Reds Romped Past Pompey

Liverpool 4 Portsmouth 1
Benayoun 13, Distin og 16, Torres 67, 85 - Benjani 57

A much needed win for the home side as Liverpool has lost the last 3 games recently. 2 losses in the league against Reading and Manchester United and the midweek Carling Cup defeat against Chelsea. A home game against Portsmouth, who is not far away from us on the table, proved to be very crucial for the morale of the team. Many would have predicted a tough game for the Reds, however, Rafa's men proved to Harry Redknapp's team that coming to Anfield is never easy.

Somehow, the telecast in Singapore had some problems. I managed to watch the first minute of the first half and the screen went blank since. I was pissed by the disability of showing the match. Nevertheless, I surfed soccernet to know the latest scores of the match.



Yossi Benayoun was first to break the deadlock. A pretty cross from the left by Harry Kewell was volleyed into the goal. The Israeli scored his 6th goal for Liverpool and most importantly, he gave Liverpool the lead.

3 minutes later, Torres was working towards goal with Sol Campbell on his back. Campbell was having a hard time containing him and his tackle was unluckily deflected off fellow defender Sylvain Distin's legs and into the goal. Tough luck on Portsmouth but from a Liverpool fan's point of view, we wouldn't mind that. :)



2-0 at half time and at that moment, the telecast was not back yet. I do not know what went wrong with the satellite?

The match was back on television in the second half. I do not know why again, once the telecast is back, Liverpool do not seems to be the team having a 2 goal lead. Portsmouth, with the introduction of ex Arsenal striker, Kanu, was controlling the pace of the game and they did got one back. Kanu's great ball from the left to the right picks out Benjani who didn't blink an eye shooting past Pepe Reina.

Credit to Liverpool, they didn't panicked even the Pompeys got one goal back. We managed to get control of the game and soon after, we were able to get the third. A nice through ball from Mascherano to Ryan Babel, whose pace caused havoc in the penalty area. The ball were rebounded off David James for Fernando Torres to score into the empty goal. He made it look so simple.



He added another in the 85th minute to make it impossible for Portsmouth to get any points from the game. A Gerrard's assist header was volleyed into the Kop-End and Fernando increased his goal tally.

A 4-1 win is considered a big margin and against a side which is considered the dark horse of the league, is not a bad result after all. Having said that, we have to look forward to the next match and work harder in bridging the gap from the top. It's still a long long way to go.

COME ON!

You'll Never Walk Alone..

Liverpool Held At Fratton Park

Portsmouth 0 Liverpool 0

Was Rafa right to rest Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres on the bench? Was Rafa right to put Crouch upfront? Many would have disagreed with the man above for his selection options last Saturday.

Liverpool was being held 0-0 at Fratton Park against the strong-spirited Portsmouth. We would see it as a 2 point loss instead of a point gained. Liverpool didn't play well, in my opinion. Didn't create much chances and we didn't threaten David James much as well. Seeing the first 11 in the beginning, this just tells me that Rafa had chosen a group of players whom he thought was fresh and good enough to beat the Pompeys.



Peter Crouch was given the first start of the season. Sadly, he played badly. I do not know whether it's Rafa tactics to pump high balls to Crouch to flick on, or the players who wanted to play the typical England style of football. Crouch's control of the ball was terrible. Loses possession so easily and when balls are up, he can't even win the first ball and headers. Against the likes of Distin and Campbell, he is totally neutralised. He had a poor game, that's for sure. I do hope to see him improve further, otherwise, I'm afraid, he might even leave in the January transfer window.



Pepe Reina was the hero for the game as he saved the penalty from Kanu. A controversial penalty given against Liverpool and luckily, Reina made justice for Liverpool.

Liverpool's wing play was extremely poor. Only Jermaine Pennant was the dangerous one. The normal passing of Liverpool was not around on that day. Was it because of the international break? I believe that's not an excuse. If you are good, you would be good enough to overcome everything. Manchester United and Arsenal both have difficult away games. Still, they gotten 3 points.

Liverpool would really need to improve. Yes, we have squad depth. However, if we do not produce the right results, that's no point having a big squad. Rafa can continues his tinkering, if he produces the right results. Otherwise, I believe he would have lots of pressure on him.

Up next, Porto. Here comes the Champions League!

You'll Never Walk Alone..