Benayoun's treble bombs Burnley ;)

Yossi Benayoun. Is he is really underrated? He is quite decent actually thought not a world class yet. His game play was simple but clever and very effective. Plus the most important is he doesn't complain when he was benched, unlike Ryan Babel. In this match against Burnley, he proves that he really belong to Liverpool's first team. Playing in heart of midfield area because of the absent of Mascherano, Banayoun showed that he can play nicely with Gerrard and Torres. His first goal of the night was a result of his brilliant skill running around Graham Alexander(Burnley's fullback) before passing the ball into the bottom corner of the goal. His second was nicely setup by combination of great play by Torres and Gerrard and he got his hat-trick when he beat the offside trap to tapped in Voronin's pass. He was also involved in Liverpool's other goal when his shot was parried by Burnley's goalkeeper into the path of Dirk Kuyt, who comfortably slotted the ball home. No wonder that he was choosen as MOTM as he was involved in all four Liverpool goals. Final result: Liverpool 4 Burnley 0

With this win, Liverpool manage to climb the table up to fifth place above Arsenal, who were beaten by Manchester City. At the top are still Chelsea, who need last gasp winner from Florent Malouda to beat Stoke 2-1. Next for Liverpool is West Ham United during Hari Raya. I hope Liverpool can continue their recent good form so I can celebrate Hari Raya happily.

Four Matches, 50% Record. WTH!!!!

Transfer season is over.....How about Livepool? No big budget. So only Glen Johnson, injury prone Italian Alberto Aquilani aka Double A battery and unknown Greek guy are in, Alonso is out. And that Brazilian boy? Well he is still here, try to take Alonso's place. Without very much success really....

New season is already on. 4 matches, 2 wins and 2 losses. Our defense were terrible really. 7 goals were already conceded. All of them from set pieces. The Zonal marking system should be abolished now. Only Johnson is up to the task with already 2 goals in his pocket. The others? Don't know what to describe actually. Just sum it all in one word. CATASTROPHE.

Attacking wise, it was quite ok. Not great. Just okay. Kuyt-Sometimes he is useful, sometimes not. Torres-His finishing is up to the mark. Must increase his awareness about his teammates. Voronin-Useless. Riera-Capable to create magic moment but his stamina is low.

And for our beloved Captain. Not up to the high standard but still reliable. Superb strike again shows that he is still Livepool's backbone. Without him, I don't know what will happen to the Red Scouser.

Blackburn drowned or Liverpool burned?

Liverpool vs Blackburn Rovers. Another easy match on paper, yet another match that can delivers title blow for the Reds. After two draws in a row, Liverpool must wake up, especially their strikers. Robbie Keane must proves himself that he is not a flop at Liverpool. If not, it is a time for Rafa to find another striker during this January. Maybe Santa Cruz? Owen? Or give the youth strikers like Kriztian Nemeth a chance. Another solution is starts Ryan Babel as centre forward. He looks promising, just lack of confident because lack of playing time. But not David N'Gog. He was terrible during last match against West Ham.

For midfielders and defenders, they did play quite well actually. Just need to add a little bit of creativity and surely they can create a lot of good chances for strikers to finish. One more thing. I just want to see Emiliano Insua(above) plays at left back position. With Aurelio out injured and Dossena crossed the ball like rugby player, Rafa should gives these young Argentinian a chance at top level.

Prediction

Liverpool 2-0. Courtesy of Steven Gerrard and Dirk Kuyt. Blackburn defenders is too weak. Five goals conceded against MU second team. So don't think they can give troubles to Liverpool.

My team

Reina, Arbeloa, Agger, Caragher, Insua, Mascherano, Alonso, Gerrard, Kuyt, Riera Babel

Krizstian Nemeth

Can Liverpool win the League?

Based on recent perfomance againts West Ham and Fulham at Anfield, the answer is definitely no. How come they dropped points againts these mid table teams? They should take advantage when our rivals(Chelsea, Gunners and MU) dropped points. Instead they wasted the glorious chance to go 3 points clear at the top. Remember that last season Liverpool lost the league because they had too many draws againts mediocre mid table teams. Looks like they don't learn from the past mistakes. This season, they already flopped againts Stoke, Fulham and WHU. In the absent of Torres, their frontline is too blunt. Robbie Keane plays like a shit, absolutely dissapear in the game againts WHU. Dirk Kuyt is ok, but they need another clinical striker. Maybe Owen? Otherwise, I don't see that they can score goals. No goals, no title and wait another year.......

Bang! Bang! Liverpool died at White Hart Lane

What the hell!!!!! After wonderful victory last week, after three points clear at the top of the league, suddenly came the worst perfomance from Liverpool in this season against Tottenham Hotspurs just a moment ago. Let me repeat once again, TOTTENHAM HOTSPURS, YES THAT BOTTOM PLACE SPURS had beaten my beloved Liverpool 2-1. To make me more angry, Spurs scored their winning goal in stoppage time. Again. To Rafael Benitez: Did you watch Arsenal vs Spurs at The Emirates??????

After Dirk Kuyt scored brilliant goal on 3rd minute, Liverpool should play better. Instead, they were happy just to pass the ball around the centre of the field. To be honest, not enough creativity. Yes there were also unlucky when Gerrard hit the post twice but overall their perfomance were scrappy. Not enough chances to trouble nervy Gomes and co. Then when Keane came off, suddenly Liverpool did'nt attack anymore. Spurs started to dominate ball possesion and gave Agger-Caraggher partnership more troubles. Finally they succumbed to pressure on 68th minute as Caraggher headed David Bentley corner into his own net. I know Caraggher had contributed a lot for Liverpool for years but why don't you scores for your own team instead of your enemy??? By then, I still hope Liverpool will pressing for the winner, but judging at their play, I doubted that the miracle will come. Then came the worst part. After a series of thows by Spurs, on 90th minute Bentley somehow managed to find the gap and unleashed a devastating shot that parried by Reina. Unfortunately, the ball dropped to Darren Bent and he crossed to Pavlyuchenko and after that I immediately switched off the TV.

So today Liverpool surrendered their league position to Chelsea. Man U won and went to third. Small consolation for me: Arsenal lost 2-1 at Stoke. At least Liverpool got a draw against Stoke. And what a joke from their defenders. Two long throws, two goals for Stoke. Looks like Rory Delap had created a new technique in this beautiful game. And RVP?? If I was Wenger, I just punch him straight on his face. One thing that I regret. Liverpool, just like Arsenal did'nt kill Spurs, and worser than Arsenal, they lost.....

EPL: Magnificient Torres sank Everton.

After more than a month goal drought, finally Fernando Torres a.k.a El Nino showed to us yesterday that he was very lethal and dangerous when he had the fitness and confident in front of the goal. Two goals in space of three minutes from El Nino were enough to help Liverpool beat hapless Everton in Merseyside Derby at Goodison Park. It was also a fantastic performance from other Liverpool players. Both Robbie Keane and Dirk Kuyt helped Torres to scored both goals, Albert Riera also had decent shows together with others midfielder and Pepe Reina and defenders almost didn't need to work as Everton played very badly in this game.

After dissapointing 0-0 1st half, Liverpool increase the pressure on Everton in search for the goals. After all, they didn't want another 0-0 draw like last week. Finally during 59th minutes, Torres scored his first goals after more than 42 days when he easily volleyed home Keane cross from left side after Dirk Kuyt dragged Joleon Lescott from marking Torres. And he would wait just three minutes to add his second. Keane pass found Kuyt who was tackled by Jagielka, but the ball fall into Torres who smashed his second and it's effectively game over for Everton.

With this win, Liverpool climbed one place to 2nd places after Arsenal was shocked by Hull City 2-1 at The Emirates. Chelsea now also has same points as Liverpool with 14 but they have better goal difference compared to the Reds. Out of 18, The Reds managed to get 14. That is impressive compared to previous seasons. So I hope Liverpool can continue their good form and finally end 18 years drought of league title this season. YOU NEVER WALK ALONE!!!!

EPL: Merseyside Derby

This week, the big match in EPL is surely the Merseyside Derby between Liverpool and Everton. Last time they met at Goodison Park, Liverpool won the match courtesy of two late goals from Dirk Kuyt. Can Liverpool repeat their performance against Everton last season for this week? I bet they surely will.

I think if Liverpool want to grab all three precious points, they need to score more goals. Scoring goals is their problem lately. I start to think that Robbie Keane is flop of the season. How come they signed him for 20 millions Pounds?? But it is only five games. Maybe he needs more time to settle with the team. After all, the lanky Peter Crouch scored his first goal for Liverpool after more then 20 matches. So hope Robbie Keane can scores earlier than that or everyone will starts to boos him like Crouchy case. Overall, I hope Liverpool win this match and I believe they will. Everton's squad is not so strong today compared to last season. My advise? Just mark Tim Cahill and Liverpool will win 2-1. :)

EPL Preview: The Clash of the Reds & The Clash of the $$$$$

Today is probably one of the most exciting week in the EPL eventhough it is still early in the season. As early season pacesetters, Liverpool and Chelsea will face stern test to stay at the top of the table after this weekend. Both their opponents today come from the city of Manchester, Manchester United and Manchester City.

The most anticipated match today will pits Liverpool with their long time nemesis, Manchester United. Analysing the current form, I doubt Liverpool can overcome Red Devils. Even a draw is very difficult if they continue to play ugly like their 1st three games. However, anything can happens in football. If Rafa can get it right this time added with luck, i'm pretty sure Liverpool can beat Red Devils for the 1st time in the league under Rafa's reign. They already received huge news with magnificient Torres and superb Gerrard declared fit to play. But they must be careful with United especially with the striking force of Rooney and Berbatov. They look very dangerous and can cause problems to Caragher and co. Overall I hope Liverpool will overcome Red Devils and stay at the top of the table. (psss: Hope Robbie Keane can score to silences Fergie)

The other big match today, dubbed 'The Clash of the Cash' is between Roman Abramovich's Chelsea and Manchester City owned by Arabian billionaire. It is interesting to see how Robinho will make his debut for City after one of the most bizarre transfer saga in the history of EPL. Robinho was poised to come to Stamford Bridge from Real Madrid until the new owner of City, the Sheikh from UAE hijacked Chelsea's bid and stole Robinho under Scolari's nose. Scolari was very dissapointed with this news and also expressed his concern about lack of new players in Chelsea. Since then, City's owner clearly expressed his intentions to capture more international stars in the future. May be next year we can see a fantasy football team in City? I hope this will not happen as I think it will destroys the EPL. Back to the game, I think it will be a draw between this two teams. About the teams news, Chelsea lost Michael Essien for about seven months after he was injured during his national duty. They are also without Michael Ballack who had knee injury. For City, Martin Petrov (knee) is definitely out and Michael Johnson (groin) is doubtful. Lastly, enjoy this weekend and Selamat Berpuasa to all Muslims in the world.