Quick Update of Last 2 Matches

Liverpool 0 West Ham 0

A disappointing result and we lost a great chance going 3 points clear on top of the table. Failure to score, take chances and hence, frustration builds in more while the West Ham defence gained confidence in defence. There was no penetration towards goal and it couldn't help but feeling the pain of losing the chance of able to pounce on the loss of Chelsea against Arsenal. Nevertheless, like our King Kenny has said, let's just enjoy being on top.

Liverpool 1 Marseille 0
Gerrard 23

A Steven Gerrard header was good enough to settle for 3 points which led Liverpool to qualify for the last 16. Not the best and convincing performance but the result was the most important. 3 points in the bag, with one more game to go. The last game will then determine who will lead the group.

Goal

You'll Never Walk Alone..

Gerrard's Double Spoilts Stade Velodrome's Party

Marseille 1 Liverpool 2
Cana 23 - Gerrard 26, 32 pen
AR Match of the Match: Gerrard

The Group Stages of the Champions League has started and Liverpool started its campaign against French side Marseille once again at the State Velodrome, a home ground which many sides have struggled over the years.

A 4-0 win last season is still fresh on both sides' mind and Rafa Benitez was wanting to start the campaign with 3 points. Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard were back in starting line-up after being on the bench against Manchester United.

I normally records Champions League matches as it is shown at around 2.30am in the morning over here in Singapore. Due to some problems, the recorder only managed to records the second half and hence, I missed the first half where all the goals were scored.

Watched the highlights and I saw Captain Gerrard scoring a beautiful shot outside the area. A difficult ball to hit and Stevie made it looked so simple. Ryan Babel was then brought down in the penalty box after performing some nice skills in it. Gerrard made no mistakes from the spot and gave Liverpool the lead.

Liverpool have been coming back from behind these few games and that's actually a good sign. A sign of not giving up and determination to win. Still, we will have to strengthen our defence and keep a clean sheet. Pepe Reina made several great saves at the end to protect our lead.

A good start and 3 points in the bag. Let's take one game at a time.

Click to view goals!
Gerrard's First Goal
Gerrard's Penalty
Source: Kop-tv

You'll Never Wallk Alone..

Liverpool Into Last 16, Winning 3 Out of 3

Marseille 0 Liverpool 4
Gerrard 4, Torres 11, Kuyt 48, Babel 90

Another match enters into the history of the Liverpool books. A night to remember which Liverpool completed their 3 out of 3 must-win games in the Champions League Group stages. This gave Liverpool qualification into the last 16 of the most prestigious European competition.

4-0 it stands at the Stade Velodrome. Marseille winning record against English opposition is finally broken as Liverpool is the first English side to beat Marseille at their home. The win was a much needed one in which this particular match could decide the club's upcoming future. Disability to qualify for the knockout stage is unthinkable which eventually would be a massive loss in income and revenue. Rafa's job may not be guaranteed if they have lost last night as well.

Liverpool treated the game as a cup final. Right from the start, they were looking to win and showed the hunger which we fans love to see on the pitch. Most importantly, we got our first goal early in the game. Steven Gerrard's superb run into the penalty box was brought down by Marseille defender, Laurent Bonnart. The ref was spot on and gave the penalty on the 3rd minute of the game.



Up step Captain Stevie. Somehow, he missed it, a great save from the home side goalkeeper. Still, he was there to finish the rebound off. 1-0 to Liverpool!






The second goal didn't came too long. Winger Harry Kewell passed a simple ball to Spanish striker Torres who was the edge of the box. From then on, he had only the goal in his mind. Dribbled past 2 defenders and slot home the second of the evening for the away side. World Class Finish.





This is what Tom Hicks and George Gillet paid 26 million pounds for. This is what Liverpool is lacking of over the years. This is the missing link which caused Liverpool to lose last season final against AC Milan. This is what we fans love to see. He's Fernando Torres.

2 goals up within 11 minutes. Marseille were left self-shocked. Silenced the crowd and I could only hear the songs from Anfield were singing. Loud and proud.

Marseille made substitutions one after another. By half-time, they had already made 3 with Djibril Cisse being the last one coming in. Despite the changes, Liverpool extended their lead.



Again, Harry Kewell passed a brilliant ball from the left which Kuyt captalised on the sleeping defence. He was onside and he was clinical in his finish. Nice shot Dirk!



With a 3 goals cushion, it's almost sure that Liverpool was qualifying into the knock out stages and sending the French side into the UEFA Cup. Liverpool was strong defensively. Marseille couldn't break the mighty wall which Rafa had already built right from the start.



Once again, Ryan Babel came on in the game and managed to get one himself. A Fabio Aurelio long ball was met with his frightening pace where he rounded off the keeper scoring the 4th for Liverpool which truly deserved to win the game. Credit to all the players in the team who worked really hard in the game. Mascherano, Kewell, Benayoun and the whole defence were superb on the night.





4 goals on an away European match with no goals conceded. What else can we ask for? It's no wonder Rafa was proud with his boys. I'm proud of them as well. I wore the same away jersey to school today with my head up high.

We shall enjoy this win and prepare for the upcoming match. The BIG GAME against Manchester United. It's time to be focus on the league.

You'll Never Walk Alone..

Unbeaten Run Ends At Madejski Stadium

Reading 3 Liverpool 1
Hunt 17, Doyle 60, Harper 67 - Gerrard 28

A strange match indeed. I just do not know how we lost last night's game against Reading. I'm pissed, frustrated and totally clueless on Liverpool's performance. As far I'm concerned, if you ever want to CHALLENGE for the title, you have to keep winning, I'm not talking about winning it yet.

In my opinion, there are several factors which cost us the 3 points.

Rafa is main culprit.
For the first time, I seriously felt that Rafa got it all wrong. Nobody knows what's on his mind and though he always emphasized on the fact on concentrating one game at a time, I believe he didn't. He has Marseille and Manchester United game in mind. Right from the start, for every Premier League game, you have to field your best team. It's 3 POINTS my dear boss. It's not any league cup game whereby you can field your weaker players to let them gain some first team experience.



Selection of players was a big mistake. Players like Jack Hobbs, John Arne Riise and the worst player of all, Momo Sissoko shouldn't be in the game. Did Rafa underestimated Reading? I guess so. He thinks that with his weaker players, he can win? I guess he's wrong. What formation did he play? 4-3-3? I don't think Liverpool suits that formation. Reading capitalised on that weakness in the 3 man midfield. Voronin and Crouch are strikers, they aren't wingers. How do you play 4-3-3 in this way? With Momo Sissoko doing nonsense in the middle, Jack Hobbs inexperience and John Arne Riise poor form, it's no wonder Liverpool lost.

So Rafa, please, field your best team for every game and stick to the winning formation. We were playing 4-4-2 so well with the wingers threatening opposition. We have great wingers like Harry Kewell, Yossi Benayoun and Ryan Babel. Why aren't you using them? Keep the players fit? Come on, to keep them fit and ending up sacrificing the 3 points, I do not take that.

Referee's blindness



Andre Marriner. What a stupid decision he made for the penalty which led to Reading's first goal! I do not care whether it's the linesman or Andre himself gave the ridiculous penalty, it's totally not a penalty. Tackle outside the box, penalty given. Sometimes, it gets so unbelievable to see such decisions given when it's so obvious.

Inconsistency in his decisions. I don't know who this man is, but all I know is his SMALL mistakes in refereeing cost us big time. You may argue, it's part of the game. Yes I agree. However, when crucial decisions in which a goal is concerned, it can totally change the game. Human error? If there's humans kept making mistakes, aren't we thinking of a solution? Technology. Everyone is using it. I do not know why FOOTBALL is not using it? Rugby is using it. It's such a rough sport yet it's fair. I truly believe video technology need to be introduced in the game before more and more teams are suffering from injustice and incredible decisions given against them.

Lady's Luck was not wearing Red
Simple as that. Liverpool lacked of luck last night. Hit the post twice and it just told me that it wasn't Liverpool day. Ref decisions was poor, caused the team to be frustrated and I could see from the players' faces that they had no idea what's going on. Wrong formation, a different style and somehow, the players seemed confused.

50-50 balls were always lost. We had at least 3 penalty calls, but all were not given, while Reading had a penalty when challenge was made outside of the box. Somehow, Liverpool was meant to lose this game. Sadly so, Lady's Luck was not smiling at Anfield.



The only goal scored was by Captain Steven Gerrard. Good teamwork with the team's best players. Torres chested the ball down from Reina's kick and was lay onto Steven Gerrard's path to slot it home. It looked so simple. Somehow, at that point of time, I thought Liverpool was able to bring the game into theirs and go on winning it. I do not know why, they played worse after that.

Rafa's job is not safe just yet. In football, things can change overnight. Though I always believe in him, he must realise the fact that how important are the 3 points. Somehow, I felt he just gave up last night and sacrificed the unbeaten run. I hate to see Liverpool conceding a goal, let alone 3. Reina would be disappointed not to keep a clean sheet.



I'm afraid Rafa's plan may backfire. Marseille game is a must win. What if they don't? Meeting League Champions Manchester United the following league game, will Liverpool beat them? We have to treat every game like a final. Win it.

The American bosses are watching and they are the ones who decide on Rafa's fate. Unfortunately, as Liverpool fans, we can't expect too much due to the fact that normally the disappointment would be bigger.

All I can do now is to wait and see..

You'll Never Walk Alone..

Reds Bottom of Champions League Group

Beskitas 2 Liverpool 1
Hyypia og 13, Bobo 82 - Gerrard 84

Match Highlights


A mountain to climb before this match, now, a much higher and difficult one to climb. Liverpool had put themselves into a make or break situation. With only one point in the group, they are now in the bottom of the table.

Teams like Marseille, FC Porto, and Turkish club, Bekistas are the other 3 teams in the group. Based on Liverpool's European standards, these teams wouldn't have much chances. Sadly so, they took full advantage of Liverpool's poor form and had showed the world that they could even beat us at Anfield.

For us Liverpool fans, it seemed like an unusual sight. For the past seasons, we have been doing very well in the Champions League. I do not know why, the team didn't perform to expectations and hence, lagged behind.

Against the Beskitas, our defence was very poor. Sami Hyypia and Steve Finnan. The usual reliable ones were under-performing. Slow and positioning was always questioned during the game. I was utterly disappointed with the defence which we were always proud of.

Our attacks were threatening in the beginning. However, the problem of not able to score haunted us again. Aren't our strikers good enough? I don't think so. I believe the quality of Kuyt, Voroninn, Crouch and even Babel is definitely threatening. Just that our link plays in the team aren't working. Is the training the main factor? Or they are lacking of confidence? I hope it's not too late when they recover their form and touch.


Steven Gerrard, managed to get onto the scoresheet at the end with a top-corner header. It was too late for Reds though. Captain Stevie seems to be recovering his form back and I do hope that his good form would influence the team for better performances.

Liverpool just loves playing the hard way. The way they won the Champions League, the way they won the FA Cup, it tells it all. As Liverpool fans, we are all seems to be used to the team's disappointing results and get taunts from fans of Man Utd and Arsenal. On a personal level, I'm just hoping for the best, as I know, higher expectations would lead to higher disappointments.

You'll Never Walk Alone..

Lousy Reds Outplayed

Liverpool 0 Marseille 1
Mathieu Valbuena 77

What else can I write about? I guess everything went wrong, all wrong. Rafa's team selection, players' performance from 1st minute to 94th minute. Extremely disappointed with the team's current form and standard. Totally unacceptable for a team name LIVERPOOL.





Credit to Marseille, they played superbly. Came with a brilliant game plan and executed perfectly. Pressed Liverpool all the way and scored a wonder goal which I believe no goalkeeper in the world could save. Looks like Bolo Zenden and Cisse are definitely smiling.

In a match which we were expected to win easily, we ended up in defeat, not having a single point. A draw would been a bad result for Liverpool, a loss is worse. Steven Gerrard & Co have not performed to their best, that's for sure. In this match, it clearly showed how dis-motivated the players are, how badly they play football on their very own pitch, Anfield.

It's very frustrating for millions of fans watching. Those at Anfield, the rest of the world, and over here in Singapore, we have to sacrifice our sleep to watch such a poor game. The gaffer and players themselves knew how badly they played. I really wonder what went wrong ever since they were back from international break.



Of course, there is no excuses for that. International break or not, a good team would be able to handle it. Just look at Manchester United and Arsenal. They are both doing well in the league and Champions League. Are their players better quality than us? I don't really think so. They are producing results week in week out, and their players were having internationals as well.

Liverpool have to learn, Rafa have to learn. We are simply not good enough. Based on such performance, we aren't going nowhere. We will struggle in the league and cups competitions, and before you realise, we may be going into another full of promise but disappointment season again.

All the players last night were outplayed. They had no idea on how to break down opponent's defences and this has been the problem for Liverpool so far. Passing were terrible, losing possession and nobody came up with extra efforts to change the game. It was just an horrendous match they've played.



1 point from 2 games, we have so much work to do. They might be knocked out in the first round, looking on how they are playing now. Forget about the Premiership title and any cups if the team continues their poor form. It's time to wake up lads.

You'll Never Walk Alone..