Match Report 070825 at Sunderland: Hard earned win

2-0 and we have both starting center backs injured. Sami should be OK fairly soon, but Carra is a bit worried. Hope he will be back very soon.

The match also shown where the strength of the team is. In the past we would have drawn or even lose such games, but now the team has enough power to go forward and enough good players to tear off the defense, and the team is willing to go forward to seek the winning goal.

Players Rating:
Reina: 7.5 Did well when called upon.
Finnan: 7 Solid display.
Carragher: 7.5 Get well soon, we will miss you.
Hyypia: 6.5 Injured fairly early in the game. We need him back ASAP.
Arbeloa: 7 Another solid display.
Pennant: 7.5 Another good display and was dangerous.
Alonso: 7 Did well in center midfield.
Sissoko: 8 Scored his first and our 7000th goal. What a marvelous strike!
Babel: 6 A very quiet and disappointing performance.
Voronin: 8 Worked hard and was rewarded a goal at the end.

Substitutions:
Agger: 7 Solid display when called up.
Riise/Kuyt: 6.5 Not enough time to impress.

Rafa: 7 Would be happy about the result, but he need to settle the central defense very soon.

Sunderland: 6 Second class throughout the match. They should survive this season though.

Men of the match: Sissoko and Voronin. 7000th and 7001th

Let's move on

The Heinze saga is now over and we are back to our bread and butter. 4 points from first 2 games is not bad, but we need to treat every game as if it is the final. Sunderland had a bright start but was crashed last time, so they will be hunger for a win, and we have Stevie G injured. Nevertheless we should have enough talent to win the game.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Finnan
Carragher
Agger
Arbeloa
Pennant
Alonso
Mascherano
Riise
Torres
Kuyt

Love letter

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N156758070821-1605.htm

Thanks Luis. We always love you.

Luis Garcia, He drinks Sangria..

Match Report 070819 vs Chelsea: 2 points Robbed by Styles

1-1 and this is definitely 2 points robbed by the referee. That penalty should have never been given. Have we win the game we would be in a very good position, although now we are still very much on track, especially after Arsenal and Manchester losing ground as well.

We controlled the game but and Torres had opened his account with a very well taken goal, although he also shown us his evil side. The most obvious thing is that now we have the confidence to win every game. And we will be pushing very hard for #19.

Players Rating:
Reina: 7 Not much to do.
Finnan: 7 Solid display and was unlucky to have deemed to concede that penalty.
Carragher: 7.5 Lead the troops well.
Agger: 7 At times he seem to be out of position, but in general he did well.
Arbeloa: 7 Effective display.
Pennant: 7 A good display with some dangerous crossing provided.
Gerrard: 8.5 An all-round performance and provided the killing pass.
Alonso: 7 Did reasonably well apart from a few mis-passes.
Riise: 7.5 With a few dangerous shots but was only close.
Kuyt: 7.5 Very hard working performance.
Torres: 8 Scored a neat goal that shown his skill.

Substitutions:
Babel: 7 Did well and almost scored.
Crouch: 6 Not enough time to impress.

Rafa: 7 Robbed 2 points. His new look Liverpool is really convincing, and we will not drop too many points this season.

Chelsea: 6 Completely out-classed and was only helped by the 12th man.

Man of the Match: Gerrard. He's attacking, he's helping the defense, and he's everywhere.

Build up the advantage

After a labouring afternoon in France we are now back to the league and will play Chelsea. The team is now stronger than ever, and if we can avoid making any mistake, at the end we will come up on top of them.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Finnan
Carragher
Agger
Arbeloa
Pennant
Gerrard
Mascherano
Riise
Torres
Crouch

Result 2-0

Match Report 070815 at Toulouse: Professional job

1-0 and we finished the job in a professional manner. Under the hot weather and the bad pitch the player performance are affected, but we still manage to nick a goal and come back home with an away goal.

As expected Rafa made 6 changes to the squad. Players have some problem in this hot weather, but at the end of 1H Veronin scored a goal from nowhere and shown us why Rafa rated him.

The job is not done yet, as we still need to play them in the second leg 2 weeks later, but we will be in full confidence.

Players Rating:
Reina: 7.5 Not much to do, but when he's call on he delivered.
Finnan: 6.5 An average game.
Carragher: 7 Calm as usual.
Hyypia: 6.5 The heat is certainly affecting him.
Arbeloa: 6.5 Another good game.
Babel: 7.5 Played better on the right than left.
Gerrard: 7 A good game and hope his injury is not that bad.
Mascherano: 8 Very impressive display.
Benayoun: 6 Had a quiet debut.
Veronin: 7.5 Scored a goal from nowhere. Shown us his creativity.
Crouch: 7 Created the goal for Veronin.

Substitutions:
Riise: 6.5 Played better than Benayoun, and with him onboard, it allows Babel to play on the right.
Sissoko: 6.5 A solid display.
Torres: 6.5 Not enough time to impress.

Rafa: 7 Would be happy with the team performance.

Toulouse: 6 One season wonder? But we still need to give them our full respect in order to go through.

Man of the Match: Mascherano. We definitely need to buy him when his loan ends.

Champions League

We begin our quest to another European journey today, starting at Toulouse. It won't be an easy match, especially as the weather is extremely hot, but the players would be ready after training in Hong Kong.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Finnan
Carragher
Agger
Riise
Babel
Gerrard
Alonso
Benayoun
Kuyt
Crouch

Result 2-0

Match Report 070811 at Aston Villa: Stevie G saves the day again

2-1 and it was not until Stevie G put the ball into the net that we secured 3 points in the season opener the first time under Rafa. That goal was simply beautiful - and beyond any goalkeeper's reach. The win also made us the 4th Premier League team to win 1000 points.

We started the match brightly and controlled the game, but similar to last season we just somehow can't kill off the game. Carra's penalty was a bit harsh, but at the end, the Captain came for our rescue again, and we fully deserved the 3 points.

Players Rating:
Reina: 7.5 Did very well especially at the end to gain us the 3 points.
Finnan: 6.5 A bit quiet.
Carragher: 7.5 Solid at the back and saved us many times. Was unlucky to concede the penalty.
Agger: 7 A solid performance but at times can't compete with the big man Carew.
Arbeloa: 7 A solid performamce.
Pennant: 6.5 Didn't do enough to support the attack
Gerrard: 9 What a goal! And he looks very fresh too.
Alonso: 7 A good performance.
Riise: 7 A good performance as midfielder.
Torres: 7.5 A good debut despite unlucky not to have scored.
Kuyt: 8 An all-rounded performance and his hard work lead to the first goal.

Substitutions:
Babel: 7.5 Almost scored from his first shot. Very lively.
Veronin: 7 Controlled the rhythm well.
Sissoko: 6 Do nothing but losing the ball.

Rafa: 7.5 The new look team looks very sharp. He would be happy with the flow, but still works need to be done to convert chances into goals.

Aston Villa: 6 Was never into the game except for the first 15 minutes.

Man of the Match: Gerrard. Goal of the season contender.

Kickoff

It's the big kickoff again and we will start the season away at Villa. After all the transfers the expectation for the team is high. Now that Rafa has more options to attack, we need to score more goals especially away from home. With a little bit of luck, we may finally launch #19.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Finnan
Carragher
Agger
Riise
Pennant
Gerrard
Alonso
Benayoun
Voronin
Kuyt

Result 2-0

Season Preview

We finished our friendly games unbeaten (in 90 minutes, anyway) and unscratched, and now we have 5 days to go for the new season. No doubt we are stronger than last season, and with the friendly games arranged, the team is fitter and get more familiar with each other.

Rafa had built a very strong squad with more than one player chasing a spot. He will rotate the team as usual based on the opponents, but one good thing is that with the new players coming, he is now able to play Gerrard more in the central role, which is what we lacked before. Whether this means a 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 will depends on the opponents.

We are very strong in the defense and central midfield, and if the wingers can do well and cross more better quality balls, and the strikers able to improve the goal per shot ratio, we will pose a strong challenge to #19.

Thanks Liverpool

After a week in Hong Kong the players are back to Liverpool. Result is not important but the most important things are team bonding and fitness boasting. Of course, Rafa will still need to address the issue of the lack of goals. But I think Rafa will sort it out in the next few games.

Win the first title of the season

Tonight is the Barclays Asia Trophy Final and we have a chance to win some trophy before the season starts. Torres, Gerrard and Babel are all cleared to play and we will see some good football tonight. But once again, the most important thing is the gain match fitness while avoiding injuries.

Our new home

Stunning. The Kop is really huge and the design is really cool. It has more character with its irregular shape. Reminds me of famous baseball parks like Fenway Park or Widgley Field. More importantly, with the increased and expandable seats the new Anfield will support us and enable us to compete with the others.

Match Report 070724 vs South China: Just a friendly

3-1 and we continue our winning streak in the pre-season friendlies. The weather is too hot but players who played should gained a lot of fitness. The atmosphere in the stadium was good, although it was not as good as at Anfield. Anyway, it's just a friendly and let's hope we will play better against Portsmouth.

Liverpool is in town

Yes Liverpool is in town and all the Reds fans are very very happy. Tonight we will play South China, it is just another friendly game and let's hope the players can boast their fitness and avoid injuries in such hot weather and enjoy the game! Tonight we will turn the Hong Kong stadium into Anfield!

Quote of the day

"We are not Chelsea yet, but I hope we will be in the future" - Sven-Goran Eriksson predicts the decline and the fall of the Roman empire.

Options

After a slow start in the transfer market we suddenly spent a lot in the last 2 weeks. With Toures, Babel and Benayoun joining us we now have more options in the attack. As Rafa said sometimes it's better to have more options, as if you have one 30-goal scorer, opponents are easy to mark him out or if he is injured, the team will be in trouble. We now have several players who can score 10-20 goals and it will make the opponents difficult to follow.

Can we win the title? Yes we can. But will we? It all depends. In the past few seasons we created a lot more opportunities than other teams but failed to convert. We now have more depths and options to choose from, and if we can score 20 more goals than in the previous seasons, we definitely have a chance.

Well done Carra!

It's good news that Carra decided to quit international football unless under emergency situation. All the England coaches have constantly overlooked the best central defender in England, and England deserve to have Carra turned his back.

Now Carra can focus on bring us #19 instead of wasting energy in meaningless games or risking injuries. Although this is very unlikely, but I hope Stevie G will follow suit.

We all want a team of Carraghers, a team of Carraghers, a team of Carraghers...

Welcome our new #9

It's all set. Fernando Torres will be our record signing, and he has been proudly handed the famous No.9.

Welcome to your new home, El Nino, and bring us the glory we all want!

Thanks you, Luis

Luis Garcia will leave us. Some people may be annoyed by his inconsistency, but we have to thank him for all his wonderful goals during the past 2 years, especially in crucial games. Who can ever forget THAT goal against Chelsea? This was the last time I cried.

Thanks for all the great memories, and I wish you a very good future back home.