Liverpool » Dirk Kuyt

FA Cup 3rd Round: Preston 0, Liverpool 2

Kai — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 07:03:53 +0000

Following the high of our win at St James’ Park, Rafa rested Benayoun, Lucas, Kuyt & Reina. Replacing them in the starting lineup are Keane, Riera, Alonso & Cavalieri between the posts.

Gerrard was played following his little run-in with the law and produced yet another composed display.

Keane wasted another hatfull of chances ~~as usual~~ and was replaced by Torres after 73 minutes. Nando showed Keane how it’s done here in Anfield after linking up with Gerrard in injury time after Riera put The Reds up after 24 minutes.

Preston put up a good fight but in the end, Liverpool managed to secure passage into the next round, where we will meet our Mersyside rivals, Everton on the weekend of January 24/25 at Anfield. This match comes a week after a similar fixture in the League.

Personally, I’m wondering if Rafa will put as much emphasis on the FA Cup as he does in the League. Would that be spreading our team too thin? What do you think?

Riot in The Park; Red Army held responsible

Kai — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:04:49 +0000

And so with Chel$ki held to a 2-2 draw at Craven Cottage, we are 3 points clear heading into 2009!! I’m strangely starting to believe we might just nick it this year.

Running riot in St James’ Park, Stevie G bagged a couple and created a couple more to turn in an exemplary performance by the 71st minute. Final score: Newcastle 1, Liverpool 5

In the starting line-up, Bolton match heroes Keane & Riera were rested. Skrtel was given a run-out in place of Kuyt in the 79th minute, Hyypia & DAgger in center of defence and Carra in right-back.

The opening exchange was fast and furious with Given making a few fine saves. If not for him, we’d be 20 up by half time, I reckon. His opposite number, Pepe “Butterfingers” Reina, fumbled a couple and nearly caused the pub’s sleek LCD TV to be smashed by my beer glass.

Old-man Hyypia was threatening in a few of our corners and was unlucky not to grab a goal in the 16th minute. Lucas had a good run and had at least 2 great chances on goal. Given saving the Toon arse as usual.

We finally broke through at the half-hour mark and never looked back. Anyone noticed Babel’s goal celebration? He seemed like he ran half the pitch, dribbling past 2 defenders, sidestepped past another 2, flicked the ball up over the ‘keeper and finished off with a 360-degree, double-flip bicycle kick. Lucas has to be kicking himself for having all his nice efforts saved and then up comes Babel with a goal-mouth melee, I-just-happened-to-be-there goal.

I must give special mention to Lucas for his sweet pass that led to Stevie G’s second. That was world-class! Also for an outstanding match all-round. Kudos to Benayoun for being a total pest to Newcastle down our right. Very nice cut-back for Stevie’s 1st goal of the match.

Going into 2009, here’s a message from Nadia & myself:
WE’RE STILL NUMBER 1, BITCHES!!!!

Liverpool 1 Marseille 0: Unconvincing but does the job

Nadia — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:41:48 +0000

Rafa finally learns how to pronounce ‘dilemma’, some Marseille fans are morons and clearly, we have a goal-scoring crisis

CSD was spot-on when he predicted a narrow score-line for Wednesday’s Matchday 5 encounter with French side, Olympique de Marseille. Nevertheless, this “scary” win qualifies the Reds to the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League tournament for the 5th successive year – a perfect record for Benitez. Back from groin injury, Captain Fantastic showed us why he hearts scoring against Marseille with a 23rd minute emphatic header from a Xabi Alonso cross, making him joint top scorer with Barca’s Lionel Messi. Though seriously we should all give thanks to Bakari Koné for hesitating to man-mark Steven Gerrard in the penalty area.

Erik Gerets’ men won at Anfield the last time they visited, so they were probably confident of stealing a victory at our fortress again. Niang, Zubar, Taiwo and pink-lovin’ Ben Arfa came close, but all failed to beat the awesomeness, that is, Pepe Reina.

2nd half was a one-sided affair with the Ligue 1 team surging forward, hoping to level the game to at least guarantee them a UEFA cup placing, ahead of PSV Eindhoven. The introduction of Andrea Dossena to replace injured Fabio Aurelio, exposed the left flank, and the Italian proved he lacks the pace to keep up with feisty Ben Arfa, and was even guilty of making foolish tackles, that could have resulted in a penalty, if not for Portugese ref’s leniency.

Milestones

This game was Benitez’s 66th European game in charge of Liverpool and the win marks his 39th victory, equaling Bob Paisley’s record. Steven Gerrard’s cracker was his 30th goal in Europe.

Marseille fans

So some charitable Marseille fan decided to throw a lighter at Stevie G, while he was about to take a corner kick during the 1st half. That’s not cool. I don’t think Stevie was going for a smoke break either, but anyways, unlike Drogba, MBE was professional about it and chose not to retaliate.

And what’s with that poof holding up an Everton scarf?!?

Again?

News has it that Torres might be suffering from a relapse of the hamstring injury that has been plaguing him. Just when the Gernando partnership was about to take off…*sigh

Other news:
Inter lost to Panathinaikos (imagines puppet Jose going “shuttup Panathinaikos”)
Chelsea’s latest achievement: Frank Lampard sent off for 2 bookable offence. Keep it up people!

Liverpool 3 Wigan 2

Nadia — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 16:53:19 +0000

What have we learnt…

1. I do have a crystal ball =X
2. Daniel Agger would make a good winger or midfielder.
3. Our opponents should be careful the next time they score against us first.
4. Once again, we have won the hard way, but we have what it takes to be serious title contender.
5. Keane has yet to find the back of the net in the league. In fact, he was frustrating to watch today, always out of positions, had less goal attempts than Kuyt and did not convert the chances he had in front of goal.
6. Can’t quite discount CSD’s “favorite player”; he saved our arses today.
7. Stevie G did not have a good game. Jermaine Pennant and Nabil El Zhar should start more often.
8. Tackling our no 14, might get you a red card. (Valencia, Zabaleta Cahill, Vidic…and maybe Terry next week?)
9. Amr Zaki is a badass and he proved that he alone can get the job done up front. Says a lot about how unimportant Heskey can be…so please Rafa, don’t even think about it!
10. Yay I have 2 free lunches *hint hint

Man of the match: ~~Fernando Torres for turning up to watch the game~~ Yes he actually scores and is the inspiration behind today’s comeback, Dirk Kuyt *clap clap clap
This is the first time he has scored in three successive games for the Reds, and yay Riera scored too!

To my mate, Idz, hope you didn’t have a heart attack watching another 3-2 game. Peace

CL 1st Leg: Arsenal 1 – 1 LFC

CSD — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 23:03:01 +0000

Well I must say this wasn’t the thrashing I hoped that the Reds would give Arsenal, but it’s the next best thing. You can’t complain about coming back to Anfield without having a goal deficit.

Arsenal retained possession much more than Liverpool did and created more chances and I was somewhat surprised that they only scored once. I figured at home if they could put one in, they would be able to find a second. Liverpool didn’t create the opportunities as Arsenal did. Their play was more reactionary and tried to capitalize on the counter attack.

I have to pick Steven Gerrard for man of the match for the great run he made, taking on a box full of defenders and making a pass that found Kuyt. Kuyt also worked his ass off which was good to see. I’m still not as impressed with Babel. I think he can do better. He just seems very timid and gets a deer in the headlights look when he is close to goal and gets possession. If he can get to the point where he’s reacting quicker and more fluently, he’ll be a great force on the left side.

I’m not surprised to hear Wenger whining that Hleb should have had a penalty, but in a match that showed no yellow cards at all, it would have probably taken a brawl to have one awarded. There were a few instances where I thought the Gunners were being quite rough with Torres, but that’s how it goes. All there is left to do now is wait and see what happens this Saturday when Liverpool go back to Emirates Stadium and what impact that match will have on part III Tuesday. Anything less than a win and Arsenal should be right where we want them.

Here Geordie Geordie…

CSD — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:00:54 +0000

Michael Owen makes his return to Anfield Saturday. Oh no, however will we cope with such a scoring sensation that has netted four league goals this season? Don’t be surprised if you see him try to throw on an old kit and sneak away as the Newcastle bus leaves.

Fernando Torres has been named Barclays Player of the Month for February. Don’t be surprised if he takes the award again in March. Sure his goals are costing us a few bucks, but it’s so worth it!

I think this will be a match where everyone on the Newcastle side, including the coaching staff, trainers, and bus driver, will try to shutdown Torres. This will give opportunities to Babel, Kuyt, and Gerrard to score a few. But considering the strength of Newcastle’s defense, Torres may just run right through them.

Crystal Ball predicts LFC 20 – 0 Newcastle

International Round-Up

Stop. — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 10:12:50 +0000

Well, today is the day plenty of Liverpool fans will dread. Frankly, the thought that one of our first-teamers could pick up an injury whilst away on international duty is worrying, but with the sheer number of players away, it is increasingly likely.

Pepe Reina is away with Spain, and after last month’s appearance in the friendly with Greece, there is a possibility he may start for the Spaniards. Spain are away to Iceland today and host Latvia on Wednesday. Those two games should bring Spain six points, but you never know, as they have messed it up in the past. I hope they do, as my very own Northern Ireland sit a point ahead of the Spanish today, and any slip-ups would be very helpful.
Our back-up goalkeepers, Charles Itandje and David Martin, were either too old for the U-21s (Itandje) or out of contention for now (Martin). Scott Carson (loaned out to Aston Villa) is however in the England squad for the home games against Israel and Russia. He was a dark horse to take the jersey for the matches, until McLaren restored his blind faith in Paul Robinson.

Steve Finnan was to be on duty with Ireland until he got injured. Jamie Carragher is injured, but Steve McLaren appears to have recognised his decision to quit international football. Daniel Agger’s talent has not gone unnoticed (ed-uhuh, naturally), and he is set to be the Danes’ number one defender for the match away to Sweden today. However, confidence is low in the Danish camp, after the 4-0 loss to Ireland last month. John Arne Riise, as usual, is in the Norwegian squad and should play for them today in Chisinau and next week against Greece in Oslo. Four points from those games against Moldova and Greece would do the Norwegians nicely. Alvaro Arbeloa has been left out of the Spain squad, good news for us, I can’t see why with the form he’s in. Sami Hyypia is also a certain starter for Finland’s matches against Serbia and Poland.

Harry Kewell still ain’t fit enough for the Aussie squad. Steven Gerrard is going to threaten serious harm to his toe by playing Israel today. This could put him out of the Liverpool side for weeks. However, we can always hope that this story is true and that he won’t need painkillers. Yossi Benayoun will play against England for Israel today. Xabi Alonso has been called up for Spain, and Aragones has stated he may be in line for a rare start against Iceland. Jermaine Pennant, whilst he should be in the England squad (albeit not playing as I have said), he isn’t and so gains valuable resting time. Ryan Babel may well start Holland’s vital games at home to Bulgaria and away to Albania on the back of his excellent form. Unfortunately, Javier Mascherano has had to travel thousands of miles for a friendly against Australia. This ludicrous match means that he is unlikely to play next weekend for the Reds, even if the Tuesday kick-off is slightly more advantageous for the European players. Sebastien Leto has thankfully been left out. Lucas Leiva has also been left out of the Brazil squad, despite his appearance in the squad for last month’s Algeria friendly. This is good for us, as we don’t really want him to suffer jetlag as a result of the trip to the USA.

Fernando Torres has shook off a knee problem and should play for Spain. Peter Crouch is banned for the Israel game, but should start against Russia on Wednesday in place of former Red Emile Heskey. Dirk Kuyt may play for Holland, but with the return of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Babel’s fine form and some fitness concerns, that is not definite. Andriy Voronin is likely to start up front for Ukraine against Scotland and the Faroe Islands as their top striker.

Xabi should have had a hat-trick

Brian — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 16:38:33 +0000

Did you expect me to be optimistic about our 6-0 thrashing of Derby County today? Okay, so I’m a little pleased. Okay, so I have a smile on my face right now that plastic surgery probably couldn’t take away. More so because I picked up Xabi and Torres on my Fantasy squads than anything. Anyhow, before I watch it again, and I’ll definitely be watching this one again, I’ll say Mascherano is the Man of the Match. He was so freakin’ dominate I don’t know where to begin. Anyhow, more later. Cheers.

P.S. I liked Carra’s coat. Very Back to the Future.

Liverpool vs Derby County: What will Rafa do?

Brian — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 16:58:49 +0000

Broken record alert: Stevie-G and Carra are out for this one. God I hope this means Gerrard sits out the England qualifying matches. Come on, Stevie, let Limp foot Lampard get some playing time. Moving on, I first expect to see all those who weren’t featured against Toulouse on Tuesday start, which means Torres and Voronin up front, Xabi & Pennant in the respective midfield positions, and Finnan at right-back.

As for the rest of the squad, joining Xabi in the middle will probably be Mascherano. Though I would not be surprised to see Sissoko or even Lucas. Torres’ effort alone should be able to beat Derby, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see Rafa do a little experimentation. On the left, I have to think he’ll go with Babel, but, if he’s not transferred by tonight, we might see Harry Kewell. There’s been no official announcement nor report about Kewell’s current state of fitness, but it was around this time all along that he’s suppose to make his return. It would be a huge boost if he did. Also I don’t think we’ll see Benayoun start here despite his inspiring performance on Tuesday, mainly because he played the full ninety on Tuesday and we’ll need him down the road so there’s no need to wear him out. As for possibly starting Riise on the left, it could happen, but I think Rafa is going to have to start being more cautious about how he uses our defenders. Especially until Carra gets back.

On the backline joining Finnan, should be Hyypia and Agger in the middle and Arbeloa on the left. We could possibly see Insua on the left, though I think it’ll really matter who starts at left-mid. If Kewell or Riise start there, it’s somewhat of a possibility. I know Aurelio is due back in around a month, but we really need to start thinking about working in our future starters like Insua and Darby particularly when playing against lesser clubs at Anfield. We can get away with mistakes in these situations.

So here’s who I think Rafa will play:
Reina
Arbeloa
Agger
Hyypia
Finnan
Babel (or Kewell, I hope)
Xabi
Mascherano
Pennant
Voronin
Torres

Bench:
Itandje
Riise
Sissoko
Leiva
Kuyt

Liverpool 4, Toulouse 0: the goals

Brian — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 22:40:08 +0000

Liverpool 1, Toulouse 0. Crouch.

Liverpool 2, Toulouse 0. Hyypia.

Liverpool 3, Toulouse 0. Kuyt.

Liverpool 4, Toulouse 0. Kuyt (2).