Do it again

We were behind after first leg for the last two rounds, and each time we came through. Atletico will be a tough opponent especially without Torres and Maxi, but we tend to do things the hard way and this time, we are going to do it again.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Johnson
Carragher
Kyrgiakos
Agger
Mascherano
Lucas
Kuyt
Gerrard
Benayoun
Babel

Result 2:0

Match Report 100425 at Burnley: Away joy finally

4-0 and we finally win an away game in the league in 2010. First half was very tight, but as soon as Gerrard scored the opening goal, there is only 1 winner. The whole team did very well in the game, and it is good to see young guns like Ayala and Pacheco to get chances to participate.

The win puts us within 2 points of Spurs and we still have a slim chance to finish fourth. The coming two weeks will be interesting.

Players Rating:
Reina: 7.5 Made 2 great saves for yet another clean sheet.
Johnson: 7 Did well on both side of the pitch.
Carragher: 7 Solid defending.
Ayala: 6.5 Apart from some scary moment early on he was doing fine.
Agger: 7 Good overlaps.
Mascherano: 7.5 Did well as defending midfielder and right back.
Maxi: 7.5 Scored a truly deserved goal.
Gerrard: 8 First goal may be lucky but second goal showed that he is back to his best.
Aquilani: 8.5 Shown us how go he can be when fully fit.
Babel: 7.5 Scored a nice goal to wrap up the game.
Kuyt: 6.5 Injury early on in second half.

Substitutions:
Benayoun: 7 Very lively performance.
Lucas: 7 Nice assist.
Pacheco: 6.5 Not enough time to impress.

Rafa: 7.5 Would be delighted that we finally win an away game.

Burnley: 6 From the performance early on in the season, they deserve to stay up. Hope they will come back soon.

Man of the Match: Aquilani. Three nice assists.

Show no mercy

We have yet to win away from Anfield in the league in 2010, and against 2nd bottom team is a very good chance to finally do so. A win today will send Burnley back to the Championship, and we should show no mercy and try to win this game, in preparing the 2nd leg of the Europa semi final.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Johnson
Carragher
Kyrgiakos
Agger
Aquilani
Mascherano
Maxi
Gerrard
Babel
Kuyt

Result 2:0

Match Report 100421 at Atletico Madrid: Improvements needed

0-1 and once again we lost the first leg of the Europa Cup tieYossi was denied a goal, or else we will be in a better position with the away goal. Anyway, we need a strong performance in the return leg at Anfield.

Players Rating:
Reina: 7.5 Made two world class saves to reduce the damage.
Johnson: 6.5 Good in defense.
Carragher: 7 Solid defending but failed to clear the goal conceded.
Kyrgiakos: 6.5 Conceded many fouls, some unnecessary.
Agger: 6.5 Was a bit slow in covering for the goal conceded.
Lucas: 6.5 A quiet game.
Mascherano: 7 Fight with heart.
Kuyt: 6.5 Worked hard as usual.
Gerrard: 7 Drove forward but could not score.
Benayoun; 7 Put the ball into the net but was denied incorrectly.
Ngog: 6.5 Worked hard as lone striker.

Substitutions:
Babel: 6.5 Failed to have much impact.
El Zhar: 6.5 Not enough time to impress.

Rafa: 6.5 Would be disappointed by the lack of shot on target and no corner gained. But this is only first half and we still have 90 minutes to play.

Atletico Madrid: 7 Marginally better and we need to avoid concede a goal at Anfield.

Man of the Match: Reina. Superb goalkeeping.

The long long trip

After 24 hours of traveling the team finally arrived in Madrid, and are ready for the quarter final with Atletico. The travel may have some impact on the team condition, but still we need to at least score an away goal so that we can be better position in the second leg at Anfield.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Johnson
Carragher
Kyrgiakos
Agger
Mascherano
Lucas
Kuyt
Gerrard
Benayoun
Kuyt

Result 2:0

Match Report 100419 vs West Ham United: Fight on

3-0 and we are still fighting on the slim chance of top 4, or are we fighting for to 6 for Europa Cup? We played the match very well and one early goal from Yossi against his former club settles it. We then keep pressing and scored 2 more goals for a well deserved victory.

Players Rating:
Reina: 7.5 A good clean sheet to make him top of the Golden Glove table.
Johnson: 7 Very active running forward.
Carragher: 7 Solid defending.
Kyrgiakos: 7.5 Very active during free kicks and corners.
Agger: 7 Did well on the left.
Maxi: 7.5 Very active performance.
Gerrard: 7.5 Great crossings delivered.
Lucas: 7 Quiet but effective.
Benayoun: 8 Scored a great goal with his tummy.
Kuyt: 7 Worked very hard.
Ngog: 7.5 Scored a beauty.

Substitutions:
Mascherano: 7 Solid run-in when came on.
Degen/Babel: 7 Not enough time to impress.

Rafa: 7.5 Would be delighted about the team performance.

West Ham United: 5.5 Very poor defending especially during set pieces.

Man of the Match: Benayoun. Genius acts.

For the fans

4th place is now very remote but we still need to play well in the remaining for the fans. With no Torres we are weakened, but it is a chance for the rest of the team to show what we can do.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Johnson
Carragher
Kyrgiakos
Agger
Maxi
Aquilani
Mascherano
Babel
Gerrard
Kuyt

Result 2:0

Match Report 100411 vs Fulham: Almost over now

0-0 and another draw means that our slim chance of finishing 4th is now even slimmer. Although we created many chances but without Torres the team is not confident and nobody is able to finish any of them. The team is losing confidence coming into the final month, and we need to resolve it somehow.

Players Rating:
Reina: 7 Did well in keeping the score at 0-0.
Johnson: 7 Very lively on attacking.
Carragher: 7 Solid at the back.
Kyrgiakos: 7 Clear the line well and had a few chances to score.
Agger: 7 Another good game as left back.
Mascherano: 7.5 Tried very hard to win the game.
Maxi: 7 Linked up well with Johnson
Gerrard: 7 Boss the midfield as usual.
Aquilani: 7 Some very good passing.
Babel: 6.5 A bit quiet on the left.
Ngog: 6.5 Could not take any of the chances.

Substitutions:
Kuyt: 6.5 Tried very hard.
Benayoun: 6 Could not do much to change the game.
Pacheco: 6 Not enough time to impress.

Rafa: 6.5 Would be disappointed about how the team reacted without Torres.

Fulham: 6.5 Come for one point and succeed. Hope we can meet them again in the Europa Final.

Man of the Match: Mascherano. Never give up.

Rehearsal

As both teams are in the semi final of the Europa Cup the match vs Fulham could be a rehearsal of the Final. Of course we have more reasons to fight for the remaining of the season, but Fulham would also be preparing for the Europa Cup and they would not be easy opponents. We definitely need to play like vs Benfica again if we want to bring 3 points home.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Johnson
Carragher
Agger
Insua
Maxi
Gerrard
Mascherano
Babel
Kuyt
Torres

Result 2:0

Match Report 100408 vs Benfica: A nice turnaround

4-1 and we are through to the semi final, with a Torres reunion in Madrid going to take place. We were in control of the game, and apart from a 12 minute period scare when Benfica put one back, there were not many scary moment. Athletico will be waiting and Torres will be no doubt looking forward for a reunion in his hometown.

Players Rating:
Reina: 7 Exposed during the goal conceded by poor wall.
Johnson: 7 Solid in defending and attack on the right frank.
Carragher: 7 Lead the back line well.
Kyrgiakos: 7.5 Many header clearances.
Agger: 7 Did well as temporary left back.
Lucas: 8 Scored a goal like how Torres did, and was superb all night.
Mascherano: 7.5 Inch-perfect pass to Torres for the wrap-up goal.
Kuyt: 7.5 Scored another header from corner and provided a superb pass to Torres.
Gerrard: 7.5 Many deadly passes and created two goals.
Benayoun: 7 Contributed to the third goal.
Torres: 7.5 Scored two goals to wrap up the game.

Substitutions:
Ngog/Aquilani/El Zhar: 7 Not enough time to impress.

Rafa: 7.5 Would be delighted about how the team played in style.

Benfica: 6.5 A good team with a good recorded was reduced to an ordinary team by our good performance.

Man of the Match: Lucas. Now he needs to play like this more often to silent the critics.

Score and keep a clean sheet

To go through to semi final we need to beat Benfica and and make sure they won't score more than us away. It is not an easy task, especially with Babel and Insua suspended, but if we play to our full strength we should make it.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Johnson
Carragher
Kyrgiakos
Agger
Lucas
Mascherano
Kuyt
Gerrard
Benayoun
Torres

Result 2:0

Match Report 100404 at Birmingham City: Losing ground

1-1 and we are losing ground further. In fairness drawing at St Andrew's is not a bad result, but with only 5 games remaining, the draw could be crucial. The talking point of the game is the way Rafa substituted. But Torres was really ineffective and we only created chances after he was substituted, maybe it's really fate that we didn't win this game.

Players Rating:
Reina: 7 Helpless with the goal conceded.
Johnson: 7 Fluke passing/shot created the goal for Gerrard.
Carragher: 7 Solid defending.
Kyrgiakos: 7 Good defending overall.
Insua: 6.5 Did well in supporting attack.
Maxi: 7.5 A very good performance and was unlucky not to score.
Gerrard: 7 Great goal gave us hope at one time.
Lucas: 6.5 Protecting the back 4 well.
Benayoun: 6 Not effective.
Kuyt: 6.5 Worked hard but was not effective.
Torres: 6 Never into the game.

Substitutions:
Ngog: 6.5 Missed many glorious chances.
Babel: 6.5 Linked up well with the team.
Aquilani: 6 Seems unwilling to play.

Rafa: 6.5 Would be disappointed about the way we conceded the goal, and will be forever blamed for substituting Torres should we not get the 4th place.

Birmingham City: 7 Tough to beat at the home.

Man of the Match: Maxi. If only he scored...

Touch away game

Birmingham away is perhaps the most difficult away game remain, but to get to fourth place we need to beat them. As shown last week they are very strong at home, so we need keep attacking in order to win it.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Johnson
Carragher
Agger
Insua
Maxi
Gerrard
Mascherano
Babel
Kuyt
Torres

Result 2:0

Match Report 100401 at Benfica: Away goal could be crucial

1-2 and we lost the game with ten men. However we did score an important away goal and it could be crucial when we go back to Anfield. Babel's red card was stupid, the referee performance was lousy, but we still get the chance to win it at Anfield.

Players Rating:
Reina: 7 Helpless on both penalties.
Johnson: 6.5 Did well in supporting attack.
Carragher: 6.5 Defended well as usual but conceded a soft penalty.
Agger: 7.5 Scored a beauty that could be crucial.
Insua: 6 Stupid mistake in conceding a penalty.
Lucas: 6.5 Solid in midfield.
Mascherano: 6.5 Did OK in midfield.
Kuyt: 6.5 Worked hard as usual.
Gerrard: 7 A good freekick to create our goal.
Babel: 5 Stupid mistake for the red card.
Torres: 7 Did well and was unlucky not to score.

Substitutions:
Ngog/Benayoun: 6.5 Not enough time to impress.

Rafa: 6.5 Would be disappointed in the way we lose, but we still have 90 minutes to recover the match.

Benfica: 6.5 Get many helps by the referee.

Man of the Match: Agger. A nicely taken goal.

Tough game

Benfica is probably the toughest remaining team of Europa Cup but to win it we need to beat some tough opponents. We lost to them in Champions League 4 years ago, so it won't be easy and we need to be really good to get anything from the match.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Johnson
Carragher
Agger
Insua
Lucas
Mascherano
Kuyt
Gerrard
Babel
Torres

Result 2:0