Sorry Merseysiders, the Red side at least.
As you know I'm not usually Senor Champions League, but today I was actually home for a change and watched the 1-1 drawn between Liverpool and Lyon in central France, a result that went down as a simultaneous stomach punch and kick to the groin region, for fans of Liverpool anyway.
Ouch.
Liverpool had the match all but won thanks to Ryan Babel, yes Ryan Babel (it happened), with his very nice strike from nowhere in the 83rd minute. Then, everything came crashing down much like, apparently, the entire world in the up-coming disaster flick "2012." (Lane Meyer 1, Apocalypse 0.)
Then, somehow, Lisandro Lopez got behind the Reds defense and beat an irate Pepe Reina, who had to resort to claiming for an offside call to save a little face.
So there it was, Lyon 1, Liverpool 1, which at face value is a fairly impressive result for Rafa's men considering a starting XI that featured Andriy Voronin, Sotirios Kyrgiakos and a less-than-100 percent Fernando Torres.
Yet, now the Group D table reads: Lyon 10, Fiorentina 9, Liverpool 4 and Debrecen.
In short, Liverpool is out if Fiorentina beats Lyon on Nov. 24 or if it fails to beat Debrecen.
Not that I put too much stock into these sort of things, but Liverpool probably used up whatever karma it might posses a couple years ago in Istanbul. So barring a second European miracle of the decade, Liverpool is likely out of the Champions League before Christmas and on life support in the Premier League title chase. (Before saying this is a good thing, since Rafa can then focus on the League, Liverpool will parachute in the vaunted and universally loved Europa League.)
For whatever the reason, I've spent too much time thinking about this, but here are a couple issues about Liverpool running through my head.
* Yes, he had a fork sticking out of him the size of an 18-wheeler, but why did Benitez allow Sammi Hyppia to flee to Bayer Leverkausen only to replace him with the legitimately terrible Kyrgiakos?
* And why is that it seems at all times either Daniel Agger or Martin Skrtel are sidelined with injuries?
* I realize this topic has been done to death, but really, letting Xabi Alonso go to Real Madrid and replacing him with Lucas, who every Premier League announcer seems on orders to defend during telecasts, seem like a sound decision?
* And what about Steven Gerrard. I know its sacrilege to say anything against the King of the Scousers, but what does the club do from here. He's only 29, but he's got a ton of mileage on this legs between the Premier League, Champions League and England duty. He's approaching the 600-game threshold on his odometer. I truly hate to say this, because at his best Gerrard is a pleasure to behold on the field, but injuries like his current ailment are only going to become more frequent.
To think Gerrard can continue as an elite, box-to-box midfielder, week-in, week-out for Liverpool is crazy. He's simply carried so much of the water, with a lesser cast the last few seasons that eventually he's going to break down.
It's an unconventional thought, but why not consider moving him to more a direct striker/forward role and away from the midfield? He's already playing behind Torres a lot as it is anyway. Liverpool doesn't have a direct replacement for Gerrard, but he's an irreplaceable player.
Basically, a question to fret about if you support the club is if the team caters to Gerrard as he gets older? Will they be forced to make compromises as he gets older.
It's a tricky spot, because Gerrard truly embodies the spirit of Liverpool.
This isn't hyperbole either, if he ever lined up in a different shirt, devoted, tattooed Liverpool fans might have heart attacks.
Of course, this is all assuming Gerrard can't get back to his elite level of play.
Me, right now I'm thinking about how it all came to a sudden halt for Larry Bird and the Celtics in the early 1990s. Unlike an aging Bird, at least Gerrard has Torres around as a running-mate.
His coach? Well, barring another miracle Benitez's stay of execution won't last all that much longer.
* * *
Every so often I get emails from readers that start off with, "I know you don't cover the Champions League ..."
Admittedly, it's tough. There is so much soccer on television these days it's hard to commit to back-to-back midweek matches and the subsequent highlights.
To me, the competition is pretty dull for the first round of games anyway although this year's Group F has been compelling since neither Barcelona or Inter have been able to separate from Rubin Kazan of Dynamo Kiev. Aside from that, the tables are playing out like you would expect, aside from the dysfunctionality of Bayern Munich (third Group A) and the aforementioned Liverpool. (And yes, Inter pulled one out of their asses in the final 10 minutes today.)
Really, was there even a point for Arsenal to have to play its Group H matches? There was about a 0.0000001 chance the Gunners don't get through against the likes of Olympiacos, AZ and Standard Liege. This was on par with a layup from the Harlem Globetrotters against the Washington Generals.
The thing we sometimes forget about the Champions League is that it's long. Like 'Godfather II' long.
It all starts in the middle of the summer, with the actual group stages finally kicking off in mid-September and running until early December. Hell, the knockout stages don't start until Feb. 16, 2010.
So basically that's my shill why I really haven't said too much about the competition until today, after Matchday 4.
As you know I'm not usually Senor Champions League, but today I was actually home for a change and watched the 1-1 drawn between Liverpool and Lyon in central France, a result that went down as a simultaneous stomach punch and kick to the groin region, for fans of Liverpool anyway.
Ouch.
Liverpool had the match all but won thanks to Ryan Babel, yes Ryan Babel (it happened), with his very nice strike from nowhere in the 83rd minute. Then, everything came crashing down much like, apparently, the entire world in the up-coming disaster flick "2012." (Lane Meyer 1, Apocalypse 0.)
Then, somehow, Lisandro Lopez got behind the Reds defense and beat an irate Pepe Reina, who had to resort to claiming for an offside call to save a little face.
So there it was, Lyon 1, Liverpool 1, which at face value is a fairly impressive result for Rafa's men considering a starting XI that featured Andriy Voronin, Sotirios Kyrgiakos and a less-than-100 percent Fernando Torres.
Yet, now the Group D table reads: Lyon 10, Fiorentina 9, Liverpool 4 and Debrecen.
In short, Liverpool is out if Fiorentina beats Lyon on Nov. 24 or if it fails to beat Debrecen.
Not that I put too much stock into these sort of things, but Liverpool probably used up whatever karma it might posses a couple years ago in Istanbul. So barring a second European miracle of the decade, Liverpool is likely out of the Champions League before Christmas and on life support in the Premier League title chase. (Before saying this is a good thing, since Rafa can then focus on the League, Liverpool will parachute in the vaunted and universally loved Europa League.)
For whatever the reason, I've spent too much time thinking about this, but here are a couple issues about Liverpool running through my head.
* Yes, he had a fork sticking out of him the size of an 18-wheeler, but why did Benitez allow Sammi Hyppia to flee to Bayer Leverkausen only to replace him with the legitimately terrible Kyrgiakos?
* And why is that it seems at all times either Daniel Agger or Martin Skrtel are sidelined with injuries?
* I realize this topic has been done to death, but really, letting Xabi Alonso go to Real Madrid and replacing him with Lucas, who every Premier League announcer seems on orders to defend during telecasts, seem like a sound decision?
* And what about Steven Gerrard. I know its sacrilege to say anything against the King of the Scousers, but what does the club do from here. He's only 29, but he's got a ton of mileage on this legs between the Premier League, Champions League and England duty. He's approaching the 600-game threshold on his odometer. I truly hate to say this, because at his best Gerrard is a pleasure to behold on the field, but injuries like his current ailment are only going to become more frequent.
To think Gerrard can continue as an elite, box-to-box midfielder, week-in, week-out for Liverpool is crazy. He's simply carried so much of the water, with a lesser cast the last few seasons that eventually he's going to break down.
It's an unconventional thought, but why not consider moving him to more a direct striker/forward role and away from the midfield? He's already playing behind Torres a lot as it is anyway. Liverpool doesn't have a direct replacement for Gerrard, but he's an irreplaceable player.
Basically, a question to fret about if you support the club is if the team caters to Gerrard as he gets older? Will they be forced to make compromises as he gets older.
It's a tricky spot, because Gerrard truly embodies the spirit of Liverpool.
This isn't hyperbole either, if he ever lined up in a different shirt, devoted, tattooed Liverpool fans might have heart attacks.
Of course, this is all assuming Gerrard can't get back to his elite level of play.
Me, right now I'm thinking about how it all came to a sudden halt for Larry Bird and the Celtics in the early 1990s. Unlike an aging Bird, at least Gerrard has Torres around as a running-mate.
His coach? Well, barring another miracle Benitez's stay of execution won't last all that much longer.
Every so often I get emails from readers that start off with, "I know you don't cover the Champions League ..."
Admittedly, it's tough. There is so much soccer on television these days it's hard to commit to back-to-back midweek matches and the subsequent highlights.
To me, the competition is pretty dull for the first round of games anyway although this year's Group F has been compelling since neither Barcelona or Inter have been able to separate from Rubin Kazan of Dynamo Kiev. Aside from that, the tables are playing out like you would expect, aside from the dysfunctionality of Bayern Munich (third Group A) and the aforementioned Liverpool. (And yes, Inter pulled one out of their asses in the final 10 minutes today.)
Really, was there even a point for Arsenal to have to play its Group H matches? There was about a 0.0000001 chance the Gunners don't get through against the likes of Olympiacos, AZ and Standard Liege. This was on par with a layup from the Harlem Globetrotters against the Washington Generals.
The thing we sometimes forget about the Champions League is that it's long. Like 'Godfather II' long.
It all starts in the middle of the summer, with the actual group stages finally kicking off in mid-September and running until early December. Hell, the knockout stages don't start until Feb. 16, 2010.
So basically that's my shill why I really haven't said too much about the competition until today, after Matchday 4.
Labels: champions league, fernando torres, fox soccer, Liverpool, rafa benitez
I think Hyppia left on a free because he wanted to get some playing time and be a little closer to home. Benitez actually "replaced" Alonso with Aquilani, and given their health concerns that seems to be an apt replacement.
Assuming that Aquilani turns out to be as good as advertised (and the highlights I saw of him in his Carling Cup appearance seem to show signs he could be good) this team needs to rebuild around Torres, Gerrad, and him. I think they have to get rid of Rafa but I don't know who they can bring in as a replacement. I think it depends on what ownership plans to do. If they are going to pour money into the squad and try to re-load then someone like Mourinho makes sense.
They have to stay competitive to keep Torres, but I don't see them harm in selling Mascherano and turning that money into 2-4 very good players. This team needs help all over the pitch. They could use another striker (maybe someone like Dean Ashton if he's ever fit again), 2-3 midfielders and other than Skrtel and Johnson an entirely new backline.
(Side note - I guarantee you the Liverpool boards are aglow with the same nonsense Chelsea boards were during the summer. "We should sell Aurelio, Degen, Kelly, Babel, Lucas, Ngog, and sign Vidic, Pique, Silva, Valencia, and Arshavin." A true joy to read.)
They just don't have the depth to deal with all of these injuries, and unfortunately their youth system hasn't been producing any support. They're going to have to buy but you wonder where the money is coming from. Jamie Carragher attending the Rio Ferdinand School of Defending for 2009/10 hasn't helped either.