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I seem to remember one against Fulham at Anfield, 3-1, Andy Cole equalised after Morientes put us ahead. Garcia wanted to play a return ball but either it was a bad one or Gerrard wasn't on the same wavelength. Couple of passes later, the ball was in the back of the net.

Faith is believing when all seems impossible...

Damn. I knew I should have got off me arsenal and put my tenner right after that manc match... Still, 33-1 is fantastic...

What are the odds over in the UK? I just put a tenner on us winning the league this season at 31-1 over here in Australia. Apparently Arsenal are something like 6 or 7 to 1

People were making noises about Gerrard's goal drought, but I was more concerned with Garcia's to be honest. Both seasons he's contributed immensely to the scoresheet in all, and we've won 2 cups. More of a superstitious thing than logical, but now that Luis' goals have come back, I think we're on the start of something special this season.

At half time they did a stat comparison and I couldn't believe my eyes... (Stat; Rooney; Garcia) Completed passes 10 - 12 Blocked passes 2 -3 (something like that) Misplaced passes 4 - 4 Maybe the misplaced passes vs the completed passes were 12 - 4, cause it certainly seemed like that.

Totally agree with everything in this post. Morientes looks a different player now at Valencia. I'd say a toss up between him and Josemi as Rafa's worst signings. Diao one of the worst in recent times?

Bring back Gary Mac. If only to coach our players how to take corners. With tall lads like Crouch and Sami (excellent in the air), we don't need to put the best balls in, good ones into dangerous areas. Gerrard should be at the end of them too, he used to score a few in the box from set pieces when Gary Macca was taking em.

Technical Ability 1. Garcia 2. Alonso 3. Gerrard Work Rate 1. Sissoko 2. Kuyt 3. Crouch Influencing Others 1. Carra 2. Gerrard 3. ? Intelligence 1. Alonso 2. Garcia (only in the final third) 3. Kewell Passing 1. Alonso 2. Gerrard 3. Agger Shooting 1. Gerrard 2. Riise 3. ? Dribbling 1. Gerrard 2. Pennant 3. Finnan (keeps the ball surprisingly well when running with it) Heading 1. Hyypia 2. Kewell 3. Garcia Haven't seen enough of Kuyt so haven't included him except for work rate...

I thought Alonso was our best player on the park, especially in the 2nd half when he was in the thick of everything. Gerrard was hardly in the right positions to get involved. There was also one particular play in the 2nd half when we were on the counter and Stevie burst forward with the ball and on the full stretch tried to play Bellamy in with a difficult ball, when Riise was on his left in a lot of space. I thought it was typical of Gerrard to try for the more incisive pass (as mentioned) as opposed to playing it wide to get more bodies into the box for the cross. That pass turned out to be a pretty good effort; just that it was such a difficult play it didn't come off.

Well, Lampard has got his deflection boots back on. Where are Stevie's rocket shot ones?

I thought at the end of the 1st half, Pennant was consistently staying wide and delivered 3/4 good balls in which Friedel had to punch because they were put in good areas. The decision making wasn't great prior, but the ability to squeeze the cross into the box during that spell was encouraging for me. As mentioned by others, he needs to stay out wide and not bring play in so often. In other words, stick to what you do best!

I thought Alonso ran the game in the 2nd half. Excellent touches, won most of his battles, and kept play ticking along. And Gerrard was missing. Not having a go at him, but that's just how I saw it.

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A testament to both Rafa's coaching ability and the lad's talent. Never looked like the most intelligent footballer, he's now matured into a more calculated one. I remember very clearly one play in the CL semi at Anfield, when Kezman took down a long crossfield pass with a lot of space on the right wing. In the past Riise was rightly criticized for going down too rashly. But on this occasion, he backed off slightly, and as soon as he noticed Kezman's first touch was not perfect, he went in full paced to put in a great tackle. I'd say he's probably the most improved player in the team since Rafa took over. Think he was dropped for the first half of that season, and when he played himself back into the team he showed vast improvement in his defending. And then moved to a new level the season after, although he played left midfield more often than at the back.

His defensive game has improved tremendously since Rafa took over. Evident even in Rafa's first season. But many still fail to see that his defending has gone up a couple of notches, up to a very high standard. Like mentioned, an integral part of the superb defence last season.

Those comparisons to Lampard are always made; but what can Lampard do better than Gerrard? I can only think of set pieces and better ball retention/pass selection. Pretty much everything else, Lampard is inferior. I think even with shooting they're pretty much at the same level. What else, injuries?

I missed the 1st half, but having just watched the 2nd half again, apart from that Davids/Jenas chance, we were all over them. The 2nd half performance was so emphatic I'd say it alone deserved at least 2 goals. The rocket from Riise was just the cherry on the cake.

Him, Wright and Babb/Ruddock were part of the 2nd/3rd meanest defence in season 95/96. I liked him as a player, always thought he was a very good defender who was often struck by injury.

I think it's easy to get the lettering. Especially on the back of the world cup, with so many teams using Adidas. It's the CL patches which seem to be more difficult, esp the blue one.

I remember quite clearly that period in particular, when Gerrard was playing pretty poorly and Diao was actually impressive. And in that match he was so bad that GH took him off and then later explained why he had started with, and then subbed Stevie off (half time wasn't it?); I think GH wanted to give him the chance to play himself back into form but he couldn't deliver. I believe a lot of people were in agreement, some even asked why an in form Diao didn't start the match.

You are a WUM...

Shearer had power, and as mentioned was no slouch when he was younger. Sheringham wasn't a soft touch was he? And what the f*ck did England win anyway? Read my post carefully, I emphasized that Fowler and Crouch had neither pace nor power, and Garcia is lightweight. Not the best combination when playing away, even worse in a derby when the sh*te are well up for it, everything is going at 100mph, and the challenges coming in that bit quicker and harder.