Roadblock

If you watch The Amazing Race, you will know that a roadblock is a task that only one person may perform.

So what does a roadblock means in football?

Well, it is when Liverpool failed to win at home when playing newcomers Stoke City.

No goals, and just one point to show.

After spending the week on a high by beating Manchester United and Marseille, Liverpool was brought down to earth by the resilient Stoke City players. Having 76% possesion of the football and 19 corners, none of their players managed to find the back of the net. Well, Steven Gerard did, from a perfectly taken freekick, but his goal was disallowed because the linesman had an itch on his armpit, and accidently raised the flag to scratch the itch. The referree, seeing the flag being raised, disallowed the goal. It would have been Gerrard 100th goal for the club, but I guess his 100th goal would just have to wait for another game.

With 11 players behind the ball, Stoke City defended deep and well to deny Liverpool any scoring oppurtunity. Liverpool had 30 shots on goal, but most of them were from long range and out of target. Robbie Keane had a few good chances, but none really counted. He remain goalless for his new club, and suddenly the £20 million Liverpool paid for his services seems a little too much.

While everyone in the red shirt were pushing the ball forward, Pepe Reina was seen having a ciggarette and drinking a couple cans of beer while lounging in between his goalpost. Must be lonely with his defenders playing as midfielders, leaving him all alone at the back. Rory Delap occasionally threw the ball to Reina, but Reina was up for it and caught the ball easily. It's amazing that Reina didn't join the other Reds up front since he really had nothing much to do standing in between the goalpost. He might have been able to score the winning goal, since everyone else was just plain unlucky (except for Keane though, he was pretyy useless).

So there you go, a roadblock along the way. Would it matter? Probably so, if Liverpool is looking to win the title. Because dropping points while playing in Anfield against lowly teams would definitely come to haunt you later on in the season.