Saturday, February 09, 2008
Happy Chinese New Year to one and all... And also it must be quite a good thing that it is here, since it's after the first prelim exams. Everyone must be getting a good, and for most, well-deserved rest, and of course, hoping for good results to bestow us in the following week of unfolding results. So good luck everyone for the prelim results and enjoy the long weekend
yeah.
England 2-1 SwitzerlandEngland won at Wembley 2-1 against Switzerland. A decent first win for Italian boss Fabio Capello. Let's not get carried away, shall we? Didn't England thrash Greece by around 4 goals during Steve McClaren's first game? Anyway, Capello did well to give fringe internationals like the likes of Wes Brown, Matthew Upson, David James, Jermaine Jenas and David Bentley a start. His fluid 4-5-1 to 4-3-3 and back formation was quite nice to see, with Jenas and skipper Steven Gerrard taking turns to bomb forward. Overall an
okay performance for England.
Saudi Arabia 2-0 SingaporeA respectable performance by Singapore in the end, even when they lost the game. It was, in the end, just the quality finishing of the Saudi attackers that did it for the Middle Eastern side. A lack of pace amongst central defenders Baihakki and Precious also led to the two goals, something they have to work on. Singapore had their chances through defensive midfielder Mustafic, attacking midfielder John Wilkinson and striker Alexander Duric. One can see that Raddy Avramovic is trying to play out a European 4-4-2 formation, with a big-small front men partnership, with Mustafic the defensive midfield, and partnering Duric with pacey forward Khairul Amri. There's still much to work on, especially the defence.
And it's Chelsea vs Liverpool this weekend... And things are not looking good for Liverpool.
Stamford Bridge
Sunday 10 February 2008
11.55pm (SG, GMT+8)
Channel 27 (Football Channel)
Liverpool Line-Up (Probable):
25 Jose Manuel Reina
23 Jamie Carragher __ 4 Sami Hyypia
3 Steve Finnan ______________________________________ 6 John Arne Riise
8 Steven Gerrard (C)____ 20 Javier Mascherano
16 Jermaine Pennant ______________________________________ 11 Yossi Benayoun
15 Peter Crouch ______ 19 Ryan Babel
Substitutes (Probable):
30 Charles Itandje
_ 37 Martin Skrtel
_ 21 Lucas Leiva
_ 7 Harry Kewell
_ 18 Dirk Kuyt
So Liverpool are going to be without six key players for this match. Six. Yes, 6. Those are the
oh so useless Andriy Voronin,
ever injured Fabio Aurelio,
utility man Alvaro Arbeloa,
just ten more days since dunno when Daniel Agger, who are all injured, including Xabi Alonso suspended. But the most significant, as most already know, is star striker Fernando Torres. This will significantly deplete Liverpool's strike force to the bare minimum.
Rafa Benitez has to win this game, to get a mainstay in fourth place, meaning, he has to be a little positive. Peter Crouch and Ryan Babel should start upfront, one utilizing his height, and the other, utilizing his pace to get behind the Chelsea defence. They should be supported by Jermaine Pennant, whose crosses can be so deadly for the height of Crouch, and Yossi Benayoun, whose trickery and creativity will be needed to get pass Belletti or Ashley Cole. Harry Kewell does not merit a place due to his form. Do it the Capello way, Benitez!
Steven Gerrard should get his place in the team alongside Javier Mascherano, now that Alonso is confirmed unfit, or injured. Steve Finnan and John Arne Riise has to play at the full-backs, as Alvaro Arbeloa and Fabio Aurelio are injured. Jamie Carragher and Sami Hyypia should be the preferred partnership at central defence, unless Rafa springs a surprise and pops in Martin Skrtel with Carragher. Jose Reina to start in goal. This formation allows Benitez to go from a 4-4-2, to a 4-5-1 or 4-4-1-1, and maybe into a 4-2-3-1. Such fluidity is necessary to play Chelsea out of the park, and hopefully win the game.
Bye~!
my thoughts at 7:53 pm