Liverpool Story — November 2013, a Slight Wobble

Hello friends, and welcome back to my Liverpool story on FM 2010! After a very good October, it was time to crack on with playing November, where we had some tough matches to play.

We started the month with a home tie against Blackburn, and before the game I was confident we could win the match. The start of the match was pretty boring, not much happened until the 26th minute. Gignac skipped away from his marker and powered home, in a sudden and unexpected incident in the match. After that it livened up a bit, but we had until the 75th minute to double the lead, Gignac picking up Sanchez’s ball and placing it in. Darren Bent got a consolation goal in the 87th minute for them, but it meant nothing and we had picked up another 3 points.

After the game Torres picked up a hamstring injury which will keep him out for three weeks. It was a blow to us after the great scoring form he’d been in, but it meant Niklas Danielsson had the chance to impress.

Next up and we had a potentially tricky tie away to Bordeaux in our Champions League Group. We got off to a good start and went ahead in the 18th minute through David Silva, who poked in after the goalkeeper fumbled Sanchez’s cross. The match was still very even though, and Bordeaux got the equaliser on the stroke of half time, Kerzhakoz volleyed in from ten yards. The match looked to be drifting to a draw but disaster struck near the end when Kerzkhaoz turned and fired. I thought we had earned a draw when we won a penalty in the last minute, but Gignac’s tame kick was saved and we had slipped to a disappointing draw in a game where we deserved a point. We were still top of the group though, and one more win would seal qualification.

The next game was against West Brom, who had the dangerous Chris Wood up front. It took until just before half time to break the deadlock, Gerrard’s pass found Danielsson who placed it in. I was confident we could grab another goal to kill the game off  but we couldn’t score again and West Brom levelled in the 70th minute through Simon Cox. It was a disappointing result as we should have won, but we still had an advantage over Man City so I wasn’t too worried.

The next game was a big one, at home to second place Man City. Torres still wasn’t back and, seeing as we hadn’t won while he was injured, that was a disappointment. The match was very boring to be honest, barely any chances were created. Our best fell to Gignac, but he couldn’t convert it. City weren’t looking at all dangerous but with 5 minutes to go Jo beat Otamendi to the ball and finished past Reina. We couldn’t respond and slipped to our first home defeat in three years. I was bitterly disappointed, and we now hadn’t won for three games without Torres.

Thankfully El Nino was back for the final game of the month, in the Champions League against Olympiakos. A win would send us through with a game to spare, and I wanted to secure qualification as early as possible. The team were buyoed by Torres’ return and within 30 seconds Gerrard had smashed us into the lead from long range. We were two up in the 14th minute, Gignac finished a good move with ease. It was three-nil when Gerrard scored a penalty after Torres was fouled, and the rout was completed by Torres, who scored a magical goal after beating three defenders. The only downside was that Gignac got sent off for two bookings, but as he will only be banned for one match, the final group game which is a dead rubber, it wasn’t to bad. Anyway, I was glad we were back to winning ways, and it ended the month on a high.

That concludes the month of November, then. The Champions League group table after the Olympaikos match shows that us and Bordeaux are safely through with a game to play, which is always pleasing and means we can rest some players in the final game.

The League table is now tighter after those disappointing results against Man City and West Brom, but we still lead and I am confident we can win the league once more.

So that ends the month, dear readers. I am worried with our performances during Torres’ absence, if he receives a serious injury we could really struggle. I hope we can get things back on track next month, when we have a busy schedule starting on the very first day of December, against Tottenham.

That’s all for now folks, thanks for reading what has been quite a turbulent month for us, I really hope we can improve in December.