New season Old story?

WE ARE BACK!!! screamed the idiot box adverts dragging us all to our couches and ensuring that we stay there on matchdays. Pre-season was all about the Olympics and comparisons between the Olympic spirit and how we could compare it to the spirit of footballers. Nevertheless, the new season started off with a bang on the 18th of August.

My sights were firmly fixed on the match happening at the Hawthorns where Liverpool were the visitors. There was renewed hope in the Reds camp after 3 seasons of finishing outside the Champions League spots. Out with the old, in with the new was the motto propagated by Fenway Sports Group, the Liverpool owners. They took the risk of facing the wrath of die-hard fans all around the world, when they decided to sack King Kenny and award his throne to a newbie, Brendan Rodgers. Rodgers had impressed with his tactics and knowledge of the game when he guided a team tipped to go down at the beginning of the season, to a respectable 11th position, in his first season in charge in the Premiership. not unsurprisingly, a 180 page dossier was enough to convince FSG that Brendan Rodgers was the right man for the job.

So, on to the game at the Hawthorns. It started out as it always does, with the home side exerting pressure in the opening stages. But as the half wore on, it was Liverpool who looked the most like opening the scoring. Had it not been for the familiar story of Luis Suarez missing a couple of sitters, Liverpool would have been 2 to the good within the first 35 minutes of the first half. The script though, could not have been written differently. Step up Zoltan Gera with a screamer in the 43rd minute and it was 1-0 to the home side.

The second half again looked to be going according to plan for the Reds, but everything changed when Steven Gerrard misplaced a pass that allowed Shane Long through and led to the sending off of Daniel Agger for the first time in his Liverpool career. That penalty was missed by Long, but more sloppy work by Martin Skrtel ensured it was 2-0 to West Brom by the 65th minute. From there on, there looked to be no way back for the Reds and it ended 3-0 on the night in favor or West Brom.

A few things that were clearly visible.
1. Physical strength can be the Reds undoing – West Brom were appropriately organized for the visit of Liverpool and they overpowered the Reds disposseing them easily in midfield with their physical strength. If the Reds do want to play their possession based football, they will have to ensure that more physical teams are not able to break them down this easily,
2. Shoddy finishing – Will it come back to haunt them again? It looks like that after the first game of the new season showed the Reds spurning 4 chances. If the Reds want to assert their ambition this season, they have to find a more prolific scorer up front and not give the strikers role to Luis Suarez.
3. Defensive line – the midfield for the Reds is not yet completely ready to play the possession based game that is desired by Brendan Rodgers and FSG. In such circumstances, playing a high defensive line with the wing backs moving up to support the attackers is nothing less than suicide. This frailty was exposed so easily by West Brom that if this is not corrected, even the poorest of teams will be able to break down the Reds in a counterattacking game.
4. Keeping the ball – working off the ball with high pressing is fine, but its criminal to give the ball away when you have it and there is no pressure on you. This was one of the reasons that Liverpool lost the game and was the cause for Daniel Agger getting sent off. The midfield must gel together well and ensure that they don’t give the ball away and commit silly mistakes which puts undue pressure on the defense.

Despite all these flaws, Rodgers looks to be doing a pretty decent job with the squad at his disposal. It must also not be forgotten that the true fruits of his hard work were visible in another game, the Swans 5-0 victory over QPR.
This was just the first game of the season, and as long as Rodgers can imprint his philosophy on a Liverpool squad that is threadbare by top 4 standards, the group will keep improving and could go on a run observed last season from Arsenal to nudge it into the top 4.
Only time will tell !!!

Premier League Preview: West Bromwich Albion vs Liverpool FC

We are down to the business end of the season and the next 8 matches will determine whether we end up playing in Europe or licking our wounds in the ignominy of defeat, playing in only domestic competitions for one full season. Next up along the way are EPL survival hopefuls, West Bromwich Albion. The premier league new boys who are now being guided by ex-Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson, sit in 16th position on the table with 33 points and a goal difference of -15.

Liverpool travel to the Hawthorns trying to keep their momentum and winning run going. Liverpool’s last 6 games in the PL give a good indication of how Kenny Dalglish has transformed a once under-performing unit into one which looks like a well-oiled machine capable of grinding out results.

Last 6 games (latest left)
Liverpool: W W L D W W
West Brom: D W D D D L

Of the 6 aforementioned performances, Roy Hodgson has led West Brom in 5. He has managed to stall the losing streak that the club were going through and shored up the defense by reverting to the basics (tactics which failed at Liverpool). Their main attacking threat comes from Peter Odemwingie, who has scored 10 goals in his PL appearances this season. However, West Brom also pose a major aerial threat with Paul Scharner in particular doing his reputation no harm with some good performances over the last few games.

What has been impressive about West Brom since Roy Hodgson took over is that they do not give up until the final whistle is blown as was seen against Stoke City and Wolves.

Liverpool’s record against West Brom is quite good. Against the Baggies at the Hawthorns, Liverpool have won all in the last 4 meetings (in the past 10 years), scoring an incredible 15 goals. This certainly gives the reds some added inspiration, not that they needed any with a place in Europe at stake.

Liverpool have undergone a complete transformation under Kenny Dalglish and Roy Hodgson will have a point to prove to Liverpool’s owners when his side meets the Merseysiders at home. The Reds now though have a strikeforce to boast about. Winter acquisitions in the form of Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll, with a Raul Meireles firing on all cylinders plus the inspirational Steven Gerrard give Liverpool plenty of firepower up-front.

Liverpool have already demonstrated that they will be a force to reckon with next season after impressive victories over Chelsea (1-0 away) and Manchester United (3-1 home). With ambitious owners and the King guiding his army, they will be a tough proposition for West Brom even at home.

Match begins 2:00 PM local time, 7:30 PM IST.

Big 4, influential 7, Euro tales and more(EPL)

So, the latest buzz (nothing related to google’s latest launch) is that the Premiership is considering holding playoff’s for the last Champion’s league and the only Europa league spot. If this move does come into effect, it will mean more games at the end of the season, at the breakneck speed of the EPL and more entertainment for the viewers. For this rule into come into effect, however, requires approval of 14 of the 20 teams competing in the Premier League. Another point to note, is that, this rule will not come into effect at least for the next 3 years since they will mess up the current television coverage deals.

Let us first take a look at whether there is a chance for this rule to effected come the end of 2013 season. The EPL has traditionally had 4 really big teams who take turns finishing up as champions – although this page has been re-written in the recent past (20 years). What this rule would end up doing, is substantially undermine the power traditionally held by these big 4 teams; namely, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United. This season has seen the rise of 3 more teams capable of upsetting the natural order of things; Aston Villa, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur. Looking at the way things are moving, we could expect Birmingham to start mounting pressure on these 3 teams with heavy investment over the next few seasons. Add to that teams which might consider themselves contenders for finishing in the top 7-8 places, we have Everton and Fulham.

Now, we have 3 + 3 = 6 teams who would definitely want this move (playoffs) to go through. The top 4 would no doubt like to retain their statuses as dominators and oppose the move. So, 6 for and 4 against.
We have 7 teams remaining who would not get relegated. Of these, it is highly difficult to predict which ones would agree to the playoffs. Let us assume that 5 of these 7 would approve of the playoffs. This now gives us, 11 teams for and 6 against. Of the 3 promoted teams, one can never guess who they will side with.All in all, it will be a pretty close call is what one can say.

Now, lets see the impact this rule would have on everyone involved after it comes into effect.

The viewer: he gets to see more games and that means more entertainment for him.
The broadcaster: more money, more viewership due to the high stakes involved in these games.
The Premiership: they would end up minting money as a result of the play-offs.
The clubs: the traditional big four will no doubt be upset and it will hopefully lead to an open era of football where we see new teams coming into the big league and overall standard of play improves.
It would also mean more money is poured into the teams and an already inflated market with sky high prices would see prices (of players, managers, support staff) crash through the roof.
The players: they are the ones who might end up losing something, if at all. More games means more pitch time and more injuries.
On the other hand, newer teams getting to play in Europe’s top competition would entail more exposure to players, an improvement in overall quality in the squads and hence, more entertaining football in the long run.

Would I want this regulation to be put into place? I can’ t really answer that.
What’s your take?

Time for a change in leadership at Anfield?

I write this post much aggrieved at the state of affairs at Anfield, one of the premier footballing destinations in the world. Last weekend’s game at Craven Cottage has again proven the fickle nature of Liverpool’s manager, Rafael Benitez. A game which was there to be won at the hour mark was lost when two of the most influential players in the form of Fernando Torres and Yossi Benayoun were taken off.

Not only that; everyone was surprised at the starting lineup which was put up for this game. A second string side barring Torres, Benayoun, Carragher and Kuyt was definitely not going to be good enough to win a game at Craven Cottage that the Merseysiders had almost given away last season. And it proved to be true. A mediocre Liverpool side conceded all three points at Craven Cottage and aided in bringing Fulham’s faltering Premier League campaign back on track.

A team which had lost only 2 games in the entire last season have managed to lose 5 in 11 games this season. How is such a turnaround possible, one would ask? Well, I would suggest the team which wants to achieve such incredible results, to sign Rafa Benitez as their manager. Sarcasm aside, most Reds opine that whatever Rafa is thinking or doing is incorrect. Add to that statements such as “Liverpool does not need trophies to prove they are a successful team”. May I ask, in which universe is a team with no silverware regarded as successful?

It is understandable to an extent that Rafa wanted to preserve most of his lineup for the Champions League away fixture to Lyon. However, it is an away fixture and in all likelihood it will result in a draw or a loss (looking at Lyon’s form). In such a scenario, how does Rafa expect to make it through the group stages? Even if he does make it through the group stages, it will be at the cost of missing out on even an Europa league spot, forget the Champions league. This is sure to affect the club in the long term. For one, a moderate stadium with not quite so high entry prices already are adding to owners woes regarding income generated from home games. Add to that missing out on Champions league or even Europa cup ticket sales and the participation money that comes with it.

The European competitions carry with them a significant financial benefit and I am sure the owners are not willing to forego that income. If Liverpool do not make it past the group stages this season and end up losing out on a Champions league spot for next season, they are doomed. There will be no second thoughts and the manager is sure to face the axe. I think, though, that the owners will wait until before the January transfer window to make a decision.

As of now, there could not be a bleaker picture that the Kop could be looking at. The squad is almost the same as last season. If the same squad lost only 2 games all of last season and 5 of 11 this season, it is nothing to do with the squad, but the manager. Honestly, if I were the owner, I would have already fired Rafa for the mindless decisions being made and try and preserve this campaign while it still can be done. One can only hope it is not too late before things work out for the Red part of Merseyside.

Signed,

A disconsolate Red

Liverpool 2 – 0 Manchester United

:O :O

That is the best expression I could come up with, after seeing a match which Liverpool dominated for the best part of 90 minutes, creating chances aplenty and running out deserved winners in the end. It is astonishing how the Reds can conjure up such a performance when they have their backs to the wall. Rafa Benitez is know to be the master of come backs. I am sure every Red remembers the grandiose comeback in Istanbul that night of 2005.

Anyway, coming back to this encounter. The stage was set for another exhilarating encounter and the atmosphere at Anfield was electric. There was a march by the ‘Spirit of Shankly’ supporters against the American owners prior to the match. There were beach balls thrown out onto the field from the Man Utd section of the crowd (mocking the Sunderland fiasco) and the stewards had to clean the ground before the match could begin. The first 20 minutes were dominated by the home team and they created a couple of good opportunities, but could not score. From there on, United started getting back into the game, but they never really looked threatening. The best chance of the half came to Dirk Kuyt courtesy a good through ball from Lucas, but Kuyt took one touch too many and could only slice the ball across the face of the goal. Another chance fell to Fabio Aurelio from a corner, but he headed the ball straight into the palms of the United keeper, Edwin Van Der Sar.

Both teams went into half time not highly pleased with themselves, but hoping to score in the upcoming 45 minutes. The second half again was full of chances for both teams.  It seemed that Kuyt had lost confidence in himself after the earlier miss, when, he received the ball in the same  spot as earlier, but he decided to pass back to Benayoun instead of firing the shot himself at an open goal with only Van Der Sar to beat. The first goal however, came again from an individual mistake. The last time these two teams met, Nemanja Vidic was at fault; this time it was Rio Ferdinand. Yossi Benayoun passed brilliantly to Torres and El Nino made sure he kept Ferdinand at bay while slotting past Edwin Van Der Sar. This seemed to awaken Manchested United out of their slumber and they created the best chance of the evening for themselves with Antonio Valencia hitting the post within the next 10 minutes.

No one can predict what outcome the match would have had, if that ball from Valencia had gone in. Liverpool, however, will survive to fight out another season. The last 10 minutes saw the sending off of Vidic and Mascherano,  reducing both teams to 10 men. Vidic was sent off for the third straight time against the Reds in 3 matches; both matches last season and this, the first game of this season between the clubs. Ngog was brought in for a not yet fit Torres in the 80th minute.

United kept mounting attack after attack which allowed Liverpool to break in the 95th minute. With Lucas, Kuyt and Ngog ahead and Lucas holding the ball a wee bit more than normal, he passed to Ngog who finished the game, putting the ball past Van Der Sar into the United net. The significance of the win can only be described by the scene when Pepe Reina ran all the way from the Liverpool goal to celebrate with Ngog.

It does surprise me to see a team which performed miserably against Chelsea,  Sunderland and Lyon come up with the goods against Man Utd. I will personally remember this match for one thing; Lucas giving the best performance of his short stint in the Premier League. I have never seen such a versatile Lucas in all the matches that he has played. Cricket aficionados  will cite the example of Marvan Atapattu from Sri Lanka who came good after scoring seven consecutive 0’s (ducks) in his first seven innings. It seems Rafa Benitez is showing the same patience with Lucas. To be truthful, he has at long last looked like a player who had been chosen as the Brazilian footballer of the year.

He combined very well with Benayoun and threaded some really good passes to Torres and Kuyt. Kuyt though, was a shadow of his former self. The midfield in this game functioned like a well oiled machine. I have been the biggest critic of Rafa this season and I would like to commend him on getting the team together once again.

However, it is too early in the season to become optimistic about title chances. I will for now refrain from speaking about our title chances. It looks as though Liverpool have taken one small step to bringing their season back on track. The next few games will tell where they will land at the end of this season.

Anfield humiliation for the Kop

It was not going to be an easy game.  Footballing pundits had already given their opinion on how detrimental a failure in this particular game at Anfield could prove to be for the Kop. And none of them believed Liverpool could get a victory here without the inspirational Steven Gerrard and marksman Fernando Torres. How right they were!!!

Liverpool tried to start in aggressive fashion and keep the ball against a fluent Lyon side. However, it was the visitors who would almost go ahead courtesy Brazilian striker Lisandro. It was only the athleticism of Pepe Reina that saved Liverpool from an early embarrassment. This failed attempt by Lyon seemed to have injected some life into Liverpool. From here on in the first half, the Reds kept most of the possession and dominated proceedings. This did not mean that Lyon did not pose a challenge. They always looked threatening when coming ahead and one was particularly noticeable, Sidney Govou. I would say that what Steven Gerrard is to Liverpool, Sidney Govou is to Lyon.

Liverpool managed to go ahead on 41 minutes courtesy Yossi Benayoun who was the man trying to guide a very scrappy Liverpool midfield. Credit has to be given to Fabio Aurelio for the excellent cross into the box which caused numerous problems to the Lyon defence and resulted in the only goal for Liverpool in the match. Liverpool went into the break 1-0 ahead. The home fans expected a much better performance from their team in the second half, but it was Lyon who stole the show. A goal on 72 minutes and another one deep in injury time from the Lyon super subs meant that Liverpool now have to win the remaining three games in the Champions league convincingly to go past the league stages.

Several things were clearly seen in this game. For instance, Liverpool no longer have the free flowing game of football that we were seeing last season. Surely this has not been caused by the absence of just one man Xabi Alonso. No, there is more to this than meets the eye.  There seems to be an absolute lack of awareness about where the other team members are. Most players look up to see where their nearest teammate stands before passing on the ball. Also, there seems to be no anticipation amongst the players that the ball is going to be played to him and no runs across.  In my opinion, this is nothing but the lack of teamwork. Yes, individual skills have to be improved, but football is a team game and if the players in a team cannot read each other’s minds, there will be no success for that team.

In comparison, the Lyon players were so well aware of each other placement that when they had the ball, Liverpool almost never managed to get it back cleanly. Another surprise was the team selection. You can see from the teams Rafa has been putting there, that he is trying to build a young team. What with players like Lucas and Insua getting regular first team appearances, and Ngog getting the look in once in a while. But, the question we must ask here is; is this being done at the expense of losing out in the top four slots in the league and an early exit out of the Champions league?

Rafa has been saying a number of things to defend himself and his team selection. He has been trying to mould Lucas to place in the place of Xabi Alonso. Lucas though seems to be following in the footsteps of Nani i.e. contributing nothing in every game. To be very frank, he only showed one good bit of skill till date, and that too in this game against Lyon, when cornered near the left corner of the field. He is weak in possession and needs to improve his tackling and defence capabilities on a whole. Maybe it is a little too early to be giving him a regular place on the team.

Also, considering that Liverpool now have a few strikers, namely Torres, Voronin, Babel and Ngog; its a wonder why Rafa never plays 2 of them up front. Its always better to have 2 up ahead who can score than one. Dirk Kuyt has been working as the makeshift striker during El Nino’s absence, but the guy is not really a striker. Mind you, he works like a horse in the field, but Liverpool could do with someone having a little more imagination up front.

Rafa – as everyone knows –  is a defensive minded manager. If he plays 2 strikers, he can put defensive midfielders out there and shore up his defence to take care of a counter attack from the opposition.

That said, Rafa knows the team better and the strengths and weaknesses of each player better than anyone else. Lets hope that he does some out-of-the-box thinking and starts getting those results that the fans always expect from the Reds.

***If I were Rafa, i would consider the following lineup against ManUtd on Sunday.

————————————————————————————————

Torres             Voronin

Aurelio                Benayoun                 Kuyt

Mascherano

Insua             Agger          Carragher         Kelly

Reina

————————————————————————————————

I would prefer Kelly to Johnson since Kelly has shown very good defensive qualities as well as looking good while moving forward.

And Voronin might seem to be a waste of money to many, but he has shown glimpses of his abilities during his time on the field. I would definitely put my money on him to score at least once every two games provided he plays regularly.

The end of another journey

End?? Of another journey?? Yes…..and a very unlikely time for it to end. But yes, it has ended. The journey I am talking about is Liverpool’s journey towards the EPL title. The final nail has been buried into the coffin. The fourth loss of the season within the first nine games. No team has ever come back from this position to win the title.

Call me a pessimist, but I will stick by it. People say that we should look into what Man Utd achieved last season. But that’s just it. Every champion team has this thing in them; a never say die attitude. We have not seen that from Liverpool. Last season was the best chance that Liverpool had to make the premiership title their own. But, they did not and Man Utd made it their own.

If a team can give up so easily, no wonder that people question their ability to stay anywhere close to the top of the league table. There are so many things which when factored in, decide the fate of such a competitive title race among which the most important are: strength of the squad and manager’s flexibility and forsightedness.

On one hand, Liverpool depend on only 2 players to score all the goals; Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres. If they fail, the team fails.  On the other, Mr Benitez does not favor giving the other strikers a chance. Andriy Voronon did such a great job at Hertha Berlin, but he has ben endlessly warming the bench here. Diry Kuyt is not a natural striker, so why play him up front as the lone striker? Ryan Babel showed more qualities of a striker than Kuyt.

Rafael Benitez has been very rigid with the combinations he has fielded and there is a lack of innovativeness to his scheming. There have been complaints of a shallow squad from his end, but I ask…….if you do not give good players in your squad a regular chance to play, how can you expect them to deliver in times of need?

The more I write, the more my agitation grows at another failure of Liverpool to reach the pinnacle of success in the most competitive football league in the world. Perhaps it is the time for a complete overhaul at the greatest football club in the world; right from the owners to the manager. God help us!!!

Nani vs Babel

I remember having this discussion with my friend Munish (check out his blog here). We were debating about who was worse, Nani or Babel. First of its kind debate? You tell me. This debate started about 7 weeks back, at the start of the new Premier League season. For the first couple of weeks, I was able to make my point considering the performances going around, but; about four weeks into the season and I am dead beat. How? Read on….

Ryan Babel, the Dutch striker/winger started the season in the most horrific of fashions. He was given his first start in the first game of the season for Liverpool; and he made his first worthless appearance there. Too many “firsts” there, isn’t it. Well, to be truthful I have not followed Nani’s progress (or decline as my friend likes to state it) as closely as Babel, but I have seen glimpses of him. I make it clear in no uncertain terms, that being a Red for life I hate ManUtd as hell, but I do respect their attitude towards the game and their fighting spirit.

This prompted me to watch a couple of games of ManU and also Nani’s performance. The latest game I watched was the one today against Bolton at Old Trafford. Now, OT is the hunting ground for the current Champions. However, their performance never made it look like it is their home ground. I was keeping an eye out for Nani in particular, and he was disappointing to say the least. One wonders, how a manager as experienced as Sir Alex is still holding him in his squad. And, come to think of it, Nani had spoken out to the media saying that he will replace CR7 (now CR9).

Babel has not done much better either. He has not been given the opportunities Nani has been given (in terms of minutes on the field), but he has been playing 20+ minutes in almost all his substitute appearances. Add to the fact that he has 2 goals to show (although one of them was freaky), both against Hull. Ryan Babel did show flashes of brilliance with his control and speed, but these were really far and few in between the chances he has wasted.

The time’s ripe for both Nani and Babel to show where they stand. One can only hope that both of them starting paying back the trust and monetary investments made by their respective managers. I will reserve my judgement on who will make it through this season for now. But, as I understand it; for either team to win this season of the Barclay’s Premier League, these two players will be quite critical in their battle plans.