From A Debut to A Rain Drenched Disaster

The evening began with Steven Gerrard being given a glass award by Rafa Benitez and Christian Purslow to mark his 500 performances for his club. In his arms were his daughters Lilly-Ella and Lexi. They did not appear to be flumaxed by the crowd or what was going on around them. Looking at Stevie as they ran from the pitch in their Liverpool kits, I got the impression he was extremely proud of them. I just wish he could be just as proud of his fellow teammates, but I get the feeling that day is a long way off.
The game started with Fiorentina kicking off and taking an early command of the ball. Thankfully though, this did not last long and Liverpool gained possession but problems began to surface straight away. They seemed to be devoid of chances and unable to keep the ball. The game was now only ten to fifteen minutes old and I honestly began to wonder what way it would go? With this in mind I decided to concentrate on watching Aquilani. Tonight was the night that was chosen as his debut match. I watched and was immediately impressed by his moves and turns. He certainly seems to be agile and has what appears to quite a bit of speed. Mixing with his teammates, he quickly seemed to interact with them and their passing seemed to get better for a while.

Had this done the trick I wondered as the team suddenly seemed to realise that there was a game to win. They were actually doing some man to man marking which is unusual in itself. Insua managed to send the ball towards Aquilani and everyone gasped, wondering if he would mark his debut with a goal. He was venturing further up the front than Benitez would have wanted, but another free spirit within the team is something that we desperately need. Agger who had seemed up to that point to be playing well made one of the first mistakes but thankfully Cavalieri managed to kick the ball out. Benayoun was playing in his favoured position on the right and seemed to be enjoying his game and I hoped perhaps he had a goal locked away. Liverpool was still giving the ball away far too easily and began to look vulnerable although Aquilani was certainly enjoying his game. Fiorentina sensed this and began to defend well. Every time a ball was kicked into the goal area either from a free kick or corner it was kicked away or saved.

It certainly looked as though the fates were against us yet again especially when Aquilani went down. I gasped and thought oh know, but luckily he did a head over heels and got up. The game by now had turned and Fiorentina seemed to be in control even trying to persuade the referee to award what definitely was not a penalty. Fiorentina had a corner and I held my breath knowing that our defence and zonal marking do not mix. I watched with my hand on my heart hoping and praying that the usual would not happen. Two corners later, a huge sigh was heard and I managed to breathe again. The camera then switched to Torres warming up and with the clock approaching the 39th minute I wondered if Rafa Benitez was going to do another of his strange substitutions. Would it be Aquilani I wondered as to be honest I expected him to taken off after half an hour. Thankfully though nothing happened and the game was allowed to continue and Liverpool gained the advantage and with Benayoun finally picking up the ball and scoring Liverpool were 1-0 up. Although this was what the supporters wanted, they were very quiet - I guess it was a case of too little too late.

I don't know what was said in the dressing room during the half time break but would it be another case of Fifteen Minutes that Shook the World, I wondered. The team came out and Liverpool kicked off. They were now playing towards the Kop and I hoped that this would give them the inspiration that they needed. Fiorentina though gained control of the ball immediately and Cavalieri was nearly caught out. Dossena who was obviously on the pitch so that any interested parties could see how he played, actually had a good game and seemed to be enjoying himself. Skrtel went down after a nasty tackle and for several minutes it appeared that he may go off. Thankfully though, although a stretcher was called, he limped over to the edge of the pitch and was back on within a couple of minutes.Liverpool quickly regained the initiative and their passing play seemed to have improved, with Benayoun and Agger having a go at scoring, but the all important goal did not appear. You can then all guess what happened, Fiorentina broke up our defence and the score was now level at 1-1.

Was this the signal Rafa Benitez wanted, or was the fact that the clock had reached 63 minutes but Torres was now stripping of? Everybody expected the first substitution to be Aquilani but it was Dirk Kuyt, who had been very quiet throughout the game. The noise from the ground as he run onto the pitch was the highest it had been all evening and he immediately made his mark. He was quickly intercepting the ball and gave the impression that his recuperation was now complete and he was in fact game hungry. The team seemed to have found its feet and we were pushing forward all the time gaining a couple of corners along the way but again the goal that we needed was elusive.

Suddenly the man, we had all wanted to see was replaced by Pacheo. Aquilani had in fact played for seventy five minutes and to be honest I felt that he had done extremely well. Fiorentina by now had also made a couple of substitutions, and with fresh legs now on the pitch began to find ways of breaking up our defense. It happened, Stephen Darby who was also playing his first full game made a horrific mistake and Fiorentina scored. Yet again the Liverpool defence had let the team down. The score was now 2-1 and I will give the kop credit for singing You'll Never Walk Alone as the game finished.
The match ended with the rain absolutely teeming down as the teams left the pitch. A strange thought crossed my mind and I wondered if it was Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley crying as they watched yet another diabolical display by the club that they had pulled out of the dulldrums.

I did not feel like listening to Rafa's after match press conference because I knew what was probably coming. I was right but this time he literally placed all the blame on the team. I agree with this to a point, but as the manager, he must take some the blame, after all his tactics and his player selection must play a great part in the result of the game. Switching on the radio, I expected to be able to join in the after match phone in, but I guess due to the monsoon that was now raining down on Liverpool 4 this was quickly cancelled. I went to bed listening to Pete Price and must have laid there for a good two hours wondering about the match and why we were going through such a bad period in our history.

I have as usual, spent sometime today answering emails from fellow supporters. I have now got to the point where I don't know what to say. They are asking if I know what is happening to our beloved team. How I wish I could give them a straight answer. I am as perplexed as they are because I simply don't know. I have had several of the Rafa must go emails and to be honest although I know I said I would give it until after Christmas, I am beginning to wonder if they are right. He certainly does not seemed to have the dressing room anymore - or to put it another way, he has players that he either cannot control or who refuse to listen to his instructions. The look on his face as he walked from the pitch told a mountain of stories - or did it. The other question is obviously about the players and who will be buying in January. The only way I can answer that is give them my own opinion on the players and how they play. The January transfer window is something that I honestly think will bypass the club as I understand there are no funds available until summer 2010 when the Standard Chartered monies kick in. I know Rafa is hoping to sell some of our dead wood but I wonder if he will in fact be allowed to spend the funds.

Will Sunday be yet again the start of our Season - I honestly do not know but we have a team that is not in the right frame of mind. Will Aquilani play on Sunday, I would love to say yes, but you can bet Rafa will come up with some excuse about the game being too fast and too wild for his fitness level at the moment.