Liverpool FC Forum

by **Ciggy** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 1:17 pm

Why my derby prediction didn't stand a chance Mar 23 2005

By Len Capeling, Daily Post

A TACTICAL triumph for Rafael Benitez and a tactical defeat for David Moyes who would have been more deeply embarrassed had Milan Baros showed the slightest sign of slickness or sanity.

One of the most one-sided derbies ended with a final scoreline that failed to reflect Liverpool's domination in the areas that mattered.

Only they played the football, only they seemed to have the bottle to go for a win, only they had the players with the ability to make a difference.

While Everton played - in the main - like Easter bunnies,, Liverpool, in the words of their totemic skipper Steven Gerrard, were lions determined to hang on to their kill.

It was all too easy for Liverpool in a first half that might have brought them four goals instead of just two.

Lee Carsley typically refused to give much ground but all around him disintegration spread as Benitez's game-plan picked large holes in a previously solid defensive structure.

My prediction - an Everton victory - depended on an Everton being bold enough to go for what would have been a psychologically priceless three points.

I imagined them storming the citadel, not cowering behind the barriers and praying for outrageous good fortune to deliver them from a thrashing.

Well, they got the some of the breaks, Liverpool losing three players - Stephen Warnock, Dietmar Hamann and Fernando Morientes - before half-time.

And, with Luis Garcia a limping passenger and the brainless Baros sent off for an insane tackle on Alan Stubbs, they may have sensed a turnaround.

But no. Although they shed some of their stage-fright, they never found enough quality to unsettle a Liverpool team rallying to their captain's call and drawing strength from their untouchable player of the season, Jamie Carragher.

You know things are bad for the opposition when their manager's immediate response is to indulge in the ridiculous.

No mention from David Moyes of his side being outplayed, out-thought and out-fought. No mention that it could have been 5-1 (three misses from Baros, a couple of them terrible) instead of the 2-1 that made it seem close-fought, which it never was.

Instead, we have talk about the referee undercooking the clock and something about the ball being kicked into touch to prevent - don't laugh - Everton dominating.

This was soccer's equivalent of leaves on the line, or the wrong kind of snow.

Like Tony Blair not wanting to talk about cancelled NHS operations or duff intelligence about weapons of mass destruction, David Moyes wanted to make it appear that as if Rob Styles, in collaboration with the fourth official, had cheated his team out of what they deserved.

Not true. Everton got what they deserved - nowt - after a performance that had more than one critic asking: how good is the Premiership if this team are fourth and pushing for the Champions League?

Of course, the same might be asked of Liverpool, whose stop-start season, wrecked by ineptitude away from Anfield, sees them in fifth place and still able to dream of higher things.

On this score, the thoughts of the watching, note-making Sam Allardyce would have been worth a penny or more of anyone's money.

His Bolton bruisers are next through the Shankly Gates and also face Everton at the Reebok on the last Sunday of the season.

Not much from Everton will have worried Sam, and Liverpool's lack of strikers looks like another bonus for one of the league's form teams.

Those injuries, and their possible consequences, were one of the few things for Bluebloods to cling to on an afternoon when their players were not up to the task despite some desperate second-half tinkering that introduced two new strikers and brought a late no-consolation goal from Tim Cahill.

Rumours that prodigal son James Beattie came off the bench to add some firepower couldn't be confirmed by events on the pitch. Big Dunc, on the other hand, was meatily involved, his header giving Cahill the freedom to strike.

The sight of stretcher parties and bandage banks clearly took some of the gloss off what was a tremendously fulfilling day for Rafael Benitez, whose first derby victory swung his team's recent dominance in these high-octane collisions back into the red.

He'd skilfully deconstructed Everton on the training pitch and his players, despite regular visits to the casualty clearing station, gave him the kind of committed show that he wants to see more often. And not just in Europe.

The stats show that Everton had more possession. But you wouldn't have guessed it. Nor credited that their accuracy of passing was higher than Liverpool's.

A more revealing statistic would be a full count of how many times Everton gave the ball away. And the number of get-rid punts they sailed downfield aiming for... well, nobody quite knew.

At least Liverpool did make intelligent progress when they had the ball at their feet and consequently were able to find the space that Everton searched for like men in blindfolds.

They weren't helped by being over-run in midfield and having no getout down the flanks, where Kevin Kilbane and Leon Osman made no impact whatever.

Tim Cahill was another culprit, unable to get a grip until the second half when he strung a few things together and scored a goal that beat Jerzy Dudek too easily at his near post.

Dudek had far less to do than Nigel Martyn, who was a hero here last season, defying Liverpool amost single-handedly as Everton hung on by the fingernails for a draw.

Martyn has played so consistently well since arriving from Leeds that his fumble for Liverpool's second goal was as unexpected as a blessing for the Press from Sir Alex Ferguson.

Fernando Morientes's dipping shot from 30 yards out caught Martyn undecided about whether to catch or parry, and that split second of uncertainty doomed him to deflect the ball on to the crossbar, from where it curved perfectly for the alert, onrushing Garcia to head home.

That nod added to Steven Gerrard's opener, a free-kick which the England star side-footed past a scrambling Martyn after cleverly changing his mind on the shot as the Everton wall broke.

That was justice for Liverpool's purposeful approach. For this was to be a day when the only alibis - lame and lamer - would come from those vainly trying to disguise the actuality.

The smiles were all Liverpool's. On the face of their manager who surely deserves a complete change of luck so far as injuries are concerned.

On the faces of their jubilant fans who knew that choking on this delicious morsel would be a sickener. They used the added time well, dancing like dervishes and contemplating - what??

Bragging rights, yes. But the antiseptic odour that dogs Liverpool like the smell of a hospital corridor continues to drain the campaign. Two weeks to get Morientes, Hamann, Warnock and Garcia fit for the intense examinations ahead.

Two weeks to convince those left standing - including the reluctant Harry Kewell - that this result can be the making of a season that threatened, maybe still threatens, to die of shame.

Everything about Benitez the man makes you want him to succeed so he can give us his brightest smile and forego the muttered curses into his bedtime pillow.

For David Moyes, something similar.

He got it wrong at Anfield and his team were well beaten. But that's gone, and Everton cannot afford to dwell on it too much.

They've done exceptionally well so far and any European place will represent a massive achievement for a manager who has tied this Everton outfit together with a frayed shoestring.

Liverpool hobble on, seeking, I hope, to further improve their Premiership account rather than exhausting themselves attempting to defeat a formidable Juventus.

Everton, with pride hurt, must believe that a return of 11 points from the last 33 is not an indication of a steady fall from grace.

Well written sums pretty much everything up.

by **wet echo** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 2:00 pm

a first class artical i dont always agree with him but strange as it is....i do today:D

by **Ciggy** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 2:16 pm

Funny how to eat Humble pie he said this last week

"We are a bigger club, we have better players," insisted the Spanish coach, as poor old Everton gloated down on Liverpool from the posh seats and blew a deafening raspberry.

Does Benitez wish he'd kept his mouth shut?

Probably. Does he wish he'd praised Everton instead of damning them?

Undoubtedly. Because those indiscreet words are about to come back and haunt him as the boys in blue come streaming wild-eyed across the park to defend the family honour"

by **jonnymac1979** » Wed Mar 23, 2005 4:07 pm

Yeah, he's a wan*er the guy who wrote that. Probably the one and only time ever he's wrote something good about the Reds.

by **Dalglish** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 12:54 am

"Two weeks to convince those left standing - including the reluctant Harry Kewell - that this result can be the making of a season that threatened, maybe still threatens, to die of shame."

Thats the ONLY bit i disagee with. First season as Liverpool Manager, Cup Final , Last 8 of the CL and who knows 4th, 5th or maybe 6th in the Prem is nothing to be ashamed off in my book .............

by **Woollyback** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 12:57 am

Hey Ian, like the new sig, and talking sense again.

by **Dalglish** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 1:08 am

Hiya Al , thanks for the plaudits re.sig mate but it's all Johnny Mac's craftmanship

I love it

by **Dalglish** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 1:10 am

The Picture of Kenny is taken when he scored the winning goal to seal the Championship in 86 at Chelsea. Just thought you might appreciate the backgouound

by **Woollyback** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 1:17 am

happy days :cool:

by **Dalglish** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 1:20 am

Their "ALL" happy days watching Liverpool as far as i'm concerned. its just the expectations have increased but I suppose thats to be expected in times of famine when we are starved of TITLES

by **Woollyback** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 1:35 am

Dalglish wrote:Their "ALL" happy days watching Liverpool as far as i'm concerned. its just the expectations have increased but I suppose thats to be expected in times of famine when we are starved of TITLES

but you and I remember standing on The Kop during the glory days when we brushed everybody aside, many of today's fans fans have never experienced that but it's not IF it's WHEN we return to the top

I remember a fair few times even in the early 90's watching Chelsea at Anfield when it was a guaranteed 3 points won to the soundtrack of "sh*t on the cockneys...."

by **Dalglish** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 1:38 am

Nostlgia is a great thing

On a similar nostalgic theme Dr WHO's back on Saturday !!!!!!!

I'm nominating YOU to post a new thrad on the return of Dr Who and supply the pics of the scary monsters

by **Iceman69** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 1:58 am

too long a post really!

you could have condensed that post into four sentances.....

1.. mighty reds kicked ******.
2. blues tried to kick us off park as no class.
3. 3 subs and a lucky goal back for the blue noses.
4. final whistle, blue and white sh*te, Blue and white sh*te.
ooohhh ohhh

stop copying newspaper articels and keep it short.

by **Ciggy** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 7:46 am

Iceman69 wrote:too long a post really!

you could have condensed that post into four sentances.....

1.. mighty reds kicked ******.
2. blues tried to kick us off park as no class.
3. 3 subs and a lucky goal back for the blue noses.
4. final whistle, blue and white sh*te, Blue and white sh*te.
ooohhh ohhh

stop copying newspaper articels and keep it short.

I will copy what I want, I appreciated this article written by a bluenose, thats eating loads of humble pie :glare:

Simple my posts bore you, dont read them simple as that innit

by **Starbridge42** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 7:57 am

Iceman why do u have a problem with long posts? And its not like lynds claimed she wrote it or nething. The title mentions its an article and articles, by nature, are meant to be more than a line and a half so if you dont want to read it then why did u even open the topic??

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