First of all, apologies all round for disappearing and props to Ed for holding this place up.
Thanks to CSD for hauling his arse back here. We missed you. Now that the sappy stuff is out of the way, here’s The Match!!

The last outing by Liverpool to Singapore was waaaay back in 2001 & I cannot believe it’s been 8 bloody years since they played here.
It’s virtually impossible to actually enjoy a live match, keep time, spot who’s on the ball and write a match report at the same time. So for all of you who are expecting a report, please refer to link above. Besides, I spilled my beer and was too grouchy to write anything.

We arrived just 15 minutes before kick-off and had to settle for seats high up the stands. We could have been sitting on the moon and it wouldn’t have made a difference. I could only spot pony-tail Veronin & chrome-dome Reina, among others. Nadia managed to sneak into the North stand where the tunnel was but we had to settle for South. Bugger.

The crowd was amazing. Made me wonder who the home team actually was! Being in the stadium itself while the crowd sings “You’ll never walk alone” sends shivers down any fan’s spine I swear.

Here’s my take on the match:
The 1st half was a scrappy affair with Rafa fielding mostly fringe players but most notable was Benayoun’s terrorizing runs down the left and Veronin’s efforts to chase down every ball and drives into the box. Glad to see his efforts rewarded with a goal inside injury time. Makes me wonder if this is the season for him to step up and be counted upon as a good back-up for Torres. Babel had a good run-out and was replaced by the arguably more effective Riera. Perhaps it was Riera’s wider play that afforded him more space to put in some decent crosses but I think that’s a better tactic against a defence-minded Singapore team.

The crowd was screaming for Torres to come on and he did. I swear I heard girls creaming his name from across the stadium whenever he touched the ball.

The Reds really wiped the floor with our national side when Xavi & Dirk joined the fray. Kuyt underlined his importance to the team with a stunning performance creating a bagful of chances. But it was Alonso who stole the show. Caught in the uncertainty of his future, the recreated Kop end cheered everytime he touched the ball.

I don’t know about you lot, but I feel Nemeth is turning out to be quite a class act as well.

Kudos to The Reds for enduring a punishing Far Eastern tour as they flew off the same night the match ended. It was truely a magical evening for us. Next up, saving enough for a trip to Anfield for a proper Premiership match!!! I’m open to sponsors, anyone???

On another note, The Asian Persuasion has been stalking Torres Liverpool around town all weekend, and managed to snag seats just above the players’ tunnel. I’m jealous.

Also, apologies for the blurry pictures. It’s hard to have a beer in 1 hand and a crap camera in the other!

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.

I like him. He’s turning out well.

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?

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…

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!

Bad news for the Reds: Another stalemate at home, when a win could have elevated us to top position, because our table neighbour, Chelsea, also suffered the same fate as us.

Good news for former Red: Danny Murphy’s 7th encounter with his former club did not turn out to be such a bad outing.

Rafa shockingly opted to start Leiva, probably intending to reserve the partnership of Monster Masch and Alonso for UCL midweek match against Marseille. Fulham, who had so far defeated London rivals Arsenal and Spurs, looked like a stronger side than the one who was struggling to extricate themselves from relegation zone last season. Plus, that former Blueshite, AJ, was being a constant pest to our back 4.

Keane should have scored at the 28th minute from a point-blank opportunity, but his rubbishness got the better of him, as usual. Kuyt was also denied at close range by Mark Schwarzer, but that’s because the goalkeeper was superb throughout the match, and as blasphemous as this sounds, he’s my MOTM. Torres razzled and dazzled but John Pantsil managed to frustrate the Spanish wind out of our KOP darling.

We need Gerrard back ASAP. Keane and Torres simply cannot play together, why doesn’t Rafa see that!?!

Honestly, I did not concentrate much on this game, because I was quite turned off from the beginning after discovering Torres is not on the starting XI. Of course, having Rob Styles refereeing the match was another bummer.

The match was a reminiscence of the previous week’s encounter with the Baggies. Liverpool was strong on the first half, and second half saw the physically-abrasive Trotters having most of the possessions and creating several good chances for themselves.

The 2 goals came from a Dirk Kuyt’s header from another sweet Fabio Aurelio’s cross on the 28th minute, and a Steven Gerrard’s diving header from a Fernando Torres assist on the 73rd minute. CSD’s favourite player is now Liverpool’s joint leading scorer in the Premier League this season alongside Liverpool’s no 9, with 5 goals apiece.

Once again Rob Styles smeared himself with controversies, but fortunately we were not so much on the receiving end of his collections of really rubbish decision. He denied a Gary Cahill equalizing header before the first half ended, claiming that Reina had been obstructed by Kevin Nolan.

Rafa’s team selection was pretty quirky. First off, he did not start Torres! That was a huge WTF to me. Stephen Darby was on the bench, so Rafa is probably on some kind of experimental drug. Then again, can’t quite blame Manager of the Month for having limited options at right-back. Arbeloa was suspended, while Degen is forever injured.

Other interesting incidents in the match: Daniel Agger lost a tooth, and the pitch was horrible, everyone had to slip up at least once.

What could have happened?

It could have been a many more goals-to nil scoreline, if Torres had started the game. Nando had come close several times and had even squandered one in front of goal (so did Keano and Riera), but had he been allowed to start, I’m sure he could have netted some.

Skysport’s MOTM was Dirk Kuyt, granted that he have been on faya lately! Liverpoolfc.tv chose Xabi Alonso for his midfield masterclass performance.

My MOTM would have to be Pepe Reina. He saved Liverpool’s blushes by thwarting several close calls from Matt Taylor and Kevin Davies. Ricardo Gardner could have beaten Reina a couple of times, but in the end, it’s another clean sheet, brought to you by our very own shot-stopper.

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 : ))