Sunday, December 16, 2007

Super Super Sunday

Super Sunday x2 that is.

Its the clash of the giants on the same night!

I'm talking about Liverpool vs Man Utd and Arsenal vs Chelsea, where like it or not, these are make or break games. These are the games that will get you another step closer to the title. A win here basically means 3 points for yourselves, and denying your opponents a single point. No matter how much anyone plays the situation down, there is absolutely no doubt that this are important big games at important times.

Lets look at Liverpool vs Manchester United. Liverpool are without Agger and Xabi(ok lah, recovering) but they are unlikely to start. Man Utd are without Gary Neville but Owen Hargreaves is set to return in this match. As far as form and pressure goes, Liverpool might be relieved that they made it through the Champions League, but Man Utd are doing very well in the League, besides the defeat to Bolton.

Liverpool might not have a good run of games against Man Utd in recent times, but that was before Fernando Torres wore a red shirt. He will be the difference maker tonight, if there is one.

Its fair enough to predict that tonight's game will end up in a 1-1 draw.

Arsenal vs Chelsea is another big game, where Arsenal are without plenty of important players. Chelsea are without Drogba which is also a major blow. Both teams proved worthy this season but it is also another safe bet that this one would also end up as a draw.

We'l see

Thursday, December 13, 2007

So Liverpool made it.

You know what is funny? Liverpool finish 2nd in a group where they put 4 or more goals past each and everyone of their opponents. Let me put this right. Against the same 3 opponents in the last three matches, Liverpool scored a total of 16 goals while conceding just one. Compare that to the first three games of 2 goals scored while conceding a total of 4.

Put that aside, in this competition, its time to focus on the knock-out rounds, where casualties hit the biggest baddest teams around. With 3 not so good matches, Liverpool's got a mountain right in their paths of European success. With the nature of the competition and the fact that Chelsea and Man Utd won their groups and Liverpool cannot face the group winners of their own group, Porto, the Reds are going to be up against the 5 other group winners.

Namely, Barcelona, Ac Milan, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Sevilla.

No disrespect to Sevilla but any other team versus Liverpool in the first Knockout round is simply a blockbuster round. Personally, I wish Sevilla will be our opponents, but that is just a 20% chance.

Either this is not the time to be afraid of any opponents thrown at us, and its about time pool make things happen.

That goes for their League Campaign as well. We all know the Christmas crunch time is coming up. Hopefully here we will see Benitez's rotation policy working.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Liverpool vs Marseille

In a group match where winner takes all, many did not anticipate for this to happen, not to Liverpool anyways. But lets face the truth. Liverpool have their backs against the wall and are going to do whatever it takes to get through to the group stages of this edition of UCL.

Liverpool did throw away their last league game for this match. Personally I will be very disappointed if that gamble fails today. Very! Throwing a good 3 points in a season where we were supposed to focus on the league and failed to progress to the knock out stages of European's premier competition, there is no consolation.

Liverpool's games means more guessing games for their opponents. Its only certain to bet on having Carragher, Reina, Gerrard and Torres to start in this crucial game. The other 7 is anyone's guess. 2 hours to the game, I can only assume that Crouch will be partnering Torres up front. Wait, Benitez could be playing a ground game with Voronin starting, or giving Kuyt a chance to prove himself again. Its all too possible to predict.

There are 2 ways for Liverpool to progress tonight. One is of course winning the game with any score line.

The other is if Besiktas win in Porto, a Marseille-Liverpool draw would also see the Reds progress, along with Besiktas. Porto, Liverpool and Marseille would all have eight points, Marseille's head to head is better than Liverpool's, but Porto's head to head is better than Marseille's - so goal difference would again come into the equation and Liverpool have the best goal difference in Group A.

Sounds simple but its football. And in football, anything can happen. Anything at all.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Dudek wants to leave

Goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek wants to leave Real Madrid in the January transfer window in search of regular first team action for the rest of the season so he can win a place in the Polish national team for Euro 2008.

I'm sorry. Can someone refresh my memory. Didn't Jerzy Dudek leave Liverpool earlier because he wanted first team football? And of all the clubs in the world, he chose Real Madrid, I assume hoping to get first team football in front of Iker Cassilas.

So should I classify the whole senario as dumb or stupid?

I pick both!

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Euro 2008 draw

I know I'm late, but its always better late than never.

Netherlands
Italy
France
Romania

The whole point to have pots is to avoid situations like this. You will be considered lucky if you are not placed in Pot 1 before the draw. And believe it or not, the best qualifiers gets to be in pot 1.

Does this mean do what Germany probably did, not do so well when they already qualified and make sure they end up in pot 2 to avoid groups like these?

This group will be one for the fans, and I would love to see Romania topping it. I expect a lot of draws so 1 win and not losing is crucial for further advancement.

Truthfully, Italy and France have not been at their best, and this Dutch squad I would classify as weak compared to their seniors from the past. Romania is on good form lately, so don't count them out just yet.

We'll see what happens next summer.