22/12/2008
liverpool remain top of the table after a 1-1 draw away to arsenal. the gunners, at home, weathered some early pressure from the reds, as gerrard and keane combined to test arsenal’s defenses. however it was van persie who broke the deadlock when arsenal settled in and started to get possession for themselves.
despite some good ball control, arsenal were struggling to deal with liverpool’s long ball passes.
just before half time, a long ball from agger that found keane up front, who smashed home the half volley.
liverpool and arsenal continued to trade shots after the break but neither side could make the most of their chances. liverpool started to dominate possession and arsenal were reduced to 10 men after their captain received a second yellow card. the reds went close with a few shots, agger and el zhar were unlucky not to score, liverpool were not able to claim all three points.
as it stands, liverpool remain top of the table with a two point break over chelsea. however the blues still have a game in hand, against everton tonight, in a match that they should win. it’s likely that chelsea will leapfrog liverpool into top position, by a single point.
liverpool now prepare to face bolton wanderers in the premier league’s traditional boxing day fixtures.
in other news, liverpool have drawn real madrid in the knockout stage of this year’s champion’s league. the reds finished top of their group and drew real madrid who finished second behind juventus. liverpool will be relishing the chance to play madrid, and it should be a cracking match.
14/12/2008
liverpool have drawn yet another game they should have won. the reds hosted hull at anfield last night and it seemed from the outset that the home side would walk away easy winners. however, despite liverpool’s dominance, they were unable to put hull away and claim all three points.
hull, recent promotion winners, have enjoyed a great season and are currently in sixth position on the premier league table. the visitors didn’t look to be able to keep up with the anfield squad, however hull got a lucky break and scored early. their lead was doubled after a rare jamie carragher error resulting in an own goal.
liverpool poured forward, seeking much needed goals, after being shocked and suddenly 2-0 down. captain and liverpool hero steven gerrard came to the rescue with two goals. both goals were short range goals after gerrard found himself on the end of good build up play. the first goal came via a perfect kuyt cross. the second came when benayoun put the ball into gerrard’s path, leaving the captain with the simple job of driving the ball into the net.
the reds continued to dominate and missed a mulititude of chances, much to benitez’s chagrin. the spaniard said that if liverpool were still leading the league by new year, they’d be an 80% chance of winning the premiership. however that possibility took a slight dent after last night’s draw.
fortunately, in other games, manchester united and arsenal both drew their respective matches. as a result, arsenal have now dropped down to fifth position, behind aston villa. that’s a dangerous place for the gunners to be. if villa can hold onto fourth, then they’ll nick a champions league place from arsenal next season.
chelsea play their match tonight. a victory will give them a one point lead over liverpool.
the reds now look toward their crucial away game against arsenal. before that, liverpool will discover their next opponents in champions league, which is drawn on december 19th.
13/11/2008
liverpool exit the carling cup after being defeated by cup holders tottenham on wednesday. the reds came into the match having already lost to spurs in the premier league, the loss was their first of the season in all competitions. tottenham scored 3 first half goals, but liverpool scored twice to put themselves back in the game. liverpool’s goals came on either side of the break with reserve player damien plessis heading in the first and sami hyypia heading in the second after half time. however the spurs’ fourth goal put the game out of liverpool’s reach.
the reds will not be too disappointed about the loss. with the exception of torres and agger, the entire liverpool side was made up of reserve and bench players. tottenham, still trying to claw their way out of a terrible start to the season, played a strong team.
having exited the carling cup, liverpool can now focus on maintaining their strong start in the league. liverpool travel to bolton this weekend and are at home to fulham next weekend. both games are ‘must win’ matches for the reds.
4/11/2008
john mccain has conceded the american election, meaning that barack obama becomes america’s 44th president and the first non-white american president.
at the time of this post, obama had 333 points (needing 270 to win) to mccain’s 156 points. the democrats won 56 senate seats (needing 51 for control of the senate) and 235 house of representatives seats (needing 218 seats). this represents a landslide victory for obama and the democrats.
congratulations to barack obama on his amazing and historic win.
i think this is kind of appropriate, and funny!
btw, i don’t really like referring to obama as the first african american president. i think this type of language creates binaries and opposites, kind of us and them. while white and non-white are also opposites, i think it’s a lot less divisive.
here’s hoping that he puts america back on the path of being a truly great, free and democratic country … not the country of warfare and cronyism that it has been for the last eight years.
