Post Mortem - Pool 2: Everton 1

Let me begin by saying I have been a huge ‘fan’ of Benitez since he arrived at the club, that I believe in his rotation policy - at least to a certain extent - and strongly believe he has turned the club around and brought quality to the squad.

But that is where the problem lies - before this season started it was clear for anybody to see this is the strongest Liverpool squad for years - maybe even over a decade or more. There is quality throughout, competition for places and players with varied strengths and characteristics.

Despite the extremely luckly, lucky derby victory plus the helping hand of the refree at Goodison Park, there are certain questions which must be asked of Benitez and his tactics and in particular his team selection and substitutions.

Taking the match from the moment Everton went down to 10 men and Kuyt scored the penalty to make it 1-1. Just why did we continue to have the ineffective Sissoko alongside the holding midfielder Mascherano, an out-of-form Gerrard, Benayoun and then two workmanlike forwards who are hardly goalscoring forwards, particularly Voronin.

It’s easy to make scapegoats out of certain players but Sissoko has been out of form for a while now and his performance again was nothing short of woeful. Hopefully someone who taped the game could go through and check but i'm willing to bet he gave away the ball more times than he kept the ball - add to that the fact he offers absolutely nothing going forward. Why on earth neither Crouch nor Pennant weren’t brought on to replace him early on in the second half is baffling to say the least.

Can anybody who watched the match honestly say that there was a noticeable difference after the dismissal and that we took any sort of advantage of the extra man? No, instead we kept Sissoko and Mascherano on, Kuyt still up front alone, Voronin ineffective out of position out wide.

Where's Alonso and Torres.. whom we need to so-call get the smaller club outta our way. The lack of a creative player(Alonso) and a clinical goalscorer(Torres) was evident throughout - often we played some good football in the build-up but went to pieces once we got in the box - Voronin and Sissoko in particular late on had excellent chances and failed miserably to hit the target.

Once Sissoko was finally put out of his misery with a whole 2 minutes to play, it was for Pennant. As soon as the sub was about to be made I naturally thought it must be for Crouch. Seeing as we had a corner, had been getting crosses into the box but failing to convert the headers surely it was the natural change? But no Pennant came on and was told to play in the same central-ish position Sissoko had occupied.

Utterly Bizarre to say the least.

If Benitez says he isn’t trying to force Crouch out of Anfield then he sure as hell is doing a poor job at showing that he wants to keep him. This game was crying out for Crouchie - and Pennant’s - introduction with half an hour to go.

I can’t begin to try and work out the removal of Gerrard from the game just when he was finally beginning to show some form and confidence after winning the penalty. Fair enough, Lucas looked good but had we not won the second penalty late on(Courteousy of Phil Neville (ED: NEville bros always lay it on thick)), or if Everton had been given either of the two pretty legitimate penalty calls(ED: Carra actually laid a smack-down on a poor evie playa), this would have been a substitution which would have been hugely questioned.

I’d have loved to have seen Pennant be brought on as soon as we went 1-1, for him to replace Sissoko and go 442 with Gerrard alongside Mascherano, Pennant and Benayoun down the wings and go at them. Bringing Pennant on might even have stopped their dangerman - Lescott, yes Lescott - from making his surging runs down our right side.

You may say I shouldn’t be ‘moaning’, that we ‘won ugly and that’s a good sign’ but that doesn’t bode well for us as a team going forward. We were incredibly lucky and our performance was again lacking.

Watching Liverpool at the moment is extremely frustrating, we have the players, we have the manager but yet the manager is making some strange decisions in his use of the players. He got very, very lucky at Goodison, let’s pray hope and fast that we don’t need luck in the next few crucial fixtures with Besiktas away on Wednesday and Arsenal at home next weekend.

On a side note, Is Pako Ayesteran's depature to blame for our recent slump in form?

Benetiz Calls Everton Small Club

Everton usually make life tough for Liverpool when their neighbours cross Stanley Park, but Saturday's derby crunch will have a little extra spark about it.

This is the first time the Merseyside rivals have clashed since Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez's 'small club' jibe at the Goodison Park outfit, and Everton fans will be preparing a special welcome for the Spaniard.

Everton veteran Alan Stubbs has already stoked the fires by saying recently: 'We do not see ourselves as a small club, not at all.

'If they feel they are that much bigger than us, they should have been getting better results - like winning the league.

'When you spend that much money, £40-50million, you would expect to be closer than they have been. That is what Liverpool fans would say if you asked them. We beat them 3-0 last season, and you do not get a result like that by luck.'

And Stubbs believes Liverpool have no chance of ending their 17 years without the title this season, insisting Manchester United will win the Barclays Premier League again.

He said: 'I do think United will win it and Arsenal will be the serious challengers this year.'

Everton will be without striker Andrew Johnson, who has had an ankle operation and will be out for another three weeks.

Long-term injured trio Tim Cahill (broken metatarsal), Thomas Gravesen (knee) and James Vaughan (shoulder) have all been back in training this week but are unlikely to be in contention for the 206th derby battle.

Providing that none of Everton's internationals return from duty with their countries carrying injuries, they will field very much the side that did so well to win their UEFA Cup tie against Metalist Kharkiv in Ukraine.

Everton have also moved `home' this week, leaving their Bellefield training ground after 60 years and relocating to their new complex at Finch Farm, Halewood.

Stubbs said: 'There was so much history at Bellefield and I will miss it. I used to hang around at the gates for autographs as a kid, so it was surreal when I was stopped for mine.

'It is sad there will not be any more kids there but I understand the game has moved on an awful lot and the new facilities are fantastic.

'Bellefield was very limited in space. This new place has a yoga room, video room, hot and cold Jacuzzis, three physio rooms - everything that people think you need for the modern game.'

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez, meanwhile, is calling for his players to keep their cool as they are pitched straight into the combustible atmosphere of a Merseyside derby on their return from the international break.

With many of the squad having been away with their countries in the last fortnight, a visit to their near neighbours across Stanley Park may be just what they need to get them up to speed in the Barclays Premier League.

However, one of the most fiercely-contested derbies in Britain often throws up its fair share of flashpoints and Benitez is keen for his side to maintain their focus.

Everton defender Stubbs stoked the fires this week by suggesting big clubs should be looking to win the league every year - a swipe at Benitez labelling the Toffees as a 'smaller' team after the previous derby in February.

And although Liverpool's last visit to Goodison Park ended in an embarrassing 3-0 defeat 13 months ago, the Reds boss stressed there were no thoughts of revenge.

'In these kind of games it is more important because everyone is talking about the rivalry between both teams,' he said.

'You must be as focused as always with maybe more determination. You must analyse the game with a cool mind because if you think about last year you will lose your concentration and it is important to make the right decisions.'

Asked whether Stubbs' comments would provide extra motivation, Benitez added: 'The majority of our players were away so I don't think they will have been reading the press.'

Striker Fernando Torres is making good progress with a thigh problem and could be included at Goodison Park.

The club's record signing injured an adductor muscle while on international duty with Spain last week but after intensive treatment was able to train on Wednesday and Thursday.

Midfielder Xabi Alonso is closer to making a return than Daniel Agger as both continue their comebacks from broken metatarsals while Dirk Kuyt's hamstring problem will be assessed ahead of the clash.

Emo Rants

To my Manager, Contrary to what you might think, I really do wanna work hard
For the past 4 days, for example, I've been doing two people's work
Most of the time, I go home end of the day physically tired and drained.(ED: this is not becoz of my recent holidays.. Fey , stop sneering)

I let things get to me easily like

1. the people i work with, the "OMG, common sense aint that common here..." types.. and the "OMFG, u must be from some special school" types and lastly "!@#@#$.. tell me which planet u come from" types....

2. Frenly Reminders all the time how i'm ugly/fat/poor/useless i am. Period Nuff said

3. Friends don't appreciate and not rememberin me.

4. Opinions being dismissed as illogical and senseless.

And reallly I really don't need any more stress, anger or unhappiness or watsoever..

I am not strong and not tough enuff to withstand the hammerings of this cruel and twisted demented society.

I cannot handle pain, unhappiness, stress or anger well

So even if i die, so what?

I'm not important to anyone anyway.

Nobody will miss me that much..for long

I am completely replaceable and totally forgettable

And yet
All i want to be now is to be encosted in my cocoon
(ED: my bed with my comforter and bolster)

i just wanna feel protected and loved

Quoteable Quote

"And some are like the seed that lands in the gravel. When they first hear the Word, they respond with great enthusiasm. But there is such shallow soil of character that when the emotions wear off and some difficulties arrive, there is nothing to show for it"

Quoteable Quotes

"Do one thing everyday that scares you."
~Eleanor Roosevelt

The Very Basic Basics

You know there are alot pple without basic HTML skills in this world.

Today i do a good deed.
i gonna give you, my prized readers(if there's any) a free lesson on HTML

What You Type What You Get

'<'B'>'Men'<'/'B'>' = Men
'<'I'>'Are'<'/'I'>' = Are
'<'U'>'from'<'/U'>' = from
'<'S'>'Men are from Mars'<'/S'>' = Men are from Mars

You can even combine tags (just remember to next each pair of tags)

'<'B'>'<'I'>'<'U'>'Men Needs Women'<'/U'><'/I'><'/B'> Women Needs Men

And That’s Not All
<'CENTER'><'/CENTER'> - Centers text or image.

<'A HREF="URL HERE"><'/a'> - Makes whatever text/image it surrounds into a link.



- Add an image, using optional WIDTH and HEIGHT attributes to control the sizing. Note: IMG code is stand-alone (no seperate close tag necessary).

<'FONT FACE="verdana" SIZE="6" COLOR="green">Little Green Men<'/font'>
Alter the size, style, and color of text.

Cross-browser friendly fonts: Arial, Arial Black, Comic Sans, Courier New, Georgia, Times New Roman, Trebuchet, Webdings.

Cross-browser friendly colors: aqua, black, blue, fuchsia, gray, green, lime, maroon, navy, olive, purple, red, silver, teal, white, and yellow. (
Want more colors? Use a HEX code.)

The above should be enuff to get you started! If you're at all interested in learning more like how to build TABLES and stuff , go google on ur own lah.

Din know doing good deed is sooooo tiring