Liverpool VS West Ham : Match Preview

Frankly speaking, I was in no mood to write a preview of
the utter-disappointing defeat against Stoke last Saturday.
I kept thinking "What if Rafa managed to sign Kenwyne
Jones last season" and "What didnt't Rafa keep Pennant
in the team" throughout the match, but all these was history
and we can't turn back the clock.

This Saturday, we will be at home against bottom-place
West Ham, which will not be an easy game as seen
on paper. Gerrard will be out for action for 3-4 weeks
after suffering a hamstring injury during the England
defeat to France match. This will be a huge blow to the team
and we just have to make use of we have left in the squad.
Lucas will be suspended for this match followed his
double yellow cards during the last game. Joe Cole is
still out with a hamstring injury. Fortunately, Kuyt, Skrtel,
Johnson and Torres are declared fit for tomorrow game.

Hodgson can start the game with Konchesky, Carragher,
Skrtel and Johnson in defense with Kyrgiakos and Kelly
in strong contention to start as well. The main issue now
is who to put in the central midfield role. With Lucas and
Gerrard unavailable, Hodgson will possibly put Poulsen and
Meireles in the important role. I am still not convince that
Poulsen deserve to wear the Reds jersey as what you can
read from my past postings. But I am willing to give him
a chance to prove me and other critics wrong as he promises
to prove himself in Liverpool. Meireles played superb during
the wonderful victory against World Champion, Spain, and
I hope that he can duplicate the same performance and
form in Liverpool.

I strongly feel that Jovanovic deserve chance to play in
the left wing again after falling out of favour of Hodgson's
selection. He got the skill and attitude to excel in this
position although he maybe lacking the speed aspect.
He stated that he won't play for Serbia until he wins back
his place in Liverpool first team, and this is the type of
never-say-die and gung-ho attitude that I like.
Hodgson, give Jovanovic a chance to shine again.
Maxi will be starting in the right wing and Kuyt can start
with Torres in attack. There will be backup from Babel,
Shelvey, Spearing and Ngog if they are needed
to provide the width coverage or the attacking power.

If you ask me, I have to say that Hodgson made a grave
mistake to loan Aquilani to Juventus at the beginning of
the season, if not, we can have the Italian's service right now.
He may be a sick chicken when he arrived at Anfield,
but during his occasional appearances, he proved what
he can do with and without the ball. To me, he will be
a great asset to the team, but somehow, Hodgson don't agree
with me, and we will likely lose him forever. Aquilani had openly
stated that he likes it in Italy, and urged Juventus to sign
him permanently. I feel that Hodgson can make a sincere
last-minute face-to-face talk with Aquilani to convince him
that he still has a marvelous future at Anfield.

Avram Grant's West Ham is like a wounded animal in a
corner, and Liverpool is without several key players at the
moment. This is really not a good time to meet, but it is
too late to say all these bullshit. If the real Liverpool play
like what we did to Chelsea 2 weeks ago, we can have
a convincing win with a few clear goals even without
Captain Gerrard around. We really need to score more
goals as we are -4 in the goal difference category.
Final Score: Liverpool 3 - 0 West Ham

Players to watch: Scott Parker, Boa Morte, Carlton Cole.