TLW

LIVERPOOL 1 Wigan 1 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Fernando TorresHalf Time - 0-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Wednesday 2 January 2008 Star Man – Steve Finnan Titus Bramble scoring at the right end at Anfield to condemn Liverpool to a desperately disappointing draw at home to relegation strugglers Wigan Athletic? As far as starts to the new year go, this is almost as bad as it gets. Watching us toil away with one man up front against a packed defence was excrutiating, and you have to say that what we have seen this season simply isn’t anywhere near good enough. The finger will be pointed at the manager, and it’s difficult to put up too much of a case in support of Rafa. He isn’t helping himself, and it really does look like things are getting away from him. We lack quality in certain areas, and it’s obvious that there won’t be any money made available to strengthen those areas. So a title challenge won’t be on the cards any time soon. Personally, I can live with that. I wouldn’t sack Rafa, because in my opinion he isn’t the biggest problem at the club. He’s not perfect by any means, but the situation above him is more pressing as far as I’m concerned. Get rid of Rafa under the current financial climate and replace him with an inferior manager, and we could be in serious, serious trouble. So as frustrated as I am with him right now, the idea of Butch and Sundance replacing him with Jurgen Klinsmann brings me out in a cold sweat. If there was a change in ownership however, I might feel differently, particularly if there’s a repeat of this one up front at home shite. I didn’t have any real problem with the line up itself, mainly as I expected Kewell and Pennant to operate as wide strikers, and Gerrard to play just off Torres. That’s how this formation is supposed to work in theory, but in reality we ended up playing 4-1-4-1 for the most part. Gerrard didn’t play any further forward than Alonso, and occasionally even Mascherano found himself the furthest forward of the three central midfielders. A few times I looked at how we were lining up when Wigan had a goal kick, and it was definitely 4-1-4-1. When we had a goal kick it was more like 4-5-1. Whatever it was, Torres was often fighting a one man fight. It’s a shame, as even on his own he was a massive threat and I thought he played really well. Who knows how good he’d be with the right partner to share the load and provide some service. The first half was disappointing, as both wingers struggled to get into the game and Wigan defended stoutly. Steve Bruce must love playing us in the league, as more often than not he gets a result. He doesn’t do anything too clever, he just makes sure he defends deep and in numbers because he knows that we often struggle against sides who do that. He’s had plenty of luck as well it has to be said, especially in his Birmingham days. We did create some decent openings, but I don’t think we put them under anywhere near enough pressure, and Kirkland didn’t have anything especially difficult to do in the opening 45 minutes. Gerrard had a couple of efforts, and Mascherano had a shot saved after a great run and exchange of passes with Torres. Torres himself saw a header just clear the bar, but overall we didn’t do enough and it was apparent that Gerrard was playing much deeper than expected. Whether that was his own doing or his manager’s instructions I don’t know, but in the skipper’s defence I didn’t see Benitez on the line urging him to go forward. The second half started a bit better, mainly due to Steve Finnan getting forward as much as possible. Most of our best moves had Finnan involved, and the opening goal was a thing of beauty. Finnan laid the ball inside to Gerrard and then continued his run. He was superbly found by his captain, and cleverly cut the ball back to the waiting Torres who finished well at the Kop end. There was a huge sense of relief around the stadium, and it wasn’t just confined to the stands. The players seemed to relax too, and they didn’t show any real urgency after that to get a second goal. Gerrard saw a powerful free kick beaten away by Kirkland, and Benayoun was close to turning in the rebound but it was smuggled away by Bramble. It was a rare moment of excitement though, as we were far too casual. They probably felt they didn’t need another, as Wigan offered no attacking threat whatsoever. I didn’t think there was any chance of us conceding, but the problem is you never know. It only takes a bit of a scramble or a set piece, and even the shittest of teams are capable of getting a goal. That’s what happened, we didn’t deal with a free kick and Bramble produced a blistering finish that gave Reina no chance. You can’t begrudge big Titus his moment, as he’s had some terrible experiences at Anfield in the past. He’ll have enjoyed this, and fair play to him he took it very well. We should have dealt with it better, Gerrard’s clearance was poor, but these things can happen which is why you have to make sure to score enough goals that it doesn’t matter when you let one in at the other end. Of course, when they scored suddenly we began to show urgency. Crouch was thrown on belatedly, but all we did was his long balls up to him and it was all pretty desperate. We almost snatched it, when Gerrard went close to producing one of his usual ‘superman’ rescue acts. His shot from 25 yards was well saved by Kirkland, but when the ball came loose who was there to pounce on the rebound? You’ve guessed it, Gerrard. He made up so much ground to get there, but once again Kirkland managed to keep it out. That was that. We never looked like scoring after that, as a series of free-kicks awarded by the infuriating Steve Bennett disrupted the flow of the game and Wigan held out easily. There were boos at the final whistle, and there’s no escaping from the fact that a lot of people are not happy. We’re too far behind to mount a challenge, and once again we will be looking to the Champions League or FA Cup to save our season. It’s not good enough, and the worrying thing is that it doesn’t look like it will get any better any time soon. Whether that is because of the manager, or because of a lack of investment in the team is a matter of opinion. For me, it’s both. I don’t think a new manager would make us any stronger unless he was given the funds to compete with the teams above us, and equally I don’t think the current manager can do it even if he was given the funds. In short, we’re in a mess. I still wouldn’t rule out number six though…. Team: Reina; Finnan, Arbeloa, Carragher, Aurelio; Pennant (Kuyt), Mascherano (Crouch), Alonso, Gerrard, Kewell (Benayoun); Torres: Feel free to post comments on this report, or to submit your own match report.

Derby County 1 LIVERPOOL 2 Report by Nunavut Patrick at Pride Park Scorer(s) – Fernando Torres, Steven GerrardHalf Time - 0-1 Venue - Pride Park Date - Wednesday 26 December 2007 Star Man – Steven Gerrard Tenacious gritty performance scrapping for a win on a day when we played poorly or a massive get out of jail free card? There are two ways at looking at the Boxing Day result but at the remains of the day it was 3 points that has kept us in the hunt for Holy Grail. It wasn't supposed to be this hard, what with a Derby team firmly rooted in the cellar having not attained double-digits in points, and in fact half their point total have come from the disaster that Fat Sam's Newcastle is becoming. But this is the type of match that you have to win, anyway, anyhow. It can't always be 6-0, but its sure looked that it might go that way. After a little scare in the first minutes when Reina was called on to save smartly from a header we produced the first goal of the match. I was pleasantly surprised at the team selection and with Alonso, Babel and Torres in the line-up surely a day at the races was on the cards. My daughter, attending her first LFC match, was also giddy with excitement seeing Fernando Torres (she doesn't call him Torres, or Fernando, but Fernando Torres). There was a nagging doubt in my mind that he may have been rested for Manchester City so I was made up to see him starting, and with Babel as well. The goal was pure Fernando, pure class. Babel mad a good run and got the ball to Torres who took on the defence and got into a shooting position. From that moment on it was clear what the Derby 'keeper was going to be doing- picking the ball out of the net. It must have been the nightmare scenario for the lad, a dozen or so minutes in and Torres on target. It took him 35 minutes to hit a back pass properly as they were being wither sprayed into the stands or right at our players. We kept the pressure on them and it the first half reflected the point disparity in the table. Torres was put through again but a great tackle (I think) denied him. Babel blasted wide and Carragher, from a corner, volleyed just wide. I always felt a second was coming and it would have finished them off so at HT there was a little sense of trepidation and concern. Sometimes you have to finish off these sides because they know they are going down and matches against the likes of us is their Cup Finals. Their support seemed to be up for it as well. They managed, in the first five minutes to get through the whole repetoire of songs after a bizarre rendition of 'who are ye'. Perhaps most ironic was their your support is shite chant when the tannoy announcer, before, after and at HT was trying to shift tickets to their upcoming games. Explaining wanker, Liverpool slums, etc to my daughter was a bit of an eye-opener for her as she's only ever been to ice hockey games where such language gets you thrown out. She did find the Scouse lads behind me baaaing and yelling sheep shagger quite funny though. The second half did not go as to plan. Five yard passes seemed Mission Impossible. The only saving grace was that Derby were reciprocal with their shiteness as well. When we had the ball if it did not originate from Alonso or went to him it seemed doomed to go to them. And Alonso was even sloppy at times, we were fighting the ball constantly. I'm not sure what Voronin's purpose was tonight; he seemed more interested in bickering with the referee, who was poor but at least he was consistently poor. He never quite got into the game. As the second wore on and we were no closer to a goal you just felt that they were going to get one. When Yossi Benayoun replaced Hyypia, who must have picked up a knock, I looked to the sideline and saw Gerrard pointing at the back line and gesturing. I thought for a minute he was going to play CB as there was no Hobbs or Agger on the bench. Instead Riise was slotted next to Carragher. Now, I like Riise. I do. He's been a helluva servant to the club, scored some big goals and has a motor but this year it's all gone as dark as a Hammerfest winter's night for him. His first touch at CB was to play a hospital ball to Carragher, who promptly got fouled. Can you say metatarsal crocked? Thankfully Carra shook it off. Their goal came from a set piece, and if they were going to score it was going to come from a corner or free kick. The defending looked suspect from the other end but not having seen it on replay I can't say for sure. The equalizer was deserved as Paul Jewell's team of battlers were up for it in the second half. At this point I still felt we could get something from the game as we had such quality on the pitch. But it was not until the last fifteen minutes or so that we started to play. We began to swarm their goal with Benayoun playing very sharply out on the wing. He's a useful player is Yossi and made some great runs down the right side. It seemed it wasn't going to be our night as the ball fell to Torres and it went all Riise on him. The Derby 'keeper also made two very smart saves, especially one highlight reel stuff off Xabi Alonso. Just before the winner we nearly got caught on the break and Derby were unlucky not to go ahead as a free header sailed over Reina's bar. Collective sigh from the away support. Not soon after the winner came from a surging Gerrard run. Now I've not seen the replay but Andy Gray has informed me that Gerrard won the ball unfairly. I now get the animosity towards the bitter tit. He took it sixty yards and Derby were in full panic mode, you could smell it in the air. He laid the ball out to Yossi who got it into the box and after that it was a bit of scramble before Gerrard crashed it home from three yards. It was classic 70s goal with something like seven players all piled in the six yard box furiously trying to score or clear. A rugby try if you will. I'm not sure how important these three points will prove to be; but with Chelsea and Arsenal 'dropping' points we inch closer to our rivals. IF we win our game in hand we're six behind the leaders. Sometimes you have to win ugly and the mancs were doing that earlier with a flurry of 1-0's. We can analyze the fixture list, we can say we've got to go the Emirates, OT and Stamford, we can go on aboot our lack of success there, but if we can run the table over the 12 point Christmas fixtures (and we're half way there) who knows? I prefer to see the pint of Heineken half-full than half-empty. Star man is a hard one - between Alonso and Gerrard I'll go with Gerrard as he took the game by the scruff when we needed it. Team: Reina; Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia (Benayoun), Aurelio: Babel (Kuyt), Gerrard, Alonso, Riise; Voronin (Lucas), Torres: Feel free to post comments on this report, or to submit your own match report.

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LIVERPOOL 4 Portsmouth 1 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Yossi Benayoun, Sylvain Distin OG, Fernando Torres (2)Half Time - 2-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Saturday 22 December 2007 Star Man – Javier Mascherano Fernando Torres ensured it will be a relatively merry Christmas for Liverpudlians, as his double strike helped to end Portsmouth’s impressive run of away results in a strange game at Anfield on Saturday. We started and finished brilliantly, but in between it ranged between mediocre and poor. It was almost as though going into a quick 2-0 lead hurt us more than Pompey. We flew out of the traps and really want for Harry Redknapp's side. Gerrard and Torres were brilliant in the opening 15 minutes, ably supported by Kewell, Benayoun, Arbeloa and even the much maligned Kuyt and Riise. We were coming at Portsmouth from all angles, but mostly it was down the left side that we had the most joy. Maybe Rafa had targeted bog seat stealing former Chelsea full back Glen Johnson as a weak link in Pompey’s generally sound defence? We didn’t really get the chance to see if Rafa was right to do that, as Johnson picked up an injury early on, ironically with a magnificent piece of defending to deny Kuyt. Torres played a great little 1-2 with Yossi and sprinted into the box before squaring the ball to Kuyt who looked set for a tap in until Johnson got across to make a superb block. He injured himself in the process though, and required lengthy treatment. He stayed on until half time, when he was replaced by Lauren, but his side of the field was a productive area for the reds in the first half. Torres kept pulling out to the left flank, and he was giving Sol Campbell nightmares. His pace and directness threatened to unlock their defence several times in the opening minutes, and it was hardly a shock that he was involved in the opening goal. A devastating burst of speed left Campbell for dead, but Distin got across well to make a covering tackle. The loose ball fell to Kewell, and with both centre backs out of position he cut the ball back to the edge of the box where Yossi was waiting, and the little man - sporting a new haircut - expertly volleyed the ball into the corner of Jameo’s net. A good start became a great one when Torres ran clear again, and although this time Campbell did well to get a foot in, he succeeded only in striking the ball against Distin, and it rebounded past a helpless James into the net. Any hopes we may have had of seeing another Derby County or Besiktas type scoreline were soon dashed as the players began to get sloppy and complacent. Silly little things began to creep in. Gerrard attempted one ridiculous backheel in his own half which summed up the attitude of the team at this stage. I’m not singling him out, as he wasn’t the only culprit by any means, but that one incident was typical of how things went after we went two up. Portsmouth were incredibly negative though, which meant that despite us taking our foot off the accelerator, we never looked in any kind of danger. They’re a good side, and they’ve got a lot of good players. One of them, Papa Bouba Diop, was lucky to stay on the field after an ugly two footed lunge on the once again outstanding Mascherano. ‘The Wardrobe’ can consider himself lucky he was playing Liverpool and not Chelsea, or he’d have been off. That fat fuck Avram Grant and his cry baby players would have made sure of it. Benjani up front is a good player, but he was really isolated and Carra and Sami had no trouble dealing with him. They have a lot of pace in the side, but I thought their tactics were very negative on the day, and even in the second half they didn’t really go for it. At 2-0 down they seemed more concerned with keeping it that way rather than throwing a few extra men forward to try and get back into the game. Redknapp made two changes at the break, Lauren replacing Johnson, and more significantly, Kanu coming on for the disappointing Utaka. Kanu was brilliant I thought, he really made a difference to them. They still seemed more pre-occupied with defence than attack, but Kanu’s ability to get hold of the ball and find his team-mates certainly gave us a fresh problem to deal with. It was his ability that unlocked our defence and allowed Benjani to blow the game wide open with an excellent finish. The finger will be pointed at Riise as Benjani was technically his responsibility, but it was a difficult one for the Norwegian as he had tucked inside to help out Hyypia in the middle. I wouldn’t be too critical of him in this instance. I’m sure I’m not the only one who was a bit concerned at this point. We’d gotten complacent, and now we were faced with the possibility of being pegged back to 2-2 if we didn’t liven up. Thankfully, it served as a wake up call and we re-asserted our authority. Babel replaced Benayoun, a move that surprised me a little as I’d have brought Kewell off. I thought Harry struggled, and although his touch was generally good, his lack of pace was really apparent at times. He worked hard enough, and of course he created the opening goal. I just thought once again he looked a little off the pace. Babel was lively again, and he was involved in the third goal when Mascherano tried to pick out his run, but a defender just about got a toe on the ball. Babel looked like he would get there ahead of James, but for some reason he jumped out of the way and the ball was half cleared. Torres was following up and calmly stroked it into the bottom corner. It was the only spot in the goal he could have put it, and it was a terrific finish. His second was another neat finish, and it came about following a corner that he had won with a devastating show of pace and skill. He gave Campbell several yards before blowing past him and back heeling the ball onto the defenders shins to win the corner. It was half cleared, but Carra picked out Gerrard superbly and the skipper nodded it down for Torres to hit a snapshot past James. Was 4-1 was a fair reflection overall? Well Pompey’s lack of ambition meant they didn’t deserve anything from the game. Reina had nothing to do, although saying that I don’t remember James making too many saves either. Maybe 4-1 flattered us a bit, but we were certainly a couple of goals better than them. The league table suggests we are closer to the level of Portsmouth, City and Everton than we are Chelsea, Arsenal and the mancs. In reality though, we are a class above these sides and this game was proof of that. We didn’t play that well but won comfortably. The reason we are scrapping with these sides for fourth place is because we drop stupid points to sides we should be hammering, and more crucially because we get nothing from games with the big boys. That’s the area we really need to address in 2008, and with away games at Old Trafford, the Emirates and Stamford Bridge to come, we’ll have the opportunity to do that. Until we start beating the top sides we won't be able to stay with them in the table. Star man for me was a toss up between Hyypia and Mascherano. Others did well, such as Carra and Arbeloa, whilst Torres’ contribution was obviously huge. Mascherano was just superb though. He dominated the massive Diop, and he was just everywhere. He’s rapidly becoming my favourite player these days. Mascherano loves it here, we love him, and the little Argentine and Liverpool were made for eachother. There’s not a club in Europe that wouldn’t want him, but he wants to be a Liverpool player. That’s all that should matter, but the mess the club is in off the field means there’s a real danger we could lose 'the Chief'. If that happens I think I’ll personally take myself off over the pond and exact some kind of brutal revenge on those two cowboys. Team: Reina; Arbeloa, Carragher, Hyypia, Riise; Benayoun (Babel), Gerrard, Mascherano, Kewell (Aurelio); Kuyt, Torres:

Chelsea 2 LIVERPOOL 0 Report by Mark Ingram at Stamford Bridge Scorer(s) – Half Time - 0-0 Venue - Stamford Bridge Date - Wednesday 19 Dec 2007 Star Man – Ryan Babel Losing to Man United and Chelsea in the space of four days is never going to be easy to take but the nature of this loss is going to split views right down the middle. There’ll be those that’ll claim that the Carling Cup was Liverpool Football Club’s best chance of silverware this season and in putting out a largely reserve side, Benitez has effectively opted out of that. Then there’ll be those who will be adamant that it’s only the Carling Cup and Liverpool should be striving for more than this level of ‘success’. Whatever way you look at it, it’s quite clear what it represents in the minds eye of Rafael Benitez. Everyone in the ground knew large scale rotation was more than likely but I can’t believe there were many that believed he’d make the nine changes that he did. I was fully expecting not to see Gerrard and Torres in the starting eleven but I can’t admit to predicting anything like the team sheet he produced, along with neither of the aforementioned on the bench. Having said that, I looked at the team that took to the field and still believed we had a decent chance of taking the game to them. It was a surprise to see Itandje in goal but the rest of the back four was not a big shock, they’re all fairly regular first teamers apart from Hobbs who is developing a mature head on him and had the experience of Carra along side him throughout the game. Besides, Sami has been putting in sterling work whilst Agger is out and those lanky old bones needed a bit of a rest after the heavy requirements of last week. In the midfield the only oddity was having three central midfielders and one wide man on the team sheet but once the game had kicked off it seemed that Voronin was to play out right with Babel on the left side, Crouch in the middle and Lucas, Alonso and Sissoko patrolling the centre. All in all, you can see why Benitez made the changes he made and it wasn’t as if the pitch was full of red shirted strangers with massive squad number on their backs. After the Lino had amused everyone by pulling a muscle and limping across the middle of the pitch the game got underway and all you could hear were the away fans. It was obvious that most of the regular home fans had not opted to pay their extortionate prices for this one because the ground was full of mannequins dressed in blue. Alonso began by dictating the midfield with his calm style of passing and clever movement of the ball along the deck. This was enormously refreshing after that shambles at Anfield at the weekend where Gerrard had sat back and walloped long balls in the air to the strikers who were miles away from him. It’s great to have Alonso back, he’s by far the coolest head in the squad and I feel that others pick up this influence and pass the ball in a similar away around him. Lucas and Sissoko were also showing some very encouraging pass and move manoeuvres and it was clearly filling the away support with gradual confidence as the first half wore on. We were easily the better passing side and as soon as the ball went to Babel the excitement rose as it looked like something would happen. At the back Hobbs was making all the right moves to offer options to the midfield and he was winning the headers that were asked of him and listening to the screaming tour-guide to his left and obeying his every word. Then just I was about to become impressed with his start he made a bit of a mess of a pass which Essien robbed off him and fed to Lumpalard who was presented with a one on one with the stand in keeper who saved it brilliantly with his face. Carra had a thing or two to scream about after that but minutes later we were looking at similar position at the other end this time from a superb passing move which ended up with Lucas’ shot being expertly saved by Cech. It takes a lot to beat the large Czech Republican and had Lucas been a bit more cocky he’d have taken a sneaky touch to his right and walked it round him. Easy to say with hindsight I guess, but to be fair it was a good save, not quite as good as Phil Nevilles’s full stretcher but it left the little Brazillian wondering what he has to do to score in this country. Another fine passing move involving Lucas, Alonso and Crouch ended up with the big man being barged over by Ben Haim just inside the area but no penalty given, thanks to the typically home-team pandering referee. I’d have definitely given that one, no probs. Liverpool looked the most likely to score in the first half although Essien did have a volley narrowly miss the upright. I was happy to see that all of the front six were having decent games and seemed to know where each other were and special mention to Sissoko who had a fantastic first half compared to the drunken performances he’s been putting in of late. As half time came I had a really good feeling about this one, I wasn’t going quite as far as imagining the fickle press giving it the big one about how Rafa’s rotation is starting to bear fruits but you know when you just get a feeling about a game – well I had that feeling. And how wrong I was. The second half was just an utter disaster and it was a case of one bad thing leading to another, then another, then it all just ending up in a total mess. They scored pretty early on and it was about as undeserved as that Ray look-alike winning X Factor. That chubby lump of lard wobbled into the box and knocked a shot high into the air off Carra’s stretched out legs which ballooned over the keepers reach into the far side of the goal. Sickening it was. No sooner had that happened and our main fulcrum of midfield creation was being subbed for El Zhar, and soon after that Crouch got annoyed with Mikel’s nibbling that he produced one of the stupidest bits of football that I’ve ever had the misfortune of seeing. He flung himself through the air like a giraffe falling off a bicycle and connected with the back of Mikel’s legs which left him sprawling on the floor like he’d just been run over by a tank. Then he rolled around off the pitch into the front row of the stand for good measure wailing and wincing – the full Drogba treatment. The ref was suitably impressed and duly gave Crouch his inevitable marching orders and off he went past a purple Benitez towards the showers. It was a totally pathetic piece of discipline by Crouch, he effectively got mugged off by a trick that is widely used throughout this Chelsea team and he fell for it hook, line and sinker. He’ll be feeling very foolish on Thursday morning because it effectively ended the game as a fair contest. Minutes later and the game was as good as over. Rafa took off Babel for Benayoun, much to the uproar from the travelling fans. That was as bad a substitution as I’ve ever seen and many people knew there and then that we could no longer win this game. If it wasn’t for this stupid feeling I’d had up to then, I’d have left at that point, why on earth did he take our most promising goal threat off, what was going through his head? Anyway after that it was a foregone conclusion and we’re now out of the Carling Cup. I can’t say I’m as bothered as Sunday’s game but the way we lost it is pretty sickening. It was just a salad of bad luck and stupidity rolled into one. Hard to say who was star man because no played well throughout the game. The keeper did well until he let Shevchenko score at his near post, Sissoko seemed like he did well but only because it’s the first time this season that he couldn’t be mistaken for Djimi Traore. Alonso and Lucas both had decent first halves but then disappeared. Carra was good but not outstanding and the rest of them were just plain average. The exception was Babel. He didn’t do much but what he did do was both exciting and promising. If only he’d been given a bit more time and a bit more support. It should probably go to Babel but to be honest it’s a bit of a sketchy call, no one really deserved it. So is it time to blame the manager? Blame his rotation? Blame Crouch? To be honest, people can blame whoever they like. Bad days like this come around once in a while, you just have to take them on the chin, I’m just thankful that it’s only the Carling cup. I seem to remember we were rather unlucky in the final of this very competition in 2005 against the same mob – look what happened that season. It’s worth bearing in mind before slating Benitez that this game came after the most crucial and the most hyped week in his career. This game simply was not as important as either of last weeks. Ask anyone to rank the three in order of importance and Chelsea away in the Carling Cup would have come third every time. Here’s hoping for a merry Christmas. Team: Itandje; Arbeloa, Hobbs, Carragher, Aurelio; Sissoko, Alonso (El Zhar), Lucas; Voronin, Crouch, Babel (Benayoun):

LIVERPOOL 0 Manchester Utd 1 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Half Time - 0-1 Venue - Anfield Date - Sunday 16 December 2007 Star Man – Sami Hyypia Two weeks ago we thumped Bolton 4-0 to go above Manchester United in the table. Hard to believe when you look at the table this evening. The needless defeat at Reading last week, coupled with United’s annual smash and grab act at Anfield has pretty much ended any lingering hopes we may have had of mounting a title charge. Thankfully in between we managed to progress to the knockout stages of the Champions League, and that competition again looks to represent our best chance of glory. I’ve listened to the local radio phone ins, spoken to a number of mates, and read some of the views on the forum. The general consensus seems to be that we just weren’t good enough and that the mancs’ extra quality proved to be the difference. I agree that we weren’t good enough, but don’t try and tell me they were better than us because they simply weren’t. Defensively I’ve got to hand it to them, they were rock solid and despite us having a few decent chances I never really felt we looked particularly threatening. They had a gameplan to come and defend in numbers, and nick something from a breakaway or set piece - as they do every single year - and as usual, it worked. Their defence bossed our forwards, and their midfield stopped ours from creating anything. Thing is, we can say exactly the same. Was Giggs even on the pitch? Did Rooney do anything other than have the shot that led to the goal? Did Tevez do anything other than poach that goal? And then we have Ronaldo, who aside from one dazzling piece of play that should have led to a goal for Rooney, contributed nothing other than a series of dives. They were very comfortable in defence, but so were we. They beat us, but they didn’t outplay us and I don’t think they deserved to win. It was just like last year, although in fairness we probably played better in last year’s fixture. The point I’m making is that there was hardly anything between the sides once again, but yet again we’ve come away on the losing side. How do we address that? Well a bit of luck would go a long way towards sorting it out, but leaving luck aside, we have to admit that we do lack quality in certain areas. Their attacking players may not have done much in this game, but they are proven quality and they would all walk into our side. We had too many passengers in this game. Dirk was his usual self, running around, working hard, and giving the ball away repeatedly. Kewell looked way off the pace, which is understandable perhaps as he is still trying to get up to full fitness. Yossi was just completely bossed by Evra, and not even Gerrard or Torres could raise their games to anything above average. So from our point of view, we didn’t do enough creatively, and United looked comfortable. As comfortable as they were though, I’d say our defence were even more so. They scored from a set-piece, and had one more chance on the break in the second half. Aside from that, they never threatened. So I’m not having it that ‘their extra quality was the difference’ or that they were the better side. Not having it at all. Had we scored first, maybe it would have been a different game. I believe we’d have won, but perhaps if they’d had to chase the game we would have seen more of them as an attacking threat? As it was, they didn’t NEED to attack as they nicked a goal and then just ensured they kept what they had. It was up to us to break them down, and we couldn’t. We have no-one to blame for that but ourselves, but I’m not having it that we were outplayed because we weren’t. Arsenal outplayed us for long periods, Manchester United didn’t. Maybe some of our injured players could have made a difference. Certainly we missed Alonso’s ability to spread the play quickly, and we missed the natural width that Pennant would have provided. It’s no excuse though, as we should be able to cope and the side we put out was a very strong one. There were some on the phone-ins complaining about the team selection, but come on, this was the same eleven that trounced Marseille. Had Rafa changed it, he’d have got so much shit for that. Obviously I’d prefer Crouch to Kuyt, but even I couldn’t argue with an unchanged side as it was the right thing to do given how they played in midweek. Hindsight is a wonderful thing though. It could have been different had we taken our chances. We had two cleared off the line and Torres should have done better with a header from close range. I say he should have done better, as that’s what I thought at the time, but I sit a long way from the Anny Road end and maybe I’m being harsh. Having not seen it on tv (and not likely to as there’s no way I’m watching any highlights of this) I could be wrong about that, but I felt it was a glorious chance wasted. When something like that happens in a big game, I always fear the worst as usually we end up paying the price. We did last season, when they scored in front of the Kop right at the end from a set piece. And we did this season, as they scored in front of the Kop from a set piece again, this time at the end of the first half rather than the second. At least it give us 45 minutes to try and recover, although we could have had 145 minutes and wouldn't have scored. It was a bad goal from our point of view. Rooney somehow found acres of space on the edge of the box as the corner was pulled back to him, and when he drilled it into the box Tevez stuck out a leg and diverted it into the roof of the net. I don’t know who’s job it would have been to pick up Rooney, but whoever it was must have fallen asleep. Perhaps that’s a glitch in the zonal marking system? If everyone is in zones and someone pulls out to the edge of the box, who’s job is it to pick them up? Is there a spare man who is responsible for that? I’d assume there must be, I hope so anyway as you know other sides will have noticed that goal and I expect we’ll see others trying it now. United obviously did their homework. It was the only time they had threatened, despite the helping hand they kept receiving from the Main Stand linesman who missed at least five clear offsides. I thought Carra was going to have an aneurysm at one point, he was berating the official so much. Thankfully his ineptitude didn’t cost us, but it was infuriating at the time. The goal took the wind out of our sails, but I think the booking Steven Gerrard picked up also had an impact on us. He was heavily involved early on, but did seem a little too fired up. I didn’t see what happened between him and Anderson, and I had no idea why they were both carded. I’ve been told that they squared up to eachother and Gerrard put his head in the Brazilian’s face. If he did, that’s a needless booking. A minute or so later he dived in on the same player – who predictably made a meal of it – and he was a bit fortunate that the referee chose to be lenient. At this stage I was convinced he’d be sent off, but he managed to cool down and stay out of bother for the rest of the game. Unfortunately it seemed to take something away from him, and he wasn’t anywhere near as influential as he has been of late, and he played very deep. Whether that was because he was told too, or just the way it tuned out because of how the game went I don't know, but we missed his attacking presence in the box. He did make one surge forward to get on the end of a good ball in from Kewell, but it was an awkward height and he couldn't direct his volley. We needed to see more of that from him, but it just didn't happen. With the skipper having a quiet day, and Torres being completely dominated by Ferdinand and Vidic, it needed someone else to step up. No-one did. Supersub Ryan Babel did his best, and certainly gave United something new to worry about. I actually thought he’d scored with that rasping shot, and couldn’t believe it when the ball went wide. It looked in all the way to me, but when that never went in I think I knew then we were never going to score. We had some promising situations from set pieces, but each time we wasted them with poor shots. It wasn’t helped by the referee allowing their wall to stand seven yards away, but nevertheless our shooting was poor. Crouch’s arrival didn’t make much difference, as we resorted to lumping it to him and United dealt with it relatively easily. He had one shot that went wide after some nice link up play with Torres, but neither he nor El Nino got the kind of service they need. The crosses to Crouch were poor, and the through balls to Torres were non-existant. There was a sense of inevitability about this defeat, we should be used to it by now I guess. Ferguson comes here with the same plan every year, and it always fucking gets him the result. His tactics are as negative as any side that come here, and are in total contrast to Arsenal, who came here and passed us off the park at times. Whilst it continues to work, he’ll continue to do it, and it’s up to us to find a way of breaking them down. Taking our chances would be one way of doing it. Bringing in better players and therefore creating a greater number of chances would be another. Rafa Benitez will have been trying to persuade the owners that we need to do the latter, but I expect it will fall on deaf ears. I’m not even going down that road though. I’m thoroughly disillusioned with what’s going on at the club at the moment, but a report about a defeat to Manchester United is bad enough without bringing other issues into the equation, so they can wait for another day. Star man was between the two centre backs and Mascherano. I thought the little Argentine was brilliant defensively, he won loads of tackles and was constantly closing down the likes of Rooney and Ronaldo. He offered little in an attacking sense though and gave the ball away a fair bit, so I’m going to give it to Sami who I thought played very well again. Special mention to Riise as well. Before the game I’m sure everyone was worried about the prospect of the out of form Norwegian coming up against Ronaldo, but defensively I thought he was really solid. Ok, his shooting was terrible and his crossing wasn’t great, but at least he did his job defensively and I thought he had a decent enough game. Team: Reina; Arbeloa, Carragher, Hyypia, Riise (Aurelio); Benayoun, Gerrard, Mascherano, Kewell (Babel); Kuyt (Crouch), Torres:

Someone pm me the usernames please and I'll ban them. Cheers.

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LIVERPOOL U18 5 West Brom U18 0 Report by Dave Usher at the Academy Scorer(s) - Nathan Eccleston (3), Marvin Pourie, Michael CollinsHalf Time - 1-0 Venue - Liverpool Academy, Kirkby Date - Sat 17 Dec 2007 Star Man - Sean Highdale Nathan Eccleston took his season’s tally to 15 goals with a second half hat-trick as Liverpool’s u18 side recorded their second 5-0 win in four days, as West Brom were trounced at the Academy on Saturday morning. Marvin Pourie had opened the scoring midway through the first half, and substitute Michael Collins scored the goal of the game with a wonderfully taken effort. Hughie McAuley fielded nine of the side that had beaten Wycombe in the youth cup on Wednesday night, with the only changes being Martin Hansen coming in for Dean Bouzanis in goal, and u16 defender Scott Wooton replacing Martin Kelly at centre half. Liverpool started quickly, and Pourie hit the bar after 12 minutes following good work from the excellent Sean Highdale. Pourie had a decent first half, putting himself about and giving the young Baggies’ defence plenty to think about. He created an excellent opening for strike partner Eccleston when he broke clear on the right, cut into the box and squared the ball to him, but Eccleston took his eye off the ball and allowed it to roll under his foot and the chance was gone. West Brom wasted a decent opportunity when the centre forward got in behind the reds’ defence but dragged his shot wide. They had a lot of pace in their side, and created a few good opportunities during the game, but maybe finishing isn’t their strong point. Pourie made them pay for their wastefulness just before the half hour, but the goal owed everything to the dazzling wingplay of Gary McKay-Steven. The young Scot collected possession in his own half, hemmed in on the touchline. A quick drop of the shoulder and change of direction got him away from the first defender, and he took off down the line, drawing another couple of defenders to him before delivering a pinpoint cross to the feet of Pourie. The German striker’s first touch was perfect, taking the ball out of his feet and past his marker, before he finished with a crisp shot. Eccleston went close to adding a second ten minutes later, when the tigerish Highdale won the ball in midfield, and then flew into a crunching challenge to win it again. The ball fell nicely to Eccleston, who carried it into the box before shooting left footed across the keeper, who made a good save. West Brom’s centre forward had another decent chance shortly before the break, when the ball broke nicely for him in the box. He got his shot away but it was immediately charged down by Joe Kennedy. Pourie had a couple of opportunities to grab a second goal in the last minute of the half. First he sliced a shot wide following some excellent set up play from McKay-Steven and Highdale, and then he headed just over following a left wing free-kick by Highdale. I’d been impressed with McKay-Steven in the first half, this was the first time I’d seen him play and he looks a good player. He could have been involved a bit more, but he showed some excellent skill and dribbling ability when the opportunity arose. So it was surprising that he didn’t come out for the second half. Presumably he was injured. His replacement, Alex Kacaniklic, was even more impressive. He got into the game immediately, and in the first five minutes of the half he’d made several excellent runs to the byline. It’s not going to be easy for McAuley to choose between these two, as they both look like exciting prospects. Kacaniklic created the second goal for Eccleston ten minutes after the break, when he tricked his way to the byline and cut the ball back perfectly into the striker’s path, and he coolly directed his shot into the corner of the net. Eccleston had done nothing up to this point, he’d not got into the game at all and hadn’t shown any of his usual impressive play. Even so, I didn’t think there was any doubt he’d get on the scoresheet. He is scoring virtually every game these days, and it wasn’t long before he had his second. Once again, Kacaniklic was the creator, running forward from halfway and carrying the ball into the box before sliding the ball across to Eccleston who was left with a simple finish. I thought he looked well offside, but the linesman was happy enough and the goal stood. Maybe he realised after that he’d made a mistake, because he chalked off two more goals for Eccleston that looked fine to me. The visitor’s centre forward had yet another chance almost immediately after the reds had made it 3-0, when he got in behind Kennedy but saw his shot come back off the post. It was their second good opportunity of the half, as shortly before that they’d got in down the other side but were denied by a combination of Hansen and some desperate defending. Overall, Liverpool’s defence played well, but the pace of the visitors did create a fair few decent openings that they didn’t take. Liverpool were much more clinical, but not only that, they really stepped up their game in the second half and completely dominated possession. Ajdarevic had been quiet in the first half, but bossed the game after the break and showed some fabulous skills. They couldn’t get the ball off him, as he produced an array of shimmies, dragbacks, pirouettes, the lot. Pourie could have had a second goal after some brilliant play from Ajdarevic and Shane O’Connor down the left created the opening, but Marvin’s well struck volley skimmed a defender and went just wide. McAuley sent on Michael Collins for David Amoo, and Michael Scott for Pourie, and Collins wasted no time in making his mark with a stunning goal. Ajdarevic picked him out on the right with a raking crossfield ball, and the Irish striker produced a wonderful first touch with the outside of his left foot that took him past the full back and in on goal. He set himself before stroking the ball past the keeper into the far corener. It was such a simple goal, but such a fantastic one to watch. Collins was having a lot of joy on the right flank cutting in onto his left foot, and chances kept coming his way. He had a shot deflected wide following a brilliant run and cross from the tireless O’Connor, and he was denied by the keeper after playing a fine 1-2 with Scott. Collins did have the ball in the net again not long after, when Ajdarevic blasted a shot goalwards that the keeper could only parry into the air. The ball looked to be going in, but Collins made sure by heading it into the net. The linesman’s flag curtailed his celebrations however. Eccleston completed his hat-trick near the end with a cool finish after being fed by Highdale, who had broke forward from inside his own half after winning possession. It looked like he had bagged a fourth goal in stoppage time, and he wasn’t happy with the linesman when he saw the flag. I thought he was onside too, and it was a shame it was disallowed as the part played by Ajdarevic deserved a goal. He showed some unbelievable footwork to hold onto the ball under pressure and somehow create space for a shot that was saved at full stretch by the keeper, but Eccleston pounced on the rebound and slid the ball in from a tight angle. It sounds silly to say it, but aside from the three goals he scored and the two he had disallowed, I can’t remember Eccleston doing much else in the game! He’s usually a lot more involved in the build up play than he was today, but if he can bag a hat-trick on an off day, then he’s some prospect. Usually if someone gets a hat-trick they’d undoubtedly be the star man, but over the ninety minutes I think there were others more deserving. Ajdarevic was brilliant in the second half, and Collins really did well after coming on. Kacaniklic was really good too, but for me it was between O’Connor and Highdale. O’Connor defended well and bombed forward to great effect, but I’m going for Highdale as from start to finish he was involved in almost everything. It was a fine team performance though, especially after the break when they really stepped up a gear. Team: Hansen; Irwin, Kennedy, Wooton, O’Connor; Amoo (Collins), Highdale, Ajdarevic, McKay-Steven (Kacaniklic); Pourie (Scott), Eccleston:

Had a lot on the last couple of days (not least putting hundreds of stamps on hundreds of envelopes), but better late than never. http://www.liverpoolway.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?p=908682

LIVERPOOL 4 Bolton 0 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Sami Hyypia Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard (pen), Ryan BabelHalf Time - 2-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Sunday 2 December 2007 Star Man – Steven Gerrard There was a time not so long ago that Rafa would have really taken great personal pleasure in thumping Bolton. He’ll obviously have been happy with this, but beating Bolton won’t have been quite as sweet without Fat Sam and his shitty headset patrolling up and down the touchline. Still, a 4-0 win is a 4-0 win, and after all, Rafa stuck it to Allardyce last week. The Newcastle boss has big problems at his new club, but his old club are suffering badly as well. Sammy Lee tried to get them playing football instead of the alehouse shit they’ve become synonymous with, but it didn’t work and he was given his p45. Gary Megson has come in, and on the evidence of this display he’s gone back to the long ball approach. Last weekend Bolton somehow managed to beat the mancs. Difficult to believe when you see how truly dreadful they were at Anfield, but apparently it did happen. I guess Danny Guthrie must makes a big difference to them! Obviously Danny was ineligible for this game, and they really missed him, as well as skipper Kevin Nolan. A midfield trio of Gavin McCann, Ivan Campo and Gary Speed is never going to provide anything in a creative sense, and it was apparent from the early exchanges that Bolton’s gameplan was going to be to try and defend and play for set pieces. We’ve often had problems with sides like that, but we’re in a really good run of form at the moment and the Trotters were simply blown away. It could and should have been more than four, but Bolton will argue that the game turned on Anelka’s missed sitter when the score was only 1-0. They have a point, but the form Torres and Gerrard were in I honestly don’t think it would have mattered even had Nico scored as we just had too much for them. Rafa once more named a forward thinking side, bringing in Lucas for Mascherano, Kewell for Babel and Crouch for Voronin. Riise returned for the injured Finnan. The inclusion of Lucas is pretty significant I think. He’s now moved ahead of Sissoko in the pecking order, which surely means Momo will now be sold in January. Perhaps it should have been done in the summer when there was a reported £12m offer from Juve on the table, but maybe Rafa wanted to see how Lucas adapted before making that decision. Things are looking bleak for Momo right now though, and the only way I can see him staying is if we fail to tie up the signature of Mascherano (and if that happens then there are other people who should be shown the door, and I’m not talking about players or manager). Lucas looks like he was born to be a Liverpool player. He passes and moves, he keeps things simple and he works like a Trojan. He’s a good foil for Gerrard, as he’s disciplined and will sit in the midfield whilst his skipper charges forward. I reckon there’s a lot more to his game than that though, and if he were to be paired with Alonso or Mascherano I could see him playing the role Gerrard does (not as well, obviously, but he does seem like an all rounder). The youngster was up against some very experienced players in Bolton’s midfield, but along with Gerrard he completely bossed them. He was good with the ball, and probably even better without it, as he closed people down and got his tackles in. He provided the solid base that allowed Gerrard to do what he does best, and the captain was brilliant. He’s had more spectacular individual performances than this, but that’s not what we need from him these days. We need him to do exactly what he has been doing, making the team tick. He’s scored eight goals in his last nine games, but that doesn’t tell the story. I’d guess he has at least as many, if not more, assists. Gerrard was involved in everything against Bolton. His free kick set up the opener for Hyypia, his slide rule pass released Torres for the second, he scored the third from the spot after Crouch had been felled as he attempted to get on the end of his cross, and finally it was his through ball that saw Kuyt’s shot parried into the path of Babel who had a tap in. In addition to that, he was also denied what would have been a brilliant goal by the feet of the tramp in goal for the visitors. It’s difficult to think of a time when Gerrard has played better as part of a team than he is right now. It’s a far cry from the disappointing form he was in a couple of months back, that’s for sure. Having him playing at the level he is, coupled with the form Torres is in, has really lifted the side to the point where at this moment in time I’d fancy us to beat anyone. A few weeks ago when Arsenal came to town, we were in a rough patch. I said after that game that I was pleased with the performance because it was a bad time to play them. They were flying, we weren’t. If we were to play them this weekend, it’d be a completely different story, we wouldn’t be getting passed off the park the way we did at times that day. We weren’t actually THAT good against Bolton, we can play much better than this. The first half especially was a bit patchy, but we’ve got a lot of in form players in attacking areas at the moment, and it makes a difference, Even if we aren’t on top form, we’ll still create chances. The first opportunity fell to Crouch, after Kewell picked out Benayoun’s clever run. Yossi went round the keeper, and cut the ball back to Crouch who’s instant shot was cleared off the line. Some have said Crouch should have scored, but I don’t think he could have done any more than he did really. The ball was a bit behind him, on his weaker foot, and he had two defenders on him. All he could do was make decent contact and send it goalwards, which he did. Good defending for me. It wasn’t a great day for Crouch. Handed a rare start alongside Torres, this was a chance for him to really stake a claim. He wasn’t at his best, but he still could have had a couple of goals, and he won the penalty to make it 3-0. He was involved in the opener too, as he won the free-kick that Hyypia scored from. I didn’t actually see Hyypia score, as I was focussing on Kewell as it looked like he was going to score. He completely missed the ball though, but before I could look to see where it ended up, it was in the net and big Sami was wheeling away in celebration. It was no more than he deserved, as he’s produced some really top class performances lately. Around the time of the Spurs game, some people were saying he’s washed up and can’t hack it any more. There was no doubt we were missing Agger back then, but in the past month or so, Sami’s displays have been as good as ever. There’s always the worry that at some point he will throw in a stinker (playing twice a week can catch up with him sometimes), but he deserves great credit for the way he was played this season. If there was a Liverpool Hall of Fame, there’d be a place in it for Sami as he is without question for me, a Liverpool legend. His goal should have opened the floodgates, but although we continued to threaten and played some good stuff, it was in patches and we never really hit top gear. Torres was looking very menacing however, and he almost made it two when he collected a sloppy pass from Campo, and raced past two defenders before dragging a shot just past the far post. Crouch was actually not far from getting on the end of it as he’d covered a lot of ground to get there, which is encouraging to see. Torres is just electric though, and he’s the country’s most in form striker right now. He trails Nicolas Anelka in the Premier League scoring charts however, and he should be a further goal behind after this game. Not even Anelka will be able to explain how he missed after Reina and Carragher had collided to present him with an open goal. The angle wasn’t bad, and he had loads of time, but he seemed to snatch at it and never got his body shape right. He actually missed it by a few feet, it was unbelievable. Bolton would say it was a turning point, and technically I guess it was, as we made it 2-0 not long after and never looked back. I still maintain we’d have gone on to win even if Nico had scored, but who knows? He missed, we went on to win at a canter and that’s all that matters really. I’ve always liked Anelka, and even more so now. On the flip side to that, you have the reprehensible El Hadji Diouf. If he isn’t spitting or diving, he’s committing scandalous challenges like the one that almost broke Arbeloa’s leg. I thought it was bad at the time, mainly because I heard a loud crack when it happened, but it was only seeing the tv replays later that night that I realised just how horrific it was. Arbeloa is lucky not to be facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines. It’s sickening to think that Diouf wore our legendary number nine shirt. Thankfully, we now have a more worthy individual wearing it. Torres has made a great start to his Liverpool career, and has had absolutely no problems adjusting to English football. In fact, he looks as though he’s played here all his life. The physical side doesn’t bother him, he thrives on it. The pace of his game suits him too, as he has lightning pace and he knows how to use it. That’s one of the main differences between Torres and the likes of Bellamy and Cisse. The goal he scored against Bolton brought back memories of the Gerrard/Owen telepathic relationship. Torres’ movement was brilliant. He spotted one of their centre halves had been drawn out of position and left a gap, and he swiftly moved into the space, staying onside, and indicated to Gerrard where he wanted the ball played. Predictably, Gerrard delivered the ball exactly where he needed to, and Torres raced onto it before gently clipping the ball over Worzel Gummidge in the Bolton goal. Some have compared it to Dalglish’s goal against Bruges, but for me it had Michael Owen in his heyday written all over it. That goal killed the game, as Bolton were never coming back from that, and I honestly thought we would go on to get six. We should have really, as the second half saw us lift the tempo and create a lot of opportunities. Not even the departure of Carragher through an injury he picked up in the collision with Reina hampered our performance. Jack Hobbs came on and was brilliant. He defended stoutly when he had to, he used the ball intelligently, producing a couple of superb long passes and looked very assured in everything he did. He’s going to be a good player is Jack, he just needs experience. Crouch should have made it 3-0 with a free header from a great Riise cross, but the ball went inches wide. Gerrard surged through only to see his shot hit supertramp’s foot and go just over, and Yossi had some opportunities too but didn’t get his shot away in time. Torres went close to the goal of the season with a stunning run that took him from the halfway line on the right wing, into the inside left spot in the penalty area. He beat three defenders on his way, but couldn’t keep his curling shot down. A shame, as it deserved a goal. It was too easy, and Bolton offered nothing but long balls seeking out rugby ball head Kevin Davies. Riise generally coped with that well, avoiding the flailing elbows and not letting him win too many headers. This was Riise’s best game in a long time. I thought he played very well, until he decided late on that he was going to shoot any time he got in the Bolton half. Kewell had been lively, and is getting sharper all the time, but he can only really play for an hour at the moment. That works out nicely, as it means Babel can do what he does best - come off the bench and wreak havoc. He came on, and once again looked a threat whenever he had the ball. His decision making needs a lot of work, but he’s really beginning to look like a dangerous player, and he’s a great weapon to bring off the bench. He wrapped up the win with the fourth goal after Gerrard’s penalty had made it 3-0, and Babel will be wondering how he didn’t make it 5-0 late on when his shot was cleared off the line by a defender. That came at the end of a stunning move, and it would have been one of the best goals scored anywhere that weekend had he finished it off. Being able to beat the likes of Bolton 4-0, whilst never really hitting top form is very encouraging. We’re battering teams at the moment, and we’re doing it comfortably without really having to extend ourselves too much. Had we been in this kind of form a few months ago we’d be well clear at the top of the table, instead of chasing Arsenal. Every team has a bad spell at some point though, and if we have had ours already then we’re in great shape. I can’t help but think an injury to Torres though and we’d be up against it. He’s so important to any hopes we have of winning anything, it’s vital he stays injury free. Star man had to be Gerrard, who was involved in absolutely everything. Team: Reina; Arbeloa, Carragher (Hobbs), Hyypia, Riise; Benayoun, Gerrard, Lucas, Kewell (Babel); Crouch, Torres (Kuyt):

Great hair.

Me Chris and Jules have really got our game faces on there.

I'll be doing any orders as soon as they come in, so they shouldn't take long to arrive. I've got some to do today and tomorrow, so anyone who has ordered anything will have it soon. Benolad, I'll do one of those mugs later and see what it looks like. I reckon it'll be ok, but I'll put a picture up when it's done so you can have a look.

http://www.liverpoolway.co.uk/classic/printing/LiverpoolWay/whatsnew.htm

One hour getting all excited about the prospect of seeing me play. One hour watching me, and two hours telling everybody about how great I was afterwards. You best make sure you're there tonight, I'm gonna put on a finishing clinic.

I'm in

http://www.liverpoolway.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=53532

LIVERPOOL 4 Porto 1 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Fernando Torres (2), Steven Gerrard (pen), Peter CrouchHalf Time - 1-1 Venue - Anfield Date - Wednesday 28 November 2007 Star Man – Fernando Torres Rafa lives to fight another day then. Who knows whether or not he would have been sacked had we been eliminated from the Champions League, but I’ll bet there were plenty of people inside Anfield fearing the worst as time ticked away and Porto were looking comfortable. There are those who dismissed the reports at the weekend as sensationalist nonsense, but significantly Rick Parry, George Gillett and Tom Hicks were not amongst them. Benitez had been bullish after the win against Newcastle, once again speaking out against the owners and even wearing a tracksuit rather than his trademark smart suit and tie, just to thumb his nose at Gillett and Hicks. Yet after the owners failed to shoot down the report claiming he was about to be sacked, Benitez’s tone changed considerably, an olive branch was offered and the smart suit returned for the Porto game. Whether that – coupled with the vociferous fan support he has – is enough to keep him in his job is something only time will tell. For now, all he can do is keep winning games, and keep his mouth shut. He has the support of the fans, but much as we’d like to think otherwise, that matters very little. The Americans will do what they want to do, and what the fans want simply doesn’t come into it. From the moment they acquired 100% ownership we lost any power we had. They don’t have to answer uncomfortable questions from shareholders at the AGM anymore, and does anyone seriously think that Tom Hicks – a man who’s big mates with one of the most hated men on the planet – is really going to care about 5,000 scousers marching from a pub and singing some songs? If he wants to sack Rafa he will, and nothing we do will change it. But I’m sick and tired of reading about, hearing about and most of all, talking about Gillett, Hicks and Rafa’s precarious position. To me it’s simple, no decision should be taken on his future until the summer. It should be looked at then, and if clear progress is being made his job should be safe, if we look like we’re falling further behind then maybe a change would be required. At this moment in time though it shouldn’t even be on the agenda, and it’s sad that it is. If Rafa is a good little boy, and keeps getting results he may earn a stay of execution. If he opens his mouth again he’s history, I’ve got no doubt about that. What is unclear is what a couple of bad results will mean. If he behaves himself, he may be able to survive some bad results, or they may sack him after one defeat. I hope we don’t get the chance to find out, as we are in a good run now and long may it continue. We started well against Porto, but it was clear from the beginning that they hadn’t come to lie down. They played three up front and were obviously going to give us a game. Rafa had picked an attacking line up, with Babel and Benayoun on the flanks and Gerrard in an orthodox midfield role in a 4-4-2. As ever, the main issue concerned who started up front. This time, Voronin got the nod alongside Torres. Personally I’d have gone with Crouch, but the Ukranian has produced some very good performances of late and it’s difficult to argue too much with his selection. This was a must win game, and with the added spice of the Rafa situation I was really expecting this to be one of those really special atmospheres. Maybe not at the level of the Chelsea semi finals, but certainly similar to the Juve or Barca nights, or like GH’s return against Roma. It wasn’t though, in fact it wasn’t even close. It wasn’t bad, at least at the start and the finish anyway, but it wasn’t a ‘special’ night that will be talked about for years to come. Of course, the game itself has a lot to do with that, as it was relatively flat for long periods, especially in the second half. The first half was fascinating. We began well enough and when Torres headed in from a corner (or was it a free-kick, I can’t remember?) everything was going according to script. We were playing well, we were in control, and then suddenly Porto scored. I’d be lying if I said I thought it was coming, as it wasn’t. Having said that though, their front players did look lively. Well two of them did anyway. The much vaunted Quaresma was awful, he barely did anything right all night. The other two however, were impressive. The number nine looked a good player, and even though his goal should have been prevented from our point of view, they’ll say it was a well worked goal. It was a setback, but I wasn’t worried. Recent early season blips aside, we’re great in the Champions League, especially at home. I thought we’d steamroller them in the second half, and although technically that’s how it turned out, it was far from being that straightforward. We lost our way, big time. I could be reading things into that aren’t there, but to me it looked like the players became nervous because of what was potentially at stake. Elimination from the Champions League, but also the potential loss of their manager. Like I say, maybe it’s just my imagination, but they definitely seemed edgy to me, and silly mistakes began to creep in. Some were guilty of sloppy passes, some of trying to force things too much. Gerrard in particular had a ropey spell where he gave the ball away several times, although in his defence he never hid and he eventually came through it. Yossi got a bit sloppy too, and Babel was guilty of over-elaborating on a few occasions. Nerves began to take hold of Anfield, on and off the field. As time began to tick away, Porto started to look more comfortable. They knocked the ball about well and had some lengthy spells of possession, but there was not much to trouble Pepe’s goal largely due to the back four being solid and Mascherano protecting them very well. Nevertheless, as we began to throw more men forward the spectre of a Porto counter attack catching us cold began to loom large. Another goal for them and we were done for, and to be honest we were not looking like scoring ourselves. Rafa sent on Kewell for Voronin, and then Crouch for Benayoun, and both changes made a difference. For me though, the catalyst for our late flurry of goals was Mascherano. The game was flat, nothing had happened and the crowd were very quiet. Then the little Argentine won the ball in midfield and looked to lay it off to a team-mate. Babel ran inside though, and there was no-one else for Mascherano to pass to. So he carried it forward himself, running into the space vacated by Babel on the right flank and surged to the byline. His dangerous low cross was cleared by the Porto defence, but that one little burst of attacking play from the Chief lifted everybody and began a spell of pressure that ultimately yielded three goals. Sometimes it takes a little thing like that to get everyone going. Whether it’s a crunching tackle, a powerful shot or a surging run. Just something to give people a bit of encouragement and get the crowd into it again. Mascherano provided it, and we kicked on from there. Kewell skipped away from his marker on the flank, ran forward and fed Torres. It’s been said many times this season that the £18m forward makes things look scarily easy at times, and this was another example of it. I don’t even know exactly what he did, it all seemed to happen so fast and I haven’t seen any replays of it yet. In the blink of an eye he turned his marker, he was into the box and then he stroked the ball into the corner. Brilliant. Porto were rattled, and were struggling to cope with the red tide that was crashing against them. Kewell and Babel were running at them, Torres was scaring the crap out of them and they also had to deal with the menace of Crouch. Their centre half didn’t really want to deal with Crouch, and instead tried to take him out with a crunching aerial challenge that earned him a booking. Seconds later, he was in trouble again, this time handling the ball as he went up for a header with Crouchy. The ref had allowed a couple of similar incidents to go unpunished, but this one was so clear he had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Gerrard stepped up and continued his recent excellent form from 12 yards to make the game safe. The icing on the cake arrived when Crouch headed in a Gerrard corner to give the scoreline the emphatic look many of us were expecting beforehand. For a long time though it didn’t look like it would happen, but credit to the players for sticking at it and getting their reward. The star man had to be Torres (although Mascherano ran him close). He’s just an absolute menace. He misses a fair few chances (not in this game though), but he’s just an absolute terror. When we signed him I didn’t think he was as good as all the hype, but I was completely wrong about that. He’s absolutely brilliant, and with him in the side we really can beat anyone. Rafa has occasionally rotated him and we’ve dropped points. Given the situation the manager is in right now, where he isn’t sure if his next defeat will be his last, I can’t see him resting Torres or Gerrard or any other key player for that matter. He has to focus on the next game, rather than worry about player’s being fresh in three months time. That may actually be the only good thing to come out of all this uncertainty surrounding his job at the moment. He’ll have to keep picking his strongest team because if he were to make any controversial changes and it went against him, it could be the end of his time at Anfield. All he can do us keep winning, and hope the rest takes care of itself. Team: Reina; Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Arbeloa; Benayoun (Crouch), Gerrard, Mascherano, Babel (Kuyt); Voronin (Kewell), Torres:

They won't be posted out til early next week, for two reasons. 1) My printer has only sent me half, the other half arrives on monday/tuesday 2) I need the takings from last night and sunday to pay for all the postage. So apologies to subscribers, it'll be a bit later than usual but there's nothing I can do. Robbief, that may well have been me in Asda, you should have said hello. ThisIsAnfield, no worries mate I assumed you'd either done that or had picked one up from John or my dad. Adam, there's a link on the page I've linked to at the top.

http://www.liverpoolway.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=53478

It was written by Bascombe, not his employers. And all of you slagging him off and accusing him of making it up are bang out of order, as none of you know him. I know him, and I know he believes 100% that what he's written today is true. Question whether he's right or wrong by all means, but don't question his integrity or honesty. Anyone who thinks he's written this to make a name for himself or because his bosses want him to cause trouble is fucking kidding themselves.

Bascombe wouldn't have written it if he didn't believe it 100%. that doesn't make it true of course, but some people have been dismissing everything he's written lately, but all of it has been true so far. Can we afford to dismiss it? I don't think so. Having said that, I agree with Brownie, we'll do fuck all about it and that's what they are counting on.

he doesn't mean free transfers, he means he will raise the money by selling people, so they don't have to 'spend' anything

Not bothering with a full report, not really much point as it was shit and I've got to get the mag done. Just done a brief report on it: http://www.liverpoolway.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?p=887650