Carling Cup Quarter Final Draw

Liverpool will play Chelsea in the Carling Cup Quarter finals at Stamford bridge at the end of November.

Considering what other teams a left in the competition we have been dealt a fairly good draw.  I have always been a believer that you need to beat the best to be the best and never really put much weight into who we get drawn against, and the Chelsea tie looks like a great game.
Here's the Rest of the draw:

Quarter-Final Draw
Arsenal v Manchester City
Chelsea v Liverpool
Manchester United v Crystal Palace
Cardiff v Blackburn
Ties to be played November 29/30.

Review: West Bromwich Albion 0 Liverpool 2

 

Another pleasing result away from home for us this weekend and against WBA. 

Adam makes no mistake from 12 yards after 8mins

I think the scoreline flattered us a little bit, the game for the most part was competitive and fairly even. WBA fans would have reason to be upset with the referee after he gave a soft penalty 7mins into the game after advise from his assistant. Olsson had been adjudge to have fled Suarez in the box, and even this red eyed Liverpool fan thought it was a bit soft, but penatly it was and Adam converted it in emphatic fashion.

Carroll Slot's it underneath Foster to make it 2-0

After the goal the game fell into a comfortable rhythm for both teams and you couldn't really separate them, that's how even it was.  Suarez was lively as usual, and Carroll did a great job of pulling the WBA defence around and creating space for Suarez to exploit.

Carroll's hard work paid off when a Martin Olsson mistake gifted the ball to Suarez and with a delightful pass found Carroll 1 on 1 with Foster and he slid it under the charging baggies keeper to make it 2-0 just on half time.

The second half was a workman like performance from the reds, making sure not to make any mistakes at the back and i must credit the Liverpool back four. Agger, Skrtel Enrique and Johnson, getting a clean sheet was critical and i thought they deserved it.

Overall i thought it was a comfortable performance from us, and a good result. got the job done without pulling up any trees, but it's another 3 points in the bag (gies)

FTK MoM: Andy Carroll

I thought Andy deserved to be the FTK MoM, he was great off the ball, and you could see his partnership with Luis Suarez grow as the game got on, he scored a nice goal and generally was well involved

pics courtesy of liverpoolfc.tv

Preview: West Bromwich Albion

On Saturday we visit West Bromwich Albion, and Ex Boss Roy Hodgson. To be honest i don't really know alot about how WBA have been playing but i did catch their win in the derby against wolves. West Brom will not be push overs at home, and will be feeling confident after wining 2 on the bounce (Wolves, Villa). 

Liverpool will be waiting till the last minute to see how Luis Suarez comes up after taking a knock (or 7) during the 2-1 Carling Cup win over Stoke. Even if Suarez is passed fit to play resting him or only giving him an hour on the pitch might be the best option to sustain Luis's fitness for the up coming busy Christmas period. 

I had a brief look at the WBA squad and could really only pick out 2 players i see as threats in Saturdays game. 

Shane Long

Shane Long is new to the baggies this season and has be tightly marked to help keep WBA quiet in front of goal, Shane has been in steady form since joining the baggies and i see him as a player that could really test our back four if given the service. 

To predict the team Kenny puts out tomorrow would be foolish but there's always allot of guess work  involved being a fan, I see Johnson, Carragher, Skrtel and Agger making up our back four, a place we really need to improve if we stand a chance of getting top 4 this season. 

Jonas Olsson

Jonas Olsson is also another baggies player we should keep a close eye on, not usually a threat but he has hit a purple patch in form recently and seems to be in the right place at the right time. something that is very hard to defend against.

Overall, and as usual i predict a Liverpool win, score ? 3-1 to us. i can't see us keeping a clean sheet at the moment and we have a hungry attacking line up.

Review: Stoke City 1 Liverpool 2

With a gutsy and hard working performance from 'pool we are through to the quarter finals of the Carling Cup!

2 second half goals from Luis Suarez was enough to see off Stoke tonight in a well contested physical encouter at the Britannia Stadium.

Suarez Celebrates scoring

As predicted in my preview Stoke came out with a direct and physical game that would test our players. Props go out to Kenny for picking Coates and Agger over Skrtel and Johnson, the extra height really helped us deal with the set pieces and long throws.

In the first half i thought we were the better team and didn't think we deserved to go a goal behind, but a mistake like Coates one rarely go unpunished. Other then the goal Stoke didn't really threaten much in our final 1/3, liverpool restricting them to half chances.

Luis wheels away making it 1-1

The Second half saw Liverpool a little more lively, Suarez especially looking the goods being the agitator that he is. He looked the mostly likely to score and did so with a nice nutmeg and curling shot giving Stoke keeper Sorenson no chance.

After the goal Liverpool continued to dominate frustrating Stoke and creating more chances.

This paid off when Suarez was found unmarked in the box after a Henderson cross and he made no mistake putting it past Sorensen again, certainly the stand out player of the 22 on the pitch. 

Stoke made attacking changes after that but it was to laste, Liverpool doing enough to go through to the next round. 

Suarez celebrates the second

Overall i am pleased with how the team played considering the number of changes, it wasn't pretty football. Key players for me where, Suarez, Henderson and Spearing. Spearing did an excellent job of breaking up the Stoke passing, matching them physically and building our attacks after wining the ball. Henderson's passing and crossing was great all game, he looked hungry and alert, it was his cross that lead to the liverpool winner a much deserved reward for a fine game.

Luis Suarez was again a class above the rest, annoying the Stoke defense constantly and putting away both chances that came to him

FTK MoM: Luis Suarez

Is it any surprise that Luis wins MoM again, 2 great goals and a constant threat to the Stoke team. quick, alert, clinical and all class, well done Luis! 

pics: liverpoolfc.tv

Preview: Stoke City - Carling Cup

Wednesday night see us travel to Stoke-on-trent for the fourth round clash with Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium.

Without European football this year we rely heavily on the domestic competitions, and we should be taking this seriously. So far Kenny has been, naming relatively strong squads against Exeter and Brighton.

It's hard to predict who will play for us tomorrow night but i will be disappointed if a weakened team is announced, highly unlucky though as i see this as a winnable competition this year.

Stoke City are formidable opponents that are especially strong at home thier direct style of play and set piece specialties have un done many teams in the EPL this season including us, with thier 1-0 win back in September.

Liverpool need to match Stoke in the air, to be a chance tomorrow, and recently that has been one of our weak points, we wont be able to play a direct passing game and we should try and focus on short quick passing to feet to dismantle Stoke.

Stoke have a few key players that should be closely watched if they play.

Rory Delap can not only pass the ball well, find space where there is none but he's also serious threat from the long throw, not many team in the world have a player that can hurl the ball into the box like Delap can and that always makes it difficult to defend against

 We all know about Peter Crouch from his time with us at 'pool, and he hasn't been a regular starter for Stoke since signing for them from Tottenham this year. He's a difficult customer with very few players around with his height and aerial ability. Not many players his size are good with the ball at his feet too, certainly a threat to any visiting team.

Tony Pulis has a well oiled machine at Stoke, they are hard to break down, physical and play a direct style of football. To beat them tomorrow we need to play the ball on the floor, quickly and use our pace and creativity to break down the Stoke defence.

I predict a tight game with pool to come out 2-1 winners!

Report: Liverpool 1 Norwich City 1

Bellamy hits the opener on half time

To sum it up, a game of lost chances. This is something that has plagued LFC for the last few seasons, not finishing off teams which costs us points just as it did on Saturday.

Liverpool made a positive and bright start to the game, passing the ball quickly out to the wings for both Bellamy and Downing to run at the Norwich defence. This created chance after chance for Suarez, which without a little luck he couldn't convert. So much so we could of easily have been 3 goals up within 30mins.


The break through did come though with the last kick of the first half with Liverpool opening up the Norwich defense down the left, Bellamy having aches of space to put the ball past the Norwich keeper.

Holt makes it 1-1 at the Kop end

The second half was a mirror of the first with Liverpool dominating the game, and not taking their chances, you could tell after Suarez hit the bar for a second time he was getting frustrated, but credit to him for putting in and getting in the right area's with or without the ball, overall the Norwich defense couldn't handle him.
As the half went on Norwich made an attacking change that changed the game. They subbed on Holt, and within minutes of his arrival Norwich where level. As stated in my preview i felt that Pilkington was the danger man, and i was proven right.  The first time he gets the ball out on the right hand side in space he delivers a killer cross that made Reina come off his line to flap at it, sending the Liverpool back 4 into chaos, and Holt made no mistake.

From there on it was Liverpool bossing, Norwich counter attacking with countless chances going begging for us.  i must praise the Liverpool team though their attitude and performance was great, they wanted it more and it showed right up to the last kick off the game we just need to be more clinical in front of goal.

I didn't expect Johnson to start, or play 90mins, but he did. he did look a little flat and confused at times but that will come with more match fitness. Henderson was bright and creative when he came on, and Carroll caused the Norwich back 4 a bit of grief almost scoring from a corner late on.

Overall, i see this as 2 points lost more than 1 point gained, we were the better team and really should have had the game wrapped up by half time.

FTK MoM: Luis Suarez

A constant threat to Norwich, creating chances, active, energetic his performance deserved a goal, and for me was our best player today.









pics:  courtesy of espn soccernet, liverpoolfc.tv

Preview: Norwich City

Today we welcome Norwich City to Anfield for the English Premier League clash.

Norwich are new to the Premier League this year having been promoted from the championship. Norwich haven't been to Anfield since 2004 which ended in a 3:0 win to us!

Today's game See's 2 teams starting to get on form, Norwich beating fellow promotion team Swansea 3-1 at home, and us getting a well earned point against Man Utd.

The Canaries currently sit in 9th place only 3 point behind us on the table. so they won't be push overs today, and if Liverpool go in thinking so we might be on the wrong end of the result.

For me the key Norwich player is Anthony  Pilkington; stop him and you stop Norwich

Anthony has been in great form for the canaries, and is realistically the only threat to our chances of getting 3 points today.











I expect Liverpool to really take the game to Norwich today, and hopefully be a bit more clinical in front of goal. Suarez has been excellent for us so far and with Stevie G back fighting fight and hungry i hope to see Liverpool pass Norwich off the park.

Our main weakness' still lie in defense, with Martin Skrtel being particularly poor. He really needs to start improving if he wants to be a first team regular and i hope Kenny drops him should it continue

Overall i think if Liverpool take the game to Norwich, and treat them with respect we should win. i predict a 3-0 for us, with a Suarez double!

Pics: Courtesy of liverpoolfc.tv, norwichcity.com

Steven Gerard Goal Liverpool v Man.U 2011 as seen from the Kop

Watch Stevie G net one against Man U, from the Kop!
It's like being there!