FT. 1-0. Unacceptable. We are now 6 points out of fourth minus our game in hand, and the Blues are 12 points clear of us.
Good call Elf. Come on Rafa, admit it Josemi is crap for Liverpool's standard. Should have been as decisive to say no to Diao as did to Diouf. They are very similar, Senegalese, crap.
Not a very good game at all from any of the reds. Although Kewell played the best i've seen him play since last year. Gerrard did not have one of his best, it almost looked as if he didn't even care he was on the pitch. He wasn't running around contesting for balls like normal. I don't like seeing that from him because it seemed like he did not care at all whether we won or not. And yes, why start Diao over Alonso? I have no idea. And we might as well just get rid of Josemi right now, he is just plain awful. Every time he touched the ball he tried some rediculous length-of-the-field pass, to nobody. But I was just wondering, did anybody else notice the enormous amount of pointless kickball we played all game long?
You can't play your best eleven in every match. We just had a game on Wednesday, and we have yet another game on Tuesday. You can't expect the same eleven players to be in the team for 3 games in less than a week. With that said, why not Biscan instead of Diao? I thought Alonso should have been brought on earlier. We are not capable of keeping possesion of the ball with just Hamann and and Diao in the center of midfield. Kirkland had an awful game, no way around it. He was completly lost on the goal. The ball rolled in right next to him and somehow he never saw it. Nigel Martin made some great saves to keep a cleansheet, and Kirlkand was unable to do the same. 12 points behind Everton. Thats 12 points that we need to make up if we want to play Champions League football next season, and these bluenoses aren't going to lay down.
i guess the game on wednesday was to much for the lads,and i dont think they fully recovered for this match!!!i guess we didnt have any other option rather than starting diao(biscan is injured),but i cant belive he started josemi!!!that guys short,slow ,and the only thing he does well is foul the other people!It was josemi stupidity that lead to the goal,but he wasnt the only one,there were 3 people around the ball and the still couldnt clear it!And im not to sure about kirkland!!!i think dudek should get back in goal,kirk hasnt done anything to convince me he should be number 1!but everton were great!they dont have quality,but what they do have is a team spirit,which i think the reds will never have!
Josemi and Diao are crap. Finnan had been playing well lately, why not play him? Defenders go through whole seasons without needing 'rotation', so why would he for this game? And besides, he knows the rivalry and the game a bit better having experienced it last season. If Alonso is tired, can Welsh be any worse than Diao? At least he would show some passion for the club. Still, I'm not convinced of the argument that playing 2 games in 4 days makes you tired. we're not talking about pub league players who are 35 and 40 lbs overweight. Playing club, collegiately, and beyond, I've never found it a hardship to play on that schedule. We played games on consecutive days. So how can this be an argument for the top level footballers?
what i was trying to say was that everton had a week to work and concentrate for this game,while we had only 2 days.i wasnt talking about the physical state of the players today,but the psicological state of the players!
If it was only based on the mental part of the game, then we should have had the advantage. Coming off of the midweek win over Olympiakos should have given us momentum going into today's derby. If anything, I think that most were just tired, although being professionals like Wingtips said, they should be able to handle 2 matches in 4 days. But Gerrard sure looked like he was tired.
Those of you criticizng Diao's selection are plain wrong. He played well today. Got stuck in and rarely gave it away. Others were poor but not Diao. Get the blinkers off.
Your right in that Diao did what he as asked to do. His role was to break up Everton's attacks by winning the ball in the midfield. However, he did nothing to keep possesion of the ball. Same can be said for Hamann. It didn't give us much of a chance to play some real football. We just got caught up in the derby mentality and were hoofing the ball all over the place, and thats exactly the way Everton want to play. I think Alonso could have made a major difference in the game to help us get hold of the ball and start attacks. Diao did a do a job today, but I still disagree with the selection. If Diao is going to start he needs to be partnered by either Gerrard or Alonso in the center of midfield. With Hamann alonside him we had no creativity out of central midfield.
I completely agree with everything you just said. Felt like everytime they would run at us, we would win the ball, move it up to the midfield and someone would just boot it to Nigel Martyn. Mellor ran around like crazy, but I think he received a total of about 3 passes actually to his feet today.
I was only able to see about half the game, in bits and snatches at that, but at what point did Diao win a ball in midfield? I saw him go up for 6-7 headers, and fail to connect each time. SG didn't see much of the ball because he was slotted up front again - still I suspect he thinks he should have tied it with the open shot he had in the 2nd half. (very similar to the position he had vs. Olympiakos) The right side was a real problem, not just Josemi. Pongolle got the ball in some good spots and failed to do anything with it each time. Then he gets subbed for Nunez, and he did the same thing. I thought Kirkland was screened on the goal. Disappointing, as I had hoped that Pool would only be 3 back of Everton after Tuesday.
Just got back home as I had to take MiniLB to a game ( good practice game and he got 2 goals in a 3-0 victory, one from central midfield and the other from left wing) so I've had time to ponder. Once again the lack of a creative compliment to SG let us down. I thought Mellor did well considering he had to take on two centre halves all game. Carsley was completely anonymous until he scored. That was exactly 2 minutes after Hamann came off. Do you think DiDi might have been at the top of the box when the ball rolled toward Carsley? But after magical subs on Wednesday, I'll excuse the gaffer for his mistake. I think we'll need to concentrate on the CareLess Cup as it may be a life line to Europe. Liverpool is still in transition and it's going to take a little while. I won't speculate any further. By the way Josemi truly sucks. And I've yet to see much from Nunez. We miss Garcia and Cisse obviously as well as a fit Baros. Last thought -- Stig says Everton is clearly the best team in Scotland --- negative, physical play with the odd chance bundled in.
Overall, considering the magnitude of the game, I think we performed poorly. Everton were clearly the more hungrier side--they wanted it more than we did. Using the "3 games in 7 days excuse" is getting old. We are not the first team to play this kind of schedule. I do question the team selection. While Diao didn't play badly, I still would have chosen Alonso. Our team had no rhythm going forward and looked very confused. I thought Mellor and FSP each had poor movement without the ball. Oftentimes the match looked like Gerrard was playing by himself. I can understand why Josemi was picked for this match. He is certainly a more aggressive RB than Finnan. That's the kind of player who should be on the pitch for a highly intense derby. Having said that, Josemi continues to struggle. He lacks pace continues to commit fouls in dangerous areas. But what did we expect for 2M? I think we need to concentrate on getting a more athletic RB and LB. JAR is a solid performer but he isn't quick enough in my opinion. Considering his ability to shoot the ball it surprises me that he looks so dazed and confused moving upfield.
Rafa had never seen a Merseyside derby, not even on TV. Someone ought to send him a 'greatest hits' collection. Or Paco. Or Pako. Or anyone in the sitio del cargador. You get the point. Made a difference. Laughs were in short supply. Tell MiniLB that Stig will be his lab-rat next time. Breakfast on Stig. He usually expects some knobend to support him. #7 would be a good start. "As you know, you have to go to Goodison with the squad you have, not the squad you want." Stig
come on you guys!!!!we cant start talking about being out of europe because we lost 1 game!!!its true we have been poor away from home,but thats just a psicological problem that will take time,but not as much as you people think!we have good away games against West Brom and Norwich!!!If we take 6 points from those away games and play good football,the lads will regain there confidence,well have baros fully fit,with hopefuly some summer signings in ,and im sure well play great football away from anfield!Everton havent got any injury worries so far,but soon enough they will and they will lose many points in the second half of the season(theres still 6 months left !) lets not forget that in the 2nd half of the season we have to face Everton,Man U ,Chelski,Boro,Aston villa,bolton,all at Anfield!!we should get loads of points with those fixtures,and be up ther again!! We cant lose faith becasue we played 1 match of the last 4 badly!!(arsenal,olym,villa,all good matches)
Another ugly win for Everton......and yes the grapes are a little sour...! It's a good thing Mini LB knows where the goal is, good for him. Have you tried the acadamy yet.??? A little help here guys....
"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Bjornebye again." Same message to me -- can we get some help. MiniLB has been on a Owen-like drought so perhaps he'll start pouring them in now.
Ditto on the rep. C'mon, new people! Has MiniLB received the obligatory call from Rafa yet? Mrs. Elf has had two, (and her current "good run of form" has consisted of successfully getting ketchup stains out of three of my shirts in a row), so I'd be shocked if Rafa hasn't offered MiniLB at least a trial yet . . .