Kuyt comes home

It's the homecoming match for Kuyt and he will no doubt be fired up. We also need to get a result in order to build up momentum into the league, so we would be fielding a strong squad and hope to bring another 3 points home.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Johnson
Carragher
Skrtel
Kelly
Lucas
Poulsen
Kuyt
Meireles
Cole
Torres

Result 2:0

Match Report 100925 vs Sunderland: Slump continues

2:2 and our worst ever start in Premier League continues. We scored an intelligent goal (which is legal and valid, shut up Bruce) but then conceded two goals, before Gerrard rescued us again. We could have win it but the finishing denied us another goal. Hodgson's insistence of not using all 3 substitutes and 4231 could have cost us a lot. True, 4231 is the way to go, but Torres is still not fully fit and need someone to support him. Plus Gerrard is play like two men in the midfield so we may not concede that many possession as you may expect. We definitely need a win to kick start our season.

Players Rating:
Reina: 6.5 Helpless on both goals conceded.
Johnson: 6.5 Still better going forward than defense.
Carragher: 6.5 Lead the defense.
Skrtel: 6.5 Go forward often.
Konchesky: 6 Injured early on.
Gerrard: 7.5 Scored an important equalizer but could not drive us to victory.
Poulsen: 5.5 Conceded a needless and was in general poor.
Kuyt: 7 Back with a clever goal.
Meireles: 6.5 A good display.
Cole: 6.5 Getting better and better.
Torres: 7 Gradually improved his condition.

Substitutions:
Agger: 6.5 Solid defense and should have score the winner.
Ngog: 7 Came on and give us more attacking options.

Roy: 5.5 Should have play Ngog more often and be more proactive in substitutions.

Sunderland: 6.5 Would be delighted with getting a point home.

Man of the Match: Gerrard. Once again saved us from further embarrassment.

Relegation fight

After 5 league games we are sitting at 16th place and the match against Sunderland is now like a relegation fight. We are playing poorly and we need to get a result as soon as possible, and anything but a win will mean the Club will have more pressure.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Johnson
Carragher
Skrtel
Konchesky
Gerrard
Poulden
Kuyt
Meireles
Cole
Torres

Result 2:0

Match Report 100922 vs Northampton: Shame

2:2 and we lost the penalty shootout to a League 2 team. Can Roy steer us through the storm? Very doubtful.

Players Rating:
All very poor. The experienced players did not perform and the youngsters could not cope with it. Do we have a future?

Roy: 5 Toothless in preventing us from further sinking.

Northampton: 7 Credits to them in playing the game of their life.

Man of the Match. Spearing. But still the whole team is unacceptable.

Kids to shine

League cup is a good venue for the kids to show us how good they are, and for many years we have not have a good draw, except this year. No disrespect to Northampton, but the gap of the class should be big enough for the kids and B team to go through.

My Team Prediction:
Jones
Kelly
Kyrgiakos
Agger
Wilson
Spearing
Shelvey
Dalla Valle
Pacheco
Babel
Ngog

Result 2:0

Match Report 100919 at Manchester United: So close, so far away

2-3 and this is a really heart breaking scoreline considered we come back from 2 goals down. At the end the mistake of the defense is costly, and we went home empty handed. The good thing is that we did better and better into second half, and looks like the shape of Roy's team is gradually completed. From next game onward we need to go out and win more games.

Players Rating:
Reina: 6 Can't be fault on all three goals, as defense let him down.
Johnson: 6 Did well going forward.
Carragher: 6 Solid in general but at the end can't mark Berbatov and let in the third goal.
Skrtel: 6 Should do better in covering Carra.
Konchesky: 6 Failed to defense the post for the first goal conceded.
Gerrard: 7 Scored two goals but at the end was not enough.
Poulsen: 6.5 Did much better in 2H.
Maxi: 6 Very ineffective.
Meireles: 6.5 Gradually gelled with the team.
Cole: 6.5 Have a killer pass that lead in the penalty.
Torres: 6 No supply and still picking up his form.

Substitutions:
Ngog: 6.5 Came up and give us some more attacking options.
Jovanovic/Agger: 6 Did not do much when coming up.

Roy: 6 Would be disappointed in conceded a late goal, but he should also take note of the gradually improved performance in the 2H.

Manchester United: 7 One man show and whether their leaky defense and aged squad will sustain is questionable.

Man of the Match: Gerrard. Need to help Torres to find his form as well.

With hope in your heart

It's the toughest game of the year and we are not in a good shape. Torres is still not sharp, Kuyt is injured, new boys still need time to gel and we are still affected by the off the field incidents, but the players will be fired up and will try to get a result.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Johnson
Carragher
Skrtel
Konchesky
Gerrard
Meireles
Maxi
Cole
Jovanovic
Torres

Result 2:0

Match Report 100916 vs Steaua Bucharest: Nice start in Europe League

4-1 and this is a very impressive result from the team. Many of the reserve team players played in this game and they did well to impress the manager. The victory makes us comfortably sitting at the top of the table, and is a morale boaster before the big game on Sunday.

Players Rating:
Reina: 7 Solid display from the captain.
Kelly: 7 Impressive performance from the youngster.
Kyrgiakos: 7 Very dangerous when coming up and gained us the penalty.
Agger: 7 Good performance after the weekend snub.
Konchesky: 7 Good home debut.
Meireles: 7 Dynamo in the midfield.
Spearing: 7 Worked hard and provided a nice assist to the final goal.
Maxi: 6.5 A bit quiet.
Cole: 7 Scored a nice goal to open his Anfield account.
Babel: 7 Did well to impress the manager.
Ngog: 7.5 Scored two nice goals.

Substitutions:
Lucas: 7.5 Scored a wonder goal that even Stevie G applauds.
Pacheco/Eccleston: 6.5 Good display from the kids.

Roy: 7 Would be delighted about the second half performance. Now we need to keep this up and maintain it for 90 minutes.

Steaua Bucharest: 6 Had a good chance and took it. But at the end the difference of class makes a difference.

Man of the Match: Ngog. Silence his critics.

Second tier game

With United visit on Sunday Roy will not play our big guns in this game. We have not played Steaua for many years but they will not be easy opponent, and our boys need to be really stand up and be counted if we want to win the game.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Johnson
Carragher
Agger
Kyrgiakos
Meireles
Poulsen
Maxi
Cole
Babel
Ngog

Result 2:0

Match Report 100912 at Birmingham City: Disappointing draw

0-0 and this is the 7th consecutive draw with Birmingham. We did poorly and does not deserve to win the game, and thanks to the heroic performance of Reina, we managed to keep a clean sheet and a draw. More rebuilding works need to be done, but we need to sort it out quickly.

Players Rating:
Reina: 8 Superb saves to keep us one point home.
Johnson: 5.5 Horrible defending.
Carragher: 7.5 Vision on the ball is still second to none.
Skrtel: 6 Defend poorly.
Konchesky: 6.5 A nice debut before pulling his hamstring.
Lucas: 6 Uninspired performance.
Poulsen: 6 Invisible in 1H but gradually picking up in 2H.
Maxi: 6 Ineffective on both flanks.
Gerrard: 6.5 Tried hard but failed to deliver.
Jovanovic: 6 Not doing enough.
Torres: 6 Poor performance as there is no supply.

Substitutions:
Meireles: 6.5 Nice debut performance.
Agger: 6.5 Came up and did OK.

Roy: 6 Need to work hard in bringing the team on form. Some tough game coming up...

Birmingham City: 6.5 Credits to them in playing well at home.

Man of the Match: Reina. Yet another superb performance.

Break the duck

After the international break we are now back to the league. Birmingham at home is tough to beat and under Rafa we have not beat them in the league. New boys will get a chance to play, and we need to start break the duck.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Johnson
Carragher
Skrtel
Aurelio
Gerrard
Poulsen
Maxi
Meireles
Jovanovic
Torres

Result 2:0