You'll Never Walk Alone..... A FM2011 Video Dynasty

[SirFozzie]

June 2010

((BBC) The proposed sale of Liverpool Football Club has gone through, after some high stakes financial maneuvering. New England Sports Ventures (NESV), led by Boston Red Sox owner John W Henry, has placed a bid that was accepted by administrators Royal Bank of Scotland and a quorum of the board. Previous owner Tom Hicks filed suit to attempte to block the sale at the last moment, but failed to block the sale.

The new owners have turned to Scottish legend Alex Donovan as their new manager, and promise to make a "large-ish" transfer budget available for use.

[SirFozzie]

Early Pre-season:

IN:
M/AM/ST Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy) 9 Million
D Adil Rami (Lille) 6 Million
ST Jozy Altidore (Villareal) (LOAN-1.6 Million up front, 7.5 Million if I want to buy)


OUT:


(normally, I'd resist bringing in Landycakes, but playing Liverpool, and having the opportunity to bring in a player who was well liked by the Everton faithful and hopefully watching Donovan beat them in the Merseyside Derby? The irony would be so delicious that you could bottle it as ambrosia.)

[SirFozzie]

Liverpool is going to be playing important games early, as they are in the third round qualifying for the Europa League. They get drawn to play either Swedish side Kalmar FF or Andorran side Saint Julia (although it probably will be Kalmar, as they won the home leg 3-0)

[SirFozzie]

We indeed will play Kalmar FF:

Our abbreviated Friendly schedule sees us tour the Netherlands, going 3-0-1, defeating FC Eindhoven (2-1), FC Dodrecht (2-0), and Sparta (1-0) while drawing 1-1 with RKC.

[SirFozzie]

EUROPA LEAGUE 3RD ROUND QUALIFYING - LEG 1 (at Kalmar FF (Sweden)

We come out in a 4-1-2-3 formation, giving first starts to both Altidore and Donovan up front. We're the better team, but definitely do not want to slip on the banana peel and make things harder for us in the return leg.

We dominate the first half hour of play, with two-thirds of the possession, but it takes us a while to get into shooting form, but 26 minutes in, Torres cuts inside and places one just beyond the reach of the diving goalie to give us a lead.

Five minutes later, Kalmar's Ricardo Santos tries to get an undeserved equalizer by going down WAY too easy in the box, and our hearts are in our throats when we hear the referee whistle.. Thankfully, it's not to give Kalmar the PK, it's to book Santos for diving.

We have a couple more good chances, (we out shoot Kalmar 17-1 in the first half), but it's 1-0 at the half. Torres comes out at halftime due to fatigue (thanks to a rough tackle he was already below 70% stamina) for Ryan Babel.

I really don't like Kalmar, as they draw a yellow card or Glen Johnson with yet another blatant dive. Thankfully, this one was outside the box.. Babel has a chance after being sprung on a breakaway, his chip beat the keeper.. but it didn't beat the crossbar.

Finally, we get a second, as a blocked shot from Landon Donovan bounces out to Steven Gerrard free, just outside the box, and he powers it into the corner to double our lead to two-nil.

However, Kalmar are not ready to give up, and tired legs lead to a goal in the 80th minute, as that diving you-know-what Santos beats a defender, and his cutback pass finds a wide open Daniel Mendes, to cut the deficit in half.

However, we press on, and get a well-deserved third, as a Paul Knchesky cross finds Landon Donovan right at the six yard box, and he has enough space to rise up and nod the ball home. Not bad, a goal on his debut!

Despite Gerrard (who got man-of-the-match honors) going down with an injury late, the margin stays where it is, and from the away section, a rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone" comes out to celebrate my first win as a football manager, 3-1.

Luckily, Gerrard's injury is only a gashed leg.. he's out for six days which means he'll probably miss the second leg, but with Kalmar needing three goals at Anfield to beat us, that's not such a big deal.

(video is being processed, but linking now)

[SirFozzie]

EUROPA LEAGUE 3RD ROUND QUALIFYING - LEG2 (vs Kalmar FF (Sweden) LIVERPOOL LEADS 3-1 after first leg

Gerrard is back to full training, but he's no where near to being ready for game fitness, so he sits out.

Since we have such a lead from the first leg, there's a little complacency in the first half. We still have chances, Donovan blasts one off the post, and Altidore goes close twice, , but it's 0-0 at the break. Well, I tell the team not to get complacent, Altidore nearly comes out at the half (rated at 5.6), but I leave him in and tell him I have faith in him.

That faith is justified a minute and a half into the second half, where he sees a charging Torres going to the net, and he places the perfect ball (far enough ahead that the goalie has to come for it, but not close enough to the goalie that Torres can't get to it before the goalie claims it), and Torres makes no mistake, lashing it home.

Raul Meireis smashes home a free kick from 25 yards that the goalie had absolutely NO shot of stopping (wait till you see the video of that one), and with 15 minutes to play, we're up 2-0.

That's how it finished, we win the game 2-0, and the round, 5-1 on aggregate.

[SirFozzie]

For the fourth round of Europa League qualifying, we'll be taking on Bulgarian side Beroe. Should be an easier set of games then Kalmar, but we can't take anything too lightly.

[SirFozzie]

Our Recent signing, Adil Rami, picks up his first cap for France. Not bad for the 24 year old, who we're hoping it's the first of many.

[SirFozzie]

2010 Barclays Premier League - Game 1 (of 38) @ Wigan

The oddsmakers set us as 4-5 favorites, Wigan as 3-1 underdogs. Overall on the season, we're picked to finish 5th. Torres is not quite fit to go 90, so we put him on the bench to start, and start Milan Jovanovic in his place

We take an early lead in the fifth minute, as Daniel Agger rises up to nod home a corner. Wigan fight back, however, tying it up in the 39th minute when Hugo Rodallega scores..;

At halftime, Jovanovic comes off for Torres, and Joe Cole comes in for Gerrard (who's already on a yellow and is below 75%). Things go from bad to worse, and Ben Watson puts Wigan ahead in the 57th minute. With fifteen to go, I take off Altidore (who's had a poor game, and put Dirk Kuyt on, and tell the team to go for broke, and it pays off, as with 10 minutes to play Landon Donovan fires home a ball from close range after a goal mouth scramble.

It's not what we wanted, but Wigan played well and kept us from dominating the middle. 2-2 is how it finished.

[SirFozzie]

We sign two youngsters for depth and development purposes:

Kevin - Touted as a possible successor to Xavi, he's adequate in at least seven positions (all AM, all M, and DM). He had played 3 times for Real Zaragoza last year, so he's even begun to get full time experience. He'll be a cup/reserve/backup player for me, but he's only 18, and he only cost 1.9 Million. I've asked Gerrard to mentor him, and they both agreed, hopefully this allows Kevin to pick up the English language quicker as well.

We also manage to bring a English lad in as well

George Thorne (DM/M C - West Brom):
This one is more of a one for the future. His talent ceiling compares pretty equally with Steven Gerrard. He's only 17, and has several years of growth ahead of him before he's ready for full time football, but he only costs 1.7 million.

[SirFozzie]

Europa League - 4th Round Qualifying - Leg 1 (vs Beroe)

With lesser opposition, I take the opportunity to try out my new transfer, Kevin will play midfield alongside Meireles and Thorne will be on the bench.

For the first fifteen minutes, Beroe play a bit over their head.. I'm reminded of the quote from the first Rocky movie. "He doesn't know it's a damn show! He thinks it's a damn fight!"

Then it becomes the Fernando Torres show. In the 20th minute, Fernando gets a long ball, beats three or four defenders, and puts it right in the corner of the net. Then, he adds a second nine minutes later that's not nearly as impressive (but still counts the same).

Kuyt adds a third eight minutes from halftime, and it's a comfortable 3-0 lead.

I rotate out Kevin and put in Thorne for the 2nd half.

Torres finished off the hattrick five minutes in, and stretches the lead to 4-0. A couple minutes after that, he starts an attempt at a new hattrick, heading home a cross to make it 5-0. It's obvious the minnows have n answer to Torres, and I almost want to take him off before he gets stretchered off in frustration.

Just for a change of pace, with 15 to play, Torres makes a run on the outside, and crosses it, right to the pentaly spot, where a sliding Dirk Kuyt knocks it home to bring up the six goal margin. Torres is NOT QUITE DONE, however, as a bouncing ball in the box finds his head, and it's seven-Nothing, and five on the day to Torres.

Needless to say, this one is pretty much over after the first leg. Means I can give some of the starters some rest for the second leg.

Highlights being uploaded shortly.

[bulletsponge]

love the videos. would love to see Donovan go to the 'pool

[SirFozzie]

Glad you like it bulletsponge

Barclays Premier League (Game 2 of 38) vs Blackpool

We are prohibitive favorites (1-3), but we definitely want to get our first three pointer of the year.

The first half is a bit of a muddle, we get 8 shots, they get 7, but nothing hits the back of the net. Donovan has our best chance, but he puts it wide and wild.

Blackpool score first, with just three minutes left in the 90, a hotly disputed goal, where a free kick gets lofted into the box, but before it even gets close, the referee has whistled Gerrard for a foul in the box. Needless to say, the Anfield faithful are not amused. Charlie Adam converts from the spot,. and the fans whistles are loud and sustained. I'm looking at a mini-crisis, just one point from the first two games...

but an Altidore (on as a sub) gets a shot deflected out for the corner, and as we enter stoppage time, the resulting corner sees Daniel Agger impeded by a Blackpool player, and the referee immediately points to the spot.

The Blackpool fans, augmented by the away fans are absolutely nuclear at the call, but it will be Landon Donovan to take the PK. Any fans of the Galaxy know the routine. Kiss the hands, approach, shoot..

GOAL.....

We manage to pull back a point at the death.

So instead of a full fledged issue, we have a moderate problem. We had two very winnable games, and only got a single point for each.



(yeah, 2 PK's :P)

[SirFozzie]

Europa League - 4th Round Qualifying - Leg 2 (at Beroe) (Liverpool leads 7-0 on aggregate

Well, with the big lead, and a short rest till our third game of the year, it's a second team of players as we attempt to stay healthy and fit. That doesn't help entirely, as Glen Johnson goes down with an injury early.

That really saps the will of both teams to go all out, and the result is a rather desultory affair, marked only by two Beroe mistakes, first (on 59 minutes) the hacking down of George Thorne in a two footed challenge that leads to a red card for the Bulgarian Kirill Panayotov, and second an unfortunate own goal, where a shot from reserve David N'Gog bounces off the post, richochets back off the Beroe goalkeeper, and rolls into the net.

It's a 1-0 win on the night, 8-0 on aggregate.

[DaddyTorgo]

Cool - rockin the video dynasty hmm? Sweeeet

[SirFozzie]

Barclays Premier League (Game 3 of 38) @ Fulham

Before the game, we get the news that Liverpool has been drawn to Group B of the Europa League Group Stage. We'll be facing off against Paris Saint-Germain, Besiktas, and Slovenian side FC Luka Koper. Well, a bit tougher then I would have probably liked, but eh, we can win most of the games in that group. Also drawn is the third round of the league cup... we'll travel away to Doncaster for that game.

Glen Johnson's injury is relatively minor, he'll only miss 2-3 weeks.

I'm really wanting three points here, as not winning either of my first two league games have made the natives a little restless, and I think I communicated that to the team, because we have an edge early.. a through ball finds Dirk Kuyt one on one with the goalie, and we're nearly up in the first minute, only to see Kuyt's shot skin the crossbar on its way over..

However, in the fourth minute, Donovan finds the net, and it's 1-0 to Liverpool.

Just two and a half minutes later a speculative 35-yarder from Gerrard hits the inside of the post, and goes in, and the small group of away fans is going ballistic as Liverpool goes up 2-0.

In the 11th minute, we make it 3-0. Donovan has a mini breakaway, and loks to be sandwiched between the defender and the onrushing keeper, and he slides the ball square for Fernando Torres to run on to, and with the whole net at his mercy, Torres does not miss.

Torres returns the favor six minutes later, drawing the keeper to an unfavorable angle, and then finding Donovan. We're not even twenty minutes in, and the game's already 4-0 to Liverpool!

Things calm down a bit at that point, and Zamora pulls one back three minutes before the halftime whistle, but Agger adds a fifth right before the break, and it's a 5-1 lead for the Reds as we go in for halftime.

Donovan and Paulsen (both with yellow cards) come out at halftime. The team seems a bit complacent , and give Fulham credit as they keep fighting, Zamora adds a second after a goal mouth scramble..

Then Etuhu adds Fulham's third, and while we still have a two goal cushion,. it is getting perilously close to what a certain legendary Premier League manager refers to as "squeaky bum time"

And squeaky bum time has indeed fully arrived, with about 25 minutes to play, as an Altidore pass is horribly placed, and the onrushing Fulham attacker blows right by our defense, and beats Pepe Reina in net, 5-4.. are you kidding me?

Thankfully, the Liverpool defense tightens up, and there's no more goals in the game, although each side goes close, and Liverpool survives, 5-4.

Football. It's a funny old game.

[bulletsponge]

seems donovan is having a great year for you. what are his stats so far?

[SirFozzie]

Barclays Premier League (Game 4 of 38) vs Manchester City

An international break means we have 14 days off before our next game. Which is good, because the difficulty level has gone up a bit. Ask Liverpool fans who they hate the most, and of course, #1 will be their Merseyside rivals, Everton.

However, #2 and #2A on that list would probably be the "Mancs". Manchester United for their history of success and being a bunch of fair-weather fans... and Manchester City for turning the BPL into a game of "Who's owned by a Billionaire".

So there's a bit of edge amongst the Kop, as we prepare to take on City.

Manchester City have the better of things early, and they take the lead on 8 minutes, when Carlos Tevez makes a unexpected run, and the pass finds him a step ahead of the defense and beating the goalie at this point.

The Kop is not happy, especially with the chants of "Easy, Easy" coming from the brave (or foolish) section of blue and white Manchester City fans.

But you see, our loyal Liverpool fans have a few chants of their own, specifically..

Our boy Torres scores with his left..
Our boy Torres scores with his right..
Our boy Torres scores with his head...
AND MAKES TEVEZ LOOK LIKE SHITE!

Enter Fernando Torres. His first goal, set up by an awesome through ball by Gerrard comes seven minutes before halftime, levels the score at 1-1. His second goal (fed by Donovan), at the 64 minute mark, gives us the lead. Donovan adds a third 8 minutes from stoppage time, and despite Donovan having what would have been Liverpool's fourth goal marked off for offsides (a dubious call according to commentary), the Kop has the final word on the matter (as is only proper and right).. serenading the departing Mancs with:

"Can we play you..
Can We play you..
Can We play you every week?

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by bulletsponge

seems donovan is having a great year for you. what are his stats so far?

In all competitive games:

7 games, 6 goals (5 in league), 2 assists, 1 Man of Match Award, 3 yellows, 2.3 Tackles per game, 73% pass completion, 55% shots on target, 7.63 Average rating

[SirFozzie]

Europa League Group B (Game 1 of 6) vs FC Luka Koper (Slovenia)

We are comfortable favorites for this one, but despite the differences in talent level (their goalkeeper is the only player of any note), we know we have to take them seriously. They made it to the group stages through the Champions League trap-door, having defeated Irish side Bohemians in the 2nd round of qualify, and FC Kobenhavn (who in real life, tied Barcelona 1-1 in the UEFA Champions League last week), in the 3rd round. They almost made it to the group stage, but couldn't hold onto a first leg 1-0 lead, and lost to Dinamo Bucharest.

So, we're suitably fcused on this game. Despite playing West Ham just three days from now, it's a full starting eleven.

There are just some games where things go right, and this is one of them... usually it's Gerrard feeding Torres for his goals, this time, it's vice versa.. Torres hangs on the ball about 35 yards out, sees Gerrard making a run and splitting the defense, and finds him, and it's academic after that. 1-0 to the 'Pool 15 minutes in.

Three minutes later, a Raul Meireles freekick hits Daniel Agger, and deflects in.. Agger gets credit for the goal, but not really sure how much he knew about it.. but he's not above celebrating it anyway!.. 2-0..

8 minutes after that, it's Landon Donovan who gets on the board, Jovanovic picks up the assist setting up Donovan, and it's 3-0, 26" in.

Their defensive line has two problems. They're content to stand off our attackers and let them come to them.. and then when the Liverpool attackers DO make a run, they're not quick enough or agile enough to keep up... Donovan shows this when he receives a pass just outside the box, fakes one way, turns the other, and blows by the defender, his shot rings off the post, and in. 4-0 and Donovan's looking for his hattrick before a half hour was played

Three minutes later, we think he's had it, when Liverpool are awarded the penalty, but Donovan's spotkick slams wide, and it's opportunity lost.

So it's four-nil at the halftime whistle, and the players are suitably elated in the changing rooms, I remind them that we had a four goal lead against Fulham and not to give up. I sub out Torres to keep him rested for the weekend's game, and remind them to stay focused on defense.

To their credit, Koper play better int he second half, but they can't find a way past our defense, and we're a mite bit unfocused on the attack, everyone's imagining putting up a rugby score on our opposition, which leads to all kinds of hopeful shots (we took TWENTY NINE SHOTS, fourteen of them on target).. but nothing more gets past the keeper..

Until the 88th minute. The fans are singing, everyone's just waiting for the final whistle.. and the Koper keeper (try saying that five times fast) comes out for a long ball that Altidore has to run away from (he was well off side), but the keeper, realizing he's way out of the box tries to head it forward to an attacker. Unfortunately for him, his talent's with his hands and not his head.. the attacker he nods it to, is wearing a Red jersey and is named Landon Donovan, and he takes the gift and puts it to appropriate use, basically scoring an empty net goal for his hatttrick, and putting a proper exclamation point on the game.

[DaddyTorgo]

Are video dynasties faster to write you think b/c you don't have to go through a full match recap?

If that's the case I might actually be able to complete a dynasty before getting antsy about it slowing down my playing...

[SirFozzie]

DT: It's faster to write (but specifically because I have the ability to re-view the highlights as I upload them to you tube, but it means things go slower.).

One more transfer to report till the next game. We announce an agreement to sign 19 year old John Fleck from Glasgow Rangers for 1,9 million when the transfer window opens on January 1st. He seems to have all the tools to succeed (his one knock seems to be his jumping ability, but he's very good at finding space and a pretty decent finisher at just 19.

Barclay's Premier League (Match 5 of 38) vs West Ham

I'm glad it's two home games (In the Europa League and then now), it helps to avoid the dread continental hangover. The boys have been sleeping in their own beds, and that helps, fitness wise, as we pretty much offer an unchanged team for this game. West Ham tied their last two games (@Man City and at home against Everton), so we'll be trying to stretch their winless streak to three.

It's back and forth early, and the referee has a lot to do.. There are six yellow cards handed out, three in the space of three minutes at the end of the half (45th minute, 1st minute of stoppage time, and second minute of stoppage time). However, at the end of the half, we're up 1-0 after a cross from Kuyt is seemingly out of the reach from Torres, but he slides forward and kicks the ball into the net.

Six minutes into the second half, Gerrard floats a long ball to Torres in space, and it's a foot race.... Torres has five yards on the defense, which gives him time to place his shot past the West Ham Keeper, and it's 2-0.

Gerrard makes it 3-0 5 minutes later, with one of his trademark outside the box screamers.. we're winning comfortably, the only blemish on the day a mistake by Reina, who's outside the box mistake leads to a Frank Nouble goal with 4 minutes left in the game, and it ends 3-1.

We are currently joint top with 11 points from 5 games, tied with Chelsea (expected) and Newcastle (completely UN-expected).

[SirFozzie]

Some interesting stats 5 games in to the EPL:

We are a bunch of thugs apparently, or the refs don't like our tactics. We lead the league with 20 yellow cards against us. Just to show you how bad this is, 2nd place on the list, (Blackpool) has 11 bookings. Yow. Fortunately, no red cards yet, although if we continue to accumulate at that pace we'll definitely have some yellow card accumulation suspensions.

The Top 10 Transfers (by amount spent, all amounts in pounds).

1. Vagner Love (From CSKA Moscow to Chelsea) 18 million
2. Moussa Sissoko (from Toulouse to Chelsea) 14.5 Million
3. Brede Hangeland (From Fulham to Chelsea) 13.25 Million
4. Jan Vertonghen (From Ajax to Man U) 10.75 Million
5. LANDON DONOVAN (From LA Galaxy to Liverpool) 9 Million
6. Luca Antonelli (From Parma to Arsenal) 7 Million
7. David Hoilett (from Blackburn to Aston Villa) 6.25 Million
T8. Andrea Masiello (From Bari to Fulham) 6 Million
T8. ADIL RAMI (From Lille to Liverpool) 6 Million
10. LiamRidgewell (From Birmingham to Fulham) 5.25 Million

Wanna take three guesses who was the leading spender in the EPL so far? We've spent pretty big too (about $17-18 million, with another 2 million coming in January), but there will still be 6-7 Million in January if we need it.

[SirFozzie]

Carling Cup - 3rd Round - @Doncaster Rovers

Doncaster Rovers are currently 3rd in the Championship. Let's be honest here.. while I certainly want the boys to win every game they play, right now, at the beginning of what's sure to be a long and arduous EPL campaign, and heading into the teeth of a Europa League group that has two teams you'd more associate with the Champions League then with the lesser competition, I can't just throw the starting 11 out their 60 times and hope they come through.

So, this is a chance to blood some players, give them learning experience and to give second teamers a chance to show what they can do (and knock off a bit of the rust so if they get called into duty, they'll be all set.

4 minutes in, Billy Sharp breaks down the sideline and cuts it inside, finding Carl Baker wide open and he slides it in before our reserve keeper Brad Jones can get back to him.

Sixteen minutes later, the Doncaster lead is two, as a deflected shot seems to be heading for the net, but a leaping Jones manages to jump back and knock it up.. off the bar, but our defense again lets us down and Baker knocks it in before Jones can do more then half-roll to his feet.

As the minutes tick down to halftime, I can see the players trying hard.. they know that they're probably going to get the hairdryer treatment after that first half. Ryan Babel manages to cut the lead to 2-1 when he scored two minutes before the half, but I'm already regretting letting the reseves play.

We have the better of the play early in the second half,but with twenty five minutes to play, the deficit is back to 2, as our defense gets caught (again!) ball-watching, and Sharp gets the ball, beats the defense, and beats the goalie.

Three minutes later, Babel manages to give us some hope with his second of the day, but despite throwing Donovan and Torres on as late subs, we can't get the equalizer, and fall 3-2. It's my first defeat, and it knocks us out of the cup.

[SirFozzie]

Barclays Premier League - Matchday 6 (of 38) @ Bolton

Doncaster was the first of four games in a row on the road (Doncaster, Bolton, Besiktas (Europa League) and Tottenham). I have a feeling we'll know a lot more about our team by the time this extended trip from Anfield is complete.

We go down after only 65 seconds, but I'm not really disenheartened, as Mark Davies scores a goal from a bad angle that can't really be described except to say it bounces off the far post at about a 90 degree angle and into the net.

However, when he scores again fifteen minutes later with a goal that's again from a bad angle and perfectly placed, I have a sudden feeling of deja vu..

The rest of the first half is about even, but we go into half time down 2-0.

The second half is the same thing. They've figured out how to stop us... aggresively tackling Torres before he can get full speed, and watching for the through/over the top ball that we love to play.

Then, at the hour mark, finally, our dancing on the edge turns into a fall, as Lucas picks up his second yellow and that means we're down to 10 men.

Now, there's two ways a team can go in this situation. First off, usually, is that the team gives up on the game, and withdraws into a shell, hoping that the other team doesn't put up a big number.

Then there's the way Liverpool acted. They never gave up, and scratched forward, befuddling a Bolton team that thought they already had the three points in the bag. First, Babel fed Donovan, who had just enough space to get off a shot that beat the goalie, reducing the deficit to 1 with twenty minutes left.

Then, nine minutes later, a Joe Cole free kick found Jamie Carragher in the box. His header thudded off the goalkeeper, richocheted off the post, back off the diving goalie, and in...

Against all odds, Liverpool had clawed back to 2-2, down two goals and a man with a half hour to play.

Each side gets one or two more half-chances, but neither team can break the tie.

I said that this road trip would teach us a lot about our chances.

If this game was any indication, we'll never give up on a game.

[SirFozzie]

Europa League Matchday 2 @ Besiktas

This is a really key game in the group. Besiktas and PSG tied 1-1 in their first game, so a win here would set me up in the driver's seat to advance with six points from the first two games, with 5 points between me and the third-place (non-qualifying) position in the group.

We are slight favorites, however, Steven Gerrard picked up a thigh strain during training, and he's out 10 days or so, so he'll miss this game. We move Landon Donovan back to Midfield to try to plug that hole, and go with a strikeforce of Jaovanovic, Kuyt, and of course, Fernando Torres.

We go down a goal early, as a Donovan clearance is deflected, and the resulting pinball action sees the ball squirt out to Besiktas's Ricardo Quaresma, and the ex-Inter, ex-Porto, ex Barcelona, ex-Chelsea player (that's a lot of exes, eh?) puts the ball home past Reina for a 1-0 home team lead.

It's back and forth the rest of the first half, leaving me worried. Just as I'd be dominating the table with a win, a loss throws me into just a little bit more trouble then I'd really like, with PSG beating up on Koper, a loss here would put PSG and Besiktas ahead of me, and my next two games against PSG.. but just before the halftime whistle Torres plays a storming run, on the right hand side of the box, and everyone so intent on not letting him cut inside, that he's able to get a cross off, and finds Milan Jovanovic who half-volleys it home to send us in at halftime tied 1-1.

Ten minutes into the second half, it's Landon Donovan's turn to provide service, as his cross squirts through right in front of the keeper and somehow eludes a couple of turkish defenders, and Jovanovic will take the gift. We're up 2-1.

With Kuyt already on a yellow card, and having already committed two more fouls, I hurriedly send on Jozy Altidore before he gets sent off for persistent fouling. Altidore drives me crazy some times. He has the physical prowess, and he shows just enough to tantalize me, but too many times, instead of beating the defender, he gets tripped up and the ball taken away, or the last pass he makes being just not good enough.

Besiktas try to fight back, but with a quarter hour to play, we pretty much sinch it, as Altidore gets one right, and it's hats-off to Milan Jovanovic as he taps it hime. None of the goals were from more then six yards out, but he had a case of "Right place, Right time" and deserves his hat-trick. 3-1 is the final.

We are the unquestioned masters of the group, as we have six points, PSG has 4, Besiktas 1, and Koper 0.

[SirFozzie]

Barclays Premier League Gameday 7 (of 38) @ Tottenham Hotspurs

We are very slight favorites, but all outcomes will be on the table today. Lucas will be out this game, as the red card he picked up against Bolton means he sits.

To be honest, I'm concerned entering this one. This has "loss" written all over it. The fact that we had a thursday game and lost most if not all of friday to flying home from Turkey, means that none of the lads are quite at full fitness, and with Gerrard still injured our job is even tougher. A point would be good, and three would be great.

Looking over the players, I decide that we will try to rest a couple of key players, Jovanovic sits after his hattrick, Kuyt will be on the subs bench as well, Kevin will take Donovan's spot in midfield, and Donovan and Altidore will take the forward spots around Torres.

We actually take the lead, and we have Kevin to thank for it, as he found Torres in Space, and Torres in space usually means ball in goal, and Torres takes care of business, one-nil to Liverpool.

However, Tottenham are quite familiar with our tactics, and our situation, and they give us no respite. They're always pressing, always hounding, and if they see a chance to win the ball, they go to it, with a vengenance. Kevin picks up a slight injury when a hard tackle sends him down to the ground.. and a few minutes later, Fabio Aurelio gets sent flying by another harsh by fair challenge that leaves him struggling to continue.

In the middle of this, Jermaine Defoe basically carves us up, his first goal comes on 13 minutes, where he races to a ball JUST out of the reach of Pepe Reina, taps it beyond, avoids Reina's sprawling body, and taps it home. Two minutes later, it's 2-1 Tottenham as Defoe sneaks in and toepokes home a cross.

Kevin has to come off at halftime due to lack of fitness after the crunching tackle he took.. Fabio Aurelio lasts about 10 minutes in the second half before I decide the gash on his leg is bad enough that he can't continue.

We've been in this situation before, and all credit to the team, they didn't give up, but for the first time, the starters just can't find that one moment where they can bring the magic, and 14 minutes from time, Jermain Defoe finishes us off with his hattrick on a breakaway after a goalmouth scramble at the other end leaves us way out of position.

So we finish the four game road trip with 1 win, 2 losses, 1 draw. Not exactly happy making, but the two losses at least have decent explanations.

[SirFozzie]

Outside the BPL, we're going to take a look at the Euro 2012 qualifying... All teams have at least three games in so far, so let's take a look:

Group A Has a surprise leader, as Belgium has 10 points from four matches, one ahead of Germany, 3 ahead of Austria (who has a game in hand), 4 ahead of Turkey. The scary thing, (if you're not named Belgium that is) Belgium has already played all three of the other top scores ( beating Germany 1-0, Turkey 3-2 (AT Turkey), and tying Austria 1-1).

So, Belgium has three of six games remaining against the minnows of the group, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. 19 points could be very tough to beat, and if they pick up a game or two in their games against the other contenders, could be game over for the other teams in the group.

Group B is a mess. The top three teams (Slovakia, Russia, and Ireland), all have 9 points from four games, and really, even fourth place Armenia on six points have a decent shot for qualifying.

Group C is also a surprise, as things stand, Italy would miss Euro 2012, as Slovenia and Serbia have 9 points from four games, but Italy are not that far out, as they have seven points from four games. Northern Ireland should not be overlooked, as they have six points from three games.

In Group D, France are in real trouble. With six points from four games, they are joint third place in the group (tied with Albania), behind Belarus (9 from four), and Bosnia & Herzegovina (maximum nine points from their three games). Could we see a Euro championship without France AND Italy?

Group E sees Hungary with a good lead, as they've won all four of their games so far, and they hold a five point lead over Holland, and six over Sweden (although Sweden has a game in hand).

Group F has a stepping stone standings. Croatia leads the group with the maximum 12 points from four games, trailed by Greece (9), and Israel (6).

Group G has England sitting pretty, with nine points in three games. Montenegro has six (but has played one more game than England), and Bulgaria has four.

and in Group H, it's really a two-team race, as Spain has 9, and the Czech Republic has 7. Scotland's a distant third, with 4 points, and they've played one more game than the leaders.

[SirFozzie]

Barclays Premier League (Matchday 7 of 38) vs Newcastle

Well, it's time to see if the final international break of 2010 (teams do not return to qualifying until march of 2011), gave us enough time to recover. We get Gerrard, Maxi Rodriguez and Fabio Aurelio back.. which is the good news. The bad news is we're playing a team playing so far above their heads they need oxygen masks, as Newcastle have not lost yet this year (5 wins, 2 draws). A win here will keep them tied with Chelsea at the top of the table.

But you see, all this talk about our rough streak, and all the talk about Newcastle being the surprise team of the year, for some reason, has made Fernando Torres very angry.

And if you're a Liverpool fan, you LIKE Fernando Torres when he's very angry.

Eight minutes in, The Fernando Torres show begins as he takes a pass just outside the box with his back to goal, turns, beats two defenders, and slams it home to give us a lead.

Twenty-three minutes: Basically the same thing, but this time the Newcastle defenders hang off, so he turns, and fires past the Toon keeper. 2-0, Liverpool.

Nine minutes later, his hat-trick is complete. Gerrard goes in hard, and pops the ball up, and Torres grabs it and fires in one motion and the goalie has no shot. 3-0. However, the joy is tempered by worries as Gerrard gets carried off the field with a potential knee injury.. uh oh..

Newcastle has tried to emulate the harsh but fair tackling that Tottenham had used against us to great effect previously. Unfortunately, while they got the harsh part down, the fair part wasn't done as well, . They picked up seven yellow cards on the game, and the seventh and last one saw Steven Taylor given his marching orders nine minutes into the second half.

The second half is Liverpool's, as I see we've broken the other team mentally and physically, and while we have a couple good chances, we do not add to our lead until there are fifteen minutes left in the game, a Wilson cross finds the head of (guess who?) Torres, and he rises above the defender to nod it home, his fourth, Liverpool's fourth..

In the first minute of stoppage time, make it five and five... as Jovanovic's shot is saved but spilled by the Newcastle keeper.. right to Torres, who has no trouble beating the downed goalie.

Even a last second consolation goal by Newcastle can't dampen the spirits at Anfield, and a 5-1 victory is duly recorded. Torres, man of the match, month, century!

[SirFozzie]

Europa League - Gameday 3 (of 6) vs Paris Saint-Germain

This is a big game here. We're solid favorites, for this game at home. A win here will practically put us through to the next round, as we will have a nearly two game lead over both Besiktas and PSG with three games to play.

Luckily, Gerrard's knee injujry is just a twist, and while he was going to miss about two weeks, it's about nine miles better then I feared when he went down with that injury.

PSG take the lead about a half hour in, where a PSG Free Kick seems to be drifting harmelssly out of play, however, there is absolutely positively NO ONE covering Mamadou Sakho, and he strikes it at a bad angle on the full run, but past the goalie to give them a 1-0 lead.

Seven minutes later, we're level with Fernando Torres taking the feed from Donovan at the full run and after a quick dribble, bneats the goalie to the far post.

Unfortunately, that's the only goal action of the game. We didn't bring our shooting boots, (outshooting PSG 21-7, but only 5-4 on shots on target), and they managed to play the offside trap well (we were caught offsides 8 times), and a 1-1 draw comes up. There is a spot of good news for both teams, however. Koper manages a 2-2 draw with Besiktas, so halfway home, Liverpool has 7 points, PSG 5, Besiktas 2, and Koper 1.

A win in the return PSG leg in a couple weeks will all but guarantee advancing to the knockout stages.

[SirFozzie]

Barclays Premier League Gameday 9 (of 38) vs Birmingham

We're strong favorites to bounce back from our mid-week draw against PSG, and I think this is a really winnable game, before we take yet another road trip (against West Brom, the away game against PSG, and then Chelsea.. it doesn't get any easier as we then have Man U at home). So three points here is a must.

I'm really concerned here. My team is awesome at scoring, as these past posts have shown. Well, not quite my team, more like "one striker at a time is scoring bunches of goals". It was Donovan to start, and then Torres. But out of the 44 goals I have scored in all compeitions so far, 19 of them are Torres's and 10 of them are Donovans. Our third place scorer? Steven Gerrard with 4. That's not so good.

And there will be days when neither Fernando Torres nor Landon Donovan will be feeling it. What will happen then? Trouble.

This game against Birmingham was an example of it. We out played them in all areas. They had NO shots on target, and only four in total. But today, we were unimpressive offensively. Time and time again, we'd shoot at net, and it wasn't even close. It got so bad that I had to remove Torres at halftime (he only had a 6.1 rating) to try to spur the offense.

With about 20 minujtes to play, when I'm about to throw my hands up in disgust and turn away, a Raul Meireles free kick finds the head of Adil Rami close in and it goes in. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't very effective, and it wasn't a game for the neutrals.. but it was a win. and I guess that's enough.

Barely.

[SirFozzie]

Just an update, there'll be more tommorrow night

[SirFozzie]

Let's look at the manager report, the only real insecure position is Blackburn's Sam Allardyce. The Vultures are swarming over his head, as Rovers, picked to finish solidly mid table at 9th, is just above the drop zone, in 16th, with 8 points from 9 games so far.

The game against West Brom will be my 10th in the BPL, and we're a solid third in the table, with 18 points, only Man U (19) and Chelsea (23) ahead of us now.

[SirFozzie]

Barclays Premier League - Matchday 10 (of 38) @ West Brom

I'm trying a variant of a very narrow tactic that was good in previous versions, a 4-2-1-2-1 (Flat back four, 2 DMC, 1 MC, 2AMC, 1 ST).. I figure that teams have beat us this year by strangling the middle, and this should hopefully free it up.

It's definitely wasn't what WBA was expecting, 30 or so seconds in, and the defense is laying off Torres wide, waiting for him to either go deep and cross, or cut it inside.. he does neither, and instead passes the ball in, and the onyl thing that saves a one time shot from the spot is a desperate slide tackle. Unfortunately for the West Brom side, the slide tackle knocked him over, and it's a PK.. Agger converts, and it's 1-0 to the Reds.

A half hour in, that lead becomes two, as Donovan floats one in perfectly to Babel, who knocks it past the charging goalie, runs n t it, and knocks it into the empty net.

Just about at the hour mark, Reina comes out to cut down the angle as a ball comes in long.. the West Brom player sees Reina come off his line and instead of trapping it, heads it up, over Reina, who's trying to reverse direction, and into the net. 2-1.

The problem with this tactic is strategy wise, we need 5 midfielders to play it, and while I can move Babel and Donovan back to AMC, the DMC part is tricky, as we had Poulsen and Lucas at DMC, but no one DMC-qualified to take their place.

We don't score again, (despite having six clear cut chances in total), but that's ok, as neither do West Brom, and we take another win on the road, 2-1.

[SirFozzie]

Europa League Group B Matchday 4 of 6 - @ Paris Saint-Germain

We tied the original fixture, so this game is crucial. Win, and we pretty much clinch the group with two games to play. Lose, and while we're still in a qualifying position, PSG will take the group lead, and the Besiktas game becomes basically a must-get-points game. We have Gerrard back for this game, so I think we have a good shot.

15 minutes in, Fabio Aurelio goes in two footed. I just close my eyes and look down, hoping to get a reprieve and a booking, but the roar from the fans is a signal, and I look up, and Aurelio is marching off, with the red card still held high by the ref. Hooboy. Down a man for 75 minutes.

well, remember what I said before how this team seems to play best when their back is against the wall?

It starts off great as in the 19th minute, Torres gets the ball and beats two defenders, and completely wrong foots the goalie, cutting it back to the far post when the goalie sold out trying to stop the near post shot, and Liverpool leads, 1-0. That's his 20th goal in all competitions, amazing when you think about it.

Each side has enough in them to produce good saves (The PSG goalie stones both Torres and Kuyt from close range, Reina dived to keep out a PSG shot), but it's 1-0 at the half time whistle.

Just before halftime, Torres gets taken down with a hard tackle, and while he's not carrying an injury, the bruising and such he's taken means he comes off, if we get another chance, we need fresh legs... Donovan will come on for him.

PSG has the better of play, they're one of the few teams to have just as many shots as us, and they have three great chances that go by the way side, but with about 7 minutes till the full 90, Paulsen plays an absolutely perfect through pass that Donovan runs on to and one times the ball past the goalie for a 2-0 margin.

The 2-0 win means that we're through to the group stage. We have 10 points, both Besiktas (who beat Koper) and Paris Saint-Germain have 5 with two games to play, and the fact that Besiktas and PSG have to play each other again means we cannot finish out of the top two.

[SirFozzie]

Barclays Premier League (Matchday 11 of 38) @ Chelsea

Well, the next couple games will show if we have a chance in the league this year, or if this best we have a chance to do is a Champions League spot. Before the sunday game, we are in fourth, but that's as low as we can go, everyone else around us has played their game this week. If we win, we move ahead of Arsenal for third.

We take the lead on 14 minutes when Jovnaovic finds Donovan, and the slicing shot from Donovan beats Peter Cech in net.

Howeer, we give up a penalty three minutes later, and Frank Lampard easily beats Reina to make it 1-1.

It remains that way into the half.

Nine minutes into the second half, Donovan goes on a marauding run down the right side, beats his man down the line, and sees Jovanovic is double covered at the spot, so he cuts it back instead to Torres, who's in a worse shooting position but uncovered. Torres puts it home, and we retake the lead.

With twenty minutes to go, Chelsea equalize again, and it's because our defense is at sixes and sevens as it's a cascading failure.. one of our defenders gets beat on a 50/50 ball at midfield, someone has to come over to protect him, they pass to the man in open space, someone has to leave his man to cover him, pass to the next open man... so on and so forth. Vagner Love gets the tap in.

With 10 minutes to play, Nicholas Anelka puts Chelsea ahead for the first time in the game, with a shot that takes a slight deflection on the way through. We're disappointed to not get anything out of it, but we at least played decently in the 3-2 loss.

[SirFozzie]

Barclays Premier League Matchday 12 of 38 vs Man United

With the loss, and yet another sunday game, we're officially sixth in the table when we trot out onto the pitch at Anfield. Oh, and to make things more fun, neither Torres nor Donovan is in the squad today, due to fatigue and a niggling injury. So there's 90% of my offense out. Good luck to us.

And it doesn't start well.. just four minutes in, a midfield turnover leads to Wayne Rooney with the ball and space to run. Reina cuts down the angle, but Rooney calmly loops the ball over Reina's head, and all Reina can really do is turn around, hand on hips and hope for a gust of wind to blow it wide. No such luck. 0-1.

It's back and forth, we actually have the better opportunities, but it's nowhere near us dominating, and as the minutes tick away in the second half, I've just about given up on the game, but with twenty to play, we are level, as a Fabio Aurelio cross finds the head of Daniel Agger, and it's 1-1.

The last five minutes are organized mayhem. Both teams come oh so close to scoring multiple times. But it's a point against one of the top teams. Woulda loved three, but.. you take what you can get.