12/1 EPL Talk

It has been frustrating after seeing Liverpool were held to a goalless 0-0 draw by relegation battler Stoke City. Haihzzz, I wonder why Liverpool just don't know how to play against Stoke, they can't really penetrate into their tight defence. TWICE 0-0? What's happening man? And why the hell Rafa put all his strikers on the bench who are capable of doing so? Torres, Keane, Babel were on the bench and Kuyt played alone up front, which was really an ineffective tactic.

On the next day, Chelsea were surprisingly thrashed 3-0 by the devils. That means Man Utd are now having the upperhand in the title race with 2 games in hand. While Chelsea's title ambition was seriously "damaged" after the miserable defeat. What is happening to Chelsea now? Scolari is now destroying Chelsea's reputation which was established by Jose Mourinho( I believe Chelsea fans must be missing him, and my dad did! A LOT!!!) Recently we have been talking about Chelsea during Morinho's Era: They were superb, these are what we realised:

1) Never lose a game at home in the league(86 matches unbeaten)
2) Have a rock solid defence, never give any chances to their opponents to come back when they score first (only the super on form Barca did that in CL)
3) No way they will concede 3 goals in a game
4) Treated their fierce rivals- Man U & Arsenal like a piece of cake!(always can beat them comfortably, thrash them, or "play with them"....etc)
5) Against Liverpool, League- 100% win!, only struggled against Rafa's strategy in cup competition
6)Good at set pieces(attack & defend)

However, After Scolari took over, everything seems to have gone... Lets see what happened to them:
1)Lost their unbeaten home record
2)Score 1st means nothing(even at stamford bridge Arsenal came from 1 goal down to beat them)
3)Thrashed 3-0 by Man United
4)Afraid of their title contenders.... Had lost to all 3 of them!
5)Poor at set pieces.( always concede corners)

Finally, Liverpool get it right

Liverpool 2-1 Manchester United

Some people said that Liverpool cannot produce good football & they lack quality to trouble Manchester United's defence. While there are also people said that the home game against the Devils is going to be their time to revenge and they will win it in some styles. Yes, they have done it! And they have done it in STYLE! They dominated their opponent throughout the game with variety of movement and sharp passing, they restricted their rival to only very few chances. They came from 1 goal down to beat their opponent and they have done it without key players like Torres & Gerrard(only played for 20+ min).

Many people also said that without Torres and Gerrard, Liverpool are not a good team. Then aren't Alonso, Mascherano, Kuyt, Babel, Riera and Keane quality players as what they have shown in the game yesterday? Dirk Kuyt, who has been criticized for lack of quality, worked extremely hard and it was a stunning performance by him. Running all over the pitch, provide precise deliveries and linked well with his teammates. The super sub - Ryan Babel, was magnificent as he scored the winning goal, and troubled the Man United defence all the time after he came on.

It is interesting to see how good Liverpool actually are when Gerrard and Torres return to full fitness. They are going to form a fearsome attacking line up with rock solid defence. But first they must not play too defensively and they must play like how they did yesterday against Man Utd. As we can see from the match, the Reds were very well organized going forward with high tempo but lacked a bit of cutting edge. However, with their captain Steven Gerrard & golden boy Fernando Torres returning to the starting line up soon, I can only see the team scoring more goals and causing more of troubles to other team's defence. So, can they keep up their form or improve further?

English teams await their fate in Champions League Draw

It is confirmed that all 4 English side will be playing in this year's quarter-final of the Champions League after Liverpool comfortably eliminated Italian Champions Inter Milan from the competition. Last season we saw 3 English teams were in the semi-final and now, all 4 are in the last 8. Liverpool’s triumph in Milan on Tuesday night – the second by an English side after Arsenal's memorable win at San Siro, one of the the holy stadium in Italy where the visiting teams always failed to produce results. It is no doubt that we can now say the English teams are the best in Europe.

With 4 English Teams, 1 Spanish team, 1 Italian team, and 2 other surprises from Germany and Turkey. They must be waiting anxiously for the quarter-final draw on 14 March. Although the 4 EPL team would prefer those teams from other country, the possibility for an all English encounter remains sky high. By looking at the current situation, it is virtually inevitable that they will face each other at some stages later. So bring it on, who do you want to play in the last 8?

Here are some words from the players and managers:

• United manager Sir Alex Ferguson: "But it doesn't really matter who you play in the quarter-finals, they're all going to be difficult games. The important thing is we are there."
• Chelsea captain John Terry: "Hopefully we can avoid them(English rivals) but if we are drawn together we have to beat them.'
• Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard: "If that happens we'll deal with it at the time but it would be nice to avoid the English teams for as long as possible. It will be an exciting tie if we do draw one, that's for sure."
• Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas:"We'd like to avoid Barca at this stage and save them for the final after what happened 2 seasons ago, but if we do draw them then we know we will have a big extra incentive to beat them.

Teams line up for quarter-final draw: Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Barcelona, AS Roma, Schalke, Fenerbahce

TSUNAMI in FA Cup quarter-final!

Casualties- Man Utd & Chelsea

Last year finalists Man Utd and Chelsea were out of the FA Cup following some stunning upsets.


Casualty no. 1- Manchester United

Portsmouth shocked last year's finalist Manchester United 1-0 away from home in FA Cup quarter-final. It was a memorable win as they recorded their first victory at Old Trafford since 1957. Man Utd had up to 64% of possession and made most of the attacking in the entire match but could not find a way past David James and Pompey's defensive backline who were inspired throughout. As Man U were busy attacking and trying to win the match, Portsmouth got their rare chance in the match by converting a penalty to win the match with 12 minutes on the clock.

Casualty no. 2- Chelsea

I believe Chelsea must be celebrating before the match when Pompey eliminate their biggest rival- Man U from the competition. Which means the rest 0f the EPL 'big 4' are no more available. From quad to treble, now? 2 left..... And now they seem having a big trouble after they blew up their glorious chance in the FA Cup by losing to a lower division side Barnsley. After knocking out Liverpool in the previous round, Barnsley continue to Giant Killing form to stun holder Chelsea 1-0 in the last 8 of the competition. All credits to Barnsley- the truly sensational giant killer, hope we can see them in EPL for the coming seasons.

3rd casualty- Newcastle United?

Perhaps they are the casualty who are staying in the "hospital" for some time..... When Liverpool "visit" them with players like Gerrard and Torres, it is predictably that they are going to add salt to their wound. Without any doubt, Liverpool cruised past them easily 3-0, Torres and Gerrard both scored. After Pennant's bizarre first goal, the second and third goal saw the flawless partnership of Gerrard and Torres combined well to finish off their opponent in brilliant style.

BLOGGER PLAYER OF THE WEEK- FERNANDO TORRES

For this first edition of 'BLOGGER PLAYER OF THE WEEK", we take a deeper look at the performance of players in the past 2 weeks. Most players who joined an English club usually took some time for them to adapt to the pace of English football in their first season, but for a world class player like Fernando Torres, within a very short time he is already on fire!

Hat-trick, hat-trick and hat-tricks! How many hat-tricks do you expect from this young man? (Remember the earlier one in the season against Reading?) The answer for this question, to be precise..... oh no, u cant! The only answer I could give is-unlimited! Two weeks ago when he was just recovering from an injury, he started in the Champions League game against Inter Milan. Although we didn't see the very best of him, his agility and enormous fast pace resulted a red card for Inter's Marco Materazzi, which make them playing the remaining match for over an hour with only 10 men.

Fernando Torres almost single-handedly secured 3 points for Liverpool when he scored a hat-trick against Middlesbrough in the EPL match few days later. Then, he further strengthened his status as the Kop’s new hero when he continued his brace with another hat-trick on Wednesday night as Liverpool downed West Ham 4-0. In other words, he became the first Liverpool striker since Jack Balmer in 1946 to score hat-tricks in successive home games. He has taken his scoring tally to an impressive 18 goals in EPL and 24 goals in all competitions.

Predictabily, he is surely the right player who has tremendous potential to score more goals for his club and take them to another Champions League glory. With some crucial Champions League matches await him , the question remains "can we see more hat-tricks from him"?

Enjoy Flying Torres goals for Liverpool

UEFA Champions League last 16 preview

With the first leg of the Champions League had already played, here are some selected important matches as we take a look at the chances for some big teams of progressing into the quarterfinal.

AC Milan vs Arsenal (first leg 0-0)
Arsenal could blame themselves for not taking their chances in the first leg as AC Milan secured a goalless draw at Emirates and looking good to beat Arsenal in the second leg at home.

Prediction: Milan through

Man United vs Lyon (first leg 1-1)

Lyon look as if they have beaten Man U in the 1st leg but Carlos Tevez's crucial late away goal in the first leg provide them the upper hand into the second leg for Man United.

Prediction: Man U through

Barcelona vs Celtic (first leg Barca lead 3-2) A win and 3 away goal for Barca in the first leg, they are certainly in a comfortable position and should not face any problem of advancing into the last 8 of this competition. Prediction: Barca through

Inter Milan vs Liverpool (first leg Liverpool lead 2-0)

A magnificent 2-0 victory in the first leg puts Liverpool in command of this tie. Perhaps this is the biggest margin so far in the last 16 as Liverpool got the definite advantage over their opponent. While Inter is facing an impossible task and need a big miracle to overcome the 2 goals deficit

Prediction: Liverpool through

Real Madrid vs AS Roma (first leg Roma lead 2-1)

Close one. Madrid played well in the first leg and were unlucky as Mancini's second-half strike earning the Roma a slender advantage to take to the Santiago Bernabéu. However, with an away goal, they will be confident enough to pit Roma in the second leg at home.

Prediction: Madrid through

Chelsea vs Olympiacos (first leg 0-0)

Olympiacos produced an impressive display to tame Chelsea and earn a scoreless draw in the first leg. With Chelsea looking invincible at home, they are expected to overcome their opponents in the second leg.

Prediction: Chelsea through