Progression

After a tough game on Sunday the focus is now back to the League Cup, with Chelsea awaiting.  The FA has been a disgrace in forcing us to play within 48 hours of the League game, but King Kenny will make sure a strong team will be fielded so that we will play well and go through to the next round.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Kelly
Carragher
Coates
Enrique
Kuyt
Adam
Lucas
Maxi
Bellamy
Carroll

Result 2:0

Match Report 111127 vs Manchester City: Another 2 points loss

1:1 and although we are facing the league leader and was trailing behind, it still feels like a 2 points loss given the domination we had in the game.  Nevertheless a draw is still a good result, but we need to find a way to win at Anfield.

Players Rating:
Reina: 7.5 Acted like a sweeper to clear the lines.
Johnson: 7.5 Another good performance.
Skrtel: 7.5 Solid at the back.
Agger: 7.5 Good game at both ends.
Enrique: 7.5 Grown bigger at the defense.
Kuyt: 7.5 Did well and should have scored and win the game.
Adam: 7.5 Should have take more shots.
Lucas: 8 Giant in the middle.
Downing: 7 A few deadly crosses made.
Henderson: 6.5 Forced to drop too deep and failed to link up with Suarez.
Suarez: 7.5 Was isolated but still very dangerous.

Substitution:
Carroll: 6.5 Should have scored in the dying minute.

King Kenny: 7.5 Would be delighted about the performance in general, but still need to improve the shooting accuracy and conversion rate.

Manchester City: 7 A slightly off day but still they should be the Champion this year.

Man of the Match: Lucas.  Improved a lot over the years.

Beat the leader

City has revamped their squad very well and are rightly to sit at the top of the table, so it will be a very tough match for us, even though we have the home court advantage.  Needless to say, we need to be at our very top in order to beat them.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Johnson
Skrtel
Agger
Enrique
Kuyt
Adam
Lucas
Maxi
Bellamy
Suarez

Result 2:0

Match Report 111120 at Chelsea: A morale boasting win

2:1 and King Kenny's superb record against Chelsea continues.  We did very well in the first half but was only 1 goal up, and in the second half we let them played the ball and equalized.  Nevertheless, the players have the determination to win the game and at the end a fine-taken goal by Glen Johnson against his former club settled the game.  It was a great win, but we need to keep at this level if we want to grab the top four spots.

Players Rating:
Reina: 7.5 A superb save in 1-1 to keep to keep us in the game.
Johnson: 8 A superb goal to win us the game.
Skrtel: 7.5 Rock solid defending.
Agger: 7.5 Good defending performance.
Enrique: 7 A good performance.
Kuyt: 7.5 A hardworking performance.
Adam: 8 Best performance to date.
Lucas: 7.5 Solid in the middle.
Maxi: 7.5 Clever runs and scored a great goal.
Bellamy: 7.5 Unselfish performance with a nice assist.
Suarez: 7.5 Causing all kinds of troubles.

Substitutions:
Henderson: 7.5 Middle of the field is his best position.
Downing: 7 Provided some fresh legs to stretch the field.
Carroll: 7 Not enough time to impress.

King Kenny: 7.5 A good tactical play and a well deserved win.  But need to maintain the consistency.

Chelsea: 7 Defense was getting worse.

Men of the Match: Adam/Johnson.  Both played very well.

Tough games ahead

The last 3 matches of November couldn't be harder, and we may end up get zero points and out of the League Cup by the end of the month.  It is no doubt that players need to be stand up and be counted.  It will be difficult, but fans are 100% supporting the team for sure.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Johnson
Carragher
Skrtel
Enrique
Kuyt
Adam
Lucas
Downing
Bellamy
Suarez

Result 2:0

Match Report 111105 vs Swansea City: A very poor performance

0-0 and once again we cannot beat a newly promoted team at home.  Surely we have many chances and luck was not on our side with yet another shot hitting the post, but the players should take more responsibility and be more eager to win it.  One thing for sure is that with performance at this level, we will be lucky to finish top 7, let alone top 4.

Players Rating:
Reina: 7.5 Made a few crucial saves and otherwise we may lose the game...
Johnson: 6.5 Shaky defending.
Skrtel: 6.5 Solid in defending.
Agger: 7 Solid defending and was a bit lucky not to concede a penalty.
Enrique: 7 Did well in attack.
Henderson: 6 Very poor performance and offered nothing to the team.
Adam: 6 A very bad game.
Lucas: 7 Tried very hard but failed to inspire the team.
Downing: 6 Still failed to deliver the ball when we need him to do so.
Suarez: 6.5 Was dis-interested about the game.
Carroll: 6 Still don't play well in the team.

Substitutions:
Kuyt: 6.5 Could not inspire the team to victory.
Bellamy: 6.5 Failed to follow the script and score the winning goal.

King Kenny: 6 Unable to inspire the team, unable to improve the scoring.  With no Gerrard and Carra, what shall we do?

Swansea City: 7.5 A very good performance and they should be able to stay up.

Man of the Match: Reina.  A bit disappointed but this is his 150th clean sheets for us.

Welcome our friends from Wales

It is the first time we meet Swansea in the Premier League, and they had been doing very well so far, especially at home.  But we are playing them at Anfield so there is no excuse for us.  And we need to make sure we take our chances so that we will not be losing point at home again.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Johnson
Skrtel
Agger
Enrique
Kuyt
Adam
Lucas
Bellamy
Suarez
Carroll

Result 2:0

October Month Report

3W2D and we continued our 7 game unbeaten run.  The month started with a morale boasting win at Goodison Park.  International break then interrupted, and we drew two successful games at home.  Then we finally beat the jinx and beat Stoke at Britannia, and the month ended with a nice win at West Bromwich.


Players of the month (1) Suarez 7.69 (2) Enrique 7.38 (3) Lucas 7.27.  The three best players of the season just keep occupying the top 3 positions, and their performance are really eye catching.  Apart from the big 3, Bellamy also did very well despite not running enough minutes.

November prediction:
11/5 Swansea (h) Swansea is the surprised team and we need to be careful and take our chances to avoid another home setback.
11/20 Chelsea (a) A tough away game but Chelsea seems to be in a bit of transition so we need to take our chance.
11/27 Manchester City (h) City is the strongest team and it would be an extremely difficult game for us.
11/30 Chelsea (a) The League Cup draw has been cruel to us, and we need to be at our full strength if we want to visit Wembley.

Match Report 111029 at West Bromwich Albion: A nice win

2-0 and it was another nice win despite without Gerrard and Carra.  We started the game well with a slightly controversial penalty scored in the 9th minute, and at the end of the first half Carroll extended the lead and the game is all settled.  It was a fairly straight forward game, and at the end of the day the gap of qualify between the two teams really makes a difference.

Players Rating:
Reina: 7.5 A good game rewarded with a clean sheet.
Johnson: 7 Good run in the team.
Skrtel: 7.5 Solid defending with almost faultless passes.
Agger: 7.5 Good performance and hope he will have an extended run of injury free.
Enrique: 7.5 Good performance.
Henderson: 7 Solid performance without too much flash.
Adam: 7.5 Scored a nice penalty.
Lucas: 7.5 Solid protection to the defense.
Downing: 6.5 A bit disappointed with his crossings.
Suarez: 8 Lively as usual.
Carroll: 7.5 Scored a nice goal.

Substitution:
Bellamy: 7 Another lively performance.

King Kenny: 7 Would be delighted about the professional performance of the team, although he still needs to find a way to improve the new boys, especially Carroll, Henderson and Downing.

West Bromwich Albion: 6 May feel a bit unjust of the penalty but in general the result is fair.

Man of the Match: Suarez.  He just keep running and menacing defense.

Avoid the bite by the old dog

It is our second time facing Hodgson's team after he left, and he seemed to always win around Halloween, so we need to be very careful.  With a tough game at Stoke in midweek King Kenny will make some changes.  And we need to start improving our scoring accuracy now.

My Team Predictions:
Reina
Johnson
Carragher
Agger
Enrique
Lucas
Adam
Kuyt
Gerrard
BellamyCarroll

Result 2:0

Match Report 111026 at Stoke City: Great spirit drive us victory

2-1 and this is the first time we came home with a victory at Britannia Stadium.  What's more, it is also the first time Suarez scored 2 goals for us in a game, and the first time we won came from behind under King Kenny's second spell.  The fighting spirit of the team was high and at the end we fully deserved to qualify for the next round.

Players Rating:
Reina: 7 Solid in defending.
Kelly: 7 Did well in the game.
Carragher: 6 A bit poor in his standard.
Agger: 7 Had a solid game.
Coates: 6.5 Apart from a mistake that lead to the goal he was solid in general.
Henderson: 7 Great ball that lead to the winning goal.
Lucas: 7 Solid defending.
Spearing: 7.5 Had a very good game.
Maxi: 7 Good game in runnning down the frank.
Suarez: 8 Two great goals that win us the game.
Carroll: 6.5 Gradually picking up his form.

Substitutions:
Skrtel: 7 Solid defending when called upon.
Bellamy: 7 Provided us some more attacking options.
Kuyt: 7 Good support to both attacks and defendings when came on.

King Kenny: 7 Would be very delighted about how the team responded from trailing a goal.

Stoke City: 6.5 Still very tough to beat at home, and we made it.

Man of the Match: Suarez.  But need to improve his shooting.

Tough game ahead

We will face Stoke again in the League Cup.  They are still unbeaten at home this season and it will be a physical and tough game for us.  We would need to be very tough in order to beat them and qualify for next round. 

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Kelly
Coates
Agger
Enrique
Henderson

Lucas
Spearing
BellamySuarez
Carroll

Result 2:0

Match Report 111022 vs Norwich City: Home form let us down

1-1 and once again we cannot kill off a newly promoted team at home.  With more than 20 shots we should have wrapped up the game early on, but once again our finishing had let us down, and we just could not score the second goal that virtually put the game to and end, and we let Norwich to fight back.  It was again another 2 points loss, and if we play like this, 4th place will be very difficult.

Players Rating:
Reina: 6 Poor timing and let to the goal conceded.
Johnson: 7 Did well in his first start of the season.
Carragher: 7 Solid defending.
Skrtel: 7 Had a great chance in the opening minutes but hit the bar.
Enrique: 7 Very lively.
Downing: 6 Did very poor on the right.
Gerrard: 6.5 Forced to sit back but it was not his more useful position.
Adam: 6 A poor performance.
Bellamy: 7.5 Scored a great goal.
Suarez: 7.5 Very lively but his finishing let him down.
Kuyt: 6.5 Tried hard but couldn't score the winner.

Substitutions:
Henderson: 6 Ineffective.
Carroll: 7 Missed a glorious header in injury time.
Agger: 6 A mystery why he was on when we need to score a winner.

King Kenny: 6 His tactics, especially the substitutions, are a bit strange.  And something need to be done to improve the goals per shots.

Norwich City: 7 Credits to them of fighting back in the second half, they deserved the point.

Man of the Match: Suarez.  But he needs to take his chances.

Be more deadly

After a somewhat disappointing draw we will entertain the new coming Norwich City at Anfield.  With the way we played we should be scoring more goals, but we have wasted many chances and surely we need to improve in this area.  Norwich will be excited to visit Anfield, and Lucas is suspended, but the team should have enough fire power to beat them.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Johnson
Carragher
Agger
Enrique
Kuyt
Gerrard
Adam
Downing
Suarez
Carroll

Result 2:0

Match Report 111015 vs Manchester United: 2 points loss

1-1 and it really feel like two points loss.  It was not the best game but we have enough chances to win the game.  Unfortunately it is the same old problem that we created many chances but did not take them well.  Anyway this game also proved we are getting closer and closer to top 4, but we need to take our chances.

Players Rating:
Reina: 7 Did not have a single saved made.
Kelly: 7 Solid defending.
Carragher: 7 Did well as usual.
Skrtel: 7 Loss his man and conceded the goal, but in general he did well.
Enrique: 7 Linked up with the forwards well.
Adam: 7 Nice set pieces as usual.
Lucas: 7 Felt a bit tired after the travellings.
Kuyt: 7 Have a glorious chance saved.
Gerrard: 7.5 A lucky free kick for his 50th Anfield league goal.
Downing: 7 Still not playing to his potential.
Suarez: 7 Did well and could won us the game.

Substitution:
Henderson: 7.5 Very lively and have a few great chances.

King Kenny: 7 Would be delighted about the performance in general, but need to work out how to take our chances and tighten up the defense.

Manchester United: 7 Still the team to beat, but they shown us lots of respects in a 4-5-1 formation.

Man of the Match: Gerrard.  Good to see the captain back with a goal.

One year on

A year ago FSG came to our rescue and we have new owners.  After a year we have made a lot of improvements, but we are still some way behind.  Today we will meet our biggest rival.  Although a win does not mean we will win the title, but it will mean we are getting closer and closer.  King Kenny has a full squad to choose from, but whoever starts will need to make sure they are fully committed.


My Team Prediction:
Reina
Johnson
Carragher
Agger
Enrique
Kuyt
Gerrard
Lucas
Downing
Suarez
Carroll

Result 2:0

Match Report 111001 at Everton: An important victory

2:0 and every derby win is very important.  The match was quite even in the first 20 minutes, but after Rodwell was sent off there should only be 1 winner.  We played patiently and at the end two find fine goals by Carroll and Suarez and we became the clear winner of the game.

Players Rating:
Reina: 7.5 Did well to keep another cleansheet.
Kelly: 7 Solid defending.
Carragher: 7 Good display in the middle.
Skrtel: 7 Not really challenged.
Enrique: 8 Solid defending and good runs upfront with a well deserved assist.
Kuyt: 7.5 A nice assist despite having a good penalty saved.
Adam: 7 Unlucky to hit the bar.
Lucas: 7.5 Another solid performance.
Downing: 6.5 Not very effective.
Suarez: 8 His never say die spirit won us a one man advantage, a penalty, a goal and a victory.
Carroll: 7.5 Scored his first league goal of the season in an important game.

Substitutions:
Gerrard: 7 Another good run after injury.
Bellamy: 7.5 Give us more options in attack.
Henderson: 6.5 Not enough time to impress.

King Kenny: 7 Would be delighted about the team's spirit.

Everton: 6.5 Couldn't match with ten men.

Men of the Match: Enrique/Suarez.  Superb performances on both ends of the pitch.

Back to where it ends

It's 7,500 days since King Kenny last stood in the Goodison Park dugout, and now he is back and is going to finish his unfinished business.  A derby is always tough and we need to play very well to go home with 3 points.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Kelly
Carragher
Skrtel
Enrique
Kuyt
Adam
Lucas
Downing
Suarez
Carroll

Result 2:0

September Month Report

2W2L and we suffered our first dip of the season.  The month started with 2 defeats at Stoke (undeserved) and Spur (well deserved), and then we rebounded by winning at Brighton and vs Wolves, although not too convincing.  Anyway we are still sitting at 5th place of the table, but the next month will be very challenging with games vs our two fiercest rivals.

Players of the month (1) Suarez 7.18 (2) Lucas 6.88 (3) Enrique 6.83.  Suarez once again lead the team with one fine goal scored vs Wolves.  Lucas have become our Mr Consistency and featured well in all our league games.  And Enrique's crossing has become a great asset to us.

October prediction:
10/1 Everton (a) Derby will be tough and we need a good mentality to win it.
10/15 Manchester United (h) We need to win to close the gap.
10/22 Norwich City (h) Norwich did well in the first 2 months and this will not be a pushover game.
10/25 Stoke City (a) Once again, Britannia Stadium is a difficult place to visit and we need a revenge.
10/29 West Bromwich Albion (a) Playing against Mr Hodgson's team and we need to find a way to break them down.

Match Report 110924 vs Wolverhampton Wanderers: Back to winning days

2:1 and after two disappointing defeats we are back to winning days.  We did well overall and could be  winnig by a larger margin, but once again we did not take chances and at the end it was only a close win.  Anyway this is still a good win and moved us up to 5th place in the table.

Players Rating:
Reina: 7 Solid at the back.
Kelly: 7 A good game after the injury.
Carragher: 7 Lead the team with examples.
Skrtel: 7 Solid defending.
Enrique: A superb assist to the winning goal.
Henderson: 7 Not adventurous enough.
Adam: 7 Forced the first goal.
Lucas: 7 Solid defending as usual.
Downing: 7 A good run.
Suarez: 8 Scored a great goal and excellent all round.
Carroll: 7 Was unlucky not to have scored.

Substitutions:
Kuyt: 7 Worked hard as usual.
Gerrard: 7 Have a good shot attempt.

King Kenny: 7 Would be delighted about the result, but there are lots of improvements needed for the team.

Wolverhampton Wanderers: 7 Did well in 2H.

Man of the Match: Suarez.  Another superb goal.