Stoke City vs.. Liverpool Post Match Review

I knew I had a poor game!  I don’t know but during the first half, I just couldn’t stop worrying about the Court appearance that I have to make later this month.  I just disappeared from the field. 

It was not until late in the second half that I realized this season is not the same as the seasons.  We are actually leading the table this time in January.  I tried to pick-up myself from the mental crash, but it was tough.  Rafa later sent in Torres to help me out.  He did!  But the post didn’t!  I hit it twice today! 

It’s a miserable day for me, and probably for the team too.  There is a possibility that we have just lost the Premiership Title, TODAY! 

Now when I watch Chelsea hosting Man U tomorrow, I have to hope for a draw.  Either side win will be a disadvantage to us.

Reina – 5 – I’m sorry, I know you got a clean sheet, but that stupid pass that you made almost game me a heart-attack.

Hyypia – 7 – I think he did okay today. 

Skrtel – 7 – Welcome back!  And yes, you also did well.  Your partnership with Hyypia seemed to work well today.

Aurelio – 6 – A very quiet day.

Carragher – 6 – I don’t like seeing Carra playing as Right Back.  His crossing sucks, and he lacks pace.  And looking at how often Stoke came down their Left side, I don’t think I’m the only one who sees Carra that way.

Mascherano – 5 – I had a quick chat with Maradona after the game today, and I told him not to judge Mascherano based on his performance today.

Lucas – 4 – His passing was miserable today! 

Kuyt – 5 – We know his finishing sucks.  By the time Rafa moved him to Right Wing, I think he only had less than half a tank of gas left.

Myself – 6 – I didn’t show up in the First Half.  I only started playing after Torres was brought on.

Riera – 5 – He did a few good runs from the Left early-on.   But he disappeared in the Second Half, and subsequently being substituted. 

Benayoun – 5 – Always one dribble too many.  He was given quite some time on the ball and he failed to deliver.

Torres – 6 – Got about 30 minutes of play and that Header-pass to Gerrard was magnificent! (Almost gave him a ‘7’)

Babel – 6 – With only 10 minutes or so of playing time, I shouldn’t even be rating him.  But I do think that his Dribbling and Pace are both better than Benayoun.  He was/would-have-been my pick to start the match on the right.

In conclusion, WE MISSED ALONSO!  I don’t know how Rafa could entertain the thought of selling Alonso early this season.  His range of passing was clearly missed today!  And if we do end-up losing the Title, today’s match, in my opinion, is the final nail to the coffin. 

Rafa Overdosed on Pain Killer!?

My mobile phone kept ringing off the hook this morning as if I was arrested again.  Fortunately, I forgot to switch off the silent mode after watching a movie last night.  So I missed all those calls and got to sleep in for a bit.

But when I woke up, there were  24 Missed Calls, and 38 SMSes in my Inbox.  By the time I glanced through the first 5 messages and there were only 1 common things… Rafa!  “What the hell is going on?” 

I booted up my PC and the first item from my RSS Reader reads something like “Rafa Go Hostile on Sir Alex!”

I immediately log into my Liverpool email account and downloaded the transcript of Rafa’s interview. 

“If Mr. Ferguson wants to talk about the fixtures, and we want to be on a level playing field here, there are two options: one is where is the same as in Spain. The first part of the league, all the teams know at this time they will play against this team on this weekend, or that weekend, and the second half of the league will be the opposite - you will play away… Or maybe the other option would be Mr. Ferguson organizing the fixtures and everything in his office and sending them to us - then everybody will know and nobody can complain.”

Holy crap!  I was laughing my ass off!  Way to go, Boss!  It’s about time someone shut this Old Fart up, and tell him that we are not afraid of him! 

But honestly, I do know that Rafa is still under heavy medication from his Kidney Stone removal operations, and his mind wasn’t clear.  He must thought that he was talking to Sammy Lee in the Boot Room.  That’s cool with me.

By the way, I also came across this later today.  I need to ring up King Kevin to confirm this.

Rafa: My Stoke City vs. Liverpool Team Sheet

			Reina
Carragher		Hyypia		Agger		Aurelio
		Mascherano		Lucas
Babel			Myself			Riera
			Kuyt

• Not much changes in the back.  It turned out that putting Carragher in the Full-Back position has been working out, so I’ll just stick with it.
• Insua is not available so I put Aurelio on the other side of the defense.  I’ll let him take a few free kicks if/when I choose to.
• Alonso is injured so Lucas will take his spot
• I chose to put Babel on the right because, 1)  Riera has been doing well on the left, and 2) Babel can play the Striker position while (the alternate) Benayoun cannot.  I would like some options here.
• Kuyt over Torres even though Torres is available.  I’ll put Torres on some time in the second half.  I just don’t want him to get injured by doing a full-game so soon, and Away.

My prediction:  Stoke City 0-4 Liverpool

FA Cup 4th Round Draw

My pal Rooney just called to tell me that we are playing Everton in the 4th Round of the FA Cup.  He asked me to make sure that 1) I will get to play, 2) Torres will play, and 3) To score a few more goals for him.

This is going to be one nasty tie!  Yellow and Red Cards are going to flying in from every angle, especially if Phil Neville is playing. 

Let me put some more thoughts into this game since it doesn’t get played until later this month (January 24/25). 

Preston vs. Liverpool Post Match Review

I told Rafa during our mid-week training that I want to play today because I want to thank my fans and supporters for their unconditional support during this tough period. 

Personally, I know that the only way to clear my mind these days is to score a hat-trick of goals and assists in an official game… preferably ManU or Everton.  But since Preston is our upcoming game, I knew they were the unfortunate ones.

When Rafa asked me to give him my line-up, I have to admit that my version of the team-sheet includes a few of our Reserve players.  But when I saw Rafa’s team-sheet, it tells me that he means business this time!  With our next game in a week’s time, I supposed we can afford to send out our full squad to ensure a passage to the next round of FA Cup. 

The game started off a bit rust for me, and the team.  I could clearly see that Bable, Mascherano, and Keane are a bit off with their passes in the beginning.  But as we settled down a bit, I began to find my rhythm and made a few killer-passes.  Unfortunately, Keane failed to convert those opportunities.  Riera’s shot was awesome!  The result came instantly after Sammy Lee told Babel and Riera to switch side after 20 minutes.  Sadly though, Alonso was injured right before half time.  It looked serious and only an x-ray can tell how serious was the injury.  

The second half was more or less the same.  It’s good to see Mellor did relatively well up-front.  I saw him made a few good looking passes in the second half.  Credit to Preston, they really tried to come-back but our defense line held up nicely! 

To compensate the sad news of Alonso’s injury, it’s good to see that Torres made a return to action.  Yeah, I know I could have scored that goal myself; I just want to give it to Torres to celebrate his return. 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to my Solicitors, Fans, Supporters, Teammates, and the Management Team. 

Thank you for your continuous support!

May this year be the year that I will bring home the Premiership Trophy.