TLW

ALF ARROWSMITH 1961-68 by Chris Wood Date of Birth - 11/12/42 Nationality - English Position - Striker Games - 50 (4) Goals - 24 Club Hons (Lpool) - League Championship 63/64 Intnl Hons - None Other Clubs - Bury, Rochdale Manchester-born Alf signed for Liverpool as a 17 year old in September 1960 but had to wait until 7th October 1961 for his debut at Middlesbrough, when he replaced the injured Ian St. John. That was the only League match the Scot missed in the 1961-62 season and it was also Alf's only first-team appearance that term. Only 3 matches followed for the big striker the following season and it wasn't until the second half of the 1963-64 season that he started to make a big impact, netting 15 times from 20 appearances after displacing Jimmy Melia in the side. Hunt, St. John & Arrowsmith contributed a massive 67 League goals that season as Liverpool powered to their first League championship for 17 years. That was as good as it got for Alf, who only made a further 19 starts (plus 4 as substitute) over the next four seasons. He finally left Liverpool to join Bury in December 1968. More info on Alf Arrowsmith: ++ / LFChistory.net -- Past Present Future

JOHN ALDRIDGE 1986-89 by Chris Wood Date of Birth - 18/09/58 Position - Striker Games - 88 (15) Goals - 61 Club Hons (Lpool) - League Championship 1987/88, FA Cup 1988/89 Intnl Hons - 69 Eire Caps Other Clubs - Newport County, Oxford United, Real Sociedad, Tranmere Rovers A fervent Liverpool fan from a very early age, John must have thought his chance of playing for his boyhood heroes had passed him by as he plied his trade around the lower divisions with Newport County & Oxford United. But the imminent departure of Ian Rush to Juventus meant that Kenny Dalglish needed to strengthen his attacking force and John needed no second invitation when he finally made his 'dream move' to Anfield early in 1987 at the age of 28. All but 2 of his 10 appearances that season (1986-87) came as a substitute so it was not perhaps surprising that he only scored twice. But once Rush had moved to Italy, John took over the responsibility of leading the attack with devastating effect, scoring in each of the first NINE League matches and totalling 26 by the time the season was over and the championship had been safely secured. Normally so reliable from 12 yards, John sadly became the first player to miss a penalty in an F.A. cup final at Wembley when Liverpool were denied the Double by Wimbledon and he was immediately substituted; 12 months later in the same event he scored with his first touch against Everton to add an F.A. cup winners' medal to the championship won a year before and thereby complete his domestic set of honours (he had already won the League cup as an Oxford player in 1986). John added a further 21 League goals in 1988-89 but with Rush's return from Italy he became surplus to requirements at Anfield. With a move to Real Sociedad looming, he seemed unlikely to play for Liverpool again but was allowed to come off the bench when a penalty was awarded in the 9-0 massacre of Crystal Palace in September 1989, Peter Beardsley graciously making way for him. He tucked the spot-kick away with his usual efficiency and threw his shirt and boots into the crowd at the end of an emotional farewell appearance. John's goalscoring record wherever he has played speaks for itself and he managed 61 in all competitions for Liverpool from just 88 matches (with a further 14 appearances as substitute, many of them brief in his first few months at the club). LmyzLuxRBUE Kcy3gwwxat4

ALAN A'COURT 1952-65 by Chris Wood Date of Birth - 30/09/34 Nationality - English Position - Midfield Games - 382 Goals - 63 Club Hons (Lpool) - 2nd Div Championship 1961/62 Intnl Hons - 5 England Caps Other Clubs - Tranmere Rovers Rainhill-born Alan gave the club outstanding service from the day he made his debut against Middlesbrough as an 18 year old on 7th February 1953 until the last of his 355 League appearances in the final fixture of the 1962-63 season. Peter Thompson was signed from Preston North End to fill the left-wing role that Alan had made his own for so long and he moved on to Tranmere Rovers in October 1964. He made his farewell appearance for Liverpool in the club's historic opening European tie against Reykjavik in September 1964, despite not having played in a single League match during the whole of the previous season! Alan had passed his 30th birthday by a few days when he moved to Tranmere and he was perhaps unlucky to just miss out on the glory days which were around the corner, having to settle for a Second Division championship medal as his only major honour with the club. He had just begun to establish himself as a first-team regular when the club was relegated in 1954 but missed only a handful of games over the next 8 seasons before promotion was finally achieved back into the top division. Alan scored 61 League goals for Liverpool, with another 2 coming in the F.A. Cup. More info on Alan A'Court: ++ / LFChistory.net -- Past Present Future

ALAN ARNELL 1953-61 by Chris Wood Date of Birth - 25/11/33 Nationality - English Position - Striker Games - 75 Goals - 35 Club Hons (Lpool) - Intnl Hons - None Other Clubs - Tranmere Rovers, Halifax Town Centre-forward Alan moved from Sussex amateur side Worthing to Liverpool when he was 20 years old and made a scoring debut on 5th December 1953 in a 5-2 win home victory over Blackpool. He only played another two times that season and just 7 the following season, in which he scored 3 more goals. Undoubtedly the highlight of Alan's Liverpool career was scoring a brave hat-trick at Huddersfield after pulling a muscle early in the game during 1956. Although he was in and out of the side during the next few years, Alan still finished with an impressive 33 goals from 69 League appearances for Liverpool before being transferred to Tranmere Rovers in February 1961. More info on Alan Arnell: ++ / LFChistory.net -- Past Present Future

PHIL BABB 1994-2000 by Dave Usher Date of Birth - 30/11/70 Nationality - Irish Games - 170 Goals - 1 Position - Defender Cost - £4m Club Hons (Lpool) - League Cup 1995 Club Hons (other - None Intnl Hons - Ireland Caps Other Clubs - Millwall, Bradford, Coventry, Sporting Lisbon, Tranmere (loan), Sunderland In my humble opinion, the least skilled player ever to wear the red shirt. Babb did have some attributes, so I'm told anyway, but ability on the ball certainly wasn't one of them. Babb's control and passing ability were so poor that if he hadn't cost so much money we could have laughed at him. Perhaps it was because he had cost so much money that Roy Evans felt he had to persist with him, no matter how incompetant his performances were. Liverpool's experiment with the 3-5-2 formation didn't help Babb's cause, as he was always most comfortable in a flat back four. He had come to prominence during the 1994 World Cup when alongside the fantastic Paul McGrath, he helped shackle an Italian side including the great Roberto Baggio. The uncomplicated style of the Irish suited Babb's game down to the ground, but at Anfield he was expected to do a lot more than just win the ball and then launch it downfield. Used mostly on the left of the three man defence, he often found himself confronted by the opposition's right winger, and it's fair to say he had some problems, notably when he allowed Andrei Kanchelskis to give him the runaround in a 2-1 derby defeat at Anfield. A switch to a flat back four in the 97/98 season helped Babb settle, and he did produce some fine performances in the middle of the defence, but not enough to ever justify a place in the side, and when Gerard Houllier took over, there was no way Babb was ever going to last at Anfield. Houllier was not slow to let players know if they were no longer needed, and the likes of McAteer, Harkness, James and Ince all moved on. Babb however, chose to sit on his arse picking up wages for doing nothing. Say what you like about Paul Ince (and I usually do), but at least he had enough professional pride to find himself another club when he was told he was not needed at Anfield. Not Babb though, oh no. He was quite content to see out his contract, even though he was not even considered for the reserves such was his abysmal attitude. Tranmere took him on loan, but he was so bad that they couldn't wait to send him back. For someone who's main asset was supposed to be pace, he was regularly beaten by opposing strikers, and when he was at Tranmere he had a proper beer gut under his baggy shirt. A disgrace to his profession, it says a lot about him that he will best be remembered for crushing his bollocks against the post at the Anny Road end in a failed attempt to stop a goal that he had caused. His one brief highlight came when he scored his one and only goal in a red shirt, against his former club Coventry City at Highfield Road. iTzzm4sxAZM

LIVERPOOL 3 Bolton 0 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Albert Riera, Robbie Keane (2)Half Time - 1-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Fri 26 December 2008 Star Man – Robbie Keane So this is what a home win feels like! I could get used to this, hopefully we won’t have to wait so long for our next one. This was perhaps our best performance at home since we beat the mancs way back in September. It wasn’t just the scoreline that was convincing, it was just a completely dominant performance in every area of the pitch, and we looked an extremely well balanced side. Something I haven’t felt about us at home for a good while. So what was the big difference between this game and the disappointing draws with Fulham, West Ham and Hull? Well for me there are three things that immediately leapt out when I saw how the team lined up, and they are things that many fans, pundits, ex players etc have been calling for Rafa to do for a while. Firstly, he ditched the one up front system that quite frankly should never be used at home unless Torres is ‘the one’. It doesn’t work, it’s too negative, we don’t have anyone other than Torres who can play the role, and it’s something that most people agree on. Secondly, a lot of people have been making the point that we don’t need Mascherano in games at home against the lesser sides, as Alonso and Gerrard are best equipped to break down sides who come to defend. And finally, we have Robbie Keane. Despite his goal and fine performance at Arsenal last week, Keane is not comfortable playing as a lone striker. He’s also not suited to being the furthest forward in a 4-4-2 as he was against West Ham when Kuyt was so far behind him for most of the game it’s stretching things to even say we played two up front that night. Robbie Keane needs to play off another striker, and he needs license to roam about and get involved in the game. Against West Ham he barely touched the ball, and was then predictably subbed for not being involved enough. He then spent the entire ninety minutes against Hull on the bench, when we desperately needed someone to get a goal. How can you spend £20m on someone who scores goals, and then leave him kicking his heels on the sidelines when you need to score? It was baffling at the time, and even more so after seeing what he’s done at the Emirates and against Bolton. Keane’s performance in this game, in his preferred role it needs to be pointed out, made a mockery of the decision not to bring him on against Hull. But that’s gone now, and there’s no point crying over spilt milk. Robbie has made his point, and hopefully Rafa has gotten rid of whatever bee he had in his bonnet about the Irishman. Certainly any plans he may have had to offload Keane in January will surely now have to be shelved. We’re fortunate that our rivals were unable to capitalise on the stupid points we’ve let slip, and if we can keep performing as we did against Bolton – and more importantly keep the same positive approach we showed – then hopefully we’ve seen the last of the disappointing home performances. I’m really encouraged by what I saw against Bolton. Not only did Keane play very well and score two cracking goals, but Riera showed signs that he’s coming back to his best form and Benayoun was outstanding on the other flank. This was the kind of performance I want to see. We were positive right from the start, we knocked the ball about very well and we stretched the play by using both wings to good effect. Most importantly, we had options when we attacked. We didn’t even need Gerrard to be at his swashbuckling best either, as he played a disciplined role and sat in midfield alongside Alonso dictating the play. Usually he’d be breaking ahead of the strikers and getting in the box, but he didn’t do much of that. He didn’t need to, and with another game just two days later it was sensible for him not be charging about all over the place. He’ll be fresh for the trip to St James, especially as we had the luxury of bringing him off early. Bolton were really poor it has to be said, but I think we deserve credit for that. They’ve been in good form lately, but Megson abandoned the strategy that has served them so well of late and went for a defensive approach, no doubt encouraged by our recent failure to break down Fulham and West Ham. It didn’t work though, and when he abandoned the plan at half time and introduced Kevin Davies, they got even more of a chasing. If we’d played West Ham, Hull or Fulham yesterday, we’d have beaten them too, as there was a balance and purpose about our play that hasn’t been there for some time. You can argue it’s because of how poor Bolton were on the day, but for me it was more to do with how we approached the game. From the early stages of this I felt confident. Riera and Benayoun were lively from the outset, and Keane had more touches in the opening minutes of this game than he did in the whole time he was on the field in his last game at Anfield. Their keeper wasn’t being called into action much, but our approach play was promising and we were knocking the ball about very well. Bolton’s intentions were made clear with just a minute on the clock, when the keeper (I’m not even going to mention the scruffy non-applauding the crowd piece of shit by name) took an age taking a goal kick. The game was played almost entirely in the Bolton half, as Alonso and Gerrard tok control of the game and were picking and probing at the defence and looking to get the ball wide as early as possible. A series of corners were forced, most of which went to the far post looking for Hyypia or Agger. One was pulled back to the edge of the box where Insua met it with a sweet volley that was parried by the tramp in the Bolton goal, but mostly the corners went deep. Bolton were maybe expecting another one of those when Gerrard shaped to take another one at the Kop end, as they didn’t react quick enough to Riera’s near post run. Gerrad’s delivery was perfect, Riera poked it in with his studs and we were off and running. In truth we should have been in front even earlier than that. Kuyt had a great headed chance that he put over the bar, when maybe he could have left it for Riera who was in an even better position. Benayoun shot wide when he should have at least hit the target, and Carragher saw a dipping left footer from 25 yards go just over. But once we got our noses in front there was no looking back. The second half was very good, as Keane came to the fore with two excellently taken goals following superb build up play. The first came about when Alonso won a tackle in the centre circle and the ball broke to Gerrard. Keane made a run and pointed where he wanted the ball played (he does that a lot doesn’t he?), and Gerrard delivered it inch and weight perfect. The pass was so good that Keane didn’t have to break stride and just smashed it in with his left foot. That goal made the points safe, as although Bolton didn’t even look like they had one goal in them, you never know what can happen at 1-0. No way where they going to get two, so when this went in I think everybody relaxed a little. The third goal was the icing on the cake, and was brilliantly executed. Reina caught the ball on his goal-line, and spotted the run of Alonso through the centre. He raced out and threw it into the path of his compatriot, who carried the ball forward into Bolton territory. Keane and Benayoun both ran flat out to get up in support, and Keane’s run across the defence created room for the Israeli. Alonso played him in, Yossi crossed it first time to where Keane had pointed to, and our number seven finished neatly to put the seal on a good individual and team performance. It was a great day for Robbie, as he even managed to survive three substitutions and was still on the field at full time. Riera made way for El Zhar, Lucas replaced Gerrard and amazingly Kuyt was actually subbed for N’Gog. It turns out that the Dutchman is carrying a knock, which explains why he was brought off as he never gets subbed unless it’s in stoppage time. We could have had more goals, Benayoun and N’Gog both went close, and Keane was within a whisker of going clean through again after some brilliant play by Carragher again. But three is more than enough, I’m well happy with this result and more importantly, the performance. We needed to win, obviously, but we also needed to win well to restore some confidence and we did just that. You could sense the fans regaining some belief the longer it went on too. The chants of ‘We Shall Not be Moved’ were not exactly full of conviction, not like they are when the knock out stages of the CL come round for instance’, but as the game wore on there was noticeably more belief in the chants. The humour was back too, as the Kop began chanting the names of each player during a lengthy stoppage. ‘We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Nabil El Zhar’ was a bit weird, and I’m not sure what to make of the ‘He sticks his cock into his sock’ N’Gog song! It was nice to see people relaxed and having a laugh though, as too often this season it’s been really tense and nervy. It’s easy to have a go at the fans, but I’ve always felt that if the team give them something to get behind then they will do. Yes, the crowd have to back the players, but it’s a two way street and Rafa has to loosen up a bit and let the players off the leash a bit. If the fans see that the side are having a go, they will respond to it. It’s when we see one up front at home, lots of sideways passes and not enough people getting into the box, that’s when the atmosphere goes flat and people get anxious. Sometimes it looks like we’re more concerned about not losing than we are about winning, and that’s when the atmosphere gets a bit ropey. Against Bolton that clearly wasn’t the case, and the longer it went on the more into it the fans got. If I have any criticism of the performance, it would be that our good approach play didn’t always lead to a meaningful attempt at goal. The keeper was busy, but not exactly overworked. I’m not complaining though, we did more than enough and if we play like this every home game from now until May I’ll be overjoyed. It was a good performance, not a great one, but certainly our best in a while. There were some very good individual displays within the good team performance too. Carragher was exceptional at right back, Sami was faultless again and Agger loked very comfortable too. Insua gave another very promising performance and deserves to keep his place for now, regardless of whether Aurelio is fit or not. He’s a similar sort of player to the Brazilian in that he doesn’t panic and always looks to play his way out of trouble. There was one little drop of the shoulder and slide rule pass down the line to Riera that reminded me a lot of Aurelio. In midfield Alonso was imperious again, and Riera looked more like the player he was when he first arrived here. He’s gone off the boil a bit of late, but this was better from him. Yossi was very good, and he linked up very well with Carragher down the right. Star man though is Keane, who has come through a very difficult time and hit back in the perfect manner, but scoring goals and making it impossible for the manager to leave him out. If he can maintain this kind of performance, and we can get Torres fit and playing in front of him, that will be mouth watering. There’s no guarantee’s it will of course, but if it does then we might actually be able to stay at the top of the table. I mean, we’ve gotten there without producing anything like the kind of form we did in the second half of last season, so if Torres comes back and shows his best form then you have to be hopeful. With exactly half the season gone and us still in pole position, it’s ours to lose now. If we see more displays like the ones against West Ham and Fulham then we will lose it. More of what we saw against Bolton though, and who knows…. Team: Reina; Carragher, Hyypia, Agger, Insua; Benayoun, Alonso, Gerrard (Lucas), Riera (El Zhar); Keane, Kuyt (N’Gog):

LIVERPOOL 2 Hull City 2 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Steven Gerrard (2)Half Time - 2-2 Venue - Anfield Date - Sat 13 December 2008 Star Man – Steven Gerrard I was in two minds whether to even write a report for this. I’m just getting sick of writing the same kind of things, and trying to put on a brave face and look for positives when I can’t really see any. It’s bizarre, as we sit proudly atop the table, but I can’t shake the feeling that we are actually, well…. a bit fucking shit. I made the point in a recent report that I keep coming out of Anfield feeling pretty depressed at what I’ve just seen, and this was yet another one of those occasions. This was absolutely fucking horrible, and it’s difficult to contain some of the anger I’m feeling about it. The team selection was a joke. Kuyt on his own up front at home to Hull? It was bad enough employing those tactics away at Blackburn, but because he got away with it Rafa did it again. Well you got exactly what you deserved against Hull, Rafa. In fact, you probably got more than you deserved, as we couldn’t have had too many complaints had Hull claimed maximum points. But if the team selection was bad, the substitutions he made were even worse. We can speculate all day about why Robbie Keane wasn’t brought on. We all have our own opinions, but rather than speculate as to why he wasn’t used, let’s look at the reason Rafa actually gave as to why Keane was not introduced: “Using more people in the box is not a guarantee.” Yep, that’s what he actually said, in a bizarre press conference afterwards in which he used the expression “my idea was to use two wingers and an offensive midfielder” about ten times. He says having more people in the box isn’t a guarantee of goals. He’s right, it’s not a guarantee, but it sure as hell increases the odds. In fact, let’s look at the two goals we scored. The first one saw Riera and Gerrard charge into the box, and for the second Benayoun and Gerrard got in there with Kuyt and on both occasions the ball fell to the skipper and he scored. Had they not gotten into the box, the goals wouldn’t have been scored. Having another body in there increased the odds on the ball falling to a red shirt. Basic maths, surely? He changed the wide players, when getting crosses into the box seemed to be the least of our problems. I don’t have the stats to hand, but I’d imagine the number of crosses we put in was pretty high. I bet the only person in the entire stadium who was thinking ‘our problem here is that we aren’t getting enough crosses in’ was Rafa. Dossena especially was whipping in loads of quality crosses that went to nobody due to the lack of bodies we had in there. And even if that was our problem, he could still have changed the widemen and then sacrificed Mascherano to get another forward player on. I don’t understand what Rafa was trying to do, but then I don’t think anyone else did either, least of all the players. When he made that final substitution and sent on Lucas for Mascherano, you could almost hear the sound of 40,000 people stifling a boo! But for the fact it was Lucas, and it wouldn’t have been fair to the lad after what happened last time, I’m convinced there’d have been a really hostile reaction to that decision. There were loads of people sat around me who were venting their anger at Rafa, and one fella made a point of running down to the front of the paddock to lend his support to a bemused Keane, who just kind of shrugged his shoulders in a ‘I don’t know what’s going on either’ kind of way. The second half of this game summed up Rafa’s managerial philosophy for me. When we went 2-0 down in the first half, so the players got angry, abandoned his gameplan and just went for it. We threw men forward, got players in the box and forced two goals. He gets them in at half time, and you just know his team talk will have been about slowing things down, controlling the game and being patient. So we come out for the second half and did just that. And - one header from Hyypia apart - we never really looked like scoring again. We were more solid at the back though, so mission accomplished there. Mind you, it would have been hard for us to have been less solid, as in the first half we were at sixes and sevens and they ripped through us several times. The first occasion was when their left back shrugged off Benayoun and Arbeloa and surged into our half. He laid it off to King, and his attempted cross was clearly handled by the sliding Mascherano. Luckily the ref didn’t give it, but the warning signs were there and Hull continued to look threatening. Mendy was the big danger, as Dossena made him look like a world beater. It was embarrassing how easily he was getting past our Italian full back. The first time he did it was really bad, he ran from just inside our half and absolutely blew by Dossena, who tried to grab him by the shoulder but couldn’t even get close enough to do that. Mendy got into the box and drilled a ball across where they had people in the box waiting for it, but thankfully Arbeloa stuck out a leg and managed to backheel the ball to safety. It boosted their confidence though, and shortly after, they went in front. A free-kick from the right wasn’t headed out by Hyypia, and King collected it at the back of the box and curled it back into the middle. Dossena was underneath it, but McShane had a run on him and was up and attacking the ball before the Italian could get off the ground. His header looped into the top corner and the Hull fans went nuts. It went from bad to worse when Hull doubled their lead. The goal should never have stood, as Carragher won the ball cleanly in the middle of the park and it was never a foul. Credit to Hull though, as Carra briefly stopped to argue the point with the ref, they took a quick free kick and caught us on the back foot. King switched the ball to Mendy, and once again he got away from Dossena and got his cross in, which Hyypia failed to cut out and Carragher made a mess of, somehow putting into his own net. He should have dealt with it better, but Dossena’s attempt to stop the cross was embarrassing. It was also noticeable that Hull had two people waiting behind Carra for a tap in, which meant he had to attempt a clearance rather than let it roll across the goal. But having ‘more people in the box isn’t a guarantee’ of course, let’s not forget that. It was difficult to believe what was happening at this point, but the positive to be taken from it was that it was so early in the game. Had those goals came in the second half, we may have found it hard to come back. But we had time on our side, and set about trying to get back into it. We didn’t play great football, and didn’t exactly carve Hull open. What we did do was get down the sides quite a bit, especially with both full backs bombing forward, and we got a bit lucky with things falling kindly in the box. That, and the referee not penalizing two blatant shoves on Michael Turner. Riera did it for the first goal, and then Kuyt gave him a nudge for the second. We got away with both of them, not to mention the Mascherano handball, and Phil Brown was pissed off afterwards. He didn’t mention the foul that never was that led to their second goal however, and someone said to me that the free-kick that led to their first wasn’t a foul either, but I can’t even remember it so I’m not sure. The ref was really poor, for both sides, but Hull probably have more reason to feel aggrieved than we do. There was a sense of relief at half time that we’d got back on level terms, and Hull were rocking at that stage. But they regrouped at half time, and we went into our comfort zone again, happy to ‘control’ the game. We had some promising moments, where we got crosses in and the ball was pinging around in the box, but unlike the first half this time the ball didn’t drop kindly for us and we didn’t appear to be forcing the issue the way we did when we were behind. Hyypia headed against the post, and substitute El Zhar had a decent effort saved by the keeper, who also parried a powerful blast from Riera. Overall though, Hull weren’t especially stretched and Rafa seemed more than content to let the game carry on as it was. His changes were simply like for like, as he stuck with just the one hopelessly out of form striker (not knocking Dirk, he’s done well for the most part but everyone has dips and he’s having one now) and changed both widemen before bringing on Lucas for Mascherano, as Robbie Keane stood looking bewildered on the touchline. Chelsea and the mancs both drawing may have once again let us off the hook, but that’s only a tiny crumb of comfort in the overall scheme of things now. So far we’ve failed to beat Stoke, Fulham, West Ham and now Hull City at home. More worryingly, we’ve only played well at Anfield on less than a handful of occasions this season. Everyone will have their own theory on why that is, and clearly the absence of Torres doesn’t help. But we’ve been shite on plenty of occasions even when he’s been in the side, so it’s not that straightforward. For me, it’s tactical. We’re too cautious, we don’t get enough people forward and the players don’t look happy at all with the way they are being asked to play. Going with one up front at home to Hull just saddens me. Sticking with it, when it’s clearly not working, well that’s just totally baffling, depressing and infuriating. Am I alone in thinking we are top of the league despite the manager, and not because of him? Rafa is clearly a top manager, and he knows more about the game than the likes of me and 99.99% (I’m assuming King Kenny was in the crowd) of everyone else inside Anfield put together, but that doesn’t mean he’s always right. He’s getting it wrong more and more often these days, although the league table would suggest otherwise. Sometimes we’ve gotten away with it, other times we haven’t. I’m not sure what category this game falls into, as although we’ve dropped two points at home, I think we may have actually gotten away with it because had the referee spotted the shoves on Turner we could have lost. And of course our rivals were also held to draws. Star man isn’t easy. Gerrard had a good first half, and without him we would have lost, so although I don’t think he was outstanding I’ll go for him I guess. Alonso was good, and Sami played well too although he could have done slightly better with both goals in my opinion. If I was assessing him just on the attacking side of his game, Dossena would be in with a shout too, as he used the ball well, got forward often and put some delicious crosses into the danger area. However, defensively he was atrocious once more, and we can count ourselves lucky that Hull had to move Mendy to right back when McShane got injured, as had he stayed on the wing he could have continued to wreak havoc. It’s worrying that Hull had clearly done their homework on us and identified left back as a weak area. Mendy was used on the wing because of his pace, and as long as Dossena stays in the side I think we’ll see more and more of this. Teams will target him because he just can’t defend. It’s not his fault, he just can’t do it. He worked hard, he got forward and he was good on the ball, but the lad cannot defend. Yet he’s the most expensive defender in the club’s history. Ironic eh? We’re really in a rut at the moment, and on paper a trip to the Emirates isn’t something to look forward to given how we are playing. They’ve already beaten Chelsea and the mancs this season, but so have we, and to be honest I’d much rather be playing Arsenal away next than be facing up to another home game against one of the smaller sides. Team: Reina; Arbeloa, Carragher, Hyypia, Dossena; Mascherano (Lucas), Alonso; Benayoun (El Zhar), Gerrard, Riera (Babel); Kuyt:

http://www.liverpoolway.co.uk/forum/news/71869-issue-66-out-weekend.html

No he's still on the bench.

So why haven't lfctv got it then? The mingebags not prepared to pay for it? Surely they can afford it, they don't pay me and Andy THAT much! Ellison on for the injured Amoo now.

No, he missed three and scored one.

Don't think there's any stream for it as these games can't be shown live due to FA rules or something. There's commentary on lfc.tv and highlights are on tomorrow.

Kacaniklic had one cleared off the line. Ayala has missed a good chance and Dalla Valle could have had four.

http://www.liverpoolway.co.uk/forum/news/71355-liverpool-0-west-ham-0-match-report.html

LIVERPOOL 0 West Ham 0 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Half Time - 0-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Mon 1 December 2008 Star Man – Xabi Alonso The mixed reaction of the Kop at full time said a lot about the split amongst the supporters at the moment. Some booed after a second successive goalless home draw against struggling opposition, whilst others responded with the chant “Liverpool Liverpool top of the league.” These are strange times indeed in L4. Whilst it’s fantastic to be starting December looking down on the rest from the top of the table, I can’t help but feel somewhat disheartened by what we are seeing on the pitch. Still, booing after we’ve just gone top is just plain wrong. I’ve heard it suggested by some (Jamie Carragher being the latest) that we are just in one of those dips in form that teams have during the course of a season, but I have to be honest, this ‘dip’ seems to have been going on since August. Maybe it’s not a dip, maybe this is just what we are? A side that can play well against the top teams, but that gets dragged down several notches when up against poorer opponents? Look at the evidence; ask yourself how many times this season you’ve watched a game and said ‘we played really well today’. Off the top of my head, I’d say the mancs at home, Chelsea away, twenty minutes of the second half at Goodison, Bolton away was pretty good and we weren’t bad against West Brom at home. We were really good in the second half at Eastlands too, and there may have been one or two that I’ve missed. Actually, Spurs, even though we lost. But by and large, we’ve not played well for most of the season. We may be top of the table, but we don’t look remotely like a ‘top of the table side’, and that’s why so many people are disgruntled. When we beat Portsmouth with that fortunate late penalty, some of us said ‘happy with the three points, but if we don’t start playing better we won’t keep getting results.’ In fact, go back as far as the opening day, and we said the same thing. Four months later and those chickens are coming home to roost. Four points lost two Fulham and West Ham, to go with the two we dropped to Stoke. I’m happy we’re top of the league, but it seems I’m coming out of virtually every game at Anfield thinking ‘fuck me, that was a bit shit like’. Boro, Liege, Stoke, Crewe, Wigan, Portsmouth, Marseille, Atletico, Fulham, and now West Ham. None of those performances were good enough. Of course no team plays well every game, and there are times you have to grind out results. But not every fucking home game, which is what is happening with us. It’s impossible to sustain the results for any length of time when the performances aren’t there, and that’s what has happened to us in the last couple of weeks. We were dire against Fulham, and at least this was an improvement on that game. We had chances to win it, but I don’t think by any stretch of the imagination anyone could say we played well. Most of our opportunities fell to Hyypia from set pieces, not through good attacking play. I said prior to the game I wanted us to go 4-4-2 with Keane and Kuyt up front, and we did that. At least I think we did. Kuyt played so deep that I’d hesitate to say we played 4-4-2, and Keane was completely anonymous and isolated. Clearly he is a good player, so the question is how come he is struggling so badly at the moment? I heard someone say he touched the ball FIVE times in the entire first half. Some will use that as a stick to beat him with, but for me that is really alarming as it says we haven’t got a clue how to utilise his talents. Why was Kuyt the one dropping off and getting involved in the build up? That’s what Keane has always done. He isn’t a player who stands up front and occupies the centre halves. He buzzes around, gets involved in things and plays off somebody. Since he’s come here, he’s spent most of his time standing up against big centre backs and either being beaten in the air or getting muscled off the ball. I don’t get why we couldn’t have at least tried swapping Kuyt and Keane for a bit, just to see what happened. Maybe Rafa was worried about Hayden Mullins and felt Kuyt was a better bet to keep his considerable talents in check. People can slag off Robbie Keane all they like, but for him to touch the ball just five times in 45 minutes says more about the appalling ‘service’ he received and the role he was asked to play than it does him as far as I’m concerned. It’s not like he’s lazy, he spent the entire half chasing down their defenders trying to win the ball back. He was like a dog chasing his tail though, he wasn’t going to win the ball back but he seemed to me to be trying to show the fans that at least he was putting a shift in. There is an inherent problem at Liverpool when it comes to getting the best out of strikers. Torres is the obvious – and brilliant – exception, whilst Crouch did well until Rafa decided he should be a bench warmer. Apart from those two, we’ve not been able to get the best from any of the strikers we’ve had. Cisse, Baros, Morientes, Bellamy, Kuyt and now Keane. Cisse and Baros weren’t signed by Rafa, so they aren’t his problem, but the others are. He bought them, and he didn’t play to their strengths. Bellamy was the best striker on the pitch last night, he played very well and was desperately unlucky not to score in front of the Kop when his rasper hit the inside of the post. Had he been playing in our side last night, he’d have been anonymous, as he was in most of the games he played, and as Keane has been recently. I’m not sure exactly what people expect Keane to do. Criticise him for missing chances by all means, but against West Ham I really don’t see how he could have done too much differently. He is small and not especially strong. So he will lose out in the air every time a ball is played up to him. And if he gets the ball with his back to goal, he isn’t really strong enough to hold it and wait for support, especially when that support is so long in coming. When we replaced Peter Crouch with Keane, I didn’t expect us to ask Robbie to do the same job. Apparently we bought him because Rafa felt he could play in any of the three positions behind Torres, and because he could also play behind Torres in a 4-4-2. Yet most of the time he has been the focal point of the attack, a role he doesn’t normally play. If we wanted someone to do that job, then sign somebody who can do it. As it stands, it looks like we’ve paid £20m for a player and then asked him to do something he isn’t very good at. If this is what we’re going to do, we should have just told Crouch to stay and promised him plenty of games. Still, never mind we can always bring in Heskey to fill that role in January. Some Happy New Year if that happens. Keane and Kuyt have looked together on the few occasions they’ve played up front as a pair, but on those occasions Dirk has been right up there with him. For whatever reason, against West Ham Dirk was operating much deeper than Keane, and it didn’t do either of them any favours as they both struggled. Dirk saw more of the ball, but he would do as that was his job. I was told that when N’Gog appeared on the touchline ready to come on, Keane was caught on camera saying “I fucking bet it’s me”. He knows he’s got an hour to do something, and if he doesn’t then he’ll get hauled off. I wouldn’t have minded had it been Babel who was sent on, as it would have been something different and he’s a player who can make things happen. But N’Gog? I’m not going to slate the lad, but here’s a novel idea: How about sticking him in the reserves and waiting for him to start hitting some goals before we throw him in at the deep end. He isn’t ready, and it’s not fair to be putting him in this situation. It won’t be long before the fans are on his back, and that won’t do him any good at all. It’s the manager who deserves the flak, not David N’Gog. Mind you, I heard Rafa on the radio saying that N’Gog played well so that substitution worked. I’ve barely even mentioned the game itself, but what is there to say? We played ok, had some chances but didn’t put them away, and could have lost had Bellamy’s shot been an inch the other way or had Carlton Cole done better with a simple header. Defeat would have been extremely harsh, but did we really deserve to win? Robert Green made one amazing save from Yossi, but other than that we made it easy for him by missing the target too often. I don’t think we did enough, and West Ham will feel they deserved their point. What worries me more than anything, is West Ham and Fulham are teams we’ve not usually had any problems with at Anfield. They are ‘nice’ teams who play football and generally let you play as well. They aren’t cloggers, they aren’t eleven men behind the ball merchants, and they are the kind of side that in previous seasons we’ve had no trouble seeing off. Yet now it seems that every side we face is proving difficult to overcome. We struggle against the blanket defensive sides, and now we’re struggling against teams who are playing with two strikers and actually having a go. We even struggle against lower division sides in the cup, and I’m dreading the Preston game. The only positives I can take from this game are that we didn’t get beat, and therefore we made up a point on Chelsea this weekend, and the performance of Dossena. He played well in this game, and just concentrated on doing the right things. He was very basic in his approach to begin with, and just kept everything simple. The first time I remember him giving the ball away was with the last kick of the first half. Prior to that he’d done everything right. In the second half he seemed to grow in confidence and was bombing forward as much as he could. He got some great crosses in, but with only Keane and Kuyt in the box they never came to anything. Defensively he had very little to do, as West Ham’s right winger is absolute dog shit. I’ll still be really worried any time he faces a decent winger, but credit where it’s due I thought he had a good game against the Hammers. The crowd were good too. They did their best to get behind the side in the first half, and even in the second half when frustration began to set in, it never got too bad. The booing at full time wasn’t good, but aside from that I don’t think anyone can have a go at the fans. Alonso was my star man, just ahead of Dossena and Hyypia. Carragher and Arbeloa also did well. Worryingly, Keane isn’t the only one struggling. Riera has been shite the last few games, Kuyt has gone off the boil recently too, and most significantly Gerrard isn’t at his best. Thankfully the defence and keeper are doing their jobs so we are at least keeping clean sheets. Next up in the league is Blackburn, and I’m actually glad it’s away from home as we’ve probably got more chance of winning. We’re in the middle of a relatively easy run of fixtures, a run in which some people were predicting we could win every game. Between the win over Chelsea at the Bridge up until we go to Arsenal on Dec 21, we had eight games in which we would have been strong favourites to win each one. So far we’ve dropped seven points from the six games we’ve played since Chelsea. We’ve now got a trip to Ewood and a home game with Hull, and unless we improve significantly we won’t win either. We may have just gone top, but we are at a crossroads now. We have to get our shit together because if we don’t, we’ll fall off the pace and be left wondering how we’ve dropped so many stupid points in games we would normally win. It’s not all doom and gloom, because we do have the players capable of winning these games and obviously we have Torres to come back. The next few weeks are vitally important though, not only in terms of collecting points, but also in winning back the confidence of supporters who are seriously unconvinced by what they have been seeing. To think I predicted a 5-0 win! Who the fuck was I kidding? Team: Reina; Arbeloa, Carragher, Hyypia, Dossena; Benayoun, Gerrard, Alonso, Riera (Babel); Kuyt, Keane (N’Gog):

LIVERPOOL 1 Marseille 0 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Steven GerrardHalf Time - 1-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Wed 26 November 2008 Star Man – Jamie Carragher When the Champions League knock out stages get under way in March, this game will long since have been forgotten. Yes, we were pretty wretched for most of the game and were outplayed for long periods by a decent, but not special Marseille team. But not only did we win, but we ensured qualification for the knock out stage with a game to spare. It would be nice if we were playing better, but you don’t win anything for playing great and hammering teams in the group stage. Nevertheless, those who are unhappy with the performances and who are concerned about our form have every right to be. I keep hearing people dismissing any criticism by trotting out the mantra “we’re joint top of the league and through to the group stages, stop moaning’. That’s true of course, but there’s no way we can keep producing results whilst playing to the standard we are. It will catch up with us, no doubt about it. That’s why Steven Gerrard was so unhappy afterwards. Why are we playing so poorly though? After all, this one can’t be blamed on Lucas as he was only on the field for the last ten minutes or so. In the last two fixtures, only Reina and Carragher have been on top of their game. Others have done ok (such as Arbeloa), whilst some have been way below par (Mascherano for example). I don’t know what’s going wrong, but I do know that most of our big players are not in top form, either through concerns over fitness or just due to them going through a bit of a dip. Had Marseille had any kind of cutting edge, they’d have won this game. We started off poorly, got a bit better and then made the breakthrough, but then sat off them and allowed them to dominate the game. We had a spell a couple of months ago where our workrate and pressuring of teams was basically strangling the life out of them. Look at how we chased and harried the mancs into an awful display at Anfield. Where is that kind of work rate and pressure now? Marseille have some good players, and if you give them the ball and let them play then they can look a useful side. Had we got in their faces, pressed them high up the pitch and played at a high tempo, we’d probably have blown them away as they wouldn’t have been able to cope. Instead, we played into their hands by allowing them to have the ball, and to pass it about. The first half was pretty poor, although we did produce a couple of moments of real quality. One resulted in a Gerrard header going close, the other saw the skipper find the net. Defensively we did well enough, and although Marseille did carry a threat on the break, generally we were in command even though we weren’t at our best. Taiwo’s long range effort that Pepe pushed onto the post is the only moment of danger I can recall. After the break though, we were absolute shite. I feared the worst at half time when I saw Dossena warming up on the pitch. Clearly Fabio’s cheese string muscles had let him down again, and the prospect of the Italian coming on scared the shit out of me. Maybe it’s because my expectations of him have plummeted so much after the Spurs game, but I didn’t think he was too bad when he came on. I’ve read some posts on the forum, and most people thought he was awful. Perhaps he was, but all I know is he wasn’t as bad as I feared he would be, and although he did have some dodgy moments to be fair to him I thought he showed plenty of character and a lot of enthusiasm. Of course, Hatem Ben Arfa left him for dead a couple of times, he was also guilty of some wayward clearances and one foul he committed was so ridiculously bad I still can’t believe he wasn’t yellow carded. But on the plus side, he put in a real shift charging up and down the left flank, trying to support when we went forward, and he also made a couple of excellent covering runs in behind Agger. It’s a good job he did too, as Agger had a poor second half and Marseille almost got in behind him on more than one occasion. Dossena did well to help him out though, so he deserves some credit for that. I am greatly dismayed by the news that Aurelio is going to be out for a couple of weeks though. Personally I’d move Agger to left back now, and bring Sami into the middle. Some will say that’s a risk, but it’s no more of a risk than playing the Italian. And it might actually do Agger some good, as he isn’t convincing in the middle at the moment and if Skrtel were fit he would be entitled to expect his place back as Agger hasn’t done enough to keep him out. Aurelio wasn’t the only casualty, as Torres has done his hamstring again. This is getting daft now. Clearly there’s a problem there, and we have to get to the bottom of it. What is causing him to keep breaking down? He completed this game, but I thought I saw him pull up ten or fifteen minutes before the end when he started to chase a hopeful punt into the corner. He carried on, so I assumed he was ok, but I think that may have been the moment it happened. Of course we’ll miss him, but Keane and Kuyt are capable of doing a job for us and I hope they play together in a 4-4-2 against West Ham. Without Torres, the 4-2-3-1 system doesn’t suit us and if Rafa goes into the West Ham game with Keane on his own u front, he’s asking for trouble. Mascherano looks in need of a rest, so let him sit that one out. His passing was terrible, and the longer the game went on, the more Alonso seemed to be affected by it as he started giving it away cheaply too. Our passing and ball retention in the second half was terrible, and that coupled with the lack of pressure we put on Marseille when they had the ball, made the second period absolutely dire to watch. I did enjoy the performance of Ben Arfa though. He was excellent throughout, and looks a real player. To be fair, you have to be able to play a bit if you’re going to wear pink boots. That piece of shit Bendtner at Arsenal can’t pull it off, but Ben Arfa did. He gave Arbeloa and Dossena problems, and but for a stunning save by Pepe he’d have gotten on the scoresheet with a blistering free-kick. Looking at him, I’m surprised he’s not at Arsenal, although there’s plenty of time for that I suppose. Thankfully the rest of Marseille’s forwards couldn’t match the performance of Ben Arfa, and not even the introduction of the man who scored the winner at Anfield last season could turn the game for them. Valbuena was lively and managed to get under Mascherano’s skin, the Argentine picking up a yellow card for hacking him down. My view of the incident was blocked by a post, but I saw the scuffle that developed afterwards as Marseille’s players took exception to the challenge. Arbeloa was wanting to get stuck into Niang, and had to be held back by Kuyt. I was greatly amused by this, as Arbeloa is normally a quiet, cool customer who doesn’t lose his rag. Good to see though. I really can’t be arsed commenting any more on this game, as I’d rather just forget about it. It was awful, but we won and we are through. The question now is do we go all out to try and win the group, in the hope that it will see us get an easier draw in the knock out stages? Or do we rest people and accept second place? For me, I’d definitely rest the big guns and give the squad players the chance to play in Eindhoven. We could still win anyway, but if we don’t so what. I honestly don’t fear any team in the knock out stages, so I’m not bothered about getting an ‘easier’ draw, especially as it doesn’t always work out like that anyway. We could win the group and get either Real Madrid or Juve. Or we could come second and get Panathanaikos. At this stage there’s no way of knowing whether first or second will be better, but I’d rather have a tougher game as that brings out the best in us. I’d probably be more confident of beating Real Madrid than I am about beating West Ham next Monday. Star man was Carragher, by a mile. Reina did his job too, and although far from his best Gerrard made a telling contribution by scoring the winner. Arbeloa was ok, everyone else was below par. Team: Reina; Arbeloa, Carragher, Agger, Aurelio (Dossena); Alonso, Mascherano; Kuyt (Lucas), Gerrard, Riera (Benayoun); Torres:

Newcastle Res 1 LIVERPOOL RES 1 Report by Dave Usher Scorer(s) - Vincent WeijlHalf Time – 0-1 Venue – Whitley Park Date - Mon Nov 24 2008 Star Man – Mikel San Jose Krisztian Nemeth returned to action to give Gary Ablett’s side a huge boost, but a stoppage time equalizer from Newcastle’s Andy Carroll then provided them with a massive kick in the teeth. Dutch winger Vincent Weijl had given the reds the lead just before half time, and several gilt edged chances were spurned before Newcastle’s last gasp leveler. The result was harsh on Ablett’s lads as they certainly deserved the three points, but as the first team have found out to their cost on a couple of occasions this season, if you don’t take your chances you will often pay a heavy price. Despite the disappointment, there were things to take heart from the game, not least the first half display of Weijl and the overall performances of the excellent Mikel San Jose and Steve Irwin. Right back Emanuel Mendy can also be happy with the shift he put in on his reserve team debut, and of course there is the return of Nemeth. Nevertheless, to concede a goal so late on is clearly a bit of a heartbreaker and the side will be anxious for the next game to come around so they can get this out of their systems. The teamsheet had a somewhat unfamiliar look to it with captain and vice captain both absent. Stephen Darby was ruled out by injury, and Jay Spearing was training with the first team and may well make the subs bench for the game with Marseille this week. Martin Kelly is another in contention for that game, whilst Jordy Brouwer joined them both in training with the seniors, even though he is ineligible for the Champions League clash. Quite why Brouwer was called up to train with the first team is a bit of a mystery. Perhaps Rafa feels the players spirits need lifting after the disappointment of the Fulham game, and that seeing Jordy at close quarters will give them a good laugh? Actually that’s cruel and I shouldn’t have written it. I actually like Jordy, largely because I see a lot of my own game in his. I’m a lazy goalhanger with no pace and a cool as fuck hairband too. So with those four regulars missing, and Ronald Huth also absent due to an international call up, Ablett had to delve into his large squad for replacements. Ayala was drafted in at centre back in place of Kelly, with Mendy replacing Darby and Irwin coming into the middle of the park for Spearing. Hungarian Andras Simon was given a rare start up front in place of Browuer. On the plus side, Ablett was able to call on El Zhar, Plessis and Insua though, as the UEFA homegrown rule meant none of those could be included in the Champions League squad. Newcastle didn’t have any household names in their line up, other than experienced back up keeper Steve Harper. Centre half David Edgar and striker Carroll both have some first team experience, but aside from those it was an inexperienced Geordie line up. The early stages were dominated by the home side. Seven minutes in they should have taken the lead, when Zamblera picked out Carroll with a long pass, and the striker quickly shifted the ball on to left winger Sammy Ameobi – brother of Shola. His left foot shot was poor however and rolled harmlessly across the face of Peter Gulacsi’s goal. Eight minutes later Newcastle were in again, but Carroll refused to shoot on his right foot and ended up trying to play a pass to a team-mate and Liverpool managed to smother the danger. Carroll is a very good player, and he gave us a lot of trouble in the youth cup a couple of years ago. I thought he’d have progressed more than he has, but he’s still got time on his side I guess. It took a while for Liverpool to get going, and they didn’t threaten the Newcastle goal until the 28th minute, when a delightful flick pass from Pacheco found Irwin on the edge of the box, and his low drive almost caught Harper out when it bounced up off a divot. The keeper just did enough though. Carroll continued to cause the reds defence problems, most notably Daniel Ayala who had a torrid first half (he was much better after the break however). On 33 minutes Carroll got in again, and cut the ball back to Inman, but his first touch wasn’t assured on the bobbly pitch, and San Jose managed to get out and make a crucial block. The reds weren’t creating much in forward areas, and although Simon ran around a lot he contributed little in the way of quality. His best – and worst – moment came ten minutes before the break, when he did well to get away from his marker and run towards goal. He had two players who had bust a gut to get up and support him, but he sliced a shot with his left foot that almost went out for a throw in. The game looked to be headed for the half time break goalless, then out of nothing Liverpool went in front. Pacheco took a quick free kick and played the ball left to Weijl. His first touch was to knock the ball past his man, and he had the pace to then latch onto it and surge into the box before drilling a low shot past Harper into the bottom corner. A great goal, and once again Weijl had been his side’s most dangerous looking forward player. The goal must have lifted the boys’ confidence, as they had an extra spring in their step in the second half, and Newcastle were reduced to hitting long balls and only threatened from set pieces, mainly due to the aerial prowess of Carroll. Seven minutes after the break a long throw was flicked on by Carroll into the path of Doninger, but he couldn’t keep his shot down. Liverpool responded immediately, and Weijl beat his man before delivering a great cross to Pacheco, but his header was poor. The little Spaniard then turned provider, when he controlled a high ball and then lobbed a perfect pass into the path of El Zhar. His first touch was superb, his second was just as good as he went round the keeper, but he failed to take the shot when it was on and eventually cut the ball back into the arms of the backtracking Harper. Newcastle immediately broke upfield and Carroll went through again. San Jose did really well to get back at him and just did enough to take the sting off his shot and avert the danger. Ablett then introduced Duran for the injured Mendy, meaning Irwin reverted to right back, a role that he has played very well for the u18s in the past. Duran almost created a goal immediately, carrying the ball forward and then sliding a pass into the feet of Pacheco. He should have used his left foot, but instead tried to take the shot really early and casually poked it with his right foot. Pacheco has some fine attributes, but a clinical finisher he is not. Nemeth came on to replace Simon, and looked pretty sharp. His movement was very good, and he showed some nice touches. The one opportunity he had saw him drag a shot well wide. It wasn’t a sitter by any means, but usually he finds the bottom corner with those, so clearly he’s still understandably a bit rusty. Plessis then saw a header cleared off the line following an El Zhar corner, as Liverpool remained in control and seemed in little danger. However, as the game went into stoppage time, Newcastle forced a free-kick on the right wing. It was sent in towards Carroll, but the striker headed wide when he should have done better. Then with seconds remaining the home side were awarded another free-kick in a similar area. Once more Carroll was the target, and this time he got the better of San Jose and made no mistake with his header. It was gut wrenching for Ablett and his side, but if El Zhar or Pacheco had taken the glorious chances they had, the game would have been safe. That’s the lesson that has to be learned, but aside from that the lads didn’t do much wrong. Star man was a toss up between Irwin and San Jose. Weijl would have been in the mix too had he not faded badly, as for an hour he was a real threat to the Newcastle defence. Irwin battled really well in midfield, and ended up playing the last ten minutes carrying a bad knock. He stayed on, as that’s the kind of lad he is, and it was great to see him finally get a chance to play as so far this season he’s only had about ten minutes of reserve team football, and one (maybe two?) under 18 game. If he is to develop his game he has to play more football than he has been. As impressed as I was with Irwin though, I think San Jose just shaded it as far as the star man award goes. The only blemish was losing out on that header to Carroll in stoppage time. Team: Gulacsi; Mendy (Duran), Ayala, San Jose, Insua; El Zhar, Irwin, Plessis, Weijl; Pacheco (Bruna), Simon (Nemeth):

LIVERPOOL 0 Fulham 0 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) –Half Time - 0-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Sat 22 November 2008 Star Man – Jamie Carragher At the start of the weekend, if I’d been given the option of us matching the results of the mancs and Chelsea whilst putting more distance between ourselves and Arsenal, I’d have been pretty happy with that. This isn’t quite how I would have envisaged doing it though. We were wretched against Fulham and got exactly what we deserved, but thankfully no real damage was done as Chelsea somehow failed to beat Newcastle at the Bridge, and the mancs also draw a blank in a draw at Villa. We’ve won several games that perhaps we shouldn’t have, we’ve had key incidents go our way at crucial times (sendings offs, penalties etc), and then when we do slip up and have a bad result like this one, we’ve gotten away with it. It’s things like this that make you wonder if just maybe…. We missed a great opportunity to go clear at the top, and realistically you have to say Fulham are a side we should be beating comfortably if we are to be seen as serious title contenders. Except you can say exactly the same thing about Chelsea and the mancs, who have both failed to beat Newcastle at home this season. We have our faults, but so do our rivals, and we have to take heart from that. Chelsea have been the form team so far this season, but despite that they have drawn three times at home and lost once. Everyone has been waxing lyrical about them, and their away form has been perfect (albeit largely against the poorer sides so far) but they have the same amount of points as we do. So as frustrating as it is that we couldn’t beat Fulham, it doesn’t really mean anything in terms of our title credentials, as the sides we are competing with are just as likely to drop points as we are right now. I think I may be in a minority though, if the reaction of the fans inside Anfield is anything to go on anyway. There were a lot of restless natives, and they were quick to let Rafa and the team know about their displeasure. Did the fans have a point? Well yes, they did. I don’t think the crowd covered themselves in glory though, and as bad as the performance from the team was, the fans didn’t help them one bit. It was a really weird atmosphere, and I could feel the sense of panic and frustration even early in the first half. You can understand it when you get to twenty minutes or so to go, but in the first half? It was very strange, and I can only put it down to people being so desperate for us to win the league, and knowing that this is the best chance we’ve had of doing it in a long time. The fear of blowing it has people in a panic. I’m not Lucas Leiva’s biggest fan, and I wouldn’t have picked him ahead of Alonso, but even so I thought the treatment he got was out of order. I wasn’t surprised though, and Rafa shouldn’t be either. When I heard the team, the first thing I said was “I hope for Lucas’ sake he gets off to a good start, because the first misplaced pass he does will have the crowd baying for his blood”. It wasn’t quite his first misplaced pass that did it, but it was still pretty early in the game when he gave the ball away and a chant of “Xabi Alonso” went up. About half an hour in I think it was. I felt a bit embarrassed by that. I understand the reason for it, like I said there’s no way I think Lucas should be starting any game ahead of Xabi Alonso. If it had happened in the second half, I’d probably not have been that bothered. But it was too early in the game to be doing this as let’s face it there’s no way Rafa is going to give in to the crowd and take him off so early, and it’s hardly going to help Lucas’ confidence either. It was counter productive, and served little purpose other than to tell the manager they disagreed with his selection. Far too much emphasis is being placed on the Brazilian anyway. As I came out of Anfield and walked through the crowds, pretty much every conversation I overheard involved the Brazilian. I got into the chippy, and everyone in the queue was talking about him. Back in the car, I put the radio on and Aldo is ripping him to shreds as are all the callers. Flip over to Radio Merseyside, same thing. I understand it, as the omission of Alonso in favour of Lucas is the biggest talking point from the game. I still think far too much is being made of it though, simply because Lucas was not the worst player in our team, and he isn’t the reason we didn’t win the game (although he is a contributing factor). Even had Alonso started there’s no guarantee we would have won, as too many players were way below par. Of course, Alonso is a player who can make others perform better, so whilst I don’t think it’s certain we would have won had he started, our chances would have been greatly increased. Is Lucas good enough to be playing for our first team? Well Rafa clearly thinks so, even if most of the fans don’t. He probably felt that a home game with Fulham is the ideal game to give his fourth choice midfielder a run out, especially as Gerrard was unavailable through injury. I wasn’t surprised Lucas played, I even mentioned in the match preview that “you never can tell with Rafa and he’s just as likely to throw Lucas into the mix.” Clearly it was a mistake to do that, but perhaps if he’d played him with Alonso as opposed to Mascherano it wouldn’t have been as bad? When you remove Gerrard and Alonso from the side, you lose most of the passing ability and creativity from the side. Mascherano is not a creative player, he’s more of a destroyer. Lucas is neither, he’s just a player with no great strengths or weaknesses. He’s competent at most aspects of the game, a jack of all trades master of none kind of player. Pairing him with Mascherano did neither of them any favours really, and we struggled in midfield. Mascherano’s form this season has been up and down, and I’d have to question whether we need him at home to a team like Fulham. Jimmy Bullard was the best central midfielder on view in this game, and Murphy was the second best. Both of those are much better than Lucas, but they were better than Mascherano too in this game. But the fans aren’t going to have a go at Mascherano, as he’s a player who more often than not is outstanding for us. He is bound to be given some slack when he isn’t playing well, as he’s earned it. Lucas hasn’t earned that luxury, and unfair as it may be, he was always going to bear the brunt of the fans ire. After a bad result, fans always look for a reason why it went wrong, and against Fulham Lucas Leiva getting the nod over the in form Alonso was the reason they came up with. I think that is oversimplifying things in the extreme, but it’s still a valid point and it’s a risk that Rafa was always running when he named that team. I made the point after the Spurs cup defeat that form counts for nothing at Liverpool these days, and this is another good example. I’d even go as far as to suggest that when it comes to selecting a team, form is way down Rafa’s lists of considerations. Alonso has been playing great, Lucas hasn’t. But Lucas is probably fresher than Xabi having had the international week off whilst Alonso was playing for Spain. That factor counted for more than form when Rafa was deciding his team. More alarmingly for me is the idea that Rafa actually believes what he says, and that he sees Lucas (and Plessis!) on the same level as people like Alonso and Mascherano. Does he really think he can replace either of those with Lucas and the side won’t be weakened? I hope not. Our first half display was terrible, but the blame for that can’t all be put at the door of Lucas, or for that matter the man who selected him. If Lucas was miles worse than everybody else, and was the clear weak link in an otherwise good performance, then fair enough. He wasn’t though. He was poor, no getting away from it, but so were most of his team-mates. Torres looked threatening, but was trying to do everything all by himself, probably as he knew no-one else was going to do anything. Riera was in and out, doing some good things but not contributing anywhere near enough on the whole. Kuyt was very ineffective, but deserves some slack given the form he’s been in, whilst Keane’s only real contribution to the game was to miss the one and only clear cut chance we created. Throw in the poor form of the central midfield pair, and you can see why we struggled. Our best players were Carragher and Reina, along with the two full backs. Agger recovered from a somewhat dodgy first half to play very well after the break, but none of our attacking players were on their games and that’s why we never looked like scoring. We had a chance in each half, both of which were well saved by Schwarzer. The first he saved with his face from Keane, and the second was an instinctive tip over from Kuyt’s side foot shot. Dirk shouldn’t have given him any chance of making a save and should have found the corner, but he opted to play it safe and just hit the target, which gave the keeper the chance to make the save. Apart from that, and a solo run and shot from a tight angle from Torres we didn’t give Fulham much trouble. I’d even suggest that they were the better side in the first half, as they played as a team and knocked the ball around well. Full credit to them, they weren’t defensive, they played two up front and they came and had a go. I expected us to really put them under pressure in the second half, but it just never materialised. The crowd grew more and more anxious, and even though I felt he raised his game in the second half, Lucas bore the brunt of the Kop’s frustration (and that of the Anny Road, Paddock, Main Stand and Kemlyn for that matter). When Rafa eventually gave Alonso the call, most people assumed it would be Lucas making way. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Rafa though, it’s never to expect the obvious from him. I even said to a few people around me that it probably won’t be Lucas who goes off, and I jokingly suggested it would be the number seven that went up on the board. In reality, I thought it would be Mascherano, and it was. The booing that followed was predictable. Maybe Rafa wanted to prove a point, to let people know he is his own man and won’t be influenced by the crowd. It’s more likely that he just felt Mascherano was feeling the effects of the amount of football he’s played, and that Lucas was looking fresher than him. The other thing that may have been a factor, was that Mascherano picked up a knock in the first couple of minutes of this game, and maybe it was hampering him? Whatever the reason, the crowd weren’t happy and I’m sure Lucas knew what the booing was for. To his credit, it didn’t seem to effect him and he kept plugging away. That’s the thing with Lucas, his performances rarely fluctuate, he plays at the same level most of the time, it’s just that the level he plays at is pretty average. Not bad, not good, just Lucas. I felt sorry for him against Fulham though, as it’s not his fault he was selected ahead of Alonso, and it’s not his fault he cost £6m. I think he’s finished at Liverpool now though, as once the crowd has made up its mind you aren’t good enough, it is almost impossible to recover from it. Momo Sissoko was miles better than Lucas, but he suffered from this as well when he lost form and the fans lost belief in him. Lucas has never shown the kind of form Momo did, so what chance does he have? Next time Lucas plays, as soon as he misplaces a pass or loses out in a tackle, he’ll hear it from the crowd. It’s easy to have a go at the fans for that, but the harsh reality is that if you are a top player you don’t have to worry about that kind of thing. There’s a reason Alonso, Gerrard and Mascherano don’t get that kind of stick, and a reason why their names are regularly chanted whereas that of Lucas isn’t. What worried me more than anything about this performance wasn’t the selection of Lucas, or the substitution of Mascherano etc The thing I couldn’t fathom was the complete lack of urgency and desire shown by the team. Things such as trying to retrieve the ball quickly when it was out of play, or taking a quick free-kick or throw in to show that we realised time was running out. I saw none of that. We just seemed to be in a slumber, and never looked like waking from it. That’s where we miss Steven Gerrard. We can win without him, we’ve shown that, but sometimes in games like this it takes a driving run or a crunching tackle from Gerrard to lift the crowd and the team, and to raise the tempo of the game. In his absence, there was no-one capable of doing it. Ryan Babel and Nabil El Zhar were both sent on to try to lift the tempo, but it made little difference. Babel was terrible – again. He’s at a real crossroads in his Liverpool career right now. He needs to start showing us something, and quickly, or he should be shipped out because as an £11m player he just isn’t delivering what we need from him. Putting Babel on the pitch at the moment is like eating a packet of revels, you just don’t know what you’re going to get. It could be the sumptuous orange cream or the pleasantly enjoyable minstrel without a shell, but equally it’s just as likely that it could be the vomit inducing coffee cream. Ryan has been reeking of coffee cream of late. The only positive we can take from the game is that it didn’t prove as costly as it could have done. Chelsea and the mancs dropping points doesn’t excuse us not being able to beat Fulham, but it does soften the blow. We need to make sure this kind of lackluster display is a one off and doesn’t happen again, because next time it happens we may not be so lucky as far as other results go. Star man was Carra, just ahead of Reina who made a brilliant save from Bullard in the first half and did everything he had to do as well as he could. Team: Reina; Arbeloa, Carragher, Agger, Aurelio; Kuyt (El Zhar), Mascherano (Alonso), Lucas, Riera (Babel); Keane, Torres:

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LIVERPOOL RES 1 Wigan Athletic Res 0 Report by Dave Usher Scorer(s) - Dani PachecoHalf Time – 0-0 Venue – Halliwell Jones Stadium Date - Tue Nov 18 2008 Star Man – Vincent Weijl The reserves got back to winning ways last night as Dani Pacheco’s second half goal was enough to see off Wigan and end a run of four consecutive defeats. Wigan had the better of the first half and Liverpool keeper Dean Bouzanis needed to make a couple of excellent saves to keep his side level, but a much improves second half display saw Gary Ablett’s side deservedly claim all three points. Ablett was still without last season’s top scorer Krizstian Nemeth, but the Hungarian is expected back shortly, and his return can’t come soon enough for a side seriously lacking in firepower. The reds created numerous chances, but were only able to take the one and so far this season they just haven’t scored enough goals. Jordy Browuer and Pacheco were up front in this game, with Vincent Weijl and Gerardo Bruna asked to supply the ammunition from out wide. Weijl certainly did his bit, but Bruna’s performance was woeful. It doesn’t seem to matter what position he is used in, the end result is always an ineffective display, and I’m struggling to see what the young Argentinian does other than take a decent set piece. Three minutes in against Wigan he was sent clear down the right, but being so one footed he opted to try and cross with his left and just sent the ball miles behind everyone. His evening didn’t get any better, and he constantly gave possession away and struggled to contribute anything of note. He’s clearly got quick feet and can strike a ball, but performances like this are not uncommon from him and maybe it’s time others were given an opportunity, as he is not in the side on merit, that’s for sure. The contrast between him and Weijl was there for all to see. Where Bruna is hesitant and indecisive, Weijl is direct and determined. He doesn’t do anything especially clever, he just wants to beat the full back and either get a cross or shot in. He produced a few excellent balls into the box that led to one goal and should have resulted in at least one more. Had his shooting been better he could have a few himself, as he had plenty of shooting opportunities. Liverpool actually started fairly brightly in the opening minutes, and a surging run from Insua almost led to a goal but he couldn’t pick out Bruna on the back post. After six minutes though came the first of what would be a few scares for the reds. Plessis gave the ball away cheaply in midfield, and Cwyka ran through. Bouzanis came out of his goal unnecessarily and didn’t get the ball, but fortunately the Polish striker was forced wide and San Jose was able to foul him to enable the reds to regroup. Two minutes later, Plessis lost out again in the middle of the park and mahon went clean through, but Bouzanis made a great save to deny the young Irishman. Spearing then shot over from 25 yards, before Cwyka got away fom San Jose and was denied by another top save from Bouzanis. It was end to end stuff, but Wigan’s chances were generally more clear cut than those carved out by the reds. Weijl had a shot deflected into the side netting after another direct run, and Brouwer just failed to connect with Darby’s excellent cross following some great work by Spearing to create the opening. Brouwer had been unlucky with that, but he really should have scored five minutes later when Spearing did well to find Weijl on the left, and the winger surged past the full back again before delivering a peach of a cross than was right on the head of his compatriot. Brouwer’s header though was eak and straight at Pollitt in the Wigan goal. It was unusual for Browuer, as finishing is the one thing he is good at. Rafa Benitez had been sat on the bench behind Gary Ablett in the first half, which I’m sure will have made the reserve coach a bit edgy, especially after four straight defeats. Was Rafa keeping an eye on how Ablett coaches the team, or was he there for moral support? Ablett revealed afterwards that Rafa had let him have his say with the lads at half time, before he gave his own team talk. Whatever was said it seemed to do the trick, as the display after the break was certainly better, and Pacheco in particular seemed to come to life. He’d done very little in the first half, but he was a constant menace in the second, as Liverpool generally bossed things. Mind you, it could have been much different had Wigan taken the golden opportunity that came their way almost immediately after the restart. Plessis was outmuscled in midfield, and Cwyka sent Hampson racing clear on goal. He should have at least made the keeper make a save, but he failed to hit the target and after that Liverpool took control. Weijl had a shot deflected just over, then Bruna dragged a shot into the side netting at the near post when he should probably have gone across goal. Weijl had another shot deflected just wide after yet another good run, and then Insua put a shot narrowly over from 25 yards. Al this was in the opening ten minutes of the second half. Wigan then created a chance but Holt was denied by a fantastic block from Martin Kelly, who had now switched to right back after Darby was taken off at half time with a slight knock. Kelly was excellent in both positions, and I’ve said before he’s probably the best kept secret at the club as he’s a very promising player but is hardly talked about. Hopefully he will get a run of games at centre half this season to show what he can do. Pacheco then really started to come to life, and after a brilliant run by the diminutive little Spaniard, Brouwer was once again found wanting with his finish, and then Spearing couldn’t keep his follow up shot down. Liverpool made their second substitution shortly after when Francisco Duran replaced Bruna. To be fair, Duran is miles better than Bruna and I can only think it’s fitness reasons that are keeping him out of the side. He’s a classy player is Duran, but Ablett will not be taking any chances on rushing him back into things too quickly given his history if injuries. He made a big difference when he came on though. He rarely loses the ball and he’s a creative influence. He’d only been on the field seconds when Liverpool made the breakthrough, although he played no part in the goal to be fair. Pacheco again broke clear on the right, and picked out Weijl in space. The Dutchman’s first touch was woeful however and forced him wide. Still, he managed to whip in a great cross that was missed by Brouwer and the defender, and was collected by Pacheco who took a touch, steadied himself and then blasted the ball into the roof of the net. Three minutes later Plessis - who was much better in the second half but still misplaced too many passes – won the ball in midfield and played a fine ball in behind the defence to Brouwer. Unfortunately Jordy isn’t the quickest and he was forced wide. He still managed to get a decent shot in, but the angle favoured the keeper and he made a comfortable save. Two minutes later Pacheco picked out Brouwer again, and this time he turned smartly and again got a good shot away, but once more Pollitt was equal to it. It was all Liverpool, and Weijl had a shot saved, and another deflected wide. Like I say, on another day he could have had a hat-trick, but it seemed like every shot he hit was just about deflected off target by a defender. Liverpool really should have wrapped things up when Hungarian substitute Andras Simon – on for Brouwer – got clear of his marker and found himself in a 2 v 1 situation with Pacheco in support. He drew the defender and fed Pacheco, but for some reason Dani opted to pass the ball back to Simon and his shot was saved by Pollitt. Thankfully it didn’t prove costly, as Wigan didn’t threaten in the closing stages, and indeed it was Liverpool who came closest to another goal, as Spearing drilled a shot inches wide in stoppage time following a good passing move. It was a massive win for the side as losing five on the bounce would have been really demoralising for them. It wasn’t a great performance, but there were signs in the second half that the form of last season hasn’t completely deserted them. There were numerous good performances, most notably from Kelly, Spearing, Bouzanis and Pacheco. My star man was Vincent Weijl though. His finishing could have been better, but he was a constant threat to Wigan and produced some excellent crosses. Team: Bouzanis; Darby (Ayala), San Jose, Kelly, Insua; Bruna (Duran 65), Plessis, Spearing, Weijl; Brouwer (Simon 74), Pacheco:

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LIVERPOOL 3 WBA 0 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Robbie Keane (2), Alvaro ArbeloaHalf Time - 2-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Sat 8 November 2008 Star Man – Robbie Keane Well I got the three goal victory margin I wanted, even if we did cut it a bit fine with Arbeloa’s stoppage time strike. We needed a comfortable win and that’s what we got, and Robbie Keane got a confidence boosting double as we – temporarily – returned to the top of the table. If every team in the league shared West Brom’s footballing philosophy, we’d have a hell of a chance of winning the title.

LIVERPOOL 1 Atletico Madrid 1 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Steven Gerrard (pen)Half Time - 0-1 Venue - Anfield Date - Tue 4 November 2008 Star Man – Xabi Alonso It’s a pity that such an enthralling contest will be remembered for one contentious moment right at the end, but it’s also undeniable that the Gerrard penalty incident is the major talking point to come out of this game. Was it a penalty? Probably not, but it isn’t as outrageous a decision as some are suggesting. Was it a dive? Not in the strictest sense of the word it wasn’t. Contact was made, and Gerrard went down. I don’t actually think he could have kept his balance even if he’d wanted to, but equally there’s no doubt in my mind that he exaggerated his fall. I was sat fairly close to the incident, and my initial reaction was that it was a blatant dive and it was never a penalty. I could completely understand why Ateltico’s players were so incensed. Having seen the incident on TV from various angles, I’ve changed my mind somewhat. There’s one angle in particular that shows the defender barging into Gerrard’s back. As the skipper pointed out afterwards, had that happened outside the box it would have been a free-kick and no-one would have disputed it. Because it was inside the box doesn’t make it any less of a foul, but the punishment doesn’t seem to fit the crime, and as far as ‘soft’ penalties go it’s right up there. Atletico have every reason to feel aggrieved, but if they are honest then they will admit that a draw was a fair result and that they had gotten away with two stonewall penalties that should have been given earlier in the game. Justice was done in the end, but having gotten so close to achieving what would have been a historical result for them, you can understand how upsetting it must be for them to have had victory snatched from their grasp so cruelly. But shit happens, and in the end it probably won’t do them any harm as both clubs should still qualify from the group. Prior to kick off, I’d been pretty confident that we’d have too much for Atletico. That confidence waned considerably when I learned of Torres’ absence from the squad. Torres is the reason that the 4-2-3-1 system worked so well for us, and although Crouch was capable of filling in and ensuring the system could still function, he’s not here anymore and we have nobody who can do that job. I feel sorry for Robbie Keane. Despite the criticism he is getting from some quarters, I actually think he is playing pretty well. I just don’t think we are helping him to shine, as using him as a lone frontman is making things very difficult for him as he isn’t suited to the role. Nevertheless, I thought he was very good against Atletico and was unlucky not to score. He had one really good effort that went inches wide after a brilliant ball from Alonso, and he was later denied by some brilliant goalkeeping when he tried to go around Leo Franco. The Atletico keeper did a good job of reading what Keane was going to do, and he got a hand on the ball to snuff out the danger. I don’t blame Keane for not scoring, I just think the keeper did really well. Keane’s all round game was good. He wasn’t losing the ball, he was working hard and he made a contribution. He just isn’t a lone striker, and therefore it’s difficult for him to shine. Torres’ return can’t come quickly enough for me, as I think it will help Keane immensely. Atletico’s formation wasn’t exactly adventurous either. They had a holding midfield in front of the back four, and Forlan up front on his own with Simao and Rodriguez supporting from the flanks. As a result, both teams generally cancelled eachother out, with our best chances coming from set pieces and Atleti looking for opportunities to counter attack. They almost took the lead through Simao after an incisive break, but the Portuguese international blazed the ball into the Kop from close range. He was furious with himself, as he knew they probably wouldn’t get too many more opportunities. They didn’t get many more, just one in fact, but that was all they needed. Their goal was a work of art to be fair. A ball down the right flank was killed instantly by full back Antonio Lopez. The way he plucked the ball out of the air and killed it stone dead into his stride was stunning, and there aren’t many full backs who could have done that. He then slid a perfect ball inside to Maxi Rodriguez, and his first touch was brilliant too, as he went past Agger and then drilled a low shot past Pepe. It was a great goal, and I couldn’t help but applaud it. There hadn’t really been much between the sides in the first half, but Atletico had knocked the ball around quite well and even though they hadn’t created much, I always felt there was the potential for them to hurt us. As for us, we huffed and puffed and weren’t at our best, but still had a few presentable openings. There were the two chances for Keane, Riera volleyed wide from a tight angle and Agger should have had a penalty when he was pulled back in the act of shooting. I just felt at half time that our system wasn’t helping us. Keane isn’t comfortable up there on his own, and I wanted to see us go with two up front. We did that in the second half, even though Rafa didn’t actually make a substitution. What he did was make a slight alteration to the system, pushing Arbeloa right up the pitch and letting Kuyt play more inside. It was basically three at the back, as Carragher played more or less as a right back in the second half, regularly coming forward and linking with the attack. Arbeloa was very good too, and most of our play came down the right flank as the left wasn’t offering much. Aurelio never looked comfortable from the first whistle, and turned in his worst display in some time. Riera wasn’t at it either, and it was no so surprise when he was the first man subbed. The only surprise was that it came on 60 minutes, as Rafa nearly always waits til 65 minutes before making his first change. For the second game in succession, Babel came on and did very little. The tactical change made at half time was working well though, as we had the visitors completely penned back in their own half. We were in total control all over the park, but the goal wouldn’t come. Agger had three chances in the second half. He glanced a header just over from a terrific Aurelio free kick, he put a half volley straight at the keeper, and he also put a free header disappointingly wide. Gerrard put a shot over from 18 yards following a wonderful move in which he backheeled the ball to Keane and then collected a perfect return pass, but unusually for him he was unable to finish it off. That pass from Keane was to be his last act of the game, as he was replaced by N’Gog. I found that substitution incredibly frustrating. Keane was doing ok, and replacing him with N’Gog just made no sense. We were losing, why not put N’Gog on for Macherano or Alonso and drop Gerrard back into midfield? Rafa’s next act was to bring Lucas on for Mascherano. Quite what that was meant to achieve is anyone’s guess. The lack of quality on our bench was a major concern for me before the game. I looked at the bench, and it was obvious that if we were going to win the game then our starting eleven would have to deliver the goods, because aside from the unpredictable (and therefore unreliable) Babel, there was nothing on our bench if we needed to change the game. N’Gog looked very nervous, and I feel a bit sorry for the lad. He’s only 19, doesn’t have much experience and after a promising pre-season he’s struggled badly, even in the reserves. And yet here he is thrown in at the deep end in the CL against Atletico Madrid. He didn’t do THAT badly, and he did produce a nice backheel turn in the box, but then undid it by trying to shoot from an impossible angle when Kuyt was waiting for a cut back. We need a better option to come off the bench than David N’Gog though, that’s obvious. A look at Atletico’s bench really brought home how few options we had. They sent on Aguero for Forlan, and they also had Luis Garcia and Pongolle. Garcia was given a brilliant ovation as he warmed up in front of the Kop, but am I the only one who felt he didn’t really show enough appreciation for it? A half arsed little clap was all the Kop got, and I was really disappointed by that. I’ve been looking forward to welcoming him back for so long, and that was the best he could muster? Maybe he was a bit embarrassed, but it just looked like he wasn’t that arsed. He was sent on by his coach for the last minute, obviously for sentimental reasons, but the coach may well be ruing that decision now as I think it was Garcia who gave the ball away in the build up to the penalty incident. He had a chance to play Aguero through, but it was intercepted by Agger and we went forward and eventually won the penalty. At that point I’d more or less accepted that we weren’t going to score, and I couldn’t believe it when the linesman flagged for a penalty. This same linesman had missed a blatant handball earlier in the half, and he’d been given an earful by our substitutes afterwards. I’m sure he knew he’d fucked up, and when he got the chance to make amends he took it, much to Atletico’s anger. They were probably doubly angered because they felt they could have had a penalty or two of their own. I haven’t seen replays of either incident, and didn’t have a great view at the time, but I thought there was a hint of handball about blocks made by Carragher and Mascherano. It was great defending by the pair to get back and get their bodies in the way, but I did think maybe there was a hand or arm in there, and Atletico appealed to no avail on both occasions. Then they see victory snatched from their grasp by an iffy penalty (that was coolly put away by the nerveless Gerrard), and they lost their heads. Three of four of them seemed to get booked for protesting, and then Aguero was booked for presumably restarting the game before the whistle blew. It was a pity the game had to end in such controversy, but a draw isn’t a bad result for either side. We definitely deserved something out of the game, and thankfully we got it. Picking a star man isn’t easy, as no-one was exceptional. I don’t think anyone played particularly badly (although Aurelio, Gerrard and Riera were poor by their standards and Mascherano hasn’t hit top form yet this season), but nobody was at their best either. Carragher played well, Arbeloa was very good for the most part, but I’m going with Alonso I think. The next few weeks are going to be hugely important in terms of how this season pans out I think. So far it seems that virtually every game we play is turning into a real battle. How many easy games have we had this season? The derby ended up pretty comfortable, but was in the balance for a long time before we pulled away. The PSV game was fairly routine, but every other game has been settled by the odd goal. Points wise our start has been pretty good both domestically and in Europe, but it wouldn’t have taken much for several of those games to have ended differently. We need to start making things easier for ourselves, because if every game keeps going down to the wire our players will be absolutely fucked by the time we get to Christmas. The attitude of the players has been commendable so far, they refuse to accept defeat and fight til the very last whistle, but we need to start showing more quality and quickly. Saturday is the ideal opportunity to do that. West Brom need to be dispatched comfortably, and we need to kick on from that because we won’t be able to keep winning or drawing games with late goals. It’s time to start dishing out a few hammerings. Team: Reina; Arbeloa, Carragher, Agger, Aurelio; Alonso, Mascherano (Lucas); Kuyt, Gerrard, Riera (Babel); Keane (N’Gog):

LIVERPOOL 1 Portsmouth 0 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Steven Gerrard (pen)Half Time - 0-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Wed 29 October 2008 Star Man – Sami Hyypia It was freezing cold, pissing down with rain and it was spectacularly boring. The scoreline may have been the same as weekend’s result at the Bridge, but that’s where any similarities ended. But somehow we’ve once more emerged with maximum points, after Papa Bouba Diop became the latest opposition player to completely lose his head against us.

LIVERPOOL 3 Wigan 2 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Dirk Kuyt (2), Albert RieraHalf Time - 1-2 Venue - Anfield Date - Sat 18 October 2008 Star Man – Dirk Kuyt Another three points, another come from behind win and yet another red card for an opposing player for trying to take out Xabi. For a while against Wigan, we were staring down the barrel of a demoralising defeat. They were brilliant first half, but once again we came on strong after the break and somehow rescued three points from what was looking a dire situation. Wigan actually hit the post at 2-1 up, that’s how close we came to blowing this game (although I’m not sure if would have counted as I think the ref seemed to blow for some infringment?). They were then reduced to ten men, and for many that will be seen as the turning point as we piled on the pressure and eventually scored twice late on. Obviously the sending off helped, but I think the main turning point was actually the half time whistle. Not so much because of the effect it had on us, but more on how it changed Wigan’s approach.