Guess Who's The Best Player In The Universe?!

If only the ESPN Star Sports talk show were like that instead of listening to Shebby Singh talking bollocks 90% of the time "to be honest with you, John".

Ruud van Gullit. Class. John Collins John or David Edgar Davids. Take your pick!

Ball -> Groin = Video Tribute

Even Phill Babb was on the list! Proud to be a Liverpudlian, eh?

Good Luck Warnock, And Thanks

It's always sad to see a player leave your club. I'm not so sure why but when I heard Warnock had been sold by Liverpool to Blackburn as a replacement for Lucash Neill, I was a little disappointed and dismayed. But now all we can do is to wish him all the best in his future endeavors and good luck.

I was hoping that he'll turn out to be another Carragher, a late bloomer who didn't establish himself at Anfield until much later in the career but Rafa don't seemed to rate him that way. Perhaps he has been far too injury prone or perhaps he is just not good enough for us. We have a lot of options down the left flank with Aurelio and Riise both able to play in that position. He would look like a surplus for us.

Nobody can doubt his love and commitment to the club. He always gave his best despite not being a technically excellent player. But his style will always be linked with Carragher's no-nonsense approach and never afraid to put his foot in.

I could understand with Rafa's decision. Warnock is not as young as some of you make of him. He's already nearing 26 and we still haven't seen the best of him. And also the fact that sometimes, we are too sentimental to things and failed to move on due to our emotional attachment to certain things. We could hold on to the lad just because he's a scouser. But I think if he's not good enough, we should not hold back. Everything for it's season, we must move on just like he must. It'll be good for him. Now he'll be able to prove his worth in a fairly decent team.

Never the mind, he have been known to be a joker in the team and I know they'll miss him.




YNWA.

All From EvilD's TIA

Outside Stamford Bridge:

Aide Iskandar will work perfectly. Get him! But he'll come real cheap. That's not Chelsea's way.


Inside Anfield, Rafa Working Magic:

PS: Is everyone able to view that .gif file above?

Drogballs' Weekly Thoughts

Title Race Back?

First of all, by putting that title don't suggest that I believe all the SkySports hype and Arsene Wenger's post match interview about how they helped everyone back into the title race. I personally think that the result on Sunday is one that many neutral fans are split into groups. One believing that we're still in it while the other group think it's beyond us.

It can be put in many perspective. Mine is that a United win was for our own good because it looked damn likely that United will win it and it's only a matter of time. So rather, we want them to kick Arsenal off our back. But then with that Arsenal win, suddenly the title race looked to be opened up once again.

I'm not sounding like a defeatist but rather, realistically, I don't see how ManYoo can be able to drop so many points in the coming few matches. They have been on a roll and must count themselves really unlucky to lose at the Emirates. They're very lucky with injuries, winning when not playing very well and for much of the season, showed more hunger than any team in the league. So to throw away the lead now is just plain unthinkable. Losing the title now will have to be the biggest screw up in football history after Drogba and Ballack's freekick.

But then looking at another perspective, football is sometimes, or most of the time, without logic. It just defies common sense and things just happened, like that. I'm no fortune teller but it'll take some mental strength and character to recover from that defeat at Arsenal. They might feel unjust and then blow it. Who knows?

But I still believe the title is theirs for the taking and still theirs to lose. They're still in the driving seat and with Chelsea falling as quickly as someone touches Robben, they could still walk away with it.


Bringing the 'Good Cup Team' Attitude Into Premiership

For the last 3 years under Rafa Benitez, Liverpool have been rather unfairly named as a good 'cup team' due to our luck in recent cups like the Champions League and the FA Cup. We have always gone into those cup games with the correct mentality and attitude, which ultimately ensured victory. Even against all the odds, we beat the likes of Juventus, Chelsea and ManYoo in recent times to go on and lift the trophy.

But in the league, there have been times we've been found wanting especially earlier this season when our league form is bordering horrendous. We dropped so many points away from home and the players all looked disinterested, jaded and lacked confidence. But once they got into gear, they managed to steamroll past most of the teams in the league lately. How is it imaginable that it was November when our goal difference was 0 and now it stands +21.

The spirit is back and the belief is instilled due to some good performance. And with that sort of confidence and belief, we welcomed Chelsea into our den and gave them a teaching. Watch the game again, then go back and watch those gutless defeat to United, Arse and Chelsea earlier in the season. What do you see?

We have been far too conservative at times till we looked like we're there just for the taking. We looked frail, weak and there wasn't a single sign of fighting spirit. We surrendered meekly and nobody gave a damn about it. Then rewind it forward to the Chelsea game. We started off at a fast pace, close down the space well and came out with belief. The 11 players looked fearless, without a doubt that they'll win the game. They treated it like a cup final game (except it didn't end up 3-3).

If we can play against the top teams with that sort of attitude and mentality, we will do well. That is the thing I'm looking for in the players in the following months to come with huge games coming. We cannot afford to feel inferior anymore. We're Liverpool after all.


"Bye Bye Mourinho!"

The whole of Anfield chants. I dislike the Portugese for some of his antics. But lately, he seemed to have mellowed down, humbled and during the post match interview, he spoke sense, for the first time since he took over. He sounded like he surrendered it. And when the self proclaimed Special One said he can't do much about it, you know what he meant. It was all brags, there was no Special One. He's just an egoistic manager who is now made to eat humble pie after years of being at the top. Now he know how it feels to fall back down to earth and have a taste of reality.

I'm not gloating. I'll like him to stay in the Premiership for the entertainment factor. He has been charismatic at times, charming and added colours in a rather dull league. Without him, you'll still hear Wenger vs Fergie every single week. How boring!

Admittedly, he made mistakes. The biggest one being his speech about the 'untouchables' recently. I've pointed out few weeks back in my post about how that speech might come back and haunt him and I think I'm right. Now the Chelsea squad looked disorganised, disinterested and disintegrated. Not all his fault though. We all know who's behind it.


"I didn't Join West Ham For $$$$$"

Guess who? Yes, the one who has been linked with us for the past half a year, Lucas Neill. In case you didn't know, he joined the Hammers without making much of a ripple in the football world due to concentration on the so called 'Grand Slam Weekend'.

He went on to explain how he didn't join WHU for the money...blah blah...like who listens? I didn't bother reading the article past line 2.

Drogba & Ballack >>> Henry & Pires

Well, remember that infamous penalty incident a few seasons ago when Henry and Pires wanted to try an audacious penalty by 'passing' it? I think the recent Drogba and Ballack free kick 'routine from the training ground' must surely be one of the funniest moment in football.




The Anfield crowd making some noise before it was taken:

WTF?!

Looked like a John Woo film with all the slow mo action. South Africa that is. 2010 World Cup host. Can't even place their advert board properly!

NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!!! RAFA!!! OUT!!!

Shit performance, shit scoreline and we're gonna get relegated soon! Rafa Out!!






But turns out to be an utter legend:

Shreeves: So Rafa, were you confident when you saw the Chelsea team sheet?
Rafa: No, I was confident looking at my team sheet.

Rafa's the special one, eh?

SHEVCHENKO LEAVES CHELSEA!!!!!!

Sad to say..

Oops....

Your Reign Ends HERE

Reds Give José The Blues

English Premiership

LIVERPOOL 2-0 Chelsea

Scorers:
LIV - Kuyt (4min), Pennant (18min);

Match Highlights:

This is the match where the under-pressure players performed.

This is the match that showed what Liverpool are really about.

This is the match that exposes Chelsea's lack of depth.

This is the match that could spell the end of Chelsea's reign in English Premiership.

In Rafa's 100th game in charge of Liverpool, he saw his side clinically finished Chelsea off in 20 minutes as he now holds the same record as Liverpool's greatest manager, Bill Shankly, with 56 wins. With all the talks of Liverpool not being able to compete with the big boys (me included) and fail to finish team off clinically, this match clearly showed that Liverpool CAN mix with the big boys and have the ability to win them.

Perhaps taking the shine off the gloss was the fact that Chelsea have been missing several key players like Makalele, John Terry and inexplicably, Ricardo Carvalho. They started a makeshift defence of Paulo Ferreira and Michael Essien, which crumbled the moment Liverpool stepped up their gear.

Dirk Kuyt pounced on Peter Crouch’s knock down and he wrong footed Ferreira and placed the ball beyond Petr Cech, who returned from his long term head injury. Spotted with a scrum cap, surely it wasn’t a good omen to him.

Liverpool continued to pile on pressure and Chelsea had absolutely no answer to it. Drogba was closely watch by Jamie Carragher, who was colossus throughout the match. He organized the defence terrifically but one would have to wonder why Chelsea decides to play long ball game instead of playing it on the ground. It made their work much easier.

Liverpool then got into the driving seat 18 minutes into the match. Jermaine Pennant, who has been doubted as to whether he’s fit to wear the Liverpool shirt, showed why he IS fit to and silenced the critics with a peach of a goal.

Receiving the ball just outside the box, he decided to have a go and boy, he hit it so sweetly that it sailed past Cech and hit the underside of the bar before going into the net. Anfield erupted and Chelsea were stunned.

With Robben withdrawn from the game following an injury, Chelsea’s squad was stretched thinner this time. Shaun Wright-Phillips was brought on and in fact, did caused some problem in the second half with his searing pace but Liverpool defended resiliently.

Second half, Chelsea did came out with an intent to get at least a goal but the team just didn’t click. The players were all over the place and the link between defence and attack was severely cut out by the brilliant central pairing of Alonso and Gerrard.

You could sense the discontent and impatience when Drogba threw away a free kick awarded to him cheaply. He passed the ball through the legs of Lampard when he’s still not ready and the ball was retrieved by the Liverpool players cue the reaction from the Anfield crowd.

It really could’ve been a slaughter if only Liverpool took their chances better. Riise had a shot that came off the bar while both Crouch and Kuyt had couple of chances to put the match beyond doubt.

In the end, all that matter was the victory. A sweet one indeed for the Liverpool fans, who have endured the 4-1 thrashing last season and also the 1-0 loss at Stamford Bridge, which many deemed undeserving.

Now Liverpool have cut down Chelsea’s lead to just 5 points and surely, Rafa Benitez can make the team believe that they can overtake Chelsea. But it’s important to build on this win and continue the excellent form. The players all gave their very best and showed much hunger. It’s hard to pick the man of the match as everyone put up a good performance while the fans where just fantastic.

Sir Alex must be laughing now.


Drogballs: Like, wow. Jermaine Pennant scoring? Am I dreaming? But seriously, what a goal. He hasn't been at his best and many have doubted his ability. But today, Pennant put up a fantastic performance with his intelligent run and tracking back.

I think other than our clinical finishing, the thing that really separates us from Chelsea would have to be the hunger and passion. Liverpool wanted to win more and they came out all guns blazing.

You could see it in the player's face. They wanted it real bad. They wanted to show to all of us that we can take on the big boys without problem. They tracked back, ran tirelessly and defended resiliently.

What's more, a clean sheet for us. In fact, I don't remember Reina having to do any work. Carragher kept Drogba very quiet while we have Aurelio and Finnan marking their wingers. They're always on their back and made it difficult to play their normal game. They resorted to passing long balls but it made it all easier for Liverpool.

It's hard to pick a man of the match but to me, it will have to be Dirk Kuyt. His goal sets up an intriguing game and after that, ran his socks off (as always) and dropped deep to help out the midfield. Finishing might be poor at times but he scored the all important opening goal.


Drogballs' Player Ratings:

Reina (7) - Did nothing. Seriously

Finnan (8) - Good going forward and defended well
Carragher (9) - For stopping Drogba. That alone deserves all credit
Agger (8) - Dealt with the aerial threat well
Aurelio (8) - Under pressure player. But played a blinder!

Pennant (9) - 10 for the goal. 8 for the performance. Well done, lad!
Gerrard (9) - Disciplined performance but dedicated. Tracked back and worked hard
Alonso (8) - Got smacked in his nose but his passing was quality
Riise (8) - Unlucky not to get one goal

Kuyt (9) - MAN OF THE MATCH: Need I say more?
Crouch (8) - Held up ball well and caused problem with his aerial ability