Live Thoughts: Manchester City vs Liverpool (Carling Cup)

I covered this match live. Here are my unedited thoughts when Liverpool took on Manchester City in the Carling Cup semi final.

Hey there and welcome to another Live Thoughts post. I haven't been writing much recently because I have a lot going on in my personal life. I have a lot planned but my time to get things done has decreased a lot. I also have Skyrim now and naturally I'm erm, addicted. Anyways this is a very important match and a win or a draw tonight will make the game very exciting when we take City back to Anfield.

If you're new to following Liverpool this is probably a great feeling for you. However if you're a long term Kopite, you'll know this feeling very well. It's a nice feeling. Dare I say it, a nostalgic feeling. This Carling Cup semi final, over two legs, is exactly the type of game Liverpool want to be part of week in, week out again. It's like the old Champions League classics we had from two years ago to seven years ago. Those were great times, and it's only now that it's not a regular thing at Anfield do we realise how much we miss it. That's why we need to make the most of this Carling Cup semi final. Not that I don't have faith in Liverpool, King Kenny or the owners, but who knows when we will be back in the Champions League. No one knows the answer and while we all hope it's next season, we can't bank on it. So let's make the most of this Carling Cup semi final folks, it'll be a great set of matches, providing we don't get our behinds handed to us anyway!

Here are the teams:

Manchester City: Hart, Richards, Savic, Lescott, Clichy, Barry, de Jong, A Johnson, Milner, Balotelli, Aguero. Subs: Pantilimon, Zabaleta, Kolarov, Onuoha, Hargreaves, Nasri, Dzeko.

Aguero ripped our defence to pieces last week and we need to make sure that doesn't happen again. What Balotelli will turn up today is anyone's guess. Dzeko also was dangerous last week and surely will come on later on. This is such a strong attacking line up. We have our work cut out for us tonight and we need to make sure we don't have lapses in concentration like we did last time. It's time for us to show the reason why our defence was the strongest in the Premier League for the first half of the season.

Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Kelly, Downing, Henderson, Gerrard, Spearing, Bellamy, Carroll. Subs: Doni, Enrique, Coates, Kuyt, Carragher, Adam, Shelvey. 

It's as strong a line up we can probably offer. Enrique on the bench is interesting, does he have a knock? I didn't hear anything. But Kelly comes on in the left back position in his place, otherwise it's a strong Liverpool line up. Gerrard back in the side is going to make a big difference, and hopefully he'll be THE difference today. We'll see.

1' - My bad, Johnson is playing on the left not Kelly. Both can play both positions well so I don't mind, as long as they're happy. 

3' - Great chance for Carroll! He loses Savic and is through on goal but his shot is saved to Joe Hart's feet!

4' - Balotelli makes a run down the right wing and Skrtel times his tackle very well. Excellent tackle. 

7' - We're actually quite well at the moment, City are taking their time to influence the game. I hope it doesn't backfire, but we're looking good. 

10' - Gerrard takes a nice shot from distance and it was close to going in! I think Hart would have got it anyway! 

10' - Another great save from Hart for Carroll! Another corner and Agger WINS US A PENALTY! 

12' - GOAL! Gerrard scores from the spot! Too easy. Joe Hart went in the right direction but Gerrard's shot was low and hard to his left. Perfect spot. Fourth goal of the season for Gerrard And we're a goal up away from home! 

15' - A decent City attack, Adam Johnson whips in a cross for Balotelli and Reina punches it away, but only in the direction of Aguero who's half volley is poor by his standards. 

18' - Carroll takes the ball to the left wing and lacks control to keep it, and Savic intercepts with ease. The City fans cheer sarcastically. At least Carroll is trying! 

21' - Spearing has gone down and Charlie Adam has been told to get ready to come on. Not good. 

22' - Liverpool Substitution: Jay Spearing walks off gingerly and Adam takes his place. No news on the injury Spearing has at the moment. 

23' - It looks like Spearing's hamstring. He walked off better than most people with that injury do. Hopefully it's only a few weeks rather than the usual six for this type of injury. 

26' - Gerrard is playing very deep, spraying the ball to the attacking third. He's been doing what Lucas has been doing all season. It'd be awesome when we have Lucas back and Gerrard can go forward more. But for a match of this magnitude, having Gerrard back is important. He can always go forward when we have dominant possession. 

28' - Adam and Balotelli collide and it's a free kick for City. Adam appears to be saying something to the Italian and he retaliates. Luckily James Milner is there to stop Balotelli from reacting for too long. I really hope Adam didn't say anything racist because I'm fed up of the controversy at the club.

31' - Possession is 50%/50% at the moment. We've definitely been the better side, although the game has calmed down recently. There hasn't been too many major chances in honesty. 

34' - I just realised, Balotelli is captain for City. Really? Okay. 

34' - Carroll! Just wide of the post. A very good effort, Kelly crosses from the right and Carroll connects very well, he's not that far into the box but it was a very good effort. I wasn't sure Hart would have got to it. 

37' - I'm getting the feeling City might end this half the stronger team. I feel them starting to look dangerous. 

38' - Manchester City: Substitution: Balotelli comes off with an ankle injury, and Samir Nasri takes his place.

40' - Downing and Henderson combine well to put City's defence under pressure, it came to nothing but it was good to get a nice few interceptions there. Psychological pressure in football is very important. 

42' - Nasri takes a shot and it deflects and a lovely save by Reina! Nasri does something that City have barely done in the past 42 minutes and that's actually take a shot at our goal.

44' - A lovely run by Micah Richards, he nudges Glen Johnson out of the way and goes down the left wing and a brilliant cross to Milner who scuffs the shot terribly! What an awful attempt that was by Milner! Great run by Richards though. 

45' - Three minutes of added time. 

45+2' - Adam Johnson wins a free kick right outside the box just before half time. Last kick of the match I'd say. 

45+3' - Johnson takes the free kick and it curled very nicely, but it was thankfully, ultimately, over the bar. Half time. 

This has been a good half for us so far. Defensively we've looked pretty solid and we got the penalty early on. But it's early days, we need to keep tight in the back and go forward when we can. Now that we have a goal advantage we have something to defend. We need to keep this very strong side at bay, and we have so far. 45 minutes of hard work for Liverpool, and hopefully, even harder work for City.

48' - One thing I've noticed today is that we're not giving them much space on the wings to cross the ball. Two of our goals last week were conceded from good delivery from corners and the wider areas. It's good. 

51' - No major danger at the moment but once again you are getting the feeling City might start to take the game to us soon. I certainly hope not of course, and that we start to hopefully put them under more pressure. It'd be a brilliant result if we score a second and don't concede.

53' - Aguero gets through our defence for the first time in the match but Skrtel recovers and City earn a corner. 

54' - The game has really up a gear the past few minutes, both sides are going for it. The first half for the most part was quite a bland affair for the unbiased fan. 

55' - Kelly struggles a little and passes back to Reina but Aguero intercepts and is on his own! He takes on Reina on the right hand side of the penalty box but thankfully shoots over. That was very poor from Kelly, thankfully it was dealt with enough by Reina. 

58' - RICHARDS! Excellent save by Reina! Richards gets a clean header from the corner and Reina saves low to his body. Brilliant stop, a stop thoroughly redeeming from his mishap last week. 

59' - Liverpool Substitution: Jose Enrique comes on for Stewart Downing. A tactical decision obviously, it's welcome by me. 

62' - They show Vincent Kompany on screen, they've definitely missed him today. Kompany was absolutely amazing against us last week, it was welcome news that he was suspended as a biased Liverpool fan.

64' - A cross comes in from the right hand side and Johnson at short range chests it down for Reina. It was a bit nervy but ultimately a great defensive movement. 

65' - A City attack ends with Aguero taking on three Red defenders and turning them inside out, but the shot was tame and saved by Reina comfortably. 

65' - Manchester City Substitution: Adam Johnson, who's not had the best of games, comes off for Edin Dzeko. 

68' - I just want to say, we've defended absolutely brilliantly for the past 68 minutes. Very little has come past us and what has, Reina has dealt with or the shot was poor. It's been a fantastic display from the Pool so far. 22 minutes to go. 

71' - Manchester City Substitution: Nigel De Jong comes off and Aleksandar Kolarov comes on.  De Jong is another player who's been sub par today, in fact, I'd say most of the City players have been. It's good for us obviously.

72' - All the City subs have been used by the way. We have one left. 

75' - Well the game hasn't been the best to watch but as long as we win does it matter? The quality of matches go out the window when you win the big ones. 

77' - Ball possession for the second half is now 65%/35% in City's favour. You wouldn't think it based on the fact that they've barely threatened all match. 

79' - Liverpool Substitution: Craig Bellamy comes off for Jamie Carragher. Another defensive move that I'm in favour for. Bellamy has been surprisingly quiet today. Carroll has been more effective which is saying something. 

81' - City are trying to put some pressure on us but we're defending very well. A tame Milner shot is deflected and goes for a goal kick. 

84' - I just can't believe how crap City have been today. Sorry. I'm just being frank. I just hope they don't prove me wrong now of course. 

85' - Samir Nasri gets a yellow card for getting in Carra's face. Carra's usually the heated type of player but he kept his cool with considerable ease in that situation. 

88' - Liverpool fans start up "You'll Never Walk Alone". It must be the end of a Liverpool win surely? I hope so. 

90' - Three minutes of added time. 

90' - AGUERO! Just over the bar! A free kick from the left and Aguero connects perfectly, but it's just over the bar. Relief!

90+3' - Full time! 

Well it wasn't the best match you'll see all season and we won by 1 goal but WOO! We're hopefully one step closer to a cup final! An away win in the Carling Cup doesn't guarantee anything but it's definitely going to make the match easier at Anfield. I really want us to win this cup. Yes it's the Carling Cup. Yes it's not the Premier League. But we'll take any trophy and then move on from there I'd say. And a win against City at their stadium is a great result, especially as they beat us 3-0 last week.

My man of the match? Glen Johnson actually. He was defensively sound today, and while I haven't really mentioned him much he did a job at left back and crunched into a lot of tackles, disrupting the play considerably. Everyone goes on about his attacking ability from the back but today he proved he can defend well. All the defence was great today, Skrtel had a very good game too and Reina made some good saves. It was a professional performance.

City were awful. The leaders of the Premier League should have done much better today. They barely turned up. I think it was an off day, I'm sure they'll be more than ready when they come to Anfield. The game at Anfield will be difficult, but I'm sure the Kop will be rocking, because as I said, it's like a Champions League fixture of old. We'll be ready.

That's it from me today, have a good night!

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Live Thoughts: Manchester City vs Liverpool (Premier League)

I covered this match live. Here are my unedited thoughts on the Premier League match between Manchester City and Liverpool.

Hey there, thanks for joining me on another live thoughts feed. After a two match break (or 'ban', whatever word you prefer), I'm back. Before I get to the preview, let me talk about Suarez.

Just in case you didn't know, Liverpool are not to appeal against the Suarez ban. They're backing Suarez, are still showing the FA they're unhappy with the situation yet they're accepting of the ban for the good of football and the fight against racism. My thoughts? All in all I think Liverpool have done the right thing. They're standing ground in terms of their beliefs and support yet accepting of the situation, predominantly because everyone has been against their strong support of Suarez because the media are twisting that somehow as 'pro-racism'. It's not. It's pro-Suarez. Big difference. But still, it means we have no Suarez for eight games. No more. No less. I think it was too risky to appeal, because it just felt the FA wanted to make an example of Suarez. That's fine, as long as they show the same stance for every player doing a similar thing. Starting with John Terry of Chelsea. I wrote an article about this a few weeks ago if you're more interested in my thoughts on the Suarez situation, you can read that here. Anyway, like Liverpool, let's all draw a line against this.

Man City! Away from home! Tough match. But with City losing on the weekend, I think it's a good time to play them. Especially as we scored 3 goals against Newcastle, the first time we have scored 3 in the Premier League since August, when we beat Bolton 3-1, the same margin. Let's hope our strikers have their scoring boots on, and the defence can keep their watertight lock on that goal! I feel quite confident today in honesty!

Here are the teams:

Man City: Hart, Clichy, Toure Kolo, Richards, Kompany, Silva, Toure Yaya, Barry, Milner, Aguero, Dzeko. Subs: Pantilimon, Lescot, Zabaleta, Savic, de Jong, Johnson, Kolarov. 

It's hard to find a fault in this team. But this is the team we drew earlier this season, and beat last season. In fact, Man City have only lost 1 of the last 13 games against us. But City are very very dangerous now and we need to be careful. I think we can still win though. No Balotelli, but Aguero and the emergence of Dzeko this season makes a strong attacking duo. 

Liverpool: Reina, Enrique, Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Spearing, Adam, Downing, Henderson, Kuyt, Carroll. Subs: Doni, Gerrard, Maxi, Carragher, Shelvey, Kelly, Bellamy.

Naturally no Suarez now. Bellamy on the bench is surprising though. He's been our best player recently and has scored most of the goals too. It looks like 4-4-2 today, with Carroll and Kuyt up front and Henderson and Downing on the wings. I suppose you can understand, what with us playing away from home, against the benchmark team of the Premier League. Bellamy can always come on later if needed, and Gerrard. Our bench looks pretty good at least.

3' - We're all wearing black armbands in memory of Gary Ablett who passed away a few days ago. 

6' - A half chance for Dzeko who hesitated in front of goal. Good for us. Richards was the man who set him up.

7' - DOWNING! Great chance but Hart saves! 

8' - Silva goes down the left wing and sets up Dzeko in the Liverpool box, who from a tight angle forces Reina into a save. 

10' - GOAL! Aguero. Kuyt concedes the ball and it gets to Aguero who takes a tame shot at goal, and the ball lands under Reina and goes in. That wasn't good from the usually excellent Reina. 

12' - I love Reina so much, but he's done a few mistakes this season, more so than usual. But that being said our defence has been pretty solid this season in comparison. I hope this is a little blip because Reina is just brilliant on his day. 

13' - A strong City attack with many one-twos ends up with Aguero who tries to chip the ball above Reina, and fails. 

15' - A half chance for Liverpool, Kuyt crossed from outside the penalty box on the right and Carroll gets a head to it, and it's over the bar. 

17' - @Anonymous - I don't think Reina needs to be sold, I just think he's having a blip. He's one of our most consistent players usually. He's still at a great age and I doubt he's going to slip long term. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt I say. 

19' - Some good pressure there from the Reds. It's hard to pinpoint one good moment really, but it was nice to see. We're not out of this by a long stretch.

21' - A shot from Dzeko takes a deflection and Reina attempts to save in shot's direction, and Aguero almost slotted the ball in an empty net but it was travelling too fast. Relief.

22' - Downing has been tripped by Silva just outside the City box. Shame Bellamy isn't on the pitch to take this cross, he's been pretty good with his crosses recently. 

23' - Adam takes the free kick and it's dealt with easily by Hart. 

24' - Henderson was set up nicely for a shot by Kuyt and it goes wide to Hart's goal. Decent effort though. 

26' - We've responded very nicely from the goal we conceded, we're much more dominant now. City have barely threat, bar the deflected shot five minutes ago. 

27' - A battle between Aguero and Skrtel and Aguero wins, but the ball once again travels too far and Reina clears. 

27' - Adam wins us another free kick in another great position.

28' - Henderson takes it and it hits the wall. Shame, it was an excellent place to win a free kick, central and just outside the box. 

30' - Aguero looks for a handball against Skrtel but the replay rejects it. The replays clearly show Skrtel's hand moving away from the ball, he couldn't have done anything about it. Good refereeing decision.

32' - KOMPANY! Great save by Reina from the corner! Lightning reactions from the Spaniard! 

32' - GOAL! Yaya Toure scores after another corner. Another header and this one goes in. We're 2-0 down now. Not good.

35' - Downing gets called for a free kick for handball. That wasn't handball either, the ref got this one wrong I'd say. 

36' - Steven Gerrard is warming up. Put him in at the start of the second half? I'm not sure. 

38' - @Anonymous #2 - Are you a Liverpool fan? I really hope not, Reina has played more than 300 times for this club and doesn't need fans turning on him when he's set numerous clean sheet records and saved many penalties over the years. Show him some respect.

41' - Charlie Adam concedes a free kick after a poor tackle on Dzeko. This is a decent area for City, I really hope we don't concede a third now. Silva takes it and it's gone for a goal kick.

42' - Carroll heads it down to Kuyt who has a decent effort but it's blocked by Kompany at goal-sight and then dealt with. 

44' - There's been a few tackles for the past few minutes by both sides that have been pretty poor, tensions are rising I'd say. Gareth Barry goes in the book for the latest one. 

45' - One minute of added time. 

45+1' - Half time. 

Well we conceded a poor goal by Reina. He should have done better than that, but there's no point in hounding Reina, he's been one of the best players for Liverpool in the past 6 and a half years and all players make mistakes. The difference being a goalkeeper's errors are easier to see. The second goal was unavoidable, City were strong in the set pieces and Toure's headed goal was too strong for anyone to deal with. Between the two goals they scored we looked pretty solid, definitely the better side. Are we out of the match? No. We need a quick reaction in the second half and then it's game on. Do we go to the bench and make changes? That's up to King Kenny of course, but my opinion is purely based on the fitness of Bellamy, Gerrard and possibly Maxi. Any of those three can be match winners when on form so if they're fit and raring to go, put on or two on at the start of the second half. We can still get something out of this, but if we concede another I'd say that's the end then.

45' - No substitutes made. That's fine, but it's going to have to be in the next 20 minutes surely, unless we score in that time of course! 

48' - A decent cross from Enrique, the first time he's been able to get forward properly, and Kompany heads it for a throw in, stopping Carroll from getting a vital touch.

50' - We've started the second half well, pushing City back as often as we can. No major penetration yet though. 

53' - The commentators think we lack pace, it's possible. We do have pace on the bench in Gerrard and Bellamy, that's not a hint I promise! 

56' - Double Liverpool Substitution: Steven Gerrard and Craig Bellamy come on for Charlie Adam and Dirk Kuyt, who both haven't had the best of games. 

57' - I think Kenny has made a good move putting these two players on. They're both match winners and both scored good and important goals against Newcastle.

60' - We need to score soon, 30 minutes left to go, a goal soon would make take momentum strongly in our favour.

62' - Enrique and Reina have a mixup whether or not who retrieves the travelling ball. It's not good that there was a communication issue at the back.

64' - Aguero has caused a lot of problems for us today. He's a tremendous player. That being said I'd say man of the match so far has to be Vincent Kompany, who's been a rock at the back for City.

66' - Both Milner and Glen Johnson have gone down due to a tackle from the former on the latter. 

69' - We're still dominating possession without putting that much pressure on City. I don't think this is going to be our night to be honest. We need a piece of magic from somewhere and fast. 

71' - Manchester City Substitution: Sergio Aguero comes off for Adam Johnson. Aguero was excellent today, really getting in between our defenders and just generally causing chaos, not too dissimilar to Suarez.

72' - RED CARD FOR BARRY! Two yellows for Barry, for a tackle on Gerrard. I don't think it was deserving of a yellow that tackle, I think he's unlucky, but it gives us some hope! 

73' - PENALTY FOR CITY! Grrrr! The ref gave a penalty as Toure went down when Skrtel was chasing, I'm unsure if that was a penalty! Some possible bad decisions here by the ref.

74' - GOAL! Milner scores the penalty and City are 3-0 up, and have pretty much got the points in the bag.

75' - Manchester City Substitution: David Silva comes off in place of Lescott, a good move for City, who have to defend for 15 minutes, now with 5 defenders. 

75' - Liverpool Substitution: Jay Spearing comes off and Maxi Rodriguez comes on. It might be too little too late, but you never know in football.

78' - Another miscommunication from the back! This time it's Skrtel and Reina, Skrtel gave a very short passback and Dzeko almost took advantage. Our back 5 really haven't been very good today. 

79' - ADAM JOHNSON! Hit the post! A lovely strike from the young Englishman, Reina was beat! This is definitely a match to forget for us. 

81' - GERRARD! Just wide. It was a nice strike, vintage of Gerrard, and it was just passed the post. 

84' - Kudos to Liverpool, we're still trying to get another goal despite being three down, but it lead to a counter attack in the end. We don't want to concede a fourth. 

85' - Rodriguez! Close. He was in the box and backheels to make space, and shoots just over the bar. More accuracy and it would have been a nice goal.

89' - Bellamy! Saved by Hart and it rolls for a rebound for Rodriguez and another Hart save. Frustrating stuff.

90' - Gout minutes of added time.

90+1' - Vincent Kompany wins man of the match, and it's rightfully deserved. He's been absolutely amazing today. At least it wasn't the goalkeeper this time that did all the heroics, not that Hart has had a bad game either.

90+2' - Downing finds some space in the penalty box and goes for goal, but Hart saves low to his right. 

90+4' - Full time.

What to say? Well, simply, this was a Premier League title winning performance for Manchester City. I don't mean they thrashed us or anything. But they had their chances and took them. Over the ninety minutes, we were the better side, the side with possession, the side with the most chances. But important moments in this game cost us. Reina's mistake, followed by a strong City set piece header by  Yaya Toure, and then the excellent break by Yaya again for Skrtel to concede the penalty, and then Milner's spot kick. Three important moments, three goals. That's what champions do, that's what United have done for so long. I really think City can win the title, if they keep staying one step ahead.

As for us? Same old Liverpool, loads of chances, zero goals. We need a new striker, it's as simple as that. Bellamy and Kuyt aren't always being used as strikers, so Carroll and Suarez are the only two out and out strikers we have. That needs to change. It's a major priority to get another striker in. Who? For me, dare I say it, but we need someone like Yakubu. Despite being an ex-Blue, I've always been a fan of the Yak. When on form he's fantastic. He's big and strong and really intimidating. He's an up front presence we haven't had at Liverpool since the days of in prime Emile Heskey. We need that time of presence. But as long as we get a clinical finisher, another good quality striker, I don't mind who we get. That's up to the owners and Kenny. Anyway, thank you for reading my live thoughts, it's been a pleasure, have a good night.

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Live Thoughts: England vs Sweden (Friendly)

I covered this match live. Here are my unedited thoughts on the match between England and Sweden.

Good evening, welcome to another Live Thoughts post. After the very defensive yet ultimately successful victory over world champions Spain, it's time for England to break more ground. We haven't beaten Sweden in 43 years. That's an incredible statistic. I never knew about it. We've had many many draws against Sweden and they've beaten us a few times, but we haven't beaten Sweden in nearly half a century. Let's break that duck tonight. We have the players and hopefully the confidence, and we're at Wembley. Let's do it!

Here are the teams:

England: Hart, Walker, Cahill, Terry, Baines, Jones, Barry, Rodwell, Walcott, Zamora, Downing. Subs: Carson, Glen Johnson, Cole, Lescott, Parker, Lampard, Milner, Adam Johnson, Sturridge, Bent, Stockdale.


Quite an inexperienced side today, with Terry, Barry and Downing having the most experience. There's a few younger guys that get a nice start, Kyle Walker is someone that has impressed me a lot this season, him and Rodwell from the starting 11. This team is enough to beat Sweden on paper.


Sweden: Isaksson, Lustig, Majstorovic, Mellberg, M. Olsson, Elm, Kallstrom, Larsson, Wernbloom, Elmander, Ibrahimovic. Subs: Wiland, Bajrami, Svensson, Granqvist, Safari, Gerndt, Almeback, Holmen, Jonas Olsson, Toivonen, Wilhelmsson.


It's as strong as Sweden can be, they still have some talent in this team, Elm and Larsson in the midfield and Elmander and Ibrahimovic on their day can score against anyone. They woin't be easy but we should be winning today.

3' - England are on the front foot, completely different to when we took on Spain. 

6' - If you're wondering, John Terry is getting booed, but not as much as people expected. It doesn't matter anyway, let the police and the FA deal with that.

9' - Not much to report at the moment, it's mainly England trying to break down Sweden and failing. 

12' - Free kick in a very dangerous area for Sweden. It hits the wall and is dealt with.

14' - A nice little run from Walcott ends in a corner, one that we can't take advantage of. 

17' - Finally some activity. A nice run from Walcott feeds in Zamora who mistimes his first attempt, and tries to slide in a second and it hits the side netting. 

18' - Haha, only 12 goals have been scored from the 11 players on the England pitch, 6 of them goals have come from John Terry. At least it proves we're fielding a weakened side. 

20' - Wow another good statistic, Joe Hart has played 15 times for England and he's never lost a match, 10 wins, 5 draws. He is a brilliant keeper, I'm so happy we've resolved our keeper crisis.

21' - GOAL! England's 2000th goal (another statistic) goes to Gareth Barry, a lovely cross from Liverpool's own Stewart Downing lands perfectly on Barry's head and it goes into the bottom right corner! 

24' - Replays show that the ball actually hit Daniel Majstorovic last, so it could be an own goal.

27' - They just brought up the phenomenal goal Liverpool's Joe Cole scored against Sweden five years ago. Haven't seen it? Here it is.

30' - We had a decent spell after the goal for a few minutes, it seems to be dying down at the moment, let's hope not and we can hopefully build up for a 2 goal lead before half time. 

32' - A corner from Rasmus Elm almost goes in! A lovely curl on the ball, Joe Hart palms it wide. 

34' - After a pinch perfect cross for the goal, Stewart Downing takes a free kick way over the entire penalty area. Hey ho. 

36' - Kim Kallstrom puts in a potentially dangerous tackle on Kyle Walker and the whistle blows. Johan Elmander protests and goes in the book. A little harsh for a friendly.


37' - RODWELL! Close. It goes for a corner, and that corner is dealt with.

40' - Phil Jones is free of the defence and running towards goal! He tries to tap it past the keeper and it goes wide. Should have done better. 

41' - A difficult corner ends in a Swedish player hitting the post, but it was offside anyway.

43' - RODWELL! My god how did he miss! Downing takes on a defender on the left wing and whips in a lovely cross for an empty net, and Rodwell heads it wide to the right. Awful miss. Gutted. 

45' - Half time, no added minutes.


A decent first half display for England, we got the goal and tries a few more times. The game and the performance isn't anything spectacular, but it's been good enough. We deserve our lead. Let's hope we can build on it in the second half, as Sweden have barely been in it for long periods.

45' - Sweden Subsitutions: Ola Toivonen and Jonas Olsson come on for Olaf Mellberg and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.


45' - England Substitution: Scott Carson gets his first cap in three years while Joe Hart comes off.

45' - Downing had a good run down the left wing and Zamora almost made it to his decent square ball. Close.

48' - Downing has put a few good balls down the left wing early in this second half, he's had a good game for the most part so far. 

51' - You know something, we criticise Fabio Capello a lot but he has the best win ratio of all the England managers in history. He's had 42 games so far, and he's won 26. That's pretty damn good. 

55' - Sweden start to gain confidence all of a sudden, and get a little move going that ends with Toivonen hitting it over the bar.

56' - A Swedish corner is dealt with nicely by Walcott who claims the ball, cuts the ball away from three Swedish players and clears it. Any right back would be proud of that. 

57' - England Substitutions: James Milner and Daniel Sturridge come on for Jack Rodwell and Theo Walcott.

58' - Daniel Sturridge has the ball outside of the penalty area on the right and tries to get into the box and three Swedish players top him, he eventually falls to the floor. He gets the points for effort. 

61' - The game has slowed down slightly for the moment, nothing much to report. 

63' - Leighton Baines passes the ball to Downing down the left flank and Downing squares a half volley to the path of Zamora who's shot is deflected for a corner. Nice move. The corner dissolves quickly however. 

65' - Stewart Downing storms down the pitch like a striker and his shot while decent, goes wide. He's definitely been the best player on the pitch today. 

68' - The game suddenly has become more exciting, both teams going for it at the moment. 

69' - England Substitution - Darren Bent comes on for Bobby Zamora, who had an okay game, didn't do anything great but tries hard.

69' - Sweden Substitution: Anders Svensson comes on for Kim Kallstrom. 

72' - As I said the game's quite open now, not that there's been any major chances for a while. 

74' - The ball gets passed back to Isaksson, the Swedish keeper, and Downing closes him down nicely and makes him kick the ball badly for a throw in. Good work from Downing again.

77' - They're still going on about the Barry goal possibly being put down as an own goal. It's because it was the 2000th goal. It's a little silly to complain about it I think, just because it's a landmark number. 

77' - Larsson takes a curling shot at goal and Carson thumps it awkwardly away from goal. It was a difficult shot to deal with and Carson did just enough. 

81' - A deep cross from Milner connects to Bent's head, but it goes over his head and over the other side of the penalty area. Not the right connection unfortunately. 

82' - Confirmation, Ireland have made it to the Euros! Very happy for our Irish brothers. Just in case you didn't know, I support all the UK and Irish sides, unless we face each other. Great stuff for the green men. 

85' - The game is slowing down, Sweden aren't really taking it to us and we're comfortable. Let's hope it stays this way.

86' - Swedish Substitution: Emir Bajrami comes on for Rasmus Elm.

87' - Kyle Walker wins the man of the match award, no problems with that from me. I think Downing has been the best player personally, but Walker has had a great game too, he's been a bit of a menace down the right wing and has defended well too. 

90' - Two minutes of stoppage time. 

90+1' - Wilhelmsson! Over the bar! It was a great cross and Wilhelmsson almost made it count.

90+2' - Full time.

We've ended our 43 year winless streak against Sweden! Woohoo! It was a satisfactory performance, Sweden barely turned up today and we dealt with them comfortably and professionally. We didn't give them many chances and we had a decent few ourselves. The one goal was enough. We end 2011 undefeated actually, that's pretty remarkable. We did a lot of poor draws in that time but to say we never lost a single match this year is cool. I think our confidence heading closer to the Euros has risen which is great. As I said, the problem with England is when we start turning that into cockiness. We need to be humble, respectful and confident, a hard thing to balance. Anyway, that's another night of football finished, enjoy the rest of it, whatever you're doing.

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Live Thoughts: Montenegro vs England (Euro Qualifier)

I covered this game live, here are my thoughts as England took on Montenegro.

Hey there, and welcome to my thoughts on England's final match in the Euro qualifying period, where we take on Montenegro on their home ground. Anything but a loss tonight will take us through to the Euros officially, but Fabio Capellos has said we'll be attacking tonight, so let's hope we win.

That being said, Montenegro aren't pushovers, they held us to a draw at Wembley, and they're a threat, especially on their home surface. But, we do have the quality to beat them, we are definitely the better side and let's hope we can wrap up the qualifying tournament in style.

Here are the teams: 

Montenegro: Mladen Bozovic, Zverotic, Djudovic, Savic, Kascelan, Vukcevic, Pekovic, Vladimir Bozovic, Beciraj, Jovetic, Vucinic. Subs: Blazic, Jovanovic, Batak, Djalovic, Damjanovic, Cetkovic, Delibasic.

On paper it might not sound like much but they have some strength here. Vucinic is a good goalscorer for Juventus, previously of Roma and will be a threat tonight. Keep an eye on Manchester City's defender Savic, who has made a decent start for the Sky Blues despite being only 20. 

England: Hart, Jones, Cahill, Terry, Cole, Parker, Barry, Walcott, Rooney, Young, Bent. Subs: Carson, Jagielka, Baines, Lampard, Downing, Welbeck, Zamora.

News is that we'll play 4-5-1 today and in fairness, I think that's a good tactic. Montenegro will want to go for the win today and will be dangerous, so having Rooney play a deeper role will help us when required. That being said, when we have the ball I expect him to go further afield. It's a good move. As for Lampard on the bench, well, it's a difficult one after his hat-trick for Chelsea. We had balance in the previous two matches where Lampard wasn't starting, and we don't want to disrupt that. He'll play an important part in the match later on I'm sure.

2' - Positive start by England so far, Montenegro haven't settled at all, despite being the home side. 

4' - Ashley Young takes a shot outside the box after a corner is taken, it wasn't too far considering the box was crowded. 

5' - WALCOTT! Saved. The Montenegro box was surprisingly empty and it lands well for Walcott to take a shot and its low and straight at the keeper. That being said Bozovic didn't get his body over it fully and it could have crept in.

7' - The Montenegro players start dancing around our players, using lovely skill to pass our players like butter. Finally some confidence. They could have scored but we do enough to clear it uncomfortably. 

10' - GOAL! Ashley Young! That was just so easy, Rooney has the ball just outside the penalty box in the centre and passes to Walcott on the right flank who crosses inch perfect to the head of Young! The defence was placid at best!

13' - This is a very strange Montenegro side, they look so uninterested and incapable, but that moment of pure football around the seventh minute is completely contrasting of that. Are they in this match or not? It doesn't look like it at the moment. 

16' - Not a single shot at goal for Montenegro so far.

19' - The commentators are saying that Walcott is due a goal. Maybe. But he's so inconsistent. 

22' - A high ball enters our third and is bouncing awkwardly. Brad Jones heads it back to Joe Cole before it becomes even more dangerous. 

25' - The match is quite dead at the moment. Montenegro don't look bothered and England don't need to apply much pressure as they're ahead. 

27' - Haha, there was a replay of Capello being a bit animated and nearly tripping over some Lucozade bottles. Stuart Pearce moves them out of the way. 

29' - Montenegro are finally starting to look alive. Around a minute ago they had a tame effort over the bar from a free kick, and now they're attacking on the left flank more. 

30' - GOAL! 2-0! I should eat my words! A counter attacking move ends in Rooney cutting to the left of the penalty box and Darren Bent makes the perfect run on the right side, Rooney cuts the entire defence out and Bent taps it in! He's barely been involved in the play until now! 

32' - I didn't expect Montenegro to be this much of a pushover. I gave them a lot of respect before the match started, because they are on their day a good side. But I think that result against Wales has made them lose a lot of confidence. 

35' - Well that's England pretty much through to the Euros. We have been discretely impressive in this tournament, not that we had the most difficult group in the world, I mean, erm Europe. 

37' - How far will England get in the Euros? I'm definitely intrigued. Like every tournament, I desperately want us to go far but have my doubts.

41' - There's not much to report at the moment that's why I'm talking on about the Euros. The ball has for the most part been in the middle of the pitch. 

43' - Kascelan takes a shot from far out and it's well wide.

44' - GOAL! Zverotic! The ball is crossed square to him from the right, he's just inside the penalty box and he chests it down and shoots low into the right corner, squirming under Joe Hart!

45' - Half time. No added time.

Well that came out of nowhere. Apart from the rare glimpse, Montenegro havebeen absolutely atrocious today. We've floored them without looking good at all. But that goal at the end of the match now means game on. The home crowd will roar them on, their manage will fire them on. I reckon the second half will be a completely different animal now. England need to stay strong otherwise my words earlier in this post are meaningless about them pretty much being in the Euros.

Half time change for Montenegro: Milan Jovanovic replaces Mladen Kascelan.

49' - Young crosses deep into their box but it's dealt with nicely.

51' - That should have been a penalty for Montenegro then! Brad Jones tries
to take the ball from Jovetic and sticks a leg out to the side of the player, attempting and failing to get the ball. 

54' - Beciraj does fantastically well, taking on around three defenders who just can't take possession of the ball! Eventually his shot is well over because he didn't have full control of the ball but the warning signs are definitely there.

55' - As I predicted earlier, the game is alive now. Montenegro want something from this game and they could get something in honesty as our defence haven't really looked solid at all today. 

59' - England Sub: Stewart Downing comes on for Ashley Young, who had a very good game today. 

62' - Another potential moment of danger when England who are playing a high up defensive line almost get taken out completely as the ball is chipped over. Joe Hart rushes quickly enough to collect. 

62' - Montenegro Sub: Dejan Damjanovic replaces Fatos Beciraj

63' - England Sub: Frank Lampard comes on for Darren Bent, who the goal aside, has been missing a lot today.

64' - I think that sub is a good move. Bent was barely involved, and Lampard can play as a second striker, a role he doesn't do often but has the qualities to play well with. Rooney playing off Lampard should be interesting. 

66' - A wild effort from Vladimir Bozovic wasn't far off even though it was a sky shot. Joe Hart jumped onto his crossbar just to be sure it wasn't creeping in!

69' - Both teams are trying to score now, with a lot of counter attacking play on both ends. It's a much more entertaining game now, not that it's been through the roof at all. 

72' - RED CARD! Rooney is off. What a dickhead. An absolute dickhead. Miodrag Dzudovic successfully shields the ball from Rooney, who just kicks the defender in the shin because he can't get the ball. He didn't even help him up or anything. Stupid. 

72' - England Sub: Theo Walcott comes off and Danny Welbeck comes on instead. All three England subs have now been used.

74' - Rooney had a decent game up until then. He assisted both our goals and was doing well in his role in the first half as the 'in the hole' player behind Bent. But that was just idiotic. All the focus will now be on him and the betting scandal his dad was involved in, in the papers tomorrow. How pathetic.

76' - So we have fourteen minutes now to defend our lead. It's not going to be that big a deal if they equalise, we'll still go through. Unless they score two of course haha. Let's hope we can defend our lead with ten men and win with some dignity. 

79' - Montenegro Sub: Vladimir Bozovic goes off and Andrija Delibasic takes his place. That's all six subs for both sides now.

80' - Downing! Over the bar. He still hasn't scored for England yet by the way, which is a shame.

84' - Andrija Delibasic! Offside. It went over the bar anyway, but that was another glimpse of danger.

86' - Milorad Pekovic skims a shot and it beats everyone and thankfully the keeper too! Actually on another glace it was a great save by Hart!

87' - Controversy as a Montenegro player goes down in the box! The player is ruled to have dived. Jovetic gets a yellow card for diving.

90' - GOAL! Delibasic! They finally get their goal. A lovely cross from the right is headed into the top left corner by the striker! It's his second goal for the national side in four appearances.

90' - Three minutes of added time. Let's hope we can hold on for a draw then. 

90+3' - Full time.


Well we did it, we're through to the Euros. The Montenegrins are celebrating too as their point from this match confirms they'll be in the playoffs. We all win. The fans have stormed onto the pitch to celebrate. A great moment for their country, as they're only 5 years old, in football years anyway.

To wrap up, England took advantage of an abysmal Montenegro side in the first 44 minutes and scored twice. Their goal on the edge of half time motivated them forward for the second half. They were dangerous, although so were we. Wayne Rooney should be ashamed of himself. That was the type of kick out he'd do when he was eighteen. He didn't even look sorry. What an idiot. It put more pressure onto the England team, and after a lot of near chances, they got their second goal.

We weren't great today. Not by any stretch. But we were good enough. The next few friendlies in the next 9 months are pivotal to making sure we have ANY chance of even thinking of winning the tournament. On this performance we're not good enough. But let's hope we improve. Until next time, take care.

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Live Thoughts: Bulgaria vs England (Euro Qualifier)

Hey everyone, join me in my first ever feed of an England match. Refresh this page once in a while when the match is on to see my live thoughts as we go along! We need the three points today as Montenegro, who we're on equal points with at the top, go against a Wales team that shouldn't pose much threat. That being said, being associated with Wales as I lived there for 13 years I'm rooting for them too!

England: Hart, Smalling, Cahill, Terry, Cole, Walcott, Parker, Barry, Downing, Young, Rooney; Subs: Stockdale, Jagielka, Baines, Milner, Lampard, Johnson, Defoe.
Bulgaria: Mihailov, Zanev, Bodurov, Milanov, Bandalovski, Ivanov, Georgiev, Martin Petrov, Stiliyan Petrov, Popov, Genkov; Subs: Vladislav Stoyanov, Iliev, Marquinhos, Sarmov, Raykov, Kostadin Stoyanov, Kostadin Stoyanov.


We have a decent side out that should be able to get the 3 points today. Let's hope they don't cause too many problems as they do have some quality in there.

1' - Bulgaria are passing the ball quite nicely just outside of our third. Free kick to us.

3' - It's only been three minutes but we haven't really penetrated at all yet. We shouldn't be pinned back like this against Bulgaria. 

4' - Martin Petrov takes a shot from about 30 yards out and it goes way over the bar. 

7' - They were showing Berbatov in the stands. He retired from international football.

8' - You wouldn't think it would be Bulgaria with most of the possession so far. But they're dealing with us really easily at the moment. 

9' - Finally, a moment of pressure. A nice little bit of movement between Walcott and Christ Smalling, who whips in a cross that dissolves into the Bulgaria defence. At least it was something. 

10' - The Bulgaria fans are very loud. As an unbiased fan I fucking love noisy crowds. I love passionate crowds and this crowd is a decent one. Of course in a biased way I want them to shiut up as they're possibly intimidating the England players. 

12' - GOAL! Gary Cahill! We had a corner that didn't do anything really, but the ball got back into a crowded box and Gary Cahill skims a shot that goes under the keeper and into the corner of the net! 

13' - We got our goal, so far it was completely undeserved though. But hopefully we can start playing better. 

14' - Rooney dinks a cross over the defence to Ashley Cole on the left of the box but he can't reach it. Lovely bit of skill by Rooney.

16' - A nice bit of play by us leads to a counter attack by Bulgaria that fizzles out because of a hard Scott Parker tackle. 

18' - Bulgaria almost scored. We gave it away and they crossed the ball from the left and thankfully Martin Petrov wasn't there to score. 

20' - We're starting to put some consistent pressure on the Bulgarians. About time too I say. 

20' - GOAL! Wayne Rooney! Simple. A corner that Stewart Downing takes goes in the middle where three England players could have easily scored and Rooney gets to it with a simple header in the box. 2-0! 

23' - Interesting statistic from the commentators, while we've had Joe Hart in goal we've never lost. He's had 12 caps now.

25' - I've been critical of England today despite the goals but it's just because they've not had much possession. One thing I will say however is that we've for the most part dealt with Bulgaria comfortably, apart form the hash up around 7 minutes ago.

27' - They just replayed a nasty tackle on Ashley Cole by Ivan Bandalovski. Should have been booked really.

29' - The commentators are commending the England performance. To be fair it's been a concentrated mature performance so far. We're picking our moments wisely and not being rash. 

31' - A nice bit of movement just outside the box between Martin Petrov and Popov,ends when Ashley Cole gets the ball back. Good defending.


34' - Scott Parker does another potentially dangerous tackle and gets a talking to from the referee.

35' - Scott Parker got a booking in the end.

36' - Martin Petrov takes another long distance shot that Joe Hart deals with comfortably. At least he's trying. 

39' - Strong bit of pressure by Bulgaria. We're dealing with it quite well so far again. 

41' - Rooney is now amongst the Top 10 England strikers in terms of goal scoring. 

43' - The games slower in pace at the moment. Both sides probably want to get to half time for tactics. 

44' - One added minute at the end of the half. 

45+1' - GOAL! 3-0! Rooney scores a second! A potential hand ball just outside the England box leads to a lovely counter attack where Theo Walcott blisters his pace down the right wing, cuts into the middle and passes to the right where Ashley Cole crosses to an on-running Wayne Rooney! Absolutely gorgeous counter attacking goal there! 

HALF TIME - A great scoreline and a very professional performance. I've been a little too critical of England in the start of this live feed. They've been mature and deadly when the time is right. Three goals. Excellent stuff.

Yay! Wales are beating Montenegro! Awesome. Let's hope the underdogs win that match! Go Wales! 

46' - Bulgaria sub at half time: Bandalovski for Sarmov.

47' - Bulgaria get themselves into our box but John Terry clears.

50' - A couple of free kicks in succession. This second on is in a more dangerous area on the left of the box. 

53' - Some good penetration from Bulgaria. Corner to them. 

53' - Great save from Joe Hart! First major test for him and he passed. Not sure who took the shot. Bulgaria are starting to play quite well all of a sudden. 

54' - Downing! So close. He hits the post. A lovely cross from Walcott gets to Downing who is unmarked. Free header at goal goes over the keeper and clips the side of the post. Unlucky.


55' - Scott Parker! Nice save from Mihailov. There's some great football from both sides at the moment.

57' - Free kick in a dangerous area for Bulgaria. Leads to nothing. Disappointing from Petrov. 

58' - Yellow card for Georgi Sarmov.

60' - Bulgaria Sub - Genkov for Bozhilov. England Sub - Ashley Young for James Milner.


63' - Theo Walcott has had a very good game. His pace and crossing ability has been great.

66' - We're just passing it outside of the Bulgaria box at the moment. Comfortable. 

68' - Decent spell of possession for Bulgaria with no penetration. 

70' - A good little bit of movement lets Downing in the box but he was offside. 

73' - Walcott! That was quite bad. Rooney put it on a plate for him with no defenders in his path and he shoots well wide.

75' - Second half possession is still in Bulgaria's favour. They've dominated possession today but done jack shit with it.


77' - Frank Lampard is about to come on. I wonder why he didn't start? I don't mind, I just forgot he was available for selection.

79' - England Sub: Gareth Barry comes off for Frank Lampard.

80' - Bulgaria Sub: Popov comes off for Marquinhos.

81' - Wales have scored a second against Montenegro! Awesome stuff. A great result for both England and Wales tonight it seems, unless things change. 

82' - England Sub - Adam Johnson comes on for Theo Walcott. Johnson hasn't really done much for Man City or England recently. It's a shame as he's a quality player.

83' - That's all six subs for both teams made now by the way.

85' - There's pictures of Fabio Capello just relaxing in the stands. It's really weird but it shows you how good this performance has been on the whole. 

87' - Rooney! Close. A snap cross from James Milner was just too quick for Rooney to clip it into the net. 

89' - Joe Cole is keeping away from the goal as there's some trouble in the crowd behind him. I hope all the England supporters and players are okay in Sofia tonight. 

90' - Two minutes of added time. 

90+1' - Marquinhos finds his way into our box but is dealt with relatively company.


FULL TIME - 3-0 to England and it was a very good performance. We weren't at all times playing the best football and we didn't always have the ball, but when we did we were on song and made an impact. The fact that we had three shots on target in the first half and all three were goals says it all. Clinical and professional. One of the best England performances in a long time in terms of how strong we were. Thanks for reading.