Saturday, December 22, 2007

Major Update

Sorry lads. I've sort of neglected this blog of mine and my apologies for not being uber involved here. Well, I've been out of town for the past 4-5 days for my church camp so I didn't have the time to watch the matches, let aside penning down thoughts here.

But anyway, two disappointing results back to back. Chelsea and United, two huge rivals of ours and it still seemed like we've a long way to go to be on par with their standards. I did catch the match on Sunday against our north-west rivals and it seemed like every single time we play them, we got suppressed and failed to perform at the highest level.

Chances were wasted before a clinical United team grab a goal and then sat back and invited pressure. As one of the major weaknesses of Liverpool is to break down defence who sit deep, they struggled and didn't seemed to cause much problem for ManYoo thereafter.

Then we crashed out of the League Cup after a defeat by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, a place we never seem to get any results from. I didn't catch the match so I won't write down any comments on that.


UCL Last 16 Draw

Olympiacos (GRE) vs Chelsea (ENG)

LIVERPOOL (ENG) vs Inter Milan (ITA)

Schalke 04 (GER) vs FC Porto (POR)

Roma (ITA) vs Real Madrid (ESP)

Arsenal (ENG) vs AC Milan (ITA)

Celtic (SCO) vs Barcelona (ESP)

O. Lyon (FRA) vs Man Utd (ENG)

Fenerbahce (TUR) vs Sevilla (ESP)


Honestly, a tough draw for the Reds. Inter Milan is probably the best team in Europe currently in terms of form and they have been imperious throughout this season's campaign. The Reds started off pretty well in early part of their domestic campaign but suffered a patchy period which coincided with their terrible results in the Champions League.

Inter is no doubt one of the teams to avoid yet we know what Liverpool could do to the so called 'favourites' in almost all their European pilgrims, including Barcelona last season and Juventus on the way to the 2005 Champions League final.

When it comes to Liverpool and their European ambition, no matter how much better you are in terms of personnel or form, they'll always manage to put up a fight that at times, caught the 'bigger' opponents by surprise.

As we know, Liverpool are the expert in one-off games and the first game will only take place in February. From now till then, many things could happen as we know. There might be a slump in form or a surge. New players might come in during the January transfer window and change the fortune of the team.

It's not an insurmountable task for Liverpool yet it does seemed like it takes more than a 'wonderful Anfield night' to conquer the champions of Italy. It's up to Rafa and his boys to show us what they're capable of.