TOP 100 SOCCER SITES
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| Liverpool v Wolves – live! Both teams need a win but who will prevail at Anfield? Email paolo.bandini@guardian.co.uk with your score predictions, Boxing Day recovery tips and moreLiverpool's moans "The thing that has irritated me most with Liverpool this year is their petulance," writes James Longhofer. "Every little call that doesn't go their way gets under their skin and it takes them out of the game. Instead of taking it to their opponents, they take it to the ref and lose sight of the actual game. Torres has been the main offender today from the first minute onwards, and last week it was Rafa after the match with his comment that the referee was 'perfect'. It's getting old."Worrying development in the ESPN studio Ray Stubbs has apparently been 'taken ill' during the first-half and therefore is absent from the half-time analysis. Here's hoping it's nothing serious.Peepety-Peeep! That's half-time at Anfield. Back in a tick with some half-time thoughts and emails.45 mins Well, Johnson gets plenty of grief at times for failing to pay due attention to his defensive duties but all might be forgiven if he keeps making attacking contributions like that. The ball broke to the defender inside the Wolves area and his first-time effort was rifled hard and low towards the bottom-right corner, but Hahnemann was down fantastically fast to push it away. Best effort of the game so far for Liverpool.44 mins Wasted opportunity for Wolves, who seemed to find themselves with five attackers against just three defenders as they broke upfield, but Doyle managed to somehow pass the ball to one of the latter.42 mins Liverpool look to have run out of ideas already here, which would be both quite an indictment and a surprise given the way they started the half. You can feel the frustration building though as things fail to go their way and perhaps the weight of past results is working against them at this stage.39 mins Aquilani rolls the ball into the path of Lucas 30 yards out and the midfielder crushes it into the stands. We've just seen the replay of that incident Torres was all het up about, and it looks innocent enough - Craddock did have his arm up as the Liverpool striker tried to push past him running into the area, but at best it was obstruction, and there certainly wasn't the arm-to-face movement Torres seemed to be suggesting.38 mins Superb ball from Milijas - who in all the games I've seen him play this season has looked quite the tidy player - to pick out Jarvis down the left, but after taking a touch to control Jarvis then manages to run the ball out for a goal-kick.37 mins And now Torres incites further anger, chasing referee Andre Marriner and making a crude 'spectacles' gesture after failing to win a free-kick when he ran into the back of one of the Wolves centre-backs. Having not seen a replay, it's perfectly possible he was fouled, but it didn't look like it to me at first glance.34 mins Liverpool fans rage (see how I managed to use the word 'rage' without following it with 'against the machine' there? Not often you see that these days, eh?) at Marriner's refusal to give them a corner after the ball deflects Wolves's goal off Johnson. It's gone a bit quiet here these last few minutes.31 mins In quick succession, Torres puts the ball in the back of the net - but only after the flag had gone up - and then Gerrard picks up a yellow card for an 'over-enthusiastic' tackle of Jarvis. An 'over-enthusiastic', two-footed and slightly late challenge to be precise.29 mins "Having only seen one Liverpool game all year (the loss to Villa) but following them from across the pond all year, can you explain to me in like a sentence, what has been Liverpool's one or two major issues," asks Bobby Otter. "Do they miss Alonso that much or is it something else (ie Gerrard under preforming, issues at the back, etc)? And please don't say injuries, every team has injuries. BTW, if the issue is Alonso, his WAR/VORP has gotta be amazing. Like Babe Ruth amazing." Hmm, not easy to do in a sentence, Bobby. Alonso is missed, but it's a combination of the injuries, the absence of a similar style of player to replace him, and a number of players - Gerrard and Torres included - not achieving quite the same form they managed last year. (Vorp stands for 'value-over-replacement-player' for anyone who can't be bothered to check the link.)27 mins Down at the other end Gerrard creates rrom for himself inside the area before rolling the ball back to Torres, who can only scoop it over the bar.26 mins Milijas takes a swipe at the ball after it was cut back to him on the edge of the D and his effort fizzes a yard wide of Reina's left-hand post. Good spell for Wolves, this.24 mins ... from which Kevin Doyle really should score! It was Mlijas again who took the set-piece, picking Doyle out with an inswinger as the striker attacked the near post, but despite being totally unmarked he heads wide.23 mins And now Jarvis wins a free-kick on the edge of the area with a similar run. Milijas's delivery swings close to the keeper, who palms it over for a corner ...22 mins Jarvis blows past Johnson down the left for Wolves before cutting the ball back to Ebanks-Blake, who does fantastically to turn sharply on the near corner of the six yard box despite the close attentions of Carragher and drive a shot in towards the near post, where Reina blocks.21 mins For a second there I thought Johnson was going to get away with the most outrageous foul throw I've perhaps ever seen, before I realised that a) The ball had actually slipped out of his hands by mistake due to his bandage and b) The referee had, begrudgingly, decided to give the foul throw about a 42 seconds after it happened. Referees are, as a rule, rubbish about giving foul throws in the Premier League. For some reason in the games I play it seems to be the one kind of foul referees do spot.20 mins "It's amazing that the Wolves fans would know about Birkenhead's once famous nightclub Atmosphere," remarks Ian Copestake. "Perhaps the Kop can work out a chant to tell them that it closed down years ago?"17 mins And now Agger calls for a penalty after being bumped and knocked over by Craddock inside the box while waiting for a corner to be sent in from the right. Again there's nothing doing.15 minsTorres takes the ball with his back to goal inside the D then goes down as he tries to skip round Craddock, but the referee is having none of it.14 mins After a quiet couple of minutes for Liverpool, Wolves dared to get a few men forward for the first time all game and they quickly discovered the potential hazards, Henry losing possession in midfield and Liverpool breaking rapidly through Benayoun and Aurelio only for the latter's cross to miss everyone in the middle of the area.12 mins Liverpool win a free-kick out by the touchline on the right and Torres meets Aurelio's delivery as it swings in towards the near post, but gets his header badly wrong. I think he was trying to glance it on into the middle, but instead he succeeded only in knocking it away from goal and behind.11 mins "Where's your famous atmosphere," demand the Wolves fans as Carragher and Agger exchange passes near the half-way line looking for an opening. Still no reply from the Kop.8 mins The corner is headed clear by Wolves, whose fans are making a lot more noise than the home support so far.7 mins Now Torres weaves this way and that inside the area, dazzling Craddock before thumping the ball goalwards from seven or eight yards out. Had it gone either side of Hahnemann the keeper probably wouldn'd have been able to react in time, but in the end it came straight at him and the keeper parries over.6 mins Lively enough start at Anfield so far as Gerrard looks up from 25 yards and chances his arm, firing the ball towards the bottom-left corner of the goal. Hahnemann gets down to smother the ball. Less than a minute earlier Glen Johnson found room to cut into the area from the right, but there was nobody in the middle to meet his dinked cross over the six-yard box.4 mins Wolves probe down the left-hand side, with Milijas looking to play Ebanks-Blake in but Agger shepherds the ball behind.2 mins Torres is limping already after Stearman crashes in with a sliding challenge from behind. He was back on his feet almost immediately after the challenge but he's definitely moving a bit gingerly.1 min Aquilani gets the first kick of the game, rolling the ball to Torres from the kick-off. Within 16 seconds Torres earns a free-kick 30-odd yards from goal but Aurelio's shot is easily blocked by Hahnemann. It would have needed to be quite a hit to trouble the keeper from that range.Prediction-time I actually think Liverpool will win today, despite all the recent troubles. Wolves have won three of their last four games and Mick McCarthy has done a great job of instilling confidence, but this is still a weaker team than many of those Liverpool have dropped points against lately. Yes, they did lose at Portsmouth, but that was away from home. I'm going for Liverpool 2-1 Wolves.Asking for trouble "I'm guessing that Liverpool fans are tiring of 'Must win' games," smirks Gary Naylor. "Not to worry though - they'll soon be on to the 'Doesn't matter if you win or lose' games."And one more I've just been advised that this is the first time all season that BenÃtez has dropped Dirk Kuyt. Could this be a turning point in the manager's attitude towards both Kuyt, and the way he lines his team up in general?Today's big questions Will BenÃtez ask Aquilani to fill the same role Mascherano normally would as a midfield enforcer? Can Steven Gerrard score his first goal from open play since August? Is the fact Mick McCarthy has picked a full-strength team, despite the fact he has a home game against Man City in two days time, as damning an indictment of Liverpool as anyone could think up? And how many more days can I get away with eating whatever rubbish I feel like before the excuse 'ah, it's Christmas' no longer holds water?I'm back ... And am going to have to concede right off the bat that my snarky pre-preamble comments were wide of the mark, as Alberto Aquilani has been named in Liverpool's starting XI for today's game. Here are the full teams:Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Insua, Aquilani, Lucas, Benayoun, Gerrard, Aurelio, Torres. Subs: Cavalieri, Kuyt, Ngog, Spearing, Darby, Skrtel, Pacheco.Wolverhampton: Hahnemann, Stearman, Craddock, Berra, Ward, Foley, Henry, Milijas, Jarvis, Ebanks-Blake, Doyle. Subs: Hennessey, Elokobi, Surman, Iwelumo, Mancienne, Maierhofer, Castillo.Referee: Andre Marriner (W Midlands)Afternoon all Seeing as I'll be watching the Premier League clock from 3-5pm I figured it might be a good idea to get in early with the preamble for the late game. This does of course mean that I don't know all of the details on team news, other results and the like, but I'm sure you can all be trusted to delete as appropriate.So, Liverpool are down to eighth/remain seventh after Fulham thrashed Tottenham/failed to beat Tottenham at Craven Cottage, while Wolves are 12th/20th after results went their way/they were docked points for repeatedly fielding a Jim Henson puppet.Rafael BenÃtez has taken a gamble/played it safe by fielding Steven Gerrard in goal/sticking with turkey even though Lillian next door says goose tastes better. Alberto Aquilani will start on the bench/on the bench. Despite this, the TV commentary team will mention his name at least six times more often than Lucas Leiva's. Wolves, meanwhile, will be without the injured David Edwards, Andy Keogh, Michael Kightly and Matt Murray. All of which means you can be confident Liverpool will win 1-0/the teams will draw 0-0/or Wolves will triumph 3-2. You can leave that last one till the end. Right, I'll be back at 5.15pm-ish. In the meantime Andy Hunter has all the details on BenÃtez's crisis talks with Stevie G.Premier LeagueLiverpoolWolverhampton WanderersPaolo Bandiniguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
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