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Kewell To Play Against Everton?

Reports out today suggesting that Harry Kewell may take to the pitch against Everton in a reserves fixture tonight. He’s been named to the bench tonight and might well make an appearance to boost his recovery from injury.

We haven’t seen Harry all season and to be frank, I would doubt if we see him at Anfield next season. He’s had one of the most injury plagued Liverpool careers of recent years but it will still be good to see him in action, if he makes it to the pitch that is.

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Liverpool Have It All To Do At Anfield

Credit to Chelsea, they deserved the victory tonight. Liverpool were shaky in parts, lacking defensively in the first half (and defending like mad in the second half) and just couldn’t get the attacking chances in.

Role-wise, Crouch should have been on from the very start working with Craig Bellamy, Liverpool lost too many attacking opportunities for lacking height in the box going forward. Zenden was a lost cause on the left side, Drogba had the best of Agger at every stage and only for Pepe Reina the scoreline would be extremely different tonight.

The fact that the scoreline sits at 1-0 puts all the pressure on at Chelsea as they couldn’t get the second goal tonight. Liverpool need to come out all guns blazing at Anfield next Tuesday night, get Finnan back into the action if possible (Arbeloa nearly blew it with a handball), get Zenden off the pitch and sort out the front line from the get go. The passes were good when they came but there was really no massive threat from Liverpool inside the Chelsea box.

Mourinho made a comment yesterday about Liverpool putting the run on Drogba, forcing him into yellow cards.

I swear to God, that chap doesn’t deserve to play in the Premier League let alone the Champions League. Sure enough he caused Liverpool all kinds of trouble tonight but he spent almost as much time lying on the ground as he did standing up and he’s going to do exactly the same thing next week for the return leg. Liverpool had a perfect attacking opportunity on the right wing early on in the second half but Drogba decides to play the lady and lie down in the box after a clash with Jon Obi Mikel. Get up off your arse will you!!!

End of the day, Liverpool didn’t produce a classy performance at all and have it all to do at Anfield where I hope things will certainly be an awful lot different.

Oh yeah… the goal? Joe Cole on around 28 minutes or so. Drogba the provider, squared for Joe Cole in the box who had more than enough pace after a good sprint to rifle past a helpless Reina into the centre of the net.

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Live: Chelsea 1 - 0 Liverpool

Balls.

Joe Cole has slotted Chelsea in front, Drogbra squaring to Cole in the middle of the box, Reina helpless to stop the pace of Cole firing into the back of the net. Mourinho finally has reason to celebrate, Chelsea having had three decent chances already to take the lads and after 28 minutes finally have.

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Live: Chelsea vs Liverpool Champions League Team

The team sheet is out for tonight’s game at Stamford Bridge and it looks as follows…

Reina, Arbeloa, Carragher, Agger, Riise, Gerrard, Mascherano, Alonso, Zenden, Bellamy, Kuyt.

On the bench we’ve got Dudek, Hyypia, Gonzalez, Crouch, Pennant, Sissoko and Gabriel Paletta.

On another note, watching the pre-match press conference again and Jesus… Mourinho is some idiot. The mind games going on between the two and the crap coming out of Mourinho’s mouth is unreal…

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Is There A Spot In The Final For Liverpool?

Yes… yes there is.

Of course, all we’ve to do is beat Chelsea but its been a while since I’ve seen confidence like this at Liverpool. Everyone is firing on all cylinders as the season draws to a close, the front line are scoring goals, the wingers are knocking in crosses, the midfield is going from strength to strength, the defence has picked up its socks in a big way and the clean sheets are back on track (tonight would make a fifth in a row).

We’ve got the experience.

We’ve been here before. April 2005, Liverpool vs Chelsea, Luis Garcia the man who made the difference. Chelsea certainly won’t let us forget about it, Mourinho will never shut up moaning about it, no matter what mind games he decides to play but Liverpool fans will remember it forever. Money doesn’t buy you glory. Strength in your team, belief in your team mates and a belief in your own ability - thats what brings glory. I remember the roars that came out of me when Garcia’s ball crossed the line. I remember the sheer look of disbelief on the faces of Chelsea fans as the final whistle went in Anfield - their chance at European glory gone. Liverpool on the otherhand, entering once familiar territory - the Champions League Final.

It was unprecedented at the start of the season but we had a great group, we overcame Barcelona, we overcame PSV and tonight we’ve got the chance to overcome Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Thanks to a season-ending injury at the start of the year we won’t have Luis Garcia to break out and look for a goal but we have Crouch and Kuyt on fine form, along with Craig Bellamy who is expected to start tonight, all of whom have found their scoring touch this season. Jermaine Pennant has put some good performances in the wings while the midfield has been bolstered by the presence of Javier Mascherano alongside Gerrard and Alonso. Daniel Agger has shone in the defence this season and looks to be a most capable long term replacement for Sami Hyypia.

Chelsea, for their part, have been an honest pain in the arse of Liverpool this season and Drogba has been a pain in the arse of the Premier League this season as well. Overrated, overpriced and over-cocky, the chap needs to be brought down a peg or two, contained and quarantined at Stamford Bridge. He’s a threat, but Liverpool should be up for it.

We’ve met Chelsea in Europe four times in the last two seasons and of the four games, only one goal has been scored - Garcia’s in ‘05. Something, however, suggests that tonight might be a little different. Liverpool aren’t fighting for league glory (that race is well and truly down to two horses) but at the same stage aren’t blowing trumpets about winning the Champions League, glory through modesty perhaps. Chelsea are fighting for glory, undone in the league through injury, misfits, bad attitudes, too much money and falling fan numbers, Chelsea don’t want the Champions League, they NEED the Champions League. Mourinho needs it to boost his already overinflated ego and to possibly save his own skin at the end of the year.

Forget Milan and United last night, this match tonight is the big one and I feel whoever comes out on top tonight will win the Champions League outright. Hopefully, Liverpool can pull it all out of the bag and grab the away goals, get the job done in the first leg rather than leave it to the last minute.

I guess we’ll know in about four hours time…

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Next Up, Middlesbrough

Not too far off the Middlesbrough kick off and the points we need to skip back ahead of Arsenal in the Premier League. With Arsenal taking the points last night a draw would still be enough for Liverpool to move back into third place as we begin to close out the season but who wants to settle for a draw?

Peter Crouch starts up front tonight with Stevie G flying off him while Rafa has named both Mascherano and Sissoko smack bang in midfield, looking forward to this one.

The team is as follows - Pepe Reina, Arbeloa, John Arne Riise, Jamie Carraghe, Danny Agger, Javier Mascherano, Momo Sissoko, Bolo Zenden, Jemaine Pennant, Steven Gerrard and Peter Crouch.

I’d reckon we’ll see Robbie Fowler come off the bench in the second half, though Dirk Kuyt sits alongside him. I’d be hoping to see Fowler get some time on the pitch as his Liverpool career is pretty much over come the season finale. Also on the bench sit Jerzy Dudek, Sami Hyypia and Mark Gonzalez.

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Here We Go Again

Thanks to yet MORE last minute drama with Chelsea, it looks like we’ll be squaring off against Mourinho’s men in a few weeks at the ‘Bridge. Where’s Luis Garcia when you need him now eh?

Thanks to last night’s recovery by Chelsea, who had gone down to an ex-Red goal (Morientes) in the first half only to come back through Shevchenko and then Michael Essien hitting extra time, Liverpool will face the current league champions, barring of course PSV don’t come out and lay the smackdown at Anfield tonight.

I was really holding out hope that Valencia would do the business last night and got a bit giddy when Morientes knocked in the first goal but I guess its not to be! Nevertheless, we’ve got a great game to look forward to tonight in Liverpool and PSV.

There’s no real injury doubts for Liverpool, Sissoko should be back in action but Dirk Kuyt will miss the game through suspension. It isn’t clear yet whether Jermaine Pennant will play either as a booking in tonight’s game would leave him out of action for the first semi-final leg against Chelsea. Provided PSV don’t ‘pull a Liverpool’ on it tonight and Liverpool keep their head down we should start planning for the trip to London now. PSV are in a rut in the Dutch league and lost again at the weekend while Liverpool keep building momentum, first demolishing Arsenal, then moving past Reading on Saturday as well.

Roll on kick off tonight, game starts at 7:45pm.

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Close Win, But A Good Win

Another weekend away from Kilkenny and an internet connection means a live match opportunity missed but after catching the highlights (and keeping track of the game via the radio while on the road) I think it is safe to say that the Reading win was a close win, but a good win.

Above all it was a win that was needed and made all the more sweet with Arsenal first losing to West Ham on Saturday, then failing to score in a goalless draw against Newcastle. This of course means that we’re now level on games with Arsenal, but a valuable four points clear in terms of cementing third place. Here’s to a good run-in to the end of the season.

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Four Months Out For Aurelio

Yep… some disaster. The injury to Fabio Aurelio, a torn Achilles tendon, will keep him out of action for at least four months. This means of course that Aurelio won’t see any footballing action until the start of next season, provided he is fit in time for the August opener. Hopefully next season won’t be as much of an injury problem for the Brazilian as I think we’ve to see the very best of him yet.

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Roll On The Semi Finals

I missed the Arsenal game (though did manage to catch the highlights while away in Amsterdam for the weekend) but I certainly didn’t miss last night’s game and yet again Liverpool didn’t disappoint. Sure is a pity we didn’t see this kind of form earlier on in the season, now trailing Chelsea in the league by 15 unattainable points but, surprise surprise, here we are staring a Champions League semi-final in a few weeks.

I say that with confidence as I sincerely doubt that PSV can come to Anfield and put four goals past us in the hope of advancing to the semi-final stage against the winners of Chelsea v Valencia (first leg of which takes place tonight).

The first half was a bit lacking in energy and general structure of play but we did manage a fine header from Steven Gerrard about 27 minutes into the first half. But it was Xabi Alonso’s introduction in the second half along with two fine goals from John Arne Riise (who seems to be oozing with confidence of late) and Peter Crouch (who looks to be developing a new heading technique as well) within a few minutes of each other in the second half that sealed the deal and set Liverpool off an an attacking tangent against PSV.

Not once did Eindhoven look like a convincing threat on the pitch. Ronald Koeman afterwards reflected that his side gave Steve Finnan way too much room to move about on the pitch, and they’re right too. Liverpool and Finnan had full access up the right flank and had no problem hanging in crosses to set up for the goal mouth action.

The one bad spot is Fabio Aurelio, the news this morning revealing that his season is well and truly over after rupturing his Achilles tendon, possibly looking at six months out of action but the Brazilian is due a scan this morning to determine the extent of his injury.

So, roll on the semi-finals along with Reading this coming Saturday. All we need now is for Valencia to knock a few goals past Chelsea. Though wouldn’t you love to wipe yet another smirk off Mourinho’s face by dumping Chelsea out of the semi-finals, again?

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