Mostly the same old story–Liverpool were able to maintain possession for long periods of play, had some legitimate chances, and defended well for the majority of the match. The glaring difference today was the lack of stability in central midfield. With no Alonso and Gerrard, we were often on the receiving end of central midfield dominance, and Kompany and De Jong bossed it for nearly the entire second half. Mascherano didn’t have his best game, and Lucas didn’t make any huge mistakes but was anonymous and had zero positive influence. This game was as clear an example as any how important Alonso has been. Obviously we missed Gerrard, but Xabi consistently creates through the middle, and without him or Gerrard today our central midfield was a black hole.

As a result, we were pushed wide to find any sort of attacking threat. In fairness, this was one of the few games this year where I felt we looked competent wide, it’s just too bad that it was a result of being inept in the center. Arbeloa had a solid game getting forward, but Dossena was again out of his depth. City’s biggest breaks came when Dossena and Arbeloa were caught too far forward, leaving only Carragher and Skrtel at the back. Ireland had a great chance in the 30th minute after Robinho set him up, and luckily we weren’t punished.

We eventually were punished in the 49th, and of course it was Craig Bellamy who was the instigator. Like I mentioned in the live blog, I was glad he didn’t play it up, which seems out of character for him, but his shot deflected heavily off Arbeloa and flew past Reina. Our attack throughout the game came through Riera and Benayoun, who both looked dangerous in spurts, and Kuyt found himself on the flank more than a couple times. It was eventually Benayoun in the 78th who floated one in from the left to Torres, whose mis-hit fell to Kuyt, and the Ugly Dutchman poked it past Shay Given to pull even.

From that point on Liverpool attacked relentlessly and had more than a couple solid chances. Kuyt and Benayoun both hit piledrivers directly at Given, and it looked as though it would be another 3 points won late. Torres did well to get himself close to goal in the final minutes, but his cutback effort was cleared, and Aurelio’s volley was well wide. Soon enough it was another 2 points gone.

If this game was remarkable for anything, I think it was for the lack of urgency by Liverpool for the first 80 minutes. With plenty of pre-game talk about a “must-win,” we seemed disaffected for large spells. It was largely an average effort, particularly for most of the second half, when City had a 1-0 lead and the majority of possession. We were lucky not to concede a second, and again we relied on bit of good fortune to pull ourselves back into it. City’s defense did a good job containing Torres, who played well but often found himself the center of two defenders’ affections. One of the lone bright spots was the continued threat of Benayoun, and I’d be surprised if he didn’t play a role in Madrid on Wednesday. Speaking of which, there’s little time to hang our heads if we want something out of this season. With the Premier League title looking more and more unlikely, our efforts in Europe could be our saving grace.

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?

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?

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!!!!

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.

And I’d like to comment first on his post from earlier today. Well-written, admittedly, but I sorta disagree with what he was saying. Pennant was only decent against Derby because it was Derby. Sami Hyypia could have hit quality crosses from the left-wing against that defence. And for England? After one game on the left? Granted – he should be in the squad, and his pace makes him a valuable asset for the Reds – as well as his vast improvement this season, but his crossing isn’t consistently good enough from the wing to be better than the likes of Shaun Wright-Phillips. He may be fast, but isn’t as fast as SWP or Aaron Lennon.

Frankly, I wouldn’t have him in my Liverpool team. Possibly against the likes of Derby, whose defenders’ legs have seen many a better day, but for teams where brains are required rather than pace, Benayoun or Babel are both much better choices (Babel even has pace too). England’s Left Side? Joe Cole. He’s brilliant, never mind his lack of playing time thus far. No other questions. And as backup? Stuart Downing. Yes, he’s naturally left-sided. Yes, he’s the teacher’s pet. But yes, he is rather good actually.

But interesting points though. This is what the site is all about – debate and comment. I rather like Babel and Benayoun myself, mixed with a little of Stevie G and the Monster Masch – sounds like a rather nice midfield cocktail to me. But Rafa doesn’t like Benayoun too much, even if he was immense against Toulouse last week. Oh, and we’ve got Sissoko, Alonso, Kewell and Pennant too. I don’t seriously believe that Leiva or Leto will be regularly used this season (despite the €15 million outlay), but both look like crackers for the future.

Let us not get ahead of ourselves though. Top of the league. Fantastic, but every encounter should be treated as tricky. In the next two months, we have Portsmouth away (great atmosphere at Fratton), Everton away (tense derby), Blackburn away (always difficult at Ewood Park) Tottenham at home (good side, but possibly the easiest cos of Anfield and their lack of form) and Arsenal at home (…its Arsenal). If we pick up thirteen points (/15) from the five, as well as full points from the other encounters (Fulham, Wigan, Birmingham) – thats championship form. I will certainly have no doubts we can do it, even if now it feels to me that something has to pop up and ruin it. Like possibly Steven Gerrard’s toe falling off tomorrow.

Interestingly, Benayoun is captaining Israel tomorrow evening. He gives us his own view on the Gerrard jab, deeming him the world’s best player and says that the Israelis have little fear in going to Wembley.

Carra, oh how we love you. He says that he is desperate for the Reds to break their title duck. As are all of us.

More good news for the Reds. Stevie Finnan is set to be ruled out because of injury for Ireland’s games this week. Now he can stay in Liverpool for recuperation and should now be able to get fit and ready for Portsmouth.

“You’re ugly, but you’ll win in the end”. Just like that annoying kid in your Maths class, well thats how I’ve paraphrased Bernd Schuster’s statement. Bit early to be worried about us, is it not?

See ya on Saturday.

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

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

That’s not to say we didn’t make mistakes, because we did, but once we felt they were wounded, we pounced on them like a pack of wolves on a limping sheep. I would have to say Hyypia’s goal in the opening minutes of the first half was probably where Toulouse started thinking about waving the white flag, because after that our boys started salivating.

I’m still going to stick with Arbeloa as Man of the Match, though I feel Kuyt will probably get the accolade on the official site. Arbeloa put on a flawless performance and was not only superb defensively, but he was a catalyst a lot of the times on the attack. Kuyt definitely deserves recognition for his two goal and one assist performance. I was especially happy to see him get the first one as he seemed to have the luck of a leper beforehand. It was a nice one-two with Babel, whom he’s appeared to have formed a nice attacking relationship. The second in the 75th minute on a through ball from Benayoun was just icing on the cake.

Leto failed to put in a memorable performance as he needs to exert himself more on attack if he wants a regular spot at least for cup ties. Babel was a great example as he came more inside instead of sitting out on the flank and pretty much forced them to give him the ball. Leto has to learn to do this and command the ball more as he seemed content with not being much of a gear in the attack engine. Leiva came on as a sub as well and was pretty solid on both ends. He almost scored on a put back right outside the box which would have been almost too magical for the Brazilian wonder kid.

As for the rest of the squad, Hyypia really stepped it up in the second half. I’m sure his class header goal had something to do with it, but he seemed rejuvenated and ran up and down the field like a young fawn after. Everybody else put in solid performances, though Sissoko and Agger started to look a little ragged and hence, were substituted. I’m going to say something here that you may never read again and say Crouch played good as well. There I said it, though he should have probably had at least another goal. The big difference between this performance and past ones was he didn’t hold on to the ball as long as he has in the past. Go figure.

Yossi probably deserves some special recognition as well as his effort was tireless and he assisted on Hyypia’s header goal and Kuyt’s second. For a guy who was said to have complained about lack of playing time, he certainly showed he should be playing more. After today, I’m sure Benitez will at least think about using him more in League play, but there are just so many spots.

The best part about this match is that our defense didn’t have to over exert itself though that didn’t appear to stop Arbeloa, who I suspect might get a rest for Derby County on Saturday. I still think we need to sign either a right or centre back though. We’ll also have Pennant, Alonso, Voronin, Torres, and a relatively fresh Babel, Finnan, and Lucas Leiva, if needs be. Still this was a solid thrashing and should give all our boys even more confidence as we head into the group stages.

The most impressive aspect is how we’ve seemed to figure out our attack so quickly. It’s been concentrated mainly on the right side, through Benayoun and Arbeloa, and after figuring out early on that we need to space out more, our ball movement has been dare I say beautiful? The only thing I think we lack is figuring out what to do once we get down near their box. It seems like neither Sissoko nor Mascherano want to come forward at times and this lack of anchor is quite evident.

If I had to pick a man of the match for the first half, I’d go with Arbeloa. He’s been outstanding bringing the ball up, providing back-up for Benayoun, and being everywhere defensively, even if that means coming across the pitch to stop a potential goal for Toulouse. Mascherano and Sissoko have been solid as well, even if they can’t decided on who should go forward at times.

Up front, Kuyt has been great and should probably have at least one goal to go with his assist to Crouch. Speaking of Crouch, seems like he’s been reading my criticisms of him as he has only touched the ball more than three times on four occasions resulting in only two turnovers so far. He should also have another goal as both Benayoun and Leto have hooked him up with seemingly easy headers, which he botched both times. The goal was grand though.

Leto has had a very up-and-down debut. Early on he showed his class by taking it two defenders, beating them and then seemingly running out of options. Since then it seems the Toulouse defenders have figured him out and have given him space to make mistakes on his own. It also appears that his teammates haven’t really developed much of a trust in him as the ball is primarily being brought up on the right. Hopefully they’ll give him more chances to prove himself in the second.

Agger seems to have captured a little of his lost form as early on he made a stunningly skilled weave through the defense, though I would have liked him to shoot the ball in that situation instead of passing it.

I think what has made this match exciting is how tired our defense seems to be at times and have been caught off guard, but for the most part Toulouse has had little chance to capitalize as we seem to regain our composure at just the right moment. Anyhow, I sort of expect a less exciting second as it looks as if Rafa told everyone to calm down toward the end of the first.

The ref has been a wanker by the way, but what else is new? He must feel sorry for them, because he’s letting them get away with bloody murder.