Liverpool 2 - Chelsea 0

 

Two goals from Fernando TorresFernando Torres gave Liverpool a well-deserved 2-0 win over champions Chelsea in a Barclays Premier League match at Anfield today. The Liverpool star striker has been struggling to find his form after an injury during the 2010 World Cup in June, but today showed why he's top of many managers shopping list.

 

In the 11th minute, Dirk KuytDirk Kuyt put Torres through and the Spaniard easily put the ball past Chelsea keeper Petr Cech. It was a clinical finish from the number nine. It was a different Liverpool from the team that found themselves in the relegation zone barely three weeks ago. This was a confident eleven, hungry for victory.

 

Three minutes from half-time, their hard work paid off again. A Chelsea attack was intercepted, and in a swift counter-attack, Raul Meireles found Torres on the left. The striker pulled the ball to his right and drove it past a hapless Cech into the right corner of the net.

 

Chelsea brought on Didier DrogbaDidier Drogba in the second half to boost their attack. In the 65th minute, the Blues almost pulled one back except for a brilliant reflex save from Pepe Reina. Relief for Liverpool. Then in the 73rd minute, it was the opposing Cech who made a reflex save to thwart Dirk Kuyt.

 

Just as Liverpool appeared to hang on to their two goal lead, Drogba came close on 86 minutes. His shot hit the crossbar and it looked like it just wasn't Chelsea's day. Match winner Torres was substituted in the 87th minute and replaced by David Ngog.

 

The win eases pressure on manager Roy HodgsonRoy Hodgson, at least for the short-term. Playing in front of new owner, John HenryJohn Henry and his wife Linda Pizzuti, the Reds were out to impress from the word "go". The new darling of Liverpool was seen singing along with the supporters, the Liverpool anthem, "You'll Never Walk Alone".

 

Liverpool now move up to 9th place in the league table with 15 points. Chelsea meanwhile had their lead cut to two points ahead of second-place Manchester United.

 

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/7262794-liverpool-2-chelsea-0

Fuck off Carlo Ancelotti! We need that boy.

 

Really though, he's going nowhere for £15million.

FUCK! Why did your team have to win. I really thought West Brom were going to pull out another surprise.

 

Oh and appreciate the 'well done' but I'm not going to pretend I'm happy City won.

 

We did. I had a an idea we had a chance with the 2 sending offs West Brom had against Blackpool..

 

Lets see how the Derby goes, it seems again our season and the direction it may take depends on this result.

 

I am planning a party at my local pub, lots of people are turning up just to see me go mental. I reckon if we win, I will be doing quite well with a few free drinks.. plus not to take into account of what my local will be giving me for the extra customers they will have that night

Liverpool will be fucked without Torres & Super G

Liverpool will be fucked without Torres & Super G

 

I'm amazed the amount of times that is said when Liverpool win really well. Liverpool has looked pretty fucked with them in the side in most matches this season so there's no argument methinks!!

 

Oh and Torres may have played well, but Lucas was simply outstanding as was Martin Kelly at right back. Gerrard took a backseat in todays match! We didn't need him!

Liverpool we're good!

ahh arsenal lost and city won = :dead:

Liverpool we're good!

ahh arsenal lost and city won = :dead:

 

It's a disappointing result for Arsenal. Unacceptable really especially at home but credit to Newcastle. I'm very surprised in Arsenal. It's not like them to lose at home to both West Brom and Newcastle.

Gerrard took a backseat in todays match! We didn't need him!

 

Either Torres or Gerrard get the team playing, you always need one of them.

Either Torres or Gerrard get the team playing, you always need one of them.

 

That's true, but then again, neither Chelski or City are anywhere near as impressive without Drogba or Tevez respectively.

I was glad to see Liverpool beat Chelski, anyway. Keeps everything interesting.:cool:

Maybe not but they'll both definitely finish higher.

Well it still looks like a two-horse race for the title again, anyway.

It appears no other team has the necessary consistency to challenge, unless things change quickly.

I'd agree Arsenal have a strong team but nothing that ensures victory like United and Chelsea, Man City have been freaking lucky to be where they are and that won't last forever.

This is when Liverpool will crash and burn against Wigan & Stoke

 

Like they did a few years ago when they did the double over Man Utd, they raise their game for the big games but then can't be bothered the next couple and loose to lowly teams

I'd agree Arsenal have a strong team but nothing that ensures victory like United and Chelsea, Man City have been freaking lucky to be where they are and that won't last forever.

 

if city were lucky we would be top now :smug:

Anyone see "Eric Cantona: Looking For Manchester"? Life In Technicolor was played at the end.

if city were lucky we would be top now :smug:

 

I seriously doubt it. Man City will prove to be a bunch of individuals. Not a team.

 

And Yaya Toure getting paid £250,000 a week? That's utterly shocking.

if city were lucky we would be top now :smug:

 

Hahaha! City haven't deserved about 7 of the points they've won this year. Blackpool was the worst.

A Life Too Short

 

Anyhow

 

Tommorow is the first anniversary of the death of German goalkeeper Robert Enke. Enke tragically committed suicide in front of a train after battling depression.

 

 

From BBC Sport's Eleanor Oldroyd

 

In a small country churchyard, deep in the farmlands of northern Germany, is a plain stone cross with two names engraved on it. It is a peaceful spot, the silence broken every few minutes by the regional express trains rushing past a few hundred metres away.

 

It is a sound that former Germany goalkeeper Robert Enke would have heard on 10 November, 2009 as he stood at the graveside of his daughter Lara, who died at the age of two in 2006 of a rare heart condition.

 

He had gone there to say goodbye. Turning away at last, he returned to his car, drove up the road, parked by the railway line, and stepped in front of one of the trains.

 

The news shocked the football community across Europe. Enke was 32-years-old, a husband and father, at the peak of his career with Bundesliga side Hannover 96, and virtually a certainty to be wearing the gloves for Germany at the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.

Robert Enke, Germany v Belgium, 2008

 

Enke earned eight senior caps with Germany. Photo: AFP

 

So why did he choose to end his own life on that late autumn day a year ago?

 

To try and answer that question, I went to Germany last week to speak to those who knew and loved Robert.

 

In many ways, the answer is a simple one - but at the time, only those closest to him knew it. Enke was suffering from, and for some years had been treated for, a serious illness - depression.

 

He wanted to keep his condition a secret for a number of reasons. Young, fit, dynamic sportsmen are not supposed to have days when they can barely get out of bed in the morning, let alone go to training, play a match, banter with their team-mates.

 

Least of all, those entrusted with the number one shirt, the last line of defence, the reliable, rock solid presence in goal. Think of the towering personalities of Oliver Kahn and Jens Lehmann, Enke's predecessors in that position for the German national team.

 

Enke feared for his career if he went public with his depression, but also for the future of his family.

 

After Lara's tragic death, Enke and his wife Teresa adopted a baby girl, Leila. Seemingly without justification, Robert believed that Leila would be taken away from them if the authorities knew of his mental health problems.

 

Speaking the day after her husband died, Teresa told a news conference that Lara's death had brought her and Enke closer together and that they had believed that, with love, they could get through anything. Sadly, she had found, that was not the case.

 

A year on, Enke's widow has chosen to grieve in private, despite the renewed press attention brought on by the anniversary of her husband's suicide, but we were able to speak to some of those who knew him best.

 

Enke's friend, journalist Ronald Reng, has written a biography, based on the goalkeeper's diaries. Reng told me they had originally planned for it to be an autobiography, to be published when he retired from football.

 

We went to the Cologne offices of Enke's agent, Joerg Neblung, who was very close to the family. It was almost unbearable to hear him describe how he had been on the phone to Teresa at the moment she discovered her husband's suicide letter.

 

And we travelled to Hannover, to visit the club where, after ill-fated spells at Barcelona and Fenerbahce, Enke seemed to have found career satisfaction.

 

As captain of Hannover 96, he was loved by the fans equally for his outstanding goalkeeping skills as for his warm and thoughtful personality. Those at the club were delighted that, after years of underachievement in the Bundesliga, things were going well on the field, and proud that one of their number had been called up to represent his country.

 

In the days after his death, the AWD Arena became the focus of the city's grief, in a manner never before seen in Germany.

 

Thirty-five thousand fans staged an impromptu march from the city centre to the stadium to light candles and sign a book of condolence. More filled the stands for his funeral service on 15 November, exactly a week after he had played in goal for the final time, in a league game against Hamburg.

Germany fans' banner reading 'Robert, we will never forget you'

 

'Robert, we will never forget you', Germany v Ivory Coast, 18 Novermber 2009. Photo: AFP

 

To those of us in Britain, it does not seem strange that a football ground would become a place of pilgrimage at such a traumatic time. We have become sadly accustomed to such occasions; in the last couple of years, I've been at memorials at Old Trafford on the 50th anniversary of the 1958 Munich air crash, and at Anfield for the 20th anniversary of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.

 

But the events of that week took Hannover 96 by surprise - club president Martin Kind told me that there was no rulebook for such an occasion, and the already grief stricken staff had worked long hours to allow the fans to congregate and come together to mourn.

 

As the club's press officer described the scene, it was like London in the days after Princess Diana died in 1997.

 

A year on, Hannover's supporters are planning to repeat the march to the stadium to honour Enke's memory. The city has announced it will rename one of the roads close to the ground after him. The club wants his legacy to be the Robert Enke Foundation, set up to increase understanding about depression among sportsmen and women, and to help them find treatment.

 

But another German international goalkeeper believes football still has a long way to go.

 

Bayer Leverkusen's Rene Adler claimed this week that the sport still puts intolerable pressure on its players. He told a German website that the fans who pay good money to come to games expect to see commitment and passion, but not any weaknesses.

 

"Someone may be the Messiah one day and then three days later they are seen as a failure," Adler stated.

 

On the anniversary of Enke's death, representatives from the German Football Federation, the German national team, and Hannover 96 will lay wreaths at his grave. They will see the tributes, poems, toys and flowers left there by fans over the past year, and his name, now engraved below Lara's on the stone cross.

 

And perhaps they will consider whether they still have lessons to learn from the tragic tale of Enke.

 

You can hear a special programme about Robert Enke, "A Life Too Short", on 5 Live Sport this Thursday night from 7pm.

 

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/eleanoroldroyd/2010/11/a_life_too_short.html

 

 

Rest in peace Robert Enke.

Hahaha! City haven't deserved about 7 of the points they've won this year. Blackpool was the worst.

As an unbiased observer, I have to agree with Reilly. I watched Blackpool and Tottenham vs. City matches. City got 4 points, when they deserved none. Can't be luckier than that.

 

Well, moving on: tonight Spurs will play Sunderland at WHL. COME ON YOU SPURS!!

And tomorrow there'll be the Manchester derby. I'm hoping it's an wonderful match!

Against my beloved Newcastle they won a penalty that was a tackle outside the box AND the Newcastle defender won the ball, then in the 2nd half our forward got absolutely mauled from behind in the box and the tackling player barely got within a meter of the ball, nevermind touching it, and nothing! Unbelievable.

Come on City... less than 26 hours to go !

Against my beloved Newcastle they won a penalty that was a tackle outside the box AND the Newcastle defender won the ball, then in the 2nd half our forward got absolutely mauled from behind in the box and the tackling player barely got within a meter of the ball, nevermind touching it, and nothing! Unbelievable.

If you think THAT is unbelievable, let me tell you a bit 'bout what hapopend in 2005 Brazilian Championship.

 

• Referee Edílson Pereira de Carvalho is accused of match fixing. The then-CBF president Luís Zveiter said that only the matches with evidence of fixing would be replayed.

 

• Despite Zveiter's previous declaration, all the 11 matches where Carvalho participated were replayed, even though there was no evidence that all of them were fixed. Corinthians, the team that would end up winning it, regained 4 points, while Internacional, the team that I support and that would end up in 2nd, didn't regain any point.

 

• Two rounds before the end, Corinthians and Internacional played a match. The match ended 1-1. The referee Márcio Rezende de Freitas (which had already made terrible mistakes at 1995 Brazilian Championship finals and 1999 Brazilian Cup finals) didn't assign a clear penalty made by Corinthians' GK Fábio Costa over Internacional player Tinga, and showed Tinga the red card for simulation (curiously enough, Tévez scored for Corinthians in that match).

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK7NYLaOnvc]YouTube - Corinthians-MSI x Internacional - Marcio Rezende de Freitas[/ame]

 

• Disregarding the replayed matches and assuming Internacional had won the match against Corinthians, Internacional would've ended with 80 points, and Corinthians with 76.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/nov/09/manchester-united-virus-manchester-derby :dance:

 

However I think its a blag from SAF Judge for yourselves

 

Sir Alex Ferguson said that Owen Hargeaves would be out for up to five weeks. Photograph: Matthew Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images

Manchester United have been hit with a virus ahead of tomorrow's derby against City with Patrice Evra, Nemanja Vidic, Dimitar Berbatov and Paul Scholes all believed to be among the victims.

 

 

The illness swept through their Carrington training complex following the squad's return from Turkey and, with Ryan Giggs ruled out with a hamstring injury and Nani doubtful after tweaking a groin, it means that Sir Alex Ferguson may have to rely on some of the untested members of his squad for the match with Manchester City at Eastlands. "It is not a great position for us to be in. We are counting heads at the moment," he said.

 

 

The Manchester United manager also confirmed that he expects Owen Hargreaves to be out for five weeks with the hamstring injury which forced him to limp off after only five minutes of United's match with Wolves on Saturday.

 

 

"We were at the stage where we knew Owen's knee was OK," Ferguson said. "His training performances for eight or nine days previously had been terrific. He had done really well, which is why we took the chance. But maybe the tension in the build-up for the lad was too much and he suffered because of it."

 

 

Despite having to contend with a depleted squad Ferguson was still confident ahead of the highly anticipated match. "There is nothing more satisfying than winning a derby game. It doesn't matter what year it is or when it is," said Ferguson, who oversaw three victories against City last season including two in the league by way of last-minute goals and one at Old Trafford in the Carling Cup semi-final second leg.

 

 

Ferguson accepted that Manchester City's resources mean that they are bound to challenge for the title but it is still a difficult league to win. "If clubs have money and want to spend it, they will," said Ferguson. "Chelsea did the same. So did Sunderland back in the 1950s. It is not an unusual thing. It is a fact of life.

 

 

"The only difference is that City is an untapped well at the moment. But it is difficult to say whether it is inevitable they are going to win the league at some point. Obviously, in many people's eyes, having the money is a lot better than not having it. But it is still a difficult league to win. City recognise that themselves."

BTW fergie says he is still angry about that poster---- !

City fans should be embarrased of themselves...

Garry Cook and Mancini are just as bad..

All good fun... !

Tottenham's game today:

Spurs deserved the win - that challenge in the box was a definite penalty and Webb was right in front it and he saw the feet of the defender go for the feet of the person w/ ball .......:dead:

:saw: