Liverpool Story — March 2014

Hi everyone, welcome back to another month in my Liverpool story! After a good February when we secured a 1-1 draw away at Barcelona we had quite a busy and difficult month ahead of us. So, let’s get on with the month.

First up we were facing Everton in the merseyside derby, it’s worth noting we have never lost to them under my management. We were missing Fernando Torres and Roman Vavilov through injury, so I partnered Niklas Danielsson and Andre Pierre Gignac up front. Unfortunately Danielsson’s torrid season continued when he was forced off through injury in the 37th minute. This left me with no choice but to bring on Italian striker Giovani La Rosa, who is only 18, a highly promising player but nowhere near as good as the normal strikers. However it was the young striker that finally put us ahead, Turner missed his interception and La Rosa made him pay with a cool finish. We had to wait until the 86th minute to secure our victory, Srna knocked La Rosa in and he kept his composure with a good finish. What a way to make his league debut for the club! I was pleased we had another victory, the fans were very happy we had beaten our arch rivals once again.

After that good league win we had a trip to Sheff Unuted in the FA Cup 6th Round. With only a few days gone since the Everton game, and the second leg against Barcelona coming up, I decided to rest a lot of players. This sort of backfired on us, even though we played pretty well. Sheff Utd went ahead and we had wait until the 82nd minute for substitute Steven Gerrard to rescue us, he buried a trademark piledriver from 30 yards. It was a disappointing result for us, as with the amount of shots we had we should have scored more. It also adds an extra game to our very busy schedule, but we’ll have to live with that.

So next up was the big one, the second leg against Barcelona. If you remember we got a 1-1 draw at the Nou Camp, a result I was pleased with, but we had to finish the game at home. With Francesco Magnanelli suspended I replaced him with Alberto Aquilani, who played alongside Mascherano as a DMC, but a creative one set as a Deep Lying Playmaker.

The match started very evenly, both teams had a few chances, we had the best one when Sanchez volleyed straight at Valdes. A yard either side and it would have gone in. A slice of luck then came our way, Barcelona rattled the bar from a corner. I expected us to go in level, but on the stroke of half time Silva played in Torres, Valdes came out but Torres beat him to it and poked it in. We went in 1-0 up at the break then, and I was confident we could hold on. After the break Barca began to dominate but a telling stat is that they had no clear cut chances whatsoever. That meant we managed to hold on, we had knocked Barca out and were through to the Quarters!

After the game we were drawn against Genoa, a draw that is quite kind to us. We will have to be wary of them though, they won Serie A last season, although the quality isn’t great in Italy.

After the Barcelona game it was back to the Premier League, we were travelling to Blackburn. The match turned out to be a very exciting one for the neutrals, although at the end of it we were disappointed with the result. Blackburn went ahead when the ball was turned past Reina from a corner, but we hit back, Torres placed one in. I was pleased with the instant reaction, but after half time we went to sleep and allowed Kenwyne Jones to much space to head in. Once again we hit back, Gignac powered in a free kick from 25 yards to make it 2-2. I was confident we could go on and win, and I felt we had another goal in us. That proved to be correct when Torres scored his second, a great goal after holding of two defenders. I thought the scoring was over and that we had won, but it wasn’t to be, near the end Lorik Cana’s shot hit the post and trickled over the line to secure a point for Blackburn. I suppose I can’t really complain as it was a fantastic game, but I’m disappointed not to have won it all the same.

The next game for us was the FA Cup Replay against Sheff Utd. After the draw in the first game I sent out a stronger team, as I didn’t want it to go any further than the 90 minutes. Thankfully it didn’t, Magnanelli put us ahead with a fine effort, Torres scored twice, Rochina got one for them, but it ended 3-1. Two more goals from Torres took his tally to an incredible 39 goals in just 35 (1) games.

So we are through to the FA Cup Semi Final, we later learned that we will face Aston Villa in a very winnable tie.

We had one more game to play in March, a home tie in the Premier League against Tottenham. They caused us some problems in the previous game, back in December. Nothing like that happened here though, we absolutely blew them away in a stunning performance, particularly from Torres. He grabbed a brilliant hat trick, and goals from Gignac and Sanchez made it 5-0. Once again 5-0 was a bit harsh, Tottenham didn’t deserve to lose so heavily. Still I wasn’t complaining and another win had been secured.

During the game Glen Johnson and Emilano Insua both got injured. Fortunately Johnson’s isn’t a serious injury, he will be back soon. Insua has fractured ribs though, he will be out for at least a month.

So here is the league table then. Man City have closed the gap slightly but I am still sure we will win it.

Next month we have an unbelievably packed schedule, 9 games are going to be played in April. If we get through the Champions League Quarters it could well be more, our squad will be really tested next month.

That’s about all for now folks, I will be away at the weekend, so I may not post again until next week.

Thanks for reading everyone.