To lose a game deep into injury time is not a very pleasant experience. Add that to the current "crisis" at Anfield, the result is devastating.
I refuse to read the reports today. The result says it all. There is nothing else to talk about. We failed to score and lost a game in injury time. Lying 7th in the table and only 4 points above 10th place West Ham. This situation is really shocking. I am really sad and anxious. What is possibly going wrong with the team? Is Rafa losing the dressing room? Is there an internal rift between the players? We just forgot how to play football since 2008 arrived.
Someone told me last night that the consequences of not qualifying for Europe next season could cost Liverpool a place in the EPL. The word administration was even mentioned!! I can't believe it.
What started off as a promising season is turning into a nightmare.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Monday, January 21, 2008
It's over
As far as the league title is concerned, it is over.
2 points dropped at home against Villa and we were lucky to even escape defeat! 2 goals in 3 minutes from the Villains broke my heart. The second goal was a complete joke!
I am growing tired of saying the same thing over again. It was a situation waiting to happen. As long as we do not score the second goal, we can expect the visitors to hit us through one of the set pieces. They have been great scoring through set pieces over the last few games. We should have been aware of that but no! We had to give away a silly equaliser through some sloppy defending. Hypia and Carra played very well throughout the first half but to let in the first goal in that manner? It was shocking!!
After scoring our first goal, we slowed the pace down. WHY??? I have mentioned on so many occasions that we lacked the killer instinct. Villa was playing below par after we took the lead and we should have gone on to finish them off in the first half. Torres should have been moved deeper since he was mostly ineffective playing upfront. In the second half, he saw more of the ball as Kyut switched positions with him. Try to defend a 1 goal lead against a team like Villa? We are asking for trouble. This truly confirm my worst fears. The team lacked the fighting spirit. Forget about our equaliser! It was a stroke of luck that Crouch scored! We were at home in Anfield and why didn't we make the visitors feel it? We should be pinning them down in their own half and taking our chances. Should have been 2 goals up by half time!!
Rafa's tinkering. We saw Kyut partnering Torres up front. Kewell on the left. To me, they were the weak links. Although Kyut set up the first goal with a clever pass, the rest of his game was atrocious. Should have seen the way he blasted the ball over the cross bar when he should have layed it off for Torres in the 6 yard box to shoot. Even if he decides to shoot, at least get the damn ball on target for goodness sake!!! Did we see Kewell stretching the defence on the left? He looked really ordinary. Like I said on so many occasions, we need to off load him while he is still injury free. Babel should be PLAYING from the first whistle!!! Saw the impact he created when he came on in the last 15mins? Enough said.
It is really frustrating to watch the game. Something drastic needs to be done. Although we like Rafa but I feel he is not going to get us the trophy we all dreamed about. He may not even assure us of Champions League football next season! We need a motivator. We need someone to inject some consistency in the team. We can certainly start by being more consistent in our team selection.
Gerard needs to step up and take some hit for the team's performance. His shooting this morning was apalling.
Bottom line is this: Again - Like I mentioned a few blogs ago, I will be contented if we end the season securing ourselves a Champions League slot (ie. 4th place) and get past Inter Milan in the Champions League knock out round come Feb. That is all I am asking for. Nothing more.
One thing for sure. Come next season, I will still be wearing my Red. I will still be singing the songs. Nothing will stop my from loving my club. We have waited for 18 long years. Surely, we can wait for one more.
Liverpool....We Love You!!
2 points dropped at home against Villa and we were lucky to even escape defeat! 2 goals in 3 minutes from the Villains broke my heart. The second goal was a complete joke!
I am growing tired of saying the same thing over again. It was a situation waiting to happen. As long as we do not score the second goal, we can expect the visitors to hit us through one of the set pieces. They have been great scoring through set pieces over the last few games. We should have been aware of that but no! We had to give away a silly equaliser through some sloppy defending. Hypia and Carra played very well throughout the first half but to let in the first goal in that manner? It was shocking!!
After scoring our first goal, we slowed the pace down. WHY??? I have mentioned on so many occasions that we lacked the killer instinct. Villa was playing below par after we took the lead and we should have gone on to finish them off in the first half. Torres should have been moved deeper since he was mostly ineffective playing upfront. In the second half, he saw more of the ball as Kyut switched positions with him. Try to defend a 1 goal lead against a team like Villa? We are asking for trouble. This truly confirm my worst fears. The team lacked the fighting spirit. Forget about our equaliser! It was a stroke of luck that Crouch scored! We were at home in Anfield and why didn't we make the visitors feel it? We should be pinning them down in their own half and taking our chances. Should have been 2 goals up by half time!!
Rafa's tinkering. We saw Kyut partnering Torres up front. Kewell on the left. To me, they were the weak links. Although Kyut set up the first goal with a clever pass, the rest of his game was atrocious. Should have seen the way he blasted the ball over the cross bar when he should have layed it off for Torres in the 6 yard box to shoot. Even if he decides to shoot, at least get the damn ball on target for goodness sake!!! Did we see Kewell stretching the defence on the left? He looked really ordinary. Like I said on so many occasions, we need to off load him while he is still injury free. Babel should be PLAYING from the first whistle!!! Saw the impact he created when he came on in the last 15mins? Enough said.
It is really frustrating to watch the game. Something drastic needs to be done. Although we like Rafa but I feel he is not going to get us the trophy we all dreamed about. He may not even assure us of Champions League football next season! We need a motivator. We need someone to inject some consistency in the team. We can certainly start by being more consistent in our team selection.
Gerard needs to step up and take some hit for the team's performance. His shooting this morning was apalling.
Bottom line is this: Again - Like I mentioned a few blogs ago, I will be contented if we end the season securing ourselves a Champions League slot (ie. 4th place) and get past Inter Milan in the Champions League knock out round come Feb. That is all I am asking for. Nothing more.
One thing for sure. Come next season, I will still be wearing my Red. I will still be singing the songs. Nothing will stop my from loving my club. We have waited for 18 long years. Surely, we can wait for one more.
Liverpool....We Love You!!
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Uncertainty
It was a relieve to finally win a game.
There has been much uncertainty over the future of Rafa over the last 2 weeks. The fact that the yanks approached Klinsman surely did not go down well with the Anfield faithful. However, I must confess that I was somewhat excited about the prospect of having a certain Mr Jose Mourinho take over as manager. Although I hated him as a Chelsea manager, I feel he has what it takes if we are single minded about winning the league title after 18 long years. For too many seasons, we lacked the tenacity and stamina to last the full season. It was either we started badly or we would drop off the race somewhere after the new year. Like what a friend of mine once mentioned, we need our foreign players to understand what it means to be playing in a Red shirt. Is it reasonable to expect them to feel the passion of a Gerard or Carragher? I am not sure. I guess even if that's not a realistic proposition, we must at least be assured that these highly paid people give their 110% week in and week out. Unfortunately, we have not seen that yet. Just have a look at Carra and read what he is saying on the website! If only these players emulate half of Carra's spirit and passion, I am sure we will go on to win a lot more games.
However, I must admit that one foreign player did impress me during the game against Luton. And he is non other than Ryan Babel. Just to put on record, I have always felt he is quality and he will be a very important player for the team (I made this point in my previous blogs). Not only is he good as a winger, he is deployable on either side of the pitch as well. The break through came about shortly after he swithced over to the right side. He can play as a supporting striker or even play up front with Torres. He is much better than Kewell, who has been injury prone and one dimensional. He is better than Pennant who has been ineffective for most of his games. I have mentioned previously before that both Benayoun and Babel should start for all our games from now. We are 12 points behind the leaders. We need to win every game from now and hope to get a result when we travel to the top teams. Let's stop monkeying around. I know Rafa is probably trying to ease Babel slowly into the english game in order to prevent an early burnout for the 21 yr old. But come on!! He is a strong young lad and I am sure he will manage. Because of his age, I feel we can afford to stretch him a little more. As far as I am concerned, the team that started against Luton should be the first XI. The Crouch-Torres partnership needs to be nurtured. They need to play a lot more together. For me, they are the partnership upfront. I don't know what's the relationship between Rafa and Kyut but as far as I am concerned, this other dutchman needs to go. He is useless. Both Babel and Benayoun will probably score more goals than Kyut this season.
Enough of the team. I also feel the Americans Hicks and Gillet need to sell the club back to the arab group DIC Investments. I admit I was impressed by their enthusiasm in the beginning. What I am afraid now is that we might end up like Leeds United. Letting the club bear more debt is certainly not the way forward. There is always that danger of things going really wrong and we end up in administration. I believe these arabs have deeper pockets and we certainly would welcome that extra bit of cash to buy better quality players. And also to build that world-class stadium we have been promised. My intention is to visit Anfield either this season or the next. It's my last chance to return to the club one last time before we move to the new grounds in 2009.
Now that we have a full week of rest, I don't think Rafa will have any valid excuse not to start the home game against Villa with the exact same team. I will be disappointed if he tinkers this time.
There has been much uncertainty over the future of Rafa over the last 2 weeks. The fact that the yanks approached Klinsman surely did not go down well with the Anfield faithful. However, I must confess that I was somewhat excited about the prospect of having a certain Mr Jose Mourinho take over as manager. Although I hated him as a Chelsea manager, I feel he has what it takes if we are single minded about winning the league title after 18 long years. For too many seasons, we lacked the tenacity and stamina to last the full season. It was either we started badly or we would drop off the race somewhere after the new year. Like what a friend of mine once mentioned, we need our foreign players to understand what it means to be playing in a Red shirt. Is it reasonable to expect them to feel the passion of a Gerard or Carragher? I am not sure. I guess even if that's not a realistic proposition, we must at least be assured that these highly paid people give their 110% week in and week out. Unfortunately, we have not seen that yet. Just have a look at Carra and read what he is saying on the website! If only these players emulate half of Carra's spirit and passion, I am sure we will go on to win a lot more games.
However, I must admit that one foreign player did impress me during the game against Luton. And he is non other than Ryan Babel. Just to put on record, I have always felt he is quality and he will be a very important player for the team (I made this point in my previous blogs). Not only is he good as a winger, he is deployable on either side of the pitch as well. The break through came about shortly after he swithced over to the right side. He can play as a supporting striker or even play up front with Torres. He is much better than Kewell, who has been injury prone and one dimensional. He is better than Pennant who has been ineffective for most of his games. I have mentioned previously before that both Benayoun and Babel should start for all our games from now. We are 12 points behind the leaders. We need to win every game from now and hope to get a result when we travel to the top teams. Let's stop monkeying around. I know Rafa is probably trying to ease Babel slowly into the english game in order to prevent an early burnout for the 21 yr old. But come on!! He is a strong young lad and I am sure he will manage. Because of his age, I feel we can afford to stretch him a little more. As far as I am concerned, the team that started against Luton should be the first XI. The Crouch-Torres partnership needs to be nurtured. They need to play a lot more together. For me, they are the partnership upfront. I don't know what's the relationship between Rafa and Kyut but as far as I am concerned, this other dutchman needs to go. He is useless. Both Babel and Benayoun will probably score more goals than Kyut this season.
Enough of the team. I also feel the Americans Hicks and Gillet need to sell the club back to the arab group DIC Investments. I admit I was impressed by their enthusiasm in the beginning. What I am afraid now is that we might end up like Leeds United. Letting the club bear more debt is certainly not the way forward. There is always that danger of things going really wrong and we end up in administration. I believe these arabs have deeper pockets and we certainly would welcome that extra bit of cash to buy better quality players. And also to build that world-class stadium we have been promised. My intention is to visit Anfield either this season or the next. It's my last chance to return to the club one last time before we move to the new grounds in 2009.
Now that we have a full week of rest, I don't think Rafa will have any valid excuse not to start the home game against Villa with the exact same team. I will be disappointed if he tinkers this time.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Another Draw
Game: Middlesborough vs Liverpool
Score: 1-1
Feeling: Very disgusted
It was the first game I missed this season. Refused to watch it, thinking that it could possibly be me that's causing the team's bad run. Maybe if I do not watch the game, they might win it.
Once again, I was wrong. I checked the score at half time and it was Boro leading. I knew then that we would at most only draw the game or maybe even lose. Win it? Never.
You can tell that I am on the verge of giving up. It's been 18 long years. How long more do we have to wait? We have been the most passionate of fans, most loyal and most patient but even then, we all have a limit. This was supposedly to be our best team in a long long time. There was genuine hope at the start of the season. The team looked very impressive. Our start was perfect and it really made us feel this could be our year. And 4months into the season, we are 12 points behind the leaders and playing like a Division 1 team.
It's rubbish. This is surely not good enough.
Score: 1-1
Feeling: Very disgusted
It was the first game I missed this season. Refused to watch it, thinking that it could possibly be me that's causing the team's bad run. Maybe if I do not watch the game, they might win it.
Once again, I was wrong. I checked the score at half time and it was Boro leading. I knew then that we would at most only draw the game or maybe even lose. Win it? Never.
You can tell that I am on the verge of giving up. It's been 18 long years. How long more do we have to wait? We have been the most passionate of fans, most loyal and most patient but even then, we all have a limit. This was supposedly to be our best team in a long long time. There was genuine hope at the start of the season. The team looked very impressive. Our start was perfect and it really made us feel this could be our year. And 4months into the season, we are 12 points behind the leaders and playing like a Division 1 team.
It's rubbish. This is surely not good enough.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Dark Days
I have been following the news out of Anfield over the past few days. The draw against Luton Town disgusted me. Thought about what I have been writing in the last few blogs and I feel that I should be more patient. It's no doubt very frustrating to watch the team play now. Whatever it is, I will still be a fan at the end of the season. It has been this way for the past seasons (for as long as I can remember) as far as the League title is concerned. Once again, we need to look towards the Champions League and FA cup to salvage some pride. Even the FA cup looks remote now if we continue to field the kind of players and formation. I remember how it feels like before Houllier left the club. Strangely, I had the same feeling again after the Luton game. Rafa's fate will be decided after the meeting between our Amercian owners and Rick Parry in New York today. Much as I hate Mourinho but rumours of him taking over don't seem as distasteful as before. We need to change our mentality. We need a manager with the killer instincts, the ability to bring the best out from the players and I believe the self-proclaimed Special One is the right man.
Whatever it is, things are certainly not looking up for us. I am beginning to lose faith over Rafa's rotation policy. With no games over the week, why did we not play Torres? With the score remaining level at half time, shouldn't we inject some striking power upfront in order to steal the initiative? I read Carragher saying on the club website that he was relieved to leave Luton with a draw!! As far as I am concerned, with all the talent at our disposal, if we are only relieved to draw Luton, we are in serious trouble. For long spells throughout the game, the Hatters looked like they were the side more likely to score. Talbot was an inspiration up front. So what if we have international players like Crouch, Voronin and Kyut? I totally disagreed with Rafa there. They were a pale shadow compared to the grit, determination and fighting spirit of the Luton players. Like a critic rightly pointed out, when you are drawing 100,000 pounds a week, there is very little desire to want to go that extra mile. More so if you are a foreign import with no prior love or affiliation to the club we all love.
What is left for us now? At the rate at which we are playing, I will be happy if we make it past Round 4 of the FA cup, finish 4th in the League come May and hope we do not get thrashed by Inter in Feb when the Champions League resumes.
Sad indeed.....
Whatever it is, things are certainly not looking up for us. I am beginning to lose faith over Rafa's rotation policy. With no games over the week, why did we not play Torres? With the score remaining level at half time, shouldn't we inject some striking power upfront in order to steal the initiative? I read Carragher saying on the club website that he was relieved to leave Luton with a draw!! As far as I am concerned, with all the talent at our disposal, if we are only relieved to draw Luton, we are in serious trouble. For long spells throughout the game, the Hatters looked like they were the side more likely to score. Talbot was an inspiration up front. So what if we have international players like Crouch, Voronin and Kyut? I totally disagreed with Rafa there. They were a pale shadow compared to the grit, determination and fighting spirit of the Luton players. Like a critic rightly pointed out, when you are drawing 100,000 pounds a week, there is very little desire to want to go that extra mile. More so if you are a foreign import with no prior love or affiliation to the club we all love.
What is left for us now? At the rate at which we are playing, I will be happy if we make it past Round 4 of the FA cup, finish 4th in the League come May and hope we do not get thrashed by Inter in Feb when the Champions League resumes.
Sad indeed.....
Friday, January 4, 2008
It's dreadful
It was a season we felt the team could finally deliver the much awaited and much longed-for 19th League title. All that hope and optimism were shattered when Bramble slotted that ball into goal for Wigan's first point against the Top 4 teams in recent history.
It was painful. I said a few blogs ago that we simply cannot expect to defend a 1 goal lead. I also said that last minute winners or equalisers do not come daily. We were lucky to score the winner against Derby but not so lucky this time.
I can't even comment on Rafa's 4-1-4-1 formation. Why play a lone striker at Home? Why try to stretch the play by trying to play wide with Kewell and Pennant? Stevie had proved ineffective as a supporting striker. Why not start off with our strongest lineup since we cannot afford to drop any more points, at least at Home? Where was Babel and Benayoun? I think Kewell lost possession at least 35 times throughout the game. Pennant? I won't even waste my time talking about him.
It was the first time I gave up before the game ended. It was not the scoreline. I can live with it if the team played really well and conceded. But it was crap football that was dished out on the pitch. We lacked the sharpness, the ruthlessness and the hunger. In short, we were just rubbish.
As far as I am concerned, the title race is over. I don't see how we can close a 12 point gap over Arsenal. Rafa did not provide a clue as to how we are going to do it. If I am him, I wouldn't even be thinking about that right now. I would be worried about securing a 4th place finish at the end of the season in order to guarantee Champions League football next season. With Man City and Everton in red hot form, it is going to close.
We can't blame anyone except ourselves. It's painful to watch. Then again, we have been here before. For so many seasons, it's the same old story by Jan or Feb. We just need to wait and be patient. I will still be a Liverpool fan and a damn good one as well. Nothing will stop me from loving the club I live and breathe by.
You'll Never Walk Alone.
It was painful. I said a few blogs ago that we simply cannot expect to defend a 1 goal lead. I also said that last minute winners or equalisers do not come daily. We were lucky to score the winner against Derby but not so lucky this time.
I can't even comment on Rafa's 4-1-4-1 formation. Why play a lone striker at Home? Why try to stretch the play by trying to play wide with Kewell and Pennant? Stevie had proved ineffective as a supporting striker. Why not start off with our strongest lineup since we cannot afford to drop any more points, at least at Home? Where was Babel and Benayoun? I think Kewell lost possession at least 35 times throughout the game. Pennant? I won't even waste my time talking about him.
It was the first time I gave up before the game ended. It was not the scoreline. I can live with it if the team played really well and conceded. But it was crap football that was dished out on the pitch. We lacked the sharpness, the ruthlessness and the hunger. In short, we were just rubbish.
As far as I am concerned, the title race is over. I don't see how we can close a 12 point gap over Arsenal. Rafa did not provide a clue as to how we are going to do it. If I am him, I wouldn't even be thinking about that right now. I would be worried about securing a 4th place finish at the end of the season in order to guarantee Champions League football next season. With Man City and Everton in red hot form, it is going to close.
We can't blame anyone except ourselves. It's painful to watch. Then again, we have been here before. For so many seasons, it's the same old story by Jan or Feb. We just need to wait and be patient. I will still be a Liverpool fan and a damn good one as well. Nothing will stop me from loving the club I live and breathe by.
You'll Never Walk Alone.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
New Year....New Start
Alright, admit it, 2007 was not great - in football sense.
We could have ended the year on a high by beating Man City away but we struggled. It was painful to watch. Don't be misled by the statistics. It looked good but we were firing blanks all night. On the contrary, the usually unreliable Fabio Aurelio, playing on the left back position, looked closest to scoring with his long range efforts.
Always knew that City will be hard to beat especially since they remain unbeaten at home in the premiere league. They looked like a different side under the ex Engalnd manager. Dunne had no problems marking Torres out of the game. Not playing the ball to his feet, we paid the price for our lack of fire power.
Let's hope we start the new year with renewed hope. 13 points behind the leaders with 2 games in hand. We need to win all our remianing home games to stand any chance of getting close to the leaders. We will start with Wigan tonight.
Predicted score: 4-0!!!!!!
We could have ended the year on a high by beating Man City away but we struggled. It was painful to watch. Don't be misled by the statistics. It looked good but we were firing blanks all night. On the contrary, the usually unreliable Fabio Aurelio, playing on the left back position, looked closest to scoring with his long range efforts.
Always knew that City will be hard to beat especially since they remain unbeaten at home in the premiere league. They looked like a different side under the ex Engalnd manager. Dunne had no problems marking Torres out of the game. Not playing the ball to his feet, we paid the price for our lack of fire power.
Let's hope we start the new year with renewed hope. 13 points behind the leaders with 2 games in hand. We need to win all our remianing home games to stand any chance of getting close to the leaders. We will start with Wigan tonight.
Predicted score: 4-0!!!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
