Skrtel
Saturday, January 12, 2008
So the second week of school is over, and I can tell, I, and probably most, is really starting to feel the heat. Three more weeks to the first prelim of this testing year, most of us are rushing to finish up daily work and try to concentrate during the lessons. It's quite obvious there are small little cracks in us already, but I should think that most of us should be doing fine. The stress levels are quite high already, as we try to control our habit of never handing up homework last year, to trying our best to complete it and hand it up on time. That's quite a change, if you ask me. But
hey, we're Sec 4, we have to,
right?
Anyway back to football. Liverpool completed the signing of Zenit St Peterburg's Slovakian defender Martin Skrtel. This 1.91m defender, according to news reports and interview with boss Rafa Benitez, is quick, strong and not afraid to get stuck in. If this is really the case, he should be Liverpool's equivalent of Manchester United's Serbian international Nemanja Vidic, who answered those critics wondering why Sir Alex Ferguson paid so much for him, with some magnificent performances. And I'm confident Skrtel will be as big and as good a hit as Vidic was and is now. He'll be wearing the number 37 jersey this season, with expectations he should change to a much smaller number during the next. This could spell an end to veteran Sami Hyypia's Liverpool career, as he may even lose his back-up place to the new defender.
Now to tonight's match, it's Liverpool away to Middlesbrough, a ground the Reds' do not really like to travel to.
The Riverside Stadium
Saturday 12 January 2008
10.55pm (SG, GMT+8)
Channel 21 (SuperSports Plus)
Liverpool's Line-Up (Probable):
25. Jose Manuel Reina
23. Jamie Carragher
__ 4. Sami Hyypia
3. Steve Finnan
______________________________________ 6. John Arne Riise
8. Steven Gerrard
____ 20. Javier Mascherano
16. Jermaine Pennant
______________________________________ 7. Harry Kewell
15. Peter Crouch
______ 9. Fernando Torres
Substitutes (Probable):
30. Charles Itandje, 5. Daniel Agger, 14. Xabi Alonso, 11. Yossi Benayoun, 18. Dirk Kuyt
Currently, with so many options available following the return from injury of Jermaine Pennant, Xabi Alonso, Daniel Agger as such, Rafa Benitez will again have many options to choose from. Although that is good, I do hope he picks the correct and ultimately best players he sees fit, and not rotate as much. So the goalkeeper should be Jose Reina, as usual. The new signing Martin Skrtel might be too early to land a place anywhere in the team, unless Daniel Agger is not available and Rafa feels he needs him right away. Other than that, Jamie Carragher and Sami Hyypia should feature in the center of defence. Steve Finnan and John Arne Riise, after woeful displays at Luton, should feature again, and hopefully with better performances. Jermaine Pennant should get a place on the right, with Harry Kewell, Rafa's apparent favourite, on the left. Skipper and midfielder Steven Gerrard should be the drive from midfield with Javier Mascherano covering his defensive duties.
Leading the attack should definitely be Fernando Torres after a two weeks rest. I hope to see Peter Crouch start upfront. Didn't he score in the last match? So he should be allowed to continue alongside Torres. As for the substitutes, Dirk Kuyt should start from the bench if he does not feature from the start. If Daniel Agger's deemed fit enough, he should be on the bench, if not, Fabio Aurelio, Jack Hobbs, Alvaro Arbeloa all wait in the wings, even for the other four starting defensive positions. Xabi Alonso should have the edge over Lucas Leiva on who starts from the bench, if Alonso does not start. It'll be interesting to see whoever of Yossi Benayoun or Ryan Babel gets the bench place should neither feature from the start. Andriy Voronin should almost definitely be left out of this one.
C'mon Reds!
Bye~!
my thoughts at 8:07 pm