrectly judged to have dived.
Luis Garcia: 6 No magic this time.
Kuyt: 7 Worked hard and get rewarded with a goal.
Crouch: 6.5 Apart from the assist, failed to pose any paricular threats.

Substitution:
Aurelio: 6 Didn't do much.

Rafa: 6 Need to convert possession and shots into goals.

Arsenal: 7 Played well in defense and counter attack. And this is all they need to win.

Men of the Match: Pennant/Kuyt. The two guys who worked hard in the game.

Defend the Cup

The defend of FA Cup starts with a tough home game vs Arsenal. Henry is back and the defense need to be at their best to prevent him scoring. With the help of the Kop, we will make Stevie G be the first Liverpool captain to lift the Cup twice.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Finnan
Carragher
Agger
Riise
Pennant
Gerrard
Alonso
Luis Garcia
Kuyt
Crouch

Result 2-0

Mid Term Report

In the first half of season 2006/07 we played 33 games, 2 games less than the same period last time. We had 20 wins 6 draws and 7 defeats. In the league we won 12 matches, drawn 4 and lost 6 with 40 points and sitting in 3rd place, 14 points behind leader Manchester United and 8 points behind 2nd place Chelsea. We are still in all the Cups, but face tough opponents in Barcelona and Arsenal. With 16 league games remaining the highest we can get is 88 points. As we have played all our toughest away games, and the new players started to get familiar with the team and the World Cup handover over, I expect we will get better result in the remaining games.

Departmental Comments:

Goalkeeper
Reina still keeps the first team place, and despite some poor games at the start of the season, he is picking up his form again and have already got 16 cleansheets, 12 of which in the League. When Dudek is called up for the Cup games he is doing fine as well.

Defender
Carra suffered a bit of World Cup handover and was not as good as he should be at the start, but is now back to his best again and even scored a league goal. Hyypia is getting less game but he is still reliable when playing against physical opponents. Agger is our biggest surprise in defense and have many excellent performances and scored 2 great goals and created another 2. At both sides of the defense Riise and Finnan still holding their places, as there is no real challenge to them. But they still perform well.

Midfielder
Gerrard is back to center midfield and have been playing very well. He is now more mature and won't go forward at any occasion to an extend he is leaving a big hole in the midfield. Alonso scored some great goals, and before he was injuried Sissoko was a rock. On the right side Pennant is still not playing as good as we expect, but he had a benchmark in the Bolton game when he was the most effective. On the left is probably our weakest position, although Luis Garcia is starting to pick up his form again. Gonzalez, Zenden etc was not playing too good, and Kewell is still recovering from injury.

Attackers
Our strikers are sharing the burden with everyone scoring. Rafa is certainly selecting the right strikers depending on the opponent. Kuyt proved he is a bargain, and despite the recent lack of chances, Crouch is still our leading scoring. Bellamy had been a sensation after his court case, and although Fowler did not play as many games as we want, he is still doing his part whenever he is called on.

Player Rating (Games played, Minutes played, Goal scored/conceded, Assists/cleansheets, MoM, Rating)
Goalkeepers
Dudek: 2G 180M 2GC 1CS 0MoM 6.50
Martin: 4 unused substitutes
Reina: 31G 2790M 24GC 16CS 1MoM 6.65

Defenders
Agger: 29G 1864M 2GS 2A 3MoM 6.94
Aurelio: 16G 889M 0GS 2A 0MoM 6.33
Carragher: 29G 2470M 1GS 0A 1.5MoM 6.83
Finnan: 29G 2610M 0GS 4A 0MoM 6.59
Hyypia: 34G 3053M 0GS 0A 1.5MoM 6.62
Kromkamp: 1G 90M 0GS 0A 0MoM 6.00
Paletta: 4G 299M 1GS 0A 0MoM 6.50
Peltier: 3G 254M 0GS 0A 0MoM 6.32
Riise: 26G 2201M 3GS 0A 0MoM 6.63
Roque: 1G 6M 0GS 0A 0MoM 6.00
Smith: 1G 16M 0GS 0A 0MoM 6.00
Warnock: 6G 355M 0GS 0A 0MoM 6.28

Midfielders
Alonso: 29G 2328M 3GS 2A 3MoM 6.88
El Zhar: 1G 18M 0GS 0A 0MoM 6.00
Gerrard: 29G 2376M 6GS 5A 5.5MoM 7.20
Gonzalez: 22G 1039M 3GS 0A 0.5MoM 6.38
Guthrie: 5G 113 0GS 1A 0MoM 6.05
Luis Garcia: 25G 1526M 6GS 4A 0MoM 6.80
Pennant: 29G 1856M 0GS 7A 0.5MoM 6.86
Sissoko: 18G 1207M 0GS 1A 2MoM 6.87
Zenden: 17G 978M 0GS 1A 0MoM 6.30

Attackers:
Bellamy: 25G 1596M 6G 5A 5MoM 6.89
Crouch: 28G 1458M 10GS 5A 2.5MoM 6.94
Fowler: 12G 492M 4GS 1A 2MoM 6.98
Kuyt: 27G 1908M 7GS 4A 4.5MoM 7.06
Sinama-Pongolle: 1G 1M 0GS 0A 0MoM 6.00

Players of the 1st half season (1000 mins or above):
(1) Gerrard 7.20
(2) Kuyt 7.06
(3) Agger/Crouch 6.94
(4) Bellamy 6.89
(5) Alonso 6.88

Rafa: 6.76. He would be happy to see the defense back to our best, the new players settled and World Cup handover finally. Although it may be a tall goal to win the league this year, Rada will try his best to win one game at a time.

2H Result Prediction
League:
1st-5th place teams (Manchester United H, Chelsea H, Arsenal H) 2W1D
6th-10th place teams (Portsmouth A, Everton H, Reading A, Manchester City A) 3W1D
11th-15th place teams (Fulham A, Aston Villa A, Newcastle United A, Middlesbrough H) 3W1D
16th-20th place teams (Sheffield United H, Wigan Athletic H, West Ham United A, Charlton Athletic H, Watford A) 5W

Total for 2H 13W3D 42 points
Total for the season 82 points

And with 82 points, we will be on par of last season, and hopefully this time we will be at least second.

In the Cup games, both Arsenal and Barcelona will be tough opponents. But Rafa will provide a game plan to win all these games as well. And we really love to win the Cups.

Match Report 070101 vs Bolton Wanderers: A great team effoert the start the new year

3-0 and this is really a great team effort. Rafa's strategy was spot on, by playing two wide players that made the tired Bolton defense shaky. They resisted for 60 minutes, but as soon as Crouch scored that beautiful bicycle kick, it was going to be one winner.

Players Rating:
Reina: 7 A very comfortable afternoon.
Finnan: 7.5 Solid defense and had our best chance in 1H.
Carragher: 7.5 Another solid display.
Hyypia: 8 Superb defense after a short break. Shown he is class when facing physical challenges.
Riise: 7 Solid defense and constantly going forward.
Pennant: 8.5 Best performance so far as a Liverpool player. Worked hard to threaten the Bolton defense.
Gerrard: 8 Scored a cracker to kick start the year. Welcome, MBE!
Alonso: 7 Pulling the strings in the midfield with a few long range shots.
Gonzalez: 7 Also helped to provide troubles to the Bolton defense.
Kuyt: 8.5 Worked extremely hard, provided one, and scored a well deserved goal.
Crouch: 8 What a goal!

Substitutions:
Luis Garcia: 7 Provided constant threats and a nice assist to Kuyt.
Aurelio/Fowler: 6 Not enough time to imopress.

Rafa: 7.5 A nice tactics that run the Bolton defense hard.

Bolton Wanderers: 6 Came for one point and get none. But they will finish in top 6.

Men of the Match: Kuyt and Pennant. But it was really a team effort.

Get strong

Bolton is one of the difficult team to play against due to their physical style. With Bellamy probably out and after a tough game at Spurs, Rafa will certainly rotate a few players, and let us start the year with a win and stay at 3rd of the table.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Finnan
Carragher
Hyypia
Riise
Pennant
Gerrard
Alonso
Luis Garcia
Fowler
Kuyt

Result 2-0

December Month Review

5W2L and we are back to top 4. The defeat against Galatasary was a game of no meaning, and apart from this we win 5 and lost 1 in the league, conceding 1 goal. Surely this is a very good month, and we need to build up the momentum as we face 2 crucial months coming.

Players of the Month (1) Gerrard 7.73 (2) Bellamy 7.60 (3) Carragher 7.50. Gerrard as usual drives the team forward and scored 2 great goals an d provided 3 assists. After he is cleared from the court case Bellamy is a different man and was on fire with 4 goals and 2 assists. Carra finally scored a league goal after 7 years, and had a superb defensive display at the last game of 2006.

January Prediction:
1/1 Bolton (h): A physical game and Rafa will need to put enough rock to get a win.
1/7 Arsenal (h): As defending champion we need to play very well and advance.
1/9 Arsenal (h): Franky I am not sure if we should win this game or not as it will means 3 more games to the already tighten schedule, but let Rafa decide.
1/13 Watford (a): Another London visit and we should get a result there.
1/17 Tottenham Hotspur (a): If we beat Arsenal we will make sure we win this as well.
1/20 Chelsea (h): Time to revenge and get closer to Chelsea, although this may mean we are helping Manchester United.
1/24 Tottenham Hotspur (h): Win this and we will go to Cardiff for at least one more time.
1/27 FA Cup 4th Round: Whoever we draw we will beat them.

Match Report 061230 at Tottenham Hotspur: Defensive Art

1-0 and it was a victory from a Luis Garcia magic and the superb defense of Carragher. Someone may say Spurs deserve at least a point, but how about the Blackburn game? I would say it's finally luck on our side.

Players Rating:
Reina: 7 Another clean sheet despite a few scary moments.
Finnan: 7 Nice defense although he almost scored an own goal, fortunately the bar saved him.
Carragher: 9 Another great defensive display from Carra.
Agger: 7 A solid performance.
Riise: 7 A good display.
Luis Garcia: 8 Contained Lee very well and scored the winning goal.
Gerrard: 7 A bit subdued but still inspired the winning goal.
Alonso: 7 Helped controlling the pace.
Aurelio: 6.5 A fair performance.
Bellamy: 7 Worked hard again.
Kuyt: 7.5 Worked really hard and should have scored.

Substitutions:
Pennant: 6.5 Lively performance from the bench.
Crouch: 6 No real impact and can't hold the ball.
Gonzalez: 6 Not enough time to impress

Rafa: 7 Should be happy with the score.

Tottenham Hotspur: 7 Could get a point but our solid defense denied them. Will push all the way for a UEFA spot.

Man of the Match: Carragher. Helped denying Spurs.