Liverpool Story — October 2012

Hello everyone, welcome to the next update about my Liverpool story. We had made a good start in September, and now it was into October, a gruelling month with 7 fixtures.

The first match of the month was a Champions League group stage tie at home to Rangers. It was a game I expected us to win, as I feel we are a superior team to Rangers. We took the lead in the 34th minute, when Gignac headed home at the back post from Johnson’s right wing cross. The match continued with us on top, and we finally rounded of the victory when Torres headed in Silva’s fine cross, after a great run from him. Torres then added some gloss, with a powerful penalty, after he had been tripped in the area. A good win, then and it keeps us on course for top spot in the Champions League group.

Next up was an away trip to St Andrews to face struggling Birmingham, in the league. We went ahead early on through Sanchez, who ran onto Gerrard’s through ball, to slot past the Birminham keeper. The advantage was doubled when Torres shot into the bottom corner, on the volley, from Sanchez’s cross. Unfortunately Sanchez then strained his knee ligaments and will be out for 8 weeks. We continued to dominate and sealed the game when Torres’ through ball found Gerrard, who smashed it in. Another good win, then, our second 3-0 win in a row.

The next match was back at Anfield, where we played Hull. We had lots of chances, and that we only won 3-0 was due to the performance of Boaz Myhill, who had a blinder. Nevertheless, we took the lead when Gerrard headed in unmarked from Gignac’s free kick. We had to wait until the 75th minute to double our lead, Torres ghosted past McShane and slotted past Myhill. Fabiano finished the game off when he ran onto Insua’s through ball and beat Myhill one-on-one. It was another 3-0 victory, our third in a row, and we had now played 5 matches without conceding, a testament to our solid defence and very good goalkeeper, Reina.

An international break followed the Hull game, and England had two fixtures to play. We had to win these games after the disappointing draw against Ireland in our opening qualifying match.

For the first match we travelled to San Marino, a weak team I expected us to beat with ease. Despite this I still put out a strong team and was rewarded with a 5-1 victory. Peter Crouch gave us the lead in the 7th minute when Gerrard played him in and he calmly slotted home. San Marino equalised, however with a brilliant free kick that left Foster with no chance. Barry, who had just come on for the injured Gerrard, restored the lead with a penalty, after Young had been brought down. After that it was one way traffic and Crouch scored again, with a volley from a deflected Johnson cross. He had to wait until the 73rd minute to complete his hat-trick, heading in at the near post after Lennon beat his marker and crossed. Michael Carrick then completed the scoring with a placed shot, for his first goal for England.

I would also like to mention that we had no Rooney for either of these games, after he suffered a broken ankle playing for Man Utd.

Onto the next game, then, and we had a home tie against Switzerland to play. They were topping the group, so it was an important game for us. Crouch continued were he left of against San Marino and gave us the advantage with a placed shot from the edge of the area. Gerrard then doubled the lead with a screamer from outside the box, that arrowed into the top corner. Alex Geijo, then pulled one back for Switzerland, but they couldn’t create more chances, and we held on quite easily. It was a good win for us, and means we are now equal on points with Ireland, but with a better goal difference, so we are now top.

After this it was back to Liverpool then, and a tricky trip to Spurs awaited us. It was a very strange game, we went 3-0 up, with only 3 shots, after goals from Gignac, a very good one from Insua, and a placed shot from Silva. Despite this Tottenham had dominated and had taken many more shots and created more opportunities. Crouch then pulled one back, and immediately we began to dominate, but amazingly Tottenham scored again, with Crouch doubling his tally. We managed to hold on, but it was a very strange game. It seemed whoever was on top conceded, rather than the other way round, which is what usually happens. Still, it was a good win and meant we kept up our good form.

Another Champions League tie was next up, as we travelled to Feyenoord. The played very badly and we punished them with a placed effort from Silva, and a penalty from Gerrard. It was quite an uneventful match, to be honest, but I was pleased with the win.

Next up, was another Premier League game, this time at home to Wolves. Gignac gave us a deserved lead, after Gerrard’s pass found him in the area, and he powered past Hennessy. He then scored again to give us a two goal cushion, rounding Hennessy and slotting home. Milijas, the scored a beauty, to pull one back, but despite Wolves then creating lots of chances, they failed to convert them and we hung on for the win.

The last game of the month was a home game in the League Cup in the fourth round. I made plenty of changes, resting Torres, Gignac, Gerrard, Silva, Johnson and Mascherano. We were also missing Insua, who will be out for 2 weeks, with injury. Aston Villa went ahead from a corner, Nigel Reo-Coker heading in. We equalised on the stroke of half time through 19 year old striker Roman Vavilov, who slotted in after a fine run. It was a great start for him, as this was his debut, and he looks like he is a great prospect. The match continued with neither team able to break the other down, and it was no surprise when the match went to penalties. I was confident going into them, as we have strong penalty takers, and, looking through their line up I felt we held an advantage. I was proved wrong, however and we lost due to Anthony Anderson (penalties-16) missed and John Pantsil (penalties-8) scored and we were out. I am not too worried about this because I don’t feel the League Cup is that important, but is was still a disappointing result.

Here is the league table at the end of October. We are sitting comfortably top, with games in hand on most of the teams below. I feel we have a great chance of winning the league this season, although the main goal is currently the Champions League.

Here are the fixtures for November. It will be a very tough month, with 8 games bound to stretch our squad. We will have to see how they cope.

That’s all for now, thanks for reading!