retired_provrb7

Bolton Go To Liverpool For Carling Cup Quater Final

We've been really lucky with the Carling Cup draws. All games at home so far and we've not really gotten any world class teams at Anfield. The biggest game however is Chelsea-Man Utd and should be a real cracker. Southampton, Fulham, Newcastle and the winners of Everton/Charlton are also still in it.

As for the game at home to Villa Hyypia was still missing so Pellegrino kept his place beside Carra.

Saturday 20th November, 15.00. Anfield, Liverpool.
Premiership
Liverpool 5 Hamann 24, Cisse 42, Ridgewell o.g 45, Garcia 65, Morientes 90
Aston Villa 0
MOM - Garcia
Att: 44082

Liverpool (4-1-4-1); Dudek; Finnan, Carra, Pellegrino, Riise; Hamann; Garcia, Alonso, Gerrard, Kewell; Cisse

Aston Villa (4-4-2); Sorensen; Schmidt, Mellberg, Ridgewell, Samuel; de la Cruz, McCann, Hitzlsperger, Barry; Angel, Moore

First Half
Min 8 - McCann has the ball in the Liverpool half, finds Barry out wide on the left, he crosses into the box, Angel heads it from the penalty spot! Easy catch for Dudek.
Min 20 - Riise has the ball outside our area, finds Kewell down the left, he gets rid of de la Cruz, crosses into the box, goes past Cisse, finds Garcia on the far post thou, he shoots! Right at Sorensen who saves!
Goal! - 24 minutes to break the deadlock. Alonso takes a freekick from 30 yards outside the Villa area, finds Pellegrino in the box, he passes right to Garcia, he checks the box, tees up Hamann at the halfcircle, he shoots! Deflects off Mellberg! Sorensen is diving to the left and the ball goes to the right! 1-0!! First goal of the season for Hamann!
Min 32 - De la Cruz injuries Kewell with a bad tackle, Partridge comes on to replace him.
Goal! - 3 minutes from the end of the first half! Hamann breaks up a long ball from the Villa defence. Liverpool have pegged Villa back into their own area. Gerrard, Partridge and Hamann play the ball amonst each other to keep the Villa players running after it. Gerrard feeds to Riise, he passes down the flank for Partridge, he gets past Schmidt, crosses near post, Cisse is free and heads it! 2-0!! 10th goal this season!
Goal!! - 3 minutes later the ball is in the Villa net yet again. Partridge is on the left flank again, crosses in to Cisse, Samuel wins the header and clears, but only to Gerrard outside the box! He squares it for Alonso to his right! Alonso striker the ball first time! It's looking to go wide of Sorensen's left post, but it's deflected off Ridgewell! And goes to the right of the Villa keeper and 3-0!! Two goals in 4 minutes!

Alonso was off at halftime and replaced by Welsh.

Second Half
Min 47 - The rain was really coming down in this second half, Riise slide tackles the ball off of de la Cruz and sets Partridge on his way, he dribbles down the left, finds Cisse infront of him left of the area, Cisse crosses to the far post, Garcia let's it drop, then fires it in with his right foot! Good save by Sorensen!
Min 50 - Hitzelsperger finds Angel down the left, he looks into the box, finds McCann's run into the box with a lovely poke of the ball, McCann shoots! But was put under pressure by Carra and the shots goes well over!
Min 56 - Cisse off for Morientes.
Min 65 - Dudek's clearence is poor and intercepted by Barry, he finds the newly substituted Agbalonthor infront of the area, he one touches it to Angel who lock and loads, shoots! Just a fraction wide of the post.
Goal!! - A peice of magic from a spaniard! Riise's given the ball off of Dudek, he finds Partridge down the left wing, Morientes makes a run out wide left, Partridge finds him, Morientes squares it to Garcia infront of the area, Garcia aims, bends it! Sorensen sees it too late and the curve is so good that the keeper has no chance!! 4-0!! What a goal!!
Min 87 - Riise takes a throw in to Morientes, he finds Hamann beside him, Hamann tees it up for Welsh, he shoots! Deflected off Mellberg but falls for Garcia! He bends it again into the same cornor! This time Sorensen saves it beautifully!!
Goal!! - 1 minute had gone in extra time when Welsh took a freekick just within the Aston Villa half, met by the head of Morientes! Saved by Sorensen! Gathered up by Morientes, he sidesteps right to create space, curves it past Sorensen! 5-0!!! Morientes scores his first goal for Liverpool!! And what a strike to score his first with! Such an important goal for him!
Min 90 + 3 - Whittingham has a free kick outside our area, about 25 yards, he bends it past the wall.. It's going towards goal! Great save by Dudek!! That was the last thing that happened and Gallagher blew his whistle.

retired_provrb7

You did an edit further down correcting this to David Moores. But isnt it Rick Parry anyhow </BLOCKQUOTE>

Nope, Moores is the Chairman and Parry is in the board IIRC.

retired_provrb7

Youngsters Defend Fort Anfield

I know I was sacrificing our good home record against Rosenborg but the season is long and I rather have fresher players for the next round. Kelly and Peltier are two U18's who start the game but Lancaster, Hitchin, Smith, Barett, Roberts, Hamill and Noon are all on the bench and there is no first teamer in the team today.

PRE MATCH INTERVIEW

Daniel, the team is quite reserve filled today, will this effect the match?
Every player wants to win so we'll see 11 players on the pitch who want to show their worth today. Sure I'm taking a risk but I need to keep my A team fresh.

Anyone we should keep our eye on today?
Peltier is a very promising player. He's just been on loan to MK Dons and did very well. If Hamill comes off the bench I would keep and eye on him too.

Key player today?
I'm hoping Pellegrino, Biscan and Morientes show the way and lead these youngsters to glory tonight.

Wednesday 24th November, 19.45. Anfield, Liverpool.
Champions League Group C
Liverpool 3 Kelly 41, Morientes 63, Noon 84
Rosenborg 2 Johnsen 39, Winsnes 81
MOM - Partridge
Att: 39531

Liverpool (4-1-4-1); Kirkland; Josemi, Peltier, Pellegrino, Traore; Biscan; Foy, Welsh, Kelly, Partridge; Morientes

Rosenborg (4-4-2); Martinsen; Koppinen, Hoftun, Riseth, Amundsen; Strand, Berg, Winsnes, Braaten; Johnsen, Helstad

First Half
Min 10 - Free kick taken by Welsh, played into the box, Morientes and Martinsen go for it, Moro is first! Well over the bar!
Min 12 - Biscan cuts out a Rosenborg throw-in in their half, passes to Partridge infront of him, he crosses across the area to the right to Foy, Foy enters the area, shoots! So close for Foy!
Min 30 - Free kick to Rosenborg, Winsnes to take, goes for goal! Easy save for Kirkland!
Min 37 - Throw in to Rosenborg in our half, taken by Amundsen to Braaten, he crosses to the other side of the pitch to Koppinen, he shoots from the edge of the area! Very close!
Goal! - 39 minutes in and Braaten nicks the ball off of Foy, goes down the left, passes to Winsnes in the middle, one touch out to Helstad whos made a run to the left wing, crossed to the near post, Johnsen wins a header against Traore! Headed towards goal! 1-0 to Rosenborg!! Liverpool were caught out on the counter.
Goal! - Took two minutes for Liverpools reply! Rosenborg converted to 532 and went defensive. Liverpool got a cornor on the left, taken by Partridge to the near post, Kelly has the ball on his feet with his back to goal, feints right, goes left, looses his marker, aims for the far bottom cornor! 1-1!! What a goal by Kelly on his debut!! Is this the birth of a new Liverpool legend?

Second Half
Min 52 - Traore gets a knock and I tell him to come off, young Hitchin takes over on the left back position.
Goal! - Hitchin finds Partridge down the left 83 minutes in, he looses Koppinen, goes to the byline, crosses into the box, Kelly heads it! Martinsen saves! Morientes heads in the rebound!! 2-1! The fans chant "El Moro! El Moro! El Moro!". At that instance I sub Morientes and Foy for debutants Noon and Hamill.
Goal! - Brattback has the ball on the left 9 minutes from full time, he crosses into the box, Pellegrino runs to try and head the ball, Winsnes gets his head to the ball before him! Heads the ball to Kirklands right! 2-2!! Kirkland was lost..
Goal! - 3 minutes later Hitchin wins a header and heads it down the line for Partridge, he goes down the left, gives and goes with Noon, checks the box, sees Noon running towards the near post, crosses, Noon heads it! 3-2!! Noon scores a great header on his debut! That must be the winning goal! All hte players come to congratulate Noon with his first senior goal.
Min 87 - Strand gets the ball down the right wing off of Hoftun, he goes to the byline, crosses, finds Johnsen who wins a header against Peltier, header towards goal! Over the bar! Peltier did enough there.
Min 89 - Biscan heads down Martinsen's long kick to Welsh, he advances forward, gets to the area, shoots! Missed!
Min 90 - Free kick to Liverpool. Partridge to take, steps up.. strikes towards goal! Deflected! But Martinsen gets back in time to save on the line. Good save.
Full Time

POST MATCH INTERVIEW

Turned out to a quite exciting night, or what do you say?
It had everything to be honest. Debutant goals, comebacks, excitement to the very end. It's a shame the match was meningless from our point of view.

Kelly and Noon grab their first goals, more to come from them?
They're still young so they still have alot to learn but they both played very well and Noon grabbed the winner which he's been doing in the U18's aswell. He's the top scorer in the U18 league aswell.

Focusing on the next game?
Of course. It's a never ending job this and the match this weekend ain't exactly a small task. Highbury is a tough stadium to come to but we're going for the win as always.

retired_provrb7

We're Unstoppable!!

We had the upper hand at Highbury this afternoon since my first eleven had rested a whole week and Arsenal come back from a 2-2 match away to Celtic. Still it was a big task in hand and I was missing Kewell and Hyypia. But there was to be another weight taken off the Arsenal scale to go in our favour. Argueably Arsenal's best three players were out of the game. Henry, Pires and Reyes were all injured and now I felt that 3 points was very very probable.

PRE MATCH INTERVIEW

Daniel, how do you rate your chances today?
very very good, I just saw the Arsenal lineup and Reyes, Pires and Henry are all gone and that's pretty much their whole attack.

Arsene said before the game that he side fears no-one and that they will be confident today.
Ah well, I don't want to waste time with cheap talk, my team will do all the talking for me.

What factors sees you winning today?
Their absantees, we've more rested, we haven't lost and we have a die hard attitude.

Saturday 27th November, 12.45. Highbury, London.
Premiership
Arsenal 1 Campbell 47
Liverpool 3 Cisse 23, Gerrard 53, Morientes 87
Sent Off - Campbell 64
MOM - Gerrard
Att: 38340

Arsenal (4-4-2); Lehmann; Lauren, Toure, Campbell, Cole; Salihadmidzic, Vieira, Edu, Ljungberg; Bergkamp, Van Persie

Liverpool (4-1-4-1); Dudek; Finnan, Carra, Pellegrino, Traore; Biscan; Garcia, Alonso, Gerrard, Riise; Cisse

First Half
Min 17 - Gerrard has been on fire so far today, jumping into tackles, pinging balls left right and center. He nicks the ball off of Vieira in the Arsenal half, takes the ball himself and advances 5 yards and takse a shot! Bends towards the bottom right!! Great save by Lehmann!
Min 20 - Traore tackles the ball off of Riise, Salihadmidzic takes it down the right, shoots from 30 yards! Well well wide, wasted that.
Goal! - 22 minutes in and Cisse breaks the deadlock! Dudek finds Cisse infront of the Arsenal back four, he heads the ball left to Risse and runs forward, Riise advances, curls the ball behind Traore for Cisse, great ball! Cisse is one on one against Lehmann, Lehmann dives towards Cisse! Cisse pokes it under Lehmann! 1-0!! Good goal by Cisse but it was the ball from Riise that created the chance! Alonso's picked up and injury and comes off for Biscan.
Min 25 - Arsenal go for a quick reply, Cole finds Ljungberg down the left, Ljungberg goes all the way down to the line, crosses, the ball curvs out, then in towards goal! Fingertip save by Dudek!
Min 36 - Free kick by Campbell, down the right to Salihadmidzic, overlap by Lauren, Salihadmidzic finds him, Lauren crosses along the penalty area line, Persie jumps over it, it goes to Ljungberg, goes into the area, shoots! Just wide of Dudek's left post!

Second Half
Luis Garcia has picked up a slight knock and is subbed for Partridge.
Goal! - 2 minutes after we started the second half, Arsenal get a cornor on the left, Salihamidzic takes it, Carra wins the header against Traore, back out to Salihamidzic, crossed in again, header by Campbell! 1-1! His first goal for Campbell.
Min 51 - Arsenal with alot of the ball now, Cole takes a throw in in Liverpools half, finds Ljungberg, he finds Traore outside Liverpools area, he shoots! Balloned well over the bar and hits some poor fan on the top row.
Goal! - 53 minutes in and we take the lead! Finnan wins a ball against Ljungberg, heads it to Partridge, he finds Hamann centrally, he then feeds towards Gerrard outside the box, he takes two touches, shoots it! Bends outwards and then inwards!! 2-1!! What a goal!! That is definatly goal of the year!! 25 yards out and Lehmann is stunned, he can't believe it! That goal is the dot over the i about Gerrards performance! Cisse is subbed for Morientes.
Min 63 - Lauren wins the ball off of Riise, finds Salihamidzic down the wing, Traore goes to close down, Salihadmidzic finds Bergkamp between the fullback and centreback, he runs towards goal with Carra and Pellegrino chasing, he chips Dudek! But it goes just wide! Great play by Salihamidzic thou..
Min 64 - Campbell gets a second yellow after aruging with the ref.
Min 75 - Gerrard wins the ball off of Vieira in the Arsenal half for the 5th time today, he's been excellent! Hamann gathers it up, passes out wide to Riise, he passes back, Hamann passes out right to Partridge, lets it bounce and then strikes with his right foot from the edge of the area!! Lehmann tips over the bar!!
Min 80 - Riise intercepts Gilberto's pass and sets Morientes off down the left flank, Morientes runs with the ball, squares it for Partridge infront of the area, he shoots! Wide!
Min 85 - Aliardiere wins a header against Pellegrino, he heads down the right for Lauren, he cuts it back for Ljungberg, hit on the half volley!! Too weak and rolls into Dudek's hands.
Min 87 - Liverpool are caught on the counter, a long ball from Lauren finds Cygan running through the Liverpool defense, he's running down the left flank, cuts in, shoots! But well wide, he's not really a striker.
Goal!! - 3 minutes from full time and Carra cuts out a through ball and passes Gerrard, he takes 1 touch and slices a 50 yarder through the Liverpool defense! Morientes is free on goal! He shoots to the right!! 3-1!! The shot was good but the pass was delicious!!
Full Time

POST MATCH INTERVIEW

Great performance today from Gerrard, or what do you say?
Yes, first class and was the diffrence between the teams, his goal and assist shows what he is all about and what he can do all day.

You've won your first matches against the big three, is the title is in the bag now?
Very early to say and we can't get complacent but we have a great position to win it quite early on.

Your in good position to take home alot of silverware, is it possible?
Again, too early to say but I hope we take home all 4 cups and live off it all summer.

retired_bbcarr

You did an edit further down correcting this to David Moores. But isnt it Rick Parry anyhow </BLOCKQUOTE>

Nope, Moores is the Chairman and Parry is in the board IIRC. </BLOCKQUOTE>

David Moores is Chairman. Rick Parry holds the position of Chief Executive.

enjoying the story anyway. good to see you doing well :thup:

retired_vswami

Good story, but I think mr. Taylor need to refresh his knowledge of Rosenborg BK

Rosenborg where in the quarter-finals of the Champions League in 96/97. Beeing a RBK suporter the last game of the group stages that year was one of the most intense experienses I can remember. We had to beat AC Milan on San Siro in the last game, and it happened. A late 2-1 goal by Vegard Heggem got us through to the quarters.

In 99/00 we won our group with Feyenord, Dortmund, Boavista, and got through to the second group stage, which was a new thing that year I believe. Anyway, we beat Boavista and Dortmund 3-0 away that year.

RBK also got 2nd in the group stage in 97/98 2 points behind Real Madrid. That year though only 1 team went on to the quarters.

cheers.

retired_provrb7

@ TommiHelm - Sorry about that, I thought I heard it on TV once and some commentator was explaining that they never had.

Sorry for not updating in a while, I've kind of run away with the game and I got finger cramps from writing. The updates will be a bit shorter but not hold back on any info.

Reds Put Bolton Out Of Carling Cup
Wednesday 1st December 2004

For the second time this season at Anfield, Bolton fail to score against the Premiership leaders and now they've been put out of the Carling Cup quater final.

Partridge, who is the according to Opta the best sub in the Premiership had been given a start today and was using the left flank very well the first ten minutes. Again and again he was getting down the byline and crossing dangerously into the box. But Bolton were holding off well but posed no offensive threat to Liverpool. Jay Jay Okocha was using the ball well but none of the Bolton players were as influential. The dead lock was finally broken and the young Partridge was again involved, his cornor was cleared but he got the ball back and squared it across the box for Alonso who scored a deflected shot off of N'Gotty to make it 1-0 before halftime.

Again Bolton were down at halftime for the second time this season and last time out they went 11 men behind the ball and in the beginning of the second half it looked to be history repeating itself. 10 minutes into the second half Cisse showed great composure and scored 2-0 from a very tight angle on the left side of the area. The clerence from Jaaskelainen was poor and intercepted by Partridge who found Cisse down the left wing, he came into the area and just shot and it curved past the stunned finn. Halfway through the half it was Cisse time again, Biscans header from within the Liverpool found Cisse who twist and turned away from Jaidi, it looked like a rabbit and turtle race when Cisse left him for dead, Cisse's cool finish past the Bolton keeper ment 3-0, game, set and match.

Carling Cup Quater Final
Anfield, Liverpool
Liverpool 3 Alonso 43, Cisse 56 74
Bolton 0
MOM - Alonso
Att: 40403

Liverpool (4-1-4-1); Kirkland; Josemi, Pellegrino, Hyypia, Traore; Biscan; Garcia, Alonso, Welsh, Partridge; Morientes

retired_provrb7

REDS TO PLAY UNITED IN SEMI'S
Thursday 2nd December 2004

Liverpool travel to Manchester for the first leg of the Carling Cup Semi Final which is touted as a cracking match up but surely one that would of been better for the Final. Alex Ferguson had this to say, "It's a good draw and now we look forward to getting revenge for the 1-0 defeat at home a couple of weeks ago. Now we know what they are all about and we will be more prepared this time."

Daniel Taylor however was less agressive towards Ferguson when he said that he anticipated a great game between two world class teams. When asked who would win the tie he answed short and simply "Us".

In the other tie Everton travel to Fulham over two ties. The experts say the final will be an all Liverpoodlian final.

retired_provrb7

'Pool Take Three Against Fulham
Saturday 4th December 2004

Liverpool could field a full team for this fixture due to the match in the week against Paris did'nt mean anything for their Champions League position.

The first quater of the hour was very stale but Liverpool had the upper hand and possesion but it did'nt take much longer then 17 minutes for Gerrard to kill off the match. The Liverpool skipper was set up by Hamann outside the area and he bent it past van der Sar with precision from 20 yards. Fulham were finding it as hard as all teams that have come to Anfield to break down the defense and only long shots was the available option but they were never enough to trouble Dudek. Most of the half Fulham defended with 10 men and hoped that Liverpool would'nt get a second and maybe break on the counter with Cole.

Halfway through the second half, Riise's left-footed freekick was saved superbly by van der Sar down by his right post. Fulham started pushing bodies forward in attempt to level the score but were shortly punished by substitute Morientes on the counter only 2 minutes after he came on, Finnan's crossfield ball found another substitute, Partridge who crosses to the far post and Morientes headed it down to the groud and it bounced akwardly for van der Sar, 2-0. Morientes also had a chance for 3-0 after Josemi's long throw but this time van der Sar was equal to it and puched his header wide.

Premiership
Anfield, Liverpool
Liverpool 2 Gerrard 18, Morientes 73
Fulham 0
MOM - Gerrard
Att: 40604

Liverpool (4-1-4-1); Dudek; Finnan, Carra, Pellegrino, Traore; Hamann; Garcia, Alonso, Gerrard, Riise; Cisse

retired_provrb7

Kirkland's Shut Out Gives Reds A Point In Paris
Tuesday 7th December 2004

The reserve players and youth players were once again given a chance to shine in the Champions League but it was a one man goalkeeping show in Paris. Young Woods was given his debut in central defence after been on loan to

Liverpool started brightly and Foy showed his skill down the left and crossed for Morientes, but the spaniards header is went over the bar. Minutes later another chance fell to Morientes, Kelly's free kick caught Paris off guard as they formed a wall and it fell to Morientes, but he shot straight at Alonzo. However this proved to be Liverpool's last chance in the half, after that it was all Paris. Pauleta tested Kirkland after just half an hour played with a header but it went straight into the keepers arms. Minutes later Semak tested the young enlishman from the egde of the area but Kirkland managed to punch the hard shot and cleared it for a throw in. Shortly after that the ball came striaght back into Liverpools half, Pauleta tested Kirkland with a low hard shot from the same area as Semak but again the keeper was equal to it and punched clear. Kirkland was surely the man of the half but this was not the end of the story.

The second half started as the first, Morientes got a chance 5 minutes in but again his shot went straight at Alonzo and easily saved. Halway through the half Pauleta was again stirring trouble, a cross from Benachour found him at the far post but Kirkland got down to turn it behind for a cornor. Paris chucked on another attacker in attempt to grab a goal but it wasn't going to help, the Liverpool defence held out well with Josemi and Traore being influecing figures but the five star performance from Kirkland kept the score at 0-0.

Champions League Group C
Parc des Princes, Paris
Paris 0
Liverpool 0
MOM - Kirkland
Att: 48524

(4-1-4-1); Kirkland; Josemi, Pellegrino, Woods, Traore; Biscan; Foy, Welsh, Kelly, Partridge; Morientes