LIVERPOOL 2-0 BOLTON WANDERERS

                                                               LIVERPOOL 2-0 BOLTON WANDERERS

just a review of the match in my own words. i was happy enough with the team selection especially with the inlusion of AQUALANI who i think played really well , unfortunately he was subbed with still about 20 minutes or so to go, although i think it was tactical substitution bringing on LUCAS to shore things up in the midfield. . a wee bit sorry for DEGEN not getting a game again, who i think has played well in recent games he's played in. good to see N'GOG playing .solid unchanged defence which was again pleasing to see.
i felt first half performance wasn't great not too much creativity although got a goal at a good time not long before half time, great cross from INSUA to the back post with AQUALANI making a great header across goal for KUYT to bundle into the net. 1st half defence didn't give bolton much although BOLTON did have a couple of shouts for penalties in the 1st half CARRAGHER bumped COHEN off the ball as he raced through on goal but the ref waved play on, then later in the half AQUALANI challenged LEE in the box but LEE was booked for diving, a great run from LEE was cleared off the line with a great clearance by KYRIAGOS .
 the second half LIVERPOOL controlled most of the play and created a lot more N'GOG  missing from close range hitting the post when it seemed easier to score. but there was many more chances being created which was very encouraging especially after the lack of creation in the WOLVES game the other night. the second goal came right out of the blue and with more than a hint of luck involved. INSUA hit a shot from outside the box that was going nowhere when DAVIS stuck out a leg and diverted it past the helpless JAASKELAINEN but i think overall LIVERPOOL deserved the 2-0 advantage.
overall i was pleased with the performance GERRARD looking fitter, the defense looking solid once again with 3 clean sheets in a row for the 1st time this season.and more chances being created.
with tough games in the next couple of weeks we needed some confidence going into them .
bring on EVERTON.

PREVIEW LIVERPOOL V BOLTON

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massive game tomorrow, well every game is from now on in . after a very poor performance on tuesday with no enterprise, liverpool need to show a lot more creativity against a bolton team that will be very resiliant, very difficult to break down and dangerous going forward. so i reckon it will be a similar obstacle to wolves to overcome except with a bit more danger going forward.

the home crowd will be a massive help to a team trying to find a run of form, but the shackles have to come off especially at home, understandably rafa has been extremely cautious in his selections in recent games considering how often we have been leaking goals this season. but i think we have a bit of stability in defence at last and not conceding much. but 2 holding midfielders is not needed especially at home. 

personally though i don't think rafa will be that ambitious and i reckon the team will be-

GOALKEEPER- REINA

RIGHT BACK-CARRAGHER

LEFT BACK-INSUA

CENTRE BACK-SKIRTEL

CENTRE BACK-KYRIAGOS

LEFT MIDFIELD-RIERA

CENTRE MIDFIELD-LUCAS

CENTRE MIDFIELD-MASCHERANO

RIGHT MIDFIELD-MAXI

CENTRE MIDFIELD(ATTACKING ROLE)-GERRARD

CENTRE-KUYT

SUBS-ANYBODYS GUESS 

i would have liked AQUALANI to start in place of LUCAS but its never going to happen, in fact AQUALANI is beginning to look like a real waste of money, not because he is rubbish but because RAFA never plays him. also I would rather have DEGEN playing instead of MAXI who i think will need time to settle in.

anyway onto tomorrow and i will predict -LIVERPOOL 2 BOLTON 0

look forward to your comments

CARRAGHER

                                             LIVING LEGEND CARRA

happy birthday to carra he's been a rock for liverpool for so many years now, stevie and carra are the 2 rocks this team is built around. i always think teams need players in the team who are from their home town and supported the club growing up. with so many imports it is not always easy for clubs to find such players, we at liverpool are lucky that we have 2. you just see the difference in attitude from the likes of carra compared to other team mates, carra is prepared to run through a brick wall for the team, players like this are who the fans love.
for many years now carra has been playing at the highest level and performing superbly. at first carra was a bit of a utility player, playing everywhere for the team, but then he started to play regularly at fullback. but in recent years he has been a mainstay at centre back.
superb at organising the defence, always encouraging, driving the team on, some games he has single handedly kept the opponents out.
off the top off my head i'd say his best performance was that amazing night in istanbul some of the tackles and clearances he made that night were amazing especially when he took cramp in the latter stages of the match. his never say die attitude is an example to any young player.
here's to many more years defending the kop.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARRA

RAFA

so much speculation over rafa, especially with the rumours coming from juventus. personally l;ike many fans i have been baffled by many of rafa's team selections, overly cautious leading to us last season drawing too many games hence costing us the league, which in fairness, in recent years is the closest we have came to winning the league. his disrespect for domestic cup competitions has angered myself and many fans with his team selections, but he is not alone with these ideas, look at wenger, ferguson and many other managers in these cup competions, again for us the fans it does frustrate, we want to win everything.
anyway, i just feel with all my criticism i would like rafa to stay, i think this season he has been extremely unlucky with injuries, and players not playing to their potential, also for a long time now there has been a lot of turbulence off the park especially with these americans.
but i also feel that if we lose rafa it will take along time for a new manager to build his own team and gel and get results, in short it will set us way back, and there is no certainty that the new manager will be better so it is a big risk, and better the devil you know.
IN RAFA WE KNOW
STAY RED
WALK ON
look forward to your comments

WOLVES 0-0 LIVERPOOL

solely my view of the game not a match report just a view. i thought liverpool started well with riera flashing a header just wide, but then i felt the game got very scrappy with wolves closing liverpool down very quickly not allowing any space. all in all it was a game with very few chances, which was disappointing for a liverpool point of view playing against a team with the worst scoring record in the league.
i know we were away from home, but against a team struggling at the other end of the table i felt we could have been a bit more adventurous, but again the cautious approach is rafa's achilles in my opinion.
the team selection was more or less what i expected apart from gerrard and maxi playing, i would have left gerrard on the bench and played aqualani who had his best game yet against spurs, giving gerrard a bit more time to get over this latest injury, also i would have started degen rather than maxi just because i think it will take time for maxi to adjust to the english game and degen for me has played well in recent games with some very strong forward running with the ball.
again not much creativity, hence not many chances with gerrard being man marked, but positively the defence is looking stronger, not giving many goals away, so that is a plus, with once again skirtel and kyriagos playing well together with carragher looking good on the right, midfield, mascherano and lucas worked really hard but never created much, riera never got enough of the ball for me, maxi seemed well off the pace which can only be expected, gerrard didn't look 100% and wasn't given much space, and kuyt worked his socks off for the team once again.
so overall not a great result but there are also positives there which you always have to look for.
hopefully we can get 3 points at home to bolton on saturday.
look out for my preview in the next couple of days.
WALK ON

STAY RED

wolves v liverpool preview

big game tonight, need to build on big win over spurs last week, 6 days rest should help preperation.

will be a tough game, not an easy place to go, we struggled in the home match until wolves went down to 10 men, so this game will be tougher, obviously still some key players out, torres, benayoun, glen johnson, gerrard supposed to be available again but i would doubt if he would start.

4th place race is hotting up so to go on a run of wins with everybody dropping points would put us on a good position.

anyway my team selection would be-

in goal - reina

right back- carragher

left back - insua

central defence - kyriagos

central defence - skirtel

left midfield - riera

right midfield - deggen

centre midfield - lucas

centre midfield - maschreano

centre midfield (attacking role) - aqualani

centre forward - kuyt

gerrard on the bench who i would rest unless things are not going well.

feel free to comment, football's all about opinions.

will give an assesment of tonight's game in the next couple of days.

WALK ON

STAY RED

stevie g

stevie g, for me not had a good season so far, not scored many goals or created many goals, expectations are always high with stevie, but has had a very quiet season.
why has he been quiet, i can't put my finger on it, but i have a few guesses
1.think he has been playing injured all season.
2.worried that he is not playing for rafa.
3.could be that teams have got wise to the position he plays now and know how to counteract his threat.
there's a few excuses i'm sure you can think of more but personally i would like to see him in the engine room in the centre of midfield where he can orchestrate more rather than be isolated like what is happening at times just now, put him in the centre of midfield alongside mascherano and drop lucas. i think we would get a lot more from gerrard in this role.
feel free to give an opinion, stay red.

torres injuries

increasingly concerned about the fitness of fernando torres. seems to be picking up so many injuries since joining liverpool, apparently was hardly ever injured in spain.
i know 1 or 2 injuries have been on international duty but he is still getting injured on duty with liverpool.
there is so many questions you feel like asking, is the demands of the english game not suiting his style of play, hence the injuries, is he playing while not at full fitness causing re-injury, or do you question the method of training.
the bottom line is it is a growing concern that torres is missing so much game time because he is such a big player for us, and we don't want him turning into another michael owen who was very injury prone but priceless when playing.
keen to hear your comments

rafa

rafa has been under tremendous pressure this year and i think a lot of it is harsh, bad luck with injuries, lack of money, unrest with co-owners, beach balls, the list goes on.
but i do think his cautious style of management doesn't help which i think he has been like from the start of the season.
whereas the last third of last season we almost won the league because he dropped the defensive approach and started attacking more, in my view from the real madrid game till the end, whereas had he done so earlier in the season we would not have drawn so many games.
back to this season he has resorted back to this defensive attitude. in the last few games there has been a lot of positives, with the tremendous team spirit and everybody pulling together it has been a joy to watch the last couple of games just for the sheer determination proving everybody is pulling for rafa especially us the fans . also with stevie g and torres to come back the future looks bright.
walk on rafa

transfer window

who do you think liverpool will bring in this january? personally i think they need an experienced striker to back up torres who we are finding out to be worryingly unavailable quite a lot. i also think we need to find a creative midfielder as we still haven't replaced alonso, even though starting to see flashes of aqualani who will become fitter and better with more game time. i was worried about the defence until recent couple of games with kyriagos and skirtel looking quite solid together, so in short i don't think we are needing wholesale changes, which is a good thing as i think money is tight. give me your views if you can and i will comment on your ideas.
walk on.

happy scouser

liverpool 2 spurs 0
superb result last night, really needed, gutsy performance with not a lot of creativity but playing against a good spurs side, shut them down really quickly not allowing them time and space. defended brilliantly with spurs having most of the play but liverpool having most of the chances, led brilliantly by carragher at the back, kyriagos and skirtel for 2 games now providing a solid looking partnership in the centre of defence, given a stern test from crouch and defoe last night and stood up to them superbly. mascherano and lucas in the centre of midfield protecting the defence brilliantly and getting forward when they could. riera on the left gave good balance and unlucky with header off the bar. deggen on the right impressive with his workrate and strong, direct running with the ball gave liverpool a good outlet. kuyt once again ran his socks off, deservedly getting the goals that mattered great strike for the first goal and slotted away the penalty calmly at the second attempt. but in my view there were 11 heroes out there. brings us back in the hunt for champions league place, and must build on this, great result after late blow at stoke and key players injured. proud to be a liverpool fan last night. bring on the wolves