Posts Tagged Stevie G

Liverpool crash out of the Champions League

November 26, 2009 at 10:09 AM · Filed under Champions League, Football ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Liverpool crashed out of the Champions League last night despite winning their match against Debrecen in the Hungarian capital.French international David Ngog’s first half strike put the Reds ahead of Debrecen in the must-win group-stage match. Liverpool, who won the Champions League in 2005 and were runners-up two years ago, needed to not only win their match but also needed Lyon to beat Fiorentina order to reach the Final 16 for the knock-out stages of the competition.

Unfortunately for the Reds, Fiorentina beat Lyon 1-0 in their match in Tuscany, ensuring that Fiorentina progressed at Liverpool’s expense. This is the first time in six years that Liverpool has failed to make it past the group stages of the European competition. Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez was left ruing the late goals conceded by his team against Lyon. They had been beaten 2-1 by the French champions at Anfield before drawing 1-1 at the Stade Gerland.

“It was our own fault in the end, the late goals we have conceded along the way have cost us,” said Benitez. “We have been so good in the last few years that maybe people think it is easy to qualify in all competitions. You have to be disappointed. We knew we had to win and we did. We can’t change what happened in the other match, but at least we did our job. If you look at the games, two late goals made a massive difference.”

Liverpool is expected to suffer a budgetary shortfall of about £2.4m for this season as a consequence of their group exit and this could be made worse if they continue their run of bad form in the Premier League and  fail to finish in the top four, adding another £10m loss. This would have a significant impact on the asking price of £100m for a 25% stake in Liverpool, which the owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett are looking to sell.

Rafael Benitez, however, played down the financial aspect of failing to progress to the knock-out stage.”

“You have a budget at the beginning of the season and it assumes that we have qualified for the group stages of the Champions League. We did this. Two or three more games maybe, in terms of money, won’t make such a big difference. The main thing for us is to finish in the top four and to be in the Champions League group stages again next year”, said the Liverpool manager.

Liverpool managing director Christian Purslow, insisted that Liverpool could withstand the financial impact of the early elimiation and added that Rafael Benitez’s position as Liverpool manager will not be undermined by Champions League exit.

Christian Purslow said, “This will have no bearing on Rafa whatsoever. He signed a new five-year deal four months ago and in those terms he is four months into a five-year journey. You don’t deviate from long‑term plans for people and the way to take the club to the next level because of two late goals against Lyon, and that’s what it boils down to.”

Liverpool will now be playing in the newly formed Europa League with the likes of Valencia, Benfica and neighbours Everton.

Liverpool plays crucial Merseyside derby match at Goodison Park in the Premier League on Sunday.

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Kop Stars Sparkle : Liverpool Win!

October 26, 2009 at 2:46 AM · Filed under Chelsea, Chelsea FC, English Premier League, EPL ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

A scintillating performance by Liverpool against Manchester United put Chelsea on top of the table today. Rafael Benitez’s men completely out played the Red Devils who are starting to look more and more like a team that is regretting having let go two big, game-changing players in Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez. Liverpool, who had lost their last 4 games and have been in the news for all the wrong reasons, from protests from fans to owner trouble to lack of funds to a weak bench owing to bad dealings in the transfer market to a manager who many thought had lost the plot seemed to have directed all the negative energy, the criticism, the frustration into playing what can only be described as a stunning game.

Steven Gerrard hadn’t recovered and wasn’t in the starting line-up but many Liverpool fans (and Chelsea fans) breathed a sigh relief when they saw Fernando Torres on the team sheet. Mascherano was also in the starting 11 despite having refused signing a new contract with Liverpool this morning and speculation about him possibly moving to Spanish club Barcelona, who have shown interest in the Argentine midfielder. Mascherano said, “I don’t play football for the money. I play for me to win.”

Thankfully, going by how Liverpool played today, I don’t think Mascherano will be going anywhere.

A Liverpool-Manchester United encounter is always feisty but this season it has got even more bite to it because of both the clubs being tied at 18 titles each. And both clubs had very high stakes riding on this match While for Manchester United it meant going top of the table, 2 points clear of Chelsea FC for Liverpool it meant staying in the race for the title. If Liverpool had lost they would have gone 7 points behind the table leaders and it would have been almost impossible to catch up. Manchester United on the other hand wanted revenge from last season when Liverpool had managed to pull a double on them. It was always going to be a great contest and it lived up to all the hype with the better team on the night taking all three points. Yossi Benayoun who had an absolutely brilliant game, passed the ball past Ferdinand to Fernando Torres who scored the first goal for Liverpool in the 67th minute. It was a trademark Torres goal combining power, skill and class. Ngog scored the second for Liverpool in added time and really put the game past United. The game also saw Vidic and Mascherano being sent off. It is becoming quite a habit for both the players whenever their teams meet. Anfield is one of the toughest places to go to and win. Liverpool boasts of having the best fans in the world and it showed today. The fans were a 100 percent behind their team and relentless in their show of support.

Rafael Benitez in his post-match interview said, “The players showed character and the fans were behind the players, we had 12 men. The mentality was good, everyone was working together, plus the ‘keeper (Jose Reina) to the last fan on the Kop. The players answered a lot of questions, that is the most important thing.”

And for a change, Sir Alex also admitted that his team was second best on the night. He said, “Liverpool were the better team and I am not taking anything away from them at all. They deserved to win the game, as it was a disappointing performance from us. We were not good enough. Last season we lost at home 4-1 to Liverpool which was a travesty but we went on to win the league.”

And some things never change…

Sir Alex also said, “We lost out to one or two major decisions. I felt Carrick in the first half was a penalty kick. He [Carragher] has clearly gone over the top of the ball. If it was outside the box, it would have been a free kick. But the controversial one that everyone will be talking about is when he brought Michael Owen down on the edge of the box.

“He is their best defender, so if he goes off at that stage it would be difficult for them. Their fans put the referee under pressure all the time. This atmosphere is hard to handle for a referee. Whether he had enough experience or not, I don’t know, but he will certainly learn from it.”

Ah…well, I guess its one tiny step at a time towards mastering gracious, honest, ‘poor-performance-admitting’, non-blaming, post match speeches for Fergie.

‘When the going gets tough; the tough get going’ -  Liverpool played a passionate, give-all game with no fear and showed everyone that they are a force to reckon with on their day and why underestimating their threat and counting them out of the race would be foolish.

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Liverpool Win-Win Chelsea

October 25, 2009 at 1:12 PM · Filed under Chelsea, Chelsea FC, English Premier League, EPL, Football, premier league ·Tagged , , , , , ,

Go Liverpool! (Now, don’t leave, I haven’t changed allegiance!) Most true blues right now are rooting for Liverpool. Heck! I bet even Terry and the lads are running on their treadmills while hydrating themselves with their energy drinks (coz that is what they should be doing when the season is on)are cheering on Stevie G and his men. Chelsea did their job last evening with a stunning performance at home against Blackburn Rovers and are top of the table. That is all they could have done, and unfortunately we are in a position where staying top of the table depends on Liverpool really giving United a fight in today’s clash at Anfield.

I am glad we have Liverpool taking on the Red Devils today, because if there is any team, according to me who have the power, desire and a real chance of beating United, it Liverpool. I wouldn’t judge them by their form in the last few matches; in fact, I think it just might work out to Liverpool and our favour. They haven’t tasted success in so long and have been under such tremendous pressure and criticism and we know that they are the stuff champions are made of. They just might use all this anger and frustration to give a real thrashing to Sir Alex’s ‘not-really-in–form’ Manchester United. Manchester United have been scraping through but really didn’t deserve all the points against Bolton and it would have been fair if Sunderland had gotten all 3 points in their match against them.

Of course, Liverpool haven’t really been going great guns either. But for Liverpool it all depends on whether they play their best 11. I think Liverpool have the best starting 11 in the league after Chelsea and when everyone in the team is fit to play, they are capable of beating even the free-flowing Arsenal. The problem for Liverpool starts when one or two of their players are injured, that is when they really struggle because they just haven’t got players good enough to replace the first-teamers. A lot of people call Liverpool a Torres-Stevie show. I think it’s more of a Toress-Stevie G and Mascherano show. They need the midfielder even more now following Alonso’s departure. Mascherano has said recently that he wants to win. I hope Rafa can lead the team to some silverware this season or it would get very tough for Liverpool. The Argentine, I guess will be in the starting line-up today and hopefully, the talk about him not signing a new contract with Liverpool and Barcelona’s immense interest in the midfielder will all be forgotten on the field, atleast for today’s match. If they can have Stevie G, Torres and Javier Mascherano starting they are an incredibly tough team to beat, especially at home where their fans can drive any team to commit Hara-kiri!

So, there is really a very good chance that Liverpool will end up beating United or atleast drawing the match at Anfield today. And you know what that means…. Top of the table baby! ktbffh

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Splendid Saturday

September 19, 2009 at 8:58 PM · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,


Wow! What a phenomenal day of football it was today. I am so glad I skipped watching ‘District Nine’ because nothing could have compared… nothing!  I saw Sunderland-Burnley, Arsenal-Wigan Athletic and the West Ham – Liverpool games and can’t pick my favourite. I loved that all the teams I was predicting would win .. won. The Burnley match was particularly satisfying because all the pundits and the bums on the street had written off Burnley. They thought Burnley had had their time in the spotlight and were now going to simply fade away. A ‘pundit’ actually went as far as to say that Burnley would find it very tough to win any games till after Christmas, a little unfair I thought for a team that beat Manchester United and well well well…. they beat Sunderland 3-1. So as is fair, I took my revenge and teased my friends who had ridiculed me when I had predicted a Burnley win… Oh victory is sweet! 


Saturday evening was being very good to me. I wasn’t expecting much of a match at the Emirates. I thought it was an easy enough game for Arsenal but was looking forward to seeing the goals, of which I was positive there’d be plenty and as is the trend today I was right. A stunning goal by Vermaelen (and the fact that I might just have a teeny-tiny crush on him) made me wish he was a Chelsea player. Arsenal played their beautiful brand of football which like always was a pleasure to watch (Inter-Milan – Barcelona take note). Strange club Arsenal are and I am not talking about the very obvious body part fixation that they seem to have. I mean,  they have a great squad  of very talented players, a super manager, yet they almost always just fall short of that something required to win the league. Also, their highest goal scorers this season are their defenders and they hardly have a defense. Yep, they are queer but also absolutely lovable.


The saturday football excitement was now at it’s peak and I was praying that the last match lived up to the expectations and that Liverpool won. I think the Stevie G and Toress partnership is an absolute joy to watch. Also I admire Liverpool FC for its history and its wonderful fans. They are infectious and before you know it, you are supporting Liverpool (except of course when they are playing Chelsea, when miraculously the same fans become quite irritating). I had predicted that West Ham would probably score a goal but never had I imagined that they would put up such a fight. The first half was like watching highlights and it left me breathless and impatient for more. It was the kind of match that makes you wish there was no half-time interval.  The Toress goals especially the one in the first half was brilliant and my favourite goal for the day and perhaps the best goal of the season(right behind the Drogba goal against Stoke City). Poor Jamie Carragher had one of his rare off days at the office but the penalty was uncalled for and according to me Diamanti did touch the ball twice. Even though West Ham played very well, I felt Liverpool deserved to be leading. The game sorta evened itself out and  a Liverpool win by one goal was a fair result of an incredibly entertaining well- fought match. I really wish Fernando(Isn’t Fernando a real fun name, it simply transports you to the middle of a narrow street, with flamenco music playing in the background as you run from a charging bull and for some bizzarre reason refuse to let go of the extremely ripe red tomato! sigh… Where was I? Oh yes, I really wish Toress (no more calling him by his first name, barely survived the bull, the last time) had gotten his hatrick for old times’ sake. 
It’s days like today, when Chelsea aren’t playing and are comfortably (and rightfully) top of the table that I realize that football is in fact relaxing. If today was any indicator, then I guess everyone should cancel everything they are doing tomorrow because missing the Manchester and the London Derbys surely can’t be risked. Sunday promises to be quite a treat. I can’t wait!!!

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