Carling Cup - Route to the final

With the first domestic English trophy on offer this Sunday, I’m going to analyse and recall how Liverpool got there.

Liverpool had to start their run in the 2nd round of the competition due to the fact there was no European football at Anfield this year. The draw threw up a potentially tricky away game at League 1 Exeter.

Exeter City FC 1-3 Liverpool FC

Carroll scores to silence the Exeter fans.

Team – Reina, Flanagan, Skrtel, Wilson, Robinson, Spearing, Meireles, Henderson, Adam, Maxi, Suarez.

Liverpool showed their intentions right from the first game of the competition as they put an extremely strong side who cruised past Exeter. Early on Raul Meireles broke his collar bone and was subbed for Andy Carroll(this proved to be his last Liverpool game) Jordan Henderson crossed for Luis Suarz to volley in. 2 goals in 3 minutes killed of the game. First Luis Suarez squared to Maxi Rodriguez who tapped in, then Andy Carroll smashed it in to net from just outside the box to kill of the game. Exeter did score through a late penalty but this was just a consolation.

Brighton & Hove Albion FC 1-2 Liverpool FC

Dirk Kuyt scoring his first goal of the season.

Team – Reina, Kelly, Coates, Carragher, Robinson, Lucas, Spearing, Maxi, Kuyt, Suarez, Bellamy.

The third round draw threw up another tricky away game at the Amex. Liverpool were on the back of a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Spurs so a win was crucial. Kenny again named another strong side to dispose of the championship outfit. Liverpool came out the blocks very sharply as Luis Suarez set Craig Bellamy up for his first goal on his return to Liverpool. Luis Suarez then missed two great chances and Craig Bellamy smashed the bar with a 35 yard free kick.

In the second half Steven Gerrard returned from a 6 month absence from football and helped make the 2nd goal which Dirk Kuyt finished off. Just as the previous game, Livepool conceded a late penalty which lost them their clean sheet but they had done enough to get through.

Stoke City FC1-2 Liverpool FC

Luis Suarez celebrates after his superb  goal.

Team – Reina, Agger, Coates, Carragher, Kelly, Lucas, Spearing, Maxi, Henderson, Suarez, Carroll.

Another really tough draw for Liverpool, having already lost at the Britannia earlier on in the season they  had a point to prove. Liverpool went 1-0 down just before half time as a mistake from Sebastian Coates allowed Jonathan Walters to set up Kenwyne Jones to head in. On balance of play this was an undeserved lead as Liverpool had created a couple of really good opportunities.

The second half was all about Luis Suarez as he took the game to Stoke, nutmegging Ryan Shotton before a curling an unstoppable shot in to the bottom corner. As the game looked to be heading to extra time, Jordan Henderson put in a cross straight on to the Uruguayan’s head and routinely headed home to send the travelling Kop and Tony Pulis bonkers (in different senses of course).

Chelsea FC 0-2 Liverpool FC

             The team celebrates Maxi's goal. 

Team – Reina, Kelly, Coates, Carragher, Enrique, Lucas, Spearing, Henderson, Maxi, Carroll, Bellamy.

The quarter-final was Livepool’s 4th game of the competition and the 4th away game in a row, the draw was really being unkind to us! Liverpool has just played Manchester City 48 hours before this game in a really gruelling encounter. Jordan Henderson, Jose Enrique and Lucas Leiva  started both games which is a really impressive feat as they played exceptionally well.

The game did come with one huge downside as in the 70th minute Lucas Leiva went down  with an injury he would not come back from for the rest of the season. He injured his cruciate knee ligaments, this was a massive blow to Liverpool’s season as he had been by far one of the most consistent performers in the team.

Back to that game, the first half was a half of penalties. One that was given to Liverpool and missed by Andy Carroll. One at the other end where Sebastian Coates blocked off David Luiz and it looked like a stone waller but it wasn’t given.

In the second half, Chelsea’s defensive woes came back to haunt them as Craig Bellamy got in down the right and whipped in a delightful cross for Maxi Rodriguez to score from almost the same spot as he did 9 days before. Craig Bellamy assisted the second goal as he put in a world class free kick which Martin Kelly headed home for his first Liverpool goal.

Manchester City FC 0-1 Liverpool FC

Daniel Agger wins a penalty at the Etihad after he is fouled by Stefan Savic of Manchester City.

Team – Reina, Kelly, Agger, Skrtel, Johnson, Spearing, Henderson, Gerrard, Downing, Bellamy, Carroll.

Liverpool were drawn against Manchester City in the semi-final knowing if they could get through a championship team would await in the final. The semi-finals being two legs of course so once Daniel Agger won a penalty early on which Steven Gerrard dispatched it, the game plan was obviously to sit back and take the 1-0.

Liverpool were very effective at keeping their lead but the second half made for very dull watching.

Liverpool FC 2-2 Manchester City FC

Craig Bellamy's goal made sure Liverpool would be returning to Wembley.

Team – Reina, Johnson, Agger, Skrtel, Enrique, Adam, Henderson, Gerrard, Downing, Bellamy, Kuyt.

Liverpool made it through to the Carling cup final and their first final in 5 years. They didn’t do it the easy way as twice they had to come from behind. Nigel De jong scored in the 30th minute to give City the lead totally against the run of play before Liverpool hit back 10 minutes later as Steven Gerrard scored another penalty against Hart.

In the second half, City again took the lead against the run of play as Aleksandar Kolarov put in a great ball across the 6 yeard box which Eden Dzeko half volleyed home. Liverpool rallied again and with 17 minutes left Craig Bellamy and  Glen Johnson played a one-two in the box before Craig Bellamy curled in to send Kop crazy!

The buzz around the club recently has been amazing and like all Liverpool fans I can’t wait for Sunday’s game. Come on you reds!

FA Cup

What does the FA cup mean to teams today?

Too many teams, rotate/rest their better players on order of league commitments meaning more to them. This is a huge shame, what happened to the magic of the cup?

The main problem is the money available from getting promoted or staying up. Most teams will sacrifice a cup run to complete their league objective. This is of course understandable but nothing gets the fans going like a good cup run or toppling the favorite. For example, Norwich went to the Hawthorns in the last round and win with a full strength team and then go rest players against Leicester and lose. Ask any Norwich fan and they will tell you they wanted to win the cup.

The trophy that teams should go all out to win.

You can just tell from the excitement it has brought to everyone around our club, Liverpool. We have not won a trophy for coming up 6 years and Kenny knew how much the club needed one so played a strong team throughout the Carling cup including at Exeter away.

More managers should follow the example Kenny has set by making progress in a cup you get the fans onside and can paper over the cracks if the league form is dodgy (as in our case).

I watched the Arsenal game yesterday in which they were very poor. It was practically the same team from the week before which beat Sunderland 2-1 (excluding a cameo from Thierry Henry). You can't blame Arsene Wenger for weakening his side but did the players want to be there?

There was nowhere near the same intensity as what you would expect from an Arsenal side. Too many players ran scared for me and didn't want to fight to get the the quarter finals. In the Premier league game the week before they were all up for it and wanted the 3 points.  What's the difference?

Arsene looks on as Arsenal seems destined to go 7 years without a trophy.

It's currently half time at a proper cup tie between Spurs and Stevenage, both teams want to win. Stevenage effort and aggression is matching Spurs' quality. The fans are really behind the home team and are getting their player's up for it.

Spurs' now know their in a battle, this is what the FA cup should be about. Every game should be tough in the FA cup, no matter who you are.

A good example of this was last year at Old Trafford when Crawley totally outplayed them for 90 minutes and were very unlucky to come out without even a replay. That is what the FA cup is all about, not teams resting their better players and taking the defeat cause they're league form is more important.

It's a shame that the coverage of the FA cup is awful on both channels, ESPN and ITV. The amount of adverts is appalling. Using the FA cup's brand to earn extra money during the ad's break is a massive NO.

The BBC used to be excellent at their punditry and their commentary, its's a great shame their can't afford to pay for the rights. Between the adverts we get, Roy Keane's rants and Robbie Savage's ponytail. It's a great achievement that we all manage to stay awake at half time.

Roy Keane boring us all to death with his rant about gloves.

I hope after writing all this Liverpool don't give us another Reading or Northampton performance and continue to do our cup run's proud.

YNWA

Getting Started

This is my first of many (hopefully) interesting and inspiring blogs. If anybody who chooses to read this can give me a hand on getting started that would be very helpful.

My blogs will mainly be Liverpool rants with the occasional other topic that bothers me enough to talk about it. I hope they do not put you to sleep too much and that you may actually enjoy reading them.