In a well-played match, new additions to the club made major contributions as Liverpool opened the English season with a 2-1 victory to bring the 2006 Community Shield to the Anfield display case over everybody’s target Chelsea today.
John Arne Riise opened the scoring with a scorching blast from distance in the ninth minute after racing up the field by himself off a poor corner kick and Peter Crouch (no sign of the RoboCrouch celebration dance) headed in the winner 10 minutes from time off a sweet cross by Craig Bellamy, both left inexplicably in space by Paolo Ferriera and John Terry. Andriy Shevchenko, Chelsea’s $60 million signing from Milan, had a nice goal just before halftime in one of the few times the Reds’ defense broke down. Mohammed Sissoko was man of the match, completely ruling the center third all day.
Jose Mourinho can mouth any excuses about his players not being match fit and that this is just another warmup for next Saturday’s EPL kickoff but since Mr. Arrogance has the highest payroll of any club in any sport, including the New York Yankees–not to mention the half a billion dollars of owner Roman Abramovich’s cash he’s spent on transfer fees–I expect the Blues to field a solid XI every game. The only quibbles he could have with his starting lineup are missing keeper Peter Cech and winger Joe Cole through injury (the latter suffered last weekend when the English champs took on the MLS All-Stars) and the non-contact hip injury Michael Ballack picked up in the 25th minute. Though since the German captain was replaced by another of the big money summer signings, Saloman Kalou…
Frankly, the only Chelsea player who really seemed to have his head in the game was Shevchenko and maybe Geremi, fighting a battle for playing time against the possibility that Ashley Cole will move across London for nearly $50 million this week. Michael Essien and Didier Drogba had good work rates and Shawn Wright-Phillips did well after coming on for the last 20 minutes but mainly through individual effort as they showed little connectivity with their teammates. Lampard, John Terry and Arien Robben appeared to be still thinking about their last competitive matches, when England and the Netherlands crashed out of the World Cup.
Today was Liverpool’s 14th consecutive win in competition after beating Maccabi Haifa in midweek to open the Champions League campaign. Since capturing the FA Cup in May the team has added striker Craig Bellamy (17 league goals for Blackburn last season), left back Fabio Aurelio, winger Jermaine Pennant and young center back Gabriel Paletta, gotten Mark Gonzalez a work permit after signing him last summer and have Boudewijn Zenden back after an injury kept him out his first season with us.
Bellamy, Pennant, Gonzalez and Zenden all made big contributions today and Aurelio occupied the left side of Chelsea’s defense after replacing Gonzalez for the final half hour. And though he’s clearly not ready to replace Sammi Hyypia as first choice to partner Jamie Carragher at the back, January arrival Daniel Agger stood up well to the high-powered attack for 90 minutes.
Two strikers are gone–constantly controversial Djibrille Cisse has been loaned out to Marseille, which presumably will be made permanent after he recovers from the major broken leg he suffered in pre-World Cup training and Fernando Morientes, a prolific scorer elsewhere who never settled in for us–aging midfielder Didi Hamman, surplus with the emergence of Momo Sissoko, went to Manchester City, Djimi Traore was sold to Charlton and Jan Kronkamp, Harry Kewell, or Neil Mellor may yet move on.
Club president Rick Parry says there are still signings he’s chasing, though the longterm pursuit of Dutch striker Dirk Kuyt seems off, with the latest rumors focusing on Germany and Werder Bremen forward Miroslav Klose. Crouch, Bellamy, Luis Garcia, Florent Sinama Pongolle, Robbie Fowler and Klose would make a strike force to scare any opponent. A great start to the season and the first of several trophies!
BillSaysThis 
