Tennis: Safin (Yay!) and Williams (Boo!) win

The Australian Open ended yesterday. Safin practically steamrolled over Hewitt, who put up a brave fight, but in the end just ran out of gas. Safin's shots were just too good for Hewitt, who must have been dead tired by the time he played the final.

Serena Williams also won, (boo! boo!), beating Lindsay Davenport, though that final was dead boring. Even though it was three sets, but almost the entire game was just them serving and whacking the ball really, really hard. That's why I don't like watching the Williams or Davenport play, because most of their games are based on power, not skill.

So, on to Wimbledon, and Federer should be top seeded again. And it would be interesting to watch Sharapova defend her title. :)

Now, back to football. :)

Tennis: Federer and Sharapova fall. :-(

Just watched the Australian Open Men's semi-final between Federer and Safin, and Safin has just won after a superb marathon five-set match, and I have to say he deserved the win. He played really really well, and it takes a lot to beat Federer.

Now, the Roddick vs Hewitt semi-final should be good too.

On another note, Maria Sharapova lost today in another titanic match. Boohoo. :-( and to Serena Williams, the player I can't stand the most. Sigh....

Football: So'ton 2-0 Liverpool: ......

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Lost to Southampton.

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Three losses in a row.

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No goals in last three games.

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Go Valencia!

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Football: Burnley 1-0 Liverpool: The Traore Syndrome

Sigh... dumped out to an own goal by Djimi Traore. What a drag.

He may have loads of potential, and improved under Benitez (somewhat), but the fellow has the concentration and focus of an Ah Beng watching Mystic River.

Ironically, I used to rate Traore quite highly, because I thought the boy had potential. But after all those mistakes he has been making, and watching him stumble around in every match he's played so far, I'm beginning to think that this is one player who may never live up to that potential.

Why Benitez (and Houllier before him) persists on playing him, I can't understand. Granted, Liverpool IS short on left-backs. We only have Riise and Carragher, besides Traore. Riise has to play left midfield right now because of Kewell's injury, while Carragher (being right-footed) is better played at right-back or centre-half, even though he CAN play left-back as well.

Anyway, back to Traore. The guy can defend. But he can't concentrate. Strikers nutmeg him, go past him and just bamboozle him without a raising a sweat. And when things get messy, like in last night's FA Cup loss to Burnley, he panics and starts making schoolboy errors (and in last night's match, concede own goals).

Sigh... Next player we buy needs to be a left-back. Strikers, we have plenty now. Midfield is fairly crowded. But we need better defenders.

Centre: Carragher is great, and so is Hyppia. Pellegrino is a top-class defender, so essentially, the central defence is covered with three good defenders.

Right-back: Finnan is injured, but I'd prefer him and Carragher more to Josemi. Josemi has been very poor in his first season.

Left-back: TRAORE? PLEASE stop playing him. Riise is great there, so when Kewell comes back, Riise should go back to left back. But we still need another left back... Maybe Benitez should think of playing Stephen Warnock in left-midfield more, and put Riise back to left back.

Goalkeeper: Kirkland, PLEASE stop getting injured. Dudek's confidence took a serious dip after the 2002 World Cup, and he has never been at his best since then. We NEED another goalkeeper.

Tennis: The Australian Open begins!

Ah... finally, a whole new season of sports is kicking off. My year didn't start very well with Liverpool losing last weekend, but never mind that. Always look ahead, I say.

The Australian Open has just open served, and already a big name has bitten the dust, with World No. 5 Carlos Moya losing to fellow Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. Serena Williams went through though. Drat. Can't stand the sisters.

Anyway, if you ask me, Roger Federer looks good for another Grand Slam. FedEx was almost unstoppable last year, and this year, am hoping he'd be able to do the Grand Slam. The only ones that may be able to stop him maybe be Leyton Hewitt and Andy Roddick. I don't see Agassi being able to beat Federer though.

On the women's court, the Williams sisters may be favorites again, but I predict another of the Russian girls winning (don't know which one though, they're names all sound the the same to me). After all, they were the most impressive players last year, and don't look like slowing down.

Of course, my eyes will also be on Maria Sharapova, but that's for a different reason all-together. Hur hur.

Here's another gratuitious picture of her. Hehe.

Football: Liverpool 0 -1 Man U - ONE bloody mistake...

I'm depressed. Goes to show how important having confidence in your goalkeeper is.

ONE bloody mistake by Jerzy Dudek, and the entire game collapsed around Liverpool. They were doing fine up till that point, but after the Double-Judas Rooney scored (now I can't decide whether I dislike him or Van Nistelrooy more), the team was in disarray.

Sigh... how depressing.

We're now TEN points behind Man U, and there goes all the faint hopes of getting THIRD. Fourth is still obtainable, but another bloody season of finishing behind Man Utd is just depressing.

But as one Liverpool fan said at the party I was at - "We WILL keep improving."

Football: Rah-rah Morientes!

I'm back with another rare post here. :) Wanted to post about the Morientes deal for a while now, but now it's confirmed, I think my timing couldn't be better. :)

Liverpool buying Morientes is the best news I've heard since Rafa Benitez taking over at the club and brought in Xabi Alonso.

What's not to like? Morientes is experienced, a proven striker, a good goalscorer, and should work well with Rafa Benitez. And if what Baros says HERE is true, then I truly look forward to their partnership.

What I AM sad to see is Mellor and Sinama-Ponggolle pushed down the pecking order again. I think SP has great potential, and would love to see him get more games. Ditto Mellor.

But then, they ARE one (or rather, TWO) for the future. For the immediate future, Morientes looks set to line up alongside Baros (who should have recovered from his injury) this Sunday at Anfield against MANCHESTER UNITED.

We've beaten Arsenal at Anfield, lost to Chelsea only because of Mike Riley's incompetence, and I have THIS to say about Man U's visit.

Bring 'em on, I say.

BRING 'EM ON.

Football: Man Utd 0-0 Spurs - The Worst Decision Ever?

YAY! I'm back to this blog. But will not be updating as much as my other blog though.

Anyway, last night's Man Utd vs Spurs match featured a REALLY bad call by the match officials. A clear goal was not allowed because the linesman did not see it. The problem is, it was such and obvious goal that its amazing how he missed it.

As Sky Sports says in their report HERE:

"Spurs were denied a win over Manchester United by one of the most controversial decisions in Premiership history, after Roy Carroll had clearly dropped the ball over the line in the last minute at Old Trafford."

Am I the only one who thinks referees seem to make a lot of decisions FOR the home team, ESPECIALLY when the stadium is OLD TRAFFORD?

Judge the 'goal' for yourself here:



Oh, and BTW, the match ended 0-0. Boo! Boo!