Articles
The League season starts
Preview and match report by Robbie Amins at talklfc
The new English Premiership campaign starts today when the Reds takes on Tottenham at White Hart Lane in an early kick-off match. After all the media coverage on Michael Owen's departure to Real Madrid, all the attention will finally be on the more important things in life such as - Liverpool's next match....
Spurs' pre-season form have been poor to say the least. They managed to win only one out of six. In stark contrast, Liverpool brushed off Wrexham, trashed Scottish champions Celtic and beat Italian giants AS Roma as Rafa's revolution got underway. But Spurs' fans will point out that in most of the friendlies, Jacques Santini did not play his first-choice eleven for the full 90 minutes and wanted to see what some of the youngsters can do.
Statistics show that the London side have won their opening fixture only once in the last seven seasons. That was 3-1 at home to Ipswich on 19 August 2000. But Spurs have won five of the last six home Premiership games against the Merseysiders. That includes a 2-1 success on 17 January, which helped maintain the Londoners' 100% start to 2004 (three wins from three) and brought an end to Liverpool's perfect start to the year.
The Reds head for the Lane on the back of Tuesday's impressive 0-2 away leg victory over Graz AK in the qualifying round for the Champions League, when all the talk was on Michael Owen's non-appearance from the substitutes bench and consequent transfer speculation. Liverpool have won their opening Premiership fixture in all but one of the last six seasons. The exception being last season's 1-2 home loss to a newly bankrolled Chelsea, when the stunning summer exploits of the little known Roman Abramovich were stealing all the headlines.
Boyhood Liverpool fan Robbie Keane and Welsh midfielder Simon Davies are definitely out after suffering long-term injuries. Defenders Anthony Gardner, Ledley King and Mauricio Taricco are struggling after picking up knocks and face late fitness tests.
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Match Report
Spurs deserved the point against the Reds
It was a game of two different halves for Liverpool.
The Reds were efficient, patient and passed the ball around well in the first half. But Tottenham dominated the second. After the break, those playing in red looked tired and probably this contributed to the sloppy defending from which Spurs scored. The London side were playing more direct football in the second 45. And one of those long passes finally found it's way to Jermain Defoe for him to cancel out Djibril Cisse's opener.
1st Half
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Cisse netted his first competitive goal for the club in the 38th minute. Finnan's cross from the right was nodded on by Carragher and the ball fell to the feet of the French striker who swept it home with a first time effort past keeper Robinson like a natural goalscorer would.
In the 18th minute, Stevie Gerrard twisted and turned in the box and was unlucky not to be awarded a penalty after being pulled down by Ifil. To be honest, I thought the better decision would be to go for goal but Gerrard decided to go down after the shirt-tugging by the Spurs right-back.
2nd Half
-----------
Jacques Santini must have included some harsh French words in his half-time team talk as Spurs came out with a bit more life to them. Gerrard had to stretch to hook the ball clear as Defoe was looking to pounce just outside the penalty box.
Harry Kewell nearly burst into the game when he rattled a fierce shot just wide of Paul Robinson's left hand post with the former Leeds man beaten. No one expected him to find the target from that distance and even though he did not, it was a very good effort from the Australian.
Spurs began to drive forward and drew level on 71 minutes when Defoe, who had been lively all game, battled to win a bouncing ball in the Liverpool box before firing a low shot past Jerzy Dudek's near post.
Robinson came to Spurs' rescue minutes later when he spectacularly tipped a Carragher header over the bar but there was to be no further scoring and the spoils were shared.
Both teams deserved the point. From a neutral point of view, if either side won, it would definitely be unfair to the other. Fans would be pleased to see Stephen Warnock coming on late in the game and showed some nice touches. Just two matches into the new season and he already has got two substitute appearances. Under Houllier, that would have been unthinkable. Final result - 1-1. Liverpool have a poor record at White Hart Lane, so a draw can be seen as an improvement...
The new English Premiership campaign starts today when the Reds takes on Tottenham at White Hart Lane in an early kick-off match. After all the media coverage on Michael Owen's departure to Real Madrid, all the attention will finally be on the more important things in life such as - Liverpool's next match....
Spurs' pre-season form have been poor to say the least. They managed to win only one out of six. In stark contrast, Liverpool brushed off Wrexham, trashed Scottish champions Celtic and beat Italian giants AS Roma as Rafa's revolution got underway. But Spurs' fans will point out that in most of the friendlies, Jacques Santini did not play his first-choice eleven for the full 90 minutes and wanted to see what some of the youngsters can do.
Statistics show that the London side have won their opening fixture only once in the last seven seasons. That was 3-1 at home to Ipswich on 19 August 2000. But Spurs have won five of the last six home Premiership games against the Merseysiders. That includes a 2-1 success on 17 January, which helped maintain the Londoners' 100% start to 2004 (three wins from three) and brought an end to Liverpool's perfect start to the year.
The Reds head for the Lane on the back of Tuesday's impressive 0-2 away leg victory over Graz AK in the qualifying round for the Champions League, when all the talk was on Michael Owen's non-appearance from the substitutes bench and consequent transfer speculation. Liverpool have won their opening Premiership fixture in all but one of the last six seasons. The exception being last season's 1-2 home loss to a newly bankrolled Chelsea, when the stunning summer exploits of the little known Roman Abramovich were stealing all the headlines.
Boyhood Liverpool fan Robbie Keane and Welsh midfielder Simon Davies are definitely out after suffering long-term injuries. Defenders Anthony Gardner, Ledley King and Mauricio Taricco are struggling after picking up knocks and face late fitness tests.
-----------------
Match Report
Spurs deserved the point against the Reds
It was a game of two different halves for Liverpool.
The Reds were efficient, patient and passed the ball around well in the first half. But Tottenham dominated the second. After the break, those playing in red looked tired and probably this contributed to the sloppy defending from which Spurs scored. The London side were playing more direct football in the second 45. And one of those long passes finally found it's way to Jermain Defoe for him to cancel out Djibril Cisse's opener.
1st Half
----------
Cisse netted his first competitive goal for the club in the 38th minute. Finnan's cross from the right was nodded on by Carragher and the ball fell to the feet of the French striker who swept it home with a first time effort past keeper Robinson like a natural goalscorer would.
In the 18th minute, Stevie Gerrard twisted and turned in the box and was unlucky not to be awarded a penalty after being pulled down by Ifil. To be honest, I thought the better decision would be to go for goal but Gerrard decided to go down after the shirt-tugging by the Spurs right-back.
2nd Half
-----------
Jacques Santini must have included some harsh French words in his half-time team talk as Spurs came out with a bit more life to them. Gerrard had to stretch to hook the ball clear as Defoe was looking to pounce just outside the penalty box.
Harry Kewell nearly burst into the game when he rattled a fierce shot just wide of Paul Robinson's left hand post with the former Leeds man beaten. No one expected him to find the target from that distance and even though he did not, it was a very good effort from the Australian.
Spurs began to drive forward and drew level on 71 minutes when Defoe, who had been lively all game, battled to win a bouncing ball in the Liverpool box before firing a low shot past Jerzy Dudek's near post.
Robinson came to Spurs' rescue minutes later when he spectacularly tipped a Carragher header over the bar but there was to be no further scoring and the spoils were shared.
Both teams deserved the point. From a neutral point of view, if either side won, it would definitely be unfair to the other. Fans would be pleased to see Stephen Warnock coming on late in the game and showed some nice touches. Just two matches into the new season and he already has got two substitute appearances. Under Houllier, that would have been unthinkable. Final result - 1-1. Liverpool have a poor record at White Hart Lane, so a draw can be seen as an improvement...
