While one Rafa bagged the Australian Open title, the other Rafa scored a league double against Chel$ki, a feat last achieved in 1990. After drawing way too many games, dropping points unnecessarily and culpable of not finishing off weaker opponents, the Reds finally conjured their first win in 2009 and as blasphemous as this might sound, we have that bald, yellow-card lovin’ prick Mike Riley to thank, after he sent off Frank Lampard, whom in my opinion, had an anonymous game, up till that dubious “tackle” against Xabi Alonso at the hour mark. In all honesty, Lamps doesn’t deserve the card, not that I’ve suddenly become a Chel$ki lover overnight. Instead, he could have shown it to Unabrow Bosingwa for that harsh kick to Benayoun’s lower back near the corner post, in front of the Kop and the linesman!?! Fact?

Remember August 2007? The day El-Nino opened his goal-scoring account in a Liverpool jersey, and what better way to haunt Chel$ki than to end his 8-month goal drought at Anfield with a brace in the 2nd half. Though Alex, arguably Chel$ki’s best player yesterday, managed to stop several goal attempts when all Petr Cech could do is spill the ball, Liverpool’s number 9 superbly headed in the ball from a Fabio Aurelio cross on the 89th minute. His second in the match came during injury time when Benayoun was dispossessed by Cashley, giving Torres the opportunity to slot in a rebound. Seems like all those Japanese cooking lessons are paying off.

Now before we could go on gloating about this lucky win (yes Liverpool did play well, but c’mon who are we kidding), let’s not forget we are still trailing Manures by 2 points and the Red Devils still have a game in hand. Things are still pretty much unsettled in the dressing room. Rafa has yet not signed his new contract; Agger is not being offered any. Keane, after being repeatedly snubbed, is probably in London waiting for medical examination at the Spurs training ground, as I’m typing this. We have to face our Blueshite neighbours (AGAIN) for a FA Cup 4th round replay…please, not another draw :\

On the bright side, Chickendinner thinks Liverpool will do just fine from now on. Comments?

History repeated itself between Stoke and Liverpool, at the Britannia stadium this time. Stoke, with their stubborn defence and annoying Olympic-worthy throw-ins equipped with towels at the sidelines to wipe the ball; Liverpool, unable to get behind the generous space that Stoke’s back 4 has left behind for us to exploit, but of course, how can we rely on Kuyt to do justice for almost 60 minutes of the game.

Rafa was either a) high on his medication or b) got his head stuck among the clouds on the fact that he managed to slam S.A.F with some really impressive stats and analysis. Why he chose a 4-5-1 formation in an away game, with Kuyt as lone striker, when Torres and especially Keane has proven they could deliver the goods lately, is beyond my comprehension.

Stoke was the more dangerous side during the first half. Delap went close to scoring, but his shot hit the woodwork. Shawcross almost stole 3 points from us but his goal was ruled offside. Stoke added a lot of pressure with their incessant attackings and new signing, Etherington, who was an instant hit on the pitch and with the fans. Kuyt’s header on the 9th min was off-target, and that was probably Liverpool’s best chance in the first half.

Second half saw Liverpool sustaining most of the possessions, but with Lucas Leiva playing, it’s highly doubtful anything brilliant will come off from midfield. More so since he is quite fond of giving away silly free kicks and losing the ball. Again, not sure why Rafa decided to substitute Riera, to bring in Torres. He should have taken out Leiva or Benayoun, and get Keane in on the action as well. Gerrard almost nicked one in, but like Delap, the woodwork denied him. Wonder what Maradona thinks of our lacklustre performance :\

And so Liverpool missed another golden opportunity to go 6 points clear at the top. Fergie is probably getting a kick out of this, and let’s hope Gene Hackman does good on Super Sunday.

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!!!!

Nadia caught this match but didn’t have time to write a report cuz she had to do some last minute shopping for winter clothes. The phone conversation at about 6 hours before departure was something like “Kai, how cold is 9 degrees?”. Pretty f**king cold, that’s how cold!!

Anyway, she has a few words for all you folks out there.
“WE’RE STILL NUMBER 1, BITCHES!!!”

Oh, and Keane grabbed a couple. Finally. Kudos too, to Riera for getting the ball rolling against the Trotters.

It was a scintillating first half at the Emirates. Samir Nasri was Arsenal’s key player, and he was responsible for that long pass to Van Persie, who brilliantly converted, almost like how Dennis Bergkamp would. The Reds answered the challenge, when appropriately, Keane, got the better of body-shop-lovin’ Djourou and slammed one past Almunia, minutes before half time. It was unfortunate that captain Cesc picked up an injury, and was unable to lead the kindergarten to victory.

Sammy Lee does well as caretaker manager, while Rafa is recuperating, though I wish he (or Rafa on the phone) had played 4-4-2, with Keane/N’gog and Kuyt in front, after the Adebayor sent-off. Not sure why Riera was substituted, I felt Babel was unnecessary for the game. Benayoun would have been a better choice.

MOTM for me would be Xabi Alonso. Premier League’s most accurate passer did everything right, created that goal for Keano while Stevie G had a poor game, and everyone else was giving away silly free kicks.

All I want for Christmas now is for Liverpool to maintain pole position.

By the way, what is wrong with our kit!? Grey top and red shorts!? Someone, please fill me in on this mismatch…

It was business as usual for our men in Red, as they wrapped up this late-kickoff match with a 3-nil victory over newly-promoted, West Brom Albion. Now unlike Stoke, West Brom actually took the game to Liverpool, and looked like the more promising side in the first 20 minutes.

However they lost confidence after Robbie Keane broke his league duck when he drove home a slick through-ball from Captain Fantastic in the 34th minute. The last time the Irishman scored in the Premier League was against Reading last season.

And the Liverpool no 7 didn’t just stop there. 3 minutes from half-time, Fabio Aurelio sends a long pass to Keane who smashes it past former Liverpool goalkeeper Scott Carson.

While the 1st half was a one-sided affair, West Brom managed to stifle the Reds in the 2nd half, and we were unable to convert, even after the introduction of Fernando Torres (yay he’s back). It almost looked like a boring end to the 2nd half, until the most unlikeliest person added the icing on the cake in the 90th minute with a top-corner goal. Kudos to Alvaro Arbeloa…he deserves to score after all his hard work as a full-back.

This marks Rafael Benitez’s 150th triumph as a Liverpool boss, (and coincidentally Rafa is being offered a new contract). Because Pepe Reina kept a cleansheet, West Brom has not been able to score against us for the past 23 years, and additionally, they have not yet won at Anfield in 41 years.

MOTM: Keano! He actually looked like he’s enjoying himself. It’ll only be a matter of time before he starts becoming a goal scoring machine. Loved that no-look backpass in the 24th minute.

It didn’t take long before Liverpool found the net at the 3rd minute through Dirk Kuyt, courtesy of an unselfish assist from former Spurs hitman, Robbie Keane. And although Spurs tried to surge forward, they failed to get any decent shots on goal. Luka Modric, however, came close at the 41st minute, but Pepe Reina was on hand to thwart his effort. There were several moments of brilliant one-two plays from our captain and Keano, but nothing seems to materialize from their exchanges. David Bentley wasted a free kick at the 31st minute and the first half ended with a yellow card booking to Stevie G.

2nd half

Spurs made a couple of tactical substitutions, and in my opinion, Rafa should not have taken Keane off, because Ryan Babel proved to be a waste of space. We needed to kill the game, but instead, squandered our chances time and again, despite the barrages of attacks in the beginning of the second half. Gomes made several goalkeeping blunders, yet we were unable to capitalize. And while we were busy giving the opponents an own goal, Spurs grew stronger and eventually went ahead in stoppage time, with a goal from Roman Pavyluchenko.

The Verdict

I’m pretty much fuming as I am typing this. Realistically, Liverpool will, sooner or later, drop points, and hopefully this will teach us a lesson to try to score as many while we are ahead. In my opinion, Riera had a bad game, Dossena did not seem fit to chase for the ball and Keane needs to be less hesitant in taking shots (c’mon you’re not a Gooner!)

Next Game: UCL Matchday 4, against Atletico Madrid, at Anfield!

As much as I am trying to give an unbiased opinion, you have to realize this is after all a Liverpool FC blog, and so it should be another win for the REDS! Here’s why:

(Disclaimer: Pretty random, meaningless stuff ahead)

1) Aaron Lennon runs funny and Gareth Bale wears a hair pin.

2) Darren Bent and Roman Pavyluchenko cannot play off each other. So with our SOLID back 4, I’m sure we can keep a clean sheet, right Reina?

3) We’re not ARSEnal, so David Bentley won’t try that hard to score against us.

4) Heurelho Gomez is actually Paul Robinson, but with a Brazilian passport and a tan.

5) Because whether or not Torres starts, the crowd will still sing his song (“it’s random like”)

6) Stats don’t lie

7) Keano to score against his old club. Who’s with me?

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m super thrilled that we can now string together the words “league”, “leaders” and “Liverpool” in a single sentence, and I hope it stays that way for weeks to come or maybe till May 09. And why not, Crouchie gave his blessings : ))

London bridge did fall down

Rafa’s Red Army finally ended Chelski’s unbeaten run at the Bridge, with a strike from our Spanish midfield maestro 10 minutes into the first half, making him the 2nd Liverpool player to score against Chelski in the League, after Bruno Cheyrou in February 2004.

Ok enough formality…I am just f–king stoked that we won! We showed those mothers how frustrating it can get to play against us, because even though Chelseah had most of the ball possessions (1st half: 60-40 ; 2nd half: 67-33), Liverpool had more quality in their attacking and defending.

We played as a collective unit, and there were so many brilliant set plays that we couldn’t convert, but at least our string of SOLID back 4 did an excellent job at subduing Kalou, Malouda, and Anelka. Everytime Chelski got the ball, they looked like they were about to score, but somehow they didn’t test Reina enough.

Stevie G did not deserve the yellow card in first half and Mascherano should have shut his mouth, because i think he just saved Cashley from his 2nd bookable offence. Keane had another anonymous game in my opinion and Aurelio should never take a free-kick again (let Dagger do it!). Riera needs to start being more defensive, he allowed Una-brow to run with the ball. Kuyt is still every manager’s dream player with his non-stop running and chasing for the ball, and Jamie Carragher deserves MOTM

[CSD]
It still hasn’t sunk in yet that a team that is capable of scoring 4-5 goals in a match, didn’t score any. Awesome play by us, no mistakes made on defense at all. I was a little surprised to see Babel in place of Keane instead of Babel moving to the right and Kuyt up front.

Alonso sent a reminder of why he shouldn’t be sold early on with a strike that took a fortunate deflection. He later nailed a free kick against the far post that would have solidified the lead. I think Reds fan throughout the world were just waiting to see how we were going to screw this one up, but I’ll be damned if it never happened.

Even though there was only one goal, the game was anything but boring. I found myself cringing every time Chelsea got near the box and ready to celebrate every time a shot from Liverpool sailed just wide. Rob Styles did a great job as 4th official. That’s where he should stay so managers have the opportunity to strangle his ass.

For me, the MOTM would be our Berlin Wall of a back line that showed up today. They played as a solid unit and never gave an inch.

Last time these 2 teams met at Anfield, it ended in a 1-1 draw. Fernando Torres drew first blood 4 minutes into second half, but Titus Bramble spoiled our party with his 80th minute equalizer.

This time round, there is no El Nino up front. Wigan, on the other hand, has the bulldozer from Egypt, who is on loan, and yet already joint top scorer in the league (with Nando and Defoe), and who is already likened to Alan Shearer (go figure)

And let’s not forget, we are without God….I mean Skrtel…at the back, so hopefully Rafa has enough sense to partner Carra with the D.Agger. This game will be a good test for the lads to prove that we’re not a one-man team – goals will have to come from the Keane-Kuyt partnership, or maybe Riera.

Possible formation:

Reina
Arbeloa- Agger-Carra-Aurelio
Kuyt-Alonso-Mascherano-Riera
Gerrard
Keane

Possible subs: Cavalieri, Hyppia, Dossena, Benayoun, Leiva, El-Zhar, Ngog
(Hmm, wonder where has Pennant gone to? Anyone?)

Predicted scoreline: Liverpool 3 – Wigan 2

Another last-minute goal thriller, with Gerrard, Keane and Ngog to get on the scoresheet, and Zaki, Valencia for Wigan

YNWA