Liverpool vs Lille: Match Review

Can someone please tell me who this team is? I don’t recognise them at all!

Jokes aside, that was another fantastic performance! Every single person pitched up and put nothing less than everything they had into the game. Makes me proud to be a red when I see that.

Starters

Pepe – Same old, same old. Nothing all game. One fantastic save.

Johnson – He really does complete our backline. Confident in defence, aggresive in attack. Brilliant.

Carra – Completely unflappable. Fantastic Carra tackle in the box. Great stuff.

Agger – Took one hell of a beating. Performed comfortably but should possibly have had at least one goal to his name. Still, goals from defenders will always be a bonus.

Insua – The lad’s getting tricksy now! Great attacking display. Pertformed comfortably in defence as well. No complaints. Good stuff.

Mascherano – Made the midfield his own. Nothing gets past Masch on his day.

Lucas – One of his very best performances. Pity about the dive.

Kuyt – Been a while since he’s played this well. Was a constant threat down the flank and gave Torres something to work with. Excellent.

Gerrard – Oh how he needed that goal! fantastic Gerrard performance. Ran everywhere, demanded the ball, passed like a champion, got into good areas, brilliant.

Babel – It is soooooo good to see Babel really sprint. Ran his little red heart out, and not just for the onbvious balls. He hassled the defence and really made his pace count. How I have longed to see him play like this!

Torres – 4 goals in 2 games. Not bad. Could be better  . Man of the match.

Subs

Not really worth mentioning any of them. They all came on so late.

This is the first time in a very, very long time that I haven’t had a single negative comment about any individual performance. Well done lads. You’ve done me proud.

Lucas deserves special mention for his truly great performance. If it hadn't been for Torres' brace (without which we would have gone to extra time) then he would have been my Man of the Match. Great job kid. You've given Rafa a real stinker to pick the team for Man U now.

The only thing that irked me was that we pulled off the gas when we were only one goal to the good. 2-0 was not a safe score; all they need is one goal and we go crashing out. Still, we did eventually (and slightly fortunately) get the third, so no harm done.

Now, Lets murder the scum!

Lille vs Liverpool: Match Review

Well we lost. Again. It's funny how you'd think that would have begun to hurt less over time, but it's still just as raw. In fairness, anyone who knows Rafa will have known that this match was most likely to end 1-0 one way or the other. That's Rafa away in Europe. In truth it's not a disaster but it's precisely what we didn't need right now.

Starters

Reina - For all their shots, I don't think he had a meaningful save to make all night. Could do nothing about the goal. Perfect free-kick. Somone touchses it and he can do nothing, no one touches it and he can do nothing. Solid as always.

Johnson - It's amazing the impact that he has. I'm so glad that he's back. Was pretty good defensively and made a couple of great runs offensively. Good performance.

Carra - One of his better games this season. Made a real nuisance of himself. Sent the French flying with little more than a breath in their direction.

Agger - Also solid. Had to cope with a lot more pressure than he should have. Our midfield is just not working and our back two are the ones who are suffering for that.

Insua - Struggled to contain their nameless number 10 (or at least I can't remember it right now), but at the same time he put in some great challenges and blocked of a lot of their important passes. More good than bad. Offensively good as always. He's really consistent in that respect. His yellow card was actually a brilliant tackle that shouldn;t have even been a foul.

Masch - Did what he does best. Tackled everything that moved. Good solid Masch performance.

Lucas - I'm afraid this is where it all boils down. His passing was pretty woeful again today. Masch and Lucas pass to one another a lot, but most of the mforward balls come from the back four. That is just wrong. We don;t need him for his tackling, we need passing prowess. Where the hell was Aquilani!?

Kuyt - Much better than Wigan, but still nothing special. He's faded on the right. Whatever he had has gone. Wish we could have played Maxi. Glad he went off, but his replacement left me stupified.

Gerrard - Had some great moments but they were intersperced with long periods of anonimity. Gerrard and Torres are supposed to work off one another, and it's just not happening at the moment.

Babel - Our most threatening player by miles! That 1-2-3-4-5 with Torres was fantastic and deserved a goal (I'm still not convinced about Babel's composure). His second shot was better and also deserved a goal. Sadly both found the keeper with surgical precision. Don't think anyone understands why he went off. The whole team became flat immediately after he left. My man of the match by miles.

Torres - Still not sharp, but was left isolated for long stretches of the game. Showed his obvious quality when he did get the ball though. Funny how Torres clearly lacks match fitness yet he's out there every game, while Aquilani sits on the bench because he doesn;t have any either. Come on, Rafa! Grow up and play the man!

Subs

Riera - Not terrible but definitely not as good as Babel was. Therefore it was a bad sub. The only plausible reason for him to come off is that he was tired, but he didn;t look it to me.

El Zhar - Can't remember him touching the ball. So El Zhar in the dying minutes is less of a risk than, say, Aquilani or Pachecco? Come off it.

I must say that Rafa got this one wrong. We went in with the typical Rafa-away-in-Europe strategy of "make sure that we don't do badly away so that we can win the tie at home". Worked for some of the big guns (ie Real Madrid) but Lille did not deserve that much respect. This is a game that we should have blown them away.

Now I know that confidence was probably low after the Wigan debacle, but the best way to remedy that would have been to show the world that it was a one off and destroy our next opponents. Instead, we stuck to the old plan and ended up with nothing except more questions to answer, more bad headlines, and less confidence.

Rafa said in his post match interview that he was proud of the desire and effort that the players put in, and I agree with him there. The players were definitely much more in the game than they were against Wigan, and in that regard it was a good reply. But the fact is that we have lost two games in a row, and are precariously close to dropping out of touch with both of our current lowly goals (ie top four and the Europa League trophy). This has been a really harrowing season to be a Liverpool supporter, and I hope that we do not see anything similar for a very, very long time.

Lille vs Liverpool: Match Preview

So we're playing Lille. Well they are a football team from France, and they um..... Like to use their feet when they play, as well as occasionally their heads and their chests. Legs too, every now and then. Oh yeah! And their goalkeeper can use his hands too.

But enough about their playing style. Let's get into some facts and figures! They're currently lying in 5th position in the French league, which is... um.... not very good, but then Liverpool are in seventh, so I guess we can't really judge them.

Ok, look. I have no idea who the hell this team is. I've never seen them play and I will take the rap for that. But seriously, all of the teams that we've played in both European competitions this year have been opponents we have never played before! I'll be sure to keep an eye out on the other games, but there are 14 other teams that we could potentially meet in the next round (if we even get there, please Jesus), so I'm not making any promises. I do know 9 of those teams though, so maybe this preview will be a little more enlightening next time. Sorry.

Wigan 1 - 0 Liverpool: Match Review

I spent a bit of time after the game trying to find a word which sums up my feelings. I thought of bleak, gutted, angry, sad, depressed, even catatonic came to mind. But the best word I found was RAWRAGGGGHARAHRWAAAARRGH!!!

So, with that said, it’s pretty clear that my review is not going to be full of positives so I hope you weren’t expecting any.

Starters

Reina – Not much to do really. No chance for the goal. All other saves were pretty simple.

Mascherano – Not a fullback and proved it. Doesn’t usually have to mark in midfield which allowed Rodellega to break free for the goal. Made a better show of it once he was moved into midfield. Certainly killed off their attacking fluidity.

Carra – Caught out by pace and movement a lot. Made a few telling tackles but didn’t impress.

Kyrgiakos – More composed than Carra, but was caught out just as much. Fortunately he was good in the air.

Insua – Defensively pretty suspect at best. Offensively typically good, just no one was ever open to receive his crosses.

Lucas – Ye Gods. Completely forgot how to pass. Everything fell apart in the midfield and with Gerrard marked out the game, he had to step up. He didn’t.

Gerrard – As I said, marked out the game whenever he tried to step forward.Had almost no involvement all game really.

Kuyt – Bad. Just bad. Probably his worst ever game in a red shirt. Don’t think he ever got two passes right in a row. Provided nothing going forward. Should have been subbed at half time.

Maxi – Well. Maybe it wasn’t all bad. Maxi put in a good shift which stood out like a butterfly in a morgue. Good incisive passing and got into good areas more than once. Tie Man of the Match (which is kind of like choosing your favorite flavour of mud).

Yossi – Typical Yossi on the ball, but lacked his usual penetration. When he ran he seemed aimless. Not suprised he was subbed, but there were worse out there.

Torres – Had he been fully sharp, we could have won it. But it’s not fair to put all of your expectations on the fitness of one player. Did well.

Subs

Johnson – Thank the gods that Johnson is fit. Probably should have started whether match fit or not. Not great, but that’s to be expected. At least he knows the position.

Aquilani – Looked keen to get stuck in, which is more than I can say for most of the team. He certainly taught the rest of the boys how to pass. Don’t think he missed more than 3 passes the whole time he was on. And some of them were quality. Most importantly he looked to get it forward. Everything began to tick once he came on. Tie Man of the Match.

Babel – Surprised myself when I was calling for him to come on at half time. Didn’t get enough time to make the impact, but did well nonetheless.

So, what more can be said. I’m bleak (or rawraggggharahrwaaaarrgh, as I said earlier) so I’d rather not dwell on this too much. Our passing let us down, and we were completely outplayed in the first half. Pitiful. Second half was brighter but definitely not good enough.

If Aquilani doesn’t start for Lucas against Lille in midweek then I think I may have a severe medical condition all over my floor.

Credit has to be given to Wigan for playing like possessed demons (if that’s even possible). At times I wondered if the ref had got the count right, because there seemed to be 15 Wigan players on the field. They chewed up all of the space and pulled away from their markers with energy and desire and I think they deserved the win. Certainly compared to how flat and lifeless we were.

So well done Wigan, you bastards.

Liverpool's missing man.

You know I could have sworn that we made a really big signing in the summer, but I can't for the life of me remember who it was. Not Glen Johnson, I won't forget his overhead debut goal for a loooong time. What was his name....

Oh yes, now I remember. Alberto Aquilani. Whatever happened to him?

Seriously though, Alberto came to Liverpool with an injury and we all knew that it would be a while before we saw him in action. We were promised by Roma's medical staff that he would be fit for our game against the chavs at Stamford Bridge. Two months after that game we heard that he was training with the first team. Three weeks after that and we saw him in a Carling Cup game. Then he flitted in and out of the setup before vanishing into oblivion.

Wish I could say I was surprised but I'm not really. Personally I've seen enough from the man to conclude that he's pretty damn good. He has the killer pass that we've lacked since Xabi left and Stevie moved to 2nd striker. In fact his passing is so good that he often fools not only the entire defense, but our offense as well. The rest of the team have not yet built the necessary understanding to be able to make the most of Alberto's footballing brain.

This may sound a little surprising, but I think Aquilani is probably one of our most intelligent players together with Benayoun and Torres. Gerrard gets honorable mention here as well. Yet we just don't seem to be able to take advantage of that.

This whole situation is making me very nervous. Aquilani must have been keen to strut his stuff in the hope of getting into the Italian national setup for the World Cup, but he surely hasn't played enough games to get into the squad let alone the starting 11. He must be gutted. I remember an interview earlier in the season where Aquilani told the press that he needed to play play play something like five times.

Still, Rafa has decided that he's not ready yet. Perhaps he's right, after all he did come from the slowest league in the history of the world (ie Serie A) and come fresh from a long term injury into one of the most savage in the world (ie our own dear Premier League). If Rafa is right, then I would expect Aquilani to benefit hugely from a good solid England pre-season. If not, then what we've seen is probably as good as we're going to get.

I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only fan who has thought of this, but my ideal starting line-up would have Mascherano and Gerrard partnering in the midfield with Aquilani up front knocking his piercing passes through to the lone Fernando. If the game is going well, then Gerrard can sneak up and take a place next to Aquilani or even ahead as a second striker.

I hope to see this line-up next season. Please, oh please, let Aquilani not get pinched before we truly get to see what he can do. I really don't want to see another Robbie Keane scenario. It's messy and makes the club look like amateurs. Give the man a chance Rafa!

Rafa's latest transfer wonder: Maxi Rodriguez.

If there's one thing about Rafa Benitez's that has always impressed me, it's his record in the transfer market. Those of you who know me from my early days on Caught Offside will know that Rafa and transfers are one of my favorite topics of discussion. I won't go into that for now (but I definitely will in the future) as I have something more specific in mind.

During the January transfer window we were all pining for various players that we hoped we could nab to save our season. Things were really bad back then, and not a few of us lost a lot of belief in the custodian and his charges. We wanted new strikers, new wingers, new fullbacks, new defenders, the list goes on. But the end of the window came, and all we had procured was a single aging winger from mid-table Atletico Madrid for free. "What the hell?" were the words that went through many a mind.

However, the impact that this one player has had on our club has been nothing short of astonishing. While he has taken time to get used to his new club (as all new recruits do) our entire season has taken a remarkable u-turn. We now find ourselves back in the thick of the top 4 race (beating rivals on the way) with a intensity and drive that has been missing for a very long time. Not all of this can be credited to Maxi Rodriguez (the man in question) but certain things most definitely can.

If you read my very first post then you will remember that I recently promoted Mascherano to the world class bracket. This has been on the back of his award for Liverpool FC's top player of February. He has been absolutely incredible, even Rafa has applauded his efforts in the press and he is not impressed easily. What a different player he is now compared to the start of the season.

But what has changed? Only one thing. His best mate has joined the club! Maxi and Mascherano have been friends all the way through their careers and they bring the best out of each other. Remember Mascherano having his head turned during the summer? Well now he's moments away from signing a new contract with the club, if the official site is to be believed.

So, Rafa has essentially provided us with a new winger (whose quality is just beginning to show) and a re-energised defensive midfielder (who is one of the world's best when he plays like he has been), all of this for a signing on fee and some wages. So, congratulations Rafa. You got this one right.

Some of you may be surprised by the fact that Maxi sits in the average category on my squad sheet. This is the way in which I will judge all new recruits to the club. They come in with nothing behind them. All will be judged equally. If they play really well then they will be promoted to good or even world class. If they don't then they will stay in the average bracket.

Wigan vs Liverpool Match Preview

With Liverpool's rivals for fourth place all involved in FA cup games this weekend, we have a real chance at getting ourselves a bit of breathing space. At the moment, a win will put us into 4th. We will have played more games than all our rivals, granted (3 more than Villa!), but the thing about games in hand is that they still have to win them. We already have.

With that, it's time to look ahead to Wigan. We play on Monday evening at 10 PM (8 PM BST) at the JJB stadium. Wigan currently occupy 16th spot on the Premier League table, just 1 point off of the relegation zone with a game in hand. Because of this one would expect that, after the game, they will be 1 point off the relegation zone with no games in hand.

However, things are not always as simple as that. Relegation struggles add a new dimension to those seemingly "easy" games. Wigan have been in the Premier League since the 2005/06 season and will be looking to stay here as long as possible. Especially since this is their one and only stint in the top flight. Life in the Premier League has been tough on them though, as is evidenced by their 9-1 loss to Tottenham earlier in the season, which was the first time since 1995 that a team has scored nine goals in a single Premier League match.

Things have not always been bad though. Wigan also accomplished what had seemed impossible and ended mighty Chelsea's unbeaten run from the start of the season. This was achieved at the JJB with a final score of 3-1. So the boys can play when the mood grabs them.

Their home form does not live up to this sparkling achievement though. Their record sits at 13 games, 3 wins, 5 draws and 5 losses. A total of 14 points, 4 of which were gained against teams currently in the top half (Chelsea included). 

All in all, Wigan do not strike me as a frightening opponent. Managers are often quoted as saying that there are no easy games in the Premier League. True as that may be, this is probably as easy as it gets. Wigan were one of my three predictions for relegation at the start of the season alongside Wolves and Hull.

My hope is that Tuesday will greet us with warm memories of a game where we not only won, but won emphatically. Its been said in the press with not undue sarcasm that our last game against Blackburn was the first game in which we've scored more than three goals since October. We have a perfect opportunity here to see that we don't go on a similar run immediately.

Rafa has said that Glen Johnson is a possibility to start, although it will be touch and go. I hope that he makes it, as Masch is really missed in midfield (even though he's a terrifying prospect to any left winger when at rightback). We have a bit of a defensive crisis at the moment. If Johnson does not make it, then we only have three fit natural defenders: Carragher, Kyrgiakos, and Insua. All three of these players have come in for some severe criticism this season as well, whether warranted or not.

I'm hoping to see Aquilani reemerge in this game as well. Wigan are not the physical threat that Stoke, Everton and Blackburn are so I'd expect him to be in the lineup. Maxi will start again, as will Torres probably.

I expect a good entertaining game with lots of goals. Pepe has been rock solid at the back and his defensive line are back on song, with or without Johnson. I predict a final score of 4-0 to the mighty reds.

The other crunch factor, coming into this game, is the hectic schedule we have coming. By the time the Manchester United clash comes around, our boys will have played 9 games in 28 days (including the international break). With Wigan being "lesser" opposition, can we afford to rest some of our key players?

So, who do you think we should start and what are your predictions for the game?

And so it begins: An introduction and status report on the club I love

Greetings to all, and welcome to my widdle baby. Most of you know me from my contributions on the outstanding Caught Offside website (www.caughtoffside.com) but perhaps there are several others who've stumbled in here and don't know me at all.

I go by the pseudonym of Aquaman, that most underated of superheroes, and have far too many thoughts and opinions on things to possibly keep them all to myself. I've been a fan of Liverpool for a surprisingly short period of time, but then I am only 25 and live in South Africa so I suppose that's understandable, but my passion and love for the club is unrivaled by most. But you didn't come here to hear about me, you came to hear about LFC, so let's dive right into that.

At the time of writing, Liverpool sit in 6th position on the Barclay's Premier League table with 48 points having played 28 games. We're embroiled in a mighty struggle for forth place and the coveted honour of competing in the UEFA Champion's League. Our rivals for this prestige are:

Tottenham, who sit in the money seat with 49 points and have also played 28 games.

Manchester City, who sit just behind Tottenham in 5th with equal points but an inferior goal difference. Crucially, though, they have played a game less.

And Aston Villa, who sit behind us in 7th with 45 points and TWO games in hand.

Now for the scary news. If Villa and Man City win their games in hand, then we'll be in 7th and 4 points off of the pace.

So, we have a rather sticky situation that we have to pull our way out of. Fortunately I do believe that we have all of the tools and materials we need to emerge with a smile on our face and a shot at ol' Big Ears next season.

For materials we have a squad of brilliant, good and average players.

In the brilliant category there sits Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard, Pepe Reina and Javier Mascherano. In my personal opinion these four players could be in any starting lineup in the world, and I'm damn proud that they are here in ours.

In the good category we have Jamie Carragher, Yossi Benayoun, Dirk Kuyt, Albert Riera, Glen Johnson, Matirn Skrtel, Daniel Agger, Lucas Leiva, Alberto Aquilani, Maxi Rodriguez, Ryan Babel, Sotirios Kyrgiakos and Emiliano Insua. Some of these have promoted themselves to this category this season (Lucas and Insua for example), and some have fallen from brilliant (Carragher).

Finally we have the average bracket. In here we find Fabio Aurelio, Philipp Degen, David N'Gog, Dani Pachecco, and all the other youngsters.

I should, perhaps, make my standing on youngsters clear here. I believe that until they have become a regular feature in the team they can not truly be judged on their abilities. The adrenalin and emotions that course through them (when featuring in a first team match is a rare occurrence) can easily turn an average player good, or a good player bad. It's not that I think all our youngsters are average, but more that I'm not going to weigh them down with expectations until they've had their fair chance.

These categories will be a regular feature here, and I will constantly be updating who sits where according to their performances. Mascherano is a recent promotion to the brilliant category. Every change will be accompanied by an explanatory article so you can understand my thinking.

So, we've discussed the materials, now we get into the tools.

In our toolshed we have a manager of distinction. He's won La Liga with an unfancied side, twice, he's won the Champion's League with a team that could only manage 5th in their own league, He's won the FA Cup when things were beginning to look sour. Once you heard nothing but praise for his name, but now you are beginning to hear equal amounts of dissatisfaction. He's Rafa Benitez, our Spanish manager.

I'll discuss the finer elements of the enigmatic man at our helm is later posts, but suffice it to say that I believe he is good enough for us for now. There aren't any other managers freely available that I would want in his place, and I wouldn't want to risk it all trying to pull in some of the big names, as it could go horribly badly. So, until a worthy candidate becomes available, I'm happy with Rafa. I believe he does more good than bad for us and he can take us to the premier league title, it just may not be as soon as most would want.

So, Welcome again to my baby blog. I have far too many ideas for what I want to put in here, so it should be a busy time. Keep checking in.