Liverpool beat Reading 4-2 with a hat-trick from Fernando Torrez to dump the Royals out of the cup in the 3rd round for the second season running.
I didn’t go to the game tonight for a number of reasons. Cost of an extra game in a busy month, too late to take my son and the fact that getting to the ground would have been a nightmare. Once again there were reports of a nightmare on the buses with traffic chaos on the motorway near the ground. The buses were running on the same timetable as the Chelsea game and I got to the ground at 8:05 for that and this was a 7:45 kickoff. I watched on telly and noticed how many empty seats at the start were only filled by half time. No drummer until about 15 minutes into the game, so it must have been bad!
Anyway, to the match itself and it was clear that Torrez was a class above every other player on the pitch. Not surprising considering he cost about 5 times the whole cost of the Reading side. He ended up with a hat trick and could have had a few more. Duberry and Bikey actually had good games and did well but the Spaniard was simply too good for them. What was surprising was why Benitez rested him for the recent league games and played him tonight. Is the Carling Cup more important that the Premier League?
Coppell rested a lot of the Reading 1st team and drafted in quite a few of the fringe players. Of the additions, Lita started slowly but got better as the game went on and ran the Liverpool defence ragged. He also produced the best piece of skill on the night, a fabulous overhead kick that the keeper did well to tip over the bar.
Convey had another good game, scoring a cracking goal (even if Lita was offside for it) and is generally getting back to his form of two seasons ago. Its now debatable whether Hunt should keep his place with the improving Convey coming back to form. If only the right midfield position had similar selection problems.
John Halls, despite scoring and putting in a few good crosses, looked way out of his depth. Clearly not at the same level as the rest of the players on the pitch, he was slow and was out of position quite often and was lucky not to get more than just one yellow card for pulling players back who had gone passed him. He was replaced by the young James Henry who showed promise for an 18 year old during the brief spell he was on.
Those that did less well also included Shane Long and Fae. Long looked off the pace and lacked a good first touch all night. Fae is still feeling his way into English football and whilst had a number of good moments lacked a real purpose going forward and doesn’t seem to be able to tackle well, an important skill for a central midfielder.
However, Reading mostly matched Liverpool player for player except for Torrez who looks like he is going to have a good season and if Benitez plays him often enough, Liverpool might just win the league.
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