Liverpool drew with St. Gallen today 0-0 in a relatively calm and eventless affair. Glen Johnson was the star of the show, if you ask me, on his debut, creating some of our best chances in the match. Yossi Benayoun, Andriy Voronin, Ryan Babel, and Steven Gerrard also all looked lively, with some solid performances also given forth by Jay Spearing, Lucas, David Ngog, Dirk Kuyt, Martin Kelly, and Martin Skrtel.
For this match, I did a minute-by-minute (ish) run-down of what went down in Switzerland. Enjoy!
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Starting XI against St. Gallen:
GK- Cavalieri; Back 4- Degen, San Jose, Carragher, Insua; Middle 4- Babel, Gerrard, Spearing, El Zhar; Front 2- Voronin, Nemeth
‘0: Looks like we’ll have teams for both halves, with the likes of Kuyt, Benayoun, Lucas, and new-boy Glen Johnson in the second half. In the first half, Nemeth and Voronin will be looking to impress, as will Jay Spearing in the middle. CAN’T WAIT!!!
‘0: I’m watching the match via my LFC.tv e-season ticket, and for the first time in ages it didn’t take 30 minutes just to get logged on for a pre-season match. I’m watching in the public library, so I’ll have to make sure I keep any goal celebrations to a mere “taking off the shirt and running around like a madman!”
‘0: The lads are heading out of the tunnel and the stadium looks VERY full! Let’s go redmen, f***ing rip ‘em up!
‘1: And we’re off…
‘3: Insua does well to break up the St. Gallen attack, which leads to a good move where Gerrard tried to cheekily chip the keeper… and it doesn’t quite come off. At all! At least it is pre-season. 
‘4: Great work from both Babel and Voronin earns us a free-kick as Babel is hacked down at the edge of the box. Gerrard takes it, the keeper easily saves, and then Spearing shoots wildly wide. Good start from the Reds.
‘6: Ooooo! Well done by Babel, who slides it into Nemeth, whose shot is JUST saved. Corner. Poor corner, as it happens. Babel looks like he is up for it today!
‘9: St. Gallen getting back into the game, but Gerrard is breaking up everything and controlling the tempo. Voronin with a great touch to Babel, but the Swiss clear the danger. Just a manner of time, I’d say…
‘12: Jamie Carragher does well to snuff out the first St. Gallen “scare.” Liverpool are truly controlling this one.
‘14: I take that back… yet another St. Gallen attack gives us a bit of a fright, but San Jose’s mistake on the 6 yard box leads to nothing, thanks to a brave challenge from Degen.
‘17: Shocking from Carragher! His “clearance” is collected by Cavalieri, who did well to grab it after a St. Gallen challenge. COME ON!!!
‘18: Shocking from Insua, but glorious from St. Gallen… but they hit the post with an absolutely GAPING goal at their mercy. We are playing with fire now. Our defenders were static. You can tell now that our fitness levels aren’t quite up the the level of our opponents. And that we have some kids out there.
‘21: Slowing down the tempo… regaining our composure. And now St. Gallen are hacking us to pieces! Things are getting a bit chippy in Switzerland.
‘24: Gerrard wins a freekick from 35 yards out. Nothing on, though.
‘26: El Zhar’s cross is headed back for a corner, which eventually falls to Voronin, who cleverly backheels it to San Jose, but his shot is deflected on its way by Ryan Babel, who was offsides. Better from Liverpool. We look like we have shrugged off our jitters from a few minutes ago.
‘30: Degen pushes forward and is tripped as he weaves through the defense. Once again, though, nothing comes of it.
‘32: That’s more like it. Until Nemeth was offsides, we looked like a decent attacking outfit.
‘34: Goal-line clearance from Carragher as St. Gallen’s freekick gives us trouble. By goal-line, it wasn’t as close as it sounds. But still.
‘36: Neat play from Gerrard, Babel, Voronin and Insua, but the rust was plain to see. More of that, though, and we can regain the advantage in this match. Still 0-0.
‘39: I have to say that Degen and El Zhar look simply awful, but the rest of the lads have done alright for themselves so far. Spearing and Gerrard have done well in the middle, Babel and Voronin look decent, and our defenders (despite a few errors) look good. Nemeth hasn’t really impressed either. Meanwhile, while I type, St. Gallen have a goal ruled out for being offside. Easy call, to be fair.
‘41: Gerrard’s excellent throughball is intercepted by the heel of the referee! BASTARD!
‘43: Corner to St. Gallen, but we get a chance on the counter, with Ryan Babel’s tame shot from 20 yards easily caught by the keeper.
‘45: Another corner. And it’s halftime.
2nd Half XI: GK- Martin, Back 4- Johnson, Kelly, Skrtel, Darby; Middle 4- Benayoun, Lucas, Plessis, Kuyt; Front 2- Pacheco, Ngog
‘47: A ton of subs, and RIGHT AWAY Glen Johnson almost scored! Lovely interchange between himself and Benayoun. Already looking far better than the first half.
‘53: Plessis, Kuyt, Pacheco… Ooooo! Almost! Great move, but the defender just nipped it off of him. Well done, especially by Plessis, who initially found Kuyt.
‘55: Benayoun looks for Ngog, but it is cut out. This half looks like we’ll be more patient and better on the ball. No major issues as of yet. Lucas follows it up with a clumsy foul (shocker, I know), but redeems himself with a good ball to Kuyt, who spurns the chance.
‘59: Oooo! Benayoun’s left footed shot after a great Pacheco and Darby play almost leads to a goal, but it is saved. Ngog heads over the following corner.
‘61: Fabulous chance-saving challenge from Martin Kelly. WOW. An hour gone, and it is still 0-0.
‘63: Well played by Johnson, who swings in a delightful ball, but it is JUST past Lucas Leiva. Almost. We are looking far better with this lineup.
‘65: Johnson does brilliantly again, sets up Ngog, who finds Pacheco, and then with Kuyt WIDE OPEN, goes for goal and the keeper saves it. Pacheco was a bit greedy there…
‘68: Skrtel and Johnson with some classy defending in a tight spot. We are looking decent, but 0-0 is looking like the likely outcome. A clean sheet would not be a problem, though, would it?
‘71: Good play between Kuyt and Darby, but Darby’s cross is too far and the chance is gone.
‘74: Lovely, lovely play between Benayoun and Johnson, and Pacheco is denied at the end by the keeper. Benni was open, but Pacheco had every right to go for it.
‘75: Ngog heads well over on the corner, which was excellently swerved in by Lucas.
‘80- Nothing really happening…
‘82: Ngog did well on the turn, but his speculative shot was well blocked.
‘84: Corner! Cleared.
‘85: Johnson swings in a lovely cross, but Lucas JUST misses it. The theme of this half, really.
‘87: Good strength from Ngog, who is manhandled when he had space to operate. He is offside, though, on the next run of play. 0-0 looking increasingly more likely…
‘89: Golden chance for St. Gallen, but Frick heads wide with a very open looking net to aim at. Phew…
‘90: Kuyt is the unlikely man to clear the late danger in the box, as everyone else was sucked in. Well done, Kuyt!
‘90+2: Skrtel does well after Benayoun ALMOST was clean through.
‘90+3: The best chance of the 2nd half, with Benayoun hammering a shot to the top corner, but it is well saved from 25 yards, and it finishes 0-0.
END MATCH.
So… not the best, not the worst. Rafa will be pleased with a lack of injuries and a clean sheet. Goals are obviously wanted, but it’s not the end of the world. Just don’t lose, right?
