Friday, January 4, 2008

You're a f&@kin' idiot if you think Liverpool is in a crisis

Things happen for a reason. My computer went schizo a couple of weeks back and at the time I was bit stressed out about it, but now, I'm glad it happened. Why? It allowed me to once again realize how much rubbish is the press. I have had some computer access, as you may tell, so I would peruse the headlines and read an article or two, but for the most part, not much was worth writing about.

Is it just me or is every little nook and cranny involved with LFC blown out of proportion these days? Man U has a Christmas party where a woman is raped, a player is arrested, and that seems to get less coverage than Harry Kewell not worrying over a contract renewal. Analyzing the agenda of the media is easier said than done, but discussing the size of mountains with blind moles is a waste of everyone's time.

I'm not disillusioned by our recent run of form. I'm more baffled by the 'ignorance' of the media, that's a joke of course. I've said it a million times in the past and I'll say it a million more times until it happens, give Rafa some real money, some Abramovich money, some Glazer money, and we'll win either the league or the Champions League every year. I've already disproved any nonsense that he's had such funds, so you're a fucking idiot if you think otherwise.

We are not Premiership contenders, we never were. We have not invested near the amount of money to even lay claim to do so. For those who want to argue that neither has Arsenal, I have a some insight for you: Arsenal will not win the title this year. Sorry, Gunners fans, Wenger doesn't play the game and gets screwed for not doing so. If he did, Arsenal would have won the title the last two years and would have had a substantial lead already this season.

It's time to forget about the Premiership and turn to the Champions League and the FA Cup. Even if we get David Villa, I don't think we'll be able to make up the ground in the Premiership nor will we be allowed anyhow. It's not Rafa's fault nor Steven Gerrard's (such a fucking joke, btw) nor any other player's and at the moment, nor the owner's fault either. If they don't lock down Mascherano though...

All I want to know is why the press concentrates on such a 'little' club like Liverpool? It's laughable to say the least. We're not in a crisis of any sort. We're an improved side from last season and ultimately, that's all that matters. Whether we get the funds to compete with the best is yet to be seen, but I don't appreciate being lead on, lied to, or ridiculed by idiots who are too stupid to know better. Torres was a great start, but if that's all Hicks/Gillett are going to give us, be honest with us supporters or sell the club. Please.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Liverpool vs Wigan: Pennant's back! WTF?!

Here's the line-up:
Reina
Aurelio
Carragher
Arbeloa
Finnan
Kewell
Xabi
Mascherano
Pennant
Gerrard
Torres

Bench:
Itandje
Riise
Benayoun
Crouch
Kuyt

Wow. Didn't see that one coming, but really pleased we now have a true right winger out there. A bit odd that Crouch isn't starting with him though. I guess Rafa has enough faith in Gerrard and Torres to head the ball in from JP's and Aurelio's crosses. I'm pretty excited, nonetheless.

My second thought was where's Babel? He's not even on the bench, but Kuyt and Crouch are? Even with Benayoun, it doesn't leave us with many options of pace. I'd have put Babel there instead of Kuyt.

I also don't understand why we're going with a fully loaded squad. It's Wigan, not even a top ten side. If we don't get all three points here, we might as well pack it in and fully concentrate on Champions League. Absolutely no excuses, not even with Arbeloa at centre-back. God forbid if there's an injury, that has me more nervous than anything.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Liverpool vs Wigan: What will Rafa do?

With Crouch back from suspension, Voronin possessing fresh legs, and Wigan the opponent at Anfield, I don't see why Rafa wouldn't give Torres the match off here. That would ultimately result in a two week holiday, assuming that he isn't used for our FA Cup tie on Sunday at Luton. El Niño would, of course, be on the bench, in an emergency roll in at least the Lactics tie.

I think the same goes for Gerrard, Mascherano, and possibly even Harry Kewell. A midfield of Xabi and Momo would seem efficient, with possibly Lucas joining them as well and Babel going up front to make a 4-3-3 formation.

The Agger situation is getting more and more discouraging. I'm hoping that he gets a run out here, but if he doesn't get one at Luton, the injury is more severe than they're letting on. Let's just hope it's not career threatening. With that said, I guess Hobbs will start at CB since Hyypia is supposedly out until the 12th. I would go with Arbeloa, but I don't think Finnan can go for the third time in a week.

Here's my final guess:
Reina
Riise
Carra
Hobbs
Arbeloa
Xabi
Sissoko
Lucas
Voronin
Crouch
Babel

Bench:
Itandje
Aurelio
Gerrard
Kuyt
Torres

Xabi might have be prepared to play a little centre back if needed. I'm pretty confident in the three points there, but not as impressively done as would like. Probably 2-0 with Babel getting at least one of 'em. Cheers.

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Liverpool 0, Man City 0: Player ratings

As I said in my review, we actually played quite well, but not well enough. I'm going to have a hard time not reflecting my disappointing of certain players. Anyhow, here's the scale:
1 - Take off the f*%kin' kit
2 - Still not fit to where it
3 - It better have been just a poor day
4 - Drink too much last night, did we?
5 - Glad you showed up
6 - Good effort, but you could do better
7 - Solid performance
8 - Brilliant at times, adequate at others
9 - Top man
10 - Unbelievably f&*kin' brilliant

Pepe Reina 5
Pepe is usually always the hardest player to rate and today was no exception. I mean, he did what he had to to get the clean sheet, but that wasn't much. So giving him a 5 is in no way a negative rating.

Fabio Aurelio 7
Played well in all facets of the game: on defense, on attack, passing, and shooting, and if one of his efforts had even lead to a goal, he would have been a candidate for Man of the Match.

Jamie Carragher 9 Man of the Match
Was simply brilliant in the first half and did what was needed in the second, including getting involved on attack by coming forward at times, but mostly by making some brilliant long passes. He cleared nearly every ball and stopped nearly every Man City attack single-handedly throughout and almost got the assist on the winner.

Alvaro Arbeloa 6
I'm cutting him some slack since he was playing out of position and after about thirty minutes he actually regained composure. In the second half, discipline set in and he appeared much more reliable.

Steve Finnan 6.5
Would have liked him to get more involved on attack, but can't ask for much more from him. This was the second match for him in five days and I don't care how fit a 31-year-old he is, that's still a lot.

Harry Kewell 7
Solid performance, kept the ball well and created chances on attack.

Steve Gerrard 6.5
His distrust of Arbeloa in the first half probably hurt us from taking control of the match before the second half, but once he got involved on attack, asserting ourselves became much easier.

Javier Mascherano 8
A tremendous performance from the Argentine as he plucked away the ball from the Man City players almost effortlessly and got to show off some of his ball-handling skills.

Yossi Benayoun 7
It's hard to get down on Yossi for holding on the ball too long when he creates so much and does make some great passes, but the truth is, he does try to do too much at times.

Dirk Kuyt 7
Probably his best performance of the year. He made some great plays, tried some different things, and made few mistakes. Ultimately though, Kuyt just doesn't have the pace to help us become Premier League champs.

Fernando Torres 5.5
Man City put on a clinic on how to stop El Niño and for the most part it worked. I thought the ref was awfully lenient on the roughness of the Man City defenders, but still, Torres lacked in creativity. Gerrard set him up with a perfect give-and-go which Fernando failed to put through, instead he tried to create something else on his own.

Ryan Babel 6
Like Benayoun, only worse, Babel needs to learn when to give up the ball instead of keeping it himself. It's fine if he scores, but most of the time he doesn't. I don't know if it's just a lack of intuitive skills or selfishness, but it's frustrating and very predictable for the defense.

Liverpool 0, Man City 0: He may be gold, but he's not perfect

I hope that was the worse match I ever see Torres play. Much credit to the Man City defense is due though, particularly Dunne and Richards. I knew that Richards would be able to match El Niño's pace, but I was unaware Dunne would out-power him. That clearly canceled out our young Spanish strikers one-on-one abilities, which leaves him to rely on his other attributes. Obviously he needs to work on his passing, but he's not the only one. Benayoun and Babel frustratingly held on to the ball way too long as well.

In some ways it was a bizarre affair with Kuyt being the better forward on the day, Aurelio basically playing the John Arne Riise role, though an improved version as of late, and Arbeloa starting at centre back, where he appeared to be lost until about a half hour in. Most the positives were on the defensive side of the ball, with Carra and Mascherano not allowing Man City to exert themselves on attack. On the other side, the aforementioned Kuyt had one of his better days while Kewell almost looked back to the form of old.

In the first half, Gerrard arrested most of our attacking development by staying too far back. Maybe he was distrustful of Arbeloa and wanted to make sure he settled in before going too far forward, no matter what, it clearly made us a less dangerous side early on. Carra was absolutely out-of-his-mind in the first half, determined not to allow Man City a lead. Most of the time I don't really care for players taking shots 30 yards plus out, but Aurelio looked the threat, so I say fire away.

The second half was utter domination from our boys, keeping the ball in their half most of the 48 minutes. Our old demon from previous seasons of being unable to finish re-appeared somewhat, but it really was the outstanding play of the Man City defense. Playing back and boring, a staple of the Sven days with the Three Lions, looked to be their game plan, and it worked on the day. We had our chances though and didn't covert, particularly Torres, and usually taking a point away at a side as good as Man City would be a satisfactory result, but we were without a doubt the superior side.

Ultimately, we're going to have to win these matches if we hope to compete for the leauge, especially when Man U falters. Also, playing as well as we did, and overall, we played quite well, while not getting the result, cannot do much for our confidence. Thankfully we have Wigan coming to Anfield on Wednesday.

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