England 17-9 France

Both sides went in to the game with a 100% record in this seasons Six Nations but both knew that this wouldn't stay like this after the game. England took an early lead after winning the first line out and earning a penalty from a France scrum. Flood kicked it to give England a 3-0 lead after 4 minutes. France got straight back into the game as they won a penalty right under the posts after good work from France. England restored their 3 point lead after 12 minutes following a penalty for offside which was again kicked well by Flood and the same happened 5 minutes later as another offside allowed Flood to double England's lead. Just like after the first score France won themselves a penalty under the posts from the restart which Yachvili kicked again. After 21 minutes France won another penalty this time from an England scrum and this time Yachvili had his first test which he passed by kicking a 45 yard penalty to draw France level at 9-9.
The next 20 minutes of the half didn't bring any points but they did bring lots of good rugby with some silly mistakes from both sides meaning the the ball changed hands a lot and this made the game more entertaining. France probably had the better of it in terms of territory while England had the ball a bit more which again kept it even and made the game entertaining however numerous knock-ons due to a greasy ball meant that the game was a little bit disjointed. France had a chance to take the lead on the stroke of half time through a penalty however this time Yachvili's kick went just wide so the teams went in at half time at 9-9.

Foden celebrates the only try of the game.

The first chance of the second half came to England as Tom Palmer charged down a French kick and forced them back to their own try line where England won a scrum. From the resulting scrum England went right but when the ball came back left fullback Ben Foden went over in the corner for the games first try. Flood couldn't convert it but England now had a 5 point lead. Just moments later Flood and Youngs broke through and Ashton thought he'd gone on to score England's second try only for it to be pulled back for a forward pass in the build up but it was much better play from England.
Flood then got injured in a tackle that won England a penalty and his replacement was non other than Jonny Wilkinson who's first task was to slot a difficult 48 yard penalty to give England a 8 point lead. As England had done so much in the game they then gave away another penalty straight after scoring but Yachvili's kick rebounded off the upright and back in to play to keep England's 17-9 lead for the time being. France nearly got a try to get them back in the game just before the hour mark but a knock-on just on the try line prevented it and France yet again came away from a good attack with no points.
Mike Tindall then went over after good work from Wilkinson but the try was ruled out and a penalty was given to France as the ref judged that Tindall had been tackled and didn't release the ball. England then went back into the mistake riddled mood of the first half but to their relief so did France and as the clock ticked down England were happy to slow it down knowing that France needed to score twice. England saw out the game and won 17-9 to keep the hope of a Grand Slam alive but they know that the silly mistakes will have to be cut out if they are to keep up the run. For now at least it's 3 wins out of 3 for Martin Johnson's men.

Kuyt Goal Gets Reds Through

Following last weeks Stalemate in Prague Liverpool went in to the game knowing that any kind of win would send them through to the next round of the Europa League and a last 16 tie against either Lech Poznan or Braga. There was a few changes to the line up this week with Agger replacing Carragher, Poulsen coming in to the midfield, Joe Cole starting on the Left and Martin Kelly returning to the team at right back. With Gerrard still out injured and Carragher on the bench it meant that Reina was the captain for the night.
This week both sides tried to show more ambitition and desire to win however the game was still quite uneventfull but in comparison to the last match it was rather entertaining. Liverpool could have had a penalty early on when the ball his a Sparta player on the hand but the ref judged that it was unintentional and allowed play to go on. Liverpool then gave Sparta a number of chances following some poor defending and Reina saved two shots and watched another go over as the away team pressed for an away goal.

Kyrgiakos came close to giving the reds the lead just a few moments later as he got on the end of a Meireles corner but his good header toward the bottom left corner of the goal was well saved by Blazek in the Sparta goal. A very rare mistake from Pepe Reina nearly cost Liverpool a goal as he flapped at a cross from a free kick but Wilson was there at left back to head clear. Much of Liverpool's good play in the first half came down the right as Kelly looked to get forward all the time and Kuyt's work rate meant there was always support. Kelly found Meireles with a great cross but Liverpool's form player could only direct his shot over the bar. Kelly's next cross found Cole who for some reason headed it back where it came from instead of towards the goal. Cole had Liverpool's next chance as well when he cut in on his right foot but his shot was straight at Blazek who cleared the danger. Liverpool's best chance of the half then came when a 50 yard pass from Agger found Kuyt in behind the Sparta defense and he crossed in to Ngog who could only hit it straight at Blazek again. The rebound came out towards Cole but he pulled out as the Sparta keeper was approaching. Lucas then watched his long range shot fly just past the post before the teams went in still level at half time.

Kuyt scored the wining goal against Sparta Prague.

The second half started with a change for the reds as Carragher replaced Kelly at right back who had arguably been Liverpool's best player of the first half. Liverpool didn't threaten as much in the second half but also didn't come under as many threats from Sparta. Ngog missed a few more chances and Meireles saw a free kick hit the wall but it was a corner that provided the breakthrough. Kuyt pulled away from the keeper and directed a great little header in to the goal while running the opposite way. The Dutchman had been tireless throughout yet again and was deserving of his goal which meant the Kenny Dalglish now has a 100% home record in Europe. Cole had a late chance to seal the game but when he was played through one on one he allowed the defender to catch up then had to rush his shot which went wide.

Liverpool's attention now switches back to Premier League where they travel to Upton Park to face West Ham on Sunday. There was a few worries for Liverpool today as Kyrgiakos had to have stitches and Agger limped off but there should be cover available if needed for the trip to West Ham. Gerrard watched from the stands today but he will be hopefully ready to play some part and Andy Carroll is an outside chance for a place on the bench.

Stalemate in Prague

I haven't done a report on the last two Liverpool matches and this didn't really seem the best game to have done but I've done it now so...

Much of the pre-match build up had been about 16 year old Raheem Sterling who had earned himself a place in the squad after scoring 5 goals in Liverpool's 9-0 win in the F.A. Youth Cup. He will have gained vital experience from training with the first team and traveling to Prague with them but when the teams where announced it was clear it was just to be that as he wasn't even on the bench for them game. Kenny Dalglish made 3 changes to his Liverpool team that drew against Wigan. Suarez is ineligible in the Europa League as he has already played for Ajax in Europe this season. Ngog filled in up front and youngster Danny Wilson was given a chance at left back while Kyrgiakos replaced Skrtel in the centre of defence.
Liverpool started the game off by keeping the ball for all of the first 4 minutes, the home side only had 3 touches in this time in which Liverpool settled the nerves and made sure that everyone got a touch. Little happened going forward for the Reds (playing in White tonight) and the first real chance was for Sparta as Pepe Reina was forced into a good save down to his left. While Liverpool looked confident on the ball they really did lack the penetration going forward and always looked vulnerable to the counter attack.
Reina made another save and Kyrgiakos made a great block but still nothing going forward. Aurelio went off injured (again) after just 37minutes and Joe Cole came on and he instantly made an impact. His first touch set up Ngog but his shot was straight at the Sparta keeper. Cole then had another good run but this time there was no end product as Kuyt was dispossessed but at least they had created something. The next chance came from a corner as Ngog headed wide but Kuyt was just inches away from turning it on target which brought a rather uneventful half to an end.
The second half started the way the majority of the first had gone with not much really happening and the only real chance came when good work from Kuyt and Johnson resulted in a towards Ngog but the keeper beat him to the ball and that was as exciting as it got for the first 15 minutes of the half. Sparta then had a good chance as Kweuke beat Kyrgiakos to the ball and his header went just wide. The big Greek defender then made up for being beaten to the ball as he stopped a break when a couple of his team mates where out of position. Glen Johnson then saw a shot with the outside of his right foot go wide but then Liverpool again looked under pressure from a Sparta break.
Smoke from a flare then delayed the game for a few minutes but when it resumed it was only a brilliant save by Reina that denied Kweuke who was allowed to control the ball, turn and shoot from a corner kick. With no shots on target after 83 minutes the next thing that happened was a shock to most people. Ngog went off and Skrtel came on as Liverpool reverted to 3 at the back with Johnson and Wilson playing as wing backs. Johnson forced another corner but Liverpool's intent was clear after the substitution and the rest of the game was played out very much the same way as the previous 85 minutes of the game with not much of note happening. While the result isn't the worst as the reds will fancy their chances of winning at Anfield and progressing in the Europa League this season but to say that the overall game was poor is a huge understatement.
Danny Wilson played really well in an overall poor game but I think that Glen Johnson provided the only real creativity so he was my Man of the Match but if Liverpool want to win this tie then a much improved performance is needed in the home leg next week which may feature new signing Andy Carroll on the bench.

England Dominant as Flood and Ashton Shine.

England met Wales at the Millennium Stadium in the first game of the 2011 Six Nations and the passion and atmosphere was clearly on show straight form the start. Steven Jones took the first hit after less than a minute as both sides continued to show the passion from the national anthems but poor defending and silly mistakes gave away early penalties. Luckily for England Hook missed his penalty and a few minutes later Stephen Jones also missed.

Ashton celebrates extravagantly as he goes over for
England's first try.

When England did finally get some on the possession and made some good runs the final pass went wrong as Ashton and Foden had to try and get hold of poor passes. England then finally worked things the right way and Toby Flood found a huge gap in the Wales defence to set up Chris Ashton for the first score of the 2011 Six Nations and it was right under the posts so Flood easily converted to give England a 7-0 lead after 15 minutes. The scrum had been poor all game and the next score came from Wales conceding a penalty from the scrum which Flood easily converted to give England a 10 point lead. James Haskell then gave away yet another penalty after kicking the ball out the ruck and Jones didn't make the same mistake again as he got the first 3 points for Wales.

England then had a number of good runs with the ball and attack after attack was drawing them closer to the Wales try line but a turnover allowed a breakout to over the half way line and put themselves back under pressure. The home crowd roared and Wales mounted a charge on England who scrambled back in defense and it was only Deacon jumping over the ruck that stopped the attack. The foul resulted in a yellow card for the England number 4 and once the penalty was scored by Jones England had to try and survive for the next ten minutes a man down. England, as expected, tried to absorb the pressure and keep the ball. In an attempt to get the ball back Wales conceded a penalty and Flood restored England's 7 point lead. The next attack came from a great cross field kick which Stoddart got a hand to and the resultant scrum allowed England to run down the clock on the sin bin, without having conceded while a man down, and once they had seen out a final Welsh attack they got thought to half time 13-6 up.
The second half started much the same as the first with Wales having much of the ball and England giving away another penalty. It differed to the first half as Jones scored the kick to cut England's lead to just 4 points. England then started to build again and hands in the ruck by Mitchell resulted in a penalty and a yellow card and Flood hit another good kick to again restore England's 7 point lead. This time it was Wales who kept the ball patiently while a man down and they kept the ball for a long time despite a few loose passes and when they did lose the ball they kept England out but got lucky when a knock on just a few metres out meant they survived. A series of line outs then followed for England who kept the pressure on and when they finally got quick ball from the ruck the backs flew the ball through the hands out to the right for Ashton who got his second try of the game right in the corner. Flood hit yet another super kick to convert the try and gave England a 23-9 lead as Mitchell came back on.
Wales came straight back and they broke the England line, which wasn't straight, and Stoddart took a difficult pass and turned to get over the line to Wales hope. Jones converted well from a tight angle to cut the lead back to 7 points. A brutal few tackles from Wales resulted in three England players being left lying on the floor but they had a penalty for their troubles which Flood kicked to the corner. This was to be Flood's last contribution in which he had been the star man so far. His replacement was non other than Jonny Wilkinson who straight away put in three good tackles. Harpe then gave away another silly penalty and Wales reduced the lead further with Hook's kick but England where still 4 points up with 10 minutes to go.
England then had drive after drive stopped by Wales on their own try line as England wasted an opportunity to score vital points and Wales eventually got a penalty. England then got their own penalty and Wilkinson scored with ease to end ten consecutive points by Wales and restored a 7 point lead for the away team. England then held off Wales for the remaining few minutes and when Care kicked it to touch after the 80 mins England won the first game of the 2011 Six Nations 26-19 and now have three home games on the run and will be looking for a similar result in all of them with the toughest test looking likely to be against France.
Flood was man of the match after controlling the game kicking all of his kicks and setting up the first try and if he continues on this form then England will surely justify their tag as favourites for the overall win.

Super Suarez Stuns Stoke

Liverpool started the game with a number of changes the most notable of which was that Kyrgiakos came in to the centre of the defence which meant the Liverpool played three centre backs and stuck with Johnson at left back and Kelly at right back. Meireles was behind Kuyt up front and Gerrard Lucas and Aurelio completed the midfield. After a busy transfer deadline day Luis Suarez was on the bench and Andy Carroll greeted the crowd before the game but is still out for about another 3 weeks with a thigh strain.
The defensive formation wasn't expected by the Anfield faithful and for large periods of the first half it didn't look like it was working but the team worked hard together and as expected with five at the back they kept Stoke out as they too played a defensive game. Suarez then changed the game by heading out to warm up and this lifted the crowd and then a few quick fire headers firstly from Johnson and then from Kuyt followed. Begovic in the Stoke goal did well to stop them both and he also prevented Kuyt again as the Dutchman had a few more half chances in the first 45mins. 

The team celebrates after Meireles gave them the lead.



After the break Liverpool went straight back on to the attack and a good run from the back by Agger was stopped by former red Salif Diao and the following free kick lead to the first goal. Gerrard's cross/shot was deflected into the path of Kyrgiakos who calmly controlled the ball inside the area and touched it back to Meireles who lashed in his 3rd Liverpool goal in 4 games, much to the delight of the Liverpool fans. Another thing that was to the delight of the Liverpool fans was the sight of one of their new signings coming on and it didn't take Suarez long to make an impact. A Kuyt flick released Liverpool's new number seven on goal and Suarez rounded Begovic in the Stoke goal and rolled it goal wards for a 2-0 lead. Wilkinson got a boot to the striker's shot but he could only help it into the net off the post but it will be classed as a Suarez goal as it was on target and it's his first goal on a near perfect start for the £23million man. After the game manager Kenny Dalglish confirmed that Suarez hadn't even had a training session with the rest of the team but he had already shown some great links with Kuyt and Gerrard in particular and he always wanted the ball and kept moving. If this performance was any think to go by then Liverpool have got a very special talent and when Carroll recovers from injury there is the prospect of another great partnership.



Suarez celebrates after his debut goal.

The result kept the reds in 7th and made it three wins in three for Liverpool after the wins against Wolves away and against Fulham at home last week, and continued to show that they are on the way up. Next up for Liverpool is Chelsea away on Sunday in which all the players should be up for following a certain Spaniard's derogatory comments.





Suarez showed signs of real quality in his first game.



Deadline Day Drama

It's been a whirlwind few days for all Liverpool fans who have been following the transfer news and speculations but it all came to an end at 11pm on the 31st of January and no one could have predicted all the goings even just a month ago.

I'm going to start with the last deal to be concluded and that was Fernando Torres who moved to Chelsea for a figure believed to be £50million. Just 3 weeks ago Torres spoke publicly of his desire to play for Liverpool and that his passion for the club was the same as it was the day he came here. By handing in a transfer request with 3 days to go in the transfer window it either means that he always had no passion for Liverpool or he told us a pack of lies. He also spoke publicly in the summer of how Liverpool needed investment and how they needed to draw in big players. I think every Liverpool fan will agree that what he said that time was true but the surprise then is that just hours after Liverpool had a £23million bid for Suarez accepted by Ajax the transfer request came in.

If Torres had left during the summer I would have had no problem with it. The manager who had signed him and helped him settle in had been sacked, the owners were drawing money out of the club and sending it into a spiral of decline and other big players where leaving too. Why stay at a club that was on the way down? The difference now is that we have new owners, investment coming into the club, big name players arriving and the biggest legend of the club is the manager. All the things that I said would be reasons for him to go had changed and Liverpool are now on their way back up. I really don't understand why he has chosen now as the time to betray the very faithful Liverpool fans who had stuck with him through the thick and the thin.

Yes he did very well for us but he was trusted and loved by so many. You can't break the trust like that and still expect to be loved. He said he wants to have a good future at a club so leaves a club with new owners and a club about to be on the up and he goes to the team with the oldest average age in the league?

He said in an interview straight after the move that "it is important when you have the support of the people in the club, and the support of the fans who always showed respect to me when I came to Stamford Bridge and at Anfield." I find this offensive as he has always had the support of the fans. Even when he was playing badly and missing easy chances he still had the best support of all the players in the whole of Europe if not the world and he still had his name chanted. At Atletico he was loved as the home grown talent, and here he was loved by every Liverpool fan. He'd made himself one of the most loved in history and that's quite a feat but Chelsea will sing his name maybe once and then that will be it until they get given a plastic Torres flag to wave. He wont know how loved he was here until he sees their pathetic support. If he'd gone to Barca or another foreign team I wouldn't mind because we wont have to play against him and if he'd gone and kept his mouth shut I wouldn't have minded as much but the fact that his first statement was that he always wanted to play for a big club and that he is slagging Liverpool off so soon after the deal just proves what he's really interested in and why Liverpool will move on without him. Yes he was a truly brilliant player but his form in the last 18 months has been really poor and Liverpool have made nearly £30 million profit on Torres thanks to that highly inflated price so I think we've got the much better end of the deal by getting so much for a player who wanted to leave and didn't care about the club.

Part of the £50 million that was coming in from the Torres deal was already agreed before Torres betrayed Liverpool. A£23million fee was agreed for Luis Suarez and the prospect of seeing the two playing alongside each other was something that was a very short lived dream. Suarez was the leading goal scorer in the Dutch league and had scored 111 goals in 159 games for Ajax as well as having 10 goals in 30 games for Uruguay. The striker is not adverse to controversy however as he has just finished a 7 game ban for biting a PSV player on the shoulder during a game and he broke Ghana hearts during the World Cup as he stopped the ball on the line with his hands in the last minute, got sent off and then was seen celebrating when the penalty was missed and his Uruguay team won the game after a shoot out.

Carroll meets Dalglish at Melwood after his record transfer.

The rest of the money Liverpool brought in was spent on a young English talent as 22 year old Andy Carroll became the British record signing when he moved from Newcastle to Liverpool for £35million. While every Liverpool fan agrees that the price is far too high this is the price of modern football and you have to pay extra for home grown players, you also pay more on the last day of a transfer window and more is needed to draw a player from his home town club and even more is needed to secure someone who is a proven scorer yet still so young and with so many years ahead of him. Carroll is another player who has caused a lot of controversy after punching his ex-girlfriend and having his car burnt he was ordered to live with Newcastle captain Kevin Nolan where he allegedly had a "drug fueled orgy". Carroll is still only young and I have no doubt that Kenny will take him under his wing and he will learn from the very best and mature at Liverpool.

Things look much more positive from the new owners however they still haven't spent much as the £58million spent on Suarez and Carroll has been balanced by the £57million coming in from the sale of Torres and Babel. Many Liverpool fans will be looking forward to seeing the duo of Lou and Andy up front and it has the prospect of being the next Toshack and Keegan however we will have to wait a little longer yet as Carroll is still recovering from a thigh injury. Liverpool's next game is against Stoke at home but the game after that is Chelsea away and if the team needs any motivation they just need to look at the comments made by Torres and that should give them enough of a team talk and allow them to go out fired up and ready to show him what he's missing.