I’d rather listen to Britney Spears’ new CD The Circus on repeat than some of our network’s commentators. Watch Stevie G’s top 10 goals and listen to the commentators. Andy Gray on the number one goal is absolutely fantastic. Gives me goosebumps.
Then watch this year’s AT&T Goal of the Year Nominees from the MLS. The commentators make me want to listen to Britney.
10 days ago, in front of 44,000 happy Scousers, Rafa Benitez and his Reds looked as if they had turned their season around. A visiting Manchester United was stunned as the Merseyside giants finished the ninety minutes as 2-0 winners. The past several weeks were put to rest and it looked as if Liverpool were back in the title race. Unfortunately for Rafa, it looks as if the United game may have just been a blip on the radar.
Liverpool’s bad run of form started in their second game in the Champions League when they traveled to Italy to face Fiorentina. Despite being a tricky fixture on paper, the Britons were still expected to win or at least leave Italy with a point. When the final whistle was blown, the Italians found themselves as 2-0 winners. Liverpool then faced Chelsea in the League four days later at Stamford Bridge – Hardly a game you look forward to as a manager when your team has just put in a lackluster, if not questionable, performance midweek. The result? Another 2-0 loss.
With a week to regroup and think about about their next game, Rafa and his Reds traveled north to the Stadium of Light to do battle with Sunderland. An in form Darren Bent, as well as a perfectly placed beach ball, did enough to spoil another one of Rafa’s afternoons. 1-0 to Sunderland, and it could have been far worse.
Next up: Lyon at home in the Champions League. Another less than favorable fixture that Rafa probably lost several nights of sleep over. The Kop and Anfield alike exploded when Yossi Benayoun put the Reds up 1-0 after 41 minutes. A strong second half and a three vital points in Europe’s competition later, Rafa could begin to focus on the highly anticipated game against Manchester United. There was no strong second half, though. Maxime Gonalons equalized for the French outfit after 71 minutes and Cesar Delgado secured all three points for them in stoppage time. With a possible nine points to be had in their first three Champions League games, the Scousers had dropped six (They managed to beat Debrecan (?) on opening day to secure their first and only three points).
Rafa will be looking for three crucial points on Wednesday.
No one on Merseyside could have been looking forward to Manchester United’s visit. Liverpool had just lost four games on the trot, and Manchester United were, and still are, on their march to the top of the table. An incredible performance from Rafa’s Reds looked to salvage the season. A new energy was surely brewing in Liverpool.
The United game was followed by a midweek loss to Arsenal at the Emirates in the Carling Cup, a result that was overshadowed by the debut of Alberto Aquilani. The £20 million summer signing from Roma spent the entire start of the season recovering from a broken ankle and looked lively when he came on in the second half. Still, though, the fact that Liverpool had been eliminated from their first competition couldn’t be hidden.
With the Arsenal game behind them, and the thought of victory against Manchester United still lingering, Rafa and the boys headed to Southwest London in search of three more points against Fulham. Bobby Zamora opened the scoring for Fulham in the 24th minute, but his strike was cancelled out by a Fernando Torres screamer just before the half ended. Then it all went wrong. In the 63rd minute, at 1-1, Rafa decides to replace Torres with Ryan Babel. Torres looked beyond upset as he jogged off the pitch shaking his head. Then, in the 73rd minute, Erik Nevland put the Cottagers ahead for the second time in the game. In the 78th minute, Yossi Benayoun was yanked and replaced with Nathan Eccleston. One minute later, Philipp Degen was sent off for Liverpool. Three minutes later, Jamie Carragher received his marching orders for Liverpool. Three minutes after that, Dirk Kuyt was replaced with Daniel Ayala.
What was Rafa thinking? With thirty minutes left, he started replacing his biggest source of goals and creativity with inconsistent bit-part players. The game was still even and an extra two points were up for grabs. In the 87th minute, super-American Clint Dempsey side footed his first and Fulham’s third into the net to secure victory. Torres, Benayoun, and Kuyt all looked disturbed when they were being taken off. Their faces and mouths said it all. Something along the lines of, “why am I coming off” was actually read on Benayoun’s lips.
Tomorrow, Liverpool travel to Lyon to face the French again. Rafa made it clear in London this weekend that his sights aren’t set on winning the Premier League. They currently sit in sixth place, nine points off the leaders. In the Champions League, Liverpool sit just above Debrecen in their group in third place. Rafa is averaging a point a game in Europe at the moment, and that will never be enough to get him through to the knock out stages.
Where Liverpool finish in the Premier League this year isn’t certain. Whether or not Rafa can turn the season around and actually start winning games isn’t certain either. However, if he doesn’t start his heroic attempt to get Liverpool into the knockout stages on Wednesday, then it is certain that he will be looking for employment elsewhere.
