Today's Banter: Reaction to yesterday's match

Before I begin to criticize other's reactions to the match, let me make it clear that with our horrid performance and the fact that it was away, we really had no right taking a point yesterday. If it weren't for the performances of Carra, Kuyt, and Finnan, we probably wouldn't have. Babel and Torres weren't bad either, but other than those five, those were some of the worst efforts I have ever witnessed from our side.

I was especially disappointed in Mascherano and Pennant. I have stood up for JP countless times and yesterday he really let me down. He was nowhere near his form from last year. Maybe he isn't mature or secure enough to work in the rotation environment that any big club is going to utilize when going for multiple cups. I'm not going to bother to psycho-analyze the kid, but seriously, JP, get your shit together or ask for a transfer. With Benayoun on the bench, Kewell on his way back, Babel as versatile as he is, and Leto collecting Reserves caps, you should be worried about keeping your spot. As for Masche, I just think he had a bad outing and I don't expect one as poor ever again. On to the muck.

Some people think that certain individual efforts aren't to blame, especially Pennant and Reina. I don't know where that guy heard or read that people were blaming Reina and Pennant. If it wasn't for Reina, we would have lost 2-1 easy. His passing at times was a bit suspect and I'm not sure why Porto didn't just run over to Babel every time Pepe was about to attempt a goal kick, but as the game progressed, Reina's decisions got better. As for Pennant, he was appalling and I blame Rafa for leaving him in too long more than anything.

The same bloke who is hearing voices in his head also wonders why Liverpool are 'scared of the football'. That whole post is just preposterous. Scared to pass to each other? Are you having a laugh? Our passing was just off, particularly Masche's, that's it. Making a mountain out of mole hill, especially away in Europe is a bit ridiculous. And by the way, though I did predict the line-up accurately, Agger would replace Hyypia in our best XI. That's not an excuse though, for a man his age, Hyypia's form has been wholly impressive so far this season, but that was his least mentionable match so far.

On the official site, there are a couple of interesting articles. The first one is Rafa's reflections on the match. He seems somewhat pleased with the result and I for one agree with him. Ten-men for much of the second half when we appeared to be an actual threat to score and going home with a point, is nothing in which to be disappointed. Especially considering they needed a penalty to score on us. I definitely agree that we looked better and better towards the end of the match, but disagree that Torres should have been taken out. Unless El Nino was fatigued or for some other reason requested a sub, he should have been left in. Voronin basically brought the same elements to the match, nothing more and possibly less. Defenses just don't have the same respect for the Ukrainian as they do the Spaniard.

Also on the official site, Carra seems to be defending his buddy and captain, Stevie-G, by calling him the 'best skipper in the world'. No shit, Jamie, but if you are somehow trying to assuage us fans of his performance yesterday, you're wasting your breathe. He may have not been his best, but he did not cost us anything. A top form Gerrard would have probably put the team on his back and garnered us the three points, but yesterday he was merely just a cog in the inefficient machine. I expect better, but it's done and over so there's no point.

Apparently Rafa planned on subbing Pennant right before he was sent off. I was planning on moving to Hollywood and becoming the next Marlon Brando once, but it never happened. I'm so glad the ref saved him the trouble. Seriously, I'm usually not one to criticize Rafa's decisions, but this is the second match in a row that I have issues with his moves or lack thereof. Thankfully he has Birmingham at Anfield next weekend where he could play some of the members of the ladies team and still get the win.

Finally, we have Chris Bascombe's match review from the Echo which per usual was class. He not only blames our boys for a wasted evening, but also the Porto side, who for all accounts should have whipped up on us. I kind of think he fails to give Carra and Finnan the credit they deserve on defense, but they're used to it.

Bascombe also brings up some interesting things that I failed to notice. The first being Pennant's tendencies to dive this year. Last year he was on the brunt end of some bad non-calls and maybe he's been hanging out with Arbeloa too much these days. Seriously, JP, not that you should give a rat's ass, but I'm almost at my wits end with your behavior so far this season. Maybe the loss of Craig Bellamy, a man who probably wouldn't dive if both his legs were broken in half, has had a negative effect on you.

Another observation the Echo writer makes is the lack of Xabi's influence might have been integral. I never thought about it, but he's probably right, though with Xabi's poor attitude lately he could have easily been a card casualty as well. Furthermore, who says Rafa would have put Xabi in, and if he did, he would have probably put him in for Stevie-G instead of Masche, who should have been taken off so he can think about being mentally prepared to play next time. I wonder if all the talk of his potential legal troubles had an effect on him? I hope not. Cheers.

Liverpool 1, Porto 1: simply appalling

Where to begin? Well, first, that was the worse match I've ever seen Mascherano play. From the beginning it looked as if he was somewhere else. I'm not sure it was because he rarely plays for us these days, but his decisions on the ball were atrocious. I was actually surprised to not see him collect a few yellow cards (Yes, a few) with his suspect tackling.

Pennant was also a joke. I have no idea why Benayoun wasn't brought in to start the second half because it looked quite apparent to me that JP was a red card waiting happen. This was easily his worse appearance for us that I've witnessed. He needs to get his head together because if he continues being such a menace, he's really just a waste of space and that's a shame because he's so talented.

Gerrard, Arbeloa, and Hyypia were unimpressive as well.

As a team, we were shocking. Near the end we seemed to get it together and had a couple of near chances, but honestly, I didn't think we were going to score anyway. In the end, Porto were either just as poor or our defense is just that damn good, you can decide because I don't really care.

Positives? I thought Torres did well to worry the defense and forced them to have at least two to three players there, just in case. Kuyt played well also and probably should have gotten the penalty call after being pushed down in the box by a Porto defender, but it was away so we weren't going to get any calls. Babel put in a decent effort also, even if it found him all alone deep in the enemy's territory at most points.

Do I have a right to complain about a 1-1 draw at our most difficult opponent in the group stage's home? Not sure. I think if we played better, we could have pulled off the win, but maybe I'm not giving the Porto defense enough credit.

In the end I look at it this way, we played like crap and still got the point because of a penalty. That's impressive on some levels. Nobody was hurt and now Pennant will be available for more league matches. Mascherano though was wholly disappointing and I hope he never puts in a performance that awful again.

Liverpool vs Porto: the line-up

Here it is:
Reina
Arbeloa
Carragher
Hyypia
Finnan
Babel
Mascherano
Gerrard
Pennant
Kuyt
Torres

Bench:
Itandje
Lucas
Voronin
Benayoun
Aurelio
Agger
Crouch

Looks scarily familiar. Just as a heads up, there's little to no chance I'll be doing a halftime thoughts post because I'll be at the pub. I will be back after the match though. Cheers.

If Liverpool was an NFL side: The Offense

As I sat around with some friends this past Sunday watching some NFL and patiently awaiting the US-Brazil friendly in Chicago, I got to thinking how Javier Mascherano would make a bad ass American football player, particularly at running back. He seems to have the perfect low-gravity, wide, muscular build with powerful tree trunk like legs to propel him forward while carrying a couple of players with him. I could definitely see him slamming himself kamikaze-style through a wall of over-sized ogres and coming out the other side a la Emmitt Smith to scramble for a few more yards. It's too bad he was born in Argentina.

Then I got to thinking, if Liverpool FC was an American football club, at what positions would our players be best suited. On offense, the most obvious is Steven Gerrard at quarterback. He just has that high-shouldered approach that would allow him to keep a good eye on the entire field and allow him a quick over-the-shoulder release. Not to mention his leadership abilities and his uncanny knack to pull off something special when needed most. He certainly has all the physical attributes, he's quick and fast, though it probably wouldn't hurt for him to put on a few pounds, and at six-foot-one he's tall enough. The only thing he'd need to learn how to do is throw a football, but that probably wouldn't be too hard for someone of his athletic ability.

The biggest problem would be linemen. Of the players who could probably make it at that position due to their strength and toughness, certainly Sami Hyypia and Alvaro Arbeloa could, but both would still need to put on at least 100 pounds to even begin not to get pushed around by the opposition. John Arne Riise could probably make it as a tight end, but I'd rather see him and Jermaine Pennant sharing the backfield with Mascherano. I can just imagine Riise getting the ball, gathering up a head of steam and then barreling through some linebackers who later would have no idea what hit them. As for 'Crazy Legs' Pennant, I can definitely see him being like Warrick Dunn, scampering all over the field, defying tackles with juke moves and a relentless refusal to be taken down. He'd probably be one of our return specialists as well.

As for the receiving core, we'd be loaded with Momo Sissoko, Ryan Babel, Yossi Benayoun and of course, Peter Crouch, though I think Crouchy would probably get broken in half on the first decent hit. Pepe Reina would be our starting tight end after he put on about eighty pounds. Yossi and Crouch would be the possession receivers, while Momo and Babel would be flankers. I could also see Dirk Kuyt and Andriy Voronin as split ends or playing some sort of possession receiver roles due to their lack of speed. That leaves Torres, who'd probably be in the backfield, though I'm not sure how he'd fit in with the other three back there.

As for the rest of the team, Harry Kewell seems to have the mentality of the back-up quarterback. Though he may lack in size, he's definitely got the athletic ability and tends to come up with special plays from time to time. Of course he'd have to stay healthy first. For some reason, I see Jamie Carragher as a kicker. I don't mean that as an insult by any means, as I can see him kicking the ball off then going full speed at the opposition trying to take out as many blockers as possible on his way to dragging down the returner. Then we have Danny Agger, with whom I have no idea what to do with. With his height, he could probably play as receiver or tight end, but I just sort of see him sitting on the bench. I don't why, maybe he's just too much of a footballer to me.

If I ever get this bored again, I'll do the defense or somebody can shoot me. Whatever you deem appropriate. Cheers.

Liverpool vs Portsmouth: What will Rafa do?

Well, we got some good news today with the international clearances of Fernando Torres, Ryan Babel, and Lucas Leiva, as well as the near return to fitness for Stevie-G, because after Tuesday's match, it looks as if we'll need all the bodies we can harbor. I'm really excited about getting a look at Lucas and fully expect him to start in the middle with Gerrard.

The heat and the humidity definitely seemed to get our boys by the end of the last match. Danny Agger and John Arne Riise looked especially exhausted, which is not good, considering how thin we are on the back line. Carra and Arbeloa played the entire match as well and Hyypia saw some time at central midfield of all places.

I can see Rafa giving a start to Robbie Threlfall at left back as well as Gabriel Paletta in the middle. I also think, since Hyypia came in late and Finnan left early, they will probably allow them to start at centre back and right back respectively.

On the flanks, I think Babel might start on the left, though I wouldn't be surprised to see Kewell there since he was taken out early on Tuesday and with him just leaving the Asian Cup, he's probably pretty well adapted to the conditions. On the right, we'll probably see Pennant since he only played twenty-five minutes or so in the South China FC match.

Up front is not as simple as it would seem. One would think Torres would get the nod since he's well rested, but I think Rafa might start with a relatively fresh Kuyt and pair him with either Babel or even Crouch. If he starts Voronin there, I'll be shocked since the Ukrainian played the whole match Tuesday, but it is Rafa and he does know his player better than I. Voronin actually didn't look too worn out by the end of the match, but you never know.

At keep, I can definitely see Reina starting, but I think Carson will get the nod, if just to keep him happy.

So here's how I see it:
Carson
Threlfall
Hyypia
Paletta
Finnan
Kewell
Lucas
Gerrard
Pennant
Kuyt
Babel

As for the bench, who knows? If I knew the actual fitness of the players I could guess more accurately, but I definitely expect the younger players like Agger, Crouch, and Riise to be available, despite how the looked by the end on Tuesday.

I hope we win this match, but I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't. Portsmouth and Harry Redknapp, without a doubt, have more desire than we do to win this, despite Rafa's words. I just hope it's entertaining, no one gets injured, and we get a solid look at Lucas. Cheers.