Match Preview: Liverpool vs Tottenham

Liverpool welcome Spurs to Anfield for the final game of what has been a good season in some ways and a disappointing one in others. Rafa’s men may have ended the season without any silverware but they’ve mounted their best title challenge for well over a decade and for large parts of the season they were the best team. That doesn’t really matter now but it shows great signs of improvement and if Rafa makes one or two signings the red half of Merseyside could be celebrating something special this time next year.

For now though Liverpool have to make sure they beat Spurs and take the second spot. I expect them to see off Tottenham to be honest, they’ve become a good side under the guidance of Harry Redknapp but they don’t travel to well and Liverpool will want to end the season on a high and boost the points tally.

It will be a return to Anfield for Robbie Keane and I’m sure he’ll want to get among the goals and prove Rafa wrong. I’m not sure he will to be honest and I wouldn’t go backing him to score in the game with my own football betting. I’m sure most people would agree that Benitez made the right move in letting him go and he hasn’t really impressed since his move back to Spurs.

The key player for the opposition could well be keeper Heurelho Gomes. The Spurs keeper got a lot of stick at the start of the season for some high profile and costly errors but he has been a revelation in the latter part of the campaign. Gomes has pulled off some truly unbelievable saves and kept Carlo Cudicini out of the side and it will take a bit of work to get past him.

Redknapp hasn’t been impressed with his strikeforce since he took over and Roman Pavlyuchenko looks set for a summer exit. It might be a safe football bet to back the Liverpool clean sheet in all fairness as Pepe Reina is going for the golden glove award and we saw from Jamie Carragher’s antics last week that it is an important award for the team to win.

The match is fairly unimportant in all fairness but I still expect Liverpool to finish on a win. Even though Spurs still have European qualification to play for I don’t think they’ve got enough quality in the team to get a result at Anfield and Liverpool should be able to pick up all three points and go into the summer break full of confidence.

Juande Ramos' Facebook Account

Okay guys, here's the latest. Got a view of beleaguered manager, Juande Ramos' Facebook account. I just have to share this with you people (click for larger view):



If you didn't realise, this is only a joke :)

Spurs: A Laughing Stock?

Well? Have you been laughing at them since... 16 August? I can't help but laugh most of the time but now it seemed more dire than funny. 2 points from a possible 21, how can it be? But on a lighter note, here are some Spurs-related jokes. I hope I don't get retribution for this because it's only for fun! Take it easy, boys!

A kid goes into a sports shop, and wants to buy a ball, but doesn't have enough money. The shop assistant feels sorry for him and offers to play a game. The boy is blindfolded, and has to hold a club-specific ball, and guess which club the ball belongs to. If he gets them all right, he gets the ball. So he gets the first ball, puts it to his ear and says "Arsenal"
"Wow, you're right," says the assistant, "how did you guess?"
"Oh easy, I heard some guns firing in the distance."
Next ball, the kid picks it up and says "Bristol Rovers,"
"How on earth did you guess that," asks the assistant,
"Oh, I heard a crew of pirates rampaging the high seas."
The assistant gives him the third and final ball, and without hesitating the kid says "Tottenham"
"Amazing," says the assistant, "I expect you heard cockrels didn't you,"
"No," says the kid, "It's going down."

A kid is in court after his parents have been divorced, to decide who he's going to live with. "Would you like to live with your mum?" says the judge, "No, she beats me" says the kid, "Oh," says the judge, what about your dad?"
"NO, he beats me too,"
"Oh dear," says the judge, "any relatives?"
"They all beat me" says the kid.
"Who do you want to live with?" says the judge
"Tottenham Hotspur football club."
"Tottenham Hotspur? Why one arth would you want to live there?" says the judge.
"They never beat anyone."

And...finally...

What's the difference between a triangle and Spurs?









The triangle has 3 points.

Torres Spares Liverpool Blushes

Last Minute Heart Break For Spurs

English Premiership

LIVERPOOL 2 - 2 Tottenham

Scorers:
LIV - Voronin (12min); Torres (90+1min);
TOT - Keane (45, 47min);

A last-gasp header from Fernando Torres rescued a barely deserved point for the Reds as they once again, stuttered to finish line and was on the verge of a unimaginable second successive defeat at Anfield.

It was supposed to be a fortress and that Liverpool have reigned supreme there ever since Rafa Benitez took over in 2004. It seemed as though they have lost the aura of invincibility and also lacked confidence.

The visiting Tottenham fans were in full voice throughout the game, urging the men in white and giving them a boost despite their disappointing midweek draw with Aston Villa, which resulted in a 4-4 goal fest.

Liverpool's form of late had been abysmal and the result of this game meant that they haven't won a single game since the 1st of September. A certainly worrying sign for Rafa and his men in red.

It all seem ominous when Liverpool took the lead as early as the 12th minute when Andiry Voronin pounced on Paul Robinson's save and he was able to direct it into the net.

The England number one had a torrid time dealing with Steven Gerrard's free kick and he spilled it right into the path of the Ukrainian striker. He was once again beaten later at another free kick but the left hand post saved him.



Liverpool seemed to put away the midweek troubles behind and did alright but just didn't put enough pressure on the Spurs defence as they should have. As leaky as they have, they stood strong against the duo of Voronin and Torres.

Just when Liverpool thought they could go into the half time break with a one goal cushion, Robbie Keane was on hand to pounce on the static Liverpool defence and punish them just before the half time break.

Dimitar Berbatov's headed ball landed right in his path and that took Finnan and Carragher by surprise. The Irish striker did what he does best and hooked the ball just past Reina and into the empty net.

It was about to get worst for the men in reds.

Right after half time, Liverpool were once again punished for losing concentration and in an almost identical situation, Robbie Keane lost his marker and was able to slammed the ball past the helpless Reina.

Liverpool were caught out and the one goal lead has now gone up the smokes. Perhaps Daniel Agger's injury has cost them some problems and Sami Hyypia isn't getting any younger. The big Finn was constantly beaten in the air by Berbatov. A rare sight considering how he is best at dealing with aerial threats.


Then it was a deja vu image for the Liverpool fans as they had to sit through the last 20 minutes thinking about how the season that promised so much had sort of gone pear shape in such a short period of time.

Liverpool then got hold of the stranglehold of the game and relentlessly pushing Spurs onto the backfoot. And the urban myth about how Spurs usually fail to hold on to lead came true once again, right on the full time mark.

Steve Finnan's deep cross found Fernando Torres, who leaped like a salmon over Younes Kaboul and Pascal Chimbonda, before scoring a thumping header right into Paul Robinson's near post. It was at the nick of time and the striker paid dividends of the manager's trust in him.

Drogballs:

Performance wise, it's an improvement from the diabolical display on Thursday but this is still not good enough. There seemed to be a problem with Liverpool when it comes to retaining possession and coming up with attacking moves.

Perhaps Rafa's tinkering is really not working at the moment and the players doesn't have the time to glue and gel into a unit. They seemed complete strangers on the pitch at times.

And where was the constant pressure from the team that we've seen in the past? We used to surround teams and batter them but now it seemed like we focussed too much on utilising the pace and movement of Torres and there are just too much aimless ball sprayed everywhere.

The aura of fear that Liverpool usually impose on teams seemed to be dissipating as well and it's not a good sign. It might be due to lack of confidence or other factor but we need to buck up and do something about this.

International break is here and it's time for Rafa to take a good look at things and make it right before the October 20th big clash with Everton. A lot is at stake for that game and much is expected from them.

Martin Jol's 'I Will Survive'

You've probably heard of this evergreen song named 'I Will Survive'. But what is it like to sing it in the perspective of Martin Jol (Lol) whose job is hanging on a thread? Surely he didn't inspire much confidence to the boardroom after that near catastrophic (read: near) performance at White Hart Lane on their 125th anniversary.

Here it is, ripped from somewhere. The Jol's version of 'I Will Survive':

First I was afraid, I was petrified
Kept thinking I could never turn Spurs into a top 4 side
But I spent oh so many nights thinking how Staltari did me wrong
Am I a mong??,
but I'll just have to carry on
and we'll be back, into 5th place
I'll just wait till the transfer window to sign another waste of space
I should have sold Paul Robinson, I should have dropped him from the team
If I had known for just one second he'd concede more goals than DerbyCoun-ty

Go on now go, Bent there's the door
just turn around now, 'cause you don't score goals anymore
weren't you the one we paid so much for, you were dearer than Hen-ry
I knew you'd crumble, I'd rather have Emile Hes-key,,,,
Oh no cause I, I will survive As long as I win the next 6 games I know I will stay alive,
I've got Tainio who is shat, & Huddlestone who's just fat,
but I'll survive
I will survive..

15: John Arne Riise vs Spurs

No, this is not against the NBA Champions, Spurs.

Another one of the classic strikes under the belt of the Norweigian 'hammerhead'. He has scored so many of those that we really aren't surprised that he did that against the number one goalkeeper of England.

Not his personal best but still pretty damn good. John Arne Riise...HOOO!

Gunners Outraged

We have transfer speculations on Thierry Henry for the past 4 seasons and every summer, he's linked to Real Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan. Then recently he's being linked with Liverpool (yes, hear me right).

But what really will get on the tats of Arsenal fan would be the news that links him with Spurs...

BAINESSSSSS!!

Strangely how England always seemed to one dimensional in and the lack of left wingers made McClaren scratch his head...

Oh hang on, lack of left wingers? Gareth Barry, Matty Taylor and now, Leighton Baines.



But is it me, or do I think Paul Robinson COULD'VE done a little better there?

Oh Pleat....

As I was watching the Tottenham vs Sevilla UEFA (Yoofa) Cup game last night, I can't help but laugh at the way David Pleat pronounces the player's name. I mean, you sure he used to be a manager? If he's my manager and he can't pronounce my name properly then it is really saddening!

Anyway, the volume of my TV wasn't very loud but I could so clearly hear all the wrong pronunciation and all. It made me giggle:

• "Good evening, everyone!" - I've NEVER heard a commentator do the opening speech like him, until last...evening :)
• "Yoofa Cup" - You guessed, UEFA Cup
• Shimbomba - Seriously? Chimbonda? (Shim-bon-da)
  
• Tayno - Teemu Tainio (Ta-i-nio)
  
• Malbranck - Steed Malbranque (Mal-Bronk)
• Sevillia - Sevilla (Se-vee-ya)
• Jaynus - Jermaine Jenas
  

This are just some funny pronunciation picked out. I shan't continue on with all the weird things he say like how Spurs should throw everyone up front and let Robinson do the sweeper role when they're 2-0 down.

But here's the big compilation by the F365 people during the World Cup. I beg you, don't drink anything now. If you spill your drink out, I'm not held responsible.

* "Liz Azaru" (Bixente Lizarazu)
* "Kakarrr" (Kaká)
* "Dirk Kurt" (Dirk Kuyt)
* "Drogbarrr" (Didier Drogba)
* "Adrianianho" (Adriano)
* "Mack-cher-arno" (Javier Mascherano)
* "Riqwelme" & "Rick Elm" (Juan Román Riquelme)
* "In-ga-zee" (Filippo Inzaghi)
* "Ronald Deano" (Ronaldinho)
* "Pear-lo" (Andrea Pirlo)
* "Poil" (Carles Puyol)
* "Inn-esta" (Andres Iniesta)
* "Doo-Roy", "Dough-Roy" and "Hoyte" (different player) (Johan Djourou)
* "Rays" (Jose Antonio Reyes)
* "Roque Junior" (Roque Santa Cruz - entirely different nationality and player)
* "Vieira" (Christian Vieri)
* "Sevilia" (Sevilla FC - the club)
* "Yung-berg" (Fredrik Ljungberg)
* "Marcus Da Beasley" (DaMarcus Beasley)
* "Ayorla" (Roberto Ayala)
* "Gilar-dinho", "Gilardini" and "Gilard Dean" - all in the space of 90 minutes (Alberto Gilardino)
* "Marqwez" (Rafael Marquez)
* "Heintzer" (Gabriel Heinze)
* "Shev-shenko" (Andriy Shevchenko)
* "Louie Garcia" (Luis Garcia)
* "Jockin", "Joe-Quinn" "Way-kin" (Joaquin)
* "More Reno" (Jose Mourinho)
* "Cliche" (Gael Clichy)
* "Trazago" (David Trezeguet)
* "Evrice" (Patrice Evra)


1...2...3.. Let's laugh at him.

EDIT: Patrick from SquadGod has listed another few golden lines from Mr. Pleat

"There's a little bit of a South American touch, if that's not Irish, about this European side, Portugal"

"I was inbred into the game by my father"

"There's Thierry Henry, exploding like the French train that he is"

"If there are any managers out there with a bottomless pit, I'm sure that they would be interested in these two Russians"

"At this moment there is not a problem at this moment"

Genius.

Beauty Of FA Cup....

My arse.

Another round of FA Cup, another round of shame. Not in one, but two games. Different reason, different incident, same consequence.


How Did He Miss Lampard?



A man that weight a stone heavier than his counterparts can effective dodge a punch from him, disgraceful. I mean, his body frame is big yet he only manage a limp punch that completely misses him. He should be thrown into jail not for his assault but for that inaccurate punch of his.

And several Chelsea players should be punished as well. Look how they went gathering round the 'hero' and joined in kicking and stamping on him. Shows a lot of class, eh?


Did Ronaldo Dive AGAIN?

Sigh, this is getting tiresome. I woke up this morning, without seeing the headlines, I knew it 'IT' happened again. Ronaldo's face and all...



3 games against Middlesbrough, 3 penalties. Is this really some kind of conspiracy theory against 'Boro or are those referees just want free services from....oh sorry, can't see the obvious. Footballers nowadays have such talent in acting that I don't even know what's real and what's not. Up to you to decide, but I still think he went down too easily.

Acting or not aside, his attitude is starting to get on my nerves. Perhaps it's not just me but he is getting a little too arrogant and petulant. Asked about why they have such hard time up against him, his answer is simply 'maybe I'm just too good'.

Pride and arrogance are your first step to failure, my friend...continue with this attitude and he'll probably end up with nothing and a spoilt reputation.

Ugly Scene @ White Hart Lane

After Chelsea 2-1 win over Tottenham and their progression towards the FA Cup semi finals, the Chelsea players celebrated and no doubt, the Spurs fan were enraged. Two of the fans went mental (actually not...) and actually slipped past the security and went onto the pitch and attempted to attack Fat Frank Lampard....

Here's the picture...









Oh, hang on...








Sorry :)

There Goes Foster

Ben Foster, bright young goalkeeper, touted to take over England's number one jersey in years to come as David James reaches his retirement age and Paul Robinson continues to flap and flop. But it's ironic how things happen so quickly that now, people will start questioning his ability.

And the stumbling block was none other than Paul Robinson, the current number one of England and the goal kick that bounced over his head and went right in.



Curse of the English goalkeepers, strikes back.

Drogballs' Weekly Thoughts

Fowler Still 'The One'

His time at Liverpool might be up really soon after rumours of him joining up with Steve Nicol over in the United States but he showed us last Saturday that he still have something to offer. Two calmly taken penalty and a brilliant assist capped a good outing for Fowler, who always seemed to be on the score sheet no matter who he's playing and under what circumstances.

One can argue that it's just two penalties but the mental strength and courage to step up and slot it into the Kop End especially the second is commendable.


Spurs Finally Finds Form

The team from North London at long last, proved to us why they managed to occupy the 4th spot for such a long period of time last season after a 4-1 demolition of Bolton at White Hart Lane. The catalyst of the thrashing is without a doubt, Dimitar Berbatov, who was involved in all the goals and showed great touches and excellent understanding and team work with his team mates.

Spurs, meanwhile, learned their lesson after they're beaten by Sheffield United at Bramall Lane 2 weeks ago before going on with their current 3 games winning streak. Goals were scored while their back line looked like they're back to their normal standards. Even Paul Robinson looked good.

Robbie Keane scored two for them before getting sent off for a hand ball on the line. It was rather harsh to my liking but it's not without a bit of logic in the sending off. His instinctive reaction was to stopping the inevitable, which is ball in the back of the net but referee deemed it was an infringement. But it did little to stop Spurs from running away with the 3 goals lead.


Going Down, Going Down, GOING DOWN!

Although I've chosen this picture to suit the title, it doesn't tell the full story. West Ham United, once again got onto this part of the weekly thoughts post with yet another humiliating defeat at the hands of Charlton. Yes, you got that right. A relegation candidate losing to another relegation candidate and a match with so much hype going on about how it'll define the two team's season was all but over at half time.

Going 3 down at an aptly named, The Valley, Alan Curbishley and his men are certainly walking through the valley alone. It's a story of how a club crumbled and all the problems just snowballed inexplicably into one huge chunk and the time bomb is about to set off.

They got into to UEFA Cup this season and it sort of put the players off focus and also, off the ground as well. Players thought they're already made it big, player who had every desire to jump ship yet given the captain's armband and as well as the failure to integrate the Argentinian duo, it went all awry right at the start of the season.

Then when trouble sets in, everyone wants a quick way out. Get a millionaire in and money MIGHT just get you to safety. But how wrong was that. He sacked the then manager, Alan Pardew and handed it to Alan Curbishley, a man not known for his spending and relegation catfight skills.

He splashed on players freely and thinking that with those 'qualities', they're surely 'too good to go down'. But the sad fact is he failed to integrate the lot of them and does that line of words ring any bell? There is not such thing as 'too good to go down' and if the players continue their 'fine' form, they'll be down without a shadow of doubt.

How ironic is it that a former manager that was called a 'cancer' instigated a mauling over the clarets and blues so comprehensively.

Watford is already condemned in my opinion and with West Ham player's fighting spirit in tatters, I wouldn't be surprised the 'Academy of Football' is going down and the bubbles they're blowing might burst anytime.

Carling Cup Handbags

It was the incident which marred the otherwise exciting and intense cup final which saw Chelsea slightly edging past Arsenal with Drogba providing the ammunition. 2nd half substitute, Jon Obi Mikel slid in with a terrible tackle from behind and a full fledged handbags ensued.

It's disgusting yet amusing to see two groups of players running into each other, pushing and shoving, in a game played by 22 adults. Even old men like Wenger and Mourinho had to jump in to defuse the situation

In the end, Mikel was sent off along with captain, Toure while Emmanuel Adebayor was dragged off the pitch after shown the red. I didn't get to see the replay but I was adamant that Fabregas should have walked while Lampard shown a yellow as well.

Cesc Fabregas, however talented he might be, have been acting like a petulant kid at times and his cockiness gets into me sometimes. The referee failed to spot his raised arms on Lampard and we can only hear from the FA about their verdict of the incident. But why on earth did the Spanish wunderkid get involve in something that's not of his business? Why Lampard?

Perhaps, it's teenagers nowadays. Get into the big stage and already walking with his head tilted 45 degrees upwards. He might need a good few years before he can humble down and only then, I'll class him as a truly world class player.

However good you might be, a lack of class and character makes you look poor.