Though it appears Lazar Markovic is a likely signing, others who were once possibly on our radar are gone or slowly disappearing. Of the four I listed in this post's title, the only one whom I'm disappointed about is Shaqiri. Apparently Bayern Munich offered him more money, but will that translate into more playing time for the loaded German side? Not that he'll be handed a spot at Liverpool, but Der FCB isn't called 'FC Hollywood' for nothing.
Apparently Roma are now in talks to sign the Swiss International. If I were Shaqiri and an Serie A club came for me with an offer equivalent or greater than what I could make anywhere else, I'd sign faster than an imploding Brazilian defense. Shaqiri will run rampant in Italy and his has the technical prowess to persevere as well.
Personally I have not been all the impressed with Marcos Rojo at the World Cup. He's got that WC hype feeling. He has received praises for his play in Portugal, but his stats do not overwhelm other than his card collection of 14 yellows and 3 reds in 33 matches. If that's not a red flag, I don't know what is.
I don't care about Sanchez. He prefers Arsenal and that tells me he's absolutely clueless. The reason being his family wants to 'live in London' is just lame. Oh well, have fun getting rotated to death and make sure not to make Arsene angry, you wouldn't like him when he's angry.
Finally we get to Origi, who I have already written about. Now there are reports that Spurs are interested in him. I couldn't care less either way considering we would probably loan him back to Lille anyhow. Seems ridiculous to me to spend £10m for a player just to loan him back to the club we bought him from. What are we, Chelsea now? And if Origi wants to know how things will probably work out for him at Tottenham, I suggest he give Erik Lamela a call.
Oh and we missed out on Ashley Cole. You can only imagine the tears. Let's just hope we 'miss out' on Bertrand as well. I will really be crying then.
Showing posts with label Chelsea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chelsea. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
The transfer terrorists and their sneaky, little dirty bombs
If you are like me, you are already tired of all the speculations and half-fabrications pertaining to potential transfers involving our beloved club. The silly season is upon us and since my two pence is worth at least one-fiftieth quid, I figure I'll have a go at deciphering through this radioactive mess. I don't claim to have an advantage of who we may bring in, but I can at least give my thoughts on who is 'surplus to the cause'.
Lucas Leiva
I'm really on the fence about Lucas. As much as I think we should keep him, part of me thinks the Lucas of three seasons ago is gone and he shan't return. His injuries have become too frequent and though his passing and ball-handling skills have improved, he appears slower than ever and that's saying a lot considering pace was never one of his strengths. At least now, with the addition of Can, we won't have to rely on him as much.
Daniel Agger
Absolutely not, losing Agger would be a greater loss than losing Suarez. He was our best centre back last year and unless Sakho proves his worth early on next season, Agger should be around for a few more years.
Iago Aspas
Here's an interesting stat concerning Aspas... oh wait, there are no interesting stats concerning him. Give'em a ticket and say bon voyage.
Fabio Borini
Even without the addition of Rickie Lambert, Borini should be shipped out. In 2692 Premiership minutes, playing for Sunderland, Liverpool, and Chelsea, he has scored 8 goals, 3 of which are penalties, and assisted on 3 more. For a comparison, he scored 9 goals in 1680 minutes for Roma in Serie A. He doesn't have the pace nor the technical ability to make up for the lack of pace to make it in the Prem. I say sell him to Sunderland or use him as bait to get a versatile defender like Federico Fazio.
Ousama Assaidi
Assaidi had a decent spell at Stoke last season, but not enough to really consider keeping him. His ccp90 of 1.53, shooting accuracy of 45%, shot % of 20%, and a TTI90 of 8.6 are all respectable numbers, but he'll be 26 in August. If he was 23, I'd say keep him around for another season, but it's time to cut ties and try to get back at least some of what we paid for him.
Jack Robinson
Robinson's loan spell at Blackpool probably did more for his character development than it did for his skills. Blackpool started the season in decent form, sitting on 31 points 17 matches into the season, than the ship ran aground. They lost 20 of their remaining 29 matches, even bringing in Barry Ferguson as the manager did little to help their slide. Was Robinson integral to their fall? Not really. Despite picking up 3 red cards, 2 of which were in their first 17 matches, Robinson's output was respectable:
Lucas Leiva
I'm really on the fence about Lucas. As much as I think we should keep him, part of me thinks the Lucas of three seasons ago is gone and he shan't return. His injuries have become too frequent and though his passing and ball-handling skills have improved, he appears slower than ever and that's saying a lot considering pace was never one of his strengths. At least now, with the addition of Can, we won't have to rely on him as much.
Daniel Agger
Absolutely not, losing Agger would be a greater loss than losing Suarez. He was our best centre back last year and unless Sakho proves his worth early on next season, Agger should be around for a few more years.
Iago Aspas
Here's an interesting stat concerning Aspas... oh wait, there are no interesting stats concerning him. Give'em a ticket and say bon voyage.
Fabio Borini
Even without the addition of Rickie Lambert, Borini should be shipped out. In 2692 Premiership minutes, playing for Sunderland, Liverpool, and Chelsea, he has scored 8 goals, 3 of which are penalties, and assisted on 3 more. For a comparison, he scored 9 goals in 1680 minutes for Roma in Serie A. He doesn't have the pace nor the technical ability to make up for the lack of pace to make it in the Prem. I say sell him to Sunderland or use him as bait to get a versatile defender like Federico Fazio.
Ousama Assaidi
Assaidi had a decent spell at Stoke last season, but not enough to really consider keeping him. His ccp90 of 1.53, shooting accuracy of 45%, shot % of 20%, and a TTI90 of 8.6 are all respectable numbers, but he'll be 26 in August. If he was 23, I'd say keep him around for another season, but it's time to cut ties and try to get back at least some of what we paid for him.
Jack Robinson
Robinson's loan spell at Blackpool probably did more for his character development than it did for his skills. Blackpool started the season in decent form, sitting on 31 points 17 matches into the season, than the ship ran aground. They lost 20 of their remaining 29 matches, even bringing in Barry Ferguson as the manager did little to help their slide. Was Robinson integral to their fall? Not really. Despite picking up 3 red cards, 2 of which were in their first 17 matches, Robinson's output was respectable:
| npgp90 | 0 | pass% | 71.7 | gap90 | 1.44 | intp90 | 2.27 |
| gcp90 | 0.1 | bp% | 37.3 | gsp90 | 0.83 | clrp90 | 5.3 |
| ccp90 | 0.77 | sacc% | 8.3 | gop90 | -0.61 | bsp90 | 0.35 |
| ap90 | 0.1 | shot% | 0 | tgop90 | -0.61 | adwp90 | 1.4 |
| ccv | 12.5 | TTI90 | 11.7 | tp90 | 1.95 | adwon% | 57.1 |
| tack % | 51.3 |
Ferguson even deployed Robinson at left mid for 4 matches with mixed results. Being only 20, I expect him to be loaned out again and hopefully show more promise than last season.
As for Suso, Wisdom, Kelly, Coady, Yesil, and Ibe, unless they vehemently demand to leave, we should hold on to them. The first three can contribute now, while the latter three probably need seasoning at a Championship side to improve their game.
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Individual defensive stats, for the most part, are irrelevant
Recently when I was researching centre back prospects, I started to notice a trend. It appeared that individualized defensive stats such as tackles, interceptions, clearances, and blocked shots had little relevance in regards to team defensive performance. Though not completely irrelevant and in the very least a sign of hard work and involvement in a match, it just does not reflect on the scoresheet.
Ranking team defense ultimately comes down to goals allowed, four of the Prem clubs that finished the season in the top five last year, also finished in the top four in goals allowed. Liverpool was the only top five club not to, they were 8th. So the key is to figure out what stats are most important in goal prevention, but it's not that easy. There should be a stats called 'turnover produced' and/or 'chance prevented', but what exactly would that entail and how would it be measured?
There are team stats that already exist that should carry more weight: shots conceded, possession, and passing are the most important in preventing chances for the opposition. These are better described as 'anti-attack' stats instead of defensive ones, but they still strive to accomplish the same objective. There are two interesting samples to discuss from last season's Prem, Man City, who won the league and was 2nd in least goals allowed, and Crystal Palace, who were far and away the best defensive-minded individuals thrown on the pitch falsely called 'a team'.
First, I set up a table taking the rank of each Prem club in each respective stat. Those stats are goals allowed, non-error goals allowed, shots conceded, tackles, tackle %, clearances, interceptions, blocked shots, defensive errors, critical defensive errors, possession, and passing %. I then broke that table down into two, one with only non-individual team stats and the other with just individual team stats.
Man City finished 7th on the overall table, 1st on non-individual team stats, and dead last (20th) on the individual combined table. If that's not convincing enough for you, Crystal Palace tied with Chelsea for 1st on the overall table, was 16th on the non-individual table, and finished 1st by a mile on the individual combined table. In fact, Palace had an avg rank of 2.86 on the ict, a full four points ahead of second place Hull and 11.71 average places higher than Man City.
Crystal Palace finished 11th in the table, scoring only 33 goals (2nd worst overall) and ranked dead last in both passing and possession. Being that Tony Pulis is still their manager and they haven't brought in any significant attacking transfers, I don't see that changing much next season. Meanwhile Man City lead the league in goals scored and was 2nd in both passing and possession. Maybe the old adage 'the best defense is a good offense' rings true.
Ranking team defense ultimately comes down to goals allowed, four of the Prem clubs that finished the season in the top five last year, also finished in the top four in goals allowed. Liverpool was the only top five club not to, they were 8th. So the key is to figure out what stats are most important in goal prevention, but it's not that easy. There should be a stats called 'turnover produced' and/or 'chance prevented', but what exactly would that entail and how would it be measured?
There are team stats that already exist that should carry more weight: shots conceded, possession, and passing are the most important in preventing chances for the opposition. These are better described as 'anti-attack' stats instead of defensive ones, but they still strive to accomplish the same objective. There are two interesting samples to discuss from last season's Prem, Man City, who won the league and was 2nd in least goals allowed, and Crystal Palace, who were far and away the best defensive-minded individuals thrown on the pitch falsely called 'a team'.
First, I set up a table taking the rank of each Prem club in each respective stat. Those stats are goals allowed, non-error goals allowed, shots conceded, tackles, tackle %, clearances, interceptions, blocked shots, defensive errors, critical defensive errors, possession, and passing %. I then broke that table down into two, one with only non-individual team stats and the other with just individual team stats.
Overall Table
Non-Individual Team Table
Individual Combined Table
Man City finished 7th on the overall table, 1st on non-individual team stats, and dead last (20th) on the individual combined table. If that's not convincing enough for you, Crystal Palace tied with Chelsea for 1st on the overall table, was 16th on the non-individual table, and finished 1st by a mile on the individual combined table. In fact, Palace had an avg rank of 2.86 on the ict, a full four points ahead of second place Hull and 11.71 average places higher than Man City.
Crystal Palace finished 11th in the table, scoring only 33 goals (2nd worst overall) and ranked dead last in both passing and possession. Being that Tony Pulis is still their manager and they haven't brought in any significant attacking transfers, I don't see that changing much next season. Meanwhile Man City lead the league in goals scored and was 2nd in both passing and possession. Maybe the old adage 'the best defense is a good offense' rings true.
Why Rodgers should buy Bertrand
To get sacked and go on holiday. I have little doubt that buying the Chelsea left back for his estimated valuation of £7m would be on par with buying Aspas for £7.5m or Borini for £10.4m. Here are last season's stats for Bertrand, who spent the majority on loan at Villa, our Jon Flanagan, and the guy we should sign on a free from Heracles of the Eredivisie, Australian Jason Davidson.
| Bertrand | Flanagan | Davidson | |
| age | 25* | 21 | 22 |
| app(subs) | 17 | 23 | 30 |
| mins | 1449 | 1890 | 2669 |
| goals | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| assist | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| chances | 4 | 13 | 32 |
| npgp90 | 0 | 0.05 | 0.06 |
| gcp90 | 0 | 0.1 | 0.17 |
| ccp90 | 0.25 | 0.62 | 1.08 |
| pass% | 76.4 | 83.7 | 76.5 |
| bp% | 38.4 | 42.6 | 31.4 |
| sacc% | 50 | 42.9 | 38.5 |
| shot% | 0 | 14.3 | 15.4 |
| tp90 | 1.9 | 3.8 | 1.7 |
| tack % | 60.5 | 45.7 | 51.2 |
| intp90 | 0.9 | 1.9 | 2.2 |
| clrp90 | 2.1 | 3.6 | 5.2 |
| dribpp90 | 0.4 | 1.9 | 0.9 |
| bsp90 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.5 |
| TTI90 | 10.2 | 9.2 | 7.6 |
Bertrand pales in comparison to Flanagan and Davidson, in fact, other than his tackle success percentage, he's quite unimpressive. More damning is that before joining Villa they had 23 points from their first 20 matches, but in the 16 of the remaining 18 matches that Bertrand played, they garnered only 12 points and won the fixture against Chelsea which could not feature him.
Just don't do it Rodgers. I read somewhere that the argument was how Rodgers has 'righted' Sturridge and could do the same for Bertrand. That's a bunch of crock, when Sturridge is allowed to play in his natural position up front, as he did on loan at Bolton, he's highly productive, it has little to do with Rodgers 'righting' anything. BR should be getting Davidson's rep on the phone as soon as possible before he finalizes his deal with Fulham. That Felix Magath, he's never won anything.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Essien trumps Gerrard
Is there really much else to say? I guess we could have played back and come to think of it, probably should have after the early goal, but, uh, we didn't. Not having Mascherano didn't help either. We're done in the Champions League. Let's get over it.
Some may say Benitez was out-coached by Hiddink and frankly I have to agree, especially on set pieces. Our attack was futile at best. Not even on our own set pieces could we penetrate the Blues' defense.
The only thing in our favor next Tuesday is that we have Masche and they won't have Terry, but with Evanovich all of sudden becoming a great goal-scorer, who knows.
Some may say Benitez was out-coached by Hiddink and frankly I have to agree, especially on set pieces. Our attack was futile at best. Not even on our own set pieces could we penetrate the Blues' defense.
The only thing in our favor next Tuesday is that we have Masche and they won't have Terry, but with Evanovich all of sudden becoming a great goal-scorer, who knows.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Chelsea was the worse possible draw
I would have much preferred Barça or Man U to the Blues. Sure we've beaten them twice in the league this season, but that was without their best player, Michael Essien. Now that he's back, we cannot enter thinking these matches will be anything like the previous two. Being one of the best players in the world, he is a large enough factor to push them past us. It will take a monumental effort to overcome the Blues and I hope our boys approach them with tremendous respect, because without it, we won't advance.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
12 points from Man U & Chelsea
It's a bit baffling to think we've taken the double from the two top squads in the league, but it may be a bit more confounding to realize that we've managed only six pts in six matches against four of the eight bottom sides (Tottenham, Hull, Stoke, and Middlesborough). In the end, those results are probably going to be what keeps us from the title.
Though not impossible, it is very much improbable, and as Benitez states, we must win our final nine contests to have any sort of chance. Taking a gander at our remaining schedule, closing out the campaign with twenty-seven points is a doable feat. The toughest matches left being versus Arsenal and Villa, but both of those are at Anfield. Away to West Ham and a visit from those pesky Spurs aren't going to be easy either, but then again, no match is nor should be approached as so, something United's defenders should have probably taken into account before today's contest.
The most impressive feat about today's match? That unless soccerbase.com is incorrect or my eyes have failed me*, Man U has never allowed 4 goals in a Premiership match at Old Trafford. NEVER. In fact, you have to go back to December 30, 1978, when the Mancs lost to West Brom, 5-3, in the old first division, to find a result of four or more allowed in the league. 30 years ago. Quite impressive.
Well, six days until we find out our next Champions League opponent and eight until we face Villa at home. Until then, cheers.
*EDIT - I stand corrected (or maybe I should look into wearing glasses). They allowed 4 goals against QPR at Old Trafford on January 1st, 1992. Still though, that was a first division match, so they truly never have allowed 4 at home in the Prem.
Though not impossible, it is very much improbable, and as Benitez states, we must win our final nine contests to have any sort of chance. Taking a gander at our remaining schedule, closing out the campaign with twenty-seven points is a doable feat. The toughest matches left being versus Arsenal and Villa, but both of those are at Anfield. Away to West Ham and a visit from those pesky Spurs aren't going to be easy either, but then again, no match is nor should be approached as so, something United's defenders should have probably taken into account before today's contest.
The most impressive feat about today's match? That unless soccerbase.com is incorrect or my eyes have failed me*, Man U has never allowed 4 goals in a Premiership match at Old Trafford. NEVER. In fact, you have to go back to December 30, 1978, when the Mancs lost to West Brom, 5-3, in the old first division, to find a result of four or more allowed in the league. 30 years ago. Quite impressive.
Well, six days until we find out our next Champions League opponent and eight until we face Villa at home. Until then, cheers.
*EDIT - I stand corrected (or maybe I should look into wearing glasses). They allowed 4 goals against QPR at Old Trafford on January 1st, 1992. Still though, that was a first division match, so they truly never have allowed 4 at home in the Prem.
Friday, March 14, 2008
'Inter is going to kill Liverpool'
That's all I heard going into our first elimination showdown from those who think they are in the know. I hope now they have a better understanding of how the footballing world works and some clue who the true ringmasters are... or maybe I should say puppets and puppet masters. Here's a clue, those with the strings attached to their arses are the team with the least amount of players on the pitch and those controlling the strings make the most money from matches. It's not rocket science.
The first match at Anfield was a joke nonetheless. With a man advantage and a ferocity of attack it was merely a matter of time before Liverpool netted. The second match was one of less subtlety. The surprise Torres goal seemed to spark a change of favoritism, atoned probably to in-game betting, but the ref could hardly keep his hand out of his card pocket with or without the smirk on his mug. A draw would have sufficed, a win for Liverpool was probably more profitable.
Now we have Arsenal and my first thoughts were, 'we've no chance.' The younger, more exciting Emirates side should in all reality have little trouble with the slower, less creative Reds. But one has to consider where the officiating crews' loyalties will lie. Hopefully not Arsenal, but who knows.
The coming schedule is brutal, but really, what is our goal? Fourth place and the Champions League? The latter negates the former, so what is more important? Obviously a trophy is nice but giving in and throwing away matches at Man United and Goodison Park are hard to fathom. I just don't see it.
The saddest casualty of the season was not Daniel Agger but Harry Kewell, who showed glimpses of past brilliance in the mere minutes his been able to play. Is Ryan Babel that much better than him right now? No. Hopefully King Harry will get a chance to once again shine with his future at Anfield now seemingly nonexistent.
The first match at Anfield was a joke nonetheless. With a man advantage and a ferocity of attack it was merely a matter of time before Liverpool netted. The second match was one of less subtlety. The surprise Torres goal seemed to spark a change of favoritism, atoned probably to in-game betting, but the ref could hardly keep his hand out of his card pocket with or without the smirk on his mug. A draw would have sufficed, a win for Liverpool was probably more profitable.
Now we have Arsenal and my first thoughts were, 'we've no chance.' The younger, more exciting Emirates side should in all reality have little trouble with the slower, less creative Reds. But one has to consider where the officiating crews' loyalties will lie. Hopefully not Arsenal, but who knows.
The coming schedule is brutal, but really, what is our goal? Fourth place and the Champions League? The latter negates the former, so what is more important? Obviously a trophy is nice but giving in and throwing away matches at Man United and Goodison Park are hard to fathom. I just don't see it.
The saddest casualty of the season was not Daniel Agger but Harry Kewell, who showed glimpses of past brilliance in the mere minutes his been able to play. Is Ryan Babel that much better than him right now? No. Hopefully King Harry will get a chance to once again shine with his future at Anfield now seemingly nonexistent.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Kewell and Pennant should be starting
I love Babel and Lucas, but I would have gone with King Harry and JP on the wings. Pennant scored against the Bluesers last year.
Of course the outcome will justify Rafa's decision either way.
Skrtel, Skrtel, Sktrel, he's not made of clay...
Of course the outcome will justify Rafa's decision either way.
Skrtel, Skrtel, Sktrel, he's not made of clay...
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
My 2007 World's Best XI
I'm pretty bored, so I thought I'd throw my irrelevant two cents into the mix. Here's who I think were the world's best XI in 2007. Feel free to flog me, I know nothing, of course.
GK - Petr Čech
Casillas, Reina, and Buffon are all incredible, but some of the saves Čech makes are just plain silly. Rarely does a side score against him without a phenomenal effort.
LB - Gianluca Zambrotta
Heinze, Thuram, and Lahm are all tremendous as well, but Zambrotta is probably the most consistent.
CB - John Terry
CB - Fabio Cannavaro
Just too many good ones, and really, it comes down to personal preference. Carra would no doubt be in the squad. I don't really want to get into it, but these are the two I would trust most if I were managing the world's best XI.
RB - Steve Finnan
Yeah, I know I'll get plenty of flack for this one, but Finney was the second best overall defensive player in the Premiership last season according to Actim and his qualities are undeniable. Even at 31, he's arguably the best right wing-back in the world. Dani Alves and even Arbeloa deserve recognition as well.
LM/LW - Lionel Messi
This isn't even debatable. Not even Ronaldinho takes his spot.
CM/DM - Javier Mascherano
Simply the best defensive midfielder in the world. Dietmar Hamann is going to be hard to leave out of the squad though.
CM - Steven Gerrard
If I have to defend this pick, you're a victim of the anti-English press or your own inability to know world-class when you see it.
RM/RW - Kaká
You can pretty much start him anywhere at midfield or forward with this side. With Gerrard and Mascherano there to provide cover, he, like Messi, are just additional forwards.
FW - Fernando Torres
FW - Didier Drogba
As with CB, there's just so much quality at that spot that it comes down to personal preference.
Squad (23 total):
Pepe Reina
Jamie Carragher
Cristiano Ronaldo
David Villa
Philipp Lahm
Andrea Pirlo
Patrice Evra
Franck Ribéry
Carles Puyol
Ronaldinho
Dani Alves
Deco
I think I'm pretty fair in my assessment overall. Like I said, I think the Finnan pick is a bit controversial, as even a lot of Liverpool fans don't seem to realize his consistency and contributions though he's clearly a tremendous player. Alves is not as good as Finney defensive-wise, but he is superior in the pace and attacking aspects.
I really hate putting Pirlo on just the squad. He's probably my favorite Italian player and for someone who loathes the Italian game, he'll always be one of my favorite players of all-time. Gattuso is nothing compared to Mascherano, and I'm not having a go with that, I'm just preaching the truth.
I don't feel as if I have to defend putting Carra on the squad, but I will. First of all, go ask the Milan and Chelsea players how good he is, they'll tell ya. Second, he's also pretty versatile having played fullback for Liverpool in his earlier years, and he can even play defensive midfield, as he has with England.
I'm pretty confident that this side could go undefeated and win any league at the moment and the Champions League and domestic cup as well. There's just very little fault. They may not be as defensive-minded as even I would like, but a clean sheet against a side of this caliber would be an unbelievable effort.
GK - Petr Čech
Casillas, Reina, and Buffon are all incredible, but some of the saves Čech makes are just plain silly. Rarely does a side score against him without a phenomenal effort.
LB - Gianluca Zambrotta
Heinze, Thuram, and Lahm are all tremendous as well, but Zambrotta is probably the most consistent.
CB - John Terry
CB - Fabio Cannavaro
Just too many good ones, and really, it comes down to personal preference. Carra would no doubt be in the squad. I don't really want to get into it, but these are the two I would trust most if I were managing the world's best XI.
RB - Steve Finnan
Yeah, I know I'll get plenty of flack for this one, but Finney was the second best overall defensive player in the Premiership last season according to Actim and his qualities are undeniable. Even at 31, he's arguably the best right wing-back in the world. Dani Alves and even Arbeloa deserve recognition as well.
LM/LW - Lionel Messi
This isn't even debatable. Not even Ronaldinho takes his spot.
CM/DM - Javier Mascherano
Simply the best defensive midfielder in the world. Dietmar Hamann is going to be hard to leave out of the squad though.
CM - Steven Gerrard
If I have to defend this pick, you're a victim of the anti-English press or your own inability to know world-class when you see it.
RM/RW - Kaká
You can pretty much start him anywhere at midfield or forward with this side. With Gerrard and Mascherano there to provide cover, he, like Messi, are just additional forwards.
FW - Fernando Torres
FW - Didier Drogba
As with CB, there's just so much quality at that spot that it comes down to personal preference.
Squad (23 total):
Pepe Reina
Jamie Carragher
Cristiano Ronaldo
David Villa
Philipp Lahm
Andrea Pirlo
Patrice Evra
Franck Ribéry
Carles Puyol
Ronaldinho
Dani Alves
Deco
I think I'm pretty fair in my assessment overall. Like I said, I think the Finnan pick is a bit controversial, as even a lot of Liverpool fans don't seem to realize his consistency and contributions though he's clearly a tremendous player. Alves is not as good as Finney defensive-wise, but he is superior in the pace and attacking aspects.
I really hate putting Pirlo on just the squad. He's probably my favorite Italian player and for someone who loathes the Italian game, he'll always be one of my favorite players of all-time. Gattuso is nothing compared to Mascherano, and I'm not having a go with that, I'm just preaching the truth.
I don't feel as if I have to defend putting Carra on the squad, but I will. First of all, go ask the Milan and Chelsea players how good he is, they'll tell ya. Second, he's also pretty versatile having played fullback for Liverpool in his earlier years, and he can even play defensive midfield, as he has with England.
I'm pretty confident that this side could go undefeated and win any league at the moment and the Champions League and domestic cup as well. There's just very little fault. They may not be as defensive-minded as even I would like, but a clean sheet against a side of this caliber would be an unbelievable effort.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Liverpool 0, Chelsea 2: player ratings
I've decided to revamp my ratings system for a number of reasons. Before I was rating players individually, as in how well they played compared to how well I've seen them play. The problem with that is I feel that it doesn't really show the proper value of a player's performance in relation to the whole side. That's about the only way I can explain it, I hope that's understandable. The scale pretty much remains the same though.
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
Charles Itandje 7.5
Would have been Man of the Match if it weren't for him letting Shevchenko's shot get past him. This was his most impressive outing so far and he seems to get better each time. I'm pretty confident now that he can step in for Reina in any competition if needs be. The diving save on Essien was simply brilliant.
Fabio Aurelio 6
I really liked how the Brazilian stepped up in the latter part of the match, getting more involved on the attack. He was probably under orders not to leave our side of the pitch for most of the match, so I can't really hold it against him. His defending was adequate.
Jamie Carragher 8.5 Man of the Match
An inspiring performance from Carra, one of his best of the year, was simply everywhere on defense. Got a bit unlucky with the Lampard goal though. I hope he didn't expend himself to the point where he'll still be fatigued come Saturday though.
Jack Hobbs 4.5
I don't mean to slag off on the kid, but he seemed like pre-Bolton Hobbs out there, lost at times and unsure at others. He's still only 19 though and hopefully he'll be able to grow on such an experience.
Alvaro Arbeloa 6.5
Was a lot less involved on attack than I would have liked, but like Aurelio, I think that was part of Rafa's precautionary measures. Other than that, there isn't much to complain about. The ref did him no favors throughout.
Momo Sissoko 6
Pretty much the performance I've come to expect from Momo. Was pestering to Chelsea through out, put offered little else. I'm actually working on a post about Sissoko, as I feel he's gotten a bum wrap, but I won't miss him too much when he leaves.
Lucas 7
Like Arbeloa, though more harsh, the ref did the Brazilian absolutely no favors. He should have netted, but made the wrong choice in going to the left against Cech. I hope he gets to play when we visit Stamford Bridge later in the season, because I have a feeling he's got unfinished business there.
Xabi Alonso 5
I'm gonna write this one off as an injury return run off. He was pretty off his game throughout. We really need him to find his head and quick if we're going to have a chance to win anything this season.
Nabil El Zhar 5.5
I think this was a good litmus test to see if the Moroccan is good enough to play for our club. I'm gonna have to say no. He just doesn't have the pace and failed to show the ability to compete at such a level, if he does indeed possess it to begin with.
Andriy Voronin 6
I almost think that Voronin was insulted to be out there, he certainly played like it. His age is definitely beginning to show and not in a good way. He really needs to start relying more on his cunning and less on his ability if he's going to have any contribution to our side.
Peter Crouch 3.5
Pretty much rubbish. When a player gets sent off and your side appears to play better once he does, that's not a good sign. It was especially disappointing since Aurelio was there to provide long balls. I will give him this though, a couple of times he made some good 'set-up' plays that his teammates failed to read.
Ryan Babel 7
Impressive and continues to improve. The only thing is he holds on to the ball for too long at times and instead of leading to a positive, it usually results in a turnover. Still, he's here to stay for a long, long time, and I'm thankful for it.
Yossi Benayoun N/A
Didn't really play that long, so there's no need. Cheers.
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
Charles Itandje 7.5
Would have been Man of the Match if it weren't for him letting Shevchenko's shot get past him. This was his most impressive outing so far and he seems to get better each time. I'm pretty confident now that he can step in for Reina in any competition if needs be. The diving save on Essien was simply brilliant.
Fabio Aurelio 6
I really liked how the Brazilian stepped up in the latter part of the match, getting more involved on the attack. He was probably under orders not to leave our side of the pitch for most of the match, so I can't really hold it against him. His defending was adequate.
Jamie Carragher 8.5 Man of the Match
An inspiring performance from Carra, one of his best of the year, was simply everywhere on defense. Got a bit unlucky with the Lampard goal though. I hope he didn't expend himself to the point where he'll still be fatigued come Saturday though.
Jack Hobbs 4.5
I don't mean to slag off on the kid, but he seemed like pre-Bolton Hobbs out there, lost at times and unsure at others. He's still only 19 though and hopefully he'll be able to grow on such an experience.
Alvaro Arbeloa 6.5
Was a lot less involved on attack than I would have liked, but like Aurelio, I think that was part of Rafa's precautionary measures. Other than that, there isn't much to complain about. The ref did him no favors throughout.
Momo Sissoko 6
Pretty much the performance I've come to expect from Momo. Was pestering to Chelsea through out, put offered little else. I'm actually working on a post about Sissoko, as I feel he's gotten a bum wrap, but I won't miss him too much when he leaves.
Lucas 7
Like Arbeloa, though more harsh, the ref did the Brazilian absolutely no favors. He should have netted, but made the wrong choice in going to the left against Cech. I hope he gets to play when we visit Stamford Bridge later in the season, because I have a feeling he's got unfinished business there.
Xabi Alonso 5
I'm gonna write this one off as an injury return run off. He was pretty off his game throughout. We really need him to find his head and quick if we're going to have a chance to win anything this season.
Nabil El Zhar 5.5
I think this was a good litmus test to see if the Moroccan is good enough to play for our club. I'm gonna have to say no. He just doesn't have the pace and failed to show the ability to compete at such a level, if he does indeed possess it to begin with.
Andriy Voronin 6
I almost think that Voronin was insulted to be out there, he certainly played like it. His age is definitely beginning to show and not in a good way. He really needs to start relying more on his cunning and less on his ability if he's going to have any contribution to our side.
Peter Crouch 3.5
Pretty much rubbish. When a player gets sent off and your side appears to play better once he does, that's not a good sign. It was especially disappointing since Aurelio was there to provide long balls. I will give him this though, a couple of times he made some good 'set-up' plays that his teammates failed to read.
Ryan Babel 7
Impressive and continues to improve. The only thing is he holds on to the ball for too long at times and instead of leading to a positive, it usually results in a turnover. Still, he's here to stay for a long, long time, and I'm thankful for it.
Yossi Benayoun N/A
Didn't really play that long, so there's no need. Cheers.
It's so hard to be negative
Since when did it become a sign of intelligence to be negative? Cynicism is one thing, pessimism is another, but negativity is not the act of critical thinking. In fact, it's more a sign of emotional instability or stunted maturity and lack of understanding. What good does it do to go on a inimical tangent? Absolutely none, that's what.
That's why I can't believe some of the reaction I'm reading from yesterday's match. Most of it is antagonistic and delusional more than anything else. I understand undying passion for your club, as this blog shows I have just as much as anyone for LFC, but it isn't a benefit to anyone to unleash an epic rant berating the players and Rafa.
Don't you think they're aware when they mess up? Don't you think they realize what they need to improve on? Do you not think Rafa sees and realizes such things? If you don't, than your just plain mental. Being negative about it doesn't improve the situation whatsoever. In fact, most of the time it makes it worse by putting unneeded pressure on the player which may force them to hurry improvement and mainly ends up with them making even more mistakes.
It's one thing to be a mindless cheerleader, but it's no less asinine to be a negative nitwit. It takes about equal knowledge to do either. Take the performance of Momo yesterday. I counted roughly 8 'mistakes' he made throughout the match, but he not only 'touched' the ball over 60 times, he also 'won' it a number of times and made a few Chelsea-momentum crushing tackles along the way. Emphasizing the ever-apparent negative aspects of his performance is not only unfair, it's just plain ignorant.
In fact, if we analyze the verity of yesterday's contest, 2-0 is a tremendous result for our boys. It was played at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea fielded an older, more experienced, and an exponentially more expensive and arguably more talented side. Our boys have an abundance of aptitude, but a lot of it is undeveloped at the moment. If you throw-in the reality that the Lampard goal was basically luck and the Shevchenko goal was an unfortunate error by Itandje, who had a brilliant match otherwise, the result was even more commendable.
I don't care about losing to Chelsea in what is essentially a meaningless cup tie. It would have been phenomenal if the side we put out there had won, but for the most part, the Carling Cup is not a priority nor a major trophy compared even to the FA Cup. As for the rivalry angle, well, let's just say Chelsea considers us a much more important opponent than we do them. It pales in comparison to Everton and Man United.
While I'm at it, all this rubbish about Rafa not being good enough to lead us to the Premiership is unsubstantiated nonsense. I've said it once and I'll say it again, give the man Abramovich money and we'll win either the league or the Champions League every season and probably a few doubles and trebles as well. We still don't have the depth in horses to be competitive in all contests, but we're getting there. Players such as Lucas and Arbeloa show that Rafa knows talent on the thrift and the performances of Torres and Babel so far this season is just a taste of what a deep-pockets Benitez can bring about.
Mourinho could not do a better job. Give me a point of view with substantial facts to prove otherwise. In Portugal, he was at Porto, one of only three major clubs there. He had all the money in the world (for a Portuguese club, that is) and the pick of the litter. Sure, he was able to realize such talent, as does Rafa, and that allowed him to breeze through the domestic league with little trouble, therefore enabling him to concentrate on Champions League. By the way, have you ever looked-up Porto's draw in the knockout stages of the CL that season? In the first round they faced Man U and needed a 90th minute goal in the second leg to advance. The next two rounds they faced Lyon and Deportivo de La Coruña. No disrespect intended for either side, but Porto beating them is not shocking. At Chelsea, Mourinho had Abramovich money. Enough said.
I fully admit I've lost my head in the past and I'm not particularly proud of it. I got a bit flustered when the threat of Rafa leaving came about and have gone on a tangent after some matches, but those days are over. I essentially was just being a muppet. A sign of character is how one weathers a storm and our current 'crisis' is far from a hurricane. What needs to remembered is that our players are human beings, subject to error with an ego and an id, just like everyone else. They deserve respect, just like everyone else. Weighing the facts and circumstances is not hard to do, but apparently it's a lot easier to just be negative.
That's why I can't believe some of the reaction I'm reading from yesterday's match. Most of it is antagonistic and delusional more than anything else. I understand undying passion for your club, as this blog shows I have just as much as anyone for LFC, but it isn't a benefit to anyone to unleash an epic rant berating the players and Rafa.
Don't you think they're aware when they mess up? Don't you think they realize what they need to improve on? Do you not think Rafa sees and realizes such things? If you don't, than your just plain mental. Being negative about it doesn't improve the situation whatsoever. In fact, most of the time it makes it worse by putting unneeded pressure on the player which may force them to hurry improvement and mainly ends up with them making even more mistakes.
It's one thing to be a mindless cheerleader, but it's no less asinine to be a negative nitwit. It takes about equal knowledge to do either. Take the performance of Momo yesterday. I counted roughly 8 'mistakes' he made throughout the match, but he not only 'touched' the ball over 60 times, he also 'won' it a number of times and made a few Chelsea-momentum crushing tackles along the way. Emphasizing the ever-apparent negative aspects of his performance is not only unfair, it's just plain ignorant.
In fact, if we analyze the verity of yesterday's contest, 2-0 is a tremendous result for our boys. It was played at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea fielded an older, more experienced, and an exponentially more expensive and arguably more talented side. Our boys have an abundance of aptitude, but a lot of it is undeveloped at the moment. If you throw-in the reality that the Lampard goal was basically luck and the Shevchenko goal was an unfortunate error by Itandje, who had a brilliant match otherwise, the result was even more commendable.
I don't care about losing to Chelsea in what is essentially a meaningless cup tie. It would have been phenomenal if the side we put out there had won, but for the most part, the Carling Cup is not a priority nor a major trophy compared even to the FA Cup. As for the rivalry angle, well, let's just say Chelsea considers us a much more important opponent than we do them. It pales in comparison to Everton and Man United.
While I'm at it, all this rubbish about Rafa not being good enough to lead us to the Premiership is unsubstantiated nonsense. I've said it once and I'll say it again, give the man Abramovich money and we'll win either the league or the Champions League every season and probably a few doubles and trebles as well. We still don't have the depth in horses to be competitive in all contests, but we're getting there. Players such as Lucas and Arbeloa show that Rafa knows talent on the thrift and the performances of Torres and Babel so far this season is just a taste of what a deep-pockets Benitez can bring about.
Mourinho could not do a better job. Give me a point of view with substantial facts to prove otherwise. In Portugal, he was at Porto, one of only three major clubs there. He had all the money in the world (for a Portuguese club, that is) and the pick of the litter. Sure, he was able to realize such talent, as does Rafa, and that allowed him to breeze through the domestic league with little trouble, therefore enabling him to concentrate on Champions League. By the way, have you ever looked-up Porto's draw in the knockout stages of the CL that season? In the first round they faced Man U and needed a 90th minute goal in the second leg to advance. The next two rounds they faced Lyon and Deportivo de La Coruña. No disrespect intended for either side, but Porto beating them is not shocking. At Chelsea, Mourinho had Abramovich money. Enough said.
I fully admit I've lost my head in the past and I'm not particularly proud of it. I got a bit flustered when the threat of Rafa leaving came about and have gone on a tangent after some matches, but those days are over. I essentially was just being a muppet. A sign of character is how one weathers a storm and our current 'crisis' is far from a hurricane. What needs to remembered is that our players are human beings, subject to error with an ego and an id, just like everyone else. They deserve respect, just like everyone else. Weighing the facts and circumstances is not hard to do, but apparently it's a lot easier to just be negative.
Liverpool 0, Chelsea 2: Stat of the match
Just to prove my point about my post game recap, FC Fulham (you do know that Stamford Bridge is actually in Fulham, don't you?) not only fielded an older, more experienced side. They also fielded a much more expensive one, in fact, a £87m more expensive one. Plus Graeme Le Saux. I went ahead and did the math since I realize Chelsea fans struggle with values. They do think Carling Cup = Champions League Trophy, after all.
They better watch out though. If Mickey Mouse finds out they're bullying younger, less experienced sides, Disney might rescind their deal. It just doesn't look good for their image to be sponsoring a side that appears to literally try to steal 'empty' calorie candy from children. Once again, our side deserves recognition for holding Goofy & friends to just two goals. Cheers.
Here's the breakdown:
Petr Čech £7m
Wayne Bridge £7m + Graeme Le Saux
Ricardo Carvalho £19.85m
Tal Ben Haim Free
Juliano Belletti £3.7m
Frank Lampard £11m
Mikel John Obi £16m
Michael Essien £24.4m
Andriy Shevchenko £30m
Scott Sinclair £160,000
Salomon Kalou £12m
Michael Ballack Free
Steve Sidwell Free
Joe Cole £6.6m
Total £137.71m + Graeme Le Saux
Charles Itandje £2.75m
Fabio Aurelio Free
Jack Hobbs £150,000
Jamie Carragher Academy*
Alvaro Arbeloa £2.5m
Xabi Alonso £10.7m
Momo Sissoko £5.6m
Lucas Leiva £5m
Andriy Voronin Free
Peter Crouch £7m
Ryan Babel £11.5m
Yossi Benayoun £5m
Nabil El Zhar £200,000
Total £50.4m
* That's pronounced a·cad·e·my /əˈkædəmi/ [uh-kad-uh-mee] just in case you Chelsea fans are unsure.
They better watch out though. If Mickey Mouse finds out they're bullying younger, less experienced sides, Disney might rescind their deal. It just doesn't look good for their image to be sponsoring a side that appears to literally try to steal 'empty' calorie candy from children. Once again, our side deserves recognition for holding Goofy & friends to just two goals. Cheers.
Here's the breakdown:
Petr Čech £7m
Wayne Bridge £7m + Graeme Le Saux
Ricardo Carvalho £19.85m
Tal Ben Haim Free
Juliano Belletti £3.7m
Frank Lampard £11m
Mikel John Obi £16m
Michael Essien £24.4m
Andriy Shevchenko £30m
Scott Sinclair £160,000
Salomon Kalou £12m
Michael Ballack Free
Steve Sidwell Free
Joe Cole £6.6m
Total £137.71m + Graeme Le Saux
Charles Itandje £2.75m
Fabio Aurelio Free
Jack Hobbs £150,000
Jamie Carragher Academy*
Alvaro Arbeloa £2.5m
Xabi Alonso £10.7m
Momo Sissoko £5.6m
Lucas Leiva £5m
Andriy Voronin Free
Peter Crouch £7m
Ryan Babel £11.5m
Yossi Benayoun £5m
Nabil El Zhar £200,000
Total £50.4m
* That's pronounced a·cad·e·my /əˈkædəmi/ [uh-kad-uh-mee] just in case you Chelsea fans are unsure.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Liverpool 0, Chelsea 2: Billionaire Blues barely beat a ten-man Reserve side... at home
What are ya gonna do? When three players of the opposition are worth more than your whole side in transfer fees, a 2-0 loss with only ten men on the pitch has to be considered a valiant effort. I didn't know Chelsea needed an ego boost that bad, but I guess I was wrong.
All our boys need to be commended for their performances. No one was particularly poor, though I thought Crouch missed an opportunity to step up and be a leader. I take that back actually, Xabi was well off his game, but you can't really get too down on him, it was his first match back in two months. Everyone else played at a high level and were tremendous when allowed, especially Sissoko and Itandje.
The ref was clearly duplicitous in his actions. While they were allowed to steamroll over our players, if we accidentally touched one of them, a foul was called. I was surprised they were so fragile and crumpled to the ground so easily being world-class and all. The yellow card on Lucas was especially harsh and the red card against Crouch was a complete joke, but we actually appeared to play better once the lanky one was gone, so I'll leave it at that. Abramovich continued his squeaky-clean record of paying for vacation homes for referees, but I'm a bit surprised he spent his money on a Carling Cup match. He is the billionaire though, so I'm sure he paid some genius to analyze the cost-reward benefits.
If I had to point out a negative though, I would have to say our lack of continuity. While at times, when attempting to control possession while remaining relatively static, we moved the ball around well enough, but when anyone would tried to set-up another player with a through-ball, the majority of anticipatory passes found themselves either in the middle of nowhere or at a Chelsea player's feet. On defense, I was aghast when are uncoordinated ganglia of defenders didn't lead to more goals for Chelsea, but we either recovered in time or the Blues were unable to take advantage. Carra was decidedly awesome, covering for a bewildered Hobbs, who's first trip to Stamford Bridge found him clearly out of his league.
In the end, this is just a League Cup match. The trophy matters less than experience given to players like Babel, Lucas, Hobbs, Itandje, and El Zhar. Chelsea did give Sinclair a run out, but apparently he wasn't up to par, so Joe Cole had to be brought on to give the Blues that much more of an edge... at home. Next up is Portsmouth on Saturday, let's hope all is well with Steven Gerrard by then. Cheers, and I will definitely be doing player ratings for this one, as I feel certain players really stepped up today and need to be credited for doing so.
All our boys need to be commended for their performances. No one was particularly poor, though I thought Crouch missed an opportunity to step up and be a leader. I take that back actually, Xabi was well off his game, but you can't really get too down on him, it was his first match back in two months. Everyone else played at a high level and were tremendous when allowed, especially Sissoko and Itandje.
The ref was clearly duplicitous in his actions. While they were allowed to steamroll over our players, if we accidentally touched one of them, a foul was called. I was surprised they were so fragile and crumpled to the ground so easily being world-class and all. The yellow card on Lucas was especially harsh and the red card against Crouch was a complete joke, but we actually appeared to play better once the lanky one was gone, so I'll leave it at that. Abramovich continued his squeaky-clean record of paying for vacation homes for referees, but I'm a bit surprised he spent his money on a Carling Cup match. He is the billionaire though, so I'm sure he paid some genius to analyze the cost-reward benefits.
If I had to point out a negative though, I would have to say our lack of continuity. While at times, when attempting to control possession while remaining relatively static, we moved the ball around well enough, but when anyone would tried to set-up another player with a through-ball, the majority of anticipatory passes found themselves either in the middle of nowhere or at a Chelsea player's feet. On defense, I was aghast when are uncoordinated ganglia of defenders didn't lead to more goals for Chelsea, but we either recovered in time or the Blues were unable to take advantage. Carra was decidedly awesome, covering for a bewildered Hobbs, who's first trip to Stamford Bridge found him clearly out of his league.
In the end, this is just a League Cup match. The trophy matters less than experience given to players like Babel, Lucas, Hobbs, Itandje, and El Zhar. Chelsea did give Sinclair a run out, but apparently he wasn't up to par, so Joe Cole had to be brought on to give the Blues that much more of an edge... at home. Next up is Portsmouth on Saturday, let's hope all is well with Steven Gerrard by then. Cheers, and I will definitely be doing player ratings for this one, as I feel certain players really stepped up today and need to be credited for doing so.
Liverpool at Chelsea: Rafa goes with a 4-3-3
Here's the line-up:
Itandje
Aurelio
Hobbs
Carragher
Arbeloa
Xabi
Momo
Lucas
Voronin
Crouch
Babel
Bench:
Martin
Hyppia
Riise
El Zhar
Benayoun
The first thing I thought of when I saw this was that we're exposed on the flanks, but I'll be damned if they get anything going up the middle. The second thing I thought was Rafa let himself plenty of options on the bench if things aren't going well. I would love to see Lucas get his first goal here.
Itandje
Aurelio
Hobbs
Carragher
Arbeloa
Xabi
Momo
Lucas
Voronin
Crouch
Babel
Bench:
Martin
Hyppia
Riise
El Zhar
Benayoun
The first thing I thought of when I saw this was that we're exposed on the flanks, but I'll be damned if they get anything going up the middle. The second thing I thought was Rafa let himself plenty of options on the bench if things aren't going well. I would love to see Lucas get his first goal here.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Liverpool at Chelsea: Hopefully the Mad Tinkerer will return?
The Reserves had a friendly with Tottenham yesterday, that they won 2-1 behind goals from David Martin and Craig Lindfield. More importantly, any player featured in that match will probably not get the call at Stamford Bridge tomorrow. That means sadly there'll be no chance of getting to see Emiliano Insua, Jay Spearing, Ray Putterill, or Krisztián Németh, among others, but neither Nabil El Zhar, Jack Hobbs, nor Sebastián Leto played, so they may feature.
I'm really hoping Rafa goes bonkers on his selection tomorrow. With Steven Gerrard apparently unavailable due to a stomach bug and our next match being Saturday, we've got nothing to lose anyhow. It is only the League Cup after all. If Gerrard was available, we may have put out a strong side, but without him, there's little point. Might as well rest Torres too.
The good news is, Xabi Alonso will be available, and I fully expect him to start. Unfortunately, due to lack of depth at centre back with Agger still not able to go, Carra will probably have to play the full ninety. Maybe Agger will be ready for Portsmouth, it would be just in the nick of time, but still, we can't risk old man Hyppiä.
In goal, we'll probably see Reina start. Itandje was brought in for matches like these, but it's Chelsea and though I don't mind if we lose, I certainly don't want to be embarrassed. Lining up in front of him, I see Aurelio on the left, Hobbs and Carra in the middle, and Finnan on the right. Who knows? We may see Arbeloa paired with Hobbs in the middle, but that would pretty risky, even for Rafa.
In midfield, I think we'll see Babel on the left. No need to wear out Kewell. In the middle, I like Sissoko and Xabi with Lucas on the right. I think it's time we let the Brazilian loose and see what he can do. Up front, Crouch and Voronin look to get the call.
Now if Carra doesn't start, it'll be interesting to see who gets the armband. The obvious choice is Xabi, but Finnan is just as deserving.
My final guess:
Reina
Aurelio
Hobbs
Carra
Finnan
Babel
Sissoko
Xabi
Lucas
Crouch
Voronin
Bench:
Itandje
Arbeloa
Torres
El Zhar
Leto
If Sissoko doesn't play tomorrow, he's definitely gone in January, but his fate is probably already sealed nonetheless. Babel and Xabi are obviously the most creative players on our side, so I hope they enjoy themselves. I think putting Lucas on the right would be a great idea just to see what he can do. Here's Crouchy's chance to prove he's worth a spot on our squad, if he can carry us to victory, he's more than deserving of it.
Never the less, I don't like our chances tomorrow unless Grant starts a similar side to ours. Cheers and godspeed.
I'm really hoping Rafa goes bonkers on his selection tomorrow. With Steven Gerrard apparently unavailable due to a stomach bug and our next match being Saturday, we've got nothing to lose anyhow. It is only the League Cup after all. If Gerrard was available, we may have put out a strong side, but without him, there's little point. Might as well rest Torres too.
The good news is, Xabi Alonso will be available, and I fully expect him to start. Unfortunately, due to lack of depth at centre back with Agger still not able to go, Carra will probably have to play the full ninety. Maybe Agger will be ready for Portsmouth, it would be just in the nick of time, but still, we can't risk old man Hyppiä.
In goal, we'll probably see Reina start. Itandje was brought in for matches like these, but it's Chelsea and though I don't mind if we lose, I certainly don't want to be embarrassed. Lining up in front of him, I see Aurelio on the left, Hobbs and Carra in the middle, and Finnan on the right. Who knows? We may see Arbeloa paired with Hobbs in the middle, but that would pretty risky, even for Rafa.
In midfield, I think we'll see Babel on the left. No need to wear out Kewell. In the middle, I like Sissoko and Xabi with Lucas on the right. I think it's time we let the Brazilian loose and see what he can do. Up front, Crouch and Voronin look to get the call.
Now if Carra doesn't start, it'll be interesting to see who gets the armband. The obvious choice is Xabi, but Finnan is just as deserving.
My final guess:
Reina
Aurelio
Hobbs
Carra
Finnan
Babel
Sissoko
Xabi
Lucas
Crouch
Voronin
Bench:
Itandje
Arbeloa
Torres
El Zhar
Leto
If Sissoko doesn't play tomorrow, he's definitely gone in January, but his fate is probably already sealed nonetheless. Babel and Xabi are obviously the most creative players on our side, so I hope they enjoy themselves. I think putting Lucas on the right would be a great idea just to see what he can do. Here's Crouchy's chance to prove he's worth a spot on our squad, if he can carry us to victory, he's more than deserving of it.
Never the less, I don't like our chances tomorrow unless Grant starts a similar side to ours. Cheers and godspeed.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Today's Banter: One part wind-up, two parts wind-down, & 44/100% certifiable
All appears quiet on the Liverpool front, which is fine by me, but apparently not so for the wind-up bloggers. There's this one site in particular that holds contests for it's 'writers' to see who can attract the most hits. Basically it's who can write the most outrageous title followed-up by the most inane, speculative garbage that any half-witted teenager could author. One of these 'articles' is about how Steven Gerrard doesn't deserve a starting spot on a fully fit Liverpool squad. Yes, they are that feeble-minded.
Another 'article' attempts to blame Liverpool and more specifically Rafa for the supposed stunted development of Momo Sissoko. He didn't have to sign that contract extension this past summer and furthermore he's had two major injuries in his first two seasons with us, but let's leave facts to the thinkers. For this bullocks to stop, please make an effort to ignore these imbeciles. Don't click on their articles and definitely don't comment. It'd be nice if they dropped dead, but that would be asking way too much, so ignoring them is the best way to go about. They don't write such rubbish for the good of anyone but themselves. Moving on...
According to this article, Mascherano is close to signing a five year, £17m contract. Well, this is news to me. I know his transfer fee is around that amount, which we obviously have to pay first, but I didn't know we've already negotiated a contract with him. Of course, this is the first article I've read that's mention such notions, so someone might just have their facts wrong, intentional or not. Another part of that article I've yet to hear is Mascherano 'insisted he would leave Anfield unless a deal was finalised within a month.' Really? Hmmm....
Tony Barrett of the Liverpool Echo has written a short but sweet article praising Alvaro Arbeloa. He basically just reiterates a lot of what's already been said of the Spaniard by myself and other bloggers. One thing I slightly disagree with is how he thinks that Arbeloa is better on the left. To me, he appears more comfortable on the right and gets more involved on attack when he's over there. I chalk it up to him having more confidence on that side to get back on defense. Barrett even goes as far as to compare Arbeloa with Stevie Nicol.
Speaking of which, Nicol's New England Revolution face the Houston Dynamo in the MLS Cup final today in a repeat of last year's match-up. The Revolution have already won the US Cup this season and will be looking to complete the double in Washington, DC, where the match is being held. As painful as it is for me to watch MLS, I'll probably take in this one. Nothing really better to do, actually.
Finally, I can't end my daily without mentioning an article or post by a questionably mental Man U or Chelsea fan. That would be unforgivable. Today we have a Chelsea supporter from the ever reputable site Vital Chelsea. If you've ever visited that veritable armpit of the world wide web, you'd know that it's one of the more dim-witted sites around. The most humorous aspect is that it's supposed to be a place for Chelsea fans to write about their own side, but most of their articles are usually about Liverpool. I guess when you don't have much of a history nor brain cells, you get short on subjects. Anyhow, this clown starts off writing about how a reporter from the Echo chastises Michael Essien for not apologizing for a vicious yellow card-earning tackle on Leon Osman last Sunday and then ends up talking about Didi Hamann and Dirk Kuyt. What?! Oh, because the paper is in Liverpool. Brilliant. Yeah, Evertonians and Liverpool fans are one in the same, just like Chelsea supporters are the same as Fulham fans. I mean, Chelsea is in Fulham after all. Cheers.
Another 'article' attempts to blame Liverpool and more specifically Rafa for the supposed stunted development of Momo Sissoko. He didn't have to sign that contract extension this past summer and furthermore he's had two major injuries in his first two seasons with us, but let's leave facts to the thinkers. For this bullocks to stop, please make an effort to ignore these imbeciles. Don't click on their articles and definitely don't comment. It'd be nice if they dropped dead, but that would be asking way too much, so ignoring them is the best way to go about. They don't write such rubbish for the good of anyone but themselves. Moving on...
According to this article, Mascherano is close to signing a five year, £17m contract. Well, this is news to me. I know his transfer fee is around that amount, which we obviously have to pay first, but I didn't know we've already negotiated a contract with him. Of course, this is the first article I've read that's mention such notions, so someone might just have their facts wrong, intentional or not. Another part of that article I've yet to hear is Mascherano 'insisted he would leave Anfield unless a deal was finalised within a month.' Really? Hmmm....
Tony Barrett of the Liverpool Echo has written a short but sweet article praising Alvaro Arbeloa. He basically just reiterates a lot of what's already been said of the Spaniard by myself and other bloggers. One thing I slightly disagree with is how he thinks that Arbeloa is better on the left. To me, he appears more comfortable on the right and gets more involved on attack when he's over there. I chalk it up to him having more confidence on that side to get back on defense. Barrett even goes as far as to compare Arbeloa with Stevie Nicol.
Speaking of which, Nicol's New England Revolution face the Houston Dynamo in the MLS Cup final today in a repeat of last year's match-up. The Revolution have already won the US Cup this season and will be looking to complete the double in Washington, DC, where the match is being held. As painful as it is for me to watch MLS, I'll probably take in this one. Nothing really better to do, actually.
Finally, I can't end my daily without mentioning an article or post by a questionably mental Man U or Chelsea fan. That would be unforgivable. Today we have a Chelsea supporter from the ever reputable site Vital Chelsea. If you've ever visited that veritable armpit of the world wide web, you'd know that it's one of the more dim-witted sites around. The most humorous aspect is that it's supposed to be a place for Chelsea fans to write about their own side, but most of their articles are usually about Liverpool. I guess when you don't have much of a history nor brain cells, you get short on subjects. Anyhow, this clown starts off writing about how a reporter from the Echo chastises Michael Essien for not apologizing for a vicious yellow card-earning tackle on Leon Osman last Sunday and then ends up talking about Didi Hamann and Dirk Kuyt. What?! Oh, because the paper is in Liverpool. Brilliant. Yeah, Evertonians and Liverpool fans are one in the same, just like Chelsea supporters are the same as Fulham fans. I mean, Chelsea is in Fulham after all. Cheers.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Should we go after Dimitar Berbatov?
News out of White Hart Lane is that Dimitar Berbatov isn't happy and would like to go elsewhere come January. The 26-year-old striker has certainly lost his form of last year, managing to notch only a pair of goals in 14 matches. Last season he netted 23 in 49 total outings.
Fitness issues may have affected him at times, but for the most part this year his performances have been uninspiring. Comparing matches between this season and last, the Bulgarian International seems to lack the energy and creative spark he demonstrated in his debut season where he looked the threat nearly every time he had possession. In his defense though, he only scored four goals in his first dozen matches for the Spurs, but managed eleven in the final eighteen of last year's campaign. Maybe he just hasn't got it going yet.
Of course on the flip side of that argument is that he needed time to adjust to English football and once he did, well, his goal-scoring record speaks for itself. If that was the case then, how would one explain his recent dip in form? There were rumblings that he and Martin Jol weren't seeing eye-to-eye, but if that's the case, how's he going to react when he gets rotated-out of certain matches by Rafa? Neither Benitez nor senior members of the squad like Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher will tolerate such rubbish.
Another thing to think about is how a change of atmosphere could do him well, but if he had trouble handling the pressure at Tottenham, what's he going to do when the Scouser Nation become disenchanted? Ultimately I think it comes down to a risk-reward factor. I don't think it's wise to pay an exorbitant amount for a player who seems a bit inconsistent and possibly a head case, we already have plenty of those. If the Spurs would take Crouch and £10m, I'd say do it, but anything over £22m straight cash would be foolish. Let Chelsea take that kind of risk.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
It's time for a reality check
We probably won't win any cups nor trophies this season. There, I've said it. Soak it in and accept it because most likely, it's the truth. If you're a Liverpool fan because you're seeking glory, don't let the door hit you on the way out. Go join the hordes of Man United and Chelsea zombies, because you're not welcome here.
Over the past couple of weeks, I have lowered my expectations of our club. Not because we have failed to set the world on fire, but because it's become quite evident that we just don't have the talent and depth to compete with the other big three at the moment. Sorry, that's just reality. We haven't spent near the amount of money as either Chelsea or the Mancs and Rafa has only been around for a fraction of the time Wenger has and certainly not long enough to establish any sort of youth development system.
Having absolutely no expectations has lifted a tremendous weight off of my chest and allowed me to laugh a little, mostly when things don't go our way. Sure, it's nice to win, but honestly, I have unconditional love for my club. If they win nothing, so be it, cups are only icing on the cake.
Anyone who thinks that just the addition of Fernando Torres was going to take us to the next level is sorely mistaken. Babel is a nice addition, but he's only 20 years old and is playing in a major league for the first time. His potential is aplenty and it shows at times, but it's going to take a few years for him to fully develop. Benayoun has been a solid addition as well, but he's not a world class player.
I look at it this way, Torres is exponentially better than Bellamy, Voronin is certainly better than Fowler, I would rate Benayoun on the same level as Luis Garcia except the Israeli is younger, and Babel already appears to have surpassed the efforts of Gonzo. Consider that we've also added an already praiseworthy player in Lucas and a solid prospect in Leto, and I'd be hard up to say we aren't clearly a better side than last year.
Of course, at this time last year we only had 14 points from 10 games, sat 11 points out from first, and had a goal difference of zero. The only reason there wasn't a mass hysteria anti-Rafa movement then was because we were on the top of our Champions League group on the 31st of October last year with ten points. The Premiership was easy to forget.
It's going to take at least £50-60m more worth of players for our side to be close to the level of a Man U or Chelsea. Another class striker and centre back will be crucial before we will even be able to consider ourselves as a league contenders. If all of our players stay healthy, we would have a slight shot this season, but that would require a tremendous amount of luck. Injuries happen and if we don't have class back-ups to plug into those spots, which we don't, points will be dropped.
So all I'm saying is calm down, breathe a little and learn to laugh at all the moronic pundits and press who criticize and ridicule Rafa's ways. They only do so because they're egos are bigging then their brains and they for some reason think they can do a better job. Trust me, they can't.
If Rafa sticks around for ten to fifteen years, we'll win our fair share of cups and trophies, but panicking and overreacting aren't going to get us anywhere. Let's enjoy the ride no matter how bumpy the road, we can always take solace in the fact that we aren't glory-hunting Man U nor Chelsea fans.
Over the past couple of weeks, I have lowered my expectations of our club. Not because we have failed to set the world on fire, but because it's become quite evident that we just don't have the talent and depth to compete with the other big three at the moment. Sorry, that's just reality. We haven't spent near the amount of money as either Chelsea or the Mancs and Rafa has only been around for a fraction of the time Wenger has and certainly not long enough to establish any sort of youth development system.
Having absolutely no expectations has lifted a tremendous weight off of my chest and allowed me to laugh a little, mostly when things don't go our way. Sure, it's nice to win, but honestly, I have unconditional love for my club. If they win nothing, so be it, cups are only icing on the cake.
Anyone who thinks that just the addition of Fernando Torres was going to take us to the next level is sorely mistaken. Babel is a nice addition, but he's only 20 years old and is playing in a major league for the first time. His potential is aplenty and it shows at times, but it's going to take a few years for him to fully develop. Benayoun has been a solid addition as well, but he's not a world class player.
I look at it this way, Torres is exponentially better than Bellamy, Voronin is certainly better than Fowler, I would rate Benayoun on the same level as Luis Garcia except the Israeli is younger, and Babel already appears to have surpassed the efforts of Gonzo. Consider that we've also added an already praiseworthy player in Lucas and a solid prospect in Leto, and I'd be hard up to say we aren't clearly a better side than last year.
Of course, at this time last year we only had 14 points from 10 games, sat 11 points out from first, and had a goal difference of zero. The only reason there wasn't a mass hysteria anti-Rafa movement then was because we were on the top of our Champions League group on the 31st of October last year with ten points. The Premiership was easy to forget.
It's going to take at least £50-60m more worth of players for our side to be close to the level of a Man U or Chelsea. Another class striker and centre back will be crucial before we will even be able to consider ourselves as a league contenders. If all of our players stay healthy, we would have a slight shot this season, but that would require a tremendous amount of luck. Injuries happen and if we don't have class back-ups to plug into those spots, which we don't, points will be dropped.
So all I'm saying is calm down, breathe a little and learn to laugh at all the moronic pundits and press who criticize and ridicule Rafa's ways. They only do so because they're egos are bigging then their brains and they for some reason think they can do a better job. Trust me, they can't.
If Rafa sticks around for ten to fifteen years, we'll win our fair share of cups and trophies, but panicking and overreacting aren't going to get us anywhere. Let's enjoy the ride no matter how bumpy the road, we can always take solace in the fact that we aren't glory-hunting Man U nor Chelsea fans.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Today's Banter: Having a laugh at the expense of others
Overreaction and idiocy are probably the best words to describe some of the posts and articles in response to Liverpool's loss to Beşiktaş. I won't bother addressing most of them, because honestly, you won't find a nick of intelligence in them. They don't address actual play on the field nor the fact that we're in the midst of an injury crisis nor the factions that influence the match from behind closed doors. If you want to live in ignorance, that's fine, but your opinion will be held to that of a retarded child.
First, apparently Rafa's job is in jeopardy. This is just so laughable. The failure to mention our current injury crisis, six players out in all, three highly crucial, totally discredits anyone from ever writing anything in regards to Rafa's rotation policy. Continue to spew your ignorance and soon it will only fall on deaf ears. Thanks for desensitizing the zombie population, your efforts are commendable in that regard.
After that good laugh, we have two posts from two different club's fans. Neither worth the time put into them. The first which actually does have something to do with yesterday's match is a lowly Newcastle fan trying desperately to stretch reality to prove a moot point. This mongoloid wants us to believe that 'Big' Sam Allardyce was right about Benitez because of the results of one match. First of all, surprised you know how to spell Champions League since I don't recall Newcastle ever even making it to even qualifying. Also it must be disheartening that Derby County and Nottingham Forrest have more European Cup history than your side.
He continues to allude to Allardyce's comments in regard to Rafa's rotation policy, yet fails to mention our six injured players. Amazing. Not only that, then he plays the Crouch card. Did he even bother to watch the Marseilles match? Crouch's behavior in that match was suspiciously duplicitous and if not, shocking. No one who actually knows and understands the game would question a man with two La Liga titles, a Champions League trophy, a UEFA Cup, and an FA Cup. What has Allardyce ever won? A few hearts and minds in Bolton I presume. Whatever hole your poor soul crawled out of, please return to it preferably after you've wiped the egg off your face and the redness has gone away.
Moving on, of course we can't have a discussion about Liverpool without a Chelsea fan. That would be preposterous. I'm always baffled how Blues fans are always more concerned about our club than their own. Of course, they always have Abramovich's fat wallet and slimy ways to get them wins, which brings me to this die-hard Chelsea fan's post. This delusional twat just can't get over Mark Clattenburg doing us a favor versus Everton last Saturday. Oh, dear me, did he watch the Chelsea match at Anfield? Rob Styles was seen driving a new car to his new beach flat shortly after to spend that week off he got.
The biggest difference between a Chelsea fan and a Liverpool fan is that us Reds will actually admit we got a little help from the man in black. I clearly stated in my match review that Lescott deserved a penalty, but as for the other allegations, rubbish. Hibbert was clearly pulling on Gerrard's shirt in the box, but let's ignore fact and reality. I expect no less from a Chelsea fan. As for Gerrard muttering something under his breathe to Clattenburg as he walked away, that's just stupid. What did he say? 'Good call, he was pulling at my shirt. He's been doing it all day.' Oh no, that's just criminal. You don't know what transpired and maybe, just maybe, Clattenberg took out the wrong card to begin with, but like I said in my review, that single action didn't warrant a red card, but there might have been other factors involved. You weren't on the field, you don't know what was said beforehand, so keep your ignorant speculation to your head that's obviously already firmly up your ass.
The most comical part is that Hibbert made no qualms about accepting the decision. You figure he'd put up a fight if he thought the call against him was unwarranted, right? Thanks for sticking up for your Everton buddy, but he probably would have done so on his own had he felt differently. His take on the Kuyt foul is laughable as well. No contact was made, so let's ignore that as well. And if he's never seen such a malicious act on the pitch, than obviously you don't really watch much football. I've seen hundreds of tackles that were legit and contact actually made that were much more malicious. Nice try at trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill. Well, that's all I have to say about that, but don't mention the intentional handball by Neville. We wouldn't want Everton to be looked at in a negative light whatsoever.
On a much more serious note, this actually did disturb me. A betting company getting an article on a top news service basically telling everyone to bet on Liverpool to advance from the group stages in Champions League play warrants some attention, but not for the reasons it attempts to convey. First, I think this probably officially means our demise. The only thing I can think of would be Platini waking up, calling off the dogs to screw the gambling faction and giving us a few calls back. Could happen, but doubt it. It always worries me to see a betting company taking a side and promoting it. Anyhow, this was a fun post, hopefully as fun as Sunday will be. Cheers.
First, apparently Rafa's job is in jeopardy. This is just so laughable. The failure to mention our current injury crisis, six players out in all, three highly crucial, totally discredits anyone from ever writing anything in regards to Rafa's rotation policy. Continue to spew your ignorance and soon it will only fall on deaf ears. Thanks for desensitizing the zombie population, your efforts are commendable in that regard.
After that good laugh, we have two posts from two different club's fans. Neither worth the time put into them. The first which actually does have something to do with yesterday's match is a lowly Newcastle fan trying desperately to stretch reality to prove a moot point. This mongoloid wants us to believe that 'Big' Sam Allardyce was right about Benitez because of the results of one match. First of all, surprised you know how to spell Champions League since I don't recall Newcastle ever even making it to even qualifying. Also it must be disheartening that Derby County and Nottingham Forrest have more European Cup history than your side.
He continues to allude to Allardyce's comments in regard to Rafa's rotation policy, yet fails to mention our six injured players. Amazing. Not only that, then he plays the Crouch card. Did he even bother to watch the Marseilles match? Crouch's behavior in that match was suspiciously duplicitous and if not, shocking. No one who actually knows and understands the game would question a man with two La Liga titles, a Champions League trophy, a UEFA Cup, and an FA Cup. What has Allardyce ever won? A few hearts and minds in Bolton I presume. Whatever hole your poor soul crawled out of, please return to it preferably after you've wiped the egg off your face and the redness has gone away.
Moving on, of course we can't have a discussion about Liverpool without a Chelsea fan. That would be preposterous. I'm always baffled how Blues fans are always more concerned about our club than their own. Of course, they always have Abramovich's fat wallet and slimy ways to get them wins, which brings me to this die-hard Chelsea fan's post. This delusional twat just can't get over Mark Clattenburg doing us a favor versus Everton last Saturday. Oh, dear me, did he watch the Chelsea match at Anfield? Rob Styles was seen driving a new car to his new beach flat shortly after to spend that week off he got.
The biggest difference between a Chelsea fan and a Liverpool fan is that us Reds will actually admit we got a little help from the man in black. I clearly stated in my match review that Lescott deserved a penalty, but as for the other allegations, rubbish. Hibbert was clearly pulling on Gerrard's shirt in the box, but let's ignore fact and reality. I expect no less from a Chelsea fan. As for Gerrard muttering something under his breathe to Clattenburg as he walked away, that's just stupid. What did he say? 'Good call, he was pulling at my shirt. He's been doing it all day.' Oh no, that's just criminal. You don't know what transpired and maybe, just maybe, Clattenberg took out the wrong card to begin with, but like I said in my review, that single action didn't warrant a red card, but there might have been other factors involved. You weren't on the field, you don't know what was said beforehand, so keep your ignorant speculation to your head that's obviously already firmly up your ass.
The most comical part is that Hibbert made no qualms about accepting the decision. You figure he'd put up a fight if he thought the call against him was unwarranted, right? Thanks for sticking up for your Everton buddy, but he probably would have done so on his own had he felt differently. His take on the Kuyt foul is laughable as well. No contact was made, so let's ignore that as well. And if he's never seen such a malicious act on the pitch, than obviously you don't really watch much football. I've seen hundreds of tackles that were legit and contact actually made that were much more malicious. Nice try at trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill. Well, that's all I have to say about that, but don't mention the intentional handball by Neville. We wouldn't want Everton to be looked at in a negative light whatsoever.
On a much more serious note, this actually did disturb me. A betting company getting an article on a top news service basically telling everyone to bet on Liverpool to advance from the group stages in Champions League play warrants some attention, but not for the reasons it attempts to convey. First, I think this probably officially means our demise. The only thing I can think of would be Platini waking up, calling off the dogs to screw the gambling faction and giving us a few calls back. Could happen, but doubt it. It always worries me to see a betting company taking a side and promoting it. Anyhow, this was a fun post, hopefully as fun as Sunday will be. Cheers.
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