Posts Tagged ‘Midfielder’

Bullard gets injury boost

Gerrard admits title Liverpool’s hopes are slim

• Captain says they must focus on getting back into the top four
• Midfielder sees win over Everton as platform for a winning run

Steven Gerrard has admitted a top-four finish is now a more realistic aim for Liverpool than winning the Premier League this season as they lie 13 points behind the leaders, Chelsea, after a poor run of form throughout October and November.

Gerrard said: “I think we have to be realistic. At the moment we’re out of the title race, but we will keep trying to get back in it. There is still a lot of football to be played and it is possible to turn it around, but I think Chelsea are looking really strong at the moment.”

Liverpool have not won the league since 1990 and Gerrard said: “It’s been too long without a league title and because it is missing from my collection it is one that I’m most desperate for going forward.”

However, he said their target now was “to get back into the top four. We’re coming off the back of a fantastic win at Everton and we want to continue that against Blackburn and try and go on a run of games where we can get closer to the teams above us.”

Gerrard, 29, is due to make his 500th appearance for Liverpoool in Saturday’s match against Blackburn Rovers at Anfield and said: “It means everything to me personally. I’m a local boy and my dream when I was young was always just to play one game for Liverpool. So to reach this milestone is a really proud moment for my family and myself.”

Celtic 3-1 St Mirren

In reaching the top of the Scottish Premier League, Celtic, at times, appeared to be climbing a rickety ladder. It was not until Scott McDonald delivered the third goal in the second half – adding to a Chris Innes own goal, Georgios Samaras’s effort and St Mirren’s counter from Michael Higdon – that Tony Mowbray’s side shrugged off their uncertainty and began to look reasonably convincing. McDonald contrived to deny himself another by allowing Paul Gallacher to save his penalty in stoppage time after Innes had handled.

The two-goal burst from McDonald and Samaras late in the first half, however, provided a much-needed fillip for Celtic players who had spent the preceding 36 minutes as bland and unthreatening as they have been for much of this season. Even Rangers’ first defeat of the season, inflicted by Aberdeen earlier, seemed insufficient to inspire a home side that seem to take ever longer these days to establish pace, rhythm and incisiveness.

Instead, even opponents as unfancied as St Mirren are frequently allowed to settle into the kind of comfort zone that nourishes belief in their ability to frustrate their hosts and take away a souvenir of the party.

It is unlikely to have helped that Barry Robson, the midfielder widely recognised as Celtic’s most efficient player in their previous fixture, the defeat at Tannadice, was on the bench for this one. Robson’s absence may not have been entirely to blame – he would eventually replace Zheng Zhi in the 85th minute – but there was certainly a lack of cohesion and a general lopsidedness about the home side which, until the opener, seriously reduced their prospects of inflicting damage on the visitors’ goal.

When the strike came, it was simply worked. Samaras took a pass from Aiden McGeady and held the ball until his little partner scampered into position. The tall Greek rolled the ball into his path and McDonald, from the right side of the area, found the far corner with a shot that was deflected over the line by Innes.

The second goal was similar, McGeady on this occasion breaking through the middle before leaving Samaras with only Gallacher to beat and the striker drilled the ball low and far to the goalkeeper’s right.

Celtic, though, seem incapable of completing a game without at least one slip and it came right on the interval when Marc Crosas, from a cross by Billy Mehmet, stabbed the ball towards his goal, but palpably short, allowing the substitute Higdon to drive the ball past Lukasz Zaluska.

The two-goal advantage was restored when McDonald scored unaided during a period when the Celtic players produced some of their most pleasing football of the season and appeared, for a change, to be enjoying themselves. The execution of the goal was the hallmark of men happy in their work.

Gary Caldwell’s long pass out of defence fell from the sky and was brilliantly killed and moved on in one dazzling piece of skill by McGeady. As he moved to the dead ball line, McDonald bolted to the near post, put in a perfect cross and the Aussie striker had merely to stretch out his right foot to direct the ball past Gallacher from six yards.

McGeady’s unusually mature performance had much to do with Celtic’s overall impressiveness during the second half, the Republic of Ireland winger often finding team-mates with telling passes and crosses from the right. Such productivity has been a rarity with him over the years.

Porto 0-1 Chelsea

Nicolas Anelka seems to reserve his best for closely contested Champions League ties. This was the third time Chelsea had won by the only goal in Group D and on each occasion the France striker has been the scorer.

It was the same story against Porto at Stamford Bridge in the opening game. His predatory instincts here ensured Chelsea will advance as group winners and, moreover, it meant that they will travel to Arsenal on Sunday for the Premier League derby with momentum strong and confidence high.

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Few teams emerge victorious at Porto’s stadium but Carlo Ancelotti’s men heeded his call to show “personality and courage”. Having been second best for spells of the first half, Chelsea raised themselves to produce a performance that hinted at the grinding intensity of old. Ancelotti noted that “the team did not play fantastic, just good” but there is a certain satisfaction to spiriting away victory in such fashion.

The solidity of the Chelsea defence, particularly in the second half, gave cause for optimism. This was a seventh clean sheet in eight matches. “It is very important to keep the momentum up,” said Ancelotti, who will have Frank Lampard back for Arsenal; the midfielder trained fully in Cobham today, having had massage therapy in Serbia for his thigh muscle complaint. “The players are in good condition and good form,” Ancelotti said, “and although we know that Sunday will be difficult, we know that we are in a very good moment to play Arsenal.”

This was a test of Chelsea’s strength in depth. With an eye on the game at Emirates Stadium, Ancelotti had rested Alex, Michael Essien and the Coles, Ashley and Joe. Essien did come on as a substitute but he failed to get the booking that would have seen him suspended for the meaningless final group tie against Apoel and wiped the disciplinary slate clean for the knockout phase.

Ancelotti also welcomed back Michael Ballack and Didier Drogba from injury. Both players proved their fitness, Drogba growing in strength and menace as the 90 minutes wore on. This would appear to be ominous for Arsenal, whom he loves to torment.

Porto, as ever, were intuitive and technically accomplished. They might consistently sell their best players – the striker Lisandro López departed for Lyon over the summer – but they always seem to have talent coming through. They, too, had already qualified for the last 16, for the sixth time in seven seasons, and, despite a raft of empty seats and an atmosphere that was flat for spells, they were determined to exact revenge for their defeat in west London.

They advertised their intent in the 20th minute. The impressive Fernando Belluschi’s shot ought to have been straightforward for Petr Cech but the Chelsea goalkeeper succeeded only in parrying the ball to the onrushing Falcao. The Czech, however, redeemed himself with a brave block at the striker’s feet. Shortly afterwards Belluschi was denied only by the crossbar. Having checked inside, he curled a right-footed effort which evaded the clutches of Cech and deserved better.

Chelsea, who worked tirelessly to keep their defensive shape, merely flickered as an attacking threat in the first half. Anelka looked sharp but Chelsea’s only efforts in the opening 45 minutes were from a distance. Ancelotti’s tactics can appear stifling in European away ties. There are clear shades of the Italian catenaccio philosophy, in which defensive security is prized. Mikel John Obi’s role in front of the defence was designed to keep the back door bolted while Anelka would drop deep to make the system 4-3-2-1 when his team did not have the ball.

Chelsea raised the tempo in the second half; gradually they tightened their grip. The somewhat erratic Deco, who received a generous ovation on his return to his former club together with Ricardo Carvalho, fired wide from the edge of the area. There was a territorial shift in Chelsea’s favour after half-time. Anelka’s performance merited a goal and his sixth of the season, and first in eight appearances, crowned slick Chelsea penetration.

Zhirkov supplied Florent Malouda and his driven centre found Anelka’s forehead at point-blank range. The Porto goalkeeper Beto had no chance. Cristián Rodríguez and the substitute Hulk had half-chances for Porto but they came to nothing. There was a comfort and assurance about Chelsea as they closed out the victory.

Liverpool 2-2 Manchester City

So, does a draw at Anfield still count as a good result? Seven away teams managed it last season, after all, and although Mark Hughes argued beforehand that a sixth successive draw might not be a calamity in this most daunting of venues, that was before he knew his side would come back from a goal down to be in a winning position 12 minutes from time.

To say Manchester City gave away their advantage cheaply is an understatement. For such an expensively assembled team, they displayed the experience and professionalism of schoolboys in allowing Liverpool to score straight from the restart, less than a minute after City had taken the lead. “We were in a winning position again and we let it slip through not defending correctly,” Hughes said. “That’s a frustration for us at present; mistakes at key moments are costing us dearly. The players in the dressing room are quite disappointed – it feels like a chance missed.”

Goalscorer Stephen Ireland could vouch for that. “By the end of the season it might look a good result, but, right now, we feel a bit robbed,” the Irish midfielder said. “We are drawing more games than we would like, but we still feel we are making progress. Last season, we were losing these games.”

City were not robbed; they were just victims of their own generosity. The only crime that took place on Merseyside was an opening to the much-vaunted Battle for Fourth Place that was slower than a week in jail. The first half was unbelievably uneventful, notable only for a couple of early injuries to Liverpool players and a consequent six minutes of stoppage time that no one really wanted. Entertainment appeared in prospect when Shay Given had to fly to his left to keep out a Martin Skrtel header from a free-kick in the fifth minute, yet that was pretty much the excitement over for the first period. Daniel Agger suffered a facial injury in a clash of heads with Kolo Touré and had to be replaced by Sotirios Kyrgiakos, then Yossi Benayoun came off the bench when Ryan Babel was unable to shake off the effects of a two-footed tackle by Nigel de Jong.

Shaun Wright-Phillips wasted a decent chance for City from the edge of the area, Steven Gerrard shot over at the other end and David Ngog was not quite slick enough to take advantage of a wonderful pass from Javier Mascherano.

Mercifully, the game livened up in the second half, when Liverpool took the lead. City brought everyone back to defend a Gerrard free-kick on the left and it fell to Emmanuel Adebayor to deal with a cross expertly dinked in to the near post. He couldn’t manage it, allowing Skrtel to stretch out a leg in front of him to deflect the ball past Given for his first Liverpool goal.

The defender’s joy was short-lived, however, because, 20 minutes from the end, he conceded the corner from which City equalised and then failed to pick up Adebayor from Craig Bellamy’s cross, allowing the former Arsenal striker to score with a free header from close to the penalty spot.

Bringing on the impressive Carlos Tevez for a subdued Gareth Barry had given the visitors more attacking shape and, once back on terms, they looked confident enough to score more. City seemed to have sewn up the points when Tevez and Wright-Phillips combined cleverly to enable Ireland to score with the neatest of close-range finishes seven minutes later, but were pegged back immediately when Ngog’s cross deflected off Joleon Lescott to leave Benayoun with a tap-in.

Too many of Hughes’s players had switched to walking pace after going ahead and, though there were opportunities to clear before Benayoun struck, City never managed to win back the ball between the two scores. They had threatened to finish the stronger team, yet ended up conceding a succession of corners and defending in depth.

“You cannot be pleased with a draw at home, but we kept going right to the end and had a couple of chances to win the game in the last few minutes,” Rafa Benítez said. “I have to be happy with the character we showed after losing so many players with injuries. Glen Johnson was ruled out in the morning, then we lost Daniel Agger and Ryan Babel. We were still pushing hard at the end, despite all the problems, and I cannot ask for much more than that.”