Thursday, November 09, 2006

Momo's misery

It was a handy enough win in the Carling cup last night but it came as a heavy price. Report today suggest that he's dislocated his shoulder and could be out for three months. Momo was the only first team regular to start the match. Given that he's the one player that Rafa doesn't rotate, you could say that he is the most important player in his system. So who'll fill in now? Bolo Zenden auditioned for the part last night and was voted man of the match. I'm not Zendens biggest fan but there is no doubt that he's more effective in central midfield than on the left. It remains to be seen whether he'll be as effective against top class premiership opposition, week in, week out. I think that the more likely alternative will be to move Gerrard into the centre and put Pennant on the right. Alternatively Gonzalez could come in on the left with Garcia moving across to the right hand side. Either way I feel that Momo's injury is a huge blow and I fear that we'll drop points as a result of it.

Back to the match. Gonzalez and Agger were the two most impressive performers for me. I am a big fan of Gonzalez and I feel that he has what it takes to make it at LFC. His pace is frightening (faster than Cisse), he's a good crosser and he's not afraid to shoot. He scored 5 goals in 12 starts for Real Sociedad last season and was said to be one of the main reasons that they avoided relegation. I don't think that he has showed his best form for us yet but he's been improving with games and last night was his best showing so far. I expect him to have made the left wing spot his own by the new year if he continues to adapt and improve.

Agger was once again superb. Our no.5 is only 21 but plays like a 30 year old battle hardened veteran. He is a leader and organised the defence well against Brum. I would like him to play on Sunday against Arsenal despite how well Hyypia has been playing. I think that Agger isn't one for the future, he's on for now. There are certain games where we'll need Sami but Daniel should start the majority of games in my view.

Of the others on show last night I'll give an honourable mention to Paletta. He clearly loves a tackle but he would want to tone it down slightly. He was booked and could have gotten a second. He looks confident though and I hope that he gets another game in the next round of the carling cup. Peltier was cool under pressure and Guthrie got involved during his cameo.

And so onto the Emirates for our next match on Sunday. I was hoping that Everton would take them to extra time last night but Adebayor scored with five minutes to go. We're in better form than them at the moment but we have a terrible record at their ground and our away form in the league has been shocking. Hope we can turn both stats around on Sunday.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Zenden is going to substitute ur best player? Poor Liverpool then.... I'm a FCBarcelona supporter and Zenden played with us for a couple of years some years ago... i remember he took extra classes there to learn how kick the ball properly to center the ball to the area....
Apparently he never payed enough attention...

Congratulations 4 ur Blog!

Anonymous said...

Btw: Some of the Catalan people living in Dublin are planing to go to see one Liverpool match someday...

Anonymous said...

I have to agree with Sergi here Mal, Zenden is rubbish. He's got good technique but he's too lightweight and lacks the concentration and discipline to step up to the plate with Momo out. It's really up to Gerrard.