Well Done Red Men!

Well thats it, its all turned around now. Kenny is the best manager we’ve had since... well.. Kenny. The glory days have returned and Liverpool are gonna win the league next year. If your sarcasm alarms haven't gone off yet, you might want to get them repaired. While we’ve not exactly achieved that, we certainly have improved, we've had a very difficult season in the league in which I accept we have under achieved, but in the cups, we've just been great. The bookies may have made us favourites for this game, but they were about the only ones who did. According to David Moyes the whole of England was behind his boys in blue, well if that was true I’m delighted we managed to disappoint the whole country. This one was certainly a game of 2 halves. I thought we started stronger, but Everton took control of the first half after 10 minutes and held that control through to the break. We came out the much stronger side in the second half though and eventually made our superiority tell to win the game late on. There was much to be happy about in this result, and performance. I’m going to try and look at some of them now.

We reminded the blues whats what.
It must be hard to be a blue. Even when they think they get the upper hand were always able to pull them back in some way. Its only 7 years ago when they finished above us in the league to qualify for the Champions League at our expense... or so they thought. We of course went and won Europe's premier competition that year and qualify by doing so. We also got the added joy of watching them fail to make it through to the their qualifier. They overtook us in the league a few weeks too, so we felt we better knock them out of the FA Cup. All I can say is thank god I’m red!

An important comeback
Of course Everton’s confidence coming into this game was only heightened by them taking the lead, I’m sure this moment seemed sweeter because it resulted from a mistake by our own ex Evertonian Jamie Carragher. I’ve got to be honest, I felt we still had a chance even when behind. It took a lot of patience and pressure to get back into the game. Where others may have panicked, we kept our cool to, in the end, force the win.

The Management.
It's clear Kenny has taken a lot of stick this season, and as I have admitted before he’s made mistakes. I was fearful that he had made another one in some of his selections to start this game but in the end he was vindicated and I was delighted to be proved wrong. Our shape was good and he made good decisions during the game to regain control when behind. If I doubted the initial selection of some I was in complete agreement with every substitution made. On the eve of the anniversary of Hillsborough it was a great feeling to see a man who has been, and continues to be, so instrumental in helping the families and the city and the city cope with such tragedy with that great big smile on his face. His face may have aged but that smile still defies his years.

Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll!
As every journo and commentator delighted in pointing out, our strike partnership for the game have taken a lot of stick this season. The reasons may differ, but they each, im sure, wanted to prove points. Well they certainly did that. Both had strong games and linked up to decent effect during the match. Andy got his second late headed winner in a week. I enjoyed Carra saying that this goal was worth 35 million on its own, but in fairness only time will tell if he ever proves to be worth the kind of money we spent. This was a decent place to start. At the very least he has secured a place in the folklore of the club and for that he should be proud. He has enough time to make some impact through the rest of the season and if he stays injury free over the summer, who knows how next season will turn out for him.

Wembley.
We waited a while before making our first appearance in new Wembley, but like the busses we've now been there twice in just a few weeks. We've secured 2 victories and who would bet against us securing a third in 3 weeks time? Anfield south, is proving to be a good hunting ground once more.

Things can change.... quickly

I should probably start with an apology for the lack of Articles over the last few weeks. Any readers who know me will know that my Wife and I welcomed our 2nd baby into the world last Wednesday, and to be honest the weeks leading up to then have been bedlam. Not that I will have loads of free time for a while but I should be able to work out a routine to get back to producing at least 1 Article a week going forward. I actually had a comprehensive article on the Arsenal defeat fully prepared but I never published it as it was out of date by the time I had a chance to.

With the baby coming home on Saturday, surprisingly in time for the match, I settled down to watch our game against Sunderland with the expectation that there was a script written and that after a few hard weeks, both personally and in terms of Liverpool we would return to normality by gaining victory. Sunderland had been in good form since appointing O’Neill, but so had Liverpool, albeit with the same difficulties in terms of chance conversion, I was confident we would have enough to beat them although I did accept that this would be a difficult game. As has happened so many times this season, my prediction was wrong.

From the minute I heard the team was slightly confused by our starting line-up. There is a persistence with selecting players who seem so clearly out of form and I find very difficult to understand. There was nobody named in our starting line-up who I am prepared to write off as Liverpool players just yet. Arguments on the merits of players that end with comments like “he’ll never be a liverpool player, simple as” baffle me completely. I’ve seen too many supposed failures reach unexpected heights and too many iron clad successes fall flat on their faces to ever base opinions about players on a short term of reference. Particularly when players are still young and learning their trade, or still acclimatising to life at Liverpool. I must admit, I am struggling to reconcile this point of view whilst watching Charlie Adam at the moment but I have no doubt that he is being utilised so often through necessity due to our midfield injury troubles this season. Also I have to accept that what I, or any other fan, see of the players and know about the players probably makes up about 10% of what goes into selecting the team week to week.

I’m not going to go into the game itself too much, sufficed to say I was not happy with our performance. Like a lot of fans, I have no problem expressing my frustrations and asking questions as to why this isn't done and that isn't done, but when it all boils down to it I honestly cannot suggest any quick fix solutions to the problems we face right now. Its not simply a matter of 1 or 2 things that can be solved by instant decisions, but at the same time lets not throw out the baby with the bath water and start demanding huge changes purely because of frustration. One major frustration is when Kenny doesn't criticise the players following a performance like this, but lets be realistic such criticism would do no more than appease fans for a very short period of time but could damage the team on a much larger time frame. I have no doubt there is a major crisis of confidence amongst the players right now (how many spot kicks have we missed again?) and that needs to be managed very carefully.

I don't want to sound like I’m trying to be positive just for the sake of it. I know from talking to some fans that some people have reached a type of point of no return where trying to point out any type of positive is seen as crazy talk. I think that people who cannot acknowledge, or remember that this is not the first time we’ve been down, and it wont be the last either, are crazy. I’m always saying it but the only way to control your emotions and not allow yourself to be eaten up by despair is to maintain some sense of perspective. One of the things I've heard that particularly annoys me is people saying that we are no better off than we were under Roy. I can admit that we are currently going through a run of results that were typical during Hodgson’s time, but the repercussions of those results are nowhere near as drastic as they were becoming at that time. I’ve repeated myself far too much this season to bother pointing out the steps forward that we have taken in the last 12 to 15 months and to be frank I think if anyone still needs these improvements spelled out they are probably too far gone for their minds to be changed.

We are down right now but we will not stay down. We have, at the very least a very strong spine of players who have experience and will fight tooth and nail to see this club succeed. We have a manager who, while still in the early days of this term in charge, has shown he can manage this team to fantastic performances and results. He lives and breaths the club, the city and its supporters. We have already won a trophy and have booked our place in next seasons UEFA cup. We are still in the FA Cup.

Regardless of League position, current form, or even time of the year we have a fixture on Tuesday which is always the first I look to at the start of the season - the home tie against Everton. This one ALWAYS sets the pulses racing no matter what the end result. It offers a perfect opportunity for the players to win the fans over again and gives the whole team a chance to redeem themselves. It is also a perfect opportunity to change mindsets and get back in form. Its important to remember that things can change very quickly, sure only last week it was possible for me to get a full nights sleep. It might seem unlikely but the hardship is what makes it all worthwhile.

YNWA

Liverpool 1 - 1 Man City (Talking Points)

Prior to the game I think most Liverpool fans would have been content with a draw in this one. Everyone knew the type of form that City have been in. They were unbeaten and yet to score less than 2 goals in any of their previous games in the Premier League. They had recently recorded an astonishing victory over the reigning Champions and their fierce neighbours and they were playing the kind of attacking football that had journalists and pundits searching for superlatives to describe them. Liverpool’s form had seemed to be improving too. Fresh from a strong victory over Chelsea we were hopeful and believed it might happen rather than full of confidence that it would. The game opened with City looking the stronger of the two teams. The game plan seemed to be to cede possession with confidence that we could repel their attacks. After soaking up some pressure we would hope to hit them on the break. Suarez looked a little isolated at times as the lone front man during this opening spell. Before the half hour mark we had began to gain better possession and looked to try to take control. Unfortunately it was about this time too, when Kompany rose with his shoulder to give City the lead. It never felt like disaster though and the players clearly had belief.  Parity was restored moments later from Charlie Adam, via a massive deflection off Former Everton player the eleph....   Jolean Lescott. The second half was very entertaining. Liverpool clearly felt they could win the game and played without much restraint. City went down to 10 men when Balotelli lived up to his reputation somewhat by being sent off. There were more chances for both teams, with Joe Hart taking off a couple of brilliant saves in the dying minutes to help earn his league chasing side a point. After the game, the pre match acceptance of a point gave way to a sense of frustration that we couldn’t win the game when overall I think our performance could easily have deserved more. Its times like this though that it’s important to look at the bigger picture. A draw against this City side is no poor result. And if we look at the context of the last 2 weeks 4 points from consecutive games against Chelsea and City is a decent return. We go into a decent run of winnable fixtures and in all honesty picking up 3 points in each of our next few games will mean more than this one result. In the last few years we have struggled when expected to win and flourished against the bigger teams. This season so far has been true to form, but we now have a very good chance to correct that. Next up is the quarter final of the Carling Cup away to Chelsea but that’s followed by Fulham, QPR, Villa, Wigan and Blackburn. If we maintain our standards each of these games is winnable, but after 3 high intensity contests it will be difficult to maintain the form. Its times like this when the form might drop off slightly, hopefully Steven Gerrard will be back in during this period, and this alone can help keep the players intensity high.

The Defence

Yet again Carra remained sat on the bench, and yet again it didn’t seem like we missed him too much at all. I think a lot of people are being a bit premature in writing off his Liverpool career but there certainly has been a change in his status as an automatic pick. People have been talking of the Skrtel and Agger combination as the future of Liverpool’s defence for a while now but we’ve never really had an extended chance to witness this due to Agger’s injuries and Skrtel’s form at times. Now though we are starting to see this fledgling partnership start to blossom and I think they look better in tandem that any other possible pairing in this position. There is no doubt that Carra will return to the starting line-up soon. Probably in the Carling Cup on Tuesday night, or if not the next time Dagger breaks down but when he does at least we know that we have promise for the future in this area of the park. Sebastian Coates has looked promising in his few appearances too so there is genuine cause for optimism in this area of the park.

Substitutions

I must admit I find myself getting quite frustrated during games when were pushing to win and Kenny seems to wait an age to make a substitution. Even more so when the substation comes and its not the one I was calling for. Of course the obvious question is why do I think I know better than Kenny on this front. When it comes to these changes it’s a lot more complicated than simply saying “well player a is playing shite so bring player b on and well get the winner”. There are a myriad of things which go into these decisions, form being just one. It depends on what the other team are doing, whether a player is an injury concern, how a players been doing in training etc. In this game again, when the substitution came it was after a sending off and made sense, it also helped us keep control of the game. Carroll even came very close to netting the elusive winner with a header close to the end of the game. I would like to have seen Maxi introduced at some point as Downing seemed to put in another sub –standard performance, but all in all I think the shape helped us keep control so as ever it seems Kenny was proved right.

Zonal Marking

I can’t let the opportunity pass to point out that Liverpool conceded a goal from a corner in this game, and I didn’t hear one commentator or read one journalist talking about our defensive tactic as blame for giving away the chance. Cast your mind back to when Rafa was in charge, everytime we conceded from a corner the “experts” were lining up to point to Zonal Marking as the reason for this. Completely ignoring the fact that we had a superb record in relation to defending corners during this period. I’m not pointing this out to try to explain the virtues of either Zonal or Man to Man marking on corners. I’m saying it more to point out the idiocy of said “experts”. On Saturday, contrary to the lack of criticism, you could see that Man to Man marking may very well have been to blame. Dirk and Glen both make a move in the same Zone because they are following either ball or man, they trip each other up which leaves Kompany unmarked to shoulder home. Neither style of defending corners is faultless and from time to time no matter how you defend you will concede from set pieces due to excellent delivery or fantastic execution, I just thought this was a decent opportunity to point this out.

Liverpool 2 - 1 Chelsea (Talking Points)

I must admit I was nervous about this fixture. It just felt like we needed things to click in order for us to win this one. Everyone will be aware that we had suffered a few poor home results recently and our profligacy issues were getting highlighted more and more over the last few weeks. It really felt like we would need to convert our chances in this game. We haven’t been at our strongest at the back in the last few weeks. Okay, we’d not conceded a lot of goals but we had conceded a fair few chances. Chelsea would punish us if we gave them opportunities to score, so we had to make sure we took our chances. I got more confidence when I saw our starting line-up though. In was Maxi and Bellamy, out went Carroll and Downing. We started off brightly and at times in the first half I felt this could reasonably be described as one of our best performances so far this season. We dipped a bit in the second half, Chelsea got into the ascendency and pushed back hard. They took control of the midfield and controlled things for a spell which culminated in an equaliser. There were some sensible tactical changes though which restored our control eventually leading to a great winner from Glen Johnson.

Maxi, Maxi Rodriguez goes down the wing for me!

It seemed a little unfair on Maxi that he had been out of the first team picture for pretty much the whole season so far. He was one of the most dependable players available for Kenny when he took over and he scored important goals as our season turned last year. It was great to see that his time out of the frame hadn’t diminished his goal-scoring form as his fine opener took his current scoring run to 8 goals in his last 5 league starts for Liverpool. A lot more people had started to question Dalglish’s decision to marginalise the player, the theory being that his intelligence, movement, creativity and finishing ability were exactly what we were lacking from midfield. Such theories are easy to trot out in pub conversations between amateur tacticians but often prove fruitless when an opportunity to prove them are presented. But in this case, the amateur theory was proven to be correct, and how! There was a lot to be admired in Maxi’s play. His very presence seemed to give the team more confidence when passing the ball, particularly in tight situations. The interchange in the lead up to his goal showed some evidence of this. His sharpness from the off was testimony to his professional attitude, a lesser player might have become lazy or distracted when out of the side but Maxi looked fit and alert and he deserves kudos for this. He certainly tired in the second half, due to a combination of lack of match fitness and his very high workrate. All big teams need to have players who while they want to start every week, must be prepared to be out of the side and be professional enough to be 100% ready when needed. Its something we’ve struggled with over the years, but in Maxi we seem to have this quality. I hope his attitude is rewarded with a prolonged return to the team.

The battle of the Ex's

A lot of talk and focus before the game had obviously been centred on Meireles and Torres. Two successful players for Liverpool who both left in acrimonious fashion were expected to be fired up and raring to kick-start their Chelsea careers against their former club. As it turned out, neither player was deemed worthy of a start by Andre Villas Boas. I saw something come up to say Torres had been brought on as a sub, but maybe that was a mistake because I didn’t notice him out on the pitch. Instead of these two it was another player playing against his old club that stole the headlines - Glen Johnson. Johnno’s return to fitness has been progressing nicely so far, and this performance certainly showed that he is now back. He had a great game all round but his finish for the winner was fantastic. He may have been helped a little by John Terry’s poor positioning but his run, confidence and the precision of his shot was worthy of winning any game. One or two people in fact pointed out Johnno’s own poor positioning for the Chelsea equaliser but I think its fair to say he made up for that. I was a bit surprised that he got man of the match from Sky, but I certainly don’t begrudge him the award.

Changes

As I discussed last week, the pressure had been building on our new signings over the past few weeks. When the results aren’t going the way we wanted, it is easy to look for scapegoats. If the scapegoats also have big transfer fees it makes it even easier to pick on them. Carroll, Downing Hendo and to a lesser extent Adam have been the scapegoats of choice for many over the last few weeks. Regardless of the fact that it made tactical sense I thought it was a very good decision to take these players away from the limelight a bit for this fixture. We’ve all spoken about the strength in depth we have this season and this game provided some evidence to back up that claim. It provides some breathing space for those in the firing line. Hendo came on and put in a really stong performance, much the way he did against Man U a few weeks ago. With Man City up next followed by another game against Chelsea, this time in the Carling Cup, There will be ample opportunity to spread games around and hopefully the new boys can rediscover their form under the radar.

Subtle Revelations

It seems strange to say it but something which doesn’t seem to have been mentioned by many people since the game is the absence of two of our Heroes. Two men who have been the epitome of everything that Liverpool stands for over the last few years. I’m talking of course about Stevie and Carra. Stevie’s injury luck has continued to be poor this season meaning he has featured very rarely this season and he again wasn’t available to be part of the squad for this game. Carra is further along the recovery road but wasn’t considered ready for a return to the first eleven. What’s not clear is whether the decision was based on fitness or form. Certainly Carra has been coming in for stick lately where he has been untouchable in previous years. Dagger has returned to fitness (touch wood) and Martin Skrtel, to my mind anyway, has been one of the best Centre Halves in the premiership so far this year. Either way, what is encouraging is that where in previous years Carra returning to fitness would mean an immediate return to the line-up, we are now comfortable enough to bide our time and the result we achieved certainly proved this. As for Stevie, there is no doubt that he remains one of the best players in the league. When he returns to fitness I have no doubt that he will strengthen the team in any position across the midfield, or further advanced. But what’s been striking about his absence is how little people have been talking about it. We achieved a fantastic result on Sunday, and it didn’t seem like we missed our talisman at all in the game. The fact that the absence of two such legends is worthy only of a footnote, not a headline, can only be taken as another mark to prove the strength of our squad.

Current Frustrations - Talking Points

Unfortunately Saturday turned out to be another mediocre performance where we went in with a very realistic ambition to win the three points but ended the day very frustrated having tried but failed to achieve all we felt was possible. After 90 minutes on Saturday I felt very low indeed. I had seen our form dip and rise (and then repeat) through the season so far but I really felt after the very comfortable (although not amazing) performance against WBA last week that we were ready to push on, hit some decent form and keep improving. On paper a home game against a newly promoted side always looks win-able. Unfortunately, if you don’t put games like this to bed when the early chances arrive, your own confidence suffers and the opposition’s confidence rises. Of course when at Anfield this can lead to the fans getting restless and all of a sudden there is a huge uphill battle to climb. Saturday followed this pattern to a T. Andy Carroll had an early chance which he struck well but unluckily crashed off the cross bar. From that minute you get a feeling of, oh no – not another one of these games. It took me a full day to cool down after the result and try to view things more calmly. Immediately after the game I was giving out about this and that and at times like this I know the best thing to do is stay away from twitter, facebook and message boards. I’m wound up enough without listening to the poisonous diatribe of the Doom-mongers not to mention wind-up merchant fans of other clubs. There’s plenty that I’m frustrated at right now and plenty of points I’ve heard others raise. I’m going to try to raise a few of them here and give them my own sense of perspective. These are my opinions and these are the reasons why I won’t let myself get too down, or agree with the points,  about where we are right now. I hope you’ll use the comments section below the article to agree or disagree, I’m more than happy to have some constructive debate on the subjects.

Complaint:                     Suarez’ Goal Ratio

Example comment:         He’s a good player but he’s no goal scorer

I’ve been guilty of this one myself, in fact I remember a long conversation with family after the Utd game where I was making this exact point. The difference is that it’s now being used by some as a stick to beat the team or Suarez himself with. When I made the argument it was to highlight that he is a brilliant player but that is something which, if improved, could make him even better. The thing that gets me about this argument is that although Luis may miss some chances, he makes most of these chances himself. Its not like we can say “oh Micheal Owen would be scoring bagfuls if he was in that team” because its not true. MO wouldn’t because he would need the other players to make his chances. Most of the chances Luis gets are down to his own endeavour so even if he does miss them, nobody else would have been capable of making the chance in the first place. He’s also not getting a lot of luck with his finishing at times. He could have had 2 on Saturday if not for the Swansea keeper’s superb performance. Same has been true against a few sides this season. I think he has had a decent return goal-wise so far with 7 goals in 14 games (all competitions) He could have had a lot more and I’m sure he’ll start converting more of his chances soon.

Complaint:                     Kenny’s too old

Example comment:         Its been years since he’s won anything, maybe we should get rid now.

No, just No! I don’t know what people expected Kenny to achieve in his first full season in charge. I can’t help but ask myself did he possibly over achieve in his brief caretaker role for the 2^nd half of last season? Perhaps after the upturn people just thought, thats it were back now we’ll win the league next year. Quite simply that was NEVER a possibility. Kenny steadied the ship last year and lifted us out of the doldrums with a very weak squad. He is 11 league games into his role on a full time basis. The players are still learning his methods and will certainly improve with him. I certainly don’t see that age has anything to do with anything. Remember Rafa’s first season? Or Houllier’s? Inconsistency comes hand in hand with a new manager. Changes to playing staff, tactics pre-game rituals can all be unsettling to players especially when trying to bed in so many at once. I know that there are very few managers in the world who boast such an impressive CV and there are none who can command the respect of our dressing room with such ease. I think Kenny is learning more about his players week in week out. Those calling for a change in manager would quite simply want to cop on! At the end of the day.... this is Kenny Dalglish at the very least the man deserves more respect. I thought it was very refreshing that he didn’t try to make any excuses after the Swansea game. He seemed to agree with supporters that this performance simply wasn’t good enough and that improvement was needed. You can bet your last Euro/Pound/Dollar/Yen (Delete as appropriate) that Kenny will be working every waking minute to ensure that improvement happens!

Complaint:                     Disaster

Example Comment:        We’ll never get fourth place now

The thing is we have reasons to be down, that’s true. I cant argue that there are plenty of things that are frustrating me right now. But there is NO disaster at Liverpool Football Club right now. No matter what the gutter press try to say, no matter how many supporters of other clubs talk about it and no matter how many doom-monger fans throw this shite in your face. A disaster is where we were just about a year ago when the club had literally been crippled by debt by two ignominious owners who cared not one iota for the club or the fans and were prepared to see the club fall into administration rather than lose a penny of the money they hadn’t even invested in the club. Disaster was when we were sitting in the relegation zone after 10 games . Disaster was when we were under the command of a man who’s CV offered no consolation of an impending improvement. Who’s signings, tactics and weekly comments showed that he had no connection with the club, players or fans. A manager who called a 2-0 defeat to Everton one of our top 3 performances of the season.

I think most right minded Liverpool fans felt that we could hope to qualify for the Champions League this season. And if we look at things in context there is absolutely no reason to lower that ambition. We are currently in 6th place in the table, 3 points off Chelsea in 4^th. Newcastle currently occupy 3^rd place but they are about to embark on the most difficult period in their season so far, I think its reasonable to expect that they will drop some points over the next few weeks. Things haven’t quite clicked yet, but that is always the case when so many new players along with a new manager, need to bed in together. We are now on an international break so hopefully (injuries permitting) our boys will come back raring to get on a run and start stringing some wins together. We have an immediate opportunity to start clawing our way to fourth when we face Chelsea in our next game. This is followed by a game against Man City which is nearly a no lose game for us. After that we have a decent run of winnable games which, if we can start converting more of our chances, could see us make a significant climb up the table. It’s a long season, most teams will have a period when things don’t go the way they want them to but that doesn’t mean that everything has to be an apocalypse. At times you just need to keep some perspective. I know one thing, Kenny, Steve Clarke and all the players will be working 100% to ensure an improvement.

There are more points to be discussed, but as this article turned into such a long one I thought I would break it into 2 parts. I hope to get part 2 up before the end of the weekend. Be sure to sign up to receive email alerts so that you don’t miss it!

Spurs 4 - 0 Liverpool (Talking Points)

Liverpool travelled to White Hart Lane on Saturday hoping to rekindle their early season form but instead suffered a bit of a thrashing from Spurs. It really was a day when everything seemed to go wrong, although while defeat seemed likely from the kick-off the score line surely would not have been possible but for 2 sendings off. Spurs were brightest from the first whistle and had chances to open the scoring even before Luka Modric’s sublime effort in the 7th minute. While trying to stop the Croats effort Daniel Agger managed to damage his ribs and he was in evident pain from then until his withdrawal at about 20 minutes. Dagger has been our best defender so far this season but unfortunately his injury curse has stuck again and it seems like he will miss at least a few weeks as a result of this latest set-back. Young Uruguayan defender Sebastian Coates came on in Dagger’s stead to make his debut in a Liverpool shirt.Shortly after Agger was replaced, Charlie Adam was also leaving the field, Kenny Dalglish however didn’t have the luxury of replacing the Scot, because Adam was leaving after receiving his second yellow card, for a tackle which although it didn’t seem malicious was certainly reckless. From here on in damage limitation seemed to be the order of the day. Hold on in the game and hope to sneak one on the break. It seemed that we had achieved the unlikely equaliser before half time when Luis Suarez slotted home but his strike was ruled out for offside, upon seeing the replay it was clear this was the correct decision. The game continued at 1-0 into the second half when another unnecessary foul, this time from Martin Skrtel earned him his second yellow and an early bath. With Glen Johnson injured and Martin Kelly only regaining his fitness, Skrtel in an unfamiliar role was preferred to young JohnFlanagan in his natural position. It seemed a strange decision, but more on that later. By the time the final whistle blew Liverpool had conceded a further 3 times, 2 goals from Adebeyor and 1 from Defoe. It was a dark day and certainly one we cannot allow to linger. The lads need to regain their confidence and soon before any downward spiral begins to take hold. Our next opportunity is away at Brighton in the Carling Cup, for me its not an ideal fixture. It’s a real no-win situation, where by a win will be greeted as no less than expected but a loss could be used by critics as a major stick and the players themselves would find it much harder to restore confidence. Let’s not expect a cricket score, a win would be enough to satisfy me and begin the turn around in fortunes to set us up nicely for the Wolves game next week.

Perspective 

The old adage that “your only as good as your last game” is a truism of modern football. Its an adage which I’ve never gone for. When trying to determine where your team is at any moment a sense of perspective is needed. True this performance was poor but there are certain extenuating circumstances which need to be thought of along with the result. Its very easy to watch a poor performance, accompanied of course by a surprise score line and decide that that means we are currently crap, the players are crap, tactics are crap and the manager is crap. How true is this though? I mean the players were certainly poor on the day, with one or two exceptions, and I am certainly of the opinion that some of Kenny’s decisions were not very good, but this game doesn’t reflect an entire season. Only 2 weeks ago the players were on top form, our tactics spot on and changes were influential as we put in a stellar performance against Bolton at home. Throughout the upturn in fortunes since the Kings second coming we have seen magnificent performances against Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal. We have pride back and we are building towards a new set up with a lot of new young blood in what will surely be a very exciting team. Nobody can expect that everything is going to click immediately and that we will be unbeatable throughout the campaign. The players will have more off days, and the manager will make mistakes, every manager does. In the grander scheme of things though there will be more good performances than bad, and more great decisions than poor ones. In the same way as we shouldn’t herald every victory as a return to greatness we should be careful not to over emphasise poor games as a sign of regression. The manager still has plenty to learn about his players and the players have a lot to learn about each other.

Tactics

There were a few decisions on the day that I found hard to interpret. Of course I am only talking about these because we suffered defeat, had the game plan worked there would be no need to think about any of these. But after seeing how the game pans out, and with the benefit of hindsight you can spot things which may have been improved if different choices had been made. I thought the decision to go with a straight 4-4-2 seemed strange, especially starting with Suarez & Carroll together for the first time in a few weeks. I felt Andy was one of our better players on the day actually so its not that i didn’t want him in the team, i felt thought if we were going with the 2 up top either Kuyt or Bellamy may have been the better option as they could drop off and become auxiliary midfielders when we lost possession. Having said that, Spurs are quite a big team these days so perhaps Kenny felt we needed Andy’s height for defending set pieces. In the end we were being over-run in the middle of the park prior to Adam’s exit. Lucas worked hard, doing what he doesn’t, but i felt he wasn’t given much help by Adam, Downing or Hendo. Of course, all three of the midfielders I just named had weak games and so perhaps an extra body wouldn’t have helped either way.

Our right hand side also seemed to be screaming out to be attacked. As mentioned before Skrtel was chosen to play out of position at right full, I presume Kenny made the decision due to Spurs quality on their left, he went with the experience of the Slovakian rather than play Flanno who is natural in the position but clearly still a bit green. That seems like a reasonable decision but the question mark for me is in advance of this position. Hendo was picked again to play right midfield, this lessened the support on offer to whichever right back was picked to play. I just want to point out, I don’t actually have any problem with Hendo, but he is still young and while he has attributes in an attacking sense he doesn’t offer much yet defensively. It seemed clear to me that whether we chose Skrtel (out of position) or Flanagan (inexperienced) Spurs were going to attack our right full back, and knowing this maybe it would have been a better idea to offer the better protection of Dirk Kuyt who would get up and down and take a bit of pressure off the full back. While i’m on the subject, i thought it was also strange that Flanno didn’t even make the bench in the end. It seems that Kenny has lost a bit of trust for him. From starting our first game of the season against Sunderland he is no out of the picture, even when he is our only fit right full. In that Sunderland game he was blamed for their goal, he lost his concentration on one or two occasions during the game but at the time i felt he would need a break but get back into the squad soon enough. The thing is, in that game he was paired on the right with Hendo, and i personally felt that his lapses in concentration were connected to the lack of support he had been offered throughout the game. I wonder if his fall has something to do with Kenny’s faith in Hendo? He knows he cant play them both together but right now it seems that he has complete faith in Hendo, which seems to mean young Flanno has to miss out.

Stoke 1 - 0 Liverpool (Talking Points)

Liverpool fell to their first defeat of the new season on Saturday when we were defeated 1 - 0 at the Brittania stadium. Liverpool had started the season well and in our first three games of the season we certainly seemed to be improving with each performance. So much so that expectations for the season ahead had started to rise. From aiming for a return to the Champions League suddenly there was talk of title challenges and people were starting to consider us as only behind the 2 Manchester clubs in our aims for the season. If there is any positive to be gained from this defeat its that hopefully it will give everyone a slight reality check. Its not that optimism itself is a huge problem, but when expectations get too high, a team, at our early stage of development, can end up in a no win situation. If people start to have expectations above what is realistically achievable they can only be disappointed when the expectation is not realised. We saw this a few years back when a second place finish under Rafa somehow became painted as utter failure, regardless of the fact that we got 86 points, lost only two games in an entire season and finished behind a Man Utd team who picked up 90 points! As things stand we still in a decent position and in line with our realistic targets. We are not the only team who will come away from Stoke with nothing and the performance by the man in black (charcoal?) on the day was nothing to be ashamed of. We were in control of the game for the most part and how we didn’t score at least once on the day is beyond me. Jordan Henderson alone could have had three, alone all in the same move! The fact that the performance levels never slipped and the effort put in right until the end, shows that the players haven’t necessarily lost form, it just wasn’t to be on the day. It certainly wont knock |Kenny, or the players, confidence going into next weeks game against Spurs.

Kenny’s post game comments

I’ve heard a lot of comment over the last couple of days about Kenny’s post match comments regarding the referee. Some are trying to use them to say that Kenny is clearly in a state of paranoia and getting worried now that his honeymoon period is over. Ridiculous! What Kenny said was nothing more than the kind of statement Fergie has been making for the last 20 years when he spots a pattern of decisions going against his team. it’s a kind of mind game where he knows he cannot influence what has happened in this, or pre-ceding games, but he is trying to influence the referee’s thoughts in our next games when there is a 50/50 decision to be made. There’s nothing wrong with that, Lord knows we can use all the help we can get this season! The comments about speaking to the owners about which course of action to follow are, I believe, for effect only. I would be very surprised if there are any official complaints made by Liverpool. Hopefully the short few comments will have the desired effect and there will be no more need for discussion on the subject!

The Penalty

To be 100% honest, I think there was enough to excuse the referee giving this penalty. I’m no fan of Clattendburg, I find it very hard to read him as a ref. but on this occasion he probably got it right. Carra gets himself into an awkward position by allowing Waters to get his body between him and the ball which leads to him putting his arm around Waters. I certainly don’t believe that he pulled the Stoke man to the ground, but by putting his arm round he gives the striker the chance to go down, and gives the referee a decision to make. Put it this way, if this was up the other end I would have been screaming for a pen!

The Performance 

Of course, whilst watching your team suffering a loss and immediately after the game its very easy to say it was shite and rant about the performance, once you let the dust settle a bit you can look back on the game and see things a little clearer. We didn’t hit the heights we’d been hitting recently but we were still very much in control of the game from early on. Stoke did their thing and played a solid hardworking game but never put us under much pressure. We started with a strong team. Skrtel, who had impressed in this position last time out, continued at Right Back. Caroll stayed on the bench leaving Kuyt to start up top with Suarez and Hendo moved to the right. The new boys in particular struggled in this game. Downing’s levels dropped, Henderson and Adam, even more noticeably, but we still had enough on the day to win the game, we created enough chances. The team worked hard enough, as said before, if we continue in this vein we will certainly win more than we lose.

Arsenal 0 - 2 Liverpool (Talking Points)

On Saturday we achieved our first win of the 2011/12, we also simultaneously won our first away fixture against Arsenal in almost 11 years. Suarez was dropped to the bench for this fixture, along with John Flanagan, who made way for Dirk Kuyt and Martin Kelly respectively. Arsenal were clearly under strength, between injuries and high profile departures, they were not at their strongest. This was still Arsenal though, and through the game they looked pretty strong at times. Liverpool looked strong too and for the first time in as long as can remember we dominated possession against Arsenal. We were a little fortunate in that the first goal was a pretty calamitous own goal from Arsenal, but i don’t think many people would deny that Liverpool were worthy winners on the day. Certainly there were no question marks over the quality of our second goal.

A Lucky Victory

A lot of people have been writing this victory off as nothing more than a “lucky” victory. From fans of other clubs this is no more than we’ve grown to expect, but I have hear it said by a lot of Liverpool fans too, which is surprising. There are a number of things people point to back up this “lucky” theory. Firstly, the early injury to Koscielny, well this is just one of those things really isn’t it? In this very fixture last season we had to start with John Flanagan (still in his first few appearances) at Right Back, he was quickly joined by Jack Robinson on at Left back when Fabio Aurelio succumbed to his usual fate. I don’t remember Liverpool being given extra credit for achieving a draw in that game and so similarly I don’t think Arsenal’s injury issue should take anything away from this victory. Secondly the sending off of Frimpong. The only thing lucky for Liverpool about this sending off was that the tackle which lead to his second yellow card didn’t also lead to Lucas being seriously injured! That tackle on its own could very well have resulted in a straight red card, and I’m sorry but Frimpong had been at it all game. He really does look like an outstanding player and I’m sure it was not malicious, most likely nothing more than youthful naivety, but from the first few minutes he was throwing himself into tackles, having niggles and moans at the referee and opposition players so it seemed it could happen that he receive a second yellow at some point, if his manager chose not to take him off having seen all this then I don’t think that is as much down to our good fortune as it is the player or manager themselves. Finally, we come to the Own Goal and Offside. I wont for one minute try to deny that the OG was good fortune. The offside may have been fortunate too, but it was an incredibly difficult call, the kind of one where if its given against you moan, no matter which team you support. My problem with the own goal being used as fuel for the “lucky” win theory is that this wasn’t the type of OG where a defender tries a hopeful punt back to his keeper only for the keeper to fall and allow it in. This was a crisp passing move where Liverpool forced the ball into a very dangerous position which left a young defender in trouble in a crowded penalty area, he tried to clear through the bodies and it took a wicked deflection over the, here-to unbeatable Szezesny. It was a fortunate outcome but it was forced too.

The Squad

Liverpool started this game with the strongest bench I can remember for a while. Doni, Skrtel, Flanagan, Spearing, Maxi, Meireles, Suarez. The bench had natural cover all over the pitch. It contained some experienced players and it also contained some game changers. Of course Suarez would be everbody’s starting 11 whenever fit, but it showed something new to us that even with these players on the pitch we had a very strong starting 11 on the pitch, a starting 11 which you would back against the majority of premiership teams. Lets not forget that we still have Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson, Fabio Aurelio, and although it seems nailed on that he will leave soon Alberto Aquilani, in reserve. I would still like us to improve in certain area’s a centre back seems to be lined up by the club and I personally feel we need a back-up striker, but the squad is certainly taking shape and looking stronger than in recent seasons.

The Big Man up Top

Are certain people under some contractual obligation to mention Andy Carroll’s fee every time they mention his name? “Was that worth £35 million?” is the usual refrain, the only way to stop this question being asked is for everyone of Andy Carroll’s touches to be a header into the top corner, or to score a 25 yard screamer with every shot. I understand that Andy Carroll is by no means the finished product and I understand that his price tag seems to reflect that of a player who is very much the finished product, but lets keep things in perspective and not write him off after every poor touch or every goal-less game. I personally think he is doing ok overall. He came into the team last season when clearly not fit and scored a few good goals to get him off the mark. He has done well in getting a full pre-season under his belt, and although he is not at 100% fitness at this early point in the season, neither are most of our players. The team has a set up now which will naturally lead to getting more out of Andy. We can see that our wingers have been told to hit him when in possession out wide. The problem at the moment seems to be too many balls into his head, don’t get me wrong I know the wingers are mostly going to hit his head, and while on the subject I think it’s pretty incredible how many crosses he actually gets his head to, I know these haven’t lead to goals in the first two games but once it all starts clicking it should prove very productive. When I say the problem is too many balls into his head I mean more-so from midfield and defence. When under pressure or when rushing to start a move its an easy option to just lump it, but this ignores the fact that Andy is strong in possession and a lot of the time it would be preferable to see the ball played to him to hold-up, wait for support, lay-off and go. This hasn’t been happening too much so far but I’m sure it will come as the players get more used to playing with him, and of course he with them.

Liverpool 1 - 1 Sunderland (Talking Points)

The new season officially began with a one all draw against Sunderland. Anticipation had been getting higher as the season approached and in the opening half an hour of the game it seemed that all the optimism was totally justified. Early in the game Liverpool were completely in control, we attacked well and early on Suarez went through one on one with the keeper and won a penalty. The shine was quickly taken off the penalty though when referee Phil Dowd failed to dismiss Kieron Richardson, and also of course when Suarez missed the penalty with some flair! He made up for this of course a few minutes later when he got the all important flick to a dangerous Charlie Adam free kick. At this point in the game it seemed Liverpool would capitalise on our control, as the half continued we had many more chances. Adam had a long range effort saved, Downing smashed the cross bar following a blitzing run from the half way line there were other less notable chances too. The best chance of course fell to Andy Carroll who finished it well, the referee struck again though when he disallowed the goal. As half time approached, with the important second goal proving more elusive it became apparent that Liverpool’s intensity had dropped, it seemed the players were getting tired, we hoped that the half time break would prove to re-invigorate them, unfortunately this wasn’t the case. Sunderland were the stronger side throughout the second half and equalized in some style through, a debutant of their own in Sebastian Larsonn. Kenny made some changes, and the players tried to rally but were not able to raise their game to the levels achieved in the first half.

The sending off and penalty: 

The rules state that you receive a red card for denying a clear goal scoring opportunity and I don’t know of a much clearer goal scoring opportunity than Luis Suarez one v one with a goalkeeper.  The ref stated he was moving away from goal, but it is very hard to bring a ball around a goal keeper without momentarily going away from goal. To me, it seemed that Phil Dowd bottled it, he didn’t want to be the first ref to give out a red card in the season and so he took an excuse. I also think that if the rules lead to ambiguity then they need to be clarified for everybody. I think the penalty miss made have been as case of over confidence from Luis. He made up for the miss with his goal a few minutes later, you can be sure the Kop wont hold it against him, so long as he doesn’t make a habit out of it.

The disallowed goal:              

I’m not going to dwell on this too much, I could not see any reason for this goal to be disallowed. A very slight coming together between two players, the defender goes to ground and the referee blows for a free kick. If the same circumstances had left the Striker on the deck, You can be sure that a penalty wouldn’t have been awarded. It was a big decision, looking back on the game we can see how it panned out and say that a draw was a fair result, but who’s to know how a second goal at this point might have effected both teams performances?

The Performance: 

As I said earlier, Liverpool looked tired as the game wore on, I don’t think this is necessarily something for us to be overly concerned about. Pre-season training is not designed to have any team at peak fitness for the first game of the season, its usually  intended that a team hits peak from the second or third game onwards. I think there was enough in the first 30 minutes to show that this team has something about them. Once the team starts to gel and players start reaching their peaks we will be a force to be reckoned with.

There are other talking points, the right hand side, Flanno, the first 11, the tactics overall and playing people out of position but as this is the first game of the season i think we need to reserve judgement on a lot of things for the moment. If things keep on cropping up over the next few games I will certainly discuss them but for now I think we can trust that these issues are nothing more than teething problems

Arsenal 1 -1 Liverpool (Talking Points)

Fighting Spirit

The game against Arsenal ended in a draw which will have taught Kenny Dalglish more about his players than any victory could have. It was a performance full of grit, fighting spirit, commitment, team work and a visible camaraderie amongst the squad. We were dealt blow after blow throughout the game but we kept coming back and doing enough to ensure we were not beaten. Our performances had improved (to levels unrecognisable compared to the first half of the season) of late, but while we have won a few games with flair we have also wilted on a few occasions when things didn’t quite go to plan from the off. This was a game where we may not have been in control from start to finish but we never weakened even when put under intense pressure.

Just how many of these kids are ready for the 1st team?

Throughout this season a number of our youth players have been given their opportunity to prove themselves at the top level, each time this has happened the players have shown themselves to be capable at least and in a number of instances truly impressive. Martin Kelly and Jay Spearing have cemented their places in the first team picture to a level whereby we will be purchasing players to challenge them rather than to push them back into the reserve squads this summer. Kelly may be injured at the moment but Spearing put in another accomplished performance in the middle of the park. John Flanagan got another run out following his impressive debut on Monday night and continued where he left off, he was caught in possession and misplaced 1 or 2 passes but on the whole he seems a confident lad who doesn’t let any error get him down. Another success story was Jack Robinson, this was not his debut of course, his debut came in Rafa’s last game when he became the youngest player to ever wear the red shirt, but it was his first time playing in such a game against an opponent of the standard of Theo Wallcott. He defended resolutely and to my mind was only caught out of position on one occasion. He has pace and seems to be strong in the tackle, he still needs work but has at least shown he has the talent required.

As well as the youngsters who have already excelled in the first team, the U18’s are also proving that there may be more ready sooner than expected with an emphatic 6-0 victory over their Manchester United counterparts over the weekend. The result was impressive enough but the style on display has whetted appetites, as long as they keep proving when called upon, they will keep getting called!

It aint Over till its Over

Two players broke premier league records during the game, unfortunately for one of them it was the same record. Van Persie held the record for the latest ever Premier League goal for a grand total of 4 minutes when he netted his 98th minute penalty. Dirk Kuyt then took the title from him when he pushed home his effort in the 102th minute. When Arsenal took the lead it would have been very easy to take it that the game had been lost, for Liverpools players to drag themselves back into the game at that point showed fantastic character and proved that until the final whistle goes there is always a chance!

Aurelio, is his time up..... again?

There is no doubting Fabio Aurelio is a very good player. He is a player who when fit definitely warrants a place in our squad. The problem is he simply is not fit enough of the time. Rafa Benitez recognised this at the end of last season when he offered him a Pay as you Play contract which the player rejected. He was brought back from the wilderness by Roy Hodgson and given a new 2 year contract by Purslow (which by many accounts is quite lucrative given the fact that he was signed as a free agent). He has impressed on some occasions this season, as he has done in every season since his arrival, but every time he gets a run of form together he breaks down. We simply cannot rely on him going forward. Maybe its time to cut our losses hopefully there will be some clubs interested in him over the summer because as said, when fit he can certainly be an asset.

Liverpool 3 - 0 Manchester City (Talking Points)

This strange season continued on Monday when Liverpool completely outclassed the Billionaires plaything that is Manchester City. Right from the kick off Liverpool attacked their opponents by passing the ball quickly and fighting with total commitment to win the ball back whenever possession was conceded. Were the performance versus WBA the previous week had been pedestrian, bereft of effort and totally flat, this performance was full of verve with every player putting in the required 100% to ensure this victory. The performance was all the more impressive due to the absentee’s, Liverpool were deprived of 4 players who have been regulars in our starting line-up but that wasn’t obvious from the display. Manchester City may have a bottomless pit of cash at their disposal and 2 of our goals came our most expensive ever signing but this result showed that money is not the be all and end all, hard work and passion can still win the day.

Sweet Carroll 9:

Following the WBA game i heard a lot of commentators beginning to mention the fact that Carroll had not yet gotten off the mark, completely ignoring the fact that he is still recovering from injury. This of course was ridiculous criticism but due to his price tag pressure, even if it was unreasonable, was beginning to gather. As soon as the ball hit the Anny Road net all that pressure disappeared. The fact that it was a screamer and a great show of what he can bring to the side was just a bonus. Liverpool fans weren’t worried about the time when his first goal came but pressure is a funny thing, the longer it goes without a first goal the harder it can become (Just ask Chelsea’s number 9). To get it out of the way now just buys him some more space to acclimatise at his own pace. His first goal was actually fairly similar to the one he scored against us earlier in the season and the second was a gal which is more typical of his reputation. He was taken off by the King with a minute to go which meant he received a deserved standing ovation from the Anfield faithful.

You can rely on Dirk:

We were without our talismanic captain for this game, we had players who were still bedding into the side and had a few youngsters in the line up, we needed someone to set the tone and lead by example, as ever Dirk Kuyt stepped up. Its pretty widely acknowledged that Dirk is a big game player as he proves this time and time again but a friend pointed out something to me that his girlfriend had noticed during the game, Dirk seems to perform well when Gerrard is out of the side. It made me think that while its not something i have paid much attention to up to now there could very well be some truth in it. Either way in this game Dirk showed all his qualities, he was simply everywhere, with Martin Tyler even remarking at one point “are you sure there is only 1 Dirk Kuyt on the pitch tonight?”He deserved his goal, a goal which means he now has scored as many goals for Liverpool this season as Torres has. He was also chosen by Sky to present Andy Carroll’s Man of the Match trophy, an award which he probably should have won himself, but Dirk wont be bothered by that. He will know the award will mean more to Andy Carroll as he beds in.

Lucas keeps proving his critics wrong:

Lucas is still a cause of disagreement among Liverpool fans. Depending on what side of the fence you sit he is either an integral part of our squad who breaks up play and keeps the ball moving or he is a waste of space who epitomises everything that is wrong with our squad right now. Me? I personal am a big fan of our Brazilian midfielder. I’m a fan of him as a player and even more so as a man. This is a player who has been vilified by many from the moment he arrived at Anfield. He has even been boo’ed by sections of his own supporters but always he kept his dignity by just plugging away and doing the job he is there for. He has now been trusted by 3 different Liverpool managers and has become an important member of the Brazil national team since the world cup. His performance in this game showed a lot of his qualities. He still gets caught on the ball pretty often but it’s important to remember that he is still only 23. He has improved every year since being at the club and he has just been awarded a new contract which means he should still be wearing red as he enters the prime of his career.

Youth is the way forward:

John Flanagan, an 18 year old Liverpudlian made his debut at right back and looked like he’d been in the team all season. Due to our current injury crisis in defence Flanno was given an opportunity he probably hadn’t expected yet but my word did he prove the decision right? Its always difficult with young players because you cant really tell if they are ready until they are given a chance. This is even more true with youngsters who play in defence because the slightest mistake can lead to a goal conceded. Flanno looked comfortable when in possession and never panicked on the ball, he also showed for the ball at every opportunity which is encouraging. He made important tackles at times and showed strength against much more experienced players. Jay Spearing had another encouraging performance in Centre Mid. He still has a lot to learn, and he needs to be more consistent game to game but he has shown enough this year to convince that he may be able to force his way into the team. This is of course going to be more difficult for him next season after Kenny has had a chance to spend some money but if he is good enough he will get more opportunities, and its up to him to keep proving himself.

Its great to see smiling faces again:

Of course I’ve spoken before about how Kenny’s return has re-united the squad but isn’t it great to see the players all smiling again, especially a smiling number 9, God knows its been a while!

Sunderland 0 - 2 Liverpool (Talking Points)

After the bitter disappointment of leaving the Europa League at the hands of FC Braga, Liverpool reminded us that we still have hope (albeit slim) of qualifying for European competition next year. It was a performance which was at the other extreme of the dour, listless performance on Thursday night. The performance was aided in no small part by the endeavour of our new number 7 who seems to excite more with every passing week.

A Midfielder comes of age:

Jay Spearing has been on the periphery of the side now for almost 3 years. He has been given time in less important games of low intensity and has never let anyone down when called upon. The thing is though, he has rarely shone that brightly either. There have been moments of promise but nothing to suggest that he was close to forcing his way into the starting 11 on a regular basis. This performance had plenty of that however as he began to grow into the game as the first half wore on. He showed intelligence and a little experience in cleverly cutting across John Mensa following the Sunderland man’s mistake which forced the foul which won the penalty, yes it was a fortuitous decision but more on that later. Spearing was surprisingly influential on the game throughout with stern tackling, crisp passing and some driving forward runs, one of which culminated in a curling shot which Sunderland Keeper Mignolet did brilliantly to keep out. One positive of the season so far has been the promise shown by a number of Liverpool’s youngsters. If Spearing can keep his performances to a similar level to the end of the season he will give us yet another reason to be excited.

I Just Can’t Get Enough: Luis Suarez:

What a Player, What a Song! To show how quickly and how fully the Liverpool faithful have taken our new Uruguayan to their hearts they had a brand new song which could be heard booming around the stadium of Light on Sunday. Its a proper Liverpool song, and is a worthy successor to the last hero’s song. Expect to hear it being copied poorly , with no shame and sang at clubs all over England in tribute to their own hero’s. At least we’ll remember who came up with it! As for the man himself he was brilliant on the day and just showed us all further reasons to be extremely happy with our winter transfer business. He also showed he likes to work hard and is happy to put in as much effort when chasing the ball and he does when chasing a goal. The finish was sublime and from a ridiculous angle. On Match of the Day I heard the couch potatos scoffing at the keepers efforts, but I think that ignores the skill shown by Luis in convincing the keeper he would cross and then dispatching a rocket into the back of the net. Altogether now:

To the tune of Just Can't Get Enough by Depeche Mode...

His name is Suarez, he wears the famous Red

I just can't get enough, I just can't get enough

When he scores a volley or when he scores a head

I just cant get enough, I just can't get enough

He scores a goal and the Kop go wild

And I just can't seem to get enough Suarez

Do-do-do-do-do-do-do

Do-do-do-do-do-do-do

Do-do-do-do-do-do-do

Luis Suarez!

The Partnership was finally given a go:

Due to Andy’s Injury when he arrived in L4 and Luis’ ineligibility for the Europa League fans have had to wait a long time to see the two new stars start a game in tandem. From this performance it was easy to see who was more match fit and I have spoken about Suarez’ performance above. The colossus had a few decent touches and caused trouble with his height on a number of occasions but it wasn’t exactly a blistering performance, although having said that he did have 2 good chances to open his account in Red (one of them a n absolute sitter). The Mackem’s, due to their fierce rivalry with their black and white neighbours were never going to give Andy an easy time, and his fitness levels at the moment made him look a little rusty which just made it all the easier for them. There were however enough contrasts on view however to assure all reds fans that this partnership is going to be something special. Andy flicked on to Luis a number of times and his aerial victories allowed us to keep possession on a number of occasions. When Luis had made a great run in the first half Andy dithered on the ball and wasted a half decent opportunity but that should not be dwelt upon. This is the type of flaw that will be corrected only through game time and match fitness.

Karma is a B*TCH!

I think even the most rose tinted red supporter can admit that the foul on Jay spearing took place (just) outside the area. The referee awarded a penalty and we were one nil up. The commentators jumped on top of it as if this were some huge controversy. Granted it was a contentious decision, which through the magic of instant replay we can see to be incorrect but really, don’t we see this kind of thing every week? Judgement calls which swing one way or the other often go in the wrong direction that’s just part and parcel of football. Its not like a goal was scored by the ball bouncing off a Beach Ball and past the goal keeper is it? No, that was last season in the same venue except this time it was scored against the home team!

Steve Bruce was up in arms after the game saying: I knew and [fourth official] Martin Atkinson knew within five seconds that it was outside the box with the technology we have got. Surely it has got to be time for those sort of things to be brought into play with all the technology we have got today."

Steve wasn’t so annoyed on the 6th of March when Sunderland benefited from a questionable decision by a linesman in their 0-0 draw at Arsenal. Steve Bruce laughs the call off, chuckling: "Well done the linesman."

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That’s it for this article, Liverpool have no game this week as there is an international break, I will put up a new Top 5 early next week just to keep things ticking over. Dont forget to use the comments section below to suggest any future articles you’d like to see.