doors left open

The new English football season has just started, and my beloved Liverpool are due to play Aston Villa away later in the Barclays Premier League. With several expensive new signings on board, much is expected of Rafa and his charges to deliver immediately. I’m personally quite excited by the new-look team but am keeping my fingers crossed, as usual. The past few seasons had promised much at the beginning, but ended up in disappointing fashion. Once bitten twice shy, I’m not going to be fooled by all these pre-season hype.

My head says the new players will take time to gel, and maybe they will take a season or two to finally take the title that has eluded the club since 1990. My heart, of course, will hope that the drought will end come May 2008.

And it is my personal belief that Liverpool’s first seven games will define their league season this time round. That’s 21 points - the number of points they were behind the champions last season. They had always been slow starters the last couple of seasons and in each of those seasons they finished some points off the eventual champions. Jamie Carragher had said that they could not afford to start slowly last season, and the team ended up doing exactly that.

This season, if they want to improve, they will have to start strong. It is heartening to hear that Rafa has actually set a 60-goal target for his four strikers - Torres, Crouch, Kuyt and Voronin. At least we now know that he is thinking of playing attacking football this term.

I really wish that the players will live up to expectations and push Man Utd and Chelsea all the way to the end.

Players to look out for this season: Gerrard, Torres, Babel, Mascherano, Leiva

So, the first game? Liverpool 2 Aston Villa 0.

as if to give my little girl an early birthday present, my beloved Liverpool had just beaten Chelsea 4-1 on penalties in the Champions League semi-final. ahhh…memories of 2005 come flooding back now. will celebrate my girl’s 2nd birthday on 25th this month…and will probably celebrate Liverpool’s triumph in the final at athens. savoury, savoury!

Today is the transfer deadline. Some clubs will rush into a buying frenzy and end up getting half-past-six players for exorbitant fees. Of course, some well-publicised transfer saga might end up a nought. The last I heard, my beloved Liverpool are going after Javier Mascherano. Hmm…seriously, I doubt he can survive the English League.

Hence, I have decided to take the Anfield hot seat and make my own decision in who I should bring to the club. The following players would be on my last-minute shopping list if the Dubai owners provide the financial arms. Call my list audacious or impossible or ridiculous; it is a list, I believe, that will cause much excitement among the fans.

William Gallas – The ever versatile and highly dependable defender who has the knack of scoring against Liverpool. His positioning and reading of the game is among the best in the business. His competitive nature will give him an edge over opposing attackers. He can cover Finnan on the right, Riise on the left or partner Carragher in the centre of defence. Arsenal might not release him. But with the cash dangling like carrots, they could let him go. Gallas himself will move because he wants yet another new challenge in his career.

Kevin Nolan – Forget Mascherano. Nolan’s dare-devil spirits put him miles ahead. What’s more…he’s a Liverpool fan. His robust play and powerful drive forward resembles a certain Gerrard. Though he might not be in the same class as the latter, he could provide competition in the holding midfield role currently rotated between Alonso and Momo. After all these years of being in a nearly-continental club in Bolton, Nolan would perhaps jump at this chance of playing Champions League football with the Reds. Bolton? The cash from the Middle East might be too much to resist.

Matthew Taylor – If you look at the current Liverpool squad, we have a number of left wingers. However, I never really think that they are good enough to cause havoc. Riise should stay at left-back; Garcia’s inconsistency outnumbers his moments of brilliance; Gonzalez is actually not as fast as what all the hype had pointed; Kewell’s injury problems could force him out of the game; and Zenden? We need new blood on the left. Look no further than Matt Taylor who had already scored a couple of stunning goals this season. Some people are saying he could be the solution to England’s left midfield problem. And I have to say, “Amen!” to that. This fellow is a fighter who is quite skilful actually. He may not be very fast, but he can certainly cause problems in the opposition defence with his skills. The south coast club have to admit that after all these years with them, Taylor’s time to move on is now.

Robbie Keane – Once the most expensive teenager, Keane’s career has nosedived somewhat a little. From a sensational move to Inter to a miserable spell at Leeds, Keane’s ability to sparkle a moment of magic in a match was often underestimated, underutilized and under wraps. Even now at Spurs, he’s not the first choice. Well, Liverpool could use him with Crouch as one pair of strikers (Kuyt and Bellamy being the other). Keane’s skills are never in question and he really does know where the goal is. He needs to be playing competitively and consistently to start striking fear into the hearts of defences. He will not mind moving to Merseyside to get regular playtime and Spurs sure do not treat him serious enough to want to keep him. So, what are we waiting for?

Shaun Wright-Phillips – Liverpool need another quality right winger to compete with Pennant. I look around the League and I must say that I have to choose Wright-Phillips because of two reasons. First, he can be a real threat when he’s given regular football. Second, I cast a pity vote for him. He’s not gonna be cheap because Roman wants his money back. But with Dubai as our backing, I say let’s go for him.

You would notice by now that these are all Premiership players. The fact is only players who start the careers at the Premiership can survive the Premiership. Don’t think of bringing in players from overseas. Very few of them succeed. Ask Andriy to verify my statement. And as a Reds fan, I really fancy the above-mentioned players to contribute much to the future success of Liverpool Football Club. We just need the Dubai cash and my wisdom to bring them in. Rafa, are you listening? The rest of you, what say you?

(PS: By the way, I take Singapore and Thailand to draw 1-1.)

After all these years of watching and playing football, I have to admit that possession in football does not equate to winning matches. Clinical finishing has always been the key to winning matches. Any fool can tell you this too. So why is it that some footballing brains are not ticking? Footballers and coaches alike, some of them are guilty of this. Don’t strive to keep possession of the ball, but excel at clinical finishing. This is what I would tell my players if I’m a coach. Am I right? Possibly. Probably.

Let’s recall the match between Liverpool and Arsenal. Amount of possession Liverpool had was 62%. Arsenal only had 38%. The Reds had 16 shots, while the visitors had 5 only. Final score? Liverpool 1 Arsenal 3. The same story happened at Ewood Park last month when Liverpool lost 1-0 after dominating the game in terms of possession. Come on, Guys! You have to be clinical in your finishing! What matters most in football is scoring goals, isn’t it?

Liverpool, for all their credentials as traditional powerhouses, are seriously lacking in the department of scoring. There have been times when they were made to look good, like their 4-0 win at Wigan. But honestly speaking, they are simply not good enough at the moment. They have got several strikers, but none can score consistently. The same can be said of their midfielders. Gerrard has not been the scoring phenomenon of last season. Their defenders? Carragher just scored his first in 7 years! If they struggle for periods to score in a match, I cannot find one inspirational player who can pop out to score at will.

Maybe, they must seriously scout for one clinical striker. Maybe, give Kuyt some more time and he will be one. Maybe, someone from the youth setup could be the clinical one. Maybe, the training sessions should focus on scoring goals. Maybe, I can be their coach……Maybe……

I think I’ve said enough. As a Liverpool fan, I wish them all the best in……scoring goals.

It’s never the amount of possession that counts…count the goals, Folks!

This is one date that I will definitely remember very well for the rest of my life.

In the wee hours that morning, Jennifer’s water bag broke. Time to rush to Thomson Medical Centre. We were excited, anxious yet calm about it. I drove her safely to our destination. She was escorted up while I went through the paper work.

In the delivery room, she went through waves after waves of contraction. I was by her side, feeling rather useless. All I could do was to comfort her. Seconds turned to minutes which turned to hours. To me it was a long wait. But I think to her it was eternity. Her pain was intense even with the mask over her.

Then the time had to come. Lawrence ambled in. In less than half an hour, the baby was delivered. Time was 7.38 a.m. My little Faith was there in front of me.

By evening, all were taken care of. I was busy taking pictures of the baby. Jennifer looked weary, but she was relieved and happy. I told her I would come early next morning.

Back home, I turned in early, not because I was really tired. I wanted to have ample sleep before waking up at 3 to watch the Champions League final between my beloved Liverpool and Milan. I slept well, probably because of the joy of being a father.

In fact, I slept too well. When I woke up, the match had gone into half-time. When I saw the highlights of the first half, I could not believe my eyes. Liverpool 0 Milan 3! Lost, gone, dead and buried. I shut my eyes, hoping that I could continue my sweet dreams and forget the heart-breaking scoreline.

Rotten luck! I woke up suddenly to witness the first 5 minutes of the second half. Never mind, I should continue to watch the game for entertainment sake. And since I called myself a loyal Liverpool supporter, I must as well…

Then, the incredible happened (something which the whole world of football would know by now). My dearest Liverpool fought back and scored three goals by the 90th minute. The rest……hit the post……Riise missed……Dudek wobbled……Shevchenko missed……Gerrard lifted the cup!

On the day when Faith was brought to Earth by her sensational parents, Milan was brought down to Earth by a sensational Liverpool FC.

How can I forget this day?

(Ps: one disappointment though: Bo Bice lost the American Idol final.)