Match Review: Liverpool 1-1 Man U

With the final score 1-1 LFC fans must feel a tad disappointed that we didn't get the win, especially after Steven Gerrard opened the scoring from a fee-kick with around 25 minutes to go.

United equalized on 82 minutes, but apart from that, Reina had little to do.  The Reds' chances in injury-time alone should have won them the game, with Skrtel missing from 6 yards and then Henderson heading over when unmarked.

My main complaint from this game is the lack of a second yellow, followed by a red card for Ferdinand for his foul on Charlie Adam just outside the United penalty area.  It was a clear yellow card offence but, as usual, the referee bottled it.  If Ferdinand hadn't already been carded, he would definitely have been for that challenge.

Gerrard scored from the subsequent free-kick and it would have been a totally different game with 11 vs 10.  Again a referee has cost us, in my opinion, through a lack of consistency and a lack of strength.

Ferguson came out after the game glossing over the fact Ferdinand should have been sent off and claiming there was not enough contact to bring Adam down and then had the cheek to claim the "Luis Suarez was diving all over the place".  He conveniently forgets the Berbatov's dive that resulted in a penalty that put us out of the FA Cup last season!!  OK for his team, but no-one else aye?  Typical load of rubbish from him.

On the plus side, we performed well against an in-form team and showed quality. especially in the second half.  We must continue this on and ensure we beat the lesser teams coming up if we are to beat Spurs and Arsenal to 4th.  YNWA.

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Match Review: Everton 0-2 LFC

It was a usual Merseyside Derby.  Fast and furious, with Everton overstepping the mark on occasions.  In the end, second-half goals from Andy Carroll & the fantastic Luis Suarez stole the points for the Reds, but that was just part of the story. 

The game was even until Jack Rodwell was sent off for a sliding challenge on Suarez, mid-way through the first half.  There's no doubt that Rodwell shouldn't even had a yellow card for the tackle on Suarez, but referee Martin Atkinson deemed it dangerous enough for a red. 

Everton have cause for complaint, just as the Reds did against Spurs two weeks ago.  I suppose things do even themselves out over a season.  That said, Tony Hibbert should have seen Red later in the half for a terrible challenge on Adam.  Hibbert had already been booked when he dived into a tackle, missing the ball and taking out the man.  Referee Atkinson didn't even wave play-on, so bottled it completely having probably realised his mistake in sending off Rodwell.  So again, these things even themselves out.  Either way, the Toffees should have been down to 10 men. 

They will argue that the game would have been different 11 vs 11.  Maybe so.  But if Rodwell hadn't gone then I'm sure Hibbert would have. 

It was only a matter of time when it was 10 vs 11, but Liverpool made a little hard work of things as Everton hung on. 

Kuyt has a first half penalty saved by Tim Howard and Adam hit the underside of the cross-bar late in the first half as the Reds cranked up the pressure.

It wasn't until the introduction of Gerrard for the fading Adam and Bellamy for Downing that Liverpool took the lead. 

Bellamy fed Luis Enrique down the left and his cross was turned-in by the much maligned Carroll for his first league goal of the season.

Suarez then capitalised on a mistake by Distin to seal a deserved win in the last 10 minutes as he, once again, picked up the man of the match award.

So Gerrard is back and looking good and Carroll and Suarez seem to be working better together.  Charlie Adam again faded in the second half which is a concern going forward, however, but all in all this was a good day at the office. 

There is now another international break, which always seems to happen when we get a bit of momentum going. 

Next up........... the mancs.  Come on you Reds!  YNWA.

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Match View: Brighton 1-2 LFC & LFC 2-1 Wolves

So two wins on the bounce have left Reds fans feeling far better than we did last Sunday. 

This was what we needed, an immediate response to the disaster at White Hart Lane.  Suarez and Bellamy looked really good together and Andy Carroll showed flashes of class against Wolves.  The two wins have been hard-fought and while deserved, have raised question marks over a couple of signings. 

While there's no doubt Charlie Adam has added quality we were missing last season, is he strong enough and dominant enough to boss the midfield?  He seems to start games well then go missing.  He picks up needless bookings and is not quick enough over the ground to be our main man in the middle. 

We need Gerrard to play, that's obvious, but where does Adam fit in when he does?  He can't replace Lucas, unless Gerrard sits deeper, which is not what we need at this stage, he needs to be further forward and make those famous driving runs into the box that not many can match.

He can't play wide as he isn't quick enough.  It'll be very interesting to see what happens.

The main one concerning me is Henderson.  He hasn't done anything since arriving.  What has he offered?  The threat against Wolves was always down the left, it seemed like no one wanted to pass to him as they didn't trust him.  Plus he wasn't making himself available often enough.  Surely Kuyt is better there at the moment.

Henderson doesn't deserve a place in the side, Kuyt and Bellamy should be ahead of him all day.  Maybe he will improve with time, but at £18 million he should be offering far more than he is.  Bad signing?  He needs to improve, let just say that.

On a more positive note, congrats to the players for bouncing back and good luck for the Derby next week.  YNWA.

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Match review: Spurs 4-0 Liverpool - What are we going to blame this week?

Last week's review of the loss to Stoke questioned why we, as fans, were accepting a defeat by saying, "Well at least we played well".  Rubbish. 

I asked the question what would happen when we played poorly and suggested that we'd get nothing, and that's what has happened this week.

Poor from the start, outplayed by the opposition, no real efforts on target, ripped apart by our challengers from 4th spot.

What's the excuse this week?  Referee again?  Bad pitch?  Early kick-off?  European game in mid-week?... don't think so.

The bottom line is, while we should always support the team, quite a few people are getting carried away by beating Bolton, who can't beat anyone and Arsenal, who have only beaten Swansea, and that was lucky.

We have to accept we are still well off a quality side and need to (a) gell as a team and (b) Add to the squad.

Is Carroll good enough?  Why did we buy Henderson?

Poor, poor, poor!  Unacceptable.

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