I know this site's birthday has been over for a month or so. This blur writer has actually mis-looked it. Nevertheless, I'm glad that this site is still writing and functioning well till today. All thanks to your support and many friends out there who has always been there for AnfieldReds. A big Thank You to you guys and I will continue to update as much news, match reports and rumors about our beloved Liverpool.
Next..
Study Break
I would be taking a short break till February due to my upcoming exams. The match reports by the sidebar would still be updated and feel free to check out the scores there. Thank you again for your kind understanding.
As always, I do hope the team will improve and play well. I have faith in Rafa, Gerrard & Co. Come on Reds!
To all Liverpool fans out there, You'll Never Walk Alone..
The scoreline speaks for everything. Liverpool 1 Wigan 1 at Anfield. It's a 2 points loss rather than a point gained. It felt like a loss though. With a massive 12 points gap, I can say we are out of the title race. Despite being being named as one of big 4 teams in the English league, every season, with so much promise and hope, it turned out to be the same old story. Disappointing and frustrated.
Failure to score, failure to kill off opponents, and most importantly, failure to win. It has been the problem over the years and today. Rafa Benitez, with his fourth season in charge, still couldn't find the edge of the league in which he does in the Champions League.
Luck does play a part as well. It can be difficult when strange decisions go against your side. However, we have only ourselves to be blamed. Lion's share of possession and big number of shots on target but with no goals are redundant. Championship teams can kill off the game with just a chance on goal. Sadly, I can't see it on our red half.
Home against Wigan. Expected 3 points or I should say it's a must. Anything lesser than that is a total no-no. So many chances on goal, but unable to put the ball into the net. Titus Bramble, of all players, scored a wonder shot into the goal after the defence failed to clear the ball. A mistake and mis-concentration at the back, you have to pay for it. That's football. Small details in the game may cost more than you think.
Liverpool fans and friends always tell me to keep faith in the boys which I eventually did. Sadly, it turned out to be so disheartening. Shaking of heads and pissed faces are common among the Reds now. Somehow, as always, we are used to it. Just hope to see some good performances from the lads and maybe do well for the cup competitions.
At least I know, the thing which comforts me is that we have the best fans in the world. No doubts about it. All we can do now is hope.
The last game of the year 2007. It was at the City of Manchester. Unbeaten record in their home ground, 9 wins, 1 draw. Sven Goran Eriksson has turned Manchester City into a fortress and a team which is producing results week in week out.
As for Liverpool, we can't afford to drop points. As usual, we are doing the chasing game. Both Manchester United and Arsenal are producing results and opening the gap from the rest.
The game was a tight one as there were not any clear cut chances in the game especially in the first half. Ex- Liverpool player, Dietmar Hamann was superb in the game. I was so glad that he was doing well at Manchester City. He is still one of my favourite players. I'll support him unless he's against Liverpool like last night.
Liverpool dominated the game especially in the second half. They were controlling the pace and possession of the match. Mascherano was superb in the middle. Breaking down every ManCity's attack.
Torres had several chances and almost gave Liverpool the lead. We had the majority of the chances and I believe Reina didn't have much to do in the game except for some kickings. The players were working very hard, trying to get the break through.
Credit to the home side, their defence stood strong. With Hamann protecting the back four, Liverpool just couldn't put the ball into the net. Richard Dunne & Michael Richards, the centre backs for Erikson's side was superb especially Captain Dunne who led by example with a great display of defending.
Liverpool's best chance of the game was cleared off the line by Dunne as well. He kept Torres quiet and the Spanish striker didn't have much space and time on the ball. Although many would be disappointed with a point for the Reds, I believe there are much positives from the match to be taken note of.
Fabio Aurelio and Javier Mascherano were superb the whole game. Alongside with others who worked really hard, it's a pity that we didn't get maximum points. We have to look forward, even the fact that the gap is getting bigger. It's a New Year and we probably need some new signings to improve the squad.
Derby vs Liverpool at Pride Park. Many would have thought it would be an easy ride for the away side, who's working its way up to the table while the latter is struggling at the bottom of the table. I myself also felt that Derby would be no fight to Liverpool's standards. Somehow, I was proved wrong.
Liverpool as expected, started brightly in the game, controlling the pace and the possession of the game. Derby was running men behind ball most of the time and within 12 minutes, Liverpool got the lead.
26 million pounds striker, Fernando Torres showed to the world again that he's one of the top players around. Got the ball just at the edge of the penalty box, dribbled past two defenders and beat the goalkeeper brilliantly. World Class Finish Fernando! Torres' Goal
After we gotten the lead, we had so much possession and chances to kill off the game. However, we didn't take our chances. We were wasting in front of goal and I knew it would punish us, which eventually did.
In the second half, Liverpool went to sleep and was in dreamland. Derby came on top of the game, credit to them, they didn't give up. They fought hard and Liverpool didn't play football at all. It's just matter of time the home side would scored. They got their rewards at the 67th minute. A free-kick from the right was totally missed by Fabio Aurelio, which rebounded onto the James McEveley, who didn't make any mistakes in front of goal despite being a defender.
Frustration and anger was definitely in the Liverpool camp. I was the commander and I was swearing at the way the Reds were playing. We woke up after conceding the equaliser. The players showed a little more urgency then. We had several great chances at the end. Xabi Alonso's shot was well saved by young goalkeeper Lewis Price. Gerrard's thunderbolt was denied by the bar.
At that very moment, I really thought we were going to lose the 2 points and a draw against Derby. Until this man, Steven Gerrard, who else, came to Liverpool's rescue. Took the ball from our own half and ran all the way to the other box. Nobody could stop his run.
Yossi Benayoun got the ball and cross to Torres whose shot was well saved by goalkeeper Price. Defender McEveley cleared the ball due to defender's instinct which rebounded off Gerrard's foot into the goal. I flew off my seat! There isn't time later than that. 90th minute!
2-1 was the final score and Gerrard gave Liverpool the 3 points. Derby would at least deserved the draw, I have to agree on that. From a Liverpool's point of view, it's an important win. Even the team didn't play well, we just needed the points. Though we got the win, we must reflect on our own performance and realised how poor we were.
Do You Wish Harry Kewell To Stay At The End of The Season? Poll Results Yes - 11 (91%) No - 0 (0%) Doesn't Matter - 1 (8%)
This poll is up for several weeks and I believe many Liverpool fans like myself wishes to see Harry Kewell getting his contract at the end of the season. He has been injured for the past seasons and many have doubt his contributions to the team then. However, I like him wearing the Liverpool shirt. He has a strong mentality and I believe the fact that he's a natural winger has already said it all.
Rafa does loves him and every time he's back from injuries, he would be playing. Some may argued that he's getting old and is no longer as fast as before. I may agree on that, but his experience of the game is essential for the team and his ability to cross the balls into the box is something which I love a winger to do.
Let's see how he's going to play for the rest of the season and I do hope to see him getting the new contract. :)
Champions League Draw
Celtic vs Barcelona
Lyon vs Man Utd
Schalke04 vs FC Porto
Liverpool vs Inter
AS Roma vs Real Madrid
Arsenal vs Milan
Olympiacos vs Chelsea
Fenerbahce vs Sevilla
Next stop, Inter Milan. In the Champions League, there aren't such things as weaker teams. Every team in the last 16 is able to knock each other out of the competition. I still remember 2 years ago, when Liverpool drew Benfica. The whole world thought that it would be an easy ride for the 5 times Champions League winner. Somehow, we were knocked out over the two legs.
That's a lesson for us to learn and facing which team don't really matter. If you want to win the Champions League, we have to beat anyone. Rafa is aware of it, the players has experienced it before. Here we come, Inter Milan!
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.
As expected, Liverpool was not able to match the Blues at the Bridge last night. Suffered a 2-0 loss, goals from Frank Lampard and Andrei Shevchenko. There's not much to comment on as I could see Rafa took this opportunity to rest the main players and gave the younger ones a run. On the other hand, Chelsea fielded a strong first 11.
We didn't play that badly. Chelsea was struggling to break the team down. They needed a deflection of Jamie Carragher's legs to beat Liverpool goalkeeper, Charles Itandje who had an excellent game last night.
Sadly so, Peter Crouch was sent off last night with a reckless two leg challenge on Mikel. I guess he has lost his cool. He was not playing very well last night and frustration led him to tackle in the wrong way.
The positives were the fact that Xabi Alonso is back into the team and the young ones were able to hold on to Chelsea's superstars. Lucas, Hobbs, Babel and Sissoko were working really hard in the team. Lucas had the best chance to score if not for Cech's great save.
Nevertheless, as many would have agree, the Carling Cup is not being prioritised nowadays. We shall look forward to the next game, Portsmouth.
Got these pictures from Kop-tv, showing that the Liverpool team went to show some love to these homes, sharing the Christmas festive mood. :)
Momo Sissoko & Fabio Aurelio
Rafa Benitez
Rafa again
Harry Kewell. "Aww! He has such a sweet smile.
Dirk Kuyt and Kewell.
Sami Hyypia and Pepe Reina
Xabi Alonso, Martin, Leto, Fernando Torres & Voronin
Xabi Alonso & Martin
Look how Rafa cares for the kids!
Signature on a cast
Peter Crouch, Arbeloa, Lucas & John Arne Riise
Lucas, Crouch, Arbeloa
Big Sami
Oh yes! Javier Mascherano, what a smile!
It's great to see the lads doing such meaningful outing together as a team. I guess it's part of Rafa's plans of bonding the team and at the same time, helping the society. It's still better than PARTYING with drinks and girls! Hahaha!
I've put up a poll a few weeks ago, in which I was asking the fans out there whether they still believe in Rafa Benitez, the Liverpool manager. He was under lots of pressure after speculation of his rift with the American owners. Some even thought he might be leaving in January. Many would have disagree with his rotation system, however, over the last few weeks, he was able to get some great results in the league and even make it 3 out of 3 "cup finals" in order to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League.
The poll results..
Do You Believe In Rafa? Yes ... 21 votes (91%) No ... 1 vote (4%) I do not know ... 1 vote (4%)
It's totally one sided. Many of the fans over the world still believes in Rafa who brought us the glory of Champions League in 2005 and FA Cup as well. Personally, I'm still rooting him though I may differ with his thinking at times. Nevertheless, I believe he's still the man who can break our Premiership duck since 1989.
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.
Louis A devoted Livepool fan from Singapore, who has been supporting Liverpool since he was 5 years old. Anfieldreds is born on 23th November 2006. Anfieldreds is about Liverpool football club news, previews, Louis' views and comments. Feel free to email me at llzz_18@hotmail.com and give me your comments anytime. Enjoy.
