Man City vs Liverpool

Result : 2-3
Scorer : Ireland, Garrido (Man City); Torres-2x, Kuyt (Liverpool)
Red Card : Zabaleta (Man City)
Man of the Match : Arbeloa

Have I told anyone lately how much I love football? Well here it is, I FUCKING LOVE FOOTBALL! Multiply that by 10 and you will get how much I love Liverpool!

What a game it was. Two goals down at half time, we managed to score three after the break to win the game. A shade of Istanbul there. Many people were saying that the sending off of Zabaleta was the reason for the comeback; I’m not having that, we were flying in the second half from the word go, we would have won it regardless of the red card.

I’ve been saying how right now I’m happy with the passing and movement of the team as a whole, and how Riera is giving us the width we so lacking before, and those two factors combined to give us a well deserved win in this match. Another big plus, we were suddenly dangerous in our corners (starting from the PSV game actually). Obviously the lads have been working on it in training and they were well rewarded when Torres scored from one of it. Well done boys, well done Rafa!

Rafa again got it absolutely spot on in this game. We started the game with 4-2-3-1 formation which gave us so many wins towards the end of last season. Keane was sacrificed for The Chief, and Torres played upfront alone with Gerrard supporting him. The Rafa haters took no time at all to use that as a stick to beat Rafa. ‘oh his changing things again’, ‘oh how can he left Keane on the bench after Keane scored in the last game’, ‘Rafa the Tinkerman is back’.

Well they can shove their ‘expert views’ up their asses because they are shit. It was the correct decision and we controlled the match from the start. We created chances but failed to take advantage of it. That’s the problem with Liverpool. We are not ruthless enough and we need to have our back to the wall before we can see some urgency in our play. Couple that with our bad defending on the day, Man City managed to score two goals. It has got nothing to do with Rafa changing the formation. When we signed Keane people were complaining that it will ruined our 4-2-3-1 formation, now we have people complaining when Rafa play that formation again? Rubbish!

For me it was necessary to play that formation in this game to contain Man City attacking threat. Right now I don’t mind either 4-4-2 or 4-3-2-1 because we always need to adapt to the games we are playing. I won’t complain as long as Rafa used the right players for the formations and not asking players to play outside their normal position. We have the players to play both ways, and we have the ‘know how’ too amongst the players.

Rafa also got the subs right. It was Benayoun, a sub on the day, who made that good run and cross for the winner. So again, shove your negative comments up your asses!

I have a couple of concerns on the game though; one, we looked a bit tired. Legs looked heavy, the tempo of the game was slower and the running & pressing were not as normal. We can’t possibly be tired this early in the season. Maybe the Euro did take a lot out of the players. For whatever reason, it is worrying because our plays depend on hard running, closing down and pressing. We need everyone to be on top of their fitness.

Another thing, I’m worried about Torres. I thought he was going to hit the ground running in this game but in truth he was awful especially in the first half. His controls weren’t as good and he got bundled off the ball too easily for my liking. He did improve in the second half however and scored two goals to get us back in the game but he was still far from his best. He scores goals when he is not playing well, just imagine what he will be like when he is truly in top form. Scary!

Again, the goals weren’t spectacular in this game and that pleased me to no end. All the goals were scored by the strikers, from inside the box, feeding of good delivery into the box. That showed the team is playing really well at the moment. When your strikers score tap-ins, it means the whole team is functioning as it should.

I’m so pleased to award Arbeloa the man of the match. He improved big time since the start of the season. I have never doubted his defensive quality, it was his contribution on the attack as a fullback that worried me. Now however, he really has shown he can help with the attack. He overlapped all the time, hugged the touchline to give us width and put in good crosses as well for the strikers to feed. It was his overlapping run off the ball and his cross that made the first goal for Torres. I’m just so happy with the way he’s playing right now. He truly deserved the man of the match.

Gerrard was a bit subdued, as were Torres and The Chief. But the rest of the team played well, and Riera and Alonso were excellent. For Reina, he had absolutely no chance on the first goal but I think he should have done better on the second. It was a good strike from the freekick but Reina kind of encouraged Zabaleta to go for it as his positioning was bad. I’m not going to give Reina too much slack as he won us games before. No one is perfect.

Next weekend is the international football break and that sucks. We are flying at the moment and international football often put a halt to our good form. Hope it won’t happen this time around and we will continue where we left. We have a really good team, playing good quality football, and I couldn’t be happier right now…

Sweet October

This week is definitely the fastest week for me this year. Seems like it was only yesterday that I cursed the pakcik who sold lemang for RM12 because the lemang was not that nice. Seems like it was yesterday that I got all excited about putting on my new bed sheet which has ‘sleepy head’ written all over it. Now I have less than 35 hours before going back to work. I want more holidays!

This week is also one of the most tiring weeks ever. My family and I really did ‘beraya’ this year, we went out every day since day one. I pity the kids who always come to our house for their duit raya collection because we were never home. It has been quite a while since we ‘beraya’ like this and I have forgotten how tiring it can be. But it was all fun, especially our trip to Behrang because we skipped Behrang last year (and the year before, I think).

Like I said, the week flew by too fast that I couldn’t find the time to finish a couple of posting for this blog. I planned to get it done this week because they have been pending for quite a while, now I’m not sure where I’m going to find the time to finish it. If only I had my own laptop, it will certainly make it easier for me to write. Writing using pen and paper has stopped being an option long ago. Brat!

However, there is one thing that I like about the time right now, it is already October. October is the month where it really matters every year. October is my birthday month! I’ll be officially 29 on 21st, and I’m going to buy myself that thing that I want for my birthday, at whatever cost. I have also reminded everyone about my 29th birthday since last year by telling them to put aside money every month, so they will have enough to spend for my gifts this year. I told them it would be like my birthday fund. They thought I was joking but I was not. I was dead serious and I will shamelessly claim my gift come 21st. So be prepared everyone!

Don’t know what to get me? Don’t be silly, it’s easy! I will update my wish list in this blog so be alert. You don't want to be in my bad book!

Tomorrow

If I don’t make it to tomorrow,
Tell the world that I never meant any harm
despite all the troubles I caused
Tell the world that I have tried all I can
although my all never seemed enough

When I get scared,
I always try to cast the fear away
But the fear often proved to be too great
And the courage just couldn’t find its way inside

When I’m down,
I try to hold the tears back every time
But the tears flowed through my clenched fist
And the smiles drowned failing to surface

When it appear like I don’t care,
Take my word that I lay in bed thinking about it all night
That I lay gathering all my strength to make it right come sunrise
Until my uncertain heart destroys my honest intention
Pushing, burying and damning me into agonising eternity

So if I don’t make it to tomorrow,
Tell the world that I have love in my heart
in spite of the abundant of hatred
And tell the world that I have faith in my soul
amidst the constant angst and anger

But if I do make it to tomorrow,
Remind me of how I used to give up
And how the first step is the hardest part
And remind me that doubt is like the mist
When the wind blows I will be well in peace

Liverpool vs PSV

Result : 3-1
Scorer : Kuyt, Keane, Gerrard (Liv); Danny Koevermans (PSV)
Man of the Match : Gerrard

Had anyone written a script exactly like this match, the script would be rejected because it would be deemed unreal and too glorified. Liverpool passing were excellent in a match that saw the long awaited goal for a big signing striker finally over and the captain of the team managed to reach the 100 goal landmark by scoring in front of the Kop End with an absolute wonder strike.

A lot of people were hoping for all those things to happen, but no one dared to expect it for real. But all that really happened, it was an excellent team performance by Liverpool and for me, even though I’m fully aware that it was a Champions League match, the performance brought genuine hope of us challenging for the league title, at last!

On paper we played 4-4-2 but to me it looked like we played 4-2-3-1 with Gerrard playing in the center midfield with Alonso. Rafa made only one change from the Everton game with Aurelio in for Dossena. I just have to stress what a big plus that was. Rafa is rotating far less this season and that shows just how settled the team is at the moment and how Rafa right now knows his best line up and has high confidence on the players. I’m very happy about it indeed!

After the big win against Everton on Saturday, I was a bit worried about the possibility of the players being tired and therefore won’t be able to play well. However the players proved me wrong and everything that I wasn’t happy about before seemed to improve a lot. While we weren’t exactly Arsenal, the passing was outstanding and the movements were terrific. The triangles, one-twos and the pass & move were all there. For some reason there were extra zests and higher tempo in our passing. The players looked like they have more believe in each other now. Even in defense they passed the ball around, something that I never expected from Liverpool even in my wildest dream. I can’t and won’t ask for more.

Now lets talk about Keane’s first goal for Liverpool, the goal that everyone has been waiting for. It was a long wait, 10 games to be exact, but it was worth the wait because there were so many positives in that goal. One, it was a proper striker’s goal, where a great move by the team finished off by a striker waiting inside the box. It wasn’t a wonder strike from outside the box and he didn’t dribble pass a gazillion players to score. It was done with good anticipation, positioning and instinct, everything a good striker should have. Two, it showed improved understanding between Keane & Torres partnership. Torres did well on the right flank and instinctively whipped an excellent ball into the box for his strike partner to score. They are learning each other movement well. Three, the goal showed great wing play, good width in our team. In fact, our width was excellent through out that game and that goal was like the exclamation point to that fact. We seriously lacked width in the team since forever so it was really good to see that we can stretch teams like that.

Just to point one undeniable fact, I predicted that Keane will score his first goal in either this match or the Man City match, so give me a big pat on the back because Nostradamus would have been impressed with me!

Now on to our captain marvel, Steven Gerrard. He has now scored 100 times for Liverpool, and he is still only 28, an amazing feat for a MIDFIELDER who earlier in his career started as a DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER, and also a few times played as a RIGHT BACK! And to score that 100th goal with his trademark thunderbolt in front of the Kop End was just remarkable. Only Superman can do what he has done for Liverpool. He was my man of the match for that game and I gave it to him not just because of the goal, but because his overall performance. His passing was phenomenal last night, it was his best passing game in a long time.

Gerrard, together with Kuyt, Arbeloa, Carra, Reina and Alonso are at the top of their game at the moment. Add that with the signs of improvement to the partnership of Keane and Torres, the season set to be a really good one for Liverpool. I just hope that the optimism that I have right now won’t be dashed again. I do realize that PSV were woeful and I just might be a tad carried away with things but God, please let this be the season I’ve been waiting for….

Bring on Man City!

**Special mention to PSV young striker, Nordin Amrabat. His attitude and enthusiasm for the game was a joy to watch. Keep it up and he will be some player very soon…

The Day Of Celebration

What hint it brings
When I breathe the air of the dawn
I can sense the hope and fear
Tangling and converging into one
As they run through my vein
Making their way to my greedy heart

What words it whispers
When the sunrise caresses my eyes
I can see the path up ahead
Clear yet misty at the same time
Urging me to explore
While doubt clouded my ungrateful mind

How many steps have I wasted
Walking around in unfounded fears
How many more seconds will go by
Squandered in my endless daydreams

What today make obvious
Is that I have never tried
And I have never lived
Frightened by reality
I stay cosy and cowardly
In my safe little world

As the colours unite under the call
As the rhyme of greatness brings tears to the eyes
I dropped tears of my own in regret
And lost in the thought of what could and should

On this day of celebration
The deep beautiful melody go on and on
As to my hope and fear for what lies in front