I’m choosing to see the bright side….

This Liverpool season has really helped me become a better kind of supporter. I was really impressed with the way I managed to watch that crap last night without getting severely upset. I managed to hold my calm and let the total crapness of our display slide off my back with ease. I watched as Kuyt delivered a defence splitting pass to the opposition without even a heart tremor. I didn’t even rise up in anger as Gerrard passed the ball out for a throw or to the opposition on numerous occasions. Even Torres’ misses didn’t rattle my cage. I was like an ice block sitting in a nice bath of 12 year old whisky. Even when Carragher rounded Reina and saw his attempted clearance loop towards goal I remained steadfast. As Sotorios cleared off the line I didn’t even get that old feeling of relief missed with euphoria.

I was cooler than cool….I was ice cold!

I really love Liverpool…but the “like” is going! We are now like the old married couple who still have love but the heat is fading. We enjoy sitting together in silence, occasionally looking across at each other. Sometimes we share a joke together. Or we will spend an afternoon remembering fondly the good times we have shared. How wonderful it was when we romped all across England and Europe. Doing it everywhere. The intensity of our nights together. Remember that night in Istanbul my love. What a climax! But alas these are fading memories. More often now we do it at home but it’s often unconvincing. Hardly ever away! We go to budget hotels in Europe but even then we don’t get to it. We still manage to get it on when there’s a special occasion. Like in Manchester or just down the road at Goodison.

I’ll say it though. I miss it when it was good.

Maybe we need some Viagra to get the umph! Back into our nights! That passion, that hunger, that lust for success! Right now though we struggling to get it up…to fourth

Hello everyone, I encourage you all to post your own in the comments as I’m taking a page from MoKo’s book here with some ol’ ratings.

Look for another episode of the Our Kop Podcast following the Man City match this Sunday.

Cheers.

Well it was time for our favorite football club to venture into unfamiliar waters tonight with our first leg tie against the Romanian side Unirea Urziceni who, like ourselves, had dropped out of the Champions League by finishing 3rd in their group.

Generally unfamiliar would suggest exciting and new but tonight it was more of the same that we’ve all come to expect against this type of opposition at Anfield.  We enjoyed plenty of possession as we knocked the ball aimlessly about the penalty area without offering a whole lot in the way of a sustained threat.  Here and there we had our chances from a cross or two (Skrtel’s header over the top comes to mind) as well as a near beauty from our captain that went just wide.

The goal finally came from our substitutes near the 80th minute as Babel put a nice cross into the 6 yard box for Pacheco, who had the presence of mind to nod the ball centrally to N’gog rather than attempting to score himself when he lacked the momentum and the angle to do so.  It was a finely worked chance from a fairly pedestrian buildup.

The bottom line is we should have put the tie to bed in the first leg, but with that said we managed to keep a clean sheet to deny Unirea the away goal, and take a 1-0 lead into the 2nd leg against a side who showed very little this evening. It would take a major blunder on our part to concede in my opinion.

REINA:  7 - Another lonely night for Pepe, but his distribution was above average and did what he needed with little fuss.

CARRAGHER: 6.5 - Solid defensively against a lesser side as you’d expect, but other than a cross or two he lacked any inventiveness going forward.  I don’t hold that against Jamie as he’s clearly not playing in his preferred position.  Hats off to him for taking one for the team and putting in a good day’s work.

SKRTEL: 7 - Dominant in the air and assured in possession, he looked in control for the whole 90 minutes.  His passes were sharper than usual, but really not a whole lot going on here in central defense tonight.

AGGER: 7 - See Skrtel’s assessment, and toss in a bit more physicality than he generally shows us.  I saw several occasions where he was getting awfully handsy with his marker when attacking corners and not shying away from muscling their lone striker off his runs and the ball.

AURELIO: 6.5 - Similar to Jamie, he performed his defensive duties well, but his total reliance on his left foot leaves him unable to cut inside effectively while they take the outside away from him.  His crosses were his strong point when he managed to turn them in.

KUYT: 6 - Hustling as always, his touch particularly let him down today (yes more than usual) and he worked his way into few scoring opportunities.  He’s looked a bit knackered lately, and is as close to a permanent fixture in the lineup as we have these days. Just look at Aston Villa’s form this time each season with a side facing similar levels of playing time.

MASCHERANO: 6.5 - Would have been between a 7 and a 7.5 had he avoided a senseless booking late in the match and giving possession away lazily after we had scored.  With our opponents lacking technical skill, he was an absolute monster to them when they did manage to gain possession.  Also, could he please stop arguing with the officials when he’s on a yellow?  I want to send him off personally just to shut him up, and if I’m feeling that way, the official….

AQUILANI:  6 - I feel badly for Alberto, as this whole season has been a turbulent one for him.  He looks as though he’s never played football before at times.  Compared to the styling of Roma, he may feel the same way.  His game is to place through balls and flick ons onto the runs of his teammates, and with our lack of these things at times he seems at a loss as to what to attempt.  His passing was a bit more accurate today.

RIERA: 6 - Perhaps this Alberto is still feeling the lingering effects of his stay on the injured list, but his form has yet to hint at what it was last season.  Caught in possession repeatedly, and the cause of several breaks to fall apart, it was merciful when he was substituted.

GERRARD: 6.5 - Not that I blame him, but our captain seemed a bit disinterested tonight.  He wanted to win certainly, but he was not giving the 110% we’re used to.  His running and his tackles were at about 80% capacity as I’m sure he has no interest in picking up an injury against a Romanian side in the Europa League.  One inspired shot that drifted just wide, and average service from corners at best. 

N’GOG: 7 - Boosted a bit by his scoring of the only goal, our young Frenchman is another that seems more than a little exhausted by the massive workload dropped onto his shoulders this season.  His confidence on the ball is suffering a touch, while his workrate has dropped considerably the past few matches.

Substitutes:

BABEL:  7.5 - The inverse of N’gog, Babel seems to have a bit of a new found workrate of late.  While he used to fade after a minute or so, tonight he ran at the defenders with pace and fought to regain possession whenever it was lost.  His cross led to the goal, and the others he put in weren’t half bad either.  It’s good to see him showing a bit of promise again.

PACHECO: 7 - The architect of our winner tonight, showing just a hint of what made Barcelona quite so angry when we unburdened them of this young man.  A simple nod down into the path of N’Gog showed terrific composure on his part. He wants the ball, and he knows what to do with it.  He is one for the future to be sure, but there is no reason he shouldn’t start to feature more often against less physical sides. (re: Europa League, EPL relegation scrappers etc.)  It would certainly be interesting to see him given a longer run-out.

LUCAS: N/A - Brought on late in the game for N’gog (possibly due to injury), he did little but get a headstart on the handshakes following the game.

TEAM: 6.5 - Fairly uninspiring, but it got the job done as we are primed to advance to the next round of the competition.  I can’t blame the players too much, when the problems they show are the same ones we have had for several seasons now with approximately this same squad.   When Torres is out, we lack our cutting edge.  Injuries to Riera, Gerrard, and Johnson haven’t helped, nor have the rumors swirling around Babel.  A workmanlike performance in the end, but not one to tell the grandkids about.

MANAGER: 7 - Rafa put out what he had, while being smart to place Fabio in at left back to keep counter attacking down that flank to a minimum.  His best idea was allowing Unirea to tire sufficiently before unleashing Babel on them.  Say what you will about the Dutchman, his pace is terrifying to lower level players. Playing Pacheco is also a bonus no matter which way you look at it.

N’gog’s games-to-goals ratio has indeed dropped to 4 in 15. I know you will focus on the 4 goals but I will focus on the 15 games. N’gog has played 15 games this season already. That is already way too many for a player in development. Especially considering we haven’t gone very far in any of the Cups! I think his form is symptomatic of that. His early form was good but as the games have added up the goals have waned. At one point he had a ratio in the region of 0.5 but has been going down. Ideally you would pick the games he plays in but at the moment he plays pretty much every game.

This is ultimately a failing of the squad. I thought at the beginning of the season we had enough options in attack with Torres, Kuyt, Voronin, Babel and Ngog. The the way things have gone shows we do need another experienced and pacey striker. Many of you think that Kuyt is the answer when Torres is not fit. I would disagree in that , though he has the experience and can score, he does not have the pace or aerial power. We have been poor most of the season which means we haven’t been able to play good attacking football and break down teams. As a lone striker Kuyt would have to have pace in order to get chances in a team playing poorly. Consider the chance Ngog missed yesterday. If that pass was to Kuyt it would not have been a goal scoring opportunity simply because Gallas would have eaten him up for pace. In fact Gerrard would have had to find another options as that run would not have been on. Even in terms of hold up play. Ngog’s ability to receive the ball with his back to goal is even above that of Torres, especially aerial balls. None of our striking options offer that.

In addition to the above, playing Kuyt through the middle raises the question of who will play on the right. In the absence of Yossi the answer is no one! Even with Kuyt I feel the right side of our team has been mostly ineffective since Johnson got injured. Kuyt has scored but has not provided this season. With Carragher at right back this is made even worse because so much of the ball is lost on that side of the field. Moving Kuyt and replacing him with an inferior right mid will only make the situation even worse. There is not point “solving” one problem by creating another!

I’ll put up my hand and admit we probably should have tried to find a pace striker in the summer. Now the question is who was available? Would Tevez have been worth it? Would we really want the version of Keane who’s just departed to Scotland? I don’t recall who else moved in the summer who would have fitted the bill. Maybe you can tell me?

REINA : 6.5 - There was nothing to do all night. Not sure how he survived the cold.
CARRAGHER : 6 - Struggled with Arshavin and was back to his usual ways regarding keeping possession. Far too many high balls up front.
AGGER: 6 - It was an easy game for the centre-halves. Bendtner was not very sharp. Even still they did manage to lose him a couple of times.
SKRTEL: 6.5 - He was quick to spot dangerous situations and cut out some dangerous through balls. Not as aggressive as last season. Would like to see him snap in harder but more effectively.
INSUA: 7.5 - His side was productive as has become the usual this season. Got down the touch line and created width.
KUYT: 6 - Didn’t offer anything going forward. The right side is a problem as there is not much production coming from there in terms of crosses. Poor use of the ball was a real disappointment.
MASCHERANO: 6.5 - Against Arsenal thisis a difficult place to play. They don’t have fixed central players except Song (who doesn’t need marking). I think both him and Lucas got caught on the wrong side of the ball too much. Straight passes continuously bypassed them and made them turn and chase back. Didn’t get close enough to Fabregas.
LUCAS: 6.5 - As above, positionally they were a little high up. I have noticed he has enlarged the areas of the pitch he uses thereby becoming less defensive and more box-to-box which is encouraging. Still needs to up his pace of play a little.
MAXI: 6 - Was off the pace which is to be expected. His movement in field is encouraging in that he gets right up into attack. I think as a team we need to adapt and play for that a bit more.
GERRARD: 7.5 - Has gotten his feet working again. The poor movement up front and the poor quality of passing in general made it difficult to build of some of his good play. Great through ball for N’gog but not the same quality pass into the box for Kuyt earlier in the game.
NGOG: 5.5 - Was really second best. I think the opposition was too good for him. The pace of the Arsenal defence made it difficult for him to get into good setup positions in which to receive the ball and hold it up. With that part of his game nullified he struggled to find a way to be effective. This should be a learning experience for the young man.
Had the chance of the game but Gallas did well to get across. I know many are already baying for his blood. But it’s worth remembering that he isn’t Torres!

DEGEN: 5.5 - I think he read the game poorly when he came on. The situation required he pick very carefully the moments to push forward. Was too eager to get forward at the cost of the team. I think the idea was good execution was poor.
BABEL: 5.5 - Continues to disappoint. With his attributes he should really do a lot better. The shot on goal was good but he doesn’t seem to play WITH the rest of the team. All his best moments are in individual play.

MANAGER: 6.5 - I really can’t think of a different line-up we could have played. The personnel have been picking themselves of late based on form. The change to pull Stevie into mid was a good one but also revealed why we like to keep him further up. Except for Yossi and Aquaman no one else in our team can do the hole player role effectively. When men return from injury there will be more options.

TEAM: 6 - The team was less than the sum of their parts yesterday. As individuals most rated about 6.5 but as a team it was a 6. The reason being that our passing was so poor, especially in the first half. Passing is what knits the team together. It’s what makes the players adopt a good shape in attack. We didn’t move well and we didn’t pass well. It was a pity coz we could have gotten something from this fixture.

The poor passing and lack of pace made it difficult to follow the same tactics used by Man U and Chelsea. The one time we did Gallas got back to make the tackle.

I think results of late have masked the fact that we actually haven’t hit good form. We have yet to get it all right on the field and really cut into a team. But I don’t think we are far off that provided we can keep the confidence up. All it takes is one inspired half of football to change everything – remember the first half vs Real Madrid last season?

What more can I say!!!!!
Read it and weep.

REINA: 10 - Didn’t let in a goal.
CARRAGHER: 10 - Didn’t give an inch from the get go. Excellent retalitaion tackle on Pienaar
AGGER: 10 - Can’t remember but who cares. We beat Everton!
KYRGIAKOS: 10 - Great abiility with both feet.
INSUA: 10 - Played like a giant.
KUYT: 10 - Debry goal scorer extraodinaire.
MASCHERANO: 10 - Took some but dished out some too! Love it!
LUCAS: 10 - Did I mention. We beat Everton!
MAXI: 10 - 1 - 0 to the Pool.
GERRARD: 10 - Excellent ball and man tackle on Pienaar and great flop for the sending off. The free kick that hit the bar wasn’t too bad either plus the assist on the goal!
NGOG: 10 - LIVERPOOL LIVERPOOL LIVERPOOL.

BABEL: 10 - Generally ran around. But who cares. We beat Everton!!!!
AURELIO: 10 - Impressed by how he came on really slowly to eat up injury time.
SKRTEL: 10 - One of the greatest 1min performances in history. Came on and we won!!!!!

UNUSED Subs CAVALIERI, DEGEN, AQUILANI, RIERA:10 - Totally dominated the Everton subs with their warm-ups and snazy Liverpool training kits.

MANAGER: 10 - Another Derby win notched up and back in the top 4! Watch out Arsene.

TEAM: 10 - WE BEAT EVERTON. WE DID THE DOUBLE ON THEM. WE IN THE TOP 4. Bring on the Arsenal!!!!!

MoKo gives us his player ratings for the match against Bolton on the weekend. The ratings have come in a bit late this wee as MoKo only managed to watch the game as a replay thus he was not as tense as usual during his assessment of the play.

REINA : 7 - A rock as usual. Bolton games always require a commanding performance by the keeper for dealing with crosses and set pieces. Pepe did not disappoint.

CARRAGHER: 6.5 - Was a solid performance. Was never put under pressure. Distribution was much improved from last week.

SKRTEL: 6.5 - Roles reversed from last week. Was responsible for sweeping up. Did ok but never excelled.

KYRIAGOS: 8 - Yet another commanding performance from the Soto! Won the aerial duel with Davies in my view. When you lose a tooth in a fixture you know you’ve put in your all.

INSUA: 8 - Superb game on both ends of the park. But his attacking contribution was top notch. Added great width and was able to supply dangerous crosses throughout.

KUYT: 8 - Another game another goal! Let’s hope this is a habit he keeps up till the end of the season. This is more like the Kuyt of last season. Especially loved the mini-crossover that put Zat Knight on the ground!

MASCHERANO: 7.5 - Every week I say pretty much the same thing. Has found some consistency and is now the fulcrum for the teams play. His passing was exceptional, both long and short.

AQUILANI: 5.5 - Didn’t quite get into this game. His passing was not what you would expect. Hopefully this we can chalk up to experience of physical fixtures. Unlike many commentators I’m not writing him off in his first season.

REIRA: 7 - An efficient performance. Worked well in tandem with Insua. You can see his form is slowly coming back. Visible lacking in fitness.

GERRARD: 7 - This was more like it! The touches were there and the runs were penetrative. He was shadowed by Muamba but managed to get free and make some great plays. I guess Rafa was right last week to keep with him - I’ll be admit it I was wrong!

NGOG: 6.5 - Lead the line well even though marked by Zat Knight (6′7″ defender) managed to win some 1st ball. This fixture did expose his lack of strength a little. Maybe he can get on the same diet as Agbonlahor. Should really have scored though.

LUCAS: 6.5 - Was effected and was more adventurous than normal in getting into advanced positions. Came out looking good in comparison to Aquilani’s performance. Hopefully this buys him some slack from his band of detractors.

MAXI: 6 - Was impressed at the way he ghosts into the box. Always makes the early run in when the ball is on the opposite wing. This could be a sign of goals to come. Also spotted him is defensive positions which is a relieve as some imports are a tad lazy on that end of the field.

BABEL: 6 - Came on to eat up time and well….ate up time. Nothing else to report. I will admit a bias against him as it just doesn’t seem like he is making an effort to get into this team. Maybe the battle for a world cup place will wake him up

MANAGER: 7.5 - As I’ve said before. The system is pretty much set these days. Personnel is the only issue for the manager. He got the Gerrard decision wrong when many of us felt he was not in the right form. Another clean sheet shows the defensive issues are being addressed. One thing to note is that we do better when we don’t give away free kicks deep in our half. It sounds a rather obvious observation but is something we have not been applying this season.
That’s 6 unbeaten, 4 wins and 2 draws. You can’t complain about that form!

TEAM : 7 - Overall an efficient performance. When Lucas was in for Aquilani we bossed the game and were more stable. Defence is now back to something close to the standard expected. In the weeks to come the attack has to come to the party.

The season began with the team balance tipping to attack. We scored goals for fun (6 vs Hull, 4 vs Burnley and Stoke, 3 vs. Bolton and West Ham all before the end of September) but conceded plenty.

Now the balance is back to the defence. In the last six league games since 26 Dec it’s 8 goals for and 1 against. That’s more like the Liverpool we know!

MoKo Ratings Explained:

1 – “You’re beginning to remind me of Gary Neville”
4 – “Are you f#@King joking”
5 – Reserve level performance.
6 – Very standard performance.
7 – Contributed to the team performance. Only just.
8 – Instrumental to the team’s performance.
9 – Involved in all of our best play.
10 – Won this one on his own.

Reina - 6.5 : Not much to do throughout. Some well earned rest!

Carragher - 5 : Struggled to deal with Jarvis (Wolves left wing) and was exposed for pace. Didn’t get forward to much effect and was responsible for giving away possession on numerous occasions. Needs to remove the 40yrd passes from his rather limited repertoire. When not contributing defensively his lack of footballing skills is laid bare.

Skrtel - 6 : Was given the responsibility of keeping Doyle at bay. Was poor in the tackle and decision making on when to go in and when to hold off. Only succeeded in this because Wolves were poor in attack which forced Doyle to play a long way form the Liverpool goal.

Kyriako - 7.5 : Was commanding in the air as should be expected. Also took up great position in cover defence as he was effectively the sweeper since Wolves played one up. More encouraging signs form the big man.

Insua - 7 : Snuffed out Wolves right side attacking options. Was position ally good as shown when he covered across the box to the right side to put in a block on a shot and in winning back post headers. Also got forward but was let down by some poor support play by most of the team.

Maxi - 6.5 : Was impressed at how he was not bullied or hurried off the ball as I normally expect from foreign players coming into the Prem. A couple of touches but not much else of quality form him. Did not look potent at all on the left side after Reira left the pitch.

Mascherano - 6.5 : Same as Reina not much to do. Well at least not as much as usual. Wolves didn’t keep possession well so there was little to do in the centre of the park on defence. He was good in possession and found some good forward passes.

Lucas - 6.5 : Same as above. There really was not a lot of work for defensive CM in last night’s game for both teams. Passed neatly enough but as usual did not try to be adventurous with his range.

Riera - 6.5 : Put in a lot of effort and was always decent with the ball at his feet. Did not link up with Insua well, often denying the Argentine the overlap. HE also suffered as a result of Liverpool front men being poor on the night.

Gerrard - 5 : It’s time it was said to be honest. Gerrard was poor in possession all night. The set pieces were almost all wasted. He didn’t make any tackles. Was dangerous on direct forward runs but without the precise control he is used to all the runs ended in disappointing losses of possession. As a hole player he should be expected to drop in and also run the channels but he did not do this much - stayed far too central.
Lets hope the real Gerrard comes back at some point this season coz we haven’t seen him once yet!

Kuyt - 5.5 : Did not give options in attack for the left side players (the only side that really contributed in attack). His job was to stay central and look to link up with Gerrard when we have possession. Gerrard never had possession and neither did Kuyt hence no joy on the night.

Ngog - 7.5 : In the 20min he played showed up Gerrard and Kuyts efforts. His skill set makes him more effective as he wins first ball headers, has good touch and enough pace to work the channels. Only when he was on the ball did we finally manage to stretch the Wolves defence. in the end his quality of play wasn’t top notch and decision making not that good either but at least he was lively.

Rafa - 5 : Liverpool is now a recognised 4-4-1-1 team which meant the Manager’s job is only then to combine the appropriate personnel for the game at hand. The starting line-up cannot be question as before the game you would say they are more than capable and it was arguably the best line-up we have fit.
As the game progresses though the manager must decide if the personnel are delivering on the jobs they have been given on the pitch. With the game at 0-0 in the middle of the second half, with Liverpool having been unable to keep possession and to craft attacks I think changes should have been on his mind. Reira was visibly tired and it was correct he go off. Ngog came on and did well so that substitution worked well. However, keeping Aquilani and Degen and to a certain extent Pacheco on the bench did not make sense.
Carragher was not contributing and Degen could have come on to defend against pace better and also retain and use the ball better. Lucas did what he was asked but there really was not use in 2 DM when Wolves were not keeping possession either. With Gerrard’s troubles Pacheco could have come on to shake things up a little - there are obvious risks in such a move though.

All in all it didn’t look like Rafa was pushing for the win. It is always worth noting that we have not insight about what the state of the squad is at any point in time so cannot make these comments with any assurance

TEAM - 6 : Did enough not to lose but never did enough to win the game. Must do better!

P.S. The ref last night was terrible. He let go of some things then he blows for other less serious things. Just made it difficult to know how to play. Both teams were affected.

The scoreline flattered Spurs! Reira hit the bar, Skrtel missed a volley, Deggen turned down a shot, Kuyt miscued 2 tap ins, Ngog had one brilliantly saved. It could easily have been 4/5 (assuming you can never score every chance unless you are Arshavin).

My Ratings:

Reina: 7 - Good save from Modric at end of first half, but mix up with Kyriakos could have been costly.
Carragher: 7.5 - Defensively very good and one lung busting sprint in first half set the tone for the Liverpool performance. Well played the Captain.
Skrtel: 7 - Man marked Defoe out of the game but was not always comfortable.
Kyriakos: 8 - Battled Crouch and made it difficult for him. Also popped up in great zone marking situations to pick up runners into the box and prevent opportunities. Could be what’s needed to shore up our leaky defence.
Insua: 6.5 - Not a busy day as he was up against Modric. Stuglled early on how to mark Modric cutting in from the right but did better when he realised it’s not his man when he cuts in (Rafa had a word).
Deggen: 7.5 - Industrious on both ends of the pitch. Was the target of repeated fouls as a result of good pace combined with good close control. Added balance by stretching the field and staying wide.
Lucas: 6.5 - Did enough without ever standing out. Did contribute with some good forward runs to create space for others.
Mascherano: 7.5 - The usual. Was all over destroying anything needing destroying. And had some good distribution and injection of pace into our passing game.
Reira: 7 - Added balance and was goo help in defence after he finally realised HE is meant to cover Modric when he cuts in. Had some neat touches and linked up well with Aquilani and Insua. Almost had a goal to cap up a welcome return to fitness.
Aquilani: 7.5 - Looked more comfortable out of the hustle and bustle of CM. Had some great touches and showed he’s ability to see creative forward passes. Really knitted together the team shape by going to the ball and making great layoffs. No goal threat though.
Kuyt: 8 - Great finish for the goal and super calm for retaken penalty (scored both). Hard work through our and linked up with Aquilani and wide players really well. Should have score 2 more.

Maxi: 6 - Had no impact on the game.
Ngog: 8 - High scored based on the fact he was instantly up to speed and showed trickery to get in on goal after embarrassing Bassong in the box. denied by a great save. Won the penalty (fouled by Bassong) and chased down all over the field during his cameo (not bad for 15min).
Darby: 7.5 - Only played in injury time but still managed to surge into space and provide the pass that lead to the goal (5min of really good work).

Rafa: 8 - Tactically the team was well set up with balance and width (which has been missing of late). went with a man marking scheme for central defence which worked perfectly in stifling one of the best partnerships in the league. The role given Aquilani caused spurs problems as they did not track him in his free role – popped up all over the pitch, including in defence). The substitutions were all good (including the Maxi one, he needs the game time right now). Also was quite aggressive on set pieces sending up the centrebacks even when the score was still 1-0 late on.

The point when he called over Insua to tell him not to be dragged infield by Modric showed he hasn’t lost his eye for the game.

Also worth noting the Kop banner in support of Rafa! He has managed to keep the support of the faithful and based on the display still “has the dressing room”. This is why I can’t believe anything I read in the British press (including the broadsheets). Plus Gerrard laughed at the rumours of him having had a bust up with Pelligrino!

TEAM : 7.5 - Some would say that is a bit harsh but at the end of the day it was a great win from a hard working display. There were definite glimpses of quality but it was not sustained. The confidence was definitely rising throughout.

I could not believe that was Liverpool I was watching last night in our Champions League match against Fiorentina! It was a totally opposite performance from that we put on on the weekend against Hull. I have just been reading what Rafa said after last nights game and he is saying that he has never seen Liverpool play as badly as they did in the first half. I agree 100% with Rafa. Our first half performance was shocking and the second half was not much better!

So what when wrong? What stood out for me was the poor displays from Johnson and Insua as the wing backs. Going forward they were slightly okay but their defending was a joke! People have questioned Johnson’s ability to defend and I have stood by him but last night he let me down as he was found wanting when it cam to defend.

Fiorentina could attack down either of our flanks at will. Insua had the worst game I have ever seen him play in a Red shirt as he was exposed terribly by Fiorentina. What also really worries me about Insua is his height. They say he is the shortest player in the whole of the Premiership, I do not know how true that is. All it takes is for a team with a tall right winger and they just have to launch high balls into the box in Insua’s direction and we will be screwed.

Rafa opted to start with Aurelio in the middle of the park with Lucas. This did not work at all. As much as I am a fan of Aurelio, I would much rather see him in the left back position where he can go forward in whip in some telling crosses. We do not see the best of him in the middle. I will not slate Lucas today as he had another bad game but the whole team just did not pitch up for the game so I can not lay all the blame on Lucas this time. Just that he missed a wide open header which a player of his calibre should have converted.

Where was Gerrard in the first half? I asked myself that question as I could not see Captain Fantastic. He seemed to drift out of the game and never really got a foot hold on the game. Torres had another off day as he was marked brilliantly by the Italians.

I guess this is a game we have to quickly forget about especially with Chelsea coming up on Sunday. I can not see us playing that badly on Sunday because if we do we could be on the receiving end of a humiliating scoreline.

But all is not lost in the Champions League. Yes we lost 2-0 to Fiorentina but we still have four more games to play and I am sure we will still qualify for the knock out rounds.

It is mornings like this that I hate. I went to bed very angry last night following our 3-1 loss at home to Aston Villa. I have woken up this morning thinking that I am okay and I am over the result but I am lying to myself. It still hurts big time. Where did it all go wrong last night? Everywhere I think!

Going into the match, I was positive that we were going to win following our performance against Stoke and the fact that Villa have started the season off poorly. Where I saw us winning the game was in central midfield as Villa looked very thin there going into the game. They have not been helped by the loss of Gareth Barry. Then when I saw their team sheet and saw that John Carew was not starting or even on the bench, I relaxed into my sofa and expected to see a win for us.

We should have scored very early on in the game when Torres, Benayoun and Gerrard all had an opportunity. That early goal would have just calmed the nerves and we would have probably gone on to score three or four. But the longer the game went and we failed to find the back of the net, the more frustrated the players got. And to make it worse Villa then scored or should I say Lucas scored.

For me, Lucas should be sold or loaned out or sent to the reserves!!! I have never had much faith in this guy and I gave him the benefit of the doubt and thought he should have a chance but last night he did NOTHING for us besides score an own goal. The own goal aside; just in general play, Lucas offered us NOTHING. What is this guy doing in the starting lineup? What really pissed me off was that there were times Mascherano was playing ahead of Lucas. I am sure this was not a tactic by Rafa but rather Mascherano seeing that Lucas is doing nothing going forward so I may as well do it myself.

When Lucas did get the ball, he did not look for a pass going forward but rather looked to spray the passes back or laterally. No forward momentum from Lucas at all. No forward runs by him into the box. So I ask yet again, “What is the guy doing in the team?” MoKo has defended Lucas in the past but I wonder how he will feel today after seeing Lucas’ game last night.

We can not shoulder all the blame on Lucas but I will shoulder 90% of it on him! The other 10% will be split up: Gerrrard had one of his worst games ever last night and he simply did not seem on song. Torres too was not at his best. Even though he got our only goal, he is still far from living up to his tag as the worlds best striker. I would shoulder 2% of the blame of those two and the rest will go to VORONIN and BABEL!!

These two only came on as second half subs but what piss poor games they had. I don’t think Voronin even knew where he was for the time he was on the field. As for Babel he came on and was meant to look lively but all he did was take long range shots at goal which never found the target. Two other players I would sell within a minute if ever I was incharge at Liverpool.

I may be writing this post out of frustration and I may be sounding too harsh or critical but I am pissed off. It hurts me everytime I see Liverpool loose. And now we are already 6 points off the pace. Some will say it is still too early but 6 points behind is 6 points behind and that is a FACT. We need to seriously knuckle down and make a plan going forward.

As drastic as this may sound but we need to do it until Aquilani gets fit: Stevie needs to come back and play in central midfield in place of Lucas. Then we put Benayoun in the hole behind Torres and then Riera wide on the left. This will give us a bit more structure and control in the midfield. For the sake of the team, Stevie needs to come back into central midfield right now, because the longer we keep Lucas there, the more trouble we are going to be in!

YNWA

I am ecstatic after our 4-0 win over Stoke last night. Going into the game, I knew that we had to put in a better performance than we did against Spurs but I still had memories about Stoke’s visit to Anfield last season when they frustrated us into a 0-0 draw. But all that changed last night when Torres gave us the lead after 4 minutes. It may not have been a spectacular goal but a player like Torres just needs to keep scoring goals to build the confidence up.

We looked in fine profile last night as we attacked well. I was a bit concerned by the number of free kicks we were giving away in dangerous areas. A better team would have punished us with all those chances. I think I was just as nervous for Ayala last night as he was for himself. You could see the guy was not comfortable at times but Carra talked him through the game and he came out well. It could have been a different story if Stoke had opted to play with two men upfront, that really would have tested Ayala. But credit to the bloke for stepping up and I hope he can build from this.

Now the main crux of this post has to centre around Glen Johnson. He was head and shoulders my Man of the Match yesterday and I don’t think many of you would disagree with me. We have been missing a genuine attacking threat down our right and Johnson has just filled that gap for us. He seems to be doubling up as a right back and a right winger. We know Kuyt does not have the greatest pace and skill to be a wing wizard down the right but now he has the perfect compliment in the form of Glen. The two of them (Kuyt and Johnson) seem to have already struck a great understanding with each other and if teams thought that our only attacking threat was through Gerrrard and Torres, they better think again as Johnson and Kuyt are going to unlock many defences this season.

Johnson capped off his home debut with a stunning goal to make it 2-0 just before the break. The technique he showed with his scissors kick was of the top draw. You would expect a finish like that from Torres but Glen showed that he can also do it. For 90 minutes Glen was an attacking threat and his defence was also rock solid. A 10 / 10 performance by him and long may it continue. It is refreshing to see us being able to attack from the right back position again. I think the last time we had a right back attacking threat was back in the day of Rob Jones and Jason McAteer, now that was a long time ago!

There has to be special mention about our third goal…sheer class by Steven Gerrard. I have not seen a turn like that in a very long time. Usually you see players make turns like that and a goal does not come from it but this time Gerrard laid it on for Kuyt to make it three. Gerrard’s turn last night reminds me of the ‘turn’ Redondo did on Henning Burg in the Champions League a couple of seasons back.

N’gog came on to make it 4-0 and it was virtually a tap in but all goals count and maybe that goal will spur the young mans confidence. Yet again, the creator of that goal….my man Glen Johnson.

I have just been reading reactions from the game this morning and Rafa has made special mention to Lucas’ performance past night. Yes, he played better than he did at Spurs but still he needs to up his game in my opinion. What is concerning me though is that it seems that Mascherano is having the ball at his feet more now than he did when Alonso was there. I am not saying Mascherano is a bad ball player but I would be expecting Lucas to be the one running to the middle of the park and picking up the ball from Mascherano and then Lucas would make the call and decide which way to go. But I guess Lucas is not ready to take up this responsibilty and thus Javier is the one ‘dictating’ play from midfield. I guess that is why we signed Aquilani because that is exactly what he will be doing (dictating play from midfield). One thing Lucas has improved on though is his ball retention. He is not giving the ball away like he used to last season which is a bonus.

All in all, great performance by the Reds and we now just need to build from it. I can not help but laugh at Manure after they lost to Burnley last night!!! We already ahead of them on the table!

YNWA