Swansea secure Anfield stalemate

Liverpool 0-0 Swansea

Premier league    5^th November 2011    KO: 15:00   Ground: Anfield    Att: 45,013

Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Enrique, Agger, Skrtel, Henderson (Kuyt, 46), Downing, Lucas, Adam, Suarez, Carroll (Bellamy, 74).

Swansea: Vorm, Williams, Taylor, Monk, Rangel, Britton, Dyer, Routledge (Sinclair, 74), Allen, Gower (Agustien, 90), Graham.

Poor Liverpool held at home once again

Liverpool failed to win at Anfield for the third successive game after they were kept at bay by an inspired Michel Vorm. It is exactly this kind of result which Liverpool need to avoid if they are to stand any chance of regaining their champion’s league status in the face of stiff competition from the likes of Spurs and Arsenal. On the other hand Swansea will be delighted with the point, although they could well have nicked all three after a spirited second half performance.

The game began with Swansea playing their customary passing game, although good pressure from Liverpool meant this was largely restricted to their own half. Liverpool were playing with the high tempo that they have regularly displayed at the start of games this season, with Adam, Downing and Suarez looking particularly threatening down the left hand side.

Indeed it was the home side that fashioned the first clear cut chance of the game after seven minutes, Adam and Downing combined brilliantly but Andy Caroll could only smash the England winger’s cross against the bar from close range when he should have found the back of the net.

Swansea almost punished the miss when Wayne Routledge, having one of his rare better games found the in form Graham with a pin-point cross but his touch was week and Reina somehow managed to save from point blank range. These two opportunities provided the main highlights in an otherwise drab first period.

The game came to life in the second period as the game stared to open up, and it was Swansea that were applying the majority of pressure as they began to assume control of possession in midfield taking advantage of some sloppy passing from Liverpool. The usually reliable Reina then made a couple of uncharacteristic errors, after first almost getting caught in possession by Graham inside the six yard box he then spilled Dyer’s shot in to the path of Graham before making amends with a superb block.

As so often at Anfield this season Liverpool left it until the last ten minutes before applying any real pressure on Swansea’s goal, which resulted in a flurry of chances inside the last few minutes of the game bringing the best out of Vorm, who first tipped wide a Suarez strike before somehow managing to turn over Glen Johnson’s last minute volley and secure a point for the away side.

Tasty second half performace from Mainz serves up first win in nine

1.   FSV Mainz 05 3- 1 VfB Stuttgart

Bundesliga         4^th November 2011          KO: 19:30             Ground: Coface Arena   Att: 34,000

1. FSV Mainz 05: Christian Wetklo, Ulreich, Kirchhoff, Bungert, Polanski, Caligiuri, Pospech, Ivanschitz (Choupo-Moting, 73), Soto, Baumgartlinger, Ujah, Müller (Yunus 82, Fathi, 87)      .

VfB Stuttgart: Ulreich, Maza, Tasci, Molinaro (Traore, 66), Boulahrouz, Kuzmanovic, Kvist, Cacau, Hajnal (Gentner 82), Okazaki (Hemlein, 64), Harnik.

Tasty second half performance sees Mainz end winless run.

Three goals in the space of ten minutes give Mainz first win in nine matches as both sides have a man sent off in a thrilling second period, in which Mainz were controversially awarded a penalty.

The first half was comparatively even with Mainz starting the brighter before Stuttgart began to play with the confidence of a team that had tasted defeat only once in the past seven games. It was Mainz though who came closest to breaking the deadlock, Andreas Ivanshitz burst into the box, but his goal bound effort was cleared by Khalid Boulahrouz.

The second half was a far more entertaining affair; Cacau put the visitors ahead when he raced into the area to meet the impressive Martin Harnik’s low cross to beat Christian Wetklo from six yards.

The lead only lasted four minutes before Anthony Ujah out jumped Maza to nod in Elkin Soto’s cross. The game then changed completely in the space of nine minutes, first Mainz were awarded a very soft penalty when Maza was adjudged to trip Nicolai, who himself did not even appeal.

Ivanshitz duly dispatched the resulting spot kick before capping an excellent individual performance by heading down a cross into the path of Ujah who took advantage of a mix up between defender and keeper to slot into an empty net.

There was still time for nerves to set in for home supporters when Polanski was shown a harsh red card for a tackle on Hemlein that only warranted a yellow as Stuttgart pressed to get back into the game. Hemlein himself then miss kicked from only three yards out as the ten men defended admirably to keep Stuttgart at bay.

Several Stuttgart players then proceeded to lose their heads after the final whistle surrounding the referee, in protest of the crucial penalty decision awarded to Mainz. The result of which was a needless red card for Maza to add to the frustration of the away team who missed the chance to move up to second in the table.

Lowly Gaziantepspor stun nine men Galatasary

Galatasary 2-4 Gaziantepspor

Süper Lig    26^th October 2011    KO: 6:30     Ground: Türk Telekom Arena

Galatasary: Muslera, Sarioglu, Zan (Cetin, 34), Ujfalusi, Balta, Inan, Melo, Kazim-Richards (Eboue, 15),  Baytar (Guleslam, 78), Riera, Elmander.

Gaziantepspor: Karcemarskas, Güngör, Kurtulus , Nounkeu, Saraiva, Adin, Has (Gulle, 50), Binya, Popov, Demir (Tosun, 73), Wagner (Sosa, 86).

Gaziantepspor stun nine men Galatasary at the Türk Telekom Arena.

Having spent big during the summer the expectation at the Telekom Arena would have been nothing other than league success. Coming in to the game Galatasary would have been odds on favourites for this one and they expectedly dominated for the first half hour, Selcuk Inan scoring early on after Nounkeu failed to carry out a routine clearance from former Sheffield United man Colin Kazim-Richards cross allowing him to find Inan at the second time of asking. 

Despite this dominance Gaziantepspor somehow managed to turn the game on its head before half time, the lively Muhammet Demir finishing cleverly before Popov's cracking half volley from the edge of the area gave them an unexpected lead. Servet Cetin was then sent off for pulling back Demir denying him a clear goal scoring opportunity after he beat the offside trap on the stroke of half time.

Although the ten men equalised through the impressive Johan Elmander after 65 minutes, a mistake from Muslera gave Orhan a simple tap in to put the visitors back ahead before Sarioglu was sent off for a second bookable offense bringing the ill disciplined Galatasary side down to 9 men as Tosun completed the misery a minute before time.

The victory will provide Gaziantepspor with an unexpected and timely boost after a slow start to the season whilst Galatasary will be left to rue what could have been after dominating for large parts of the first period whilst ill discipline undoubtedly cost them any chance of taking something from the game in the second half.

Substitutue Holt secures a point at Anfield

Liverpool 1-1 Norwich City

Premier League         22^nd October 2011           KO: 17:30          Ground: Anfield        Att: 44,931

Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Enrique, Carragher, Skrtel, Bellamy (Henderson, 69), Adam, Gerrard, Downing (Carroll, 80) Kuyt (Agger, 90), Suarez.

Norwich: Ruddy, Martin, Barnett, Tierney, Naughton, Johnson, Pilkington (Crofts, 90), Hoolahan, Fox, Bennett (Holt 57), Morison.

Substitute Grant Holt secures a point at Anfield for the Canneries as Liverpool drop points at home again.

Following the visit of the champions Manchester United last week Liverpool must have felt that this game provided the perfect opportunity to pick up three points in their quest for Champions League qualification. This sense of optimism was evident in the blistering start to the game by the home side who could’ve easily been three up inside the first ten minutes, first Skrtel headed Gerrard’s corner against the bar then the mercurial Suarez turned the Norwich defense only to fire wide before meeting Craig Bellamy’s cross forcing an excellent save from Ruddy who tipped it onto the post.

Norwich’s appeared stunned by the host’s fast start, offering far too much time on the ball whilst at the same time attempting to play the ball long up towards the isolated Steve Morrison. The game was twenty minutes old before Norwich finally began to press the ball higher up the pitch allowing them to win more possession and frustrate the home side by effectively utilizing the offside trap.

Just as the game looked to be heading towards a goalless first half Bellamy arrived in the box from the right to score against his former club, his shot taking a sizable deflection off the unfortunate Tierney to go past Ruddy into the bottom right hand corner. The goal coming after Norwich had looked relatively comfortable in defense despite Liverpool dictating much of the play.

The second half began in similar fashion to the first with Liverpool again dominating play as Norwich seemed to drop off with Luis Suarez again unlucky not to get on the score sheet after his shot was deflected off Martin on to the post. The failure to build a two goal cushion was punished after manager Paul Lambert’s inspired substitution saw Grant Holt come on and almost immediately leveled things up. The Norwich captain beating Reina to head in Pilkington’s cross after Enrique had allowed the former Huddersfield winger far too much time on the ball.

Holt could well have then given city the lead as he arrived unmarked at the back post but his header was straight at Pepe Reina who did well to get in the way. This scare seemed to rejuvenate Liverpool who at times during the second half looked short of ideas with Suarez the only man seemingly capable of threatening Ruddy’s goal. The introduction of Andy Carroll on for an off the pace Stuart Downing with ten minutes to play inevitably saw a more direct approach deployed and this nearly paid off when deep into stoppage time but the England forward somehow missed his header from six yards out.

The drama was not over though as with six minutes of stoppage time played Suarez connected with Gerrard’s cross only for Ruddy to pull off another super save somehow tipping the ball over the bar. The point for Norwich ensures their strong start to the campaign continues whilst Dalglish will be left to rue missed chances which come May could prove costly in the battle for fourth spot.

De Graafschap record second win of season

De Graafschap 3-1 NAC Breda

                                                                                

Eredivisie            21st October 2011            KO: 1900              Ground: De Vijverberg  Att: 11706

De Graafschap: De Winter; Evers, Wormgoor, Meijer, van de Pavert; Rose, Kujala, Breinburg (73, Overgoor), Sreckovic; De Leeuw (69, El Hassnaoui), Poepon. 

NAC: Ten Rouwelaar; Janse, Luijckx, Botteghin, Gorter; Gudelj, Gilissen (67, Lasnik), Schilder; Lurling, Schalk (62, Kolk), Bayram (62, Jozefzoon).

Two second half goals from De Graafschap were enough see them move out of the Eredivisie relegation play-offs. 

NAC started brightly, buoyed by the confidence of three wins in the last four games whilst Graafschap initially struggled to get hold of the ball. NAC however could not make their positive start pay, only managing to fashion themselves a couple of half chances, the best of which fell to Lerling as he cut in from the right only to see his shot across goal well saved by Winter. 

Breda were then made to pay for not exploiting their early dominance as De Graafschap struck against the run of play when Ten Rouwelaar could only parry a shot into the path of Rose who’s scuffed effort fell kindly for the 19 year old full back van de Pavert who calmly stroked the ball into the bottom left hand corner. Following the goal Graafschap were comfortable until a free kick on added time fell to Luijcx whose close range effort was expertly saved by the on form Winter. 

After the break NAC again enjoyed the majority of possession and this time capitalised, Schilder arriving from the left to provide a neat finish on 55 minutes after some slick build up play. Breda’s joy was to be short lived however as De Graafschap retook the lead within two minutes from a corner which the hapless Ten Rouwelaar got absolutely nowhere near allowing Finish international Jussie Kujala to poke in from close range. 

The result was then made safe fifteen minutes from time when Rose was allowed far too much time to pick out his cross which Rydell Poepon superbly headed across goal giving the keeper no chance allowing Graafschap to coast home for only their second win of the season. The result ensuring a continuation of NAC’s woeful away record as they slip a place to 14^th on goal difference.