Liverpool 2 Watford 0

A little late on the reaction from this match but it was nevertheless a professional performance by the Reds. Bellamy proving that he is the in form striker for Liverpool at the moment with a calm and classy strike right after the restart. Thanks to a horror miss by Bangura, we could have been a goal down at the break. We are proving to be very resilient at the back and with 4 wins, 13 goals and conceding none is a very good stat for any team in the league.

Alonso, then left it late to show his class from long range. As the commentors say, he doesn't seem to score easy goals. Remember the wonder goal that left Steve Harper crestfallen to the ground? We have Blackburn tonight. Let's keep up the momentum and see where we are at the end of this festive period.

My predictions in the last round of matches were wrong. Arsenal and MU won their games. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the leaders will slip up a little. I am an optimist when it comes to the Reds. Istanbul 2005 anyone?

Looking forward to Christmas and beyond

The Carling Cup match with Arsenal was postponed due to heavy fog the other night. This would mean the rescheduled match will be played a few days after the FA Cup match with the Gunners. Playing Arsenal twice in a week at Anfield will definitely prove devastating for the Gunners when they get kicked out of both cups in the same week by the same team. I certainly look forward to it. :)

Let's talk about the Christmas fixtures. We have Watford at home, then a trip to Ewood Park, host Bolton at Anfield and finish up our festive matches with a tricky trip to White Hart Lane. From what I see, all four matches are definitely winnable. I would pray and hope by the end of these four matches, we would close the gap with the top two to a single digit margin. Let's have a look at what's in store for the big 4 this festive season.

Liverpool

vs Watford (H) - WIN
vs Blackburn (A) - WIN
vs Bolton (H) - WIN
vs Tottenham (A) - WIN

Chelsea

vs Wigan (A) - WIN
vs Reading (H) - WIN
vs Fulham (H) - WIN
vs Aston Villa (A) - LOSE

Man Utd

vs Aston Villa (A) - LOSE
vs Wigan (H) - WIN
vs Reading (H) - DRAW
vs Newcastle (A) - LOSE

Arsenal

vs Blackburn (H) - DRAW
vs Watford (A) - WIN
vs Sheff Utf (A) - WIN
vs Charlton (H) - WIN

At the end of this festive period, if my predictions prove correct. Here will how the table look like.

Chelsea 51 pts
Man Utd 48 pts
Liverpool 43 pts
Arsenal 41 pts

If this would be the case, I am sure that it will still be an exciting 4 horse race to the title. I truly believe Liverpool can do it. You'll Never Walk Alone. Let the Kop inspire the Reds to success.

Preview - Liverpool vs Arsenal (Carling Cup Quarter Finals)

Tomorrow's grudge match with Arsenal would be the first of 2 cup ties we have against the Gunners. We are of course scheduled to play them once more in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup in January. If you are a Liverpool fan, brace yourself in the year of 2007 where the big matches comes thick and fast. We have the home league matches against MU, Chelsea and Arsenal, the 2 matches vs Barcelona and the FA Cup tie once again versus the Gunners.

All these matches have the potential to be classics as Liverpool start to gather momentum in their newly found rich vein of form. All the gloom and glum of a few weeks ago are replaced by optimisim and enthusiasm.

We shall stamp our mark tomorrow when we face the Arsenal. Rafa said that a strong team will be expected from the Reds and we look forward to a good performance from Rafa's Redmen. After all, I am dying to see us avenge our earlier loss to them in the league. Tomorrow shall be our first small step to capturing all the cups this season. A treble of the Carling Cup, FA Cup and the Champions League wouldn't harm the chances of launching an all out assault at the league title next season.

Come on you Reds! You'll Never Walk Alone.

Liverpool 3 Charlton 0

I managed to catch this match in a very popular Nasi Kandar stall somewhere in Penang. It was eventful from the set go as a former Red, Champions League winner Djimi Traore decided to give his former team a favour by doing a kung-fu kick on Jermaine Pennant and award Liverpool a penalty in the 3rd minute. Xabi coolly slotted home the spot kick and gave the Reds the lead. From then on, Liverpool dominated and could have scored a few more if not for Traore's goal line clearance and bad finishing on Liverpool's part.

Charlton managed a few decent chances and let themselves down with criminal finishing. Liverpool's football was at times breathtaking to say the least. It still bemuses me why didn't they play as well at the start of the season. We could be up there challenging MU and Chelsea.

Fast forward to the last 10 minutes of the game, Bellamy ran onto a Finnan left foot cross/pass and volleyed home a beauty. Bells is finally hitting form and was torturing the Addicks defence the whole match. Then, probably came the best goal of the match. Super Stevie curled in from an almost impossible position to make the scoreline a true reflection of the match. Pure Liverpool domination. It's Arsenal in the Carling Cup in midweek. Let's hope we progress further in all our Cup competitions. Besides, we have the small matter of Barcelona somewhere in February.

Sporty Bitz Observation : Reina looked cool in the Liverpool cap. :)

Doha Asian Games 2006 Malaysian Roundup

The Asian Games in Doha concluded a few days back and it has been a roller coaster ride for some of our Malaysian athletes. I had the oppurtunity to watch several games on Astro and I was thrilled when Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong won the Men's Doubles Gold when nobody gave a ghost of a chance to this newly formed pair. It was indeed refreshing to see effort, perseverance and determination from our Malaysian shuttlers. The countless times where the expectations exceeded the end result made me a very sceptical but still a very passionate fan of Malaysian sports. The fact that Kien Keat is a La Sallian (Michaelian) makes it sweeter for those who know what the La Sallian spirit is all about.

Then we have our queen of squash, Nicol David who is proving to be the Roger Federer or Tiger Woods of squash. It is such a rarity where we have a Malaysian athlete who is unparrallel in terms of excellence and commitment. She is the epitome of Malaysian sports. All budding young sportsmen be it in sepak takraw, football, or even hockey shoulld take Nicol as a fine example to follow. I am sure we as Malaysians are truly proud of all her achievements.

Although the Doha Games cannot be concluded as a total failure to the Malaysian contingent, it also cannot be regarded as a total success. We are far off compared to a lot of countries. Even China were not satisfied with their medal haul. Imagine that, 160 ++ gold medals and they are not satisfied. The hunger to succeed is always needed in order to get to the next level. Believe me, if China were to have garnered 200 gold medals in Doha, they would want to get 201 gold medals in Guangzhou. That is success. Never resting on our laurels. We are as good as our last performance. Maybe that is one of the reasons our Malaysian athletes are not achieving what they truly can. They live on one major achievement and just 'chill out' for the remainder of their careers. That's a real shame as we have the ability, the facilities, the support but the only thing that defeats us is our attitude.

When Rexy Mainaky came out and lash at out doubles shuttlers after the Team Event defeat, I was more than willing to agree with him. Besides, why would you want to argue with an Olympic Champion and mutiple World Champion? The good thing about the lashing was we finally landed gold in badminton after 36 years. We pride ourselves as being a superpower in badminton along with China, Indonesia, Korea and Denmark but let's be honest with ourselves, how many major titles have we won compared to these 4 superpowers? The only major titles I can recall would be Hafiz's triumph at All England in 2003 and this recent Asian Games gold. I would hope that Hafiz can bounce back and reproduce the form of 2003 as watching him play in recent times can really make you go bonkers. Brilliant at times and disastrous for stretches of a match.

It was an exciting 15 days of competition. The Olympics is less than 2 years away and it would be truly great if we can produce our first Olympic gold medallist in Beijing. I am an optimist when it comes to sports. Let's do it. Bring on Beijing 2008.