Liverpool FC Forum

[fivecups]

I thought Stevie had a really strong game--he is such an awesome force with the ball at his feet, running at defenders.  I hope he gets himself a goal soon as well.  One thing to note--and this picks up on a point Ace Ventura made in another thread--how much time did Stevie actually spend on the right flank this match?  Not much, I'll tell you.  He may have been recorded as our RM tonight, but he spent as much or more time in the middle and on the left.  People get too fixated on the teamsheet with Gerrard.  Where he lines up for kick-off is rarely where he spends the match playing.

I thought he played well but wasnt as involved as he sometimes is.

However, some of his touches tonight, confirmed how much of a genius he is to me. The cross he hit into the box for Garcia - when he hit the post - perfect. The driven volley-cross in the second half - I don't know anyone else that can do that. His balance on the ball when he was beating their left back. Superb. He is a genius.

[Kopite-Jud]

alonso's goal was phoenominal but i think the keeper would have saved it if he never slipped

[Bad Bob]

I thought Stevie had a really strong game--he is such an awesome force with the ball at his feet, running at defenders.  I hope he gets himself a goal soon as well.  One thing to note--and this picks up on a point Ace Ventura made in another thread--how much time did Stevie actually spend on the right flank this match?  Not much, I'll tell you.  He may have been recorded as our RM tonight, but he spent as much or more time in the middle and on the left.  People get too fixated on the teamsheet with Gerrard.  Where he lines up for kick-off is rarely where he spends the match playing.

I thought he played well but wasnt as involved as he sometimes is.

However, some of his touches tonight, confirmed how much of a genius he is to me. The cross he hit into the box for Garcia - when he hit the post - perfect. The driven volley-cross in the second half - I don't know anyone else that can do that. His balance on the ball when he was beating their left back. Superb. He is a genius.

Agreed on the "genius" moments, mate.

As for him not being involved as much...I strangely see that as somewhat of a good thing.  Of course, we want our captain and best player involved a great deal and I certainly think he was giving Newcastle problems tonight.  But, I think of a few games where Stevie's been the all-action driving force and its often games where too many others are struggling and he's had to take the game by the scruff of the neck himself.  Tonight, Xabi and Momo were neutralizing the barcodes in midfield and dictating the pace of our attacks effortlessly so we didn't need Stevie dropping deep every few minutes to collect the ball and surge forward.  Instead, he concentrated on getting into good positions: switching flanks with Garcia, running onto knockdowns from Kuyt and making late runs into the box (if Bellamy had picked him out midway through the 2nd half instead of going for goal himself, we could have seen another beauty).  This was a game where I think we truly achieved great midfield balance, even if it meant Stevie worked more behind the scenes than centre stage.

[fivecups]

Well said.

[Reinas No.1 Fan]

Great to see Kuyts first goal, he has deserved one in almost all the matches he has played so far. Also Glad to see Alonso turning in another good performance and capping it with a great goal.

[Graeme Noble]

Both goal's were excellent, and I think Xabi Alonso has showed that he is the best passer in the world, and also, he ain't too bad at scoring goals from his own half

[adamnbarrett]

An alright performance tonight.

It was a bit scrappy at times but otherwise we kept it on the floor and played good football. Agger once again had a solid game. Sissoko wasn't as good today as his passing was a little loose at times. Stevie G gaave a typical good performance. Kuyt was involved in everything, got stuck in and deserved his goal. Aurelio is finally looking more solid at left back and dealt with milner very well and put in some good tackles. Bellamy ran his socks off and was unlucky not to score himself. The lad has great determination and a huge amount of pace and he really exposed newcastle tonight. Xabi Alonso is finally looking more like himself, his passing was superb, he linked up well, stuck a few tackles in when needed and capped it off with a superb strike from inside his own half. Even though the goalie slipped, it was superb vision, pace and accuracy from Xabi. The goalie actually fell over because he was running backwards and got his feet tangled because he was so worried.

We are slowly improving and slowly moving up the table.

Back in the title race?

We were never out of it.

[adamnbarrett]

Incase anyone missed the goals

Kuyt's Goal

ALONSO'S BELTER!!!!!

[account deleted by request]

An alright performance tonight.

It was a bit scrappy at times but otherwise we kept it on the floor and played good football. Agger once again had a solid game. Sissoko wasn't as good today as his passing was a little loose at times. Stevie G gaave a typical good performance. Kuyt was involved in everything, got stuck in and deserved his goal. Aurelio is finally looking more solid at left back and dealt with milner very well and put in some good tackles. Bellamy ran his socks off and was unlucky not to score himself. The lad has great determination and a huge amount of pace and he really exposed newcastle tonight. Xabi Alonso is finally looking more like himself, his passing was superb, he linked up well, stuck a few tackles in when needed and capped it off with a superb strike from inside his own half. Even though the goalie slipped, it was superb vision, pace and accuracy from Xabi. The goalie actually fell over because he was running backwards and got his feet tangled because he was so worried.

We are slowly improving and slowly moving up the table.

Back in the title race?

We were never out of it.

Good summation Adam

a decent performance and something we can build on.

[adamnbarrett]

Anyone else think my new avatar is class?

[The_Rock]

I'm happy. Won't be suggesting alonso to be dropped anymore.... 

BTW, rafa, see what we can do with a settled squad.... 

[Lando_Griffin]

Finally a performance no one can find fault with!!!!!

What a goal. (Need I say any more?)

[LFC #1]

My take on the game. We did reasonably well in the first half, we had a lot of possession and looked comfortable but didn’t really create enough until a great run by Finnan with an even better ball to find him by Xabi to set up Kuyt’s goal.

We started poorly in the second half, we looked shaky and were lucky not to concede a penalty and we pegged back to 1-1. After that shaky start we settled again and finished the match very well. Luis was unlucky not to score and Kuyt wasted a couple of good opportunities. What a goal by Xabi though! In the end a good 2-0 victory but we should have killed the game off earlier and we were lucky not to be pegged back early in the 2nd half.

Ratings:

Reina: didn’t have an awful lot to do, had a couple of shaky moment IMO when communication between himself and  the two centre-halves wasn’t there, still think he’s lacking a little in confidence since the Everton game.  6

Finnan: His usual reliable self, defended well and gave as an option out wide often dur to our narrow midfield formation.  Excellent run and cross for Kuyt’s goal. 7.5

Carragher: Looking like he’s getting back to his best, solid game defensively… distribution was quite good too I thought. 7.5

Agger: Another decent performance from him, didn’t stand out as much as recently and made a few mistakes in that 10 minute period after HT where Newcastle had a good go at us.  6.5

Aurelio: Didn’t do much wrong, overlapped reasonably well like Finnan due to our narrow formation. Did his job. 6.5

Luis Garcia: One of his best games in recent memory IMO, didn’t give the ball away too often and was very threatening in attack, brilliant turn and through ball which nearly lead to a goal for Bellamy and unlucky to hot the post and not score in the second half. He got stuck in quite a bit too 8

Sissoko: Not a bad game, but not as dominant as he can be, got outplayed by Parker, who IMO was Newcastle’s best player. 6.5

Xabi: Man of the match. Back to his best. He controlled the game in midfield for large portions, excellent distribution and broke down a number of Newcastle attacks. His goal was outstanding, not only for the strike but the tackle to win the ball and to have the audacity, skill and vision to score form 60 yards plus! Great ball to Finnan for Kuyt’s goal as well. 9

Gerrard: Didn’t have so much of an influence due to being switched around so much. Quiet game for his standards, but still did reasonably well 7


Kuyt: Another top performance, bar missing a couple of good chances in the 2nd half. Took his goal well and his link-up play and first touch was great. 8

Bellamy: Worked hard without much result, but he looked dangerous many times in the second half when he pushed out wide left and ran at Newcastle’s right-back. 7

Crouch and Gonzalez didn’t have enough time on the pitch to make an impact.

[Judge]

thank god kuyts off the mark

[Ciggy]

Fisty cuffs in the tunnel last night with Bellamy and Terry McDermott. Wonder what that was all about?

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