Life’s a beach (ball) and then you die!

Sunderland 1
Bent 5

Liverpool 0

I might be wrong but, if memory serves me right, in billiards you also get three points for going in off the red!

No doubt by the time you read this the whole “beach ball” episode will have been discussed and dissected in great depth. Why? Because it’s just the sort of gimmicky headline (opps I should talk) that everyone wants to seize on these days. No doubt the rules governing alien objects on the pitch will have been dusted down. However, this is not the main concern nor is it an excuse for the defeat.

All too often managers or players will seize on something like the incident that lead to Sunderland’s’ goal and use it a convenient excuse. “It cost us the game” is the phrase which is usually directed at the referee for a decision he has made. Of course this is nonsense it’s a Fergiesque diversionary tactic. We had more than enough about us the day to turn it around but simply couldn’t. It is one incident of many and, as it happened it the first five minutes, should never been used as an excuse.

I heard Rafa being interviewed on Radio Five Live and was expecting him to be his usual bullish self however, it’s the most depressed I’ve heard him in all the time he’s been with us. He seemed resigned to the fact that on the day we weren’t good enough and more worryingly that we do lack strength in depth? The line up seemed to suggest so with Jay Spearing (who played really well) coming into play midfield. Rafa also, as if recognising this, played three centre backs, Carragher, Skrtel and Agger. I guess with Johnson and Aurelio, and their penchant for the overlap, this made sense?

The offending ball was clearly seen to be in José Reina’s goal at the beginning of the game. However, like the giant breast in Woody Allens “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask)” it assumed a life of it’s own and broke free into the six yard area. Perhaps we were now playing four centre halves or where the Sunderland fans, at the other end, having a mass suck?

Bent’s shot from Reid’s cross hit the ball as entered the net. Enough to put Reina off? The football, once it left Bent’s boot, was travelling at speed and did seem to deflect, and the rules state that the goal should not have stood. However, what’s done is done and perhaps a more relevant question was why Aurelio allowed Reid to get his cross in and why Bent was totally unmarked when he collected it?

Above all this what I can’t fathom is why the **** didn’t Reina, or one the other members of the team, simply kick the ball back into the crowd or burst it? Why place it in the goal? It’s also ironic that the ball came from our end? Can we expect a newspaper interview “I was Liverpool beach ball boy”

After that we made a decent fist of trying to get back into the game, right until the end when Ngog should have equalised. However, overall we were second best. Bent gave the defence a torrid time getting into two or three good scoring positions only to denied by Reina and, on one occasion, the post,

Rafa became for agitated and animated as the game went on and his frustration was underlined by a bust up with Sunderland manager Mrs Doubtfire over Jones’ injury. All in all it was a day to forget and a sobering wake up call for the rest of the week. Time to move on and get this out of our system?

As for the beach ball I believe Spurs are interested!

Liverpool: Reina, Aurelio, Skrtel, Carragher (captain), Johnson, Benayoun, Agger, Leiva, Spearing, Babel, Kuyt. Subs – Cavalieri, Voronin, Riera, Mascherano, Insua, Ngog, Kelly

Sunderland: Gordon, McCartney, Turner, Ferdinand, Bardsley, Reid, Cattermole, Cana (captain), Malbranque, Bent, Jones. Subs – Fulop, Nosworthy, Da Silva, Henderson, Zenden, Campbell, Healy

Att: 47,237

Reds feel no injury warmth at the Stadium of Light and a class Trafalgar battle!

It was great that the last bit of free expression on Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth was dedicated to the Hillsborough 96.

For those of you who don’t know, Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth over the last hundred days, has been the subject of an art experiment were 2,400 selected members of the public can spend one hour each doing anything they want. There been a few nutters and exhibitionists on the plinth during that time. However, it is fitting that it should end on a serious note and even more uplifting that the cases of the Hillsborough 96 should be the subject. Of course it could have been any subject but Emma Burns, the last member of the public, choose this one because some of her family were at the game. Class stuff, and an excellent chance taken to keep the issue in the spotlight.

Back to the football. And I guess it’s a case of worst nightmare come true. We go to The Stadium of Light to face Sunderland today without Gerrard (injured groin) and Torres (injured stomach). To lose one key player for today’s game is bad but two? There is never a good time for this to happen but the timing, on the back of two straight defeats against Florientina and Chelsea, couldn’t have been worse?

Of course there are positives to be had. Those players who perhaps otherwise wouldn’t have got a game have a chance to prove themselves. If we do well then perhaps people will start bleating on and on about us being “a two man team” even though there was ample evidence last season to prove that wasn’t he case. Not surprisingly Rafa has tried to put a positive spin on things

“We knew there could be a problem with Steven and Torres, so we are trying to manage with the players we have, we have our ideas and we will see if we can manage tomorrow. We cannot change the situation, so I prefer to concentrate on Sunderland and keep things positive”

Add to that the travel weary Mascherano and Lucas (both back from South America) and things don’t look too good even though Kuyt (even more travel weary as he’s back from Australia) and Agger will be OK. I guess we can also be thankfully that the injuries have occurred to the midfield and striking departments of the team? Having leaked a fair few goals this season the last thing we need is the defence to be further disrupted?

In another season one might say that, thankfully, we are playing reasonably weak opposition. Hopefully we can get through today and have everyone back for Lyon and Mancs games later this week? However, Sunderland have made a good start to the season and will be no pushovers. I wonder if there’s a snow forecast for the North East today!

However, one shouldn’t be too pessimistic. Every side goes through a period like this and in all honesty would we have expected Gerrard and Torres to play every game? The squad would have to be drawn on sooner or later and now is the time for it prove those, who doubt its strength, wrong?

Prediction? Two players do not make a team and I’ll take us to sneak this one and escape with a very, very welcome 2-1 win.

Hurts no good – the Red’s international men of injury.

As I write the curse of the international injury scare hangs over Anfield like a dark forbidding cloud. Reports today suggest it might rain on our parade big style in what is probably our biggest week of the season so far?

What is it about the international game that gives Liverpool such bad luck? Barely a round of them goes by without some mishap occurring to our players. Why? Is it the way they train or prepare? Perhaps players get into a routine with their clubs and once they go on international duty, and go through different exercises, their body reacts? May be it’s the travel and being away from home? Whatever the case it happens so often that it it’s almost become expected? This week’s suspects are the usual ones, namely Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres but also Dirk Kuyt.

It seems that Steven Gerrard won’t be lining up for England against Belarus tonight because of a groin injury. I guess this explains why he was substituted on Saturday? Unconfirmed reports suggested that he could be out for a week or so but who knows presumably we will get the full picture when he returns to L4? I read that he has already gone back however, the question remains will he be required to travel back to London for the game and to attend Fabio’s Fabulous Post Match Fondue Festival? Apparently Michael Owen, the international equivalent of Cinderella to the ugly sisters of Defoe and Rooney, has also been invited. We he go and if he doesn’t will he will blow any chances he has of “going to the ball” next year?

The situation regarding Torres and Spain continues to frustrate. This is umpteenth time he has come back from international duty injured. With Spain Rafa must feel like someone who continually lends his brother his favourite toy only to see his trust and love betrayed as it is always returned broken or damaged? But what can he do?

In this case it’s Torres’ abductor muscle which is source of the problem. Noises from the Spanish camp don’t seem that encouraging. Their website said

“Fernando Torres will not abandon the Spain camp as several media outlets have said. The forward, who has been hindered by some adductor pain, underwent a scan after lunch which showed encouraging results. The player has improved thanks to the physiotherapy carried out by the medical staff and we are studying the possibility of the player participating in part of the afternoon training session”

Correct me if I’m wrong but haven’t Spain already qualified for the World Cup so why the need to “study the possibility” of risking Torres at all? Nonetheless we are assured all is well. Said Manager Vicente del Bosque

“Torres is in very good hands here, yesterday he stayed at the hotel and did not train because we went to a pitch in which there was no stretcher”

Del Bosque’s interpretation of the phrase “good hands” takes some imagination. What if another member of the squad injures himself and needs a stretcher? However, our concern is Fernando and in fairness Del Bosque has assured us that if there is the slightest risk he will not play. We shall see.

If Torres and Gerrard do not play then no doubt the age old debate about us being a two man team, together with the associated accusations of lack of strength in depth, will be raised? It should be remembered that Torres and Gerrard started less than a third of our games together last season so hopefully the situation will not be alien to us. However as ever the results will judge and fact we had similar problems last season with Torres and Gerrard and still went on to beat the Mancs at home without them shows what we can do?

Finally the stupidity of the international break was highlighted by the fact that Dirk Kuyt might also doubtful with an injury sustained during Holland’s trip to…. wait for it Australia! Which bright spark thought that one up? Worse still the game finished 0-0, I bet that was a great trip! The injury is to his ankle which surprised me. I would have thought he would be more likely to miss Saturdays’ game because he is knackered!

England’s Red fall out and Fergie apology gives belated credence to Rafa rant?

I can’t really say I missed watching the England game live on TV. The Radio Five Live commentary in the background, as I pottered around the house, was fine. However, even though this match was a “dead rubber”, I do feel sorry for those punters who are more dedicated to the national cause and forked out the £12 or whatever to watch the game online. How must they have felt when they heard directly after final whistle that highlights would be broadcasted, by the BBC, later that evening?

Alan Green, who relayed the details, said they couldn’t tell us before due to “contractual reasons”. By that I assume the web company, who the BBC did the deal with, told them to keep it quiet otherwise no fans would log in, sign up and pay out for the game? A tad underhand one feels and another example of fans being exploited?

The match itself was unremarkable. Among the hullabaloo about Rio Ferdinand, was the question of Steven Gerrard? Was he taken off at half time for tactical reasons or, because Capello had made a deal with Rafa to play him for only half the game? Worse still was he hooked because he was crocked? The highlights didn’t suggest anything and I’ve read nothing, so presumably he is OK?

Glen Johnson got good reviews for going forward but equally bad ones for his defending and positional sense. Anyone would think this is a surprise. Surely by now everyone knows what he is like? Perhaps Rafa and Capello should have done with it and play him on the right side of midfield? Either that or his roving forward needs to be counterbalanced (playing the five at the back/overlapping full backs formation) or he needs to learn to work a bit more on his defending? It’s an intriguing situation and it will be interesting to see how his develops as the season unwinds. I’m not criticising Johnson but I’d really be interested to hear what Jamie Carragher and the other Liverpool centre halves feel about this. How do they feel when Johnson goes careering up the field?

If Jamie had an issue he would be too professional and diplomatic to get personal and publically air his views. This is more than can be said for Sir Alex Ferguson who is slowly becoming a “lose cannon” and potential source of embarrassment to his club even allowing for the many indulgences, based on what he has achieved, they and others give him.

Alex Ferguson’s apology to Alan Wiley for the comments he made about him was a welcome turnaround and sharp reminder to him that he is not untouchable or beyond reproach, regardless of who he is and what he has achieved. The apology smacks of a legal statement rather than anything genuine or heartfelt. However, it does highlight a number of issues. Firstly that Rafa’s rant against Fergie last season does seem to have more credibility and resonance, especially if the FA decide not the punish Ferguson?

“During the Respect campaign – and this is a fact – Mr Ferguson was charged by the FA for improper conduct after comments made about Martin Atkinson and Keith Hackett. He was not punished. He is the only manager in the league that cannot be punished for these things”

Fergie’s lack of respect is one thing. But when you are squirming, as Fergie has done in his statement, because you’ve realised you have gone too far it simply makes things worse?

“My only intention in speaking publicly was to highlight what I believe to be a serious and important issue in the game. The fitness levels of referees must match the ever-increasing demands of the modern game, which I hope will now be properly addressed through the appropriate formal channels”

Nonsense, it was simply the result of Fergie’s frustration at seeing his team selection, for the drawn home match against Sunderland, backfire. He used Wiley as a diversionary tactic to take attention away from the result. It’s a common Mancs tactic, here’s Rafa again…

‘We know what happens every time we go to Old Trafford and the United staff. They are always going man to man with the referees, especially at half-time when they walk close to the referees and they are talking and talking”

He doesn’t sound so demented now does he? Making a point about referee’s fitness or otherwise is one thing but doing in such a way that you publically insult someone personally is, to quote a phrase Fergie used when describing Rafa’s comments about Everton being a small club, “beyond the pale”.

It is not surprising that the most pertinent comment comes from a referee, Jeff Winter and I make no apologies for the length of the quote.

“It was a cowardly attack – Sir Alex wouldn’t have said it to Alan Wiley’s face. Every game Alan Wiley takes charge of now where he makes a decision which upsets some fans is going to result in chants of ‘You’re not fit to referee’, he’s going to be known as the ‘unfit ref’. Sir Alex won’t care though. He’s a knight of the realm and he thinks he’s untouchable, bullet proof. But he’s also a bully. He spoke at Sir Bobby Robson’s memorial service a couple of weeks ago and said he’d learnt a lot from Sir Bobby. But he hadn’t, they were totally different, Sir Bobby was a gentleman. He was humble and had respect for people”

Damming but deserved comments. This is not the first time Fergie’s month and deluded sense of self importance has got the better of him. Anyone remember Rock of Gibraltar? I can’t help thinking what the reaction would have been if Rafa, and not Fergie, who made these comments. He would have been slaughtered and deservedly so.

Sir Alex Ferguson has achieved a lot in the game. He is in a privileged, enviable position. Many people look up to him. He has power, experience and, as a result, influence. It is a pity that he chooses not use this for the common good and lead by example. Instead he appears hell bent on cheapening it with ill conceived, petty, crass, classless and stupid insults like the ones he blurted out last week.

He final words should go to Jeff Winter

“Human nature’s a funny thing, Sir Alex might just find a few refereeing decisions going against him”

Let’s hope this starts in two Saturdays time?

Stumping the stats plus Prince 1 Hicks & Gillett 0

After we lost to Chelsea many gleefully reminded us that since the Mancs back in the 1960’s no team has won the title having lost three of their first eight games.

I don’t know who found that stat but I hope he or she has gone back to their train spotting or collection of china teapots. The response when faced with this fact (apart from saying “so what”) is of course well, it’s not impossible and it’s high time someone did. It’s ironic that the game that sparked this mind numbing stat was the defeat at Stamford Bridge, a ground where a year ago we ended it’s residents 86 game unbeaten run.

Stats are there to be disproved and records to be broken and does anyone, at this early stage, really feel things have got beyond us? Understandably Rafa does not.

“The most difficult thing this season is to manage expectation. Last season we finished with 86 points and everyone was talking about this being the year….Everyone is talking about Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham and Aston Villa, so I think it could be a very open race. That is why my message is the same – for us to keep doing our job properly”

And I guess that is all we can do. Inevitably, whilst the majority of the squad is away on international duty Rafa will find time to reflect and think deeply about how its gone so far and how it can be improved. Hopefully with players such as Agger back from injury and Aquilani ready to go, we will emerge from the break stronger?

A party that perhaps doesn’t feel so strong or confident at present are messers Hicks and Gillett. Having bickered like Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in The Odd Couple (although no where near as funny) and saddled the club with debt it was perhaps ironic to hear Prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdullah al-Saud’s latest thoughts about his rumoured buying into the club. The long and the short of it? No dice unless the owners kiss and make up and stop behaving like a pair (insert whatever word you want here) and reduce the debt!

Someone called Barry Didto (“did not”, “did to” na na na na na) is quoted on the BBC website as saying

“His Highness’s shareholding could go from anything from nought to 100% But he cannot be seen as a solution to the debt or problems in the existing relationship between the owners.”

Just in case The Star Spangled Duo didn’t get the message Didto added

“His Highness would not want to get involved in (the problems between the pair), he is not a marriage counselor… The debt has to be at a manageable level before Prince Faisal would invest and the current level is high… He cannot be looked to as someone who is going to clean up the balance sheet – Gillett (and Hicks) has to deal with this”

Marriage counseling is a good analogy. Perhaps the owners, like a couple where one of them has had an affair exposed by the papers with put on a fake show of unity for the public and the Prince? Indeed who knows what they might do for his money? Kill their granny, crawl over broken glass or maybe even attend the Mancs match in two Saturday’s time in the buff!

I joke but the Prince has pulled off a cute move. It’s too early to say what his involvement, if it even happens, might bring but it is the supreme irony that the fall out of Statler’s and Waldorf self centered, greedy quest to use this club could be one the main reasons that stops them from doing just that?

Enjoy your weekend.

Alberto Aquilani – the wait!

Apart from the depths of the summer break where tennis and grand prix holds sway, the run in to international weekend has to be the most tedious in football.

Even the end product, the latest set of World Cup qualifiers, doesn’t seem worth the wait. Is anyone really interested in seeing the England game to the extent that they would be prepared to fork out £12 to watch it on a computer or a laptop? Is this the thin end of the wedge? Hopefully not but who, nearly twenty years ago, would have expected to pay above and beyond your bog standard TV licence fee to get their football fix?

As usual, well I say “as usual” but perhaps that should be personally speaking, thoughts during this week turn to the welfare of Liverpool players? This manifests itself in an almost motherly concern that they all return from their travels, and into the “bosom” of the red family, without a scratch or a blemish!

I guess avoiding injures is particularly relevant now as it appears we need all the strength we can get. Although the squad hasn’t changed significantly since last season suddenly, it seems, we have a strength in depth problem? The Fiorentina and Chelsea games were set backs but we can’t dwell on this as we have a tricky week coming up after the internationals, Sunderland, Lyon and The Mancs. Injuries for this slice of the season, albeit a thin one, are not wanted. Thankfully there is hope on the horizon with the imminent return of Daniel Agger and the introduction of Alberto Aquilani. However one expects that we will have to continue to strive to “do without” for these three games?

Deep down I guess Daniel Agger must feel pretty confident about getting back into the first team straight away? Only today Jamie Carragher said he needs to improve but Martin Skrtel in particular must feel the Dane’s growing presence? Of course the added competition might not be a bad thing and inspire the defence to “improve on their improvement” at Stamford Bridge?

Aquilani’s situation is an interesting one. When a player is signed for such a huge sum of money the pressure on him to make an impact is immense. It’s almost expected that he should hit the ground running. This is never the player’s fault and, regardless of who he is, it will take time to settle in. Aquilani has added pressure. He is a foreign import so will have the usual problems associated with getting to grips with the Premiership? He is also recovering from a serious injury which, regardless of what league you play in, Le Liga, The Premiership or the Surrey Research Park 6-a-side Football League in Guildford, always takes a period of adjusting.

There is a plus side. Hopefully Aquilani has used his time on the sidelines productively. Firstly to adjust to living in the UK and also to establish more fully what he is likely to encounter in the Premiership? Of course with the latter there is no substitute for first hand experience but watching the games, and picking the brains of his new team mates, can also help?

The other pressure on Aquilani is also a pressure on Rafa? Having offloaded Xabi Alonso, a key and much admired player, and diving straight in for the Italian Rafa will find his decision making in the transfer market under scrutiny and not for the first time. Expectations will be magnified because we have had to wait for Aquilani to recover from injury and they haven’t been helped by early doubts over our form. Had we been doing better then the “was he worth the wait” debates might be not as intense as they surely will be?

As ever it is a question of patience, trust and hoping that Aquilani finds his feet sooner rather than later and justifies Rafa’s faith. If he does, and we kick on and challenge, then the majority of fan’s continued faith in Rafa will remain justified. In the meantime all we can do is wait

Unlucky and better but Didier does us again

Chelsea 2
Anelka 60, Malouda 90

Liverpool 0

Well there we have it, our first game against one of the so called top four and a marker laid down. This week has been our first real test, two important matches against half decent opposition, and we’ve come up short in both. Rafa won’t like it but that’s the reality of it.

This time we did give a good account of ourselves. It was much better than the performance in Florence. The midfield, thanks to the return of Mascherano, had more bite and at the back we were better. For long periods of the game we were equal to Chelsea however, sometimes that is not enough, said Rafa..

“I was really pleased for 90 per cent of the game but you have to do almost everything perfectly to win here.”

Sadly although we seem to be improving, we still have a fragile, vulnerable edge and with the forward line having an off day, we were eventually undone by Chelsea’s persistence.

We had our chances in the first half. Torres had a header that he will be disappointed not to convert. Riera’s free kick nearly snaked past Hilario, who saw it very late. From the resulting corner we had what looked like a decent claim for a penalty ignored as Drogba held Skrtel down. All in all we looked comfortable but never really threatened the Chelsea goal. Torres was shackled and all too often the vital ball into the danger area was over hit or too high.

Chelsea looked more potent going forward. In the second half they finally made the breakthrough. Mascherano lost the ball to Lampard, Essien picked it up and fed Deco who knocked it on to Drogba whose cross was well taken by an air bourn Anelka. This was a pity as Mascherano had looked like his old self until then however even though he lost the ball we still had time to snuff the move out? Who was picking up Anelka, Carragher was between him and the ball and Insua didn’t track his run. Why wasn’t Drogba closed down quicker by Skrtel?

As often seems to be case the goal galvanised us into moving forward. Torres, after Terry had blocked Gerrard, arrowed one wide via his shin which on another day he would have buried. A goal from us would not have been a surprise nor undeserved. However Chelsea, not without nerves, saw it out. Their second, in injury time, didn’t reflect the overall pattern of play however, it did highlight the improvements we need to make. Drogba outmuscled Carragher along the by line and was allowed to get too far into the area. His cross shouldn’t have found Malouda but it did with Skrtel in two minds and Reina and Johnson tumbling about ineffectively.

I don’t know what it is about Drogba that causes us so much trouble; look at the way he’s performed against us over the years. Yes, he dives and yes, he makes a meal of things but his physicality seems to be something we just can’t tame? Time and time he’s proved it against us over the years. Much was made before the game about this being a match between Torres and Drogba. I believe Torres has more in his armoury and if I was a defender I’d be more scared of him but Drogba simply seems to be inspired when he plays us?

At the end Benayoun, after good faint, to unsettle Hilario drilled one wide when he should have scored. However, it was academic. Will this result be the same? All we can hope is that our form in the future proves this to be the case? In the meantime let those who seek to do so continue to write us off, there will be more twists and turns between now and May.

Liverpool: Reina, Insua, Carragher, Skrtel, Johnson, Riera, Mascherano, Leiva, Kuyt, Gerrard (captain), Torres. Subs – Benayoun, Cavalieri, Ngog, Kyrgiakos, Aurelio, Babel, Agger

Chelsea: Hilario, Cole, Terry (captain), Carvalho, Ivanovic, , Lampard, Essien, Ballack, Drogba, Anelka. Subs – Kalou, Zhirkov, Sturridge, Turnbull, Belletti, Malouda, Cole

Att: 41,732

Ancelotti and Benitez – a close encounter for the third time?

It was on Wednesday, 25th May 2005 in the Ataturk Stadium, Istanbul that Carlo Ancelotti and Rafa Benitez first crossed managerial swords.

Rafa’s feelings about that game have been well documented but all too often we forget the opposition. This week, in the run up to today, Ancelotti reflected on it…

“In football, difficult moments can be good and help you improve. It was a difficult moment, for sure, but if you lose in a final you must remember that you got to the final in the first place. We lost an unbelievable game that night, and it was one of the best matches my Milan team played. It is always in my memory – it’s not a positive memory, but not too negative – but, for me, 2007 was destiny.”

Too true life, often satisfyingly and equally frustratingly, has a tendency to plug into the maxim “what goes around comes around” and two years later sure enough Ancelotti gained his revenge in Athens. Now he has swapped Milan for West London, what are his chances in tomorrow’s game? Whatever the outcome, for both men, deep down, when they have a moment in their busy schedules for private thought and reflection, I suspect they will both come to the conclusion, if not already do so, that the significance of that night, personally and career wise, will never ever be diminished.

Here endth the platitude, sorry I’ve probably been watching Sky too much!

I’m also probably being paranoid and overly sensitive, not to mention going on about too much, but the media continue to shower Liverpool with a hail of brickbats. Some of it is opinionated and limited to the field of play which is fair enough. Others are grubby and shoddy – note to Jermaine Pennant perhaps if you’d been more consistent and generally more talented when you were with us, Rafa would have played you more. Nonetheless perhaps Rafa was wrong and I look forward to you, as suggested in your article last week, proving it and appearing, in the World Cup next year. I’m not holding my breath!

Anyway, Chelsea appears to have escaped all this nonsense. Last Saturday’s defeat at Wigan was just a bad day at the office as was the midweek unconvincing one goal win in Cyprus. Yet if you add to that the two last gasp winners, against Hull on the opening day and then at Stoke a few weeks back, then you’ve got a side that is in the same predicament as us?

So where does that leave us today? It’s a crunch match if not in terms of the title, we are only in October, but in terms of confidence, kicking on and obtaining a massive physiological boost. These are the facts. If Chelsea win today they go top and establish six point margin over us. If we win there will be one point separating us, the Mancs and Chelsea! Even at this stage of the season that is the difference this game can have. It is a significant one?

I suspect none of the Liverpool team will need geeing up for this. The desire to do well and put things right after Tuesday will be immense and under Rafa we have generally bounced back when we’ve really needed it. Although we’ve exchanged a 2-2 series of Champions League knock outs, with the last two going in Chelsea’s favour, we can look back at last seasons league double over them. The most significant was the 1-0 win a year ago when we ended their unbeaten three hundred year old (or whatever the time span was) home record.

On that day we were without Torres who has a good record against Chelsea with five goals in six games. Peta Cech is also banned. However it’s not that simple. Rafa still has to decide what to do in midfield. Tuesday’s lightness in that part of the pitch only makes things more complicated for him. Does Mascherano, now fit after missing Tuesday, come back or does Gerrard drop back? Equally important is the issue of the full backs. Glen Johnson, Bosingwa, Insua, and Ashley Cole all like to push forward. Who will win the battle to keep them in their place? And then there is the defence. Although Agger is fit I suspect the Srktel/Agger decision will be delayed for another game or so.

Prediction? No side wants to lose a game but this is where defeat, even at this early stage of the season, could be a setback, not fatal but leaving work cut out. I suspect that nerves, caution, and perhaps a degree of looking at the wider picture, will mean that both will settle for making their move on another day, 1-1

Fiorentina fall out, a sense of reality and looking forward.

The last couple of days have been the days of the rallying call.

Whenever we seem to go through a period of despair (I’m not sure if that’s a bit OTT to describe one defeat in seven), up comes Steven Gerrard with his call to arms.

“We need to get the Fiorentina loss out of our system quickly, as we have a massive game at Chelsea. What we need is to produce a reaction from this defeat at Stamford Bridge.”

It’s not exactly Winston Churchill but there’s nowt wrong with it and it’s the sort of thing you would expect to hear from a captain who one would expect, as Gerrard has done on the pitch so many times, to set an example.

In The Echo Fabio Aurelio perhaps took the fall out from Tuesday a bit too far by suggesting, or was it way the article was written, that Chelsea would feel the backlash of Tuesday’s frustration. I guess the universal feeling is that as part of Tuesday’s healing process one wants to get another game along as quickly as possible. A win will make things better and help the memory fade and diminish hankering doubts. The fact that it’s Chelsea, and the impact it could have on our title challenge, makes all the more potent. Equally however another defeat will make it worse, no shut up!!!!!

There seems to be no doubt that the players are feeling brassed off about Tuesday and surely professional pride suggests that they want to make amends, but can they? For many Tuesday’s result seems to have bought into focus our season so far to the extent that some short sighted naysayers say we have flattered to deceive. Wins against Stoke, Bolton, Burnley, Hull, Debrecen, Leeds and West Ham are, they suggest, wins that are hardly going to send shock waves through the football world. Our defeats against Spurs, Aston Villa and on Tuesday paint a more realistic picture and suggest, that when it comes to a half decent opposition, we will be found wanting?

If only life were that simple. Sadly no one at Anfield or, before any one says it, Old Trafford can control the fixture list and we can only play and beat (hopefully) who we are due to play. Personally, if we are out of sorts, I’m glad we have played the sides we have while we are going through this period. Let’s be thankful, remain optimistic and hope that when we play so called better sides we’ve sorted things out?

Of course this is all relative and I guess that at third in the league, top scorers etc it’s an indication of the high standards we expect that people are still moaning. But how memories are short! We will get better and if anyone believes that we have suddenly become a bad side in the space of six months as a result of struggling to beat sides we would have no trouble in overcoming earlier this year, then they are not the sort of fan Liverpool needs at present.

Walk on!

A flop in Florence but the end of the world?

Fiorentina 2
Jovetio 28, 37

Liverpool 0

Apologies for the lateness of this but I didn’t see the game until last night due to being at a wedding on Tuesday. Then it was the other half’s birthday yesterday – I’ve a thumb print on my head!

They say things come in threes but sadly there was no third celebration, it was a disappointing result. Losing is one thing and we have done in the Champions league group stages before and will no doubt do so again. We can make the points up however, I guess what is more worrying is the nature of the performance. The discipline which characterised so many of our performances in this competition was, after a reasonable start, lost for a mad twenty minutes or so. Normally you save the criticism of your team for behind closed doors and after such a defeat Rafa goes on the defensive however not this time.

“There were too many mistakes and problems. Our mentality in the first half was not right, we were bad all over the pitch. I cannot really recall a performance like that. We certainly will never be as bad again”

Fabio Aurelio, who has probably played under Rafa the longest confirmed this

“The manager was really angry. I think that was the most annoyed we have ever seen the manager. But we were all angry. We all felt like that after the first half and I think that’s why you saw a better performance in the second”

Having not seen the full game before the goals and the reports, I was expecting a total calamity – keystone cop defending, running as if our bootlaces were tied together and tackling as if we didn’t want to mess up our hair or damage our nails! However, although it was hardly inspiring stuff, the first half hour was not nearly a bad as I thought it would be. Sure we didn’t really test Fiorentina and although they, as usually befitting the home side, had a go they didn’t unduly test us? Then of course came the goals. The second, if I’m being generous, was perhaps unfortunate however the first in which Jovetio saw a parting of the back four waves aka Moses ..…. well you saw it!

By the time we had got something resembling our act together in the second half the damage had been done. I don’t believe Fiorentina are that invincible and we can still finish them off at home however, boosted by the goals it was clear we weren’t going to stage a comeback despite an improvement in the second half.

Inevitably thoughts will turn to the team in trying to work out what went wrong. Firstly one has to pay tribute to Fiorentina they looked bright and sharp. They also snuffed Gerrard and Torres effectively, every time one of them got the ball there they seemed to be engulfed by a “flash mob” of purple. Perhaps they exceeded just as must as we let ourselves down? Let’s hope so.

Re the team, was Rafa right to field Aurelio, just back from injury, in the holding role alongside Lucas instead of Gerrard who was put in his more offensive role behind Torres? Our midfield was at times non existent perhaps we should have started off more cautiously and used Gerrard’s experience in the position where he, and not Aurelio, has been played for much of the season? And the defence? Suggestions are that we were too reckless? Should Johnson and Insua have reined themselves in a bit and with Daniel Agger close to reigning fitness Martin Skrtel must be worried? However, it is easy to be wise after the event and personally I don’t blame Rafa, we’ve been averaging around three goals a game this season so why shouldn’t we play to our strengths?

It’s easy to wail and gnash teeth however, we’ve still four games left in the group which is more than enough to make up things. In general terms a good performance at Stamford Bridge on Sunday will change things and that, judging from some of the players angry post match quotes, is what is wanted more than anything else now.

Here’s to it!

Liverpool: Reina, Insua, Carragher, Skrtel, Johnson, Benayoun, Leiva, Aurelio, Kuyt, Gerrard, Torres. Subs – Spearing, Babel, Cavalieri, Kyrgiakos, Riera, Plessis, Voronin

Fiorentina: Frey, Gobbi, Dainelli, Gamberini, Comotto, Vargas, Zanetti, Montolivo, Marchionni, Jovetic, Mutu. Subs – Avramov, Castillo, De Silvestri, Jorgensen, Donadel, Pasqual, Kroldrup

Att: 33,426

Champions League Group Position: 3rd