Thursday, November 23, 2006

Reds Top Group After 2-0 Win

But Hit By Triple Injury Woes


UEFA Champions League

LIVERPOOL
2 - 0 PSV Eindhoven


Scorers:
LIV - Gerrard (65min), Crouch (89min);



1-0 Gerrard:



2-0 Crouch:





Our dear cable provider decided to show the match late (6am in the morning, dude) and I was sick for couple of days already. The medicine made me drowsy and couldn't wake up for the live streaming. Whatever it is, I'm still here to type something at least for a show and to express my pleasure of seeing our beloved Reds finally scoring again after such a long time. It felt like years since we scored, eh.

So Liverpool now top Group C with 14 points with Dutch counterpart PSV Eindhoven joining us in the Knock-out round or the Last 16. It was a fairly meaningless match but Liverpool wanted to claim the top spot in order to sort of draw the team that finish second elsewhere. It might NOT be an easy team, but the plus point is of course we get to play at Anfield for the second leg.

Steven Gerrard impacted the game from the middle of the park and drew praise from Rafa and Ronald Koeman. The injury to Alonso now makes it more obvious that Gerrard will now play a more central role in weeks to come. Peter Crouch then left it late with a header which ensures all 3 points for the home side.

The victory was marred by injuries. Terrible luck. Mark Gonzalez was rumoured to came off the worst with torn hamstring while Xabi Alonso and Jermaine Pennant were carried off the pitch as well.

So what will Rafa do now? Of course I believe the squad depth is there and there's always possibilities, like what Rafa always said. The reasonable change will be Warnock at left back, pushing Riise on to left midfield. Zenden will get an automatic place alongside Gerrard while Garcia will be on the right.

But who knows. Rafa might spring a surprise like calling up Paul Anderson to the right or even Lee Peltier and then Finnan to play at the right wing slot. Now Rafa will have the little liberty to reshuffle his pack without getting bombarded with the reason being injury.

I hope that the injuries aren't too serious and will not have an adverse effect on our already very disappointing Premiership campaign. With Sissoko already out till the new year, the central midfield area is just about enough to cover and hopefully, Xabi won't be out for too long.

This is certainly a morale boosting victory which is hard earned and I think we deserve it after toiling and trying so hard against Boro over the weekends. Goals will come when confidence is back up and may the spirit of Istanbul/Cardiff live on.

We might be far off pace from the Premiership. But seriously, who knows what will happen?


Other Results:
Bordeaux 3-1 Galatasaray
Levski Sofia 0-2 Barcelona
Werder Bremen 1-0 Chelsea
Inter 1-0 Sporting
Shaktar 1-0 Roma
Valencia 2-0 Olympiakos
Spartak 2-2 Bayern Munich


Thanks to GettyImages for the pictures

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

A costly win I heard that Gonzalez tore his hamstring,but the website says he'll be out at least 2 weeks.I would think he'll be out much longer than that if it is indeed a tear.Midfield looks a mess with all the injuries.

BTW thanks for posting One Night in May that was awesome.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody,not sure you if guys celebrate it anyways peace

DROGBALLS said...

Yup, Gonzalez came off the worst with a torn hamstring. 2 weeks at least I heard. Maybe Rafa will now reshuffle the pack and perhaps bring in Paul Anderson? Who knows.

Yea Happy Thanksgiving to you. We don't do it here anyway (because we're thankful everyday HAH!).

psychohare said...

bad injuries indeed, things will be tough, coz i dun really like to see Zenden playing center mid... too dangerous... and that would also mean that Gerrard has to play anchorman, not good at all...

anyways.. i was wondering how the hell did i get so many views of those goals... now i know the culprit is u!

HAHA! XD

psychohare said...

ooo, i forgot to say Happy Thanksgiving! im grateful for the 4 day weekend and the Black Friday tomorrow!

For those in SG, dun feel sad, enjoy the warmth of the sun back at the equator, coz im freezing down here.. Brrrr

DROGBALLS said...

Haha really? I got a lot o visitors as well. Anyway I guess Gerrard will still try his best for the good cause of the team so don't worry. I thought the goal he scored the other day was when he was playing the anchorman? So don't worry!

Haha anyway have a great Thanksgiving day! Christmas is a month away!

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