Shame we didn't win. It's all very well performing against the Norwich's and Chelsea's of this world, but we need to get results against the big clubs too.
95% pass completion and 95.5% in the league this season, he's actually quite comfortable in Rodgers system. We've been averaging 1.5 goals a game in the league and considering the opposition, today has been one of our strongest defensive performances.
I think we controlled the game for the most part and we were (although not by a huge margin) the better team. The plastics had some good chances that they wasted but other than that they seem to be more timid and following our game than dictating their own tempo. It would have been amazing had Suarez scored that chance at '87... Too bad Cech got a little touch on it derailing the trajectory of the ball. But how about Enrique huh? The man was a beast today! Glad to see him get back in shape and I hope he continues to improve. The only negative was the Allen uncharacteristically gave the ball away too much today. PS. I hope terry's injury is serious. The less time he spends on the pitch the better it is for the game of football. What disgrace he is.
Now Carra had nothing to do with the Terry goal. He had a very firm hold on Iwantabitch who was going nowhere near the ball
Now that was better in the second half. I hope we now learn to play Suso in the middle and sit Sahin. Allen needs to move the ball quicker and he may need Lucas to come in and free him to be more forward. Those two were very poor today. God I love Sterling. see what happens when someone other than SG takes the corners it is always good to take a point away to a second place team and be the one looking to win in the end. Gotta go, I have other obligations today
I'm a big Carra fan but was concerned he might be caught out for speed with some of that Chelki talent. But #23 came through again. I'm sorry I doubted ya, Carra. And good to see Enrique showing what a fundamentally sound defender he is. Almost got us all three points with that excellent effort at the death. Overall a good result. If you'd offered me a point out of this before the match I'd have taken it in a second. P.S. Not happy to see that Terry injury. He's a complete tw*t but never like to see any player badly hurt.
we played better in the first half but went in 0-1 down, second half until Suso came on we were getting dominated but ended that half 1-0 up..... screw the possession game i say! haha Sahin unfortunately didn't have a great game, negative passing, ok tackling, but didn't make himself open in the lanes enough to impact the game. Allen did make himself open on almost every possession, but unfortunately his passing was very very negative also, similar to Henderson last year, i think i can count the amount of forward passes on one hand. This match he seemed to look backwards first before looking forward. Jones still had times of "hoofness", but he seems to be getting the idea of just passing it on. Sterling seems to play much better against the 'better' teams, was i thought probably our most dangerous player today, Chelsea was struggling with his 'strength' and had to double man him. Against 'weaker' teams he doesn't play as well i believe and if anything slows down the fast breaks by over dribbling and trying to make a point of beating his man. Suarez didn't get many touches but when he did he made them count.... Kinda sounds like a striker now. Enrique was solid, at least he tried very hard to push us up the pitch. I'm not an Enrique basher though.
no matter what, you should never wish that. He plays the way he plays, a throwback to the old times in a way, im not his biggest fan but i'd never wish a serious injury on him
Both Suso and Sterling showed a lot of maturity today. I kind of pity Wigan next week as I'm very confident that they will rip them apart. This is going to be the start of a very good run for us. Credit to Rodgers too, despite our huge amount of possession on the 1st half he recognized that it wasn't working and changed the system and formation for the better. Hopefully all 3 of them will have a bright, long future with us.
After the Terry goal the commentators said you can't give a centerback that much space. I responded by saying you can give Jamie Carragher that much space. Love when I'm wrong. Great to see the defense carry us through a game. The midfield wasn't spectacular (neither were Ramires & Mikel thankfully) and Chelsea did as well as they could to defend Suarez. We had trouble passing out of our half but the defense seemed fairly comfortable in dealing with Chelsea's movement and passing in the final third. I liked Johnson in his role. He was half defender, half winger who could switch sides. He didn't do anything spectacular but I felt like he came to the correct side of the pitch to put more leverage on the ball when we didn't have anything going. And then he'd show up in defense when needed. Enrique continues to be the mad(dening) scientist. I don't know if it's his fault that he receives the ball and loses possession so much or if it's the fault of the team for favoring his side of the pitch too often. Either way it was fun to laugh at his mistakes while also applauding his defensive skills as well as that shot at the end, which was a great bit of technique. He was very influential in the game, for better or worse.
Kind of reminded me of a white Momo today, loses possession and then win it back only to lose it again . I thought he had a great game, but I can understand his critics as well. He seems to be a confidence player, like Johnson, give him a run and allow him to make the odd mistake.
Well, you can teach an old dog new tricks or remind it of them seems like. Carragher, oh my days, was a revelation tonight. His distribution had to be seen to be believed. Any chance that Downing can also be taught to go past players and only cross when there actually is somebody at whom you can aim the cross or is he a busted flush? First half was rubbish-- lousy marking for their opener but second half was different. Suso changed things, Sterling was brilliant. Sahin and Allen didn't bring their A game. But we didn't panic at all, and almost won it at the death. But why can't Suarez score in one on ones?
One of the "Games of two halves" again. We were absymal in the first half lack of class made up by pure scrambling. The Chav's weren't so hot themselves and could have been up 3-0. One thing on my mind, Wisdom gets a foul given 'rightly' when he goes for a shoulder challenge and catches the played behind. Suarez get a deliberate shove in the back that takes him off his feet into Terry. But a foul wasn't called, or I didn't see it. Second half the energy changes, Suarez who'd been in one of his sulky moods bucked up, Enrique started getting it right. In fact Johno, Carra and Enrique carried Allan, Suso, and Sahin today. Gerrard and Suarez worked themselves free from the cover that the Chav's had put on them and started making the most of it. Chech was the difference, in fact both keepers saved their teams but Chech stopped a couple of almost certain goals. Too bad Luis couldn't get behind Chech like last weeks goal. Then Enrique almost snuck that on in short side. Time for the haters, the boo boys Billy Liddell called you, to get behind the team. Jose Enrique is a player of class, he's slow coming back from a long injury lay off but today he's showed what he can be capable of. Far more usful than Torres out there.
Well, we've been Chelsea's nightmare team for the past few seasons now, and that continued. Now on to face our nightmare team...Wigan . Can we please, Please, PLEASE, just beat Wigan for once?
Wigan indeed is our nightmare team. Almost always lost points against, and mostly because of defensive brain fades of which we have had legions this season.
Thought Sahin was a placeholder, added nothing. Joe Allen was horrible in distribution and defensively. Gerrard worked very hard and is our best passer. Sterling is a sports car, Suarez is a Bentley. Loved Jose Enrique. Played like Messi on the touch line. Glen Johnson was good, as was the back line. Brad Jones continues to play well.
I think what drives me nuts, with Enrique, is he's very good at what he's good at. The problem is when he thinks he's Maradona and gives away the ball like that's his job. When he realizes his limitations he's a great player. Just wish he would keep possession a little better but he was great defensively today.
Happy to get the point after the first half when we never ever looked like scoring. Good to see Enrique finding his form again. He was excellent in defense today. Carra showed he still has it. I would have loved it had Enrique's shot went past Cech...there were a lot of Blues in the pub today singing. Nice to shut them up once when Luis scored. 12 from 12. Things will get better.
Whatever happens to Terry is karma for everything he's done in his life to date. If karma's going to do it all in one go, then it will be a serious injury, although you never know, she might drag it out in little bits.
Good result and although he almost won it for won it for us at the end I wasn't all that impressed with Enrique. I'm not sure we feed him the ball so much, perhaps because we were playing through Agger at the back, but he almost never plays the simple balls and almost always tries to beat his man and almost always losses it. We were far better when Johnson moved left to and started to get into the game. Disappointed with Allen and Sahin. Both physically over matched. Counting the games until Lucas is back.
I thought Enrique was great today. Pretty much our entire offense (and defense) went through him. Sure, he turned the ball over a few times but he did make some good passes. And he shut down Mata and the left side. Plus, his shot on goal at the end could've won the match. Job well done! On the other side, Allen was terrible. Poor passing and turning the ball over. Sahin wasn't quite as bad but rather more anonymous than anything. Suso came on and began to right the midfield. He's much better in the middle. I wish Sterling could get more in sync with Stevie and Suarez. He's great at pushing the ball up field but quite frequently he runs into 3 defenders and there's no one around to lay off the ball. Sure, it's another draw but it was at Stamford Bridge and LFC did play well so there's nothing to feel bad about. Plus, Terry going down it never a bad thing. Walk on