LIVERPOOL DRAW MAN CITY IN CARLING SEMI-FINALS

Liverpool have been drawn away to Man City in the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-finals.
It would have been nice to have drawn either Cardiff or Crystal Palace after their great defeat of Man Utd,
but we are playing so well right now that we don't mind who we face.

Semi-Final Draw:

CARLING CUP	HOME	AWAY
JANUARY 11TH	MAN CITY	LIVERPOOL
JANUARY 9TH	CRYTAL PALACE	CARDIFF
JANUARY 25TH	LIVERPOOL	MAN CITY
JANUARY 23RD	CARDIFF	CRYSTAL PALACE

The final takes place at Wembley on February 26th.


Want to place some football bets?

LIVERPOOL BEAT CHELSEA AGAIN 2-0

Liverpool sensationally beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge for the second time in 9 days.

They may thank Craig Bellamy for his role in setting up the two goals for Maxi and Martin Kelly in the 2nd-half.

The result stretches Liverpool's unbeaten run to 11 in all competitions and we kept another clean sheet.

Kenny Dalglish opted to rest several players after Sunday's draw with Man City. In came Coates, Kelly, Spearing, Maxi and Carroll.

Liverpool started quite well and were awarded a penalty when Alex handled in the box.
Carroll took the spot-kick but he hit a tame shot which Turnbull easily saved.
Chelsea never capitalised on the error though and Liverpool were the better side, Enrique had a shot saved on 40 mins.
Reina saved well at the feet of Malouda then Lukatu headed a Boswinga cross wide 
So, nil-nil at half-time with plenty to play for.

Chelsea started the brighter early in the second-half when Malouda's half- shot hit the crossbar, it fell to Luis but his shot was blocked by the impressive Coates.

Then Liverpool sprang into life when Bellamy burst forward on the right to cross to Maxi Rodriguez who scored in the 58th minute.
Five minutes later Liverpool had a free-kick just outside the box on the left. Bellamy took it expertly to find young Martin Kelly and he made no mistake with the header to make it 2-0 to the Reds.

Three minutes later, Craig Bellamy had a rasping shot well saved by Turnbull in the Chelsea goal-box.

The only downer was that Lucas, who was brilliant again in midfield,  went down in a tackle and seemed to injury his knee ligaments,
lets hope its not to serious as the lad had to go off on a stretcher, he was replaced by Charlie Adam with twenty minutes remaining.
Former Liverpool idol, Fernando Torres had a header well saved by Pepe Reina, it was the only effort Torres had all evening and he was roundly booed by the Liverpool support every time he had the ball, which wasn't too often.

Strangely, Dalglish brought Kuyt on for Bellamy with ten minutes left, maybe to help protect the lead.
Alex had a free-kick, conceded by Carroll, he duly blasted it over the bar.
Skrtel came on for Maxi on 90 mins and Torres drove a shot wide but he was ruled to be offside in any case.

Full time sounded and Liverpool had beaten Chelsea once again and are now into the semi-finals of the Carling Cup.

Man of the Match: Craig Bellamy

LIVERPOOL PLAYER RATINGS V MAN CITY

After a very creditable performance that we were unlucky (again) not to win, a draw against runaway leaders, Man City was a decent result and had it not been for Joe Hart's heroics in goal for City, Liverpool would and should have gotten all three points.

Yet, the manner of the performance, especially in the second-half was very pleasing and promises much for the remainder of the season.

Player Ratings:

Pepe Reina: 8/10. Another solid display by the Spaniard, did well to outwit Silva and Aguero in the 2nd half.

Glen Johnson: 7/10. Looked a class act again and nearly scored a repeat of his goal against Chelsea.

Martin Skrtel: 7/10. Was calm and composed throughout, playing well enough to keep Jamie out of the team.

Daniel Agger: 7/10. Gave a mostly commanding display but was out of position for Kompany's goal.

José Enrique: 7/10. Excellent at the back and going forward a great signing for Liverpool.

Jordan Henderson: 6/10. Had a quiet 1st-half, came into it a bit more in the second.

Charlie Adam: 8/10. Great all-round display by the Scot, his shot lead to Lescott's og.

Lucas Leiva: 8/10. The boy from Brazil has grown into a man, great performance by the Man of the Match.

Stewart Downing: 6/10. Another mixed performance by the £20 million man, showed some good attacking play but poor shooting in front of goal again.

Luis Suarez: 8/10. Tireless running and harrying by the Uraguaying up front, mostly on his own, created chances, ran the City defence ragged and had a great shot saved by Hart.

Dirk Kuyt: 6/10. Worked hard, as always but never looked like scoring.

Sub: Andy Carroll: 7/10. Had a great header brilliantly saved by Joe Hart at the death, should have come on sooner.


Next up: Chelsea on Tuesday in the Carling Cup.

Rest In Peace Gary Speed

POSSIBLE TEAM V MAN CITY FOR SUNDAY

In Sunday's crunch-match I have gone for almost the same team that Kenny put out against Chelsea, with Downing returning for Maxi.

Bellamy is a real handful running at defences either wide or central as shown from his goal-scoring pass to Maxi.

Downing is a left-sided winger and he should be played there, with Kuyt to fill in on the right.

Jamie Carragher may or may not play against City on Sunday because Agger and Skrtel have formed a mean partnership in Liverpool's defence.

I can't wait for Sunday as I believe we will turn Man City over.

LIVERPOOL TO ANNOUNCE THEMSELVES IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE WITH A VICTORY OVER MAN CITY

Liverpool have the opportunity to establish their Premier League credentials with the visit of mega-rich Man City at Anfield this Sunday.

Kenny's revival will be severly tested by Balotelli, Dzeko, Aguero and Silva this Sunday, those guys are scoring goals for fun in the Premier League this season.
However, Liverpool can count on the likes of Enrique, Agger, Lucas and Adam to counter-act those threats.
Especially with the victory over Chelsea last Sunday where we made them look distinctly second-best, I am confident that we can beat our wealthy neighbours this weekend.
I hope and expect a 2-1 win against the Manc's
this Sunday.

LIVERPOOL RESERVES 5-1 SUNDERLAND RESERVES

Liverpool's Ressies easily beat Sunderland's 5-1 at melwood this afternoon at Melwood.

Rodolfo Borell had the chance to pick Jay Spearing, Jonjo Flanagan and Sebastian Coates from the first team squad thanks to Kenny Dalglish's wish to give them playing time ahead of the Carling Cup tie with Chelsea this night week.

And it was Sebastian Coates who scored his first goal for Liverpool after only two minutes when he headed home a Suso cross from the right.

Liverpool had another soon after when a Jay Spearing pile-driver flew low into the net on 13 mins.

Liverpool were outplaying their younger rivals and they made it three just before half-time when Adam Morgan's shot found its way to Spearing again who side-footed the ball home to make it 3-0.

Coates was deemed to have fouled Sunderland's Lynch by the Ref and the resulting penalty was converted by Ryan Noble to give the young Makem's a lifeline.

Nathan Eccleston, back from his loan spell at Rochdale, came on as a sub for Adam Morgan on 61 mins and he managed to score two goals, one a great goal running from the halfway line to slam the ball past the keeper to make it 5-1.

And thats how the game finished, a good result for the young Reds following their bad defeat in the Next Gen Cup by Sporting Lisbon last week.

With Kenny Dalglish and Steve Clarke attending the game, they will surely have been pleased with what they saw.

LIVERPOOL BEAT CHELSEA AT THE BRIDGE

Liverpool beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge today with a fine solo run and shot by former Blue, Glen Johnson went in on 87 mins.



The Reds opened the better and deservedly went ahead on 33mins with a Craig Bellamy pass to Maxi Rodriguez who calmly scored the opening goal of the game.


It was a keenly fought encounter between the two sides with Liverpool the better side in the first half.


Villas-Boas brought on Daniel Sturridge at half-time and he scored on 55 minutes with a tap in from five yards to level up the game.


Chelsea were a much better side in the second period and Liverpool had to dig deep to stay in the game.


Reina made a great save from a Liuz header but that was as close as the Londoners came to scoring as Liverpool weathered out the storm and gradually came back into the game.


Kenny Dalglish brought on Henderson and Downing for Craig Bellamy and Maxi and the team looked solid again.
Former Reds, Torres and Miereles came on with about ten minutes to go, but Liverpool held firm.


It was all set for a draw until Glen Johnson picked up a great pass from Charlie Adam and ran towards goal unopposed and struck a sweet winner for the Reds.

PROBABLE TEAM LINE-UP V CHELSEA

Ah the joys of photoshop.
Anyway here is my predicted team that Liverpool will play against Chelsea later on today at 4pm.

There is enough goal-threat in  that Liverpool side to beat any team.

2-1 to the Reds.

Well I got the team wrong but I predicted the right result, well done Glen Johnson and Liverpool.

SUAREZ CHARGED BY FA OF RACIAL ABUSE

Liverpool's Luis Suarez has today been formally charged with racial abuse at Man Utd's Patrice Evra.
 ''The FA has today charged Liverpool's Luis Suarez following an incident that occurred during the Liverpool versus Manchester United fixture at Anfield on 15 October 2011. It is alleged that Suarez used abusive and/or insulting words and/or behaviour towards Manchester United's Patrice Evra contrary to FA rules.

''It is further alleged that this included a reference to the ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race of Patrice Evra. The FA will issue no further comment at this time.''

Suarez did appear to admit calling Evra a 'negrito' claiming that in South-America, this is not considered a racial slur.
Liverpool have maintained their support of the player and issued a statement on their official website:



''The Club this afternoon received notification from the Football Association of their decision to charge Luis Suarez and will take time to properly review the documentation which has been sent to us.
''We will discuss the matter fully with him when he returns from international duty, but he will plead not guilty to the charge and we expect him to request a personal hearing. Luis remains determined to clear his name of the allegation made against him by Patrice Evra. The Club remain fully supportive of Luis in this matter.''

WATCH MARTIN KELLY'S GOAL FOR ENGLAND U-21'S V ICELAND

Great to see Liverpool's Martin Kelly score against Iceland for England U-21's last night, the rising Liverpool star played as a centre-back, his best position, yet he managed to bomb forward in the 2nd-half to score a great goal in a 5-0 win

IMAGE OF REMEMBERANCE POPPY ARMBAND

This is an image of the Poppy Day armband that the England under-21's are currently wearing v Iceland this evening.


It will, of course, also be worn by the Senior England team V Spain on Saturday.


Its a dignified logo and it stands out very well, over the jersey.
Its a respectful way to honour the dead soldiers of the Great War and World War II.

IF YOU THINKS CARROLL'S MISS WAS BAD, WATCH TORRE'S ONE V BLACKBURN

After today's hugely disappointing draw at home to Swansea, especially Andy Carroll's miss(at least he hit the crossbar), console yourselves a bit by seeing ex-red Torres sky a similar chance way into the stand.  

JONJO SHELVEY SCORES HAT-TRICK FOR BLACKPOOL

A good night for Liverpool loanee, Jonjo Shelvey at Blackpool.
The promising midfielder scored three times for Ian Hollaway's Blackpool away to Leeds.

Shelvey scored from the penalty spot on 27 minutes soon followed by a shot that found the net on the half-hour mark.
The talented youngster completed his hat-trick with another goal in the second-half on 73 minutes.

Lualua also scored twice to trounce Leeds 5-0 at Elland Road, the win moves Blackpool up to 8th in the table.

Nice to see the lad doing so well out on loan.
Strangely, he is not in Stuart Pearse's under-21 squad for the Iceland game.


http://www.footballscores.com/ Look out for the new site which not only keeps you up to date with the latest results from all European leagues but also has the latest football betting odds on upcoming fixtures.

I KNOW HOW STEVIE G'S ANKLE GOT INFECTED

Steven Gerrard's ankle is infected following a kick to it in training in mid-week, it seemed to be healing but it swelled up Saturday morning requiring treatment and further surgery this week.
I had a similar injury myself years ago when I bought a new pair of Doc Martin's shoes and new socks in a bid to impress the ladies.
It back-fired, the shoes cut into my heel and I bled, plus I soon started limping.

I had to be admitted to Middlesex General Hospital and I was diagnosed with early gangrene, I was admitted and immediately put on a drip with anti-biotics, they cleaned out the wound (agony) and I was discharged after four days.

The reason the doctors gave me for the infection was that I had worn new socks and the manufacturer's dye had got into my blood-stream.

I reckon the same thing may have happened to Liverpool's  Captain. You tog-out for a training session in clean kit, brand new gear and bang, you get a cut to your foot, open wound and the dye seeps in causing an infection.

It took me a week or more to get back on my feet again and I am sure Steve will too.