Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Arsenal fails to dominate in the Carling Cup, whilst Liverpool continue to slip in the Premier League.

Action from England saw a couple of fixtures take place overnight. The most prominant being Liverpool's league match with Blackpool and Arsenal's clash with Ipswich in the Carling Cup.

In Dalglish's first league game as the Red's manager Liverpool were looking to put the first half of their season behind them and begin a climb up the ladder. It looked to be a promising start for the away side as in the third minute, out of form striker and Spanish international Fernando Torres found the back of the net after just 3 minutes.
Although Liverpool failed to push forward after the goal, preferring to sit back and try and hold out for the rest of the match.

Blackpool on the otherhand looked very lively in attack. Gary Taylor-Fletcher equalised for the promoted side and the game looked to be turning in Blackpool's favour. The Liverpool defence looked non existant in Taylor-Fletcher's goal as a lazy midfield failed to track back, mixed with a bit of luck he easily slotted the ball past Reina.

Blackpool continued to dominate the match and almost went ahead just minutes after the halftime restart, online prevented from some excellent keeping from Reina. Although all the attack from Blackpool would pay dividends as later in the first half a long Blackpool pass was headed onto Campell who added to the score sheet with an unstoppable header. The goal proved to be the winner as Blackpool inflicted yet another loss on Liverpool. Liverpool stay on 25 points just four away from relegation.

The coaching change in Liverpool highlighted that the issue isn't with the quality of coaching, but maybe with the players.

Home advantage counted in Ipswich as Arsenal were defeated 1-0 by the home side in the Carling Cup. Arsenal have alot of work to do in the second leg tie as they were comprehensively dominated by the Suffolk side.

Hungarian striker Tamas Priskin was by far the best player on the pitch as a goal late in the second half saw the underdogs, defeat a fairly strong Arsenal side. Looking to win their first piece of silverware in five years Arsenal started with Arshavin and Fabregas to help bolster attack. Althpugh Ipswich went closest to scoring in the first half, with Arsenal's best opportunity coming from a freekick which resulted in nothing.

The scond half saw play open up as Ipswich stunned the Gunners by holding a majority of the possession. They were rewarded with a goal when a nicley played through ball found Priskin and he cooly slotted the ball home to stun the travelling fans and send the stadium into raptures.

Arsenal will most likely play a full strenght squad in the second leg to try and turn the tie in their favour and bring home a trophy to the emirates.