After a sloppy win vs. Swansea, the Reds have a huge home game against Manchester United on Sunday. United is coming off a 3-0 thrashing of Tottenham, but the Reds defense has played superbly in their recent BPL matches. Hopefully they can keep their form going as the next two games may ultimately decide who takes the final Champions League spot.
MA…THE MEATLOAF!
Swansea Success:
It was a sloppy game at Liberty Stadium, but in the end a lucky goal from Jordan Henderson gave the Reds all 3 points. It was a must win game as both United and Arsenal won, and both teams looked much better than Liverpool this week. The Reds earned some early yellow cards this game, and Mignolet was called upon to make 2 huge saves in this game (including this beauty) to keep the game at 0-0. Sturridge hit the post in the final minutes when Swansea was pressing everyone forward, and he probably could have used the goal to help with his confidence since it’s been a while since we’ve seen the dance (he did score in the March 4 Burnley match, but the there was no dance. WTF STURRIDGE!). Overall it was a mediocre game and the Reds have to be happy with the gift that is 3 points. However, the defense has continued its stellar play in away games, and this 1-0 was the 6th clean sheet in a row away from Anfield.
I also enjoyed the story that came out this week revealing that Rodgers tried to convince Shelvey to stay with the Reds instead of moving to Swansea. I thought we pushed him out since we had a lot of quality midfielders coming in, but now that I know he was just trying to become the main man somewhere else, for some reason I feel a bit better with how it ended. The Reds however showed no love to Shelvey, and after getting kicked in the face by Henderson in the opening minute, he later took out his frustration out on Joe Allen.
United United United!
United. Liverpool. Anfield…HUGE GAME! Liverpool take over fourth place with a win, and anything less leaves the Reds on the outside looking in. Liverpool do have a break in the action next weekend, but many players will be headed off to international duty which is always risky when you have intriguing match ups like France vs. Brazil, Italy vs. England and Netherlands vs. Spain. But back to the United game. These next 2 games (Arsenal on 4/4) are going to define how our season ends, but we need to take them one game at a time. United looked like contenders this past week against Tottenham, blasting 3 by them in the first 30 minutes before they took their foot off the gas. Fellaini has found his form, Rooney is back slotting in goals and De Gea continues to look like one of the top 5 keepers in the world (although in the past few weeks/months, Mognolet has really shown he can hang with the best). We’re going to need all hands on deck for this one, and I think Gerrard should get the starting nod (no matter what Carragher says). Hopefully Ibe is progressing with his recuperation, and it looks like Lucas is almost ready to go, but even if they are both healthy there’s no chance they’ll be starting this game. Rumor has it that last season’s cinderella defender Jon Flanagan has returned to full training, so there may be a chance we see him in action before the end of the season as well. Fingers crossed that he can return to the form we saw last year when he was dubbed the Red Cafu, as we really could use someone in Can’s place in the future (as he’s looking more and more like someone who needs to be in the midfield). See you on Sunday! Oh yeah. Almost forgot…In the second biggest game of the day, Real Madrid play Barcelona. Yaaaaaaawn.
Around the Interwebs:
- Rumor of the week goes to the, “Ibrahimovic to Liverpool” discussion .
- Falcao admits he should have joined the Reds.
- Hodgson says he’ll rest Liverpool players over the international break.
- Brendan Rodgers reveals what it will take to qualify for the Champions League.
- A 90s tradition (FanZone) is back for Sunday’s United Game. The NFL should really look into adopting this concept.
- Pele will be in the house for the United clash.
- Liverpool now targeting on form Villarreal duo (along with 30+ other players).