Liverpool see another flurry of goals in Asia

Sports - Football - Pre-Season-Friendly - Malaysia XI 3:6 Liverpool

Liverpool enjoyed a mixed game against the Malaysia XI, enjoying most of the possession and goals, but not without some scares, twists and turns.

Nine goals meant good entertainment again, although most of them were thanks to some clumsy defending, the Reds most certainly getting the season warm-up, training, workout and preparation they were looking for.

Liverpool opened the scoring thanks to a soft penalty after Andy Carroll went down a bit too easily in front of Mahali Jasuli with the littlest of little contact made.

But the spot kick was given and Charlie Adam netted both the first take and the retake to give him his first goal for the Reds.

The visitors kept dominating play and possession until they were stunned shortly before half time, just like in their first friendly against Guangdong FC, by a sweet right-footed free kick by the Malaysian skipper Mohd Safiq Rahim into the right corner of the net, to make it 1-1 at half time, no chance for the goalkeeper to stop it.

The second half was clumsier, Liverpool bringing on a whole new 11 again, both sides leaving big gaps, leaving plenty of space for David Ngog and Maxi Rodriguez to net two each on the one side of the pitch and super-sub Mohd Safel Mohd Sali to net two on the other side, all of them all too easily with all the space in the world.

Red Dutch forward Dirk Kuyt blasted in a nice Alberto Aquilani cross to make it 3-6 and put the icing on a very sweet, action-packed cake just before the full-time whistle.

Again, everyone contributed, gave their best, maybe trying to squeeze in a little too much, a little bit too hard which made play very spacey and chaotic at times, but it was still a good watch and a good chance to see everyone.

Aquilani impressed me late on with his contributions, good crosses, a little bit more daring and risky play but good creating and taking of chances which makes it the more questionable and interesting whether he will be added to the summer sales list or not.... The number 99 on his shirt may be too much of a giveaway though...

Malaysia XI: Ramli; Mahali Jasuli (booked 26), Putra, Mohd Shas, Ahmad (booked 21, Ismail 73); Bakhtiar, Rohidan (Sali 77, scored 79 & 82), Rahim (scored 42, Faruqi 63), Subramaniam; Yahya (Ramian 39), Shaarani (Saad 63).

Subs not used: Che Mat, Nasril Nourdin, Ashari, Muslin Ahmed, Remeli, Haidi Zainal, Suppiah, Shamsuddin, Shaari, Rizal Fahmi.

Liverpool: Jones (Gulacsi 46, Hansen 70); Robinson (Insua 46), Agger (Wilson 46), Carragher (Kyrgiakos 46), Flanagan (Kelly 46); Adam (scored pen. 26, Aquilani 46), Coady (Kuyt 46, scored 94), Spearing (Poulsen 46), Meireles (Maxi 46, scored 75 & 91), Cole (Shelvey 46); Carroll (Ngog 46, scored 69 & 70).

Subs not used: Pacheco, Wisdom.

1st & 2nd half stats:

Malaysia XI-Liverpool
Attempts: 4-7 & 6-9
On target: 3-4 & 3-6
Offsides: 0-2 & 0-1
Corners: 1-1 & 1-1
Free kick: 6-5 & 1-4
Possession: 32%-68% (10)

My man of the match: Alberto Aquilani

Liverpool thump struggling Portsmouth

Sports - Football - Premier League - Match Report

Liverpool 4-1 Portsmouth

Liverpool recorded their seventh consecutive home win on their 118th anniversary against rock-bottom Portsmouth.

The win takes the Reds up to fifth, one point ahead of Manchester City and one behind Tottenham, who both have games in hand, two and one respectively, in the race for the fourth and last Champions League qualification place.

Rafa's usual favourites Dirk Kuyt and Lucas Leiva started on the bench for Liverpool and were not much missed on the night.

Liverpool looked sloppy and shaky again in the opening 20 minutes though, wasting good build-ups and chances high or wide.

However, once broken, Portsmouth caved in conceding three goals in under six minutes.

The first breakthrough came from an error by Pompey keeper Jamie Ashdown.

He could just watch and curse himself after he let Steven Gerrard chase down Ricardo Rocha's cross and block the goalkeeper's clearance kick for it to ricochet to Maxi Rodriguez, his cross serving Fernando Torres an easy tap-in to make it 1-0.

Torres was involved in the next two goals, too, slipping and clipping the ball over to Ryan Babel and Alberto Aquilani respectively, for them to make no mistake of netting both chances.

Thanks to Pompey's first blooper, Liverpool got up and going and could go into the break much more confident.

The fans at the ground reflected that change of mood, too, with a subdued and unusually quiet atmosphere taken over by cheers, chants and songs - the more common way and sound of things at Anfield.

The second half continued with Liverpool dominating possession and chances.

Torres to elegantly cornered his way through Pompey's back line to make it four and seal the win for the Reds 13 minutes from time.

Portsmouth did get a consolation goal with just a couple of minutes remaining - Nadir Belhadj taking advantage of some defensive confusion by Liverpool to put the ball past Pepe Reina with ease.

This is a crucial win for Liverpool.

They will be hoping they can take the gained confidence into their next match against Lille, where they have to turn around a one-goal deficit to make it into the last quarter finals.

The fans made it clear on Monday night: They are not happy with the current situation and state of things and want change - off the field especially.

Liverpool Reina; Johnson (Kelly 70), Carragher, Agger, Insua; Aquilani, Mascherano, Rodriguez, Gerrard (Benayoun 75), Babel; Torres (Ngog 80). Subs not used Cavalieri, Kyrgiakos, Kuyt, Lucas.

Portsmouth Ashdown; Finnan, Wilson, Rocha, Hreidarsson (Abeyie 76); Brown, Bouba Diop (Mokoena 64), O'Hara (Webber 85), Dindane; Piquionne, Belhadj. Bookings Dindane 78, Mokoena 78. Subs not used Mullins, Hughes, Kanu.

1st half stats:

Liverpool-Portsmouth

Attempts: 10-4

On target: 3-1

Offsides: 1-1

Corners: 4-2

Free kicks: 7-3

2nd half stats:

Liverpool-Portsmouth

Attempts: 10-2

On target: 6-2

Offsides: 0-1

Corners: 3-2

Free kicks: 9-5

Sky Sports Stats:

Liverpool-Portsmouth

Possession: 64.5%-35.5% (BBC: 58%-42%)

Passing Success: 86.6%-74.4%

Tackles/Success: 21/61.9%-17./88.2%

Territorial Advantage: 55.9%-44.1%

Referee: Stuart Attwell

Man of the match: Fernando Torres