Results tagged “yossi benayoun” from Liverpool Echo - Another Red Letter Day

FIGHT, passion and commitment.
That's the first way to battle out of a crisis of confidence that is seeping through Anfield at present.
When signs of footballing quality are in short supply, one of the initial things fans demand from their players is effort.
And to be fair to the Reds, last night, they gave us that in spades.

AND so the gloom deepens.
We traditionally have too much for The Arsenal at Anfield, our power, physicality and high octane tempo often winning out over pretty passing patterns.
But the way we surrendered in the second half, limping through the last 25 minutes without so much as a whimper, was truly alarming.

ANOTHER game, another lot of huff and puff from Liverpool, but not enough craft to open up a mediocre defence.
The task of grabbing that Champions League spot seemd achievable a couple of weeks ago, but it now seems an increasingly arduous one with every passing fixture.

PHRASES like 'a bad day at the office' were meant for games like this.
In truth, Liverpool never looked like having a real prayer in any stage of this match.
Right from the start we weren't at the same tempo as the Italians and they thoroughly deserved their 2-0 win.

BECOMING easy this playing at home lark isn't it?
Aston Villa aside, our three Premiership games at Anfield have so far finished 4-0, 4-0 and 6-1.
It's widely acknowledged that drawing games at home to mediocre mid-table sides cost us the title last year.
Now, on current evidence, that troublesome Achilles Heel seems to have been well and truly addressed.

So, another mediocre Premiership side put to the sword at Anfield.
It was these sorts of games that Liverpool struggled with last season, and which ultimately, cost us the title.

OK, so we should add the name of Steven Gerrard into that mix, but we've naturally come to expect excellence from our skipper.
But there was some stand-out performances from supporting cast players on Wednesday night that has helped dispel some of the glooom surrounding our defeat to Spurs on the opening day.

£20m down, £10m left.
Liverpool moved quick to replace Xabi Alonso, even if £20m for an injury prone Italian centre midfielder seemed very pricey.
But we've got £10m left over and money in the bank from the sales of Arbeloa, Leto, other peripherals, hopefully Dossena, and maybe one or two others.
So, what's the priorities for everybody?

WHAT a game.
Tuesday's match against Arsenal will surely go down as one of the greatest in recent Premiership history.
But for Liverpool it was a damaging result.

IF EVER there was a recipe for a dire night in Europe, tonight was it.
Struggling to keep in touch with Man Utd in the Premiership, rumours about Rafa's job sweeping the city.
But then this is Liverpool. And a 1-0 win at the Bernabeu cauldron against a bang in form Real Madrid side, when the rest of the world is sniping, is pretty much par for the course for us.

DROPPING two points at home to Stoke could be considered unfortunate.
Repeating the feat at home to Fulham would be viewed as worrying. Doing the same against West Ham, and failing to score again into the bargain, is tantamount to a criminal offence.
If we fail to notch up number 19 this season, it's these matches that'll show us where we let it wastefully slip away.

Firstly, apologies for the late posting of this blog. It's been one of those weekends...
Secondly, hats off to the first three points from of a six-game run of MUST win encounters, that could determine if we win the league this season.
West Brom, Bolton, Fulham, West Ham, Blackburn, Hull are the next challengers for the Reds.
And with respect to them all, a team like ours, performing as we are, should be looking at getting 18 points.

PLENTY of activity on the transfer front in recent weeks.
I'm liking this activity. It seems we've cottoned onto the fact that with the Yanks not opening their wallets we need to lighten the load on the playing staff so we have some reddies to play with.
Anyone else really missing the lack of footy around at the moment? Since the end of the Euros, what's there to do other than playing fantasy transfers with the Reds?