White Suburban Punk

I finally got a chance to watch Liverpool defeat Lille, 3-0, to take the two game home and home series, 3-1 on aggregate.  Fernando Torres was fantastic, scoring two goals and creating several more chances.  Of course, the atmosphere was a bit tense at Anfield as the Reds trailed, 1-0 coming into the game.  But Lucas made a quick run into the box early and was hauled down in an easy call for a PK that was converted by Steven Gerrard.  Liverpool made quick, decisive, confident passes throughout the game, but there were still moments of nervousness.  All too often this season Liverpool fans have seen their hearts broken late in games.  Pepe Reina was forced to make a great save in the 33rd minute off an explosive attack, and Lille created some other chances, but Liverpool pretty much carried the play.  Early in the second half, Torres got his first on a long pass from Ryan Babel, who got another start, to make it 2-0.  Of course, with the away goal rule, it was still far from over, and things got a bit awkward for a while, as Liverpool seemed to debate between defending and going for the third goal to put it away.  The crowd was clearly nervous, too, but finally in the 89th minute Dirk Kuyt fed Gerrard, whose shot was saved, but Torres got the rebound to end it.  After this game, Liverpool had scored 7 goals in their last 2 games with Manchester United next.

Diego Maradona was in the crowd.  He was watching his Argentinian players Javier Mascherano and Emilio Insua.  The third Argentinian national that plays for Liverpool, Maxi Rodriguez, is ineligible for European play because he came over in the January transfer window.

The draw for the round of eight in the Europa League took place Friday, and Liverpool drew Benfica, who knocked them out of the Champions League in 2006.  The first leg is Thursday, April 1, in Portugal.  The winner will get the Valencia/Atletico Madrid winner.

Albert Riera was suspended by Liverpool after giving an interview less than 24 hours before the Lille game in which he called the team a “sinking ship.”  He was also whining about playing time.  Great timing, classy guy.  I never liked him, and to me, Ryan Babel is far more effective playing on the left than Riera ever was.  Today’s news is that Riera has been sold to CSKA Moscow for 6 million pounds.  Addition by subtraction, plus they get some money (which better be used on players this summer).  Buh bye, don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

Liverpool crushed Portsmouth (“the Premiership’s basket case”) at Anfield on Monday, 4-1.  The game was shown in marvelous high definition on ESPN2 here in the states, and they must be complimented for some truly impressive camera work on the replays.  Glen Johnson, Daniel Agger, Alberto Aquilani, Maxi Rodriguez, and Ryan Babel got starts, while Lucas and Dirk Kuyt were left on the bench.  The Anfield crowd was very subdued at the start of the game, which is understandable given the last two games.  The announcers actually mentioned empty seats and it turned out to be the lowest attendance for a Premiership game at Anfield in five years. 

Liverpool was crisp, decisive, and creative right from the start.  Where was this confidence and desire at Lille and Wigan?  I don’t know, but it was great to see.  Hopefully this new-found aggression continues, as every game the rest of the way is essentially a must win now.

After all the strong play to start the game, the first goal was a gift off a giveaway by Portsmouth’s backup goalie scored by Fernando Torres.  Babel scored two minutes later off a pass from Torres, and Aquilani scored his first goal for Liverpool three minutes after that, again off a pass from Torres that Gerrard let through.  Aquilani was fantastic all day, by far his best game.  It’s incredible what he can do when the opposition gives him space to maneuver.  He was confident and aggressive, but it’s still questionable whether he’ll get to play against Manchester United this weekend.

Chances continued through the end of the first half with Liverpool holding the 3-0 lead and continued in the second.  Aquilani beautifully set up Torres’ second goal at 77 minutes and Portsmouth got a late one to avoid the shutout.  How Liverpool possibly lost to these guys in December, I’ll never know.

The one bizarre occurrence on the day was Steven Gerrard throwing a wild forearm at Portsmouth’s Michael Brown at 74 minutes, with Liverpool leading 3-0.  He was immediately replaced by Rafa Benitez and the referee clearly saw it, as he spoke to Gerrard right afterwards.  The FA has since said that no action will be taken against him, but he was pretty fortunate not to get a red card, which would have forced him to miss the tilt at Old Trafford.

In other news, goalie Pepe Reina looks set to sign a contract extension, which is great news.  Fernando Torres said that his future depends on Liverpool aggressively attacking the transfer market this summer, stating that the club needs to recruit “four or five top-class players to compete.”  The only way that will happen is with new ownership, which fans can only pray for.  Speaking of, reports indicate that a 100 million pound investment bid was made by a group out of New York.  It’s expected that if they get new ownership, Rafa will be gone, while Rafa is also supposedly growing increasingly frustrated with Tom Hicks and George Gillett, so if they stay as owners, he may leave voluntarily.  Whatever the truth is, big changes could be on the way.

This is a tough stretch of games for the Reds.  They play the second leg of the Europa League Round of 16 at Anfield vs. Lille on Thursday, trailing 1-0, and then travel to Old Trafford Sunday for the much anticipated tilt with Manyoo.  Liverpool won, 4-1, at Old Trafford last year, but of course finished second to them in the standings.

Photo from ESPN Soccernet

That is, yet another new low on a season of new lows.  After seeming to have turned things around with just one loss (at Arsenal) in their previous 10 league games, Liverpool lost at lowly Wigan yesterday, 1-0, in what had to be the worst performance of the season.  Zero shots on goal, five yellow cards, countless turnovers and give aways.  They were actually outplayed by a team fighting against relegation.  It was a truly inexplicable performance, and a top four finish is now in serious jeopardy.  They have only nine league games remaining and are in sixth place, but have played more games than their rivals.  They are indeed in serious trouble.  The usually reliable Dirk Kuyt’s turnover led to Wigan’s goal, but there was blame all over the field.  Gerrard, Torres, Carragher, Mascherano, Lucas, Kyrgiakos, no one played well.  The squad looked frustrated and pissed off throughout, with Gerrard even yelling at Kuyt at one point.  Today’s newspapers are claiming that Gerrard made an obscene gesture to the ref after picking up a questionable yellow card.  He made a V sign (see picture), which is somehow interpreted as the middle finger.  Some British thing, I guess, we Americans don’t know that one.

What happens if Liverpool don’t finish in the top four?  Obviously, no Champions League football next year.  But what are the consequences of that?  Does Rafa Benitez leave or get fired?  Does the team sell Gerrard and Torres?  Will Torres even want to stay if there’s no Champions League competition?  I don’t think anyone knows the answers to these questions, and fans don’t want to find out.

Picture from ESPN Soccernet

Behind goals from Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres (how good does that sound), Liverpool beat Sam Allardyce’s Blackburn 2-1 yesterday at Anfield.  Javier Mascherano started at right back and did a great job, but the story was Torres.  He was El Nino right from the start, and it’s probably not a coincidence that Gerrard got his first league goal in almost four months.  Blackburn took it to Liverpool, though, maybe even creating more chances in the game, but Gerrard scored at 20 minutes on a beautiful, sublime, lightning fast goal that involved passes from Dirk Kuyt and Yossi Benayoun.  Fabio Aurelio left the game later in the first half with an apparent thigh injury and Blackburn tied it on a penalty kick at 40 minutes after Jamie Carragher handled the ball on the ground in the penalty box.  Liverpool was very sloppy throughout the game in their own half, which certainly contributed to Blackburn’s chances, and the penalty actually followed a Benayoun turnover.  But Torres scored at 44 minutes on a pass from Maxi Rodriguez that caught keeper Paul Robinson far out of position and Liverpool held on in the second half.  Torres was magnificent all day, with his incredible speed and brilliant moves.  Blackburn had to foul him virtually every time he touched the ball. 

As is typical of Blackburn, their players committed some vicious fouls in the second half, but they received no red cards (5 yellow).  Rafa Benitez and Sam Allardyce hate each other, and their players acted it out on the pitch.  Steven Nzonzi got Lucas Leiva in a headlock and then shoved him to the ground by the face and only received a yellow.  Maxi later got a stud mark on his chest.  Credit the Liverpool players for keeping their cool and not retaliating.  Pepe Reina took a beating, too, and also had a fantastic save in injury time that saved the result for Liverpool.

There are ten matches to go in the season, including Manyoo at Old Trafford and Chelsea at Anfield.  The battle for fourth place is extremely tight, but only one of the teams battling for that spot has Fernando Torres.

Photo from ESPN Soccernet

Liverpool survived against Romanian team Unirea Urziceni in the first leg of the Europa League knock out stages with an acceptable 1-0 win at Anfield.  Unirea played an extremely defensive game, often with all ten players behind the ball, so Liverpool dominated possession and created plenty of chances, but weren’t able to cash in until late in the game when substitute Ryan Babel sent an excellent cross in to substitute Daniel Pacheco, whose header into the middle was finished off by David Ngog with a tap in.  Alberto Aquilani and Albert Riera started for Liverpool, but they were largely ineffective, especially Riera, who I personally dislike as a player more and more.  Babel came in for Riera at 63 minutes and had an immediate effect on the game with his speed.  This is the third impressive performance in a row for Babel so he should now be all the way out of Rafa’s doghouse.  18 year old Pacheco made his third appearance of the season replacing Aquilani.  Liverpool had loads of chances in this game, including a golden one just 25 seconds into the game when Steven Gerrard’s attempt was tipped aside by the keeper.  The Reds had 11 shots to Unirea’s 2 in the first half and also led 10 corners to none.  The pundits are calling this game “another night to forget” for Liverpool, but really what can you do?  The opposition was entirely dedicated to defense and they played it pretty well.  Liverpool created loads of chances, but just weren’t able to cash in until the end, and then they had another couple of chances after that.  I’m not nearly as down on the team as other “experts.”

Sunday’s game at Manchester City is simply huge.  Man City now hold fourth place by one point ahead of Liverpool, and they have one game in hand.  Patrick Viera will not be available for Man City, as he will begin a three match ban for a cheap shot on a Stoke player in their last game.  In addition, The Sun reports that manager Roberto Mancini and striker Craig Bellamy got in a heated argument yesterday about Bellamy’s training  and Mancini told the player to stay away from the team for 3 months.  Mancini denies it today.  It appears that the only coverage of the game in the US will be on one of the Spanish channels.

Photo from ESPN Soccernet

Liverpool was on the wrong end of a 1-0 decision to Arsenal at Emirates Stadium yesterday, although a blatant hand ball late in the game by Cesc Farbregas was ignored by referee Howard Webb.  Rafa Benitez started virtually the same lineup as the previous game against Everton, with the exception of Martin Skrtel replacing Sotiros Kyrgiakos, who began serving his three match ban for a red card.  Alberto Aquilani was not even on the bench, as he is suffering from illness.

The first half was almost boring, with very little flow.  Arsenal had most of the possession, but they weren’t able to generate many chances.  The game was played under frigid conditions in London, and the players almost seemed hampered by the cold.

The game opened up in the second half, with chances both ways in the first ten minutes, although Arsenal soon began gaining the lion’s share of the opportunities.  Jamie Carragher left the game with an apparent groin injury, although Rafa said after the game that it isn’t serious.  He was replaced by Philip Degen, who soon picked up a yellow card on a foul on Andrey Arshavin.  But Arshavin left the game soon after with a hamstring problem, which should have been good news for Liverpool.  That guy is a fantastic player, very creative to get his shot and he’s got a cannon once he takes it.  However, Arsenal scored after 72 minutes on a cross by Tomas Rosicky that was headed in by a completely unmarked Abou Diaby.  Replays showed Degen acting as a spectator on the play.

Ryan Babel made yet another appearance, as he appears to be slowly climbing out of Rafa’s doghouse.  He replaced Lucas after 78 minutes and had Liverpool’s best shot on goal a few minutes later.  He made a great play to get his shot and his blast was barely tipped by the Arsenal keeper off the crossbar.

Deep in injury time, Steven Gerrard was awarded a free kick that he blasted into the wall and clearly struck the upraised arm of Cesc Fabregas.  This was immediately after Fabregas had just received a yellow card for acting like a bitch after the kick had been awarded.  How the referee missed it, I’ll never know.  It was questionable whether Fabregas was in the penalty box when he struck the ball, but at the very least Gerrard should have had another free kick from just outside the box.

Very disappointing ending to the seven match unbeaten streak for Liverpool, but they still have a very tenuous hold on fourth place.  They are on the same points as Manchester City with a one goal lead in goal differential, but Man City has two games in hand.  They are one point ahead of Tottenham with the same amount of games played, and two points up on Aston Villa, who has one game in hand.  Huge game a week from Sunday at Manchester City.  Europa Cup play begins Thursday with the first match against Unirea Urziceni.

Photo from ESPN Soccernet