World Cup and European leagues

[ScotsFan]

And the current joke about the penalty is "Howard Webb MBE" stands for "Howard Webb--Manchester's Best Employee"!  

Didn't know if you saw this photo yet or not:

[sac]

Have now completely caught up on my tivo'd games through Wednesday's Liverpool/Blackpool game.


Conclusion:  Liverpool's trouble's are not a fluke, not attitude, not tactics....they just need better players.

Dalglish is somewhat of a mythical figure to me, someone I've heard of but never seen as his years at Liverpool were long before I ever cared about English soccer.  So I'm pretty interested to see him in charge of Liverpool and how it works out.  Best of luck to him, they are a royal mess.

Otherwise I'm as interested as I've ever been in how the season plays out.



How about Crawley Town or Torquay advancing to the Round of 16 in the FA Cup.

[Hoosier Titan]

Looks like the Dalglish move is paying off at Liverpool, comparing yesterday's 3-0 victory at Wolves with the loss to them 3-1 at Anfield just 26 days earlier.  The Reds were in nearly complete control, and all three goals were things of beauty.  The first was a pass and move play that could have come from Kenny's day, with a great ball from Raul Meireles to Fernando Torres.  The second is a candidate for goal of the season; a Wolves defender put the ball nicely onto Meireles's boot; he promptly planted it into the upper right corner of the net.  No number of defenders would have stopped that.  And the third goal, in the 90th minute, saw a chain of 31 consecutive Liverpool passes before Torres tapped it neatly in. 

Meireles was Man of the Match, a well deserved honor.  Honorary Woman of the Match was a linesman; she did a fine job.
The much-maligned (including by me) Christian Poulsen did a creditable job in a forward midfield position, especially in the first half.  And Meireles, usually played out of position by the now-departed Roy Hodgson, looks to be THE central midfielder at the moment.  I love Steven Gerrard, but I predict he'll be playing either on the wing or right behind Torres when he returns from his three-match ban after a silly red card.

The Howard Webb in a MU shirt went viral; re-tweeting it got Ryan Babel (evidently heading back to Holland soon) fined £10,000.  Freedom of speech?  Sense of humor?  Not at the FA.

[ScotsFan]

The second is a candidate for goal of the season; a Wolves defender put the ball nicely onto Meireles's boot; he promptly planted it into the upper right corner of the net.  No number of defenders would have stopped that. 

That goal was definitely a thing of beauty! There have been several cracking goals this season, but that one would have to be at or near the top of the list for goal of the year for me as well. He made #2 on SportsCenter's top 10 plays of the day as well I believe.

BTW, Dimitar Berbatov became the 3rd player in EPL history to record at least 3 hat tricks in a season on Saturday!  In a season where Wayne Rooney has yet to get on track, Berbatov picked a great time to finally fulfill his expectations ManU had for him when they signed him.  His 18 goals is already a career high for him in the EPL and we're not even out of January yet.

[Hoosier Titan]

So did everyone see the news about the Sky Sports announcers who thought their mics were off?  Andy Gray and Richard Keys started discussing the presence of a female linesman before the Liverpool-Wolves match.  Keys said someone should go explain the offside rule to her, and Gray agreed, saying women don't understand offsides.  Of course, her first big call was the first Liverpool goal, which she got spot on, allowing Raul Meireles to continue the run that led to the Torres goal.

Here are the thoughts of Graham Poll, formerly England's top ref, now retired:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1349900/Richard-Keys-Andy-Gray-smug-sorry-sexist-jibe-Sian-Massey.html

This afternoon I'm seeing tweets that both have been sacked, with Gray being replaced by Sam Allardyce, of all people. 

Once when I was in Chile there was a World Cup qualifier, which I sat down to watch with about 30 (male) Chilenos.  I asked a friend what they call "offsides" in Spanish, and he replied, "Linda, offsides is when there is no defender between the attacker and the goal..."  It took a great effort to not to scream! 

And, for the record, "offside" in Spanish is...offside. ;0

[sac]

Fernando Torres to Chelsea, 5 days before you play them even.

I'm running out of reasons to watch Liverpool.

[sac]

Fast and furious

Andy Carroll to Liverpool from Newcastle 

[Hoosier Titan]

Fernando Torres to Chelsea, 5 days before you play them even.

I'm running out of reasons to watch Liverpool.

By the end of the day, you got a couple of better reasons to watch them! (Although Carroll will be out for a couple of weeks yet).

I'd never experienced a transfer day like this one.  Good thing for me that I was giving tests today; I spent most of the time hitting refresh on Twitter! 

I was seriously bummed on Friday with the news of Chelsea's almost-last-minute move for Torres (and other adjectives than "bummed" come to mind).  Ceremoniously threw, one by one, several Torres buttons that I bought in Liverpool last summer into the trash.  He came in saying all the right things about the history of the club and the passion of the fans.  The club took care of him through many injuries and increased bouts of sulking, and then this.  It felt like getting dumped, and I was not the only one saying this.

But today we're moving on.  Suarez we knew was coming--he was in place to play with FT.  Andy Carroll absolutely killed Liverpool this year; one goal from a header and one he was just allowed to take because Hodgson had the defenders standing in a straight line. He seems to have (ahem) issues off the pitch, but hopefully he'll have a minder to help him adjust to life at LFC.

We were hoping for at least one midfielder--Charlie Adam from Blackpool was all lined up and ready to go but Spurs made a last-minute offer of more money; the deal was made too late, though.  Ashley Young was talked about but nothing happened.  Now it looks as though Stephen Warnock might still come on loan. 

The really big message is that Liverpool are BACK.  New owners with smarts, guts and money--check.  A knowledgeable manager who's the biggest legend in the club's history--check.  This year might be a wash, but things sure look better than they did a month ago.  And the summer transfer market will be interesting indeed.

My favorite tidbit of the day:  Paul Konchesky, one of the most reviled of the Hodgson signings, went on loan to Nottingham Forest, now a Championship side which has nonetheless won the Champions League.  Fernando Torres went, for £50 million, to Chelsea...which has not. 

[Joe Wally]

Fast and furious

Andy Carroll to Liverpool from Newcastle 

Love Andy Carroll's game.  Can't understand why Newcastle didn't hold onto him.

[Hoosier Titan]

Fast and furious

Andy Carroll to Liverpool from Newcastle 

Love Andy Carroll's game.  Can't understand why Newcastle didn't hold onto him.

$$ probably.  Didn't Ashley put the entire club up for sale for £100 million not too long ago?

[sac]

Fast and furious

Andy Carroll to Liverpool from Newcastle 

Love Andy Carroll's game.  Can't understand why Newcastle didn't hold onto him.

Read on BBC.uk somewhere that Newcastle rejected 2 offers from Liverpool, but after the 2nd offer Carroll turned in a transfer request.  So Newcastle tried to hang on to him but it sounds like Andy gave them little choice.


Torres is going to play vs Liverpool Sunday.

[Hoosier Titan]

Interesting piece looking at why Liverpool ponied up for Carroll:

http://tomkinstimes.com/2011/02/andy-carroll-is-he-worth-it/

There is speculation about whether the first card will go to Carragher or Skrtel for a hard challenge on Torres, or to him for diving!  Carroll won't be back for a couple of weeks, but Suarez is ready to go.

[ScotsFan]

Ouch!  Rough day for a couple of teams I support with long unbeaten runs coming to an end on the same day!    

First ManU's historic unbeaten run in Premier League matches was abruptly halted by the bottom team on the tables no less?!

And then in hoops action, Wooster also lost for the first time yesterday?!

And it's not too often I pull for a Liverpool victory, but today was the exception!  What a win for the Reds at Stamford Bridge and with all the emotion surrounding Torres!  I didn't see the match but it doesn't sound like Torres had a successful debut.  And it looks like Chelsea's title hopes took a serious blow with the home loss.  They had a golden opportunity to pick up 3 points on league leading ManU, but the Blues failed to deliver.   

[Hoosier Titan]

Wow, what a weekend in the EPL!  There were something like 126 goals scored at all levels in English football yesterday.  I turned on the live matches and found them boringly one-sided.  Turned off Arsenal-Newcastle at 4-0, got some lunch, went to take a nap and turned on the TV just in time to see Newcastle TIE at 4-4.  Amazing. 

Scots, sorry to see your team lose (as sorry as a Liverpool supporter can be--seriously!).  Wolves have now beaten Man U, Man City, Chelsea, and Liverpool, so they're definitely capable. I hope they can stay up.

I am absolutely thrilled with Liverpool's new owners and with the (old) new management under King Kenny.  John W Henry was very open:  Newcastle's ask for Andy Carroll set the price for Torres.  With the money received for Torres and Ryan Babel, Liverpool got Luis Suarez (already a match winner) and Andy Carroll for a net spend of £1.8 million.  Big change from the bad old days of Gillette and Hicks!

I wonder if Carlo Ancelotti made the choice to start all three of Drogba, Anelka, and Torres.  It didn't work at all, and Torres didn't look much more interested than he did at Anfield most matches this year.  Dalglish's tactics have worked a charm so far--four clean sheets in a row now.  The Reds end the weekend in sixth place, and fourth does not look so unreachable now.  And all the talk about "Will Torres celebrate..." looks really silly.

[sac]

Liverpool have looked so much better in defense, not nearly the number of shots getting through.

That and Miereles.



The Liverpool traveling fans drowned out the Chelsea side all day, I think they sang the whole game.