Past The 'Keeper

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diMLYEFOomYWell, it was the most anticipated match of the weekend, Chelsea vs. Liverpool, and while Luis Suarez remained out of the starting lineup for the Reds,  the Blues put Fernando Torres straight into the starting lineup against his former team. While Torres’ attacking counterpart, Didier Drogba, slid the Spaniard through toward goal in the first half, his shot was blocked clear of goal from the stretching leg of defender Jamie Carragher. Unfortunately for Blues fans, that was the first and really the only chance their team would get. Maxi Rodriguez nearly put the visitors up with a wide open tap-in that hit the cross bar and careened away from the goal mouth, keeping the score tightly fixed at 0-0. But finally Raul Meireles volleyed a difficult bouncing ball past Chelsea keeper Petr Cech to put the Reds up 1-0 — a score which would stay until the final whistle. But with all the eyes on Torres, he did not disappoint. The combo of him, Drogba and Nicolas Anelka up front was supposed to be lethal. It wasn’t.

• Besides the one chance in the first half, Torres looked like a lost puppy on the field, unable to find a comfortable spot on the field to create space from his defender and attack Liverpool’s back line. He was subbed out in place of Salomon Kalou after 60 minutes of play.
• Anelka may as well have been called Casper, the friendly ghost with his disappearing act throughout the game. His impact was limited. He was unable to find a rhythm from the start and was often found deep underneath the strikers rather than high and wide in the positions he’s most dangerous in.
• Drogba worked hard, but he was rarely rewarded by himself or his teammates with scoring chances. He was not the attack-minded player that we are all used to seeing from him.

So, at least for today’s game, Drogba + Anelka + Torres = FAIL.

Maybe the next game for Liverpool will bring better results after the players gain a better understanding for each other during more practices. Only time will tell.

Wow. What a week. Liverpool giveth and Liverpool taketh.

First, they began by signing the 22-year old former Newcastle United striker, Andy Carroll, for a then-record $56.2 million deal. What a way to make a splash by signing a young player such as Carroll for that “large lump sum.” Hey, they are a club not accustomed to struggling the way they are this season (7th place in standings), so why not make a change? I don’t know much about Carroll as Newcastle isn’t on American TV much, but he better be worth that moolah he just pocketed.

Next, they give away the struggling, disgruntled — though normally fantastic — goal scorer and World Cup winner, Fernando Torres, over to arch rival Chelsea…for the NEW record transfer fee at an eye-popping price of $80.3 million. Hopefully, Bob Barker will be somewhere with his awesomely skinny microphone screaming out “The price IS right!” along with Torres.

What’s scary for Man City (who is struggling to stay afloat with the big boys at the top of the standings recently) is the new combo up top of Didier Drogba and Torres for Chelsea. Really? If Torres can catch fire and roll the way he was last season for Liverpool, they could seriously cause extreme havoc and romp any team in their path. Let’s not forget the haters, though, who is Liverpool defender, Martin Skrtel.

Fox Soccer Channel (@SoccerNews) tweeted that Skrtel believes Torres will soon regret his move.

Enough with the hater-ade. Below is the goal scorer at his best:

Hey, hey, hey! We’re not done yet! Because Liverpool’s not done yet.

Just before pleasing Torres with his transfer, the club signed Uruguayan sensation, Luis Suarez, from the Dutch club, Ajax, for $31.4 million. This amount was the second-largest signing for Liverpool in its rich history.

Can you guess who was first? (Hint: He just left Liverpool.)

The club is starting anew (kind of) and they needed to make changes if they want to keep fighting for a spot in the upcoming Champions League.

The only thing that stopped them from splurging some more was that the transfer window closed at the end of January.