Liverpool 2 - 1 Blackburn Rovers (Positives and Negatives)

Liverpool 2 – 1 Blackburn. A much needed win and a vastly improved performance but is this a turning point or just a short term improvement?

POSITIVES

The Performance: Well finally it arrived, the performance we were all waiting for. A glimpse of something to show us that there might actually be something to cling to. We pressurised the Blackburn players all over the park and were tenacious in the tackle, with Maxi Rodriguez doing a particularly good job of clattering Diouf as often as possible and not getting booked until well into the 2nd half. We kept a higher defensive line too which meant that when we won the ball back we were able to build attacks more quickly and with less build up required which resulted in more incisive passing. Our passing was of a better quality too as was our movement and this really was a good performance. In fairness, we should be able to expect decent performances at Anfield versus the likes of Blackburn but considering the start we have had to the season it was commendable that we were able to pull this one out!

Sotirios Kyrgiakos: Kyri deserves great praise for his performances for Liverpool this season, and for the last quarter of last season when he was also immense. He has been one of our most dangerous attackers all season so far as he was versus Blackburn, getting on the scoresheet and was unlucky not to add a second to his days work. He is written off as a flop at times which is baffling when you consider he cost €1.5 million and was only ever intended to be used as a fourth choice centre back. He brings experience, power and aggression to our defence and offers a real threat from corners, something which we don’t have a lot of throughout the team.

Torres’ Goal: It may not have been the most spectacular goal he has scored for Liverpool but in terms of importance it was up there with any other. When Joe Cole played the ball for Torres to side foot home more was achieved then a simple Goal. This was Liverpool reclaiming the lead within 3 minutes of the dreadfully unlucky own goal, this was Torres ending his goal drought and this was restoring belief to the squad and fans. Torres’ performance throughout the game was much improved from recent games. One reason for this must be the pressing and higher defensive line which involved him in the game more, also the better quality of play in midfield providing better service for him, but Fernando himself was chasing harder than he had been recently and did not seem as frustrated as he has looked of late. If the team continues to play well and create chance Nando will finish them!

Finally finding Meireles Position: Having tried Meireles in a number of positions throughout his so far brief spell as a Liverpool Player, upfront and wide right, Roy Hodgson finally played him in his preferred position of central midfield and boy did he get his reward. Raul was involved in almost everything good Liverpool did on the day. He broke up attacks, played it simple when needed, created chances for others and arrived late into the box to great effect on a number of occasions, one shot in particular nearly took Salgado’s head off his shoulders and would probably have hit the top corner had it not been for the intervention of the Spaniards cranium. Mereiles today confirmed that he is a top class central midfielder.

NEGATIVES

The Performance: Call me cynical if you will but I cannot help feel like this improved performance came about through doing exactly the things which critics have been calling for since the season began. Namely pressing the opposition, holding a higher defensive line and looking to attack when in possession. In doing these things we looked better and got a desperately needed win, which begs the question.... why did it take so long for us to change things?

The last 20 (or so) minutes: Its probably to be expected given the situation we are in but we were noticeably edgy in the last 20 minutes. We got rid of the ball too quickly gave up possession and dropped deeper defensively inviting more pressure, basically slipped into the bad habits of our previous performances. As I said, its probably natural while confidence is low and we can eradicate this problem once we get a few wins on the trot.

Thats it for the negatives, I think we deserve a week of focusing on positives!

Scorers for Liverpool: Kyriagos, Torres

Lineup: Reina, Konchesky, Kyriagos, Carragher, Skrtel, Meireles (Shelvey 90), Gerrard, Cole (Ngog 78), Maxi, Lucas, Torres

Reluctant Acceptance

When the final whistle blew after the merseyside derby on Sunday I got a feeling which said more about the way the season has gone so far, than I had realised up until that point. The feeling was not anger, nor was it despair, I think it can be  best be summed up as a kind of reluctant acceptance.

It seems that somewhere subcontiously the turmoils of this season have lead me to re-align my expectations for the team. Gone are the days when I was filled with confidence before a battle against say Juventus, Barcelona, Real or Man Utd a new era is now in swing, an era in which it is not surprising to be beaten at home (and thoroughly outplayed) against a newly promoted Blackpool side. Its also not exactly shocking to see our side put in a totally abject performance lacking any heart, passion or tempo such as the one witnessed at Goodison Park this weekend. I thought our new english signings and manager were supposed to remind this club of our roots and bring back the passion (which was supposedly missing), well at least thats what the Andy Gray's and Jamie Redknapp's of this world told us. If this is part of the reason for the appointment of Hodgson or for signing the likes of Joe Cole or Paul Konchesky then I have yet to witness any improvement on the "foreigners" they were brought in to replace.

Lets not forget however that the game we are discussing here is no ordinary game. This is the Merseyside derby we are talking about here. The derby games are different to any other games we play in a season in that extra ordinary things happen, the result doesnt always go the way of current form. Its never taken for granted that you will get the right result, what is (usually) taken for granted is that your team will leave everything on the pitch and fight tooth and nail to get a win, even as poor as the season has been so far I think the result could have been acepted if the team had actually showed some passion or commitment. What hurts is that Everton played this derby exactly the way it should be played, putting pressure on Liverpool players all over the pitch and pushing forward with speed and in numbers. They played with similar tactics to those Rafa employed over the last few years leading us to a very rich run of results over our Blue neighbours.... home and away. Perhaps that also helps explain the way I felt at the full time whistle because after the first five minutes I never truly believed we would actually win this game

Something else which added extra pain to the result was the comments from Roy Hodgson after the game. You will find the quotes on other websites (lfc.tv for example) so I wont bother reprinting them here but basically the fact that he felt we played well and deserved any sort of result is quite worrying to me. Surely by now he has to acknowledge that things are not working out. I am reluctant to simply come out and say that I want rid of our manger, its not something I have done before as a Liverpool fan. I was never happy with his appointment in the first place and I feel the doubts that I had at that time have not yet been allayed in any way. Also, Roy is a good man, and of course he is doing his best to turn things around, this however cannot stop me from thinking that a clean break would suit everybody at this point. Roy could get out with his head still held high and a reputation still somewhat in tact, Liverpool could start building fresh too. I know that a lot of top managerial talent is not available right now but we could surely appoint King Kenny to hold the reigns in the short term. We could then take our time in appointing someone who can build for the future properly. Now that the finances are getting back in order we can build towards long term objectives as opposed to the short termism which seems to have become the norm at our club at the moment. Roy at 63 is hardly a Long Term appointment and his signings (Cole 28, Poulson 30 and Konchesky 29) are not going to be around very long either. I know it is very early to be talking about a change of manager, but I am talking now with my head rather than my heart. So far we have yet to have yet to see any evidence from Roy's reds that we are improving or that there is a clear picture in the players minds of how the manager wants them to play. We have removed a lot of the attacking mentality from the side, even as far as dropping our best ball-playing centre half in Daniel Agger, yet we continue to let goals in freely, surely defensive stability was the minimum requirement from Roy.

In an ideal world Roy wil turn things around, and who know's a couple of results could kick start us yet, thing is I have seen nothing to suggest that will happen. It is this kind of hope which comes from the heart rather than the head.

I will try to put up a more positive article later in the week...... hopefully there will be some positive news from the club to help me.

New Beginnings All Round!

Sorry for the lack of updates recently, as some of you may know I got married 2 weeks ago, which was obviously followed by my honeymoon (New York in case your wondering), I also started a new job on Monday of this week (I dont like making things easy on myself do I). I am back now though and as I am sure everyone is aware there have been plenty of happenings at the club for me to discuss.




Purslow does his Joey Jones impersonation



Let start with the most important thing to happen to the club, Today Mr Justice Floyd ruled that Hicks and Gillett did not have the right to change the board, meaning that the board are now able to reconvene and continue the  process off selling Liverpool Football Club, in further good news Mr Justice Floyd also ruled that H&G do not have the right to appeal his decision to the high court, they do have the option  to appeal the decision to the court of appeals but Mr Justice Floyd said he believes it would be "extremely

Inappropriate" for them to do so. H&G were also ordered to pay RBS's & LFC's costs, a figure believed to be approximately £600,000 , this is on top of the reported £140,000,000 they stand to lose from their involvement with Liverpool feels like sweet long awaited justice for reds fans.

Liverpool now need to make the right choice in who becomes the new custodians of our great club. As I read someone say earlier, this decision simply equalises the own goal scored by David Moore's and Rick Pary 3 Years ago when they sold the club to H&G, it is going to take a long time for us to get back into the lead by becoming a succesful, well run club again. It seems we will complete the £300m sale of Liverpool to New England Sports Ventures – as voted on a 3-2 majority one week ago. NESV claimed today that they have a legally binding agreement to buy the club, and although Broughton today claimed that all options would be considered during the board meeting tonight, he did let slip in one comment "We said right from the offset that we would find the right owners for Liverpool and that was our target. I think we've done that." which clearly implies that the decision has already been made. John W. Henry leader of NESV also commented on twitter "Well Done RBS, Well Done Chris, Ian and Martin". Liverpool fans know more than most that we need to be sceptical of someone with new promises, but all research on John W.Henry shows him to be a clever, and ethical business man, whose succeses with the Boston Red Sox and the admiration shown to him by their loyal fan base means he should be given more respect than would be afforded to most in this situation.

More Reading on John W.Henry and NESV can be found by clicking this link:

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE

(This is a link to one news story but there are numerous articles and investigations into the whole takeover if you search the site)

At this point I must pay credit where it is due to those who have worked hard to force this sale and ensure the future of Liverpool Football Club, I have spent a lot of time slaggin off a few of these people, and rightly so in some instance, but credit where its due, if this is the legacy they leave the club with we will always remember them fondly: Martin Broughton, Christian Purslow, Ian Ayre. The efforts of Spirit Of Shankly - ShareLiverpoolFC should also be applauded. On this day I cant help but think of Rafa to, lord knows how far we may have fallen had he not been there to guide us over the last few years. Rafa had this to say today "Today i am so happy for the people of Liverpool , finally the club can move forward and get stability"

Finally there was a joke going round twitter today that I simply had to share here.... "Stuck on the Telly today to see Scouser's cheering and Miner's celebrating I thought, Thatcher must've died then"

EDIT: Just after I posted this and just when we thought things were looking up it seems the classless parasites named Hicks and Gillett have put a spanner in the works in that they have succeeded in getting a Temporary Restraining Order from a court in Dallas Texas, they just wont let go, i think it is pitiful. Anyway it is all legal Mumbo Jumbo right now so when more is known (probably tomorrow) I will update again..... a scan of the TRO is available HERE