Liverpool 1 Everton 0

February 6, 2010 2 Comments

There’s always an extra edge when you play in a derby match, but the crucial thing today was for Liverpool to try and pick up all three points.  Yes, I know it’s a cliché, but it also happens to be true.

Like all true derbies, there wasn’t a great deal of football played, but the Reds were certainly up for the fight.  They were almost up for it too much when Kyrgiakos was sent off for a two-footed challenge after 34 minutes.  There was no doubt that he deserved to receive the red card, but Pienaar should have probably been sent off a few minutes earlier for a reckless tackle on Mascherano.  Liverpool managed to get to half-time without conceding and so were able to re-group.

The second half wasn’t as much of a challenge as you might have expected – Everton were toothless in attack.  The Reds were able to take the lead on 55 minutes with a Dirk Kuyt header, from a set piece.  This was quite staggering as Liverpool are woeful at set pieces.  The fact that Kuyt was a yard from the line, in the middle of the goal, was surrounded by Howard and Neville, and didn’t jump, all just made the goal more unlikely.

From that point on, the result looked fairly comfortable – far more comfortable than Everton should have made it.  Pienaar was eventually sent off, for a second booking, in injury time, and that was about it.

As I said at the start of the post, the three points were crucial, especially as Liverpool play Arsenal and Man City away in the next week.  Fingers crossed for those matches, I suspect that they’re going to be a lot tougher than today.

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Liverpool 2 Bolton 0

January 30, 2010 Leave a comment

Do you remember the days when I’d spend Saturday afternoons frustratedly trying to get the match on an unreliable internet stream? They seem like such a distant memory.

This match report comes ‘live’ from me watching the potted highlights on Match of the Day. Which I’ve sky-plussed.

You can’t really tell how the game played out from such brief summaries, but it didn’t seem a vintage Reds performance. Dirk Kuyt gave Liverpool the lead in the first half as he bundled the ball in the back of the net. It wasn’t pretty but they all count.

The performance seemed to pick up in the second half, despite Ngog missing an open goal. The game was sealed on 70 minutes, when an Insua shot took a wicked deflection off Kevin Davies.

Liverpool’s league form hasn’t actually been that bad in the last 6 games, despite some lacklustre performances. Let’s hope that the quality of play now starts to improve.

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Wolves 0 Liverpool 0

January 27, 2010 Leave a comment

Another disappointing result for Liverpool: a toothless goalless draw.

Luckily, it wasn’t on telly and I didn’t think to get an internet stream, so there’s two hours of my life that I didn’t waste.

My football blogging has been rather half-hearted lately, truly reflecting Liverpool’s indifferent season. Let’s hope that they have an upturn in their fortunes soon, if only to make me more enthusiastic in my writing.

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Liverpool 2 Spurs 0

January 21, 2010 Leave a comment

It was a crucial win for Liverpool last night, both in terms of league position and for the players’ fragile confidence.  The match was bookended by two Dirk Kuyt goals.  The first was a classy strike on 6 minutes, the second was a cooly struck, re-taken penalty, in injury time.

The result may well have been different had Jermaine Defoe’s strike not been incorrectly ruled offside.  This decision says more about the current muddle over the offside rule than any incompetence on the part of the officials.  You can’t have such an important rule be so open to interpretation.

The Reds deserved the win, though, and it certainly made a pleasant change.  It was a battling rather than classy performance, but that was what was needed at this point.  The players looked up for the fight (especially Carragher) and the crowd really got behind the team.  Hopefully this will be the start of something of a revival, but I’m not convinced just yet.

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Stoke City 1 Liverpool 1

January 16, 2010 Leave a comment

After Wednesday’s humiliating defeat to Reading, and with Gerrard, Torres and Benayoun out injured, would any of Liverpool’s squad be able to step up and show a bit of commitment?  One things for certain, if you’re playing away at Stoke then you’re definitely going to need to be committed.

It was something of a change of formation for the Reds, with Aurelio and Degen playing as ‘wingers’ and Ngog and Kuyt up front.  Lucas and Mascherano started in the centre of midfield, Carragher was at right-back and there was a rare start for Kyrgiakos in the centre of defence.

Stoke made a good start and really got into the Liverpool player’s faces.  The Reds struggled to string two passes together, initally, but gradually grew into the game, without looking overly convincing.

Rory Delap went off injured after 23 minutes, which could only be a relief to Liverpool’s fragile defence.

On 24 minutes, Lucas was scythed down in the penalty box – he was given a yellow card for diving.  A ridiculous decision.  Stoke lost a second player through injury a minute later, as Abdoulaye Faye left the pitch.

The first half ended goalless.  It was a spirited performance from Liverpool even if the quality of play and goals were lacking.

The second half started as the first ended.  Liverpool were finally able to take the lead on 56 minutes when the Stoke goalie flapped at a low free-kick from Aurelio and Kyrgiakos was able to bundle it in.

On 77 minutes, new signing, Maxi Rodriguez, came on for Degen, to make his debut.   He didn’t get chance to show us what he could do as Stoke pinned the Reds back for the remainder of the match.  This pressure finally paid off when they got an equaliser on 89 minutes.  I don’t even know who scored as I was too depressed to notice.

On 95 minutes, Aurelio whipped in a excellent cross and Kuyt headed it onto the post.  He should have scored.  It ended 1-1.

I should probably tidy this post up a little and try and do a bit of analysis, but I really can’t be bothered.

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Liverpool 1 Reading 2 aet

January 14, 2010 4 Comments

I didn’t have the time or energy to write about Liverpool’s latest humiliation, last night. I’m not sure that I can really be bothered writing about it now.

I won’t dwell on the details, other than to say that Reading thoroughly deserved to win. That should tell you just about everything that you need to know. With Torres and Gerrard off injured by the start of the second half, the Reds were as toothless in attack as they’ve ever been.

The big question is what should happen to Benitez. I still don’t have a definite opinion. I think that chopping and changing managers, with no clear plan, is the death knell for a football club. That said, Rafa seems to have completely lost the dressing room. There are no easy answers.

In some ways, this sort of highlights what an amazing job that Benitez did in turning Liverpool into title contenders last season. The squad looks very mediocre, and although they’re all the manager’s own signings, there’s been a clear lack of investment for a ‘top 4′ club. I know that some people will challenge this interpretation, but you only need to compare how many players that Liverpool and Manchester United have in each price bracket and you’ll soon see the truth.

Anyway, this point is this: I hate football.

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Reading 1 Liverpool 1

January 2, 2010 2 Comments

Bleeding rubbish.

Luckily, I was talking to Dr Angel while the match was on, so I didn’t dwell on it at all. It’s the only answer to the problem of a crap football team.

I don’t really have anything else to add.

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Aston Villa 0 Liverpool 1

December 29, 2009 Leave a comment

Liverpool have been waiting for a slice of luck for a while.  Tonight, they got the whole pie.

I was all prepared for a frustrating evening looking for an internet stream, when I turned on the telly to see Villa Park in a snowstorm.  I’d missed the first twenty minutes, but at least it was 0-0 and I hadn’t missed anything.

The remainder of the first half was pretty even and very scrappy.  On 30 minutes, Pepe Reina produced a staggering, instinctive save to stop a certain goal.  Andy Gray said that he thinks Reina is the best goalie in the league, which seems to be the best kept secret in English football.

The second half was pretty dour.  The Reds controlled large passages of play but looked toothless in attack.  Villa had periods of pressure and looked much more likely to score.  A draw was looking like a good result and I could feel another loss on the cards via an impending sucker punch.

Remarkably, the sucker punch was landed by Liverpool.  It was a couple of minutes in to injury time when a ridiculous string of mistakes (from both sides) resulted in a perfect ball (from a Villa player) for Fernando Torres.  He slotted home with a trademark finish.

Bizarrely, Benitez brought on Aurelio when injury time was up, which only prolonged the final whistle.  It made no sense for him to do it.

Anyway, the result was harsh on Villa, but it was a crucial 3 points for Liverpool.

Phew.

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Liverpool 2 Wolves 0

December 26, 2009 Leave a comment

My excuse for not watching the match today is a family party – it’s my gran’s 87th birthday (happy birthday, Gran).

Anyway, Liverpool won, which was nice. It’s not good when getting a win against a newly promoted side feels like a special christmas treat.

Fingers crossed for a dramatic upturn in form in the new year.

UPDATE: Well, I’ve just watched Match of the Day. It took a sending off and a heavily deflected goal for the Reds to seal the win. Sometimes it can take a scruffy win to get your confidence and momentum going.

I’ve still got my fingers crossed.

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Portsmouth 2 Liverpool 0

December 19, 2009 1 Comment

Torres and Johnson were back in the starting line-up for this match, which was a good thing.  Andreas Dossena was also in the starting line-up, which wan’t so much a bad thing as it was baffling.  Could Liverpool do the seemingly impossible and string together back-to-back wins?  Don’t be silly.

The pitch at Fratton Park looked awful – like a ploughed field that had been frozen solid.  Suprisingly, given the conditions, the Reds actually started the match OK and passed the ball around quite nicely.  For all their possession, though, they didn’t look in the least bit dangerous.  Very worrying.

I was right to be worried – Portsmouth took the lead on 33 minutes.  Nadir Belhadj struck an unstoppable shot from an extremely acute angle.  If you’re going to be beaten, then you’d want it to be like that.  Things went from bad to worse for Liverpool on 44 minutes when Mascherano was sent off for a reckless challenge.  It was one of those fouls where you couldn’t argue that he was sent off, but also you wouldn’t have been that surprised if he had stayed on.  Either way, it was an absolute disaster.

Liverpool’s recent form suggested that they wouldn’t be able to get anything out the game – even if they had 11 men on the pitch.  After the break, it could be argued that Liverpool were slightly more dangerous than they were in the first half, but only because they actually forced a save from the Pompey keeper.  It’s no exaggeration to say that Portsmouth were in complete control of the match.

Their dominance was made even more emphatic on 82 minutes, when Frédéric Piquionne steered home another terrific strike.  If Liverpool looked dead and buried at 1-0, they certainly did at 2-0.  That’s how the humiliation ended.

This was a sadly ignominious way to mark Jamie Carragher’s 600th match for the club.  Where next for Rafa Benitez?  I’m too pissed off at the minute to be able to make a sensible comment.

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