Diablo

Can't believe it. I watched Arsenal do their best Liverpool impersonation at 'borough. Didn't think much of the result because I can't see Arsenal doing anything more than sneaking into the top 4 at this stage. Still, Wenger will probably get another roasting this week, just in time for him to get the best out of his side and pull our pants down next weekend. In theory we should have too much for them in the middle, but up front we (still) don't have anything to trouble them, and Adebayor has too much height for Carragher, and too much pace for Hyypia. Also, props to Chelsea and Man Utd for having the good graces to draw after our pants effort at Anfield on Saturday. Hull aren't a bad side, and they have some dangerous players, but after equalising what did irritated me no end was how our cutting edge evapourated. When we were trailing, it looked as though we could easily score 5. But we got level, and we probably had two genuinely close efforts for the remaining 60 minutes of the match. Bollocks!

Normal service resumed then at the top, after a few weird and not-so-wonderful weeks with some unexpected and lacklustre results. Watched Liverpool struggle at Blackburn in the first 60 minutes, and thought we about to cough up more easy points. Blackburn crumbled big time in the final quarter of the match though, and after having the lion's share of possession for the entire match, we got the win we probably just deserved, thanks in no small way to the drive of Stevie G from midfield. The biggest concern remains the lack of genuine goal threat. Kuyt is a smart player who works his backside off, but he doesn't have any real x-factor, and can't play off the shoulder ala Torres due to lack of pace. No Nando till January is going to be painful. Elsewhere, the chavs did a classic smash n grab job at Bolton, scoring 2 early goals and then playing on the counter for the rest of the match, whilst Bolton ineptly peppered their goal. Mancs out of jail thanks to Vidic at the death. Arsenal do their thang and get an early goal before making their fans sweat for 70-odd minutes. Bless. West Ham v Totty looks like points for your boys 45, but West Ham have some blokes who can definitely catch you napping.

$@#($^@#*$(^*@#*(@(^@@!^@!#^!^!!@#%*&%&*!!!!!!!! Stoke... Fulham... and now West Ham. Three very ordinary sides whom we've dropped 2 points each to at home. We should at least be 5 points clear. Instead we're 1 point clear, and only 6 clear of the relentless Mancs, who have a game in hand. I suppose I should be greatful that we're on top at all. But we still haven't played Arsenal, whom like us have beaten both Man U and Chelsea, and despite their own inadequacies, have looked a hell of a lot more likely to score than we have. Its dropping easy points in games like the afore mentioned three that is going to cost us this title race in the end. I've always admired Robbie Keane as a footballer. I thought he was an excellent little player at Tottenham, and a good team man at that. But the more I see of him at Liverpool, the more I want to wring his neck. Some of his misses this season have been so inept they make you want to brick the TV. But what irritates me is the petulance he shows, both towards the referee and his team mates. The number of times he moans at wingers Kuyt or Riera for delivering poor passes or having a rip at goal themselves is inexplicable. What would you have done with it Robbie? Fresh-aired it or ballooned it over the bar? End Rant.

If I was that ugly I don't think I could ever consciously draw attention to myself. God he's a little turd. In regards to the match, I genuinely don't think Utd will get the result. Citeh are unpredictable at the best of times but I reckon this is a real banana skin for the Mancs (the red ones). Liverpool's title challenge now has all the impetus of a shopping trolley with a wobbly wheel, trying to ascend the banks of the creek it has just been pushed into. By that I mean, Nando is shot and, with the way we're playing, the Chavs will be out of sight by the time he gets himself properly fit. West Ham looks easy on paper, but I still can't see where the goals are going to come from for us to get the 3 points. At least we have some consolation in the fact that Chelsea have to play an Arsenal side who surely could not continue to suck like they have been for too much longer. A 1-1 draw looks plausible in that one, assuming Wenger pulls his head out from his rectum and reinstates a very harshly-treated Gallas. Finally, did anyone see Glen Johnson's (Pompey) rip-snorter of a goal against Hull last week? Definitely a contender.

Worst. EPL. Weekend. Ever. Or at least in a while. So many nil-all draws.. Gooners bite it again.

Dios mio. What is it with some goalkeepers? Gomes has embarrassed himself again with what I could best describe as the sort of mistake I wouldn't expect to see past under 7s football (ie. once the kid in question has developed the necessary physical and cognitive motor skills associated with hand-eye coordination). Robinson was prone to the odd stuff-up, but he looks like Schmeical in comparisson to Gomes. He won't be there next week. Otherwise normal service for the other games*. Liverpool should have absolutely trounced Bolton but 3-4 unbelievable misses meant it was only 2-0. To be fair, Bolton also missed a couple of sitters and Condemned84's favourite man, Rob Styles, ruled out a goal for a very innocuous foul on Reina. However, the first 20-25 minutes of the second half notwithstanding, I thought we were the better team, and on balance, the result was fair. *Isn't Arsenal being beaten by pretenders normal service by now?

Another lawyer! Not that there's anything wrong with being a lawyer, but we do seem to have a proliferation of them on here. Sounds like you've got it made BVI... Good job, young family, tropical residence, no Collingwood supporters... sigh.

I won't say I wanted to lose, because you never WANT to lose, but I will definitely say that I am 100% indifferent to this result, and I fully expected it. I'm sorry hotgod, but the Carling Cup is about as redundant as it gets. Why the English feel they need to have TWO domestic cup competitions is completely beyond me. I'm being very cruel of course, and I'm certain the cup means more to Spurs than it does to Liverpool. At least Nando had a proper run, even if he failed to recognise the ball pretty much all night. Even though he's a [censored], you have to feel for Drogba... He'll get castigated from all quarters for this coin throwing incident, but likely the tool that delivered the coin to the pitch in the first place will manage to escape censure. Bloody coppers seem to revel in the chance to bring high fliers back to earth.

Pissing it away now. The winning mentality I mentioned has taken a back seat to self-preservation. With a poor over rate likely to see Ponting banned, the idiots are trying to save Ponting, rather than the trophy. Bizarre is being kind.

Funny how everyone is out to pot the Aussies for having an aggressive mentality and India's lack thereof could well cost them this test match. I suppose the critics would say the Australians go too far, but that might just be symptomatic of the general, pervasive winning attitude.

Ganguly is out again to spin. He has notoriously lazy feet and is prone to lapses in concentration, but to be out first ball in his last test innings would be pretty disappointing. VVS gone too. As I write this, Tendulkar is run out by White. Bloody hell... its back on again. Go you good thing. A massive colapse by the Indians in the second session puts us in the driver's seat. Krezja gets his 10 for the match, including a beauty that ripped back from well on the off-side to knock out Laxman's leg stump.

Without wanting to detract toooo much from Spurs win, this was a classic case of Liverpool not killing the game. It has been our blight in recent years, that we are able to score early, but then never find that second, crucial goal. Hit the woodwork 3 times and generally finishing was poor. Spurs still had to have the mettle to hang on and ultimately capitalise, but much like Hawthorn against Geelong in the GF, they should never really have been given the opportunity. Look at Chelsea - their goal difference is 15 better than ours; they have regularly buried teams this season. Man Utd - Hull came back but there was so much daylight between the teams by the time they did, that it didn't matter. Its on very rare occasion that the Mancs don't score 2 or more goals a game. It will be interesting to see how Liverpool respond to this. The Chavs are on top again, and the Mancs are breathing down our necks. Fernando where art thou!?!?

And thus, we see why I think our 'title charge' will be folklore again by Xmas. I suppose we've been skating on thin ice for a while now, the Chelsea game notwithstanding. Very ordinary, but good for you Spurs fans. Your Mob were never this bad. At least I can take very minor consolation in the fact that Arsenal lost to Stoke.

Putting aside the shear terror of having to go to resurgent Spurs before they have actually 'resurged', Spurs vs. Liverpool is probably the match of the round. I think Spurs firepower is still questionable at this stage, at least against stiff defence (4 past a flimsy Gunners defence is a moderate achievement), and they still lack a real General to marshall the defence. Their midfield is their strength, with pacy and/or skillful widemen and some quality passers in the middle. Having said that I think Liverpool match up extremely well on them. We have arguably the best centre-midfield pairing in the world in Stevie G and Mascherano, and a very solid defence. Will Torres play or not? He's the key to whether we win this in relative comfort, or are made to sweat it out for the full 90. Nando should be a massive handful for Tottenham, but if he doesn't play it will be very tight. Diablo's prediction; Liverpool 2-0 Spurs. Maybe Spurs to sneak a consolation goal out of nothing late on, but God I hope we don't lose. As for the other games; The rest of the big 4 are all playing genuine pushovers, bearing in mind Hull were found seriously wanting against Chelsea last week. If Hull can nick a point from the rancid mancs I'll be in Disneyland. Chelsea will bury Sunderland at home and Arsenal's passing will tear Stoke asunder. The only other game of any real interest would be Pompey and Wigan. The rest all have pretty obvious, 'on-paper' results, but Pompey v Wigan will be tight. Wigan will probably fancy they can get 3 points away from home here, and well they might. Tony Adams has a rather pants history in management.

Try David Beckham's halfway-line strike against Wimbledon. It was hit with a bit of force, but from that range the weight and placement were absolutely magnificent. Comparatively Bentley looked like he just tried to take the cover off it, rather than trying to place it. I've seen plenty of good little dinks - ie. delicate chips - from outside the area as well. I agree that it was a very high-quality goal, and as I have said, technically brilliant, so kudos to Bentley, but to me it wasn't visually appealing at all.

Bentley is an arrogant sod, if ever there was one. Plenty of FIGJAM about him. Got a ways to go yet. Was a good goal, but plenty of the English press have gotten carried away with it. Technically it was brilliant, aesthetically it looked neither sweetly hit nor delicate - ie. ordinary. Definitely seen better this season. Now that I've said all that Bentley will probably do a number on Liverpool this week... oh lord how I do not want to play Spurs now.

Chrrrrrist. I do not want to play Spurs right now. A banana skin if ever there was one. And still an embarrassing one to slip on, even in spite of recent results.

Good for you 45. An awful start to the season, but that squad, with those players, IS too good to go down. Redknapp loves a scrap, it seems; he'll get you out of the hole. More importantly... Come on you bloody Reds. First game I've been able to watch for a few weeks, and what a result. Rubbish goal, but the reality is we could, and possibly should, have had more. Chelsea had the glut of possession but Liverpool were generally more incisive, perhaps until the always-frantic final 10 minutes or so. These are the sorts of wins that title-winning seasons demand.

A bit quiet now 45? Your mob are truly a phenomenon. In fairness, Hull appear to be the new Reading, and it was a stunning (in the goal-of-the-season-contender sense) free-kick that did Spurs in. Meanwhile, Nando hauls us from the fire, and yet again Mancunians prove they do indeed hail from some disgusting void where an understanding of football is inconceivable, as Citeh fans go berko at the ref for showing a red card, even though it was clearly justified. I'll be interested to see how long this flirt with the title race lasts; playing the Chavs at the Bridge in a few weeks will be telling.

Hallelujah. Today I will definitely concede that a 'Gerrard to the rescue' headline would be fairly appropriate. 3 points and nothing more.

The latter, I think you'll find High Tower. A Russian oil Tycoon with an estimated net worth of US$23.5bn ( note the b ), and coming in at 15 on the Forbes wealth list. To his credit though, Abramovich does get along to most Chelsea games, which is more than can be said for alot of the chumps that own premier league clubs.

It drives me balmy when I read reports on Liverpool's games, and all I see is 'Torres to the rescue', 'Torres saves Reds' blushes', etc, etc. Why are we the only club that gets pilloried for beating teams 1-0 in the last half hour? When Man Yoo or the Gooners do it, its 'grinding out a win', but when Liverpool do it, we're underperforming and only a game away from a steep downward spiral. Bollicks!

Manchester Utd are a shoe-in from here. That Eduardo injury has rocked the Gooners and their cutting edge seems to have evapourated recently; especially noticeable when your team plays to try and pass the ball into the back of the net.

At the risk of sounding bitter, Liverpool should have had a penalty before Reading went ahead. Absolutely clear-cut trip on Torres. And Liverpool were clearly already thinking about Marseille. If we had to lose to a dud, which is never fun, I'm glad it was Reading, however. Steve Coppell is a genius. I love his dour, give-nothing-away demeanour. Still don't think Reading are showing enough to suggest they are a long-term prospect in the top flight, however. At least with Sunderland, Wigan and Derby (how in the name of all that is holy did they get promoted??) they needn't worry about relegation. They've got a LONG way to go, and it's hard to really see which players could really take them up the table. Letting Sidwell go was a mistake, for both club and player, although Reading had their hands tied.

Haha. I HATE (F***ING HATE!!) how fickle soccer fans are, but I'm going to be fickle now. Can't argue with results. I still think against sides with a little more guts in midfield we need Agger to break it open from defence, but I've got to agree that Hobbs looked good, even if he wasn't tested defensively. Torres, what can you say. This guy is a godsend. When we are forced to play route one football, he makes it viable with his pace and strength. The only thing about him is his left foot, or lack thereof. He is very one-footed (I know he has scored left-foot goals, but you can clearly see he favours his right more than he should). Thats nitpicking, though. I love him to bits and I have to resist the urge to break things when he's not in the starting line-up. Lucas was sensational against Bolton. I said when we signed him that he could be a genuine box-to-box midfielder in the style of Stevie. He hasn't had a real opportunity but he can certainly shoot. His passing is creative and precise, and he never shirks the defensive aspect. Could be anything at this stage, but he'll be very good at the very least. I fancy that with the hefty price tag attached to Mascherano, Lucas' form could spell the end of his time in Liverpool. I like Babel alot. Alot of Liverpool supporters rip into him because he has good touches, and then he has woeful touches. I reckon if you can do something like he did against Sunderland once every few games you justify your place. He's not a winger though. That much is clear. He loves to come inside far too often to be a genuine winger. If I was Rafa I'd still be looking for another striker, but we need defensive (centre-half) cover as well. Kuyt works his jacksie off, but he is simply too slow in the EPL. Voronin is similar, but is less inventive. Crouch is an enigma. I'd get rid of the other two before him, but only because he scares the bejesus out of European defences.