So, I've Been Tagged

.......by Spo.

Okay, some facts about me here......

1. I'm not afraid of ghosts (well..if there's any?), but things like earthquakes, air plane crashes, car accidents, terrorism scare me to DEATH!! Do you believe that, I will grab my friends while crossing roads even though I'm almost 22!

2. I'm a typical Sagittarius. I believe freedom is the most important thing in life!! I also have a strong sense of justice.

3. I've been questioned by the police when I was about 17 years old....while I was in a pool room....while I was smoking. I was too nervous so I dropped my cigarette on the carpet...damn stupid. They probably wouldn't have came to me if I didn't do that.

4. I'm a totally different person from my appearance. For example, if I don't tell you, you wonldn't know that...I'm a crazy football/sport fan, that I play basketball, that I hate shopping, that I smoke (though I don't most of the time now), that I love Rock & Roll and Punk, that I hate pink.

5. I've been dreaming about marrying a sportsman since I was a kid. A Basketball player would be great, but not as good as a tennis player (that I can travel around the world with him!). Don't even mention about a footballer.....

6. I would say football has changed my life. No, it's not exaggerated. Two years ago I knew nothing about football and my English was alright being an English major in university. Two years later, I'm now writing my Liverpool FC blog in English and most importantly I'm in England! Forget about academic degree whatsoever, I just came here for ordering LFC magazines, buying Liverpool shirts, going to pubs or stadiums for matches, which I just can't do in Taiwan! Taiwan is a football desert!

7. I was in a girls' school for 6 years.

8. Children is a bunch of psychoes to me, and I'm not going to have one in the future. Why women have to do that anyway? It hurts badly in the first place and after that you have to spend a lot of money on them for years!! I would rather use that money to do more things I like and then I wouldn't regret for my life.

'Comback Kings Again' !

26 Aug 2006 Liverpool 2-1 West Ham - EPL

Liverpoolfc.tv - REDS COMEBACK KINGS AGAIN
Liverpool have celebrated 100 years of the Kop in style after goals from Daniel Agger and Peter Crouch gave them a 2-1 victory over West Ham in Saturday's Premiership clash at Anfield.
A Bobby Zamora goal had looked like spoiling Anfield's day of celebration, but two goals in three minutes from Agger and then Crouch turned the tables and ensured the Reds would take all three points in their first home game of the season.

BBC - Keeper Reina was badly at fault for West Ham's goal, misjudging Bobby Zamora's cross and compounding his error by pushing the ball into the net. But Liverpool recovered to go in at the break 2-1 ahead, equalising through defender Agger's superb shot. Gerrard and Garcia then combined to set up a goal for Crouch, while late on Lee Bowyer should have equalised only to hit the post.
Agger's Strike - What a shock!

Rafa: "I promise you I was not surprised to see Agger score this fantastic goal because he has a great shot on him and he does that in training. I was talking to him this week and I told him if he gets a chance to have a shot because he is capable of scoring goals."

So what exactly did Agger make of his first goal for the Reds - a wonder strike into the top corner from all of 30 yards? "I can't remember it," he claimed, after reluctantly facing the TV cameras. "A goal is a goal. The most important thing is the win. It doesn't matter who scores the goals."

Debut of Kuyt - God, he's quality!

Kuyt: "It was wonderful to make my Anfield debut and wonderful to win the game. It would have been nice to score but that can wait. The important thing today was to win the game and pick up the three points. I am delighted we have done that. We have a wonderful squad here with great players and there's every chance we can have a good season."

No More Injuries Please

22 Aug 2006 Maccabi H 1-1 Liverpool (agg 2-3) - CL 3rd round qualifier

BBC - Liverpool reached the Champions League group stages after nervously edging past Israeli side Maccabi Haifa. Striker Peter Crouch put Liverpool ahead early in the second half when he headed home Jermaine Pennant's cross. But Roberto Colautti quickly revived Haifa's hopes in Kiev when he tapped home after goalkeeper Jose Reina was unable to hold Xavier Anderson's shot.

Liverpoolfc.tv - Peter Crouch's goal in the 1-1 draw against Maccabi Haifa in Kiev was enough to secure an aggregate 3-2 success but it wasn't all good news for the Reds as both Stephen Warnock and Momo Sissoko were forced off with ankle and knee problems respectively

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Draw for the 2006/07 Champions League Group Stage

Group A BARCELONA, Chelsea, Werder Bremen, Levski Sofia
Group B INTER MILAN, Bayern Munich, Sporting Lisbon, Spartak Moscow
Group C LIVERPOOL, PSV Eindhoven, Bordeaux, Galatasaray
Group D VALENCIA, Roma, Olympiakos, Shakhtar Donetsk
Group E REAL MADRID, Lyon, Steaua Bucharest, Dynamo Kiev
Group F MANCHESTER UNITED, Celtic, BenficaFC, Copenhagen
Group G ARSENAL, Porto, CSKA Moscow, Hamburg
Group H AC MILAN, Lille, AEK Athens, Anderlecht

Yellow = Bad Away Games

19 Aug 2006 Sheffield Utd 1-1 Liverpool - EPL

Liverpoolfc.tv - The Reds fell behind in the 46th minute when David Unsworth's free kick was headed in by Rob Hulse, but the Reds stepped up a few gears and were well worth the equalizer given to them by Fowler after Gerrard had been fouled. Liverpool's task wasn't helped by injuries to John Arne Riise and Jamie Carragher in the first half, but they dominated the second half and will leave Sheffield disappointed they're not taking all three points with them.

Liverpoolfc.tv - The scans showed that Carragher has sustained a sprained medial ligament in his left ankle while Riise has torn lateral ligaments in his left ankle. A Liverpool spokesman said: "We expect both players to be unable to train for the next two to three weeks."

This Is What We Need - Balance!

16 Aug 2006 England 4-0 Greece - International Friendly

BBC - John Terry marked his first match as captain by nodding in the opening goal after Stewart Downing had headed the ball into the penalty area. Frank Lampard then scored with a deflected shot and soon after it was his close-range effort which rebounded for Peter Crouch to stab home. Crouch rounded off the scoring with a downward header into the top corner.

McClaren ends the golden era
[The Guardian - Kevin McCarra]

While it may have been drastic to throw David Beckham out of the squad entirely, his defenestration instantly removed one problem. The constitution of the midfield ceased to be a conundrum. Steven Gerrard found it agreeable enough to be on the right and that cleared a space for the pleasingly complementary partnership of Owen Hargreaves and Frank Lampard to be established in the centre.

While he spoke the truth, McClaren's presentation of the Bayern Munich player as a leader showed him resetting perceptions of the pecking order that have been too settled for too long. "Hargreaves gave a great performance," the manager said, "and I think he set the standard for the other two. [Gerrard and Lampard] have looked and thought, 'Phew, we have to follow that.' And they did it. Frank was full of running.


Gerrard did not enjoy playing under Eriksson
[The Guardian - Daniel Taylor]

Gerrard fulfilled his new responsibilities as David Beckham's replacement on the right of midfield with distinction during the 4-0 defeat of Greece and it is a position he is eager to retain in the future. "It's the first time in a long time that I have really enjoyed myself playing for England," he said. "I loved it, to be honest. The boss told me a few days ago that he wanted me to get forward, play with freedom and not to be scared to try things.

"It's a different role than before and it's me all over - breaking from midfield. I wouldn't say it is a completely free role, I still have a responsibility to get back and help Gary Neville, but the manager told me he wanted me to start doing for England what I've been doing for Liverpool and that suits me perfectly."

"It's a fresh start now," Gerrard said last night. "Everyone is still hurting from the World Cup. We put the supporters through enough pain in the summer. It's important we bring our club form into these internationals and it's important that we start playing like a team. I think we have been guilty in the past of playing too individually and it hasn't worked out. Against Greece, I think you saw a good team performance from start to finish. We passed the ball well, played at a high tempo and now we have set a standard that we need to maintain for the future."

Still Not A Threat, Jose?

13 Aug 2006 Chelsea 1-2 Liverpool - FA Community Shield

BBC - A tepid second half looked to be drifting towards penalties when Crouch rose to head in Craig Bellamy's cross. Liverpool, with Steven Gerrard on the bench, went ahead when John Arne Riise ran 60 yards before beating Carlo Cudicini with a dipping shot. But £30.8m striker Andriy Shevchenko equalised before the break, guiding home Frank Lampard's inviting pass.
Victory will be particularly sweet for Rafael Benitez, who began the match with skipper Gerrard, £6m signing Bellamy and Xabi Alonso on the bench. By contrast, Chelsea counterpart Jose Mourinho packed summer arrivals Shevchenko and Michael Ballack into his side alongside established first-teamers Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and Arjen Robben. But while Liverpool may have lacked the star power of their opponents, they were the more cohesive unit in the first half.

HOW RAFA ENJOYED THE LAST LAUGH
Matt Lawton, Daily Mail 14 August 2006

"If they lose against a 50 per cent Chelsea, maybe that will affect their confidence," Mourinho said last Friday in what amounted to a touch of early verbal jousting with Rafa Benitez and probably contributed to the failure of the two managers to shake hands at the end of this contest.

Presumably Mourinho would now like to revise that opinion after watching his players lose to a 50 per cent Liverpool. A Liverpool team, even the Portuguese might be prepared to admit, that appear capable of posing a far more significant threat to the English champions this season, not just in major semi-finals but in the league, too. [Read More]

Mourinho said on 2 Aug: "I still believe United and Arsenal will be the biggest threat. They will be the better teams. I say that because of the quality of their football, the way they play, the improvements in their squads."

So, how about us now, Jose?
As the title on the Daily Express reads: "Jose unable to ignore Reds."

Gerrard Fire On

Gerrard writes in his autobiography, which is being serialised in the News of the world. [BBC]

"Sadly a dark side stains Cristiano Ronaldo's game. His part in Wayne Rooney's dismissal was a disgrace. What really [got to] all the England players was Ronaldo's wink to his bench. It was a wink which said 'job done'. How could he do that to his Manchester United team-mate?"

"On the bus after the game Wayne asked me: 'What do you think about the wink?' I said: 'Honestly, Wazza, if we were playing Spain and [Liverpool team-mates] Xabi Alonso or Luis Garcia winked at the referee or gave a signal for me to be sent off, I'd never speak to them again.'"

"Players like Carvalho are damaging football, not Wayne Rooney. It's coached into them that when an incident like that happens, they go to work on the ref. Ronaldo was at the front. But the blame does not just rest with him. Five or six Portuguese players were at it."

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"We were not as good as we thought we were. England were guilty of over-confidence. Me and the other players placed too much pressure on ourselves by constantly claiming we could win the World Cup. Stupid. We talked ourselves up too much. Never again. In future tournaments we must learn to be humble."

"A few decisions were wrong, like not taking five strikers. He certainly shouldn't have brought Theo Walcott to Germany. Not only were England embarking on an arduous World Cup campaign with only four forwards but one of them was Theo Walcott. I almost fell over when I heard. Now let's get one or two things right about Theo. He's a nice lad and one day he will mature into a very good player. But he had no right to be in Germany. None at all. I was gobsmacked to find him on the plane."

Well Done, New Boys!!

9 Aug 2006 Liverpool 2-1 Maccabi Haifa - CL 3rd round qualifier

BBC - The Reds went behind when Gustavo Boccoli scythed through their defence and shot low into the corner. Craig Bellamy equalised four minutes later when he slotted in after Mohamed Sissoko's strike was only parried. The stuttering Reds picked up the pace late on and substitute Mark Gonzalez sidefooted home after 89 minutes.

Gerrard > Terry

Terry good, Gerrard better
Guardian Unlimited
John Terry won't let anyone down as England captain, but Steven Gerrard would have been a more imaginative choice, argues Rob Smyth

So much for being his own man. Steve McClaren's first significant decision as England manager was so predictable that it would have had Sven-Goran Eriksson nodding softly in agreement.

There is nothing wrong with the choice of John Terry as captain per se: he does the job wonderfully at Chelsea, is a born leader who will kick the catwalk culture out of the England dressing room and whose elevation completes the jigsaw marked 'the new Tony Adams'. But Steven Gerrard would have been a more imaginative, braver choice, and it is tempting to conclude that McClaren has missed an enormous opportunity to get Gerrard playing for England as he does for Liverpool.

As captains they are much of a muchness, although Terry is more visibly vocal and has the advantage of being able to see the game's bigger picture from centre-half. But as players, the influence of the captaincy differs hugely. Terry's performance-level, for the most part, remains constant whether he is captain or not, although like Gerrard he has never quite been at his best for England. Gerrard's, by contrast, fluctuates wildly for club and country, between the anonymous and the unstoppably in-your-face. When he reaches his volcanic peak, taking personal responsibility for the fortunes of his team, he has the capacity to influence a game like no other player in the world, as his one-man shows in the Champions League final of 2005 and the FA Cup final of 2006 showed.

Yet Gerrard has never shown that form for England. There have been isolated moments of excellence, but he has never swarmed all over a match, rendering the other 21 players virtually inconsequential as he imposes his quintessentially British will to devastating effect. At times his approach has bordered on diffidence, and this was the case long before his chalk-and-chalk partnership with Frank Lampard blunted his effectiveness further.

While it is an oversimplification to draw an exact link between captaincy and Gerrard's performances, it would be similarly unwise to dismiss the connection. In the movie Spiderman, Peter Parker was told that "with great power comes great responsibility". For Gerrard the reverse is true: with great responsibility comes an inner power that, at times, no defence in the world can resist. The captain's armband will not make the object any more immovable, but it could have made the force even more irresistible.

Just Like That

Edinburgh Streets

Oh my God, I love them. If it wasn't that I had to catch the bus at 3, I would love to go to their show at 2:45 PM. They were brilliant!!

Edinburgh is somewhere really unbelievable. It seems like a joyful corner of this busy world, always festivals out there.

[More photos here *updated*]