David Ngog’s second strike of the season has “catapulted” us into the 4th round of the League Cup, and is a welcomed boost for our season. A lot of people, myself included, believe that ANY cup must be won this season to keep belief in the progress at the club, and the League Cup would actually be a quite glorious thing for us. The match wasn’t a brilliant one by any means, and our youngsters were simply just mediocre, but in the end what matters is that you go through to the next round, and that is exactly what transpired at Elland Road last night.
David Ngog’s goal was quality, though, on a night that was indeed not full of this quality. 67 minutes into the match, Javier Mascherano picked out a volley from a Leeds clearance and his shot-cum-pass found the feet of our young Frenchman, who turned Mischalik brilliantly to the outside from about 8 yards out, and delicately curled the ball low into the far corner. It was a delicious turn-and-hit type of goal, one that we need from our back-ups. Let’s face it, Ngog is a more welcomed goal scorer than Voronin, and most of us would prefer to see this promising youngster hit the goals than a player who is probably on his way out. If Torres, God forbid, comes down with injury, we need Ngog to be able to step it up and produce the goals. The evidence at Elland Road was mixed for him, but overall I’d say he is progressing well enough. Next year will probably be the critical one, rather than this season, as he is still a teenager with a lot to learn.
Anyhow, progress is progress despite a lack of quality and offensive firepower (no pun intended… okay it was), and we now wait to see who we’ll clash against in the 4th round. My prediction is that we’ll face West Ham. Don’t know why. Just feelin’ it.
For now, though, we have a Premiership match-up with Hull City at Anfield, who look a whole lot different than they did last year when we faced them at Anfield. Phil Brown… expect a hiding. My guess is that it will be 3-0 or more to the Reds. Honestly. Torres and Gerrard to score… and Benayoun. That’s my prediction for Saturday. I’ve guessed it right before!
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