November 03, 2007

THIS THREAD MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THOSE WATCHING AT A LATER DATE/TIME. Arsenal go even shortly after the break!

posted by scully at 09:13 AM on November 03, 2007

It's gone bloody bonkers for me this week. Goals coming in from all corners. I've got goals from Ronaldo, Fabregas (captain!), Benjani, Dempsey, Laursen. And a clean sheet for all three of my Villa defenders. Veddy good. Now all I need is for Liverpool to trash Blackburn and it will be a perfect weekend.

posted by worldcup2002 at 12:01 PM on November 03, 2007

Yes, I had a nice set of Tits this week, didn't I? As for Liverpool v Rovers: Gerrard was not the problem. It was Brad Friedel playing out of his head today. Stevie had two beautiful runs and shots that only Friedel could stop, and Friedel did. I was more frustrated with Kewell, who had some good moves, but still looks rusty and unwilling to run at players. His final touches and passes were poor. In the final 15 minutes, I don't think he got a single pass or cross to a Liverpool player. This was especially grating when he was doing well positioning himself and making space for a pass. Still, not enough mobility and sharpness. Kuyt was a game tryer, and definitely worked up enough sweat today, but his touches were off, too. Crouchie came on with twenty minutes left and made his presence felt, too, especially winning the header that set up Stevie's shot. But no getting by Friedel today. I think we had Blackburn well-contained today, but didn't have enough in the final third to punch through the defence. And when we did, it was down in the center, with players coming from deep to pick up the layoffs. Unfortunately, we had Friedel "The Wall" to contend with. I didn't see any good crosses either. Don't know what Finnan was trying to do. And Kewell was doing bloody sod all in the crossing department. Riise, too. Babbel was also playing very much down the middle. With Riise and Kewell out left, I would've liked to see Babbel and Finnan stretching Rovers more on the right. But no luck with that. Having Pennant out is doing us a doozy. And I guess having Kuyt and Benayoun upfront doesn't exactly make for good heading targets.

posted by worldcup2002 at 05:07 PM on November 03, 2007

That's true about Kewell, though I just chalked it up to him still being rusty from -- what, a year? Longer? -- his long injury hiatus. He's made a few appearances over the last few months, but he's clearly yet to get his full sea legs under him. That's only going to take time. I don't understand why Crouch doesn't get more playing time. He makes defences uncomfortable just by his presence, and it's not like the pretty Spaniard or even Voronin is finishing any more consistently than he is.

posted by chicobangs at 07:57 PM on November 03, 2007

So, Keane scores 6 of Tottenham's last 9 league goals (or 5 of their last 5) and he starts on the bench? I mean you can't say that Spurs didn't need a shakeup sitting third from bottom, but to bench the only guy scoring goals? Is Ramos getting tips from Benitez?

posted by gspm at 07:51 AM on November 04, 2007

Bill said it.

posted by worldcup2002 at 08:58 PM on November 04, 2007

For some reason, the Reds never like to make it easy on themselves.

posted by worldcup2002 at 04:12 PM on November 06, 2007