A Dutch-Spanisch connection

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It took some time, but finally we gained the first 3 points in the PL under Roy Hodgson. Yesterday’s encounter with West Bromwich Albion ended 1:0, thanks to Fernando Torres’ beauty of a goal (66 min.), but the performance of the whole team was far from convincing.

We started as poorly as we did in Turkey, and the first half made me shudder. We played comatose, were losing the ball, the passes were wrong, the mistakes agglomerated … It was woeful. We played poorly, and considering which team we played, makes the performance even more woeful. I really had to fight against myself to stay positive. I tried to concentrate on the tiny good things. Well, if you are trying hard … Jovanovic and Gerrard were working hard; Poulsen wasn’t nearly outstanding, but for me, he looked quite solid in the midfield. I do want to rate him by now, I’ll give him some time. Alberto Aquilani was given so much time, why not give some to Christian? Maxi looked solid as well.

The second half (at least a part of it) was slightly better: more dynamic, more aggressive and we could have scored more often, but the WBA defense was too good for us. We have to give credit to Albion, as they played very intelligent, covering and defending well, without fear, and a couple of dangerous goal chances. Thanks to our Pepe … He stood there as a one.

The 66` minute was a soupcon of Torres brilliance we all know, and miss, so much. Dirk Kuyt led the break, exchanged passes with Torres, and surged onwards down the left before picking out the unmarked Spaniard on the edge of the area with a perfectly weighted chip. Torres connected cleanly on the volley and found the bottom corner of Scott Carson’s goal.

“These kind of players only need half a chance,”said the WBA manager Roberto Di Matteo, after yesterday’s match at Anfield. “That piece of magic made all the difference,”concurred Hodgson, and there surely were some sparks of the old Torres magic we got used to.

As Antoine tweeted, and broke his personal being-retweeted-record, “That was our 2000th League Victory or 350th EPL Victory and Torres’ 50th Anfield goal.”

A sweet record, nothing to sneeze at! And a couple of minutes later this record could have been made even sweeter, as Steven Gerrard superbly passed to Torres, but this time with less luck.

The final stage of the match became a bit lethargic again, but we secured the victory, the three points, and well … I’ll take that. We didn’t do that much, so the result is completely justified.

As for me, this match was far from satisfying. The new signings still need to settle into the team, the “old” players aren’t fully fit yet, and the team as a whole still needs to wake up, and try to avoid making stupid mistakes.

With Joe Cole returning to the squad after his ban it all should change. With our new boy from Portugal, Raul Meireles, we got a important addiction to the squad, and I can’t wait to see him playing. He was one of the most important players for Portugal in South Africa, and I hope, he will show that class for Liverpool too.

In my opinion, Roy’s signings are good, they just need some time to work out. The fans are very inpatient, but let’s give the new boys some time. It doesn’t hurt.

Liverpool:Jose Manuel Reina,Glen Johnson, Daniel Agger, Jamie Carragher, Martin Skrtel, Steven Gerrard, Dirk Kuyt, Leiva Lucas, Christian Poulsen, Fernando Torres (Ryan Babel, 89), Milan Jovanovic (Maximiliano Maxi Rodriguez, 60)

-Amanda

amanda@empireofthekop.com

More Stories Christian Poulsen Pepe Reina West Brom

5 Comments

  1. our performance is vry poor and we nd 2 improve remenber l mak comment of playing d dutchman along torres and let steve G hand at d midfield then u see a good football good improvement,kuty cn work lik steve if u giv him d chance.sktel alway commit foul rmenber pk against man city yesterday again is jst that d refree over look add konchesky to 3 and agger 6,raul poulsen jovanovic.format4-1-3-2.kuty torres,maxi steve jovanovic,raul,konchesky agger carragher johnson,renia

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