Liverpool Story — November 2012

Hello friends, it’s time for the next update about my Liverpool story. We left of in October top of the table and now we wanted to rack up the points to open up a lead.

The first game of the month saw us travel to Sheffield United, a game I expected to win. The match was a very good one for us, with the players playing well. We created a lot of chances and should have scored more than we did. David Silva opened the scoring for us after just two minutes, with a placed finish from Gignac’s through ball. We had to wait until the 79th minute to confirm the win, when Gignac slotted home from Torres’ cross. A good win, then and a good way to start November.

Next up was a Champions League tie at home to Feyenoord, a win here would seal qualification to the Knockout Stages. I am happy to say that we absolutely hammered them, the lads turned in a great performance and we took our chances. Francesco Magnanelli gave us the lead with a beautiful strike into the top corner from 20 yards. Torres then scored his first with a cool finish one-on-one. Gignac then scored the first of his hat-trick with a good volley, before doubling his tally with a placed shot just 3 minutes later. Torres then added his second with the rebound after Gerrard’s effort was saved, before Gignac completed his hat-trick with a header. The only sour note was Anthony Anderson being dismissed, for a foul where he was apparently last man, even though there were two defenders behind him.

 After the demolition of Feyenoord, Southampton arrived at Anfield not in good form and I felt this was another opportunity for a good win. I am pleased to say we managed it through a double from Gignac, who continued his excellent form, and goals from Torres, Silva and Aquilani, as well as a penalty from Gerrard. Another good win, our strikers and attacking players were on fire and the goals were flowing freely.

 The next match was a tricky trip to Man City, in the Premier League. We took the lead through Torres, but after that it was one way traffic and City dominated us. It was against the run of play, therefore, when Torres was tripped in the box and Gerrard fired in the penalty. City continued to press, and had an amazing 19 shots in the game, compared to our 7! Kuyt then got them a deserved goal and I thought the last 15 minutes would be tricky, but Torres headed another in and the game was sealed.

 We travelled to Burnley for the next game, in high spirits and on a good run of form. However what happened was completely unexpected. Rodriguez (who is a really good player on the game, and I am considering calling him up for England) gave them the lead with a beautiful shot into the top corner to leave Reina beaten. Jules Jourdain then gave away a penalty from which Fletcher scored, and in the 57th minute Carragher inexplicably booted into his own net with nobody near him. It was a disappointing result, a lack of creativity up front and defensive errors at the back giving Burnley a surprise, and probably deserved victory.

 We had to return to winning ways in the next game, the local derby against Everton. Fortunately the players picked themselves up and turned in a fantastic performance, as we wallopped our neighbours. Two goals from Gignac, the star performer of the month, as well as goals from Magnanelli, a tap in, a close range header from Srna and a header from a corner from Otamendi, gave us the victory.

 The next game was again at Anfield, against struggling Newcatsle. Unfortunately the match was a poor one, but we scraped a 1-0 victory thanks to Steven Taylor deflecting in a Silva cross. It was a poor performance, and the result was cruel on Newcastle, but I was pleased we had got the three points.

 The last game of the month was another home tie, this time against Porto. We had already qualified so I sent out a weakened team, and gave the youngsters a chance. One of the few first team regulars, Aquilani won the match for us with a stunning 25 yard strike. In truth, we didn’t deserve this win, as you can see from the match stats, as Porto dominated and created far more chances. They couldn’t take them though, and we won thanks to a good performance from Alphose Areola, who made some good saves.

A pretty good month then, aside from the very disappionting and unexpected defeat to Burnley. We are still sitting top, 6 points clear of  Arsenal, as we head into a busy Christmas period, where we will play 7 games, 5 of them away.

We will try and pick up more points so we can build up a big lead, to rest players later in the season before the Champions League Knockout Stages, the draw of which I await eagerly. Thanks for reading, I am looking forward to hearing your responses!