An unlucky deflection through the luckiest and jammiest player on earth and a rush of blood through Peter Crouch’s head in the space of a minute put paid of Liverpool’s hopes of advancing to this year’s League Cup semi-finals. At the very last minute it was then a Shevchenko’s goal which all but sealed the issue.
The League Cup has always been down the pecking order in a list of priorities, and has usually been seen to the other cups what a scribbler is to a writer but the chance to join three other Premiership sides in the last four and a defeat at Stamford Bridge always hurt.
Benitez continued with his philosophy of using most of his younger and fringe players, together with the ones coming back from injuries for this competition. Jamie Carragher was given the armband and looked like a father figure to most of the lads on the pitch. His vocal chords, directions and advises were ever present complimented with tackles and interceptions. It was diabolical for him to be the one who deflected Lampard’s shot only to wrong foot Charles Itjande and give Chelsea the lead. It felt like a proud parent who takes his kid’s hand to let him stand up on his feet only to fall at the very end himself after stepping on an unseen slippery slope. The midfield pairing of Xabi Alonso and Lucas Leiva proved interesting and some tidy stuff particularly in the first forty-five minutes. Alonso reminded us of his simple football, with short passes that got Liverpool out of trouble with ease and Leiva had another satisfactory night and was only denied of his first Liverpool goal by a very good save from Petr Cech. Momo Sissoko joined them in the midfield on the pitch, as always was full of running and as most of the times lately squandered the ball needlessly sometimes wrong footing himself rather than the opposition.
After the blow on Sunday, yesterday could have been a pill to ease the pain, but it seemed the doctor was wary of the side-effects such pill could leave on next Saturday, as Harry Redknapp’s Portsmouth travel to Anfield, a game in which a win is imperative and that can leave us with a marginally better shape for this Christmas.
The League Cup has always been down the pecking order in a list of priorities, and has usually been seen to the other cups what a scribbler is to a writer but the chance to join three other Premiership sides in the last four and a defeat at Stamford Bridge always hurt.
Benitez continued with his philosophy of using most of his younger and fringe players, together with the ones coming back from injuries for this competition. Jamie Carragher was given the armband and looked like a father figure to most of the lads on the pitch. His vocal chords, directions and advises were ever present complimented with tackles and interceptions. It was diabolical for him to be the one who deflected Lampard’s shot only to wrong foot Charles Itjande and give Chelsea the lead. It felt like a proud parent who takes his kid’s hand to let him stand up on his feet only to fall at the very end himself after stepping on an unseen slippery slope. The midfield pairing of Xabi Alonso and Lucas Leiva proved interesting and some tidy stuff particularly in the first forty-five minutes. Alonso reminded us of his simple football, with short passes that got Liverpool out of trouble with ease and Leiva had another satisfactory night and was only denied of his first Liverpool goal by a very good save from Petr Cech. Momo Sissoko joined them in the midfield on the pitch, as always was full of running and as most of the times lately squandered the ball needlessly sometimes wrong footing himself rather than the opposition.
After the blow on Sunday, yesterday could have been a pill to ease the pain, but it seemed the doctor was wary of the side-effects such pill could leave on next Saturday, as Harry Redknapp’s Portsmouth travel to Anfield, a game in which a win is imperative and that can leave us with a marginally better shape for this Christmas.
posted by jean paul at 8:13 pm
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