Originally Posted by NelCarra
Everton are a team that will finish 5th - 8th most seasons. they are 1 step below the 'big 4', they go to most away games and attack teams and try to impose their way of playing, today however they came with a game plan of not to lose.
Now you could expect this of a team that is struggling to get points ie. watford or sheff utd. but for a team of Everton's 'quality' to be so happy with a point today shows how much respect they have for us, and in my oppinion how much we have improved over the last few seasons.
A few seasons ago even the strugglers would come to anfield with a hope of getting more than a point, however now teams that are not that far from our standard come here and shut up shop, this is a massive indication of our improvement and I for one would put that down to Rafa
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What a
ridiculous assessment. What today proved is that the old problem that has plagued us for over a decade is still there and we haven't been able to rectify it yet. That of teams coming to Anfield getting men behind the ball, suffocating our play, and we seem to have no answers.
There is no point in criticising Everton or any other team that do that.....they aren't breaking the rules by playing like that, its up to our team to be able to counter their tactics and break them down. Fact of the matter is Moyes's tactics of coming to
spoil and
contain worked and Rafa's tactics failed. Thats the cold reality.....we are still short of the real top class
quality required to win the league in areas of the pitch, but the players Rafa had at his disposal and deploying them in a
balanced formation would've been sufficient to beat these lot today.
The other thing that annoys me is that Rafa is focusing on the opposition's spoiling tactics today, what is important is for him to look at why the team did not have the
direction or
invention to over come that?
As for what other teams think of us, that is totally irrelevant, Liverpool set their own standards and that being the highest of any other club in the country, and that is what the club should always strive towards as a
minimum requirement.