vs. Portsmouth, Saturday Sep 15 2007

Liverpool/Portsmouth

Gerrard is a sub along with Torres, Crouch starting against his former team along with Veronin upfront, Carragher starting
No word on Gerrard injury, just not starting him due to two English starts this week

LIverpool in their red uniforms

Liverpool looking to hit Crouch from afar to a header to Benayoun, done three times so far, nothing coming of it

Definitely working the Crouch aerial game idea

Who's the captain with Gerrard out? Looks like Carragher

8' Veronin steals a ball midfield, runs it up, but fucks up the pass to Pennant, nothing

10' Nobody in control of the game yet, still feeling each other out

Portsmouth fans in weak voice, singing that one song all MLS fans know

11' Bunch of mishmash that leads to a midfield set up from Alonso that Gerrard would be all over, but Xabi skies it over the net

12' Liverpool fans finding their voices

14' You've seen this kind of game before, back and forth

16' Veronin showing the best effort so far this game, others (Crouch, Sissoko) trying to mix it up but nothing coming of it

17' Crouch with first shot on goal from left side, keeper made himself big, no real shot

18' Portsmouth can move the ball around, but lacking any kind of play making spark so far

21' Some garbage in front of Reina but he grabs it and sends it down field

22' Free kick Alonso, the wall does its job

24' Shot slightly wide on Reina, pushes it away, but gets his first real touch of the game out of the way

25' Liverpool absolutely missing the nonstop upfront attack feeling they've had with Torres and Kuyt so far

(Portsmouth away was one of the early games they lost last year which helped put Liverpool down in the league tables early, lets see if Liverpool is motivated today to avenge that)

27' Portsmouth corner, cleared, whistle, goal kick

30' PENALTY AWARED TO PORTSMOUTH BY ASSISTANT REFEREE - FOR WHAT?!?!?

Arbeloa, who is in front of his man, had a little shirt grabbing - strict interpretation of the rules is a penalty, but in reality the guy had no chance at the ball anyway. So far the only goals against Liverpool this season have been penalties. Liverpool continuing to protest, XABI booked......
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!!!!!REINA SAVES THE PENALTY!!!!! Crowd going nuts!!!! Liverpool fans find their voice!

Without Gerrard though Liverpool are missing that crisp transition from defense to offense, and where's the upfront attack?

34' weak Crouch header in front of the net, the big man is trying but he's having a poor game so far

35' Liverpool wins a corner, Carragher trying to organize things - Liverpool missing leadership to make them a cohesive whole - bruce Pennant kick from left side

37' Crouch/Veronin unfortunately not providing the firepower upfront that Kuyt / Torres made look easy so far this season

39' Pennant switches to the left side where he was effective in their last game

41' Portsmouth corner, cleared

(reviewing the penalty kick, dude was offside AND the shirt tug happened outside the penalty box area)

43' Reina pushes away another shot on goal

44' Nice pass from Pennant to Crouch but too slow, not a good touch, nothing came of it

1st half over, 0-0, Liverpool showing more flashes but they need someone in control of the midfield and more speed in front of the net
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No changes by either manager

46' Good cross into Crouch, outside of his foot, over the net.

49' No impact by Carragher so far, but considering he's back from injury this is fine

52' Garbage in front of Liverpool net, should have been a goal, Portsmouth can't put it away

54' Bit of good Liverpool passing, Veronin clips the bar, over the net

56' Another Portsmouth shot wide of the net

57' Portsmouth actually showing the better chip shots from midfield to upfront than Liverpool is

58' Good passing by Liverpool, but bad cross into Crouch by Veronin, no chance

60' Sissoko playing hard in the midfield today but not making anything of it

60' Portsmouth corner

61' Rafa talking to Torres who's in his red jersey

62' Crouch out, Torres in

63' Scary garbage in front of Liverpool goal

64' Free kick in front of penalty box earned by Torres

66' Rafa talking to Gerrard who's in his red jersey, fans singing Gerrard song

67' Pennant out, Gerrard in. Now we got something!!!

68' Portsmouth subbing, yeah, whatever

70' Gerrard heads it down, gets a touch, passes to Torres, who skies it over the net

72' Gerrard, good run, wins a corner, Agger, another corner, cleared. But Gerrard making a quick impact

75' Scary close call by Portsmouth. Game should be 2-0 Portsmouth by now

77' Alonso out, Babel in, Benitez looking for three points here

78' Now there is a feeling on Liverpool attacks that anything can happen

79' Reina having a fine game

80' All kinds of crazy crap by Liverpool, shot into goalkeeper

81' Scary feeling that for all the good footwork shown by Liverpool, that Portsmouth will squeak a goal in

82' Carragher still looking fine

84' Feels like Liverpool would be glad to get out with a tie game at this point

85' Portsmouth on the hard attack - unless Liverpool steps up and shows some sparkle, its seems Portsmouth is destined to score. Crowd in good voice

86' Brilliant pass by Torres to Veronin, couldn't get anything on it steps in front of goal, wasted chance!!!

86' Torres totally bringing the upfront presence Liverpool has been lacking so far this game, this guy is freaking money!!

88' Scary shit in front of Liverpool net, nothing comes of it. Reina f* houses Finnan. Dude is wrecking his own side (Carragher the other week)

I think Arsenal took a win from Portsmouth away, so a tie is actually a step backwards for Liverpool

90' Almost a brilliant long pass from Gerrard that they were missing in the first half

91' Portsmouth dude goes down twice in penalty box, no whistles

92' Torres again trying to make something happen in the penalty box, close, nothing

93' With Gerrard in the game Liverpool is once again making good transitions from defense to offensive attacks. WIth Torres upfront they have firepower to get something going on his passes

93' Its a thing of beauty to watch a Gerrard pass to see where it falls and which guy is going to get a nicely placed ball two feet in front of him

Tie game.

All in all, the Crouch Veronin pairing upfront didn't work. The only sparkle they had was when Torres and Gerrard were in the game. All in all Crouch is going to have his work cut out for him unless he can make an impression on the English squad.