Well that was a bit more like it yesterday.
With Chelsea turning up at Anfield yesterday, I didn’t honestly see us having much of a chance beating them. Chelsea have been very very strong this season (and last to be fair) and we have been, well…
I have to admit, there was a little more optimism when I saw their teamsheet. Any side that has no Essien, Lampard and Drogba in their starting line up is going to be weakened and so it proved. We had some injury problems too, with Soto and Johnson unavailable just before kick off, in addition to Cole and Agger.
Plaudits for the match will undoubtedly go to Torres for getting back on the scoresheet and, well, looking a bit more up for it than he has in recent times. I never doubted Nando’s hunger to be honest and empathised with his discontent. A lot of the games he wasn’t great in, the team were shocking so you could understand his frustration aligned to the fact he wasn’t getting chances and was patently unfit. He isn’t back to his best by a long shot though, but he is getting there and that can only be a good thing for us. He took both goals superbly and looks to have a spring back in his step. Encouraging.
For me, there were 3 players I wanted to highlight for their displays yesterday, who were Lucas, Kelly and Kuyt.
Lucas Leiva had his best game for us yesterday, he was everywhere putting tackles in and used the ball very well. The lad has taken a lot of stick in the past but the majority of Liverpool fans have been warming to him for some time. He is still only 23 years old, came to a foreign country and was measured against real stars of our side such as Alonso and Mascherano. Clearly he isn’t as good as either but is still a very decent player and has time on his side. His form improved last year and this year he has been one of our better players (not that it would have been hard admittedly). MOM for me yesterday.
Martin Kelly looks very promising. First league start and up against the best left side of any team in the league. Cole and Malouda had an off day for sure but it still doesn’t take anything away from the lad who was very assured. He made his full debut at home to Lyons last year and played very well, unfortunately for him he also picked up an injury and that kept his out for the remainder of the season. People have been calling for Johnson to have a crack at the right wing for a while, Kelly can facilitate this. He is too young and raw yet to be put in every week (It didn’t help Insua who could have become a very good player with better nurturing, unfortunately we didn’t have another left back so he played continuously).
Dirk came back from injury yesterday and put in a typical Dirk performance, all heart. If we could marry the skill of Ryan Babel with the heart of Dirk Kuyt, we would have a hell of a player. Dirk is still underrated and, like Lucas, is always one of the scapegoats when things don’t go according to plan. He has a knack of playing well in the big games and so it proved yesterday again. Great ball for Torres 1st goal also.
Roy has bought himself some time with a better run of results. Yesterday, in the first half, was our best performance under him yet. We played with a high tempo and took the game to Chelsea. After the break he resorted to type to a degree and invited Chelsea onto us. A team with the quality of Chelsea are always going to have a period of dominance in the game, I just don’t think we should have handed them the initiative quite so easily. My fingernails, bitten to the bone, agree. More first half Roy and not so much 2nd half and we will see where that takes us. Still concerned about him having the transfer budget in January though, if Carlton Cole rocks up at Anfield well…
Next up Wigan and Stoke, wouldn’t it be just like us to beat Chelsea and get chinned in our next two games. If we can take 6pts in the next two games, we are well positioned for a 4th place challenge which realistically is the height of our ambition this year.
Final word on the new owners. Not making any promises so far which I like. LFC is still a great untapped potential and I like the way they intend to approach our improvement, through good young players who we can develop. It makes financial sense. After the last crowd, there will always be an element of cynicism understandably so the real barometer will be when we start to see their actions in terms of player recruitment and the stadium issue, which is fundamental to growth.
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