We played 30 games in the first half, 3 less than last season, with 17 wins, 8 draws and 2 defeats. In the league we have 10 wins, 7 draws and 2 defeats with 37 points and are 13 points behind Arsenal with 2 games in hand. This is slightly better than the same period last time (P22 W12 D4 L6 with 36 points) but were poorer than the season before that (P19 W12 D5 L2 with 41 points). We failed to win all our 3 home games against the other top 4 teams, and will need to do much better in order to have a chance to catch up. Otherwise we can only settle on 4th place, which is not yet secure as Manchester City and Everton are still trying to break in. In the Champions League we will play Inter Milan, which is a tough game but we will be ready.
Departmental Comments:
Goalkeeper
Reina is as best as usual with 14 clean sheets but Itandje is showing he can be a challenger should he get any chance. Carson will probably leave, but we should be OK.
Defender
Carragher is also doing extremely well, and with Agger suffering injury, Hyypia did very well as well until his recent injury. Hobbs is picking up well, but we definitely need to buy another cover in this area. For other defenders, Finnan and Arbeloa are also doing well, and Aurelio is also gradually settled in. The only disappointment is Riise, who at times have tried too hard to impress.
Midfielder
With Gerrard, Alonso and Mascherano we have the luxury to rotate in this area. Lucas is also doing well but Sissoko has been the biggest disappointment among all and may be sold very soon. On the wings Pennant was doing fine before his injury, Benayoun already showing some good performance although he is not very consistent. On the left side Rafa has been giving Kewell lots of opportunities to show why we should extend his contract and he is doing well, and Babel, despite not a natural winger, did quite well and bagged in 6 goals already, 5 of them as substitute.
Attacker
Torres! 15 goals already and is absolutely world class. However the other 3 are not doing very well. Kuyt still works hard but it is clear that he is not as class as Torres. Crouch has been mourning but he does not take his chance when given. Voronin has shown some flashes but was then fade out, may be due to Rafa continuing to play him out of position. Still rooms for improvement here, or Rafa can try move Babel up front to partner with Torres.
Player Rating (Games played, Minutes played, Goal scored/conceded, Assists/cleansheets, MoM, Rating)
Goalkeepers
Itandje: 3G 270M 5GC 0CS 0MoM 6.50
Martin: 7 unused substitutes
Reina: 27G 2430M 17GC 14CS 1MoM 7.07
Defenders
Agger: 6G 516M 0GS 0A 0MoM 7.08
Arbeloa: 25G 2155M 0GS 1A 0MoM 6.88
Aurelio: 13G 760M 0GS 1A 0MoM 6.64
Carragher: 28G 2458M 0GS 0A 2.5MoM 7.04
Finnan: 20G 1632M 0GS 1A 0.5MoM 6.70
Hobbs: 5G 310M 0GS 0A 0MoM 6.56
Hyypia: 23G 1870M 2GS 2A 0MoM 6.85
Riise: 23G 1694M 0GS 3A 0MoM 6.61
Midfielders
Alonso: 8G 655M 2GS 0A 1MoM 7.24
Babel: 26G 1193M 6GS 2A 0MoM 6.48
Benayoun: 23G 1446M 6GS 6A 3MoM 6.96
El Zhar: 2G 101M 1GS 0A 0MoM 6.85
Gerrard: 26G 2105M 12GS 10A 10.5MoM 7.46
Kewell: 11G 527M 0GS 4A 0MoM 6.95
Leto: 4G 280 0GS 1A 0MoM 6.38
Lucas: 13G 536M 0GS 1A 0MoM 7.03
Mascherano: 20G 1677M 0GS 1A 3MoM 7.45
Pennant: 11G 717M 0GS 1A 0MoM 6.60
Sissoko: 14G 915M 1GS 0A 0.5MoM 6.34
Attackers:
Crouch: 19G 1043M 4GS 1A 0MoM 6.77
Kuyt: 22G 1480M 7GS 2A 2MoM 6.99
Torres: 23G 1669M 15GS 2A 4MoM 7.54
Voronin: 19G 1199M 4GS 3A 0.5MoM 6.76
Players of 1st half season (1620 mins or above):
(1) Torres 7.54
(2) Gerrard 7.46
(3) Mascherano 7.45
(4) Reina 7.07
(5) Carragher 7.04
Team: 6.95. With Torres we are more likely to score now, but he still need to improve especially in away league games, where he only scored one in the first half of the season. We have lots of possessions and shotting chances, but we still need to improve in the league as we only score with 10% of our shots. It will be difficuly to close the gap now, but we need to try.
2H Result Prediction
League:
1st-5th place teams (Arsenal A, Manchester United A, Chelsea A, Everton H) 2W2D
6th-10th place teams (Aston Villa H, Manchester City H, Blackburn Rovers H, West Ham United H/A) 4W1D
11th-15th place teams (Newcastle United H, Tottenham Hotspur H, Reading H, Middlesbrough H/A, Birmingham City A) 5W1D
16th-20th place teams (Bolton Wanderers A, Sunderland H, Wigan Athletic H, Fulham A) 4W
Total for 2H 15W4D 49 points
Total for the season 86 points
If we really can get 86 points we should be 1st or 2nd.
In FA Cup, we should go pass Luton Town, Whether we can win it or not will depend a lot on luck. In Champions League, Inter will be a tough draw, but they will fear us as well. We need to play very well in order to reach Moscow.
In Rafa we trust.
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