Liverpool FC Forum

by **bunglemark2** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 10:51 am

Johnny Boy wrote:Was at the game last night, the Greek was great and I can see him becoming a cult hero and hard to leave him out at the moment.
Riera gave us some balance and quality on the left and looked like he has gained something from his lay off, I thought he looked a bit stale earlier in the season.
Team worked really hard and Carra was a good leader on the night.
Just a little sloppy in midfield at times, Lucas looks like he needs a rest.

Damn lucky to get away with the penalty appeal from Crouch. It was the same as Richards at the weekend for Citeh...

by **bunglemark2** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 10:54 am

Owzat wrote:
JoeTerp wrote:Also on the move that earned the penalty, that was Darby, to Maxi, to N'gog, all 3 subs combining.

Rafa spoke of "fresh legs", just imagine what subs could do if he gave them more than 5-10 mins! Wasn't that Darby's league debut, makes him the 28th player used by us in the league this season. That isn't down to injuries, just getting on random picks by Rafa with no less than EIGHT playing no more than three times and counting 14 apps between them. Kyrgiakos and Degen made their fifth leage appearances of the season, most of Babel's have been at sub but he didn't feature last night.

Much needed win, didn't think spudz wouldn't win at Anfield given they ain't won in the league here since the early seasons of the Premiership (August 1993?) As much as some people like to dismiss stats as irrelevant, that one is significant.

Of course we were helped by a bit of luck, the ball breaking from a challenge on Aquilani to Kuyt and his edge of the box finish was good, but required a bit of luck in terms of just sneaking in and the keeper not getting to it. Good finish though, Kuyt won us that match with his hard work and could have had a hat-trick - well he did score three times, the original penalty had to be re-taken. And there was no small amount of luck in Defoe's goal being chalked off, the offside rules are now so complicated it makes it a lottery as to what will and won't be allowed. He was originally offside, to me that means offside and if they kept it simple there'd be no controversy, but once our player had touched it then he went from "inactive" to "active" in a new phase of play or some such convaluted claptrap

Rule makers, he's not got two opposing players between him and goal and is looking to gain an advantage, why on earth would you let him? To me there might be some justice if the refs applied the old offside rules, ignored the "interfering with play" elements altogether, but they'd probably get hauled over the coals for it. Who was it who said "if he's not interfering with play, what's he doing on the pitch?" (or something like that)

Ciggy - you talking about the time the keeper is allowed to have the ball before release? If the commentators are picking up on that then they are pathetic, I've seen plenty of games where the keeper has it way longer, where throw-ins take way longer once 'ready to throw' and a lot of keepers whose release of the ball from hand when kicking is FAR TOO CLOSE to the edge of the box.

Anyway, this result puts us in a decent fighting position for fourth.

4. Tottenham P22 PTS 38 (GD +18)
5. Man City P21 PTS 38 (GD +12)
6. LIVERPOOL P22 PTS 37 (GD +14)
7. A Villa P21 PTS 36 (GD +11)

We're a couple of goals worse off for and against than spudz so that isn't too hard to rectify, although we have played Burnley, Hull and Stoke at home so goalfests may not be too easy for us to achieve.

NEXT SIX GAMES

LIVERPOOL

Wolves (a)
Bolton (h)
Everton (h)
Arsenal (a)
Man City (a)
Blackburn (h)

MAN CITY

Portsmouth (h)
Hull (a)
Bolton (h)
Stoke (a)
Liverpool (h)
Chelsea (a)

TOTTENHAM

Fulham (h)
Birmingham (a)
A Villa (h)
Wolves (a)
Wigan (a)
Everton (h)

A VILLA

Arsenal (h)
Fulham (a)
Tottenham (a)
Man Utd (h)
Burnley (h)
Hull (a)

Bar Arsenal away and the crucial Citeh game at COMS, we should be looking at winning the other four games, with or without Torres, Gerrard, Benayouna and Johnson. Three at home against sides mid-table or in relegation danger, and the other away to newly promoted Wolves who are out of the relegation zone only on GD.

Citeh have a reasonable run of winnable games until our crucial meeting at COMS with them and then Chelsea away the following weekend. That's not to say they won't win the last two in that run, but you wouldn't rule them out picking up 12 out of 12 then maybe 0-2 out of six

Tottenham have a run of games they could and maybe should win all of, but I can see them dropping points. For all their spending they are too inconsistent with a nothing special defence and an attack that can thump Wigan 9-1 but equally fail to score against Hull at WHL.

villa's next three games are all games we lost so by no means easy, then the mancs at home won't be easy so they're in for a testing run of games.

More boring stats Owzat ? Will you ever learn ?

by **Rockthekop** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 11:05 am

Kuyt scored a good goal and I thought bloody hell Torres is back

Every one our players on the pitch was up for it, was great to see the hunger come back.

I was relieved when Kuyt scored the penalty to make it 2-0, the result could have been very different after the numerous missed chances.

We sat back a bit too much at times which only invited Spurs onto us but we held firm and got the 3pts.

by **Dutchsky** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 11:13 am

Three players rated '8', here:
source

Reina - 8
Kuyt - 8
Carragher - 8

Here
3 players rated '8' and one player rated '9'
Source

Carragher - 9
Kuyt - 8
Kyrgiakos - 8
Mascherano - 8

by **Ben Patrick** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 12:13 pm

Great performance from the players last night and i have to say i have said previously that the players seemed to have given up on Rafa.
They didnt last night, they were well up for it, and i am delighted that they were.

There were some big performances out there last night and every player worked their @rses off.
Dirk took his first goal brilliantly, superb finish. And i have never seen him take a poor penalty. Made up for him because he has really struggled this season.
Not only did he score the two goals but his hold up play was great.
I have also criticised Rafa's subs alot but last night was also spot on. Ngog came on when he needed to for a tiring Aquilani and his pace and energy really troubled Spurs.
It was great to see Riera back, not only does he offer balance but he is another one that is good in posession and makes sure we control the game better. He is also a threat in the air as well as he showed when he hit the bar.
Spurs are capable of playing some good football and did at times but masher and lucas broke things up nicely and in the end the amount of long balls they were playing for Crouch was quite funny.
The commentators never picked up on it though, because you cant criticise Harry at all.
One thing they did say which had me wanting to boot our tv screen in was that Spurs missing Lennon and Huddlestone was worse for them than us missing Stevie Torres Benayoun and Johnson, WTF ?
Excuses excuses, typical of Gray and Sky that.
We thoroughly deserved our win and they cant take that away from us.

Oh and the greek was immense last night, its good to see some physical presence at the back, we will need him against Bolton which is coming up with Kevin Davies playing.

Lets hope we can carry on that sort of form into the wolves game.

by **NANNY RED** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 12:21 pm

Did anyone notice Robbie Keane last night

by **stmichael** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 12:26 pm

NANNY RED wrote:Did anyone notice Robbie Keane last night

thought we sold him?

by **Boocity** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 12:33 pm

Ben Patrick wrote:One thing they did say which had me wanting to boot our tv screen in was that Spurs missing Lennon and Huddlestone was worse for them than us missing Stevie Torres Benayoun and Johnson, WTF ?

Isn't that a compliment? We have heard all season that Spurs squad has better depth that ours but we coped better with having 4 first teamers out.

by **Boocity** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 12:35 pm

NANNY RED wrote:Did anyone notice Robbie Keane last night

In truth, the only time I remember his name being mentioned was when he came on, totally invisible.

by **Ben Patrick** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 12:37 pm

Boocity wrote:
Ben Patrick wrote:One thing they did say which had me wanting to boot our tv screen in was that Spurs missing Lennon and Huddlestone was worse for them than us missing Stevie Torres Benayoun and Johnson, WTF ?

Isn't that a compliment? We have heard all season that Spurs squad has better depth that ours but we coped better with having 4 first teamers out.

No, to me it was them implying that the result was because Spurs were missing players.

by **NANNY RED** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 12:38 pm

Boocity wrote:
NANNY RED wrote:Did anyone notice Robbie Keane last night

In truth, the only time I remember his name being mentioned was when he came on, totally invisible.

An thats why Spurs are looking to off load him an all, :laugh:

West Ham

by **Boocity** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 12:43 pm

Ben Patrick wrote:
Boocity wrote:
Ben Patrick wrote:One thing they did say which had me wanting to boot our tv screen in was that Spurs missing Lennon and Huddlestone was worse for them than us missing Stevie Torres Benayoun and Johnson, WTF ?

Isn't that a compliment? We have heard all season that Spurs squad has better depth that ours but we coped better with having 4 first teamers out.

No, to me it was them implying that the result was because Spurs were missing players.

TBH, I didn't take it in that way but I did think that They went on a bit too much about the Crouch pen decision and the defoe goal. Stelling was defo up for a Spurs win.

I listened to TalkSport this morning on the way to work and that was an utter joke, Brazil and the Manc Chicken went on so much about the refs decisions and to them Spurs only lost because of the referee, no mention about the amount of chances that we had. The score should have been 4-0 really.

by **JamCar05** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 2:47 pm

What an important result!

Am made up with the effort and desire the team put on display yesterday, which is something I (along with most other reds of course) have been longing for this season. The fans at Anfield were amazing aswell and certainly played their part, so :bowdown

to everyone who was there (really wish I had been there myself).

With so many profiles missing, it was great to see "lesser" players like Kyrgiakos, Skrtel and Degen step up to the plate, whereas Aquilani looked much better fitnesswise, and his technical ability is definitely there to see too. Kuyt and Mascher never stopped running (same for Lucas really), and Carra portrayed a very good example as a leader I thought - especially his effort for that corner shortly before the break was pure fight and what we know he's usually all about (but unfortunately haven't seen too much this season, but hopefully that is about to change). Oh, and Reina also made a few vital saves again, whereas Riera brought to us the same as when he originally arrived: a bit of width and ball retention (could be a very good man to have back, if he can finally stay fit for a longer spell this season).

What really delights me besides the importance of the three points gained on Spurs though, is that the players do NOT seem to have given up on Rafa. There was definitely unity there for all too see (I even read somewhere that Carra had everyone in a huddle before kickoff but didn't witness this myself, as I came into the game a few minutes after it had begun... did anyone see this?).

Hopefully we will finally set on a bit of a run now, as there's definitely still much left to do regarding 4th place, which will be a very close race. YNWA!

by **Homebooby** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 2:53 pm

Yup, there was a group huddle before they kicked off. They were definitely pulled together

by **Johnny Boy** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 2:56 pm

Yeah there was a huddle last night, could quite clearly see Carra barking out the orders, to be honest he led by example.
No disrespect to Stevie G who has been an inspiration but I think Jamie would make a great captain.

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