The next BIG thing

CL: Chelsea 0 Liverpool 0

Good result for us to bring the tie back to Anfield. But the 2nd leg will be a more ardous task with Alonso out. Rafa's tactics frustrated the HELL out of Chelsea as they came in search for the first goal. Mourinho did well to exploit Liverpool's achilles heel down the left side. He fielded the lightning speed Joe Cole to attack down the left flank. This has caused confusions at the backline for us but thank god the defence stood firm. Hyypia's experience is enough to keep Cole at length. Rafa saw the loophole quick enuf and did well to rectify the situation.

We had very little to offer up front with Baros being the lone striker up there. Apparantly Rafa's idea to rest Garcia and Alonso in the Palace match backfired. Both the Spainards were poor. Garcia was MIA most of the time tonight, 90% of his passes went astray and he keeps falling over at the slightest nugdge by the opponent. Alonso was equally bad. His passes were well read by the opponent and they kept intercepting his crosses to Riise. And his needless challenge in the dying mins saw him receive a yellow card which means he'll miss the return leg.

Biscan did quite a good job keeping Frank Lampard quiet tonight. But i guess we still miss Hamann in midfield. Gerrard was average. Not up to standard. Rafa brought on Kewell with about 10 mins left but i rather see Warnock or even Nunez on the pitch.

Djibril Cisse came on for Baros and he did somehow manage to turn the game a little. With Chelsea attacking in waves especially with Arjen Robben on, Cisse did break the flow of the game by initiating a few breaks and causing trouble for Carvalho. But my MOTM goes to Carra. He was everywhere on the field. And just when Chelsea look highly likely to score, Carra came out from nowhere to stop the ball from getting into the net. He was responsible for frustrating the whole Chelsea team EVEN John Terry. Once again, a GOOD but not great result for us. I feel that we were abit defensive today. With Damien Duff out of action, we should take this opportunity and really bring the game to Chelsea and at least try to get that crucial away goal. But oh well... 0 - 0 is good enough for me.

Palace 1 Liverpool 0

I think its very obvious which route Rafa has choosen right now. His line-up for this match tells all. Its almost impossible to catch up with the Bluenose so Rafa has chosen to get into nx season's CL by winning this season's CL. 5th position will be enuf for Rafa i guess.

And wat a horrendous game this was. Awful! Le Tallac is totally useless in front of goal. Potter and Welsh simply lack the experience. The rest of the team is mediocre. Wat a let off for Palace.

Liverpool 2 Tottenham 2

A lacklustre performance from Gerrard, a horrendously taken penalty and a string of missed opportunities in the dying minutes... that about sums up the day. 2 points lost due to our incapability to convert our chances. Instead of closing down the gap between us and the Bluenose, we let Bolton overtake us in the league table. What a shame.

We played well last night, full of desire to take all 3 points but our lapse in concentration (esp in defence) let us down. Spurs went ahead with a beautiful struck goal from Edman about 40m outside the box. It caught everyone by surprise and there is no way Dudek could have save that. Our equalizing goal came in the 40th min thru Garcia. He controlled the ball well outside the six-yard box, turned and tuck the ball in the far left hand corner beyond Robinson.

The second half started brightly. We showed the hunger and kept attacking in waves. But in the midst of all these attacks, we conceded a soft goal ... an open header from Robbie Keane. Where was the defence??? Gerrard earned us a penalty just minutes after Spurs lead but too bad... he blasted the goal wide and it grazed across the post. What a penalty. Why are we so poor in taking penalties?!?! For once i wish we have Dan-the-man back in Anfield! Thank god Sami Hyypia found the 2nd equalizing goal for us. He volleyed the ball into the net after a mad rush by Spurs to clear a corner.

In the dying minutes, Rafa brought on Cisse and Biscan but both were unable to turn the game around. We continue attacking in the last 10mins but never find the winning goal. Garcia, Finnan, Mori came close to finding the net but somehow the ball never seems to be going in. And there it is... a dent in our CL hopes. Sometimes, i cant help wonder if Gerrard had purposely miss the penalty. U see, if we failed to get into the CL nx season, all the more he'll use this as an excuse to join Chelski. Rite?

Master of Tactician sends Reds into Semis

Not a fantastic match but the scoreline was enough to set up a semi-final clash with Chelsea. Juventus attacked in waves to seek that solo goal that will send the Reds crushing out but they nv got it. Zlatan Ibrahimovic missed the easiest of chance in the first half which saw his effort flew across the crossbar and into the crowd. At the start of the 2nd half, Milan Baros missed a great opportunity to kill off the game when he saw his shot went past Buffon and also the post on a one-on-one. Cannavora then saw his header being palmed off the line by Dudek. Thats about all the goalmouth action for the entire match. At the end of the day, we march into the semis. Rafa the master of tactician had in fact irritated the hell out of Fabio Capella!

Match of The Day!!!

ULTIMATE. Fancy fighting amongst yourself when the team is 0-3 down and struggling with 10men?!?! Bunch of FOOLS! A total disgrace to their football club and Alan Shearer. I always thank god Houllier didn't manage to sign Lee-the-Thug Bowyer. Pure gangster on the pitch and over-rated. And if i didn't see wrongly, the repeat in slow motion on skysport showed Dyer did pulled a punch as well. I think Souness got that one wrong.

Liverpool 1 Bolton 0

Hard fought victory, 3 points in the bag and only a point difference between us and the Bluenose. Not that fantastic a match. The Gks of both sides (esp Carson) had not much work to do throughout most of the 90 (+4)mins. Most of the action took place in midfield. Although we were in control most of the time, Bolton's defence stood firm... well marshalled by Gardner. In fact, our defence was equally up to the standard as well... all thanks to Pelle.

John Welsh made a rare appearance for the first team today. A few good passes but still a long way to go and many things to learn from his seniors. Nunez had a great shot at goal in the first half and he seems to be improving with every match. Our strikeforce comprised of the makeshift duo - Garcia and Gerrard. And with Gerrard missing in midfield, there seems to be a lack of creativity and motivation in the team. The match ended goalless at half time.

In the 2nd half Rafa made 3 substitutions, knowing how important this 3points meant to both us and Bolton. We became more attacking with the introduction of Le Tallec, Smicer and Mori. And with Gerrard and Garcia back to their original position, the team became more lively. We piled more pressure onto the visitors and on the 86th min, a great header by Igor Biscan got the well-deserved 3 points for us. In the remaining 4 (+4) mins, Bolton came forward in waves but our defence held on. Carson pulled off a great save in the dying seconds to deny Okocha and the whole Bolton team.

With us pulling off a win against our fellow CL contender at Anfield, the pressure is now back onto Everton to pull away from us.