Preview: Liverpool vs Man City

We’ve been saying nearly every week that whoever the Reds are playing it is a ‘must win’ game and the visit of City to Anfield is as big as any game Liverpool have faced this season. Mark Hughes’ side are one point and one place above Liverpool and a win over the blue half of Manchester would go along way to restoring some faith in Rafael Benitez and his Liverpool squad.
The massive bonus for Benitez is the fact that Steven Gerrard has ruled himself fit for the fixture with City. This is what the Liverpool captain has had to say: "I've had a problem in my groin that has taken a while to get over but I'm just relieved the second injection seems to have done the trick.

"It's a case of so far so good and the aim now is to make sure I get a good week's training under my belt so I'm ready for the game with City."

Great news about Gerrard, but striker Fernando Torres will play no part as he struggles with an abdominal strain. Yossi Benayoun and Albert Riera are also ruled out while Glen Johnson, Daniel Agger and Fabio Aurelio are all doubtful ahead of City’s visit. It remains to be seen whether we’ll get to see Alberto Aquilani or not but with Gerrard back in the fold this is certainly a winnable game for Liverpool.

City will be without winger Martin Petrov, while Robinho and Gareth Barry are also listed as doubtful but they have plenty of players to cover and expect a strong line-up. At a guess I would say City will probably line up with Emmanuel Adebayor, Carlos Teve and Craig Bellamy in attack – a formidable line up to say the least. However, Tevez has never been the most prolific striker in front of goal, Adebayor has suffered a dip in form since his antics against Arsenal and Bellamy can be a bit hit and miss.

The game has all the makings of a classic. Liverpool need to win to keep up with the chasing pack at the top of the table, while City have something to prove against the bigger clubs after all their summer spending. I’m not going to hazard a guess at the result as on paper it is a bit close to call, I do think we’re in for a great game though and with home advantage Liverpool should be the favourites.

Written by Gareth Freeman, a sports writer promoting horse racing Ireland and the Aintree Grand National 2010 for Betfair.

Reds Title Bid Up In Smokes

Liverpool 1 (Kuyt 78min)
Man City 1 (Arbeloa OG 48min)

Liverpool’s title bid was derailed further after a disappointing 1-1 draw with Manchester City, who were giving their bitter rivals a huge helping hand. Now with 12 games to go and 7 points apart, it is difficult to see Man Utd. slipping up.

It is the inevitable feeling of ‘same old, same old’ as Liverpool conceded first and had to fight tooth and nail to get back on equal terms. But the fight-back was all too late and without inspirational skipper, Steven Gerrard and the influential Xabi Alonso, it fell short.


Sitting through the first half was just as it was throughout the whole season. There was nothing to show for. Despite dominating possession, the partnership of Dirk Kuyt and Fernando Torres failed to puncture a hole in City’s defence.

Against the flow of the game, the best chance of the first period fell to the in-form Stephen Ireland, who disappointingly failed to put the ball past Pepe Reina and his subsequent follow up wasn’t good enough. It alarmed Liverpool a little but there was still an apparent lack of urgency.

Former Reds, Craig Bellamy, was in the City line-up and seemed a bit out of place playing alongside the likes of Robinho and Vincent Kompany. But he showed his worth when he converted his chance in front of Annie Road End and sent the City supporters into raptures.

The shot took an awful deflection off Alvaro Arbeloa and he is certainly making his presence known amongst the stars and reminding the Anfield crowd of his quality.


As inevitable as it is for Liverpool to concede first, they’ll always manage to do a comeback and they did after much knocking on the door.

The same player who finished off the amazing 3-2 turnaround earlier in the season, Dirk Kuyt, was on hand again to slot past Shay Given and give the Liverpool supporters some hope.

Subsequently, Yossi Benayoun had a fantastic chance to grab all 3 points for Liverpool but his volley was saved superbly.

Without Gerrard, the home side failed to conjure up any sort of inspiration and even Torres, who was thoroughly shackled by Richard Dunne and Micah Richards throughout, was ineffective and looked isolated up front.

With the title slipping away, Liverpool only have themselves to blame. Leading at a certain point in the campaign, they have managed to let it slip and are now desperately trying to get any sort of momentum going.

The only momentum they seemed to got into this season is drawing games, which isn’t the best case scenario for a title winning team. Despite only losing once throughout, the 11 draws all season is costing Rafa Benitez’s side big time.

With the in-form Real Madrid looming and Rafa’s stubborn refusal to put pen on paper, Liverpool’s position have been strangely precarious despite being so high up the table.

There’s still hope. But hope could be deceptive. It is hard enough to imagine Man Utd. going into a Newcastle-esque meltdown and at the same time, pinning hopes on Liverpool winning the rest of the games.

I highly doubt a comeback of that epic proportion would happen. Yet in football, who knows? We could turn the kind of form in those comebacks we had into the league form. I’m harbouring a little hope here. Just a little…

Next Up, Man City

By Gareth Freeman

Manchester City travel to Anfield on Sunday in Liverpool’s first league game after a short break and this should provide three much needed points for Rafa’s men. City have only won once on the road all season and I can’t see them doubling that at Anfield.

Even though I can only see this tie going one way it is still worth having a look at the opponents, with that in mind I thought I’d pick out City’s danger men and analyse where the threat will come from.

They have a lot of decent attacking players at City but they just don’t seem to be able to turn it on when they’re away from home. Robinho is still yet to score away from Eastlands and his erratic form is, in my opinion, the reason City are not good away. They still look for him every time they’re bursting forward but he just isn’t doing it for them on their travels. Shaun Wright-Phillips and Craig Bellamy will also create problems for Liverpool but I think Carragher and co should be able to cope with them.

My favourite City player is Stephen Ireland. He reminds we a bit of Gerrard in the way he reads the game and runs from deep and I’m sure he’ll put in a decent performance against Liverpool on Sunday.

The are where City have really let themselves down this season is in defence. Micah Richards and Richard Dunne have just not performed as well as they should have done this season and they’ve looked suspect against some poor teams. I had expected the arrival of Nigel de Jong as a defensive midfielder to help shore up their problems but so far he has done nothing to justify his hefty price tag.

I will finish with a few Premier League betting picks for the weekend. I think Arsenal and Manchester United will record home wins against Sunderland and Blackburn Rovers respectively.

I’m also quite tempted by Chelsea picking up a win away at Aston Villa, it will be Guus Hiddink’s first game in charge at Chelsea and I think the players will start to pick up their performances from now on. There is no doubting Villa are a decent side but it is probably the worst time to come up against Chelsea now. On Sunday I think Everton will be able to beat Newcastle at St James’ Park and I’ll probably double that up with Liverpool to beat City in my own football betting.

Playing Pretty Like Contender's, Eh?

Last Gasp Win At Manchester Means More Than Just 3 Points

English Premiership

Man City 2 -3 LIVERPOOL

Alright, let's get it straight. It's only October. The Premiership race is still a good 6 months before any conclusion can be made. Looking at the table, Liverpool fans must have been mighty pleased to see them joint top with Chelsea.

Well, things could have been so different. If there wasn't Fernando Torres. If Dirk Kuyt still managed to miss the rebound. If Pablo Zabaleta escaped the sending off.

If Liverpool didn't have the character and spirit.

Dirk Kuyt proves people wrong, including myself. Half the time, I admit, I was wondering why on earth is this player (I doubt even that) is still on the pitch with Yossi Benayoun and Ryan Babel on the bench?

When Torres pulled Liverpool level at 2-2, I was telling God 'the last player I would want to have him score the winner is Kuyt.' Just before Stephen Ireland stole the show and rammed in his 3rd of the season, Kuyt had a perfect chance to put Liverpool ahead.

But somehow, he scooped the shot high and wide from 5 yards out. In football, if you're presented with a chance and does not take advantage of it, you'll find yourself in deep mire soon after. That's the Murphy's law in football.

But somehow, he was right where he was to redeem himself and made countless of Liverpool fans leaping in the air, dancing in pubs and putting that very belief that we have been lacking, back in.

This season saw Liverpool off the block in double quick time yet it doesn't tally with the performances we've put up. We've been awful at times. The first half and Man City was dire. With all the possessions, nothing. And then we got hit quickly with 2 goals.

No idea what Rafa and Sammy Lee said to the players at half time. I suspect something rousing. They came out, all cylinders firing. Torres with his usual goal-poaching ability, turned a Alvaro Arbeloa cross into the net before heading a Steven Gerrard corner for the equaliser.

Looking at how things have panned out, you really have got to wonder is this finally their year? After 19 years of desperate knocking on the door, have the door finally been opened to the Reds?

Sitting there watching us going 2-0 down makes my mind go 'Ah, here we go again..' All the good form and belief thrown out of the door. We've had such a good start but boy, back to reality again.

Yet that belief and feeling at the final whistle was something I haven't had in my years of supporting Liverpool. To be fair, Liverpool were never in much contention for the throne for the past decade.

I really do sense something this time round. It's as if things have clicked between Rafa Benitez and the players. He has brought the 'Valencia mentality' right to Liverpool. Real Madrid and Barcelona? No big deal, we play out football and we'll win it eventually.

That's the kind of belief right now, churning within the hearts of the Liverpool players, I believe. After such a significant win, they know they'll have to be geared up for better performances and aim for consistency. It's not a race but a marathon.

Luck have been on Liverpool's side and over the years, we saw how teams who plays the best football doesn't necessary equates to winner, the lucky ones do. Don't want to sound over-confident at this moment because I know there's a long way to go.

But since I see signs of a humble champion, so be it. Just pray so hard we don't falter in the next game. That would be like an egg thrown in your face.

Who's 'Respecting' Who?

Remember before the new season started, there was a video circulating, promoting the new 'Respect' campaign put up by the English FA. It was to stamp out abuse against the men in black and how the multi-millionaires should listen and be nice to some part timers.

Indeed, I do not condone players surrounding referees hurling abuses or waving imaginary yellow cards. I hate the fact that every time a player commits a foul, his 'comrades' would suddenly stand up and be counted, literally.

But the latest FA decision puts everything into doubt, especially this 'Respect' campaign. John Terry, the great England captain was sent off. He appealed and yea, it was rescinded. I mean, maybe after viewing the replay for the 100th time gave them the idea that it wasn't a red.

But what is absolutely ridiculous is the fact that Mark Halsey, the referee who dared to sent off the great and mighty England thug captain was 'relegated' and won't be officiating in any of the Premiership game this weekend.

So what was that for?

I saw the replay and God, was John Terry an England football captain or is he plying his trade in a wrong sports? It looked every bit like a rugby tackle as he bundled Man City's Jo down. Mind you, Terry is pretty big size if you aren't aware.

Yes, he wasn't the last man. But that was a cynical foul and I thought that by itself is enough to be given a straight red?

So for daring to make the right decision, Mark Halsey was made to pay for sending Terry off. What a sad state of affair. I urge not only the players but the higher authorities as well, to respect the men in black for their decision and not punish them for doing something right just because they're protecting their crown jewel.

Nobody's above the law? Well your status could always buy you a way out apparently.

Brave City Held On

English Premiership

Man City 0 - 0 LIVERPOOL

The last league game of 2007 ended up with a stalemate as a resilient Manchester City side frustrated Liverpool and earned an undeserved point. Only seperated by a point, a win for any of this side will propel themselves well into the top 4 position, going into 2008.

Liverpool had the chances to do so, yet the profligacy in big games still apparent.

Though credits must also go out to the Man City defence as they put up with a wonderful back-against-the-wall effort and manage to mitigate wave after wave of attack and stopped the man of the moment, Fernando Torres, from scoring.

The Spanish had two or three clear chances but failed to capitalise on them. He must've regretted not slotting in that chance just after half time and it could altogether be a different story if he did.

Knowing that he could be the first Liverpool player since Michael Owen in 2001 to score 10 league goals before the year ends, he gets full marks for his effort but disappointingly, no end result. If the stain of mud on the shirt represents the endeavor of the player, one could say he puts in the most for this game.

Up against a physically solid defenders in Richard Dunne, Nedum Onuoha and Micah Richards, he knew he was going to have a hard time, so did Dirk Kuyt.

And the trio deserves praise for their last ditch tackles and goal line clearances. City could've crumbled big time in the last 10 minutes after Liverpool finally decides to shift into their fifth gear. But they stood their ground gave a no-nonsense performance.

The game was finely poised as both teams knew how important it is to gain victory at the City of Manchester stadium but probably this mentality made both teams a little jittery in the beginning.

With Sami Hyypia out injured and Daniel Agger still recovering from his metatarsal injury, Rafa Benitez employed Alvaro Arbeloa in centre defence, alongside Jamie Carragher.

The full-back's inexperience in that position was exploited by Martin Petrov and Elano but as the game went on, he steadied himself and was rarely troubled from then on.

Both sides had good chances but was premium. Other than a few stray shots from Gerrard and Aurelio, the Liverpool front line were anonymous, so was City's. As the game developed, Vassell and Elano were starved off any support and were left isolated.

Might be due to the words of the manager at half time, Liverpool came out with more intent and stepped up the tempo of the game. They nearly took the lead early in the second half as two chances were created in a short amount of time but Torres was unable to finish.

City desperate and Liverpool frustrated. The home team looked less comfortable as time went on. The Reds took hold of initiative and launched themselves at City.

Best chances of the game fell to Dirk Kuyt but the wasteful 'striker' was not able to capitalise. On his part, it was a weak header on goal but City goalkeeper, Joe Hart, made a wonderful reflex save before Richard Dunne heroically cleared the ball of the line.

So City goes into 2008 a point behind Liverpool in 5th place and the Reds should feel the pinch of not putting the game to bed and build up a comfortable cushion between themselves and the other teams outside the top 4.

Comical Fergie

I think other than the Liverpool vs Chelsea game on Sunday night, much attention was also focused on the Manchester derby. A new look Man City under the guidance of England's favourite manager, Sven Goran-Eriksson, got all 3 points despite giving ManYoo 98% of the possession.

One thing struck me during the match though. The camera panned towards Fergie when Tevez missed a sitter from 2 yards out and his reaction was....

To put it into context...

Haha!

17: Steven Gerrard vs Man City

The goal that personifies Gerrard the most. Dirk Kuyt's tireless harrying of defenders caused the City defence to surrender possession and Steven Gerrard, as always, breaking in front his central midfield position and the marksmen from outside the box was on target once again.

It was the only goal in the game, which speaks about the importance of this goal.

Reds And Blues In Bore Draw Shocker

Dreadful & Insipid Performance

English Premiership

Man City 0 - 0 LIVERPOOL

Shocking result? Not really, it was as expected. More so when I saw the starting line up for this game. Yet again, Rafa got it wrong from the start and he made changes a little too late.

There was a distinct lack of creativity from the Liverpool side, who welcomed back rested stars like Gerrard and Carragher but the scouse duo were not able to inspire Liverpool to the win.

City themselves are in a run of decent form as they're undefeated in 5 games but their home form has been pretty atrocious as they haven't found the net at the COM stadium for the last 5 games. Well, make it 6 then.

Rafa started with a 4-5-1 formation and in trying to stifle the opponent, Liverpool suffered and were negative. Bearing in mind that he is a cautious man, sometimes you've got to wonder whether he's been too cautious at times and his hesitation to gamble might have cost Liverpool points over the stretch of the season.

City, knowing that getting a point off Liverpool is a decent result for them, stood firm throughout and the defence comprising of Richard Dunne and Sylvain Distin was solid throughout. Rafa made their jobs easier by resting Peter Crouch and the only striker on the pitch was Kuyt.

Gerrard was supposed to support Kuyt but was largely peripheral while Liverpool failed to exploit the flanks with Pennant and Riise not being able to provide much ammunition. Alonso's passing was found wanting most of the time and it made the game very difficult to watch.

Rafa has got a brilliant record in Europe and has the pedigree to bring Liverpool to yet another European triumph but when it comes to domestic league, Rafa still got to learn to gamble sometimes and be a little adventurous.

With Arsenal closing in with only 2 points behind, Liverpool will have to go out and win the game at Anfield against Middlesbrough. For City, it's a precious point but for the visiting team, it seemed more like 2 points dropped.

"2 More Wins To Secure 3rd Place"

Reds To Stay Focus In League

Despite Liverpool strolling into this season's UEFA Champions League semi-final and booking another meeting with fellow English giants, Chelsea, Reds boss, Rafa Benitez, has reiterated the importance of finishing third and sealing the place for next season's Champions League.

Rafa clearly doesn't want the Reds to miss out on the lucrative league and perhaps, the nightmare of the 04/05 season still haunts him. Then, despite finishing outside the top 4 in the domestic league, the sole saving grace was winning the Champions League and Benitez and his men are clearly not banking on winning the European Cup to seal a place next season.

And it is important to stay focus on the task ahead and not get carried away. Today's visit to the City of Manchester stadium is certainly no high profile game but by claiming all 3 points today might be a huge step towards sealing that place next season.

With the Hillsbrough anniversary looming, it's also a big weekend for the team as they look to step away from the past and into the future. Under the careful guidance of Rafa Benitez, Liverpool has the regular habit of starting slow and finishing strong. With 2 hard fought victories back to back, they'll be expecting yet another tough game ahead of them tonight.

With the blue half of Manchester ensuring safety at this point in time as well, they will do whatever they can to muster as much points as possible. After a proclaimed 'catastrophe in the making' few weeks back, their results have improved vastly and look very likely to survive any sort of scare this season.

Their 3-1 demolition of Fulham at Craven Cottage last week cost Chris Coleman his job and the Citizens will surely want to build on that win. But they'll have to do without star defender, Micah Richards while Craig Bellamy will miss the trip after being stretched off in the game against PSV on Thursday.

After being rested in midweek, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher will be unleashed and raring to go. After scoring 5 goals in 4 games, in-form Peter Crouch will start and is likely to partner Dirk Kuyt, who was suspended on Wednesday. He might even dedicate a goal to his new born baby, who was delivered on Wednesday.


A point of note, Robbie Fowler might come on for a cameo appearance against his former club while the flags at the COM Stadium will be flown at half mast in respect of all who perished at the Hillsbrough disaster. YNWA.

Drogballs' Prediction: Man C 0-2 Liverpool. Kuyt and Crouch to get the goals.

Possible Line up: Reina, Riise, Agger, Carragher, Finnan, Gonzalez, Gerrard, Alonso, Pennant, Crouch, Kuyt;

Gerrard Inspires Lacklustre Reds

Organised vs Disorganised; 3-5-2 Mess

English Premiership

LIVERPOOL 1 - 0 Manchester City

Scorer:
LIV - Gerrard (67min);

1-0 Gerrard:

If you're a Liverpool fan, you must have heaped a sigh of relief.

If you're a neutral, you'll be glad the bore fest was over when Rob Styles blew the whistle.

A beautiful right foot strike from Steven Gerrard ensured Liverpool's victory over a determined and organised Manchester City. Just like the uncountable number of occasions where Gerrard pops up from nowhere to score the winner, he was there to pounce on a mistake from City captain, Sylvain Distin and scores his first Premiership goal for Liverpool this season.

That goal must've made all the critics who says Gerrard should play in the middle real happy. It was a typical Gerrard-esque goal.

A run from deep and then a powerful shot which gave Nicky Weaver absolutely no chance. Like an eagle pouncing on it's prey. Precise and swift. He was also the player who came closest to scoring in the first half.

Manchester City set out a very defensive tactics at Anfield in hope of a change of fortune away from home. They have been just as bad as Liverpool in terms of away form and in order to avoid defeat, they had Chinedum Onuoha, Micah Ricards and Hatem Trabelsi all in the same team. Obviously they are there to shackle Liverpool's left flank as well as exploit it.

Without Stephen Warnock, Fabio Aurelio and Harry Kewell, John Arne Riise was the only outright option for Rafa Benitez.

With injuries abound, Rafa tinkered not only with the players, but now with an experimental 3-5-2 formation which made us looked so disorganised at times and the players were obviously confused and were nearly caught out on a couple of occasions.

The first half was a dull affair with the home team having a lion share of possession. Crouch, Gerrard and Luis Garcia all had chances to put Liverpool ahead and kick start the pace of the game, but the finishing was found wanting.

Second half was no better as Rafa decided to keep the formation as Liverpool continued to toll on as Man City sat deeper and deeper. Distin and Dunne led the defence line very well and they rendered Crouch and Kuyt almost useless. The 2 strikers could not get a sniff at goal throughout although Kuyt looked very energetic as usual and seemed to be running his socks off.

The game finally reached its peak when Gerrard scores and it did have a certain effect on the Liverpool team as well as City's. Inspired by captain, the Reds pushed on for the second but sadly, lost the momentum as time wore on. Introduction of Fowler didn't do much impact while Pennant was active, but final ball still poor.

Man City looked to have a last push with Giorgios Samaras coming really close with a shot towards the top corner, but Pepe Reina was alert enough to stop it and saved Liverpool from embarrassment.

Overall, a below par performance from the Reds. But I was pleased to see us winning despite playing poorly. Credits goes out to Man City who defended superbly until a lapse of concentration cost them a credible draw. They were organised, but were obviously not there to play much football.

By the way, can we just take a corner rather than always keeping it short? Because if I'm a defender and by sprinting 50-60 yards to the opponent's box only to see it goes short and then lose possession, I'll be well pissed.


Liverpool Ratings:

Reina - 8 - Inspired confidence. A couple couple of good catches and vital saves.

Agger - 7 - Did well. But dwells on ball too much to be reliable.
Hyypia 7 - Towering presence. But he seemed to be VERY slow.
Carragher - 7 - Made to play on the right, then left back. Did okay.
Finnan - 7 - Nothing spectacular. Didn't provide width when required.

Gerrard - 9 - Disciplined performance as an anchorman and a goal to his name.
Zenden - 7 - Tried luck with some shots. Overall, his passing is still pretty poor.
Luis Garcia - 5 - Infuriating. Showed poor touches and decision.
Riise - 7 - Worked hard down the left flank.

Crouch - 5 - Did nothing that I can remember of.
Kuyt - 7 - At least he tried and his constant closing down is a problem for opponent defenders.

Liverpool vs Man City Preview

Return Of The 'Kaiser'

Liverpool will welcome back former fan's favourite, Didi Hamann back to Anfield after he left the club last summer. He has talked about the emotion of returning back to his former spiritual home but as a professional, I'm sure he will put up a very effective performance despite his 'Scouse-ness' and his love for Liverpool.

After a hard-earned victory over PSV Eindhoven, the Reds will look to build on the win as they continue to toil on the domestic front which has been so far been disappointing. The home form hasn't been a problem thus far and that the Liverpool fans can be more assured today. But there's no easy games and I was impressed by the way Man City played last week against Fulham.

Samaras, who resembled Fernando Morientes, will be a threat with his aerial prowess as well as Bernando Corradi, who has not found the net until last week when he turned in style to score a brace. Both of them will cause problems with their physical presence while Joey Barton and Darius Vassell will attempt to run in from deep.

Injury problems mount for Liverpool with a number of senior players missing. Losing Aurelio, Sissoko, Warnock, Pennant, Xabi Alonso and Mark Gonzalez, it will another guessing game for everyone as Rafa plans out a makeshift team.

Drogballs Prediction: 2-0 Home win. Liverpool's home form has been very good and Anfield is almost an unbreachable fortress whereas Man City's away form is just as bad as ours. Form are meant to changed, but not at Anfield, I'm afraid.

Cracks Are Showing At Goodison Park

**LADIES please look away!**














Nice one Barton! Anyway is it true that Joey Barton's a Scouser?