Legend in the Making

El Nino once again came to the rescue of the Reds last night at the Stadium of Light.

With 7 minutes remaining, he collected a pass from fellow Spaniard, Xabi Alonso (pics) and let fly a thunderbolt to the bottom right corner, unerringly.

Apart from Torres' moment of brilliance, the game was rather forgettable. Personally, I dont like the system of playing.

Too many long balls...Carra and Dossena were guilty of spraying too many punts upfield thus bypassing SG. How to orchestrate play if he's denied the ball?

Only when Alonso came in the 2nd half that we saw plenty of neat passing and possession.

So the Q is :- 4-4-2 or the proven 4-5-1 with SG playing link up? The former with Keane supposedly to be the link man was rendered ineffective by the long balls...ohh I thought his touches were so poor, he even blocked a sure goal from FT.

The latter? No tigerish holding player...Plessis and Alonso dont give you that, both too slow though Xabi is 2nd to none in his range of passing.

The truth is, we miss Monster Masch. With him in the team, snapping at opponent's heel, the team looks compact thus allowing Gerrard to roam freely...but he's in Beijing, awaiting teammate Lucas in the semis.

Whenever we had possession, Kuyt and Bennayoun tend to move infield, narrowing play. The lack of width was clearly apparent..the play become too predictable.

Nonetheless, we had luck last night...something we didnt have in the past. Lady Luck didnt smile too much for us in the important games like the MU and Chelsea games where we get beaten by sly goals...drawing games against mediocre teams although we dominated the whole match...those sucker punches.

And champions normally had luck in abundance whenever they're not playing well..like MU did. Winning ugly you'd say.

Going by the struggle last night, I'd hope the Reds will improve and buck up fast, to tighten up play..the loose ends...though the saviour Torres can be counted upon when the chips are down, winning matches single handedly.

Gimme more...