Match Report 120428 at Norwich City: Hat trick hero

3:0 and what a way to score a hat trick!  It must be one of the longest hat trick in Premier League history with a total of 80 yards, and surely it is a good way to prepare the FA Cup Final.

Players Rating:
Reina: 7.5 Superb one hand save to keep the score at 2:0.
Johnson: 7.5 An inch perfect pass to Suarez for the tremendous third goal.
Carragher: 8 A good performance with a great block before the third goal.
Agger: 7.5 Another solid display.
Enrique: 7 A good performance.
Henderson: 7 A solid performance at DM.
Shelvey: 7.5 Have two great chances to open his account.
Downing: 6.5 Not so effective on the right hand side.
Gerrard: 8 A good performance by the captain.
Bellamy: 6.5 A bit poor from his high standard.
Suarez: 9 A superb hat trick.

Substitutions:
Coates/Kuyt: 6.5 Not enough time to impress.

King Kenny: 7.5 Glad about the team performance.

Norwich City: 6 Not much motivation in the game.

Man of the match: Suarez.  First of many hat trick for us.

Play safe but win it

With one eye on the FA Cup Final some of the players may play safe in the league games, but we still need a few points to save the season.  We were very unlucky at home vs Norwich, and the return game could still be tricky if we do not turn up.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Kelly
Carragher
Coates
Enrique
Spearing
Kuyt
Henderson
Shelvey
Bellamy
Carroll

Result 2:0

Match Report 110422 vs West Bromwich Albion: Same old story

0:1 and this is the same old story all over the season:  We dominated early on, denied a penalty, couldn't score, hit the woodwork, one mistake and we lose the game.  Of course the players might have one eye on the FA Cup final, but the form definitely needs to be improved.

Players Rating:
Reina: 6 Made two good saves in 1H, but was unable to deny the goal conceded.
Johnson: 5.5 One careless mistake and all the good works were gone...
Skrtel: 6.5 Defended solidly.
Agger: 6.5 Missed two goalmouth opportunities.
Enrique: 6 Wasted many chances for taking a shot.
Kuyt: 6.5 His finishing let him down.
Henderson: 6.5 Quiet in 1H, but played better in 2H with two close chances.
Spearing: 6.5 A solid game.
Maxi: 6.5 Should have win a penalty for us.
Suarez: 7 A great threat up front as usual.
Carroll: 6.5 A few great link up play with Suarez.

Substitutions:
Bellamy: 6 Not much impact.
Downing: 6 Almost invisible.
Shelvey: 6 Not enough time to impress.

King Kenny: The league form is really worrying, not sure how he can improve it if he stays on...

West Bromwich Albion: 6 Lucky for them.

Man of the Match: Suarez.  If he can improve his finishing...

Welcome and no thanks Roy

After he was fired this is the first time Roy Hodgson visit Anfield.  With the FA Cup place secured players will now need to try to improve the league form, with an aim to win all the remaining games.  It will not be easy, but if players want to win a place in the FA Cup final and in next year's squad, they better improve now.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Kelly
Skrtel
Agger
Enrique
Henderson
Gerrard
Shelvey
Maxi
Suarez
Carroll

Result 2:0

Match Report 120414 vs Everton: A great response from the players

2:1 and what a way to enter the FA Cup Final.  We did not play too well in the first half but the players responded well after the break, and at the end a gift from Distin and a superb header from Carroll means that we will be visiting Wembley for the third time of the season.  Nevertheless we need to improve our game as Chelsea will be tough opponents for sure.

My Team Prediction:
Jones: 6.5 Another fine performance from the lad.
Johnson: 6.5 Another good game.
Carragher: 6 Sadly his time is almost up.
Skrtel: 7 A good performance in defense.
Agger: 6.5 Played out of position and was partly blamed for the goal conceded.

Henderson: 6 Solid game with plenty of rooms for improvements.
Gerrard: 6.5 A bit quiet.
Spearing: 6.5 An effective if not impressive game.
Downing: 6 Not much impact.
Suarez: 8 The main man on the front.
Carroll: 7.5 Answered the critics with another superb header.

Substitutions:
Maxi: 6.5 A fine game.
Bellamy: 7 Inch perfect free kick delivery.

King Kenny: 7 How he would like the response from the players.  Now make sure we improve from now on!

Everton: 6.5 Did not do too much to win the game.

Man of the Match: Suarez.  Glad to hear him commit his future!

Seize the moment

It is the derby semi final and it will be a memorial day for both sets of players, especially it is just a day before the Hillsborough memorial.  Both teams will be eager to win the game, and as Gerrard said, make sure you play to be a hero.

My Team Prediction:
Jones
Johnson
Skrtel
Agger
Enrique
Spearing
Kuyt
Gerrard
Shelvey
Suarez
Carroll

Result 2:0

Match Report 120410 at Blackburn Rovers: The team spirit is back

3:2 and what a way it was to end the win less streak.  We played very well and were truly deserved to be 2-0 up in 16 minutes, but then a mistake by Flanagan had Doni sent off and we had one man down and let Blackburn equalized.  At the end, we shown we have determination to win the game and an injury time header by Carroll finally ended the streak and we took 3 points home.  This is a morale boasting win for the team and now we can focus on the next game at Anfield South.

Players Rating:
Doni: 6.5  Unlucky to have sent off.
Flanagan: 5 Was lucky to be still on the pitch before the ultimate error.
Skrtel: 7.5 Inspiring Captain.
Coates: 7 Another solid performance.
Johnson: 7 A nice game after the long injury.
Spearing: 7.5 Solid protecting the back 4.
Henderson: 8 A great game at right back.
Bellamy: 7 A great run for the first goal.
Shelvey: 7.5 A good game at the middle.
Maxi: 7.5 Two great goals scored.
Carroll: 7.5 Sealed the game with a superb header in the dying minutes.

Substitutions:
Jones: 6.5 A great penalty save and we need you to perform.
Agger: 7.5 Came on and made an impact.
Enrique: 6.5 Provided some needed support to defense.

King Kenny: 7 Would be thrilled about the reaction of the team.  We need to continue this in the derby game.

Blackburn Rovers: 6.5 At the end we have more hunger to win the game, good luck to them.

Man of the Match: Henderson.  This is what we expect of him, play with confidence and a hunger to win.

Be confident

Ewood Park was a tough place for us to visit and ironically it was where the Hodgson era ended.  As Blackburn is fighting for relegation they would be very eager to beat us, especially when we are low in confidence.  King Kenny should try some new faces and hope that the players can sort it out, before the all-important derby game at Anfield South.

My Team Prediction:
Doni
Flanagan
Skrtel
Agger
Enrique
Spearing
Kuyt
Gerrard
Shelvey
Bellamy
Suarez

Result 2:0

Match Report 110407 vs Aston Villa: Please hold your heads up high!

1:1 and although the decisions by the referee were shameful to say the least, we should also blame ourselves of not raising our games after conceded so early, and this is a really serious problem.  Sure, we have no way to finish top 4, Europa place is secured, and it is almost impossible for us to relegate, but the fans deserve more, and the players must play much better for the remaining of the season.  But can they?

Players Rating:
Doni: 6.5 Solid display apart from the blunder that lead to the first goal.
Flanagan: 6.5 A better game from the kid.
Carragher: 6.5 A solid performance.
Skrtel: 6.5 A rock at the back.
Enrique: 6 Need to improve his confidence.
Henderson: 5 A very disappointed first half.
Shelvey: 6.5 Solid performance.
Kuyt: 6 Missed a glorious chance from 3 yards to equalize.
Gerrard: 6.5 Still the one we look for.
Downing: 6 A good 1H but dropped in 2H.
Suarez: 7 A good equalizer and was unlucky not to score more.

Substitutions:
Bellamy: 6.5  Gave us more options up front.
Carroll: 6.5  His presence let us win a few aerial fights.
Agger: 7 Was instrumental in getting the equalizer.

King Kenny: 6 Need to install confidence to the players.

Aston Villa: 6.5 Will survive this season.

Man of the Match: Suarez.  He's no diver.

Doni as savior

Finally Doni get a chance to show us how he can do, and we would need him at least for the next 3 games.  He was with Rom for 6 years so he has quality, and now it is the time for him to show the world how good he can be.

My Team Prediction:

Doni

Flanagan

Carragher

Skrtel

Enrique

Spearing

Kuyt

Gerrard

Shelvey

Bellamy

Suarez

Result 2:0

Match Report 120401 at Newcastle United: We made ourselves April's Fool

0:2 and we just made ourselves look like a fool.  Sure there was at least a hat trick of mistakes made by Atkinson and if the penalty stands and Simpson get sent off, we could have win the game, but the point is that if we are behind we should try to win the game back, instead of just give up.  This is so un-Liverpool and with this attitude, we would be lucky not to be relegated.

Players Rating:
Reina: 4 After 16,463 consecutive minutes in the league, the streak ended in a shameful way.
Flanagan: 5 Should do better in stopping the 2nd goal, but he is young and is 3rd choice right back anyway.
Carragher: 5.5 Getting worse and worse as age comes to him.
Skrtel: 5.5 Need to take some blame of not properly marking Cisse for the first goal.
Enrique: 5.5 Constantly booed.
Spearing: 6 Doing the holding DM job well.
Suarez: 5.5 Did not seem to be interested in the game.
Gerrard: 5 Failed to inspire the team.
Shelvey: 6 Have a good game and should start in the remaining of the season.
Bellamy: 5.5 Not an effective game for him.
Carroll: 5 Should do better for the one on one.

Substitution:
Downing/Kuyt/Henderson: 5.5 Not much impact to the game.

King Kenny: 4 He is in danger of ruining his name, so some sort of remedial action is really critical and urgent now.

Newcastle United: 7 More hunger to win the game and hope they can overtake Chelsea.

Man of the Match: Spearing/Shelvey.  Two brighter players in a dull match.

A game of no significance

It is only the start of April but the league has long been over, and this match bears not much significance and King Kenny may consider using more kids.  We should also play Carroll and hope that he would awake in his familiar ground of St. Jame's Park, or whatever it is called now.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Kelly
Carragher
Skrtel
Enrique
Spearing
Kuyt
Gerrard
Shelvey
Suarez
Carroll

Result 2:0

March Month Review

2W 4L and no matter how optimistic you are, this is a very poor month.  We are still at 7th place but is now 13 points behind 4th place with only 8 games to go.  In fact we are only 3 points ahead of 11th place Norwich City.  And with only 8 points from the league since the start of the year, I really don't know what we can do to resurrect the season.  Maybe we should give the youngsters more chances as they would be more eager to show us how well they can be done.

Players of the month: (1) Gerrard 7.54 (2) Spearing 7.083 (3) Suarez 7.076.  The Captain is back with a superb hat trick in the derby game, although he himself along could not lift us every game.  Spearing has also grown more mature and is one of the constant good performer of the team.  And Suarez, with 2 goals and 2 assists but still he needs to improve on the linkage with teammates.

April prediction:
4/1 Newcastle United (a) A defeat and we should target to finish 10 ten only.
4/7 Aston Villa (h) Villa's form is as worse as us, so this is a game to get some points.
4/10 Blackburn Rovers (a) Blackburn are fighting for survival and you would expect them to have more hunger to win the game than us.
4/14 Everton/Sunderland (n)  Yes we visit Wembley again, and make sure we will visit Wembley a third time this season.
4/22 West Bromwich Albion (h)  First time Hodgson is back after he was sacked, but we seems to be worse than when he left...
4/28 Norwich City (a)  By the time we face them we may be trailing with them...

TBC Fulham (h) Fulham is a consistent team and they could be more eager to win than us.

Match Report 120324 vs Wigan Athletic: No way out

1:2 and this is another defeat and we seems to be no way out of the mess.  Would only 8 points obtained in 2012, we would be in bottom 3 if the league starts on 1/1/2012.  Certainly this is a team in crisis, and despite we are still in the FA Cup, we definitely need to improve the league form, or else King Kenny would probably have to go.

Players Rating:
Reina: 6 Should have done better for the second goal conceded.
Flanagan: 6.5 A good game from his second league start of the season.
Carragher: 6 Tiredness is showing up on him.
Skrtel: 6 Responsible for the penalty conceded.
Enrique: 6 A bit tired as well.
Spearing: 6.5 Solid as usual.
Downing: 6 Not effective on the right, but played better on the left.
Gerrard: 6.5 Failed to inspire teammates.
Henderson: 5 Yet another disappointed performance.
Kuyt: 6 Poor on the left.
Suarez: 7 Scored the equalizer and was a bit unlucky to have a goal denied.

Substitutions:
Carroll: 6 Another disappointment.
Shelvey: 6.5 Provided some needed strength to the team.
Sterling: 6.5 A solid debut.

King Kenny: 5 Once again failed to inspire the team.

Wigan Athletic: 6.5 Credits to them in never give up.

Man of the Match: Suarez.  But he should play more with his teammates.

Give kids a chance

With the defeat at QPR there is really no point for us to play the strongest team, and we should give the kids a chance.  No disrespect to Wigan, but our kids will probably be more hunger to beat them.

My Team Prediction:
Doni
Kelly
Coates
Skrtel
Flanagan
Henderson
Spearing
Shelvey
Bellamy
Suso
Sterling

Result 2:0

Match Report 120321 at Queen's Park Rangers: Where is the spirit

2:3 and it was a very poor result to have 2 goals lead and then conceded 3 goals.  Tiredness may be an excuse but still we should protect a 2-goal lead well.  This is just simply not good enough.  And I have nothing to say as I did not watch the match.

Keep it up

We will have a hectic schedule in the closing in of the season, and any points still count at this moment.  It has been a while since we last visited QPR, and with the injuries King Kenny may also be forced to make some changes, but in any case, players need to improve and bring 3 points home.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Kelly
Carragher
Skrtel
Enrique
Kuyt
Gerrard
Spearing
Downing
Suarez
Carroll

Result 2:0

Match Report 120318 vs Stoke City: Wembley, here we come again

2:1 and two fine goals by Suarez and Downing sent us to Wembley again.  Although defense was shaky but at the end two fine goals and two superb goals were enough to book us another Wembley trip.  No matter who we will be facing, we need to win it and go to Wembley again the 3rd time of the year.

Players Rating:
Reina: 6.5 Should have do better for the goal conceded.
Kelly: 7.5  An all-round performance.
Carragher: 7 Lead the defense well.
Skrtel: 7 A good performance.
Enrique: 7 Did well despite not much support from Maxi.
Downing: 7.5 What a superb goal!
Gerrard: 7.5 Another good performance.
Spearing: 8 Grown a lot during this season.
Maxi: 7 A good assist.
Suarez: 7.5 Scored another magic goal.
Carroll: 6 A bit disappointed and was at fault for not marking Crouch.

Substitutions:
Kuyt: 7 Provided more steal to protect the lead.
Coates/Henderson: 6.5 Not enough time to impress.

King Kenny: 7 Would be delighted about the way we respond in 2H, although there is some problem in defending set pieces.

Stoke City: 6.5 Typical Stoke performance but at the end the better team won.

Man of the Match: Spearing.  Lucas should be worried about his position.

Cup is our priority

With 4th place virtually gone FA Cup has become a bigger priority for us.  It will be our 4th time to meet Stoke this season and they proved to be tough opponents to us.  But we beat them in the League Cup so we can do it again this time as well.

My Team Prediction:
Reina
Kelly
Carragher
Skrtel
Enrique
Kuyt
Gerrard
Spearing
Downing
Suarez
Carroll

Result 2:0

Match Report 120313 vs Everton: Captain Marvel

3:0 and what a perfect way to celebrate Stevie G's 400th League appearance.  We did very well in general, and in particular Suarez was linked up with Gerrard very well with a hand in all 3 goals.  Of course it was due to injury that we cannot play like this during the past, but for the remaining of the season, we should keep fighting on and try to get as high as we can.

Players Rating:
Reina: 7 Rarely tested.
Kelly: Confidence in going forward and was rewarded with a nice assist.
Carragher: 7.5 Grown taller in the derby game.
Skrtel: 7.5 As good as ever.
Enrique: 7 A solid performance as usual.
Henderson: 7 A bit poor in 1H but confidence returned in 2H with a superb pass for the 2nd goal, and get a well deserved round of applause from the Anfield crowd.
Gerrard: 10 Superb hat trick that he will remember forever.
Spearing: 7.5 Another superb performance to provide a platform for Gerrard to roar.
Downing: 7 Provided a few dangerous crosses.
Suarez: 8 Linked up superbly well with Gerrard.
Carroll: 7 Won many aerial duals and is more confident.

Substitution:
Kuyt: 7 Worked hard as usual.

King Kenny: 7.5 Can we play like this week in, week out?

Everton: 5.5 A really toothless performance.

Man of the Match: Gerrard.  Captain Marvel.