Liverpool no. 9 - successes and flops (1993 - 2012)

1. Ian Rush (1993 - 1996) - he is a legend to many Liverpool fans. What a fantastic striker!

 

2. Robbie Fowler(1996 - 2001, 2006 - 2007) - for a person to be given the nickname, God, you know that he is a very special player. A pity that Houlier opted for a Owen-Heskey partnership most of the time.

3. Nicolas Anelka (2001 - 2002) - he only played for us one season and he was on loan. But he really made his mark! I can still remember the game against Newcastle where he singlehandedly demolished the Magpies. Too bad his loan did not materialise into a permanent deal.

 

4. El-Hadji Diouf (2002 - 2004) - in my view, he was flop. Will be remembered for his spitting incidents on the pitch.

 

5. Djibril Cisse (2004 - 2006) - the jury is out but personally, i liked Cisse. He is such a character - and he has the skill and the heart.

6. Fernando Torres (2007 - 2011) - my favourite no. 9 of all time. Such a wonderful talent!!! Today, he is no longer the same player as he was so i am glad he played some of his best football in his career in a Liverpool no. 9 jersey.

 

7. Andy Carroll (2011 - 2012) - yes, we all know he was a flop. An expensive one too!!! Glad to see him go.

 

Top 10 sporting event/news/memory of 2012

Sorry but my sports interest is mainly footie and tennis! It was an interesting year for F1 too, i must admit. Anyways, here are my sports news (and sports related news) that i will remember 2012 for! In chronological order:-

1. Manchester City wins the Premier League (13 May 2012) - watched the last game live telecast with the wife who is a City fan. Great celebration in the end - stuff that dreams are made of!!!



2. Brendan Rodgers (1 June 2012) - so King Kenny was sacked. To be honest, while i'm a big fan of Kenny Dalglish, IMHP he just did not have it to manage a team in the 21st century. Brendan (who?) Rodgers - it is an interesting choice. Somehow, something deep inside tells me that in the long run, this may be a good decision. I hope my gut feeling is right!

3. Spain winning the Euro 2012 (1 July 2012) - I watched all their games and i absolutely enjoyed them, despite accusations of them being boring. They are indeed the best!!!

4. Wimbledon 2012 (8 July 2012) - Roger winning it for the 7th time!!!! And reclaiming the no. 1 spot in the process. he went on to hold it for a record 300 weeks!!!

5. Olympics 2012 in London - opening ceremony (27 July 2012) - stayed up all nite with the wife to catch this. Liked it very much. Very British!!! Rowan Atkinson stole the show for us!




6. Olympic Badminton Finals (5 August 2012) - this was memorable as we were at the Law Ball and a group of us disappeared as we all ran down to watch the climax outside Chili's restaurant. We stood outside there (some barefooted) with a huge group of strangers and cheered for Malaysia! We lost but what a wonderful experience!

7. Lance Armstrong stripped of all his titles (24 August 2012) - What a big news for me!!!! This caused me to stop wearing the yellow wristband that i have been wearing for possibly more than 10 years! It's not a Livestrong band but since it is yellow in colour, it is always associated with Lance Armstrong.

8. Hillsborough - Justice for the fans (12 September 2012) - the report came out that none of the Liverpool fans were responsible in any way for the disaster. Big, big news!

9. Chelsea - so many incidents!!!! Sacking of AVB, then winning the Champions League finals annonymously (heard about it much later!!!!!), sacking of DiMatteo, Benitez being booed... and Torres seems to be on fire again! Good for him!

10. Messi (22 December 2012) - he ends of this list and this year with 91 goals!!!! Brilliant!!!!!

 

Memorable matches of the World Cup

There were some really good games during the World Cup recently. But here are the games that were memorable not so much because of what happened on the pitch. Read on to find out why:-

1. South Africa v Mexico

Tshabalala with the first goal of the World Cup 2010

Obviously, this was memorable being the first match of the tournament! And i watched it with a bunch of church mates in one of their rooms at the Heritage Hotel where we were having a retreat.

2. England v USA

Oops...

This was the second game - memorable cuz it was England's first game. Memorable cuz of Robert Green's howler. Memorable cuz i watched it in darkness in my room at Heritage alone (until my roommate woke up just when England conceded the awful goal!).

3. Brazil v Portugal

Ho0hum - most boring match!

This was the first game i watched outside with mates - at the local mamak shop near my church building. It was packed! Nice atmosphere. But too bad the game was such a terrible one.

4. Portugal v North Korea

Prolly his only highlight in an otherwise disappointing World Cup

We din plan to watch this game - but when tGiF and i walked into the coffee-shop for our dinner, we noticed that the second half just started. And as we had our dinner, we witnessed Portugal demolish North Korea and saw each and everyone of the 6 goals in the 2nd half!

5. Germany v Argentina

Winners and losers

This was one game that tGiF and i watched in entirety (ok, we started late and missed the first goal but sat thru the rest). It was prolly the most enjoyable action packed game. It was amazing how Germany demolished Argentina!

6. The Netherlands v Brazil

Using his head!

There were a few games which were really exciting - like how England held on to beat Slovakia, Puyol scoring the winner against Germany, the mad scramble by Uruguay at the end of their semi0finals with Netherlands - and this game. This was memorable cuz of the fact that i was supporting Holland and everyone did not expect them to beat Brazil. But they did. And they did it the hard way - by coming back from 1 goal down.

7. Spain v The Netherlands - The Finals!!!!

We are the champions!

The finals - a large group of us watched it together at the home of one of our mates. Great fun! Good end to the World Cup! Did not sleep after that - went for breakfast with tGiF and then to work!

Why England lost to Germany

This is entirely my own view - u may disagree.

1. Poor defence

All the goals were down to poor defending. Terry is poor. This is his last World Cup and rightfully so. Upson was not any better. Both were clearly at fault for the first goal - terry misjudging the ball and upson being muscled away by Klose.

Familiar sight - Terry one step behind the Germans

Both were again at fault for the 2nd goal, being left behind. Johnson had no choice but to move into the middle leaving the right side unguarded.

They were both missing for the 3rd and 4th goals.

Upson behind the Germans, Terry.... where is he????

2. Disallowed good goal

Yes, i know many would say that even if the goal was allowed, Germany would still win as they scored 4. But no, sir, you cannot be so simplistic like that - that would only show a lack of understanding of the game.

If England's goal had been rightfully allowed, the complexion of the game would change tremendously. England would have a psychological edge, having come back from 2 goals down - and the negative psychological effect will be on Germany, affecting their confidence as they threw away a 2 goal lead.

Further, the 3rd and 4th goals would not have been conceded by England. It was conceded due to the fact that England were pushing up the field desperately in search of an equaliser - and Germany would have been happy to defend their 2 goal lead.

3. Wayne Rooney

Still dun know what was he doing - not only in this game but in all the games. Is he injured? He really let down his country.

4. Bad substitutions

Heskey and Joe Cole? What did they contribute? Not much especially compared to Defoe and Milner whom they came in for. Which brings me to the last item on this list...

Milner out - but why?

5. Fabio Capello

Yes, he has done well for England - lifted us from the dumps we were in. But unfortunately, he is to be blamed. On so many counts. Here are just 3 (and we're talking about this game only):-

• Why did he insist on playing Rooney when he hasn't been performing at all during all the games? Did Capello decide to put him in for the whole game based on Rooney's reputation? Was he left in the team on the hope that he suddenly rediscovers his form? Did Capello not have Crouch??? Which brings me to the next point -

• Why did he not put in more strikers/players who can score when obviously those on the pitch can't? Crouch is a proven goalscorer - and he would be able to handle the big German defenders better than little Defoe.

• Why did he insist on playing Gerrard on the left??? Why is it that everyone can tell that Gerrard is at his best when he is played in the middle, preferably in the hole behind the striker - but Capello can't?

• Related to the previous point, why does Capello insist in playing the same formation? When it is not working - as it was painfully obvious - you've gotta have a plan B. He didn't.

• What was it with the substitutions? What did Heskey do? Cole? Milner was at least putting in some decent crosses and Defoe was getting into good positions. Some coaches turn the team around by making really good substitutions. Capello does not seem to one of them.

But at the end of day, i must give credit where credit is due - well done Germany!

Why i'm glad i'm a fan of Liverpool and not of Newcastle

1. Liverpool will be playing in this league:-



Newcastle will be playing in this league:-



2. This is Liverpool's new away jersey:-



This is Newcastle's new away jersey:-



3. Liverpool's manager has guided them to win many trophies including the Champions League, the UEFA Cup, the Supercup, the FA Cup, the League Cup etc.



Newcastle's manager(s) has(ve) guided to relegation



4. This is Newcastle's striker:-



This is Liverpool's striker!

I won't blog about the World Cup Finals!!!!

I'm trying hard not to jump into the bandwagon and blog about the World Cup finals yesterday (yes, i know i said here that the World Cup for me ended on the 1st of July - but c'mon. This is the World Cup finals!!!!!).

Here are 10 things i won't be blogging about:-

1. I won't blog bout how glad i am for Alberto and all Italians that Italy won.

2. I won't blog about how relieved i feel that France din win.

3. I won't blog about how i was wrong when i said here "who says cheaters never prosper?"

4. I won't blog bout how brilliant the Italian penalties were! England, take note!

5. I won't blog bout how shameful Zidane acted.

6. I won't blog bout bout how ridiculous i find that Zidane still won the Player of the Tournament!!!

7. I won't blog bout how shocking i find that some players are trying to justify and defend Zidane's actions!!!!!

8. I won't blog about how some people can be such sore losers - like Gallas who labelled all Italians as cheaters (see here).

9. I won't blog about how brilliant Gattuso and Cannavaro played not only during the finals but thruout the World Cup.

10. I won't blog about how in football, it is not always the team that plays the best who will be crowned the Champions.

I won't - so dun expect it, ok? ;-P