God returns

Finally it's the day. It's probably the second time I don't want Liverpool to win, the first time being the final match vs Blackburn when they were fighting for the League title. This is just a League Cup game, and we have lots of injuries, so we won't be able to field a strong squad. Chance for God to score a hat trick.

My Team Prediction:

Itandje
Arbeloa
Carragher
Hobbs
Aurelio
Leiva
Sissoko
Leto
Kewell
Babel
Crouch

Result 2-4

Match Report 071028 vs Arsenal: No complaints on the result

1-1 and we should not have too many complaints on the result. Given that they were a better team to us on this occasion and have hit the post twice, and if we don't take the chance and make it 2-0, there is always a danger that they will score.

We also suffered from the triple injuries, and wish they are not so serious, but then we will visit Blackburn next week and it will not be an easy game at all.

Players Rating:
Reina: 7 Did well although he can do nothing about that fabulous goal.
Finnan: 6.5 Did better than the midweek game.
Carragher: 8 Played with determination.
Hyypia: 7 Good display.
Riise: 6 Poor crossing all the game.
Alonso: 7 Did very well until he was injured.
Mascherano: 7.5 Another nice display.
Kuyt: 6.5 Not too effective on the wing
Gerrard: 8 Scored another beauty.
Voronin: 6.5 Too rush at times.
Torres: 6 Clearly not yet ready for this match.

Substitutions:
Crouch: 7 Had a couple of chances but just can't score.
Benayoun 6.5 Not much impact.
Arbeloa: 6.5 Midfield is not his strength.

Rafa: 7 A good formation. It may not work against Arsenal, but for weaker teams this is certainly the way to go.

Arsenal: 7.5 Serious title contender. I won't be surprise if they win it.

Man of the Match: Carragher/Gerrard. Captains led by examples.

Rebound

After a poor result in midfield we are now back to the League and will play the leader. We have a few injuries and some players are very tired, but still we need to get something from the game or otherwise we will be left behind to far away.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Finnan
Carragher
Hyypia
Riise
Gerrard
Alonso
Mascherano
Babel
Kuyt
Torres

Result 2-0

Match Report 071024 at Besiktas: Tough but not impossible

1-2 and now it will be tough, if not possible to go through the Group Stage. 3 wins should get us through and with a little help from results of the other games, 2 wins and 1 draw may do as well.

We have lots of possessions and chances but somehow can't score until it's too late. Hyypia is unlucky to have scored another own goal, and whole team in general is ineffective. Rafa needs to find way to sort it out before the big game on Sunday.

Players Rating:
Reina: 6.5 Can't do much to prevent both goals.
Finnan: 6 Blocked Carra's clearance and lead to the Sami own goal.
Carragher: 6 Ineffective as a group.
Hyypia: 5.5 He does not deserve this.
Riise: 6 Not much contribution.
Pennant: 5.5 Ineffective.
Gerrard: 7 Scored a header but it's too little, too late.
Mascherano: 6 Performed his role quietly.
Babel: 5.5 Hardly seen on the pitch.
Kuyt: 6 Ineffective.
Voronin: 6 Ineffective.

Substitutions:
Benayoun: 6
Lucas/Crouch: 6 Not enough time to impress.

Rafa: 6 Need to sort out the mess in defense and the lack of goals immediately.

Besiktas: 6.5 They would be happy to win this game.

Man of the Match: Gerrard. If only he can score the goal earlier...

Must-not-lose game

As Rush said this is not a must-win game but it is a must-not-lose game. We have 1 points from 2 games and a win tonight will bring us closers to the top 2 teams, depending on result in the other game. We still have no Torres, and the atmosphere will be hostile, but still we need to somehow win this game.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Finnan
Carragher
Hyypia
Arbeloa
Pennant
Gerrard
Mascherano
Riise
Kuyt
Crouch

Result 2:0

Match Report 071020 at Everton: Great Escape

2-1 and this is really a big boast and a great escape for the team. We still played poorly and were a bit lucky to get 3 points. Rafa made some bold decision by "resting" Gerrard and if we don't win, he will be in big trouble. Anyway this is another 3 points and let's hope it will be a springboard for the team to rebound.

Players Rating:
Reina: 6.5 Not much to do and can't do anything with such a brilliant own goal.
Finnan: 6.5 Found it difficult to contain Lescott.
Carragher: 6.5 Played with passion.
Hyypia: 6 Would be grateful his own goal is not costing us 3 points.
Riise: 6.5 Defense as a unit simply is not good enough.
Gerrard: 7 Ineffective in 1H, but played better when switched to left side. It was his brilliant pass that lead to the 1st penalty. Unfortunately he played with too much passion and not enough brain and was substituted by Rafa.
Mascherano: 6.5 Effective display.
Sissoko: 5 Way too many mispasses.
Benayoun: 6 A flat display.
Voronin: 7 A lively display and should have his name on the scoresheet.
Kuyt: 7.5 Had the last laugh by scoring two cool penalties.

Substitutions:
Babel: 6 Not much contribution.
Lucas: 7 Cruelly denied a winning goal by Neville's handball.
Pennant: 6 Not enough time to impress.

Rafa: 6.5 His gamble paid off, but it was close.

Everton: 6.5 Played with passion but no brain. Were a bit unlucky to lose the game, but so were we last season.

Man of the Match: Kuyt. Although he felt a bit lucky to have stayed on the pitch, but at the end he had the last laugh.

Keep cool

After the meaningless International games it is now back to normal business, and it is the 177th Merseyside Derby. Both teams have a few injuries but no doubt both teams will be fired up for this event. But as Rafa says we need to keep cool and we will win the game.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Finnan
Carragher
Hyypia
Arbeloa
Pennant
Gerrard
Mascherano
Riise
Torres
Kuyt

Result 2:0

Match Report 071007 vs Tottenham Hotspur: Now what?

2-2 and it was no until the injury time that Torres found the equalizer that saved us some face. We did OK in the 1H and was a bit unlucky not to be 2 goals up, but then two mistakes and we suddenly became 1 goal down. Fortunately we have Torres and he had a superb header that get us 1 point, which to be fair is a fair result.

Now there will be another international break and Rafa need to sort a lot of things out. First of all it seems the departure of Pako is really getting into the players' mind, and secondly we need to sort out defense. Sami is good but we can't expect him to play week in week out at the same high level. We missed Agger. And lastly, we still need to improve the midfield so that when opponents are putting everybody back we need to find some way to explore.

Players Rating:
Reina: 6.5 Can't do anything about the two goals, and at the end he seemed to risk a lot to rush out too many times, but fortunately it did no harm to us.
Finnan: 7.5 Never give up and at the end it was his lovely crossing that send us the equalizer.
Carragher: 6 A sloppy performance.
Hyypia: 5.5 Can't blame him too much, but he was really too slow and was responsible for both goals conceded.
Arbeloa: 6 A reasonable performance.
Pennant: 5.5 A poor performance and was always beaten by the Spurs players.
Gerrard: 6.5 Apart from a few nice freekicks, he failed to influence the team.
Mascherano: 7.5 Stepped up when we need him, and was unlucky not to have scored.
Riise: 6 Unable to have a big influence in the game.
Voronin: 7 His vision has lead to the first goal. Should have scored a 2nd and killed off the game. Tireless performance.
Torres: 7 Saved us some face from his nice header.

Substitutions:
Babel: 6 Didn't have much influence as we was expecting.
Kuyt/Benayoun: 6 Not enough time to have a big impact.

Rafa: 6 Have a lot to sort out during this international break. We just don't have the confidence to win the title.

Tottenham Hotspur: 7 Did well and will gradually climb up the table. They should keep Jol.

Men of the Match: Finnan/Mascherano. Raise their bar when we neeed them most.

We need a performance

After a very poor performance we definitely need to win to keep on track. Spurs are even worse then us and they will no doubt also want to get a result. After this game it will be international weekend again and Rafa should field his strongest squad possible.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Finnan
Carragher
Hyypia
Arbeloa
Pennent
Gerrard
Mascherano
Riise
Kuyt
Torres

Result 2-0

Match Report 071003 vs Marseille: Worst performance

0-1 and as Rafa said this is probably one of the worst performance under his rule. The team as a whole is just poor. Too many bad passes and lost possessions everywhere. It was simply a night to forget.

Now we need at least 3 wins from the following 4 games, and it is a real test to the players. Or Rafa had second thoughts and wanna focus on the League?

Players Rating:
Reina: 7 Did very well to keep the score at 0-0 but at the end it was an unstoppable goal.
Finnan: 6 A fair performance.
Carragher: 6 Not his best performance, and sometimes were exposed.
Hyypia: 6.5 Was dangerous at corners but failed to score the goal. A bit too slow at defense.
Aurelio: 5.5 Not his best performance.
Benayoun: 6 Ineffective this time.
Gerrard: 6 Still not back to his best.
Sissoko: 4.5 Very poor and lost the ball that lead to the goal.
Leto: 5 To be fair he is too young to start a Champions League game.
Torres: 6 No service provided.
Crouch: 5 On this performance you need to wonder why Rafa should start him.

Substitutions:
Riise: 6 Did OK when came up.
Voronin/Kuyt: 6 Not enough time to impress.

Rafa: 5 Rafa is under big pressure to explain the formation of this game. It is just simply not working.

Marseille: 6.5 Deserved win for them.

Man of the Match: Reina. The only player that cared.

Return of Cisse and Zenden

Cisse and Zenden will return tonight and no doubt they will want to prove a point. This will not be an easy match, but Rafa will have enough knowhow and manpower to get us the 3 points that we need.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Finnan
Carragher
Hyypia
Arbeloa
Benayoun
Gerrard
Mascherano
Riise
Torres
Crouch

Result 2-0

September Month Report

3W3D and we are still unbeaten and conceded only 3 goals, 2 in League Cup and 1 in CL. We started the month well with a 6-0 crush of Derby, unfortunately after the international break we were a bit off-pace and then we have 3 successive draws, two 0-0 in the league and one 1-1 in CL. Fortunately we started winning again and then beat Reading in the League Cup and edged pass Wigan in the league. We are still unbeaten and 4 points behind Arsenal, which is still a good result.

Players of the Match (1) Torres 7.85 (2) Mascherano 7.57 (3) Reina 7.20. Torres scored 5 goals and whenever he played, he posed the greatest threat to the opponents. Mascherano is simply effective in the midfield, despite his start of season is interrupted by the Copa America and the "friendly" games of Argentina. Reina had 3 clean sheets and saved us many times from losing further points.

October Prediction:
10/3 Marseille (h) Return of Cisse and Zenden, but we should win this game.
10/7 Tottenham Hotspur (h) Spur is still in a turmoil and we need to kill them off in this game.
10/20 Everton (a) Merseyside Derby and Everton will be prepared for this game. We will need extra efforts especially this is a game after the international week.
10/24 Besiktas (a) Win this game and we will be in a good position to qualify.
10/28 Arsenal (h) A very important game and we need to win this.
10/31 Cardiff City (h) Return of God. This is the first time in 12 years (since that last game of the season vs Blackburn) that I don't want Liverpool to win - if Fowler scores a hat trick.

Match Report 070929 at Wigan Athletic: Ugly Win

1-0 and we have a very tight win thanks to Benayoun's supreme goal and some help from the referee. Wigan should feel unjust not to get at least 1 point (and they should get 3), but at the end, we proved we can win in an ugly way like Manchester and Arsenal, which is very important.

Players Rating:
Reina: 7 Made 1 meaningful save.
Arbeloa: 7 A solid display.
Carragher: 6.5 A bit off pace.
Hyypia: 6.5 Decent display.
Aurelio: 6.5 Keep improving.
Pennant: 7 Provided the decisive pass for the only goal of the game.
Gerrard: 7 Gradually going back to his best.
Mascherano: 7 Effective display.
Riise: 6.5 Solid display.
Torres: 6.5 Tried too hard at times.
Kuyt: 6.5 Hardworking as usual.

Substitutions:
Benayoun: 7.5 Scored the goal and helped the defense. Superb performance.
Voronin/Sissoko: 6.5 Not enough time to impress.

Rafa: 6.5 Would be happy about the result but not the performance. But at least it's 3 points in the pocket now.

Wigan: 6.5 Would feel unjust not to get something from the game. But they should stay up at the end of the season.

Man of the Match: Benayoun. Came up and changed the game.