Kuyt Puts Sparta Out

We had to wait 86 minutes for the first (and only) goal of the night but it eventually came, courtesy of Dirk Kuyt. As Sergio Ramos would've put it, it would've been a shame if we let the "three points" go (thanks for that one E). It definitely wasn't plain sailing as the game had its very nervy moments. Twice Liverpool were down to 10 men (or less) for a little more than a few minutes with Kyrgiakos having to come off at one stage with blood gushing above his eyebrow from head-banging with Tomáš Řepka (Mr. "Popular" with the Kop for the night of course)  while Agger was pretty much a passenger after getting a nasty knock from Sparta's Leony Kweuke. Hopefully, Agger recovers quickly from whatever injury he has.


It was good to see Joe Cole getting a full 90 minutes and some much needed confidence back. Hopefully, not too much confidence now lest it starts to get to his head. On the other hand, David N'Gog looks a shadow of his former self and to to be brutally honest, he didn't have much to start off with in the first place. Don't get me wrong though, I like N'Gog and any striker that can play alone upfront in a derby match at his young age deserves all the respect that he can get. Maybe a bit more waving of the King's magical wand and a few more games wouldn't do any harm to get rid of the lad's rustiness in front of goal. If that doesn't work, there's always Andy Carroll supposedly coming back from injury this weekend. Woohoo!


Anyway, not forgetting the Europa League just yet, I looked up who our opponents would be in the next round as matters would have only come to a start an hour later over in  Braga. The home team do look to be in control by half-time though. So, if things stay the way they are by the end of that fixture, it looks like we'll be paying a visit to the northwest of Portugal in mid-March. And, whisper it...one more step closer to Dublin.