[Archived] Liverpool Match Review 2 - 2

[Flopsy]

FOUL - ITS SPELT - FOUL

However - positives from the game

1)what the (Please don't use that word again)'s happened to Emerton he had pace, skill, a final ball and a shot - He would have been my man of the match

2)Johansson - was great (still needs a haircut) - He would have been my man of the match

3)McEveley - would have been great if it wasnt for THAT free kick - almost made up for it with a fantastic last ditch tackle against Baros

4) Ferguson - I thought was absolutely stinking today - ran the midfield - passing was good, kept the ball, drove the team forward, I never saw him give the ball away at all. My MOTM

5)Crowd was nice and vocal

I thought Liverpool were poor, especially in midfield (and defence ) however I would like to say that Baros was excellent and its good to see (even if he did get that equaliser) after him breaking his leg at Ewood last season.

I hope Cisse gets well soon to. It looked really nasty, no leg is supposed to bend in that many places

[tcj_jones]

It's spelt "equalizer," Flopsy, EQUALIZER...

Talking of the Liverpool midfield, it was nice to see Alonso getting frustrated and lashing out at Tugay when nothing was going his way. He may have given a great assist for the first goal but overall he was kept in his place by Fergy and Tugay.

[The Producer]

Much better today. Good to see Hughes making changes and some interesting ones at that, e.g. McEveley has done nothing whatsoever lately to suggest he'd do well back in the first team but did a good job barring that one pass. I was particularly glad to see Boothroyd get a run out as he's our only forward likely to score a goal out of nothing. I'd still like to see Emerton in his proper position on his current form though. Reid has played left-mid before...although I'd rather see him given a run out at centre-mid as if we're being honest Tugay could have been sent off which would have cost us a point. However, all in all a good day and encouraging signs re. the management.

[Shevchenko]

A surprisingly upbeat performance from everyone today really, bar some poor defending from Neill. Very impressed with McEveley, responded well to his own mistake as well. Hope he can go on from this and make that left back position his own.

Also very impressed with Emerton lately. It's only taken a year or so but now he's FINALLY playing with a little confidence and suddenly he looks as class as he did at Feyenoord. Still, it's a shame he's stuck out on the left even though he did very well there today. I'd like to see him play in his prefered position on the right, with Reid tucking in beside Ferguson and maybe MGP or De Pedro on the left. I think Reid has shown enough for him to stake a claim for a central midfield position, he certainly seemed to drift inside a lot today anyway. Tracked back well.

Think Bothroyd showed enough to keep starting matches. He had a superb first half, dropping back into midfield when needed and he seemed happy to take the ball on from there. Also looked decent in the air. Faded a bit in the second, either from fatigue or from a knock. Again, very impressed with him.

It was extremely depressing being a Rovers fan after the last two games. Certainly didn't look good when that...that...f***er Riise scored but our lot responded the way we want them too. Every week on Rovers World you'll find Mark Hughes saying that they'd worked well in training but the responses we've seen during games hasn't showed any of that. Today it actually looked like he was telling the truth. It's far to early to tell if we're on the road to recovery here, but at least this game gave me hope. I hope it lasts.

[trueblue]

I actually came away from Ewood tonight with a smile on my face

We played great, and deserved 3 points...no matter though, we didn't loose

Nice one Hughsey and the bac-room staff..we seem to be getting it right at last!

[sumps]

On MotD they showed Cisse breaking his leg. From the angle from the Walkersteel stand you see his shin snap and then him land on it and snap even more. Hope he has a speedy recovery.

[Flopsy]

yup with my Sky+ we got that in pause/rewind

eughhh ow ow ow ow ow ow ow

[John]

The performance made me happy today.

Things that stood out- our quality of passing was much better than I can remember in recent times. Still can improve but there were some signs that we can be an attacking threat.

Reid is in because of his athletic/physical ability. He will get better with every game. Drifts in quite a bit- maybe could perform a central role. Thought he was excellent today.

Jay did well apart from the cock-up that led to the goal. Hopefully he gets a few games to make the spot his own.

Ferguson is crucial to our team at the moment- makes us tick and his work-rate is under-rated.

Bothroyd did well and showed some class.

Of course some of us will go over the top but what today shows that things are improving. However our defence is still a problem and Neil's form is worrying.

[Tom Pringle]

Emerton was excellent tonight. Been away and heard he's been decent, to see him in the flesh causing havoc is fantastic. Keep it up Brett!

[speeeeeeedie]

I'm in line with everyone else here I think. A very good performance which should have been 3 points yet were also lucky to get one, if Kewell's last second cross shot touched anyone we'd have lost.

We were inventive, looked good going forward created chances, but still need defensive replacements. I've been saying it for years, Lucas Neill is not up to it. He proved it again today. The first goal, he had no idea Riise was behind him, therefore had to chase. If he stood flat instead of turned toward the ball he can see both the man out wide and the ball, but his back was facing Riise meaning his eyes could not see. WE NEED A NEW RIGHT BACK.

Emerton, Bothroyd, Ferguson, Johansson we our best performers. McEveley would be on the list if it was not for his pass for their second. Was very assured and can defend.

Second tier has Short, Reid, Tugay, and Dickov. I'm not convinced about Dickov, works very hard, but is not a goal threat, we need a poacher alongside him.

Brad could have been better but made two very good saves.

Neill was p*ss poor, should be dropped immediately. But do we have anyone who can play there now.

Stead looked OK, silly booking but if he gets the proper teaching I think he could well be as good as Chris Sutton (was Sutton the same age as Stead when we signed him in 1994?).

Sorry about Cisse, no football fan likes to see that. It looked very innocuous, but those who have watched the replay tell a different story. Shins bending; Eugh. I for one will not try and see it, I broke my leg a few years back and seeing things like that doesn't sit well.

[Quack]

Emerton and Fergie were outstanding today, I hope Souness looks elsewhere in the January sales.

Negatives- Brad should have stopped the second goal and I thought Tugay was indifferent for most of the match.

I was saddened to see Cisse fracture his tibia / fibula - nasty injury which will need metal work inserting, he will not play for many months.

Slightly more optimistic tonight but we are still in the brown stuff at the bottom end of the table.

[speeeeeeedie]

Commentators here (Tony Dorigo and Ian Darke) said Amoruso is out for a few months with an ankle operation and Matteo has a bad Achilles which didn't perform well in a fitness test before the game. From this it would seem that he would have played if fit.

Does Amoruso not like the cold weather? It will be his second winter out. In the 1970's playboy footballers used to get themselves sent off close to Christmas so they'd miss the extensive Christmas program and could concentrate on most people's favourite pastime: Christmas drinking. Does he have a penchant for December Mediterranean sun?

[Hasta]

Too drunk to read all thats gone before but special well dones go to:-

NEJ, McEveley, Emerton and the crowd.

If, and knowing Rovers its a big IF, we produce a performance like that at Norwich and against other medoicre clubs then we have a decent fighting chance of survival.

[Scotty]

I was surprised by today's team. Switching back to 4-4-2, dropping Gray and Matteo (for McEveley and Johansson), restoring Tugay (for Flitcroft), bringing in Bothroyd (for Djorkaeff) - all very interesting, yet my first thought was to worry about the lack of a ball winner in midfield. And for ten minutes or so all my worries were fully justified.

Liverpool bossed the opening exchanges with Baros looking lively and Liverpool's midfield overwhelming ours - they could have scored twice before they did. However, the goal they did score was more down to our shocking defending than any great Liverpool play.

A long ball found Riise in acres of space on the left as our defence pathetically tried to play off-side. Riise ran unopposed towards goal and scored with a sweet finish into the far corner. You could question Friedel's positioning but it was a very well struck shot.

We'd talked in the pub before the game about the importance of the first goal so it was obviously a sickener to see us concede. I think the whole of Ewood sat back and thought it would be a case of how many Liverpool would get.

Hang on a minute though, the team started to fight. They snapped into their tackles, they harrassed their opposite numbers, and they showed a touch of quality on the ball. Instead of feeling sorry for themselves like they had in the last two weeks they started to show some pride and passion. It was no surprise at all when we equalised.

A ball from midfield found Dickov intelligently dropping deep. His turn was terrific and his ball down the left channel to an on-rushing Emerton was exquisite. Emerton's first-time cross was perfectly weighted to find an unmarked Bothroyd - who duely applied the finish. A really great team goal.

Now it was all Rovers. We pressed Liverpool all over the field, gave them no time at all in possession, and frequently caused them to panic in defence. From one such moment, just before the interval, the ball fell to Emerton 20 yards out and he passed the ball into the far corner of the net. A fantastic finish.

2-1 at half-time and well deserved. Before I move onto the second half though a quick word about Cisse. A completely innocuous challenge has left him with two broken bones in his leg and, looking at the pictures on television, I'd say it's got to be doubtful whether he ever plays again. All the best sir, hope you recover soon.

I thought we looked comfortable at the start of the second half. We controlled possession and looked the more threatening side going forward - in fact I couldn't see how Liverpool were going to score. Cue McEveley. What on earth was he doing?

Emerton won a free-kick around half way. McEveley, unbelievably, passed the ball square straight to Garcia, who played a great ball over our non-plussed defence for Baros to run onto. Short is quicker than he looks but he's not as quick as Baros so it was no surprise to see Baros run clear one-on-one with Friedel. What was surprising though was seeing Friedel rooted to his line to the point where Baros eventually scored from no more than five yards out. Close him down man.

Anyway, in a game that ebbed and flowed throughout, now it was Liverpool's turn to be on top. For the next ten minutes they controlled the game and looked like they might force a winner. For the second time I thought it was almost inevitable that Liverpool would go on and win the game comfortably.

But no, back we came again. Stead replaced Bothroyd, not sure why because I thought Bothroyd had done well, and the Rovers started to get back on top. Short had a header cleared off the line, a well-worked free-kick saw Dickov produce a great save from Kirkland, and Stead had a terrific shot again well saved by Kirkland. With ten minutes to go it seemed there was only going to be one winner, and it wasn't the team in red.

I'm not sure if it was our lack of fitness or something psychological but we seemed to sit back at the end. Liverpool sensed this and they started to push for the winner at the death. Fortunately though, after a number of corners and crosses across our box, we survived and got a precious point.

Most of the team were terrific today. Short and Johansson looked as solid as any centre-back pairing we've fielded this season. McEveley was solid defensively apart from the one glaring mistake. He doesn't offer as much going forward as Gray but he's a better defender on today's evidence.

Tugay and Ferguson in midfield worked their socks off and Ferguson in particular was class at times on the ball. I'm used to Tugay's inconsistency now but it really annoys me that Ferguson doesn't play like he did today every week. And while the two of them aren't the most competitive in midfield we can cope when were at home because they have Reid to cover for them. Reid was great again, he's been one of our best players in all three games since he came back into the team, and today his workrate, tenacity, and commitment were second to none. Reid was the one player I saw trying to lift the team immediately after Liverpool's equaliser. I'm starting to really rate him.

Dickov worked tirelessly as ever and showed touches of quality at times, and Bothroyd on occasions looked like the centre-forward we've been missing since Jansen's accident. Stead came on and showed terrific desire. He really wants that shirt and it's great to see.

Special mention for Emerton though - he was magnificent today. He ran at their full-back constantly, showed great pace, his workrate was fantastic, and his finish for the goal was top quality. Our man of the match by a mile.

Negatives? Friedel was dodgy for both goals, especially the second. But his performance was nothing compared to Neill's. What on earth does Neill have to do to be dropped? He gives us nothing going forward, he can't pass, his heading is awful, his positional sense is just scary, and at times he looks like he simply can't be arsed. I don't just want him dropped - I want him to be punished. It was like he was single-handedly trying to lose us the game today.

All in all it was a good point today, we'd have all settled for that before hand, but we could easily have got all three. I worry whether today's team is solid enough to play away from home, only time will tell, but at home it looks like we can sacrifice a bit of bite in midfield for some extra creativity going forward.

All our excuses have been used up now though. We've finished our hard run of games and the next few fixtures are against teams who will finish mid-table or lower. We have to pick up some points quickly but I'm a lot more confident we will than I was this time last week.

[B.R.F.C]

Jesus you dont expect us to read that?

Well done the Rovers and very unlucky not to get the 3 points it seems. Keep it up lads

[colin]

Special mention for Emerton though - he was magnificent today. He ran at their full-back constantly, showed great pace, his workrate was fantastic, and his finish for the goal was top quality. Our man of the match by a mile.

He is looking good.

[Ewood Dream]

Jesus you dont expect us to read that?

I did.

Yup good result, after those humiliating defeats I think a well-fought 2-2 draw with an on-form Liverpool side isn't a bad result.

One thing worries me though, after that slight guff from McEveley and apparantly Matteo due to start until he failed a fitness-test..... So expect Dominic back in the starting line-up for the next match....*sigh*

[bubblerrovers]

So pleased with a performance for once!! well done lads. Thought everyone bar brad and lucas looked good today, Emerton is on fire long may it continue. Very interested to see if hughes sticks with the players, Tink Jay deserves to keep his place But who should replace niel???

[LeChuck]

So...would the people wanting Emerton out please slag him off again? And the Neill lovers can follow...

[broadsword]

The tale of the lucky pound ...

I went out the door yesterday morning, to be greeted by a pound on my doorstep ...

I saved the pound ...

I put it on a correct score prediction for Rovers (it must be a lucky pound) ...

... Liverpool scored first ...

... I wasn't worried ...

.. we equalised ... this was OK ...

... we went in front ... can handle this ...

... they scored again ...

... tossing t*ts, I had it on 2-1 at 14-1! Balls!

[emerton]

i put 100 dollars on liverpool at 1.70.... lets hope im wrong

it was to try and rid myself on badluck really.

I lost 120 all up because of the cup aswell, but i would have forgone the 100 bucks for a rovers win.

Good to see Bothroyd play well, Ferguson and Emerton also very pleasing.

[mattyc2422]

Pleasing result I thought. Liverpool would have expected the 3 points and we battled hard after a pretty average first 20 minutes for a point.

Very happy with Sparky showing faith in McEveley. I think he is a better defensive player than Micky Gray, and that is an area that we need solidarity. Gray provides alot going forward, but I think Macca provides something that Gray lacks.

I think he showed alot of composure for a young lad. Stick with him Sparky, I think he has alot to offer. Bar his one obvious error, he got stuck in and his defensive efforts contributed to Emmo getting a fair bit of the ball.

No complaints with the forwards. Good to see Bothroyd score. He is finding his feet gradually. Stead unleashed a corking left foot strike, but I just can't wait for his confidence to come back.

Emmo is showing us why we bought him. Pacy, strong and creative. We need him.

Hopefully the way we played for the latter 70 odd minutes puts some confidence into the lads.

[Paul]

Pretty much everything has been said already. We played FOOTBALL yesterday, the first time in perhaps 12 months we actually played the game and look at the difference. We also kept the ball on theground for much of the match and Rovers alwasy look so much better when we do this.

The crowd were superb for 90 minutes with the icing on the cake being the majority of the players showed their appreciation of our support. Happy days

[Crunching Tackler]

I was surprised by today's team. Switching back to 4-4-2, dropping Gray and Matteo (for McEveley and Johansson), restoring Tugay (for Flitcroft), bringing in Bothroyd (for Djorkaeff) - all very interesting, yet my first thought was to worry about the lack of a ball winner in midfield. And for ten minutes or so all my worries were fully justified.

Liverpool bossed the opening exchanges with Baros looking lively and Liverpool's midfield overwhelming ours - they could have scored twice before they did. However, the goal they did score was more down to our shocking defending than any great Liverpool play.

A long ball found Riise in acres of space on the left as our defence pathetically tried to play off-side. Riise ran unopposed towards goal and scored with a sweet finish into the far corner. You could question Friedel's positioning but it was a very well struck shot.

We'd talked in the pub before the game about the importance of the first goal so it was obviously a sickener to see us concede. I think the whole of Ewood sat back and thought it would be a case of how many Liverpool would get.

Hang on a minute though, the team started to fight. They snapped into their tackles, they harrassed their opposite numbers, and they showed a touch of quality on the ball. Instead of feeling sorry for themselves like they had in the last two weeks they started to show some pride and passion. It was no surprise at all when we equalised.

A ball from midfield found Dickov intelligently dropping deep. His turn was terrific and his ball down the left channel to an on-rushing Emerton was exquisite. Emerton's first-time cross was perfectly weighted to find an unmarked Bothroyd - who duely applied the finish. A really great team goal.

Now it was all Rovers. We pressed Liverpool all over the field, gave them no time at all in possession, and frequently caused them to panic in defence. From one such moment, just before the interval, the ball fell to Emerton 20 yards out and he passed the ball into the far corner of the net. A fantastic finish.

2-1 at half-time and well deserved. Before I move onto the second half though a quick word about Cisse. A completely innocuous challenge has left him with two broken bones in his leg and, looking at the pictures on television, I'd say it's got to be doubtful whether he ever plays again. All the best sir, hope you recover soon.

I thought we looked comfortable at the start of the second half. We controlled possession and looked the more threatening side going forward - in fact I couldn't see how Liverpool were going to score. Cue McEveley. What on earth was he doing?

Emerton won a free-kick around half way. McEveley, unbelievably, passed the ball square straight to Garcia, who played a great ball over our non-plussed defence for Baros to run onto. Short is quicker than he looks but he's not as quick as Baros so it was no surprise to see Baros run clear one-on-one with Friedel. What was surprising though was seeing Friedel rooted to his line to the point where Baros eventually scored from no more than five yards out. Close him down man.

Anyway, in a game that ebbed and flowed throughout, now it was Liverpool's turn to be on top. For the next ten minutes they controlled the game and looked like they might force a winner. For the second time I thought it was almost inevitable that Liverpool would go on and win the game comfortably.

But no, back we came again. Stead replaced Bothroyd, not sure why because I thought Bothroyd had done well, and the Rovers started to get back on top. Short had a header cleared off the line, a well-worked free-kick saw Dickov produce a great save from Kirkland, and Stead had a terrific shot again well saved by Kirkland. With ten minutes to go it seemed there was only going to be one winner, and it wasn't the team in red.

I'm not sure if it was our lack of fitness or something psychological but we seemed to sit back at the end. Liverpool sensed this and they started to push for the winner at the death. Fortunately though, after a number of corners and crosses across our box, we survived and got a precious point.

Most of the team were terrific today. Short and Johansson looked as solid as any centre-back pairing we've fielded this season. McEveley was solid defensively apart from the one glaring mistake. He doesn't offer as much going forward as Gray but he's a better defender on today's evidence.

Tugay and Ferguson in midfield worked their socks off and Ferguson in particular was class at times on the ball. I'm used to Tugay's inconsistency now but it really annoys me that Ferguson doesn't play like he did today every week. And while the two of them aren't the most competitive in midfield we can cope when were at home because they have Reid to cover for them. Reid was great again, he's been one of our best players in all three games since he came back into the team, and today his workrate, tenacity, and commitment were second to none. Reid was the one player I saw trying to lift the team immediately after Liverpool's equaliser. I'm starting to really rate him.

Dickov worked tirelessly as ever and showed touches of quality at times, and Bothroyd on occasions looked like the centre-forward we've been missing since Jansen's accident. Stead came on and showed terrific desire. He really wants that shirt and it's great to see.

Special mention for Emerton though - he was magnificent today. He ran at their full-back constantly, showed great pace, his workrate was fantastic, and his finish for the goal was top quality. Our man of the match by a mile.

Negatives? Friedel was dodgy for both goals, especially the second. But his performance was nothing compared to Neill's. What on earth does Neill have to do to be dropped? He gives us nothing going forward, he can't pass, his heading is awful, his positional sense is just scary, and at times he looks like he simply can't be arsed. I don't just want him dropped - I want him to be punished. It was like he was single-handedly trying to lose us the game today.

All in all it was a good point today, we'd have all settled for that before hand, but we could easily have got all three. I worry whether today's team is solid enough to play away from home, only time will tell, but at home it looks like we can sacrifice a bit of bite in midfield for some extra creativity going forward.

All our excuses have been used up now though. We've finished our hard run of games and the next few fixtures are against teams who will finish mid-table or lower. We have to pick up some points quickly but I'm a lot more confident we will than I was this time last week.

I think thats a cracking match report and agree with everything said. Neill was the only one who had a poor game, but who do we have to replace him? i suppose we could put reid at right back, but he's playing so well on right wing.

Emerton was absolute class, he has improved leaps and bounds from last season. And the team spirit was great.

However defence still looks very dodgy and hughes will have to buy another centre half in january.

I just hope we can keep it up. CMON ROVERS!!!!

[stuwilky]

Jesus you dont expect us to read that?   

I did.

Yup good result, after those humiliating defeats I think a well-fought 2-2 draw with an on-form Liverpool side isn't a bad result.

One thing worries me though, after that slight guff from McEveley and apparantly Matteo due to start until he failed a fitness-test..... So expect Dominic back in the starting line-up for the next match....*sigh*

I think the key word is slight.

I thought for the rest of the game Jay was pretty damn good. Nissa and Short also looked very solid at centre half - certainly more so than Amo and Matteo.

All in all I think the majority of yesterdays team played more than well enough to keep their place at Norwich.

I would just like to see a left winger playing on the left. Just once, either of them.