TLW

LIVERPOOL 5 Norwich 0 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Jordan Henderson, Luis Suarez, Daniel Sturridge, Steven Gerrard, Raheem SterlingHalf Time - 2-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Sat 19 Jan 2013 Star Man – Steven Gerrard Norwich must be sick of the sight of us. Whilst scoring goals has been a problem for us for some time, we've notched up 13 goals in our last three encounters with the Canaries. Suarez has seven of them, but it's not just the goals that have made him Norwich's chief tormentor, it's the manner of them, and the rest of the stuff he's inflicted upon them. Nutmegs, backheels, flicks, dribbles… when Luis sees the yellow and green he turns into a player that is the equal of anybody on the planet. Steven Gerrard revealed afterwards that one of the Norwich players remarked to him in desperation; "How are we supposed to stop him?". The answer is you can't, not when he's in this kind of zone. And not when he's given the kind of support from his team-mates he got in this game. The arrival of Sturridge seems to have given us another gear, he's slotted in perfectly and immediately looks on the same wavelength as Suarez and Gerrard. It's not just the goals either, his all round play has caught the eye and he's got the kind of swagger about him that top players have. It's actually hilarious to think that for two years Chelsea selected Torres over him. Sturridge will score goals for us, there's no doubt about it, the only question I had relating to his arrival was what would it mean in terms of the role of Suarez and the shape of the team. In terms of the former, it's early days of course but it may actually bring out even more from Luis as he's not having to shoulder the burden alone and can now just go where he wants looking to get on the ball without us being left with no-one up top. As for the latter, I'm none the wiser as I couldn't actually tell you what system/formation we played against Norwich. It was so fluid and players were popping up everywhere, I couldn't tell if it was 433, 4411, 4231 or something else. At times it seemed Henderson was playing on the left of a midfield four, then it looked like he was tucked in on the left of a three with Gerrard on the right of it. Suarez was popping up all over the place, at times he was further forward of Sturridge, other times he was tucked in behind and he'd also drift out wide. Rodgers made a comment a week or so ago about how formations aren't particularly important when you have the ball, it's more about when you don't have it. This game was a good example of that, Norwich didn't know where the danger was coming from. The opening goal came from a source they would have least expected. When Suarez's mazy dribble was brought to a halt on the edge of the box, Henderson struck a blistering half volley on the turn into the top corner. Right out of the Gerrard scrapbook that was. It was nice to see 'Hendo' making such an impression, he's been steadily improving all season and he's certainly edged ahead of Allen and Shelvey for that third midfield spot for the moment. It's up to them to step up and show what they can do now, they'll probably get that opportunity in the FA Cup next week. Our second goal was a cracker too. Lucas played a crisp ball into the feet of Sturridge who had come short for the pass. Suarez made a run in behind and Sturridge cleverly dummied to send Suarez clean through. It was the kind of chance Luis has often failed to take in the past, but the aplomb with which he converted this one showed just how confident he is at the moment. The sight of the yellow and green shirts behind that goal probably helped too! It's funny really, the Norwich fans were booing him and giving him shit, but why would you do that? Did they not learn their lesson from the previous two encounters? They were giving him verbals last season after the Evra thing, and he shoved those taunts back down their throats with arguably the best hat-trick ever witnessed on these shores. A few months ago they were at it again, and once more they were put to the sword with an outstanding hat-trick. The highlight of that was when Luis missed a sitter and was still being ridiculed around 20 seconds later when he robbed a defender, nutmegged him and then bent an outrageous shot with the outside of his boot into the far corner to completely stun the home crowd. That might be favourite moment of the season so far actually, it was fantastic. So you'd think after all that, Norwich fans would elect to keep quiet, not poke the bear and hope he goes easy on them. Well you'd think wrong, they continued to boo and chant, and Luis continued to punish them. One back heel turn right in front of them was ridiculous, you have to feel sorry for any defender that has to try and deal with that. Gerrard has said that Suarez is the best player he's ever played with. He also said that even our defenders hate facing him in training because he's so good, and so relentless. He never lets up. Norwich know that better than anyone, but to their credit they didn't resort to fouling him and there seemed a healthy respect there. I noticed in the second half when Luis almost made a complete mug out of Tettey with another ludicrous turn on the touchline that the midfielder just about managed to stop, the pair exchanged a little hand slap as they took their place in the box for the corner. Another defender (Bennett I think) also had a bit of a joke about it and the game was played in good spirits. Probably because that twat Leon Barnett wasn't playing. The one exception was Michael Turner, who upset Luis with a robust aerial challenge that left Suarez rubbing his head for several minutes. The foul was actually committed by Luis, but he came off worse and was not happy about it. He was glaring at Turner and the pair were still arguing about it five minutes later. You could tell Suarez was desperate to get him one on one so he could meg him, but he didn't get the opportunity. By that stage Norwich were well beaten, goals from Sturridge and Gerrard had ended the game as a contest well before Bennett deflected substitute Sterling's shot past the keeper to make it 5-0. I'm not sure whether Sterling will be credited with the goal, he should be considering that Shelvey was awarded one at West Ham that he didn't even touch. But Gerrard had one taken off him against Norwich earlier in the season when an on target shot went in off a defender. There's no consistency, so Raheem can only hope for the best. I loved Sturridge's goal. It was only a tap in, but there was a lot to admire about it. He made three different runs, and whilst the ball didn't arrive for the first two he got his reward in the end. How many times this season have we seen crosses fizzed across the six yard box only for us to have no-one in the box? Two of the three goals Sturridge has scored have been tap ins, but they're strikers goals and the kind we have been missing for too long. Credit to Downing too, that was an exquisite ball he volleyed in with his right foot. We've won eight of eleven now, that's the reason I wasn't so downbeat after last week. Losing at Old Trafford is to be expected, any time we avoid that is a bonus. We need to be beating the lesser sides consistently, especially at home, that's what will define our season and that's what we've started doing. 3-0 against Wigan and Sunderland, 4-0 against Fulham and now 5-0 against Norwich. We beat Southampton 1-0 but it could and should have been far more than that. The one blemish in that run of games was Villa, but honestly if we were to play them next weekend I'd expect us to put at least five past them, possibly more. There were no negatives to come from this (I'd have liked Borini to have got a goal to boost his confidence but you can't have everything I suppose), everyone played well and I'd also give great credit to Rodgers too for his team selection. I'd been saying all week that I thought Carragher deserved to play ahead of Skrtel, but I wasn't expecting it to happen. Whilst Carra has accepted that he's behind Agger and Skrtel, I don't think Skrtel has been playing well enough to keep him out. He was made to look a mug by Danny Welcrap for God's sake, that's not acceptable, especially coming so soon after struggling against Benteke, Jones and Cole. I was happy to see that change made as it was clearly the right call. It rewards Carra for his professionalism and good form he's shown when given the opportunity, and it's a shot across the bows of Skrtel who has not lived up to last season's form and needs to do better. Carragher brings leadership the defence and a vocal presence the side is lacking without him. I expect to see him used a lot more in the second half of the season than he was in the first, although I doubt he'll be playing every game, especially once the midweek European games come around again. It was the right call bringing Henderson in too, Jordan could consider himself unfortunate not to have got the start at Old Trafford last week, but one thing about Rodgers is that he doesn't play favourites and he generally picks people based on form. Allen didn't do enough to justify his place, so Henderson came in and took the chance with both hands. Gerrard was the best player on the pitch by a mile I thought. Just a top, top performance from him and his form has been very impressive of late. Johnson was outstanding again too, especially in the second half when it seemed like every attack we had went through him. He set up camp in the Norwich half and didn't have to do any defending such was our dominance. Lucas looked sharper than he has for a while too, snapping into tackles and passing the ball crisply. For the first time all season the top seven places are now occupied by what most would consider to be the best seven sides in the league. We're not in bad shape considering all the problems we had early on through a lack of firepower and adapting to the new manager's ideas. For us to improve on the 7th spot we presently occupy we'll need to start getting results against some of the other sides in that top seven, as whilst it's encouraging seeing us finally comfortably beating the sides we should be beating comfortably, we won't go any higher without taking points off the likes of Arsenal, Everton and Spurs. That's the next step for us. Team: Jones; Wisdom, Carragher, Agger, Johnson; Lucas, Gerrard, Henderson (Sterling); Downing, Sturridge (Bornini), Suarez:

Brendan Rodgers recently took the decision to terminate the year long loan of Real Madrid midfielder Nuri Sahin, who subsequently went back to his former club Borussia Dortmund until the end of the season. The German born Turkish international arrived with a big reputation and scored three goals in 12 appearances for the Reds, but never managed to hold down a regular place in the side. Have we wasted a talent or was he just not suited to the English game? Three TLW writers - Julian Richards, Dave Usher and Dan Thomas give their take on it.... This is going on the internet? Better be careful what I say then, anything Dortmund-related on the internet is treated with extreme reverence on there. Don’t get me wrong, I think they’re a terrific club and have a good team with a beautiful stadium. But they’re treated as golden gods in European football by some so when Liverpool beat off Arsenal with a stick to get Nuri Sahin, well certain sections of the internet exploded in a joy not seen since the second Death Star was destroyed. I’ll come clean, I’m being rather snarky but I just don’t have the time to dedicate to European football anymore. I’ve only seen Dortmund in the European club competitions and I don’t see much Spanish football anymore. So I haven’t seen enough of the Sahin we were supposed to be getting, I only saw the Sahin that played for us, and he didn’t impress me in the slightest. I thought he carried the air of a player who was doing us a favour being here. Maybe that’s just my perception but the nature of the chase to get him and the fact that it was a loan deal just gave me that impression. Still, I was more than willing to be impressed and everyone loves a heralded signing even if you’ve not seen much of them. Sahin got his first start against Arsenal but looked off the pace, no problem there as everyone looked awful that game. He was left out at Sunderland where O’Neill’s more ‘robust’ type of football would’ve caused him an issue and was brought back for the Europa game against Young Boys. This was his best run of games where he scored goals against West Brom and Norwich but even through this run he was left out in favour of Shelvey against the Mancs. It became apparent that Rodgers didn’t favour him over others and from what I saw, I agreed with him. Sahin’s best role was apparently a deep lying playmaker and he made noises that he wasn’t playing in his best position. When I saw him though he too often appeared off the pace of other Premier League teams and he would literally seem to go missing in games. Deep lying? He didn’t appear to know how to get out of that deep hole, even when he was further up the pitch. Sahin might on paper be a better player than some others in our squad but he didn’t seem to be able to cope with what was required of him. As 2012 wore on he disappeared further from view and I’m totally in agreement with Rodgers sending him away. He was on big wages and wasn’t playing, he was a drain on our very modest resources and this was one we were able to cut the cord on very easily. I also think his return to familiar ground at Dortmund is quite telling. Rodgers saw him day to day and if he thought he couldn’t be trusted in league games then it’s his call. Likewise if he thinks he’s no longer an asset to the squad then he should pull the trigger on getting shot of him. Sahin didn’t impress me and I’d have done exactly what Rodgers did. That might not be popular with Dortmund aficionados on the internet but it was the right call for us at this point in our development as a club. Julian Richards * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Nuri Sahin is meant to be really good from what I hear. He was player of the year in Germany and let's face it, Real Madrid as a rule don't tend to sign bad players do they? So whilst I've never seen him play other than in the dozen games he had whilst he was here, I'm happy to concede that he must be a pretty talented lad. Having said that, being talented in itself doesn't make him suited to English football, or to Brendan Rodgers' style of play for that matter. In theory he should have been, he's a ball player who should have thrived in a passing team like ours. He turned down Arsenal to come here, a decision he probably regrets now in hindsight. Sahin describes himself as a 'deep lying playmaker'. To me that screams out 'Xabi Alonso', and every team could use one of those, right? He was no Xabi Alonso though, he was slower than Xabi for a start, and that probably puts him in a group of around 1% of professional footballers. He was lightweight too, which when combined with a lack of pace isn't good if you're playing one of the holding roles. You can get away with it depending on who you partner him with, for instance if Sahin had a Sissoko or Mascherano next to him doing the dirty work, maybe his shortcomings could have been covered up. He never had that though, he didn't even have Lucas who was injured just as he arrived. He had Joe Allen, who himself shares some of the same deficiencies in his game (not quite as slow but just as lightweight). With Sahin and Allen in the midfield, we tended to get completely over-ran. The Arsenal game was the start of it, but he was thrown in at the deep end there and was lacking in fitness. Some slack needed to be awarded and was, it was completely understandable he struggled in that first game. Two goals in a cup win at the Hawthorns followed by another in the rout of Norwich three days later suggested he was adapting and finding some fitness, but that was as good as it got for him. He was often deployed further forward, probably as Rodgers didn't trust him to play deep with Allen. He was generally anonymous and was often subbed. Perhaps the return of Lucas would have made things easier for Sahin, but despite what he'd done before he arrived here, in a red shirt he'd shown little to suggest he was more worthy of a place in the midfield than Henderson and Shelvey. Maybe in time he would have shown his undoubted ability, but time was not something we could give him as come May he'd be heading back to Spain. If we'd paid a lot of money for him and had him tied down to a long term contract, we'd have been forced to try and make it work and I'm sure he'd have featured more. That wasn't the case, we couldn't indulge him and let him play his way into form at the expense of the team, and if he wasn't going to play then he was earning far too much to be sat on the bench or in the stands, as he had been of late. In short, it was worth taking a chance bringing him here but sending him back was the prudent thing to do given his high wages. Good luck to him, I hope he rediscovers his best form as he seems like a nice lad. Dave Usher * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Not even room for doubt in my mind, I think that with the exception of a handful of games earlier in the season, Nuri Sahin has been a huge disappointment. He's clearly a very talented player and many people whose opinion I respect were delighted when we signed him. However, he just hasn't cut it. The pace of this league passes him by. He's been like a rabbit in the headlights in this league, not having a spare second on the ball to get his head up and see what's doing. He's not used to people like Lee Cattermole kicking lumps out of him the moment he's passed the ball. And he never looked like he was going to get used to it either, which is why he went from starting to being dumped on the bench pretty quickly. There's been an argument that Rodgers hasn't used him in his right position, but the truth is that he has had a chance both further up the pitch and that bit deeper and did nothing of any note in either position. He started off well but as the pitches got heavier as winter set in, I think Sahin looked like a very ordinary player. Apparently he has lost a yard of pace since his injury which was evidently pretty serious. That checks out because to me he clearly has the tools to look like a top rate player, but just isn't in this league because he's so slow. He even looked pedestrian in Europa League games. Not only slow of body but of mind. He never looked at ease, not one bit. I have no problem with him and I wish him well but he hasn't made any sort of impact whatsoever, which is the reason I'm not fussed about him moving on in the slightest. What does concern me however is the fact that we're a central midfielder down. Of course, Sahin wasn't playing but if we needed to bring him in, we could. We still have options but not many. We have supposedly been paying the Turk's £90k a week wages. I have no problems with Sahin going so long as FSG use the money saved on a football player and not a baseball player. We may well have paid Joe Cole a lump sum to disappear but with him and Sahin off the bill that represents a saving of £200k a week. Ignoring Sturridge's wage of course, but he's one of the "young and talented" players that fits the American brief. So long as we reinvest those wages, I won't miss Sahin one bit as he wasn't playing. Good luck to him and I hope he recovers his form at Dortmund, but he's not cut for this league. And well done Brendan Rodgers for having the grapefruits to admit it wasn't working and for moving him on. Dan Thomas

NURI SAHIN 2012-13 by Dave Usher Date of Birth - 05/09/88 Nationality - Turkish Position - Midfield Games - 12 Goals - 3 Club Hons (Lpool) - Intnl Hons - Turkey caps Other Clubs - Borussia Dortmund, Feyenoord (loan), Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund (loan) German born Turkish international midfielder Nuri Sahin arrived at Anfield on a year long loan deal from Real Madrid in the summer of 2012. The Reds had beaten Arsenal to the player's signature and it was seen as something of a coup. Sahin had made his name as a youngster at Borussia Dortmund, helping them to their first Bundesliga title in nine years in 2011 when he was also named the league's best player. Real Madrid swooped to sign him up on a six year contract, but his first year in Spain was a struggle due to a combination of injuries and being unable to dislodge the likes of Alonso and Khedira from Jose Mourinho's midfield. The arrival of Luca Modric from Spurs pushed Sahin even further down the food chain at the Bernebeu and Madrid were keen to loan him out to help him regain form and fitness. Arsenal thought they had a deal tied up for him but at the last minute he opted for the Reds. His first appearance ironically came against the Gunners, but it wasn't a good experience for him as he struggled with the pace of the game and Arsenal ran out comfortable winners. He'd been thrown in at the deep end and was clearly not ready for that kind of intense game, but he started showing glimpses of what he could do with three goals in the space of four days in late September. He scored twice in a League Cup win at the Hawthorns, and added another in a 5-2 rout of Norwich at Carrow Road. He'd shown a knack of arriving late in the box, which was a trait that had been lacking in our midfield for some time. It was looking good for Nuri at this stage, but that was as good as it got for him as he was never able to nail down a regular place and often found games passing him by when he started. He complained of not being used in his correct position, which is as a deep plying playmaker. There is some merit to that, but from Rodgers' point of view how could he select him in that role when our midfield became weak and easy to slice through when he was deployed there? Sahin's pedigree and quality was never in question, but his suitablity to the English game and to Rodgers' system certain were. His last appearance for the club came in a Europa League clash in Udinese, when he was forced off with a broken nose after just 12 minutes. That sidelined him for a couple of weeks and he was never able to re-establish himself in the side and when the trasnfer window opened in January, his loan was cut short by mutual consent and Madrid sent him back to Dortmund where would see more playing time than had he remained at Anfield.

Manchester United 2 LIVERPOOL 1 Report by Dave Usher Scorer(s) – Daniel SturridgeHalf Time - 1-0 Venue - Old Trafford Date - Sun 13 Jan 2013 Star Man – Steven Gerrard Sadly all too predictable. Go there, shit our pants, look like we're going to get battered, score a goal from nothing and end up with a respectable scoreline and a tale of 'if only'. The bottom line is that we went to the home of the league leaders, a side that were 21 points ahead of us going into the game, and we got outplayed for an hour before rallying and finishing the game strongly. The scoreline was a fair one though, unlike the game at Anfield earlier this season United were good value for this win. Much is being made of Rodgers' team selection and 'negative' approach. One thing I'd say Brendan Rodgers cannot be accused of is being negative. You can say he's too gung-ho and that leaves us exposed to counter attacks, and that's an argument that may hold some merit. Too negative though? Sorry, not having that. We played the same formation we usually do, with the full backs bombing on like we've done for pretty much most of the season. We went 3-0 up inside 25 minutes at QPR a few weeks ago with more or less the same line up. Were we defensive that day too? No, we were just up against a side that we were much better than. Manchester United are not QPR, and although we tried to just play our normal game it didn't happen, as it tends not to whenever we go there. So for me the line up wasn't defensive and he wasn't overly cautious at all. What happened was the players did what they almost always seem to do at Old Trafford and have been doing almost every year since Houllier masterminded three 1-0 wins in four years (the other result was a 4-0 defeat when Sami was sent off early). That is they collectively shit themselves in the face of superior opposition. Were people really expecting us to go there, dominate them and win? Seriously, is that what people thought? I ask this because of the huge amount of wailing and gnashing of teeth I've seen since the game. Anyone would think we'd lost at Reading or QPR the way some have reacted. Yes we were outplayed in the first half and were lucky to go in at only 1-0 down. But guess what, they've only lost at home once all season, they're seven points clear at the top of the table and better sides than us have tried and failed to beat them. This was basically our usual Old Trafford performance, it happens almost every year regardless of who the manger is and who the players are. It's like we have some sort of mental block when we go there. It's not there when we play them at Anfield, but when we go to their place? It's usually the same old story. Remember Rafa's first game there? We were horrendous, we went 2-0 down and had barely had a shot until out of nowhere John O'Shea scored an own goal. We nearly ended up getting a draw but Cisse missed a sitter. Same thing happened last year, we went 2-0 down then scored a scrappy goal out of nothing and could have nicked a point as we applied late pressure and made it a lot closer than it should have been. Even under Hodgson we went 2-0 down and were in trouble, then out of nowhere we won a penalty and suddenly started playing. We got back to 2-2 only to then lose 3-2. Since Houllier left we've gone to Old Trafford nine times and lost eight of them. In 80 league games at Old Trafford we've won just 15, even when we were great we struggled to win there. Yet Rodgers is getting hammered by some after this? In terms of the games we've lost at Old Trafford, this was actually one of the 'better' ones as by the end it was United that were hanging on wanting the final whistle to go as we were in the ascendancy. It doesn't make what went on in the first half any more acceptable, but at least we were left with some kind of straw to clutch afterwards. The way we played after Sturridge's goal was encouraging and gives us something to cling to. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we should just shrug our shoulders and say 'ah well, we always lose here so never mind'. I was as appalled by the first half showing as anyone, I thought it was cowardly. Not from Rodgers, but from the players who in the words of their manager were too 'tentative'. The word I was using at half time was 'timid', which is more or less the same. I completely agree with his take on what went wrong, it was plain for all to see that some players just didn't have what it takes to perform on that stage. The misplaced passes, the not showing for the ball, too many not wanting to take any kind of responsibility, it was the polar opposite of what Rodgers wants from his players. He said afterwards there's two things you need to perform in games like this. Courage and belief. From what I hear he stressed the exact same things to the team in their pre-match briefing the night before the game. Courage and belief in your ability. You have to be brave enough to want the ball and confident enough to play. We had neither in the first half, and had neither in the second until Gerrard conjured up that goal for Sturridge out of nothing. After that? Belief and courage in spades, but it wasn't there until we scored, and it's the same almost every time we play there. Time and again we gave the ball away cheaply, and Suarez was completely isolated and usually had three or four defenders to beat any time he did get the ball. For me that wasn't down to tactics, it was down to basically having to play with nine men because Sterling and Downing offered nothing in support of Luis. It didn't help that Lucas and Allen were struggling too, and Gerrard wasn't great in the first half either although he didn't plumb the depths some of his team-mates did. Sterling's game was basically, get the ball, cut inside, lose it. And repeat until subbed. I don't remember him going at Rafael on the outside even once, yet the Brazilian can be got at that way and it's a weakness we should have been looking to exploit. The game seemed like it was too big for Raheem, he froze in the headlights. Still, he's 18, he has an excuse. Several of his team-mates also suffered the same fate and they have no such excuse. Downing did what Downing always does in games of this magnitude. Nothing. At least he did nothing whilst the team were under the cosh and struggling. When we got on top in the second half he wasn't bad, he suddenly seemed to want the ball more and took more responsibility. Par for the course with him. Honestly, this was exactly the kind of display I expected from him. I had no expectations of Downing, but I hoped that Sterling might put on a bit of a show, as nothing has really fazed him so far in his fledgling career. He found it incredibly difficult though, but he's still on a learning curve and it's perhaps to be expected. There's no tougher place to go as a Liverpool player than Old Trafford, and there seems to be a mental issue that effects the majority of our players when we go there. You need big characters if you're going to get something there, and we don't have enough of them. What I'd give for a Mascherano or even a Sissoko in midfield right now. In games like this, those kind of players are a huge help to a team. Instead we had Lucas understandably still trying to recapture his best form after injury and an out of form Joe Allen. The Welshman struggled badly in the first half, he was terrible, capped off by one terrible pass straight to a United player that almost led to a goal for Welbeck and needed a terrific block by Agger to prevent it. To Allen's credit though he never hides and always wants the ball even when things are going badly. He improved a lot after the break too, I thought he actually had a good second half until he was brought off for Henderson late on. The selection of Allen over Henderson is the only contentious thing about the starting line up for me. I'd have gone with Henderson because he closes down space and will run all day. On a big pitch like Old Trafford against a side like United, you need that. Even so, I've seen some claiming that we didn't win this game because Allen started over Henderson. This is Jordan Henderson we're talking about, right? Not Graeme Souness, Steve McMahon or Jan Molby? He's done well lately, he's probably a better option than Allen at this moment in time but let's not get carried away, he's still Jordan Henderson, and I mean that in the nicest possible way. A lot of people will point to Sturridge not starting as being contentious. To be honest, I never thought for a minute he would be starting so when I saw the team I wasn't disappointed. Perhaps others were expecting him to play and that's why they were upset he wasn't. Based on things Rodgers has said since Sturridge arrived, and the fact he only played 55 minutes at Mansfield last week, I never thought there was a serious chance of him starting. He's been out injured a long time and has only recently returned to full training. Had the United game been next week, I reckon he'd have made the starting XI but it was just too soon for him to handle a full 90 minutes. Of course the option was there to start him for an hour and then take him off when he got tired. Rodgers could have done that, and who knows, he could have scored a hat-trick and left the field with us 3-0 up. It's possible, but unlikely, even though I'd accept that the way to beat United is to attack them (defence has been their weak point this season, but they hadn't been able to call on their first choice defensive pairing of Vidic and Ferdinand until recently). It's also possible he'd have failed to score and had to leave the field with us trailing, at which point Rodgers would then have been battered for taking off a goalscorer when we were trailing. Rodgers will have weighed up the pro's and cons, and decided he'd rather have the option of bringing Sturridge off the bench. We'll never know what would have happened had he started with him, but we've gone to Old Trafford with better strikers than Sturridge in the side and lost, so again, I'd say it's a little simplistic to say not starting him cost us the game. That said, clearly we looked a much better side with him in it, and that bodes well for the future. It's a pity this game a little too early for him as few teams are going to want to face Suarez and Sturridge in tandem, that;s for sure. He was terrific when he came on, he gave us a real threat in behind with his pace and movement and it allowed Suarez to go looking for the ball without leaving us without a threat up front. They linked up well together on several occasions and whilst the performance in the last half hour of this game wasn't enough to earn us a point, it did provide plenty of encouraging signs for the remainder of the season. Whereas some players looked like the occasion was too big for them, Sturridge seemed to treat it like any other game. 'Courage to play' and 'belief in his ability' are not in short supply with Sturridge. Until his arrival at half time the only attempt I can remember us having was a snapshot from Suarez that went miles over. After Sturridge came on we had numerous openings, and he was involved in most of them. We trailed at half time to Van Persie's goal, but we were fortunate it wasn't much worse. Van Persie could have had a hat-trick, he shot over when well placed and also had a back heel smuggled away by a combination of Skrtel and Reina after Rafael had gotten the better of Johnson and crossed for the Dutchman. Pepe got absolutely clattered by Kagawa as he blocked the follow up, and looked like he may have to go off initially. It happened right before half time though, which gave us time to make sure he was ok to continue. In addition to the Van Persie chances, Cleverley volleyed inches wide and Welbeck blasted over after skinning Skrtel. A lot of our problems came from giving the ball away cheaply, the rest of them came from not being aggressive enough in trying to win it back. For their first goal both Allen and Downing could have won the ball but didn't make a tackle. Wisdom was left isolated and by the time he left his position to close down Evra he had no chance of stopping the cross. Van Persie's movement deceived Agger and bought him a yard of space and the next thing we knew the ball was in the net. For me the goal was a result of being too passive and not being aggressive enough in trying to win the ball back. It was too easy for them to pass it around in the first half, but we got much tighter after the break and indeed scored as a direct result of winning the ball back early. By that time we had already fallen further behind, as slack marking from a free-kick allowed the smallest twat on the field a free header on the back post that hit Vidic in the face on it's way past a helpless Reina. Without knowing who was supposed to be marking whom, it looked like Johnson was the one to blame, which summed up his day. I seem to remember a few stinkers from him on this pitch actually. Replays showed that Vidic was offside, but complaining about that would smack of being a little bit desperate. I'm more annoyed at the way the free-kick was conceded and then how it was defended. Skrtel's defending in letting Welbeck get behind him was shocking, schoolboy stuff. I don't think he actually fouled Welbeck deliberately, the pair just sort of collided but Welbeck had gotten the wrong side of the defender and there was no-one getting across to cover. I half expected a red card to follow and it was a relief that it was only a yellow. As for the goal, technically Vidic was marginally offside, and I mean marginally as we're talking inches here. The linesman wasn't right in line which makes it even more difficult for him to judge, but I'd be amazed if he even knew the ball had hit Vidic. It all happened so fast it just looked like it had gone straight in from Evra's header. You'd have to be the world's greatest ever lino to see that as an offside on first viewing, so I've got no complaints about that at all. In fact, I've got no complaints whatsoever about the officiating all game. Howard Webb was excellent, you could even argue he was lenient towards us a couple of times as he could justifiably have sent off both Skrtel and Johnson had he so chose. They would have been harsh dismissals, but they were calls he could legitimately have made without too much criticism. So unlike the game at Anfield earlier in the season, the referee played no part in the outcome of this match. At 2-0 I was just hoping we didn't get embarrassed further. A comeback couldn't have been further from my thoughts at that point. We'd had a chance to equalise when it was just 1-0, but Wisdom sliced it horribly wide after making a superb run to get on the end of a perfect ball from Suarez. They scored not long after that and I'd more or less given up hope. Then Gerrard burst into life, robbing Carrick and then taking a pass from Sterling and hitting a low shot that De Gea could only parry into the path of Sturridge who had a tap in. A striker following in a shot to get an easy goal? Haven't had that since Kuyt left. Good stuff from Sturridge, who gave United's defence a torrid time after that. He created a shooting chance for Borini too by intercepting a pass as we pressed them near their own box. Borini took a touch and then hit a half volley about a foot wide. Sturridge was involved in everything, he shot wide after beating Ferdinand to make space for himself, had another one that he put into the side netting from a tight angle and then there was the best chance of all that he put over the bar. Should have buried that one, and if he had then maybe we'd have got a point. Based on chances created in the second half, we probably should have come away with a draw. It was a little like the Chelsea game in that regard I suppose. Whilst it's never nice losing to these twats, our season won't be defined on what we do against them, or City, or Chelsea etc. We need to be beating the teams we should be beating and whatever we pick up against the top three or four is a bonus. Like it or not, that's where we are right now. We need to learn to walk again before we can run, and that means beating Norwich next week and then hoping we don't lose at City, although the chances are we will. We've won seven of the last ten, which is encouraging. We've not yet beaten a side in the top half, which is alarming. We've now got Sturridge in and Borini fit again, so the issue we've had all season of not having enough forwards should now be resolved. The three looked good together in the closing stages of this game and hopefully in the coming weeks we'll see more of them as a front three. Then we'll have a better idea of where we are at as a team. Star man is really difficult as no-one particularly stood out that much. I'm going for Gerrard, simply because he took the fight to them in the second half and it was his drive and desire that got us back in the game when he created the goal. Suarez did well in the second half when we actually got some players around him who weren't scared to play. Sturridge is worth a mention too, as is young Wisdom who despite having a few edgy moments and sloppy passes (mostly in the first half), really got to grips with it after the break and can be pleased with how he came through the game. Final word has to go to the fans. Despite extreme provocation, the travelling Reds didn't give them what they wanted and rose above all the sick shite coming from the Manc hordes. When you're listening to 'The S*n was right, you're murderers' 'Always the victim, it's never your fault' 'Without killing anyone we won it three times' and 'There's only one Maggie Thatcher' for ninety minutes, and are then taunted with 'Where's your famous Munich song' it must be tempting to stoop to their level, and it's to their credit that they didn't. Something really needs to be done about this shit though, it's not a minority, it's tens of thousands of people. It came across loud and clear on the TV, and why are the media not making an issue of this? Why should our fans have to listen to this shit from thousands of people every time we play them? As a club United have tried to get their fans to knock this shit off, but it's been ignored and this was as bad as it's ever been. What's the answer? Banning their fans from Anfield next year would be one option. It wouldn't solve the problem but it would bring it into the public eye. Failing that, maybe some sort of complaint could be lodged by the club. Of course the Mancs would start throwing shit of their own at us, bringing up some incidents of wrongdoing by our fans, but given how they chant this stuff in EVERY game they play, and not just when they play us they really don't have a leg to stand on. There's simply no comparison. I don't have the perfect solution to it, I just know I'm sick of us having to listen to this every time we play them, or indeed any time those cunts are on telly. We sure as hell shouldn't have to listen to it in our own ground, so next year let's not let the fuckers in. Team: Reina; Wisdom, Skrtel, Agger, Johnson; Lucas (Sturridge), Allen (Henderson), Gerrard; Downing, Suarez, Sterling (Borini):

Mansfield Town 1 LIVERPOOL 2 Report by Dave Usher at One Call Stadium Scorer(s) – Daniel Sturridge, Luis SuarezHalf Time - 0-1 Venue - One Call Stadium Date - Sun 6 Jan 2013 Star Man – Jamie Carragher At least we got through. That's about the only positive thing I can say about this as it was pretty dire. There are a number of reasons for it, none which can be used as an excuse as frankly there can be no excuse for having to hold on desperately to avoid being held to a draw by a side that aren't even in the Football League. Combine a difficult pitch with a complacent attitude and a wastefulness in front of goal and you're going to have a problem against anybody. Not that I thought any of theirs were penalties, but another referee on another day could have given at least one of them (all were ball to hand an unintentional, but since when has that mattered to some refs?). Mansfield had no luck at all, which was fortunate for us I suppose. We only have ourselves to blame for how this game ended up almost getting away from us. Mansfield did not approach the game the way you'd expect, they were tentative and seemed overawed to begin with. We had loads of time on the ball and the possession must have been at least 90% in our favour in the early exchanges. Sturridge looked electric and took just seven minutes to open his account, running onto Shelvey's pass and stroking a first time shot past the keeper. Top marks for the finish, low marks for the dance. I'm not a fan of post goal dancing (unless it's Crouch doing the robot), but if Sturridge can guarantee double figures every year he can do whatever he likes, from 'Gangnam Style' to the 'Okey Cokey', I really don't care as long as he continues putting the ball in the onion bag. He could have had three in the first half, he should definitely have had two. One chance he missed when he should have scored, another chance was really well saved by the keeper when he tipped it wide at full stretch. Sturridge was a real livewire and his movement was excellent. Shelvey seemed to strike up an instant rapport with him and the two combined well on several occasions. All due to respect to Jonjo though, it's how Gerrard and Suarez link with him that will determine how well the rest of the season goes. It was extremely comfortable in the opening half an hour. Mansfield didn't press the ball, they seemed content to just sit back and hope to keep us out. For a long time I don't remember them managing to put more than three passes together at any point, and initially even when they got throw ins in our half they didn't hurl it into the box as had been expected. That would change in the second half, when we were subjected to a Rory Delap style bombardment by the wonderfully named Exodus Geohaghon. Towards the end of the half they had a couple of good moments that came from us losing the ball and them hitting us quickly with pace. Nothing too threatening, but it was enough to get the crowd back into it. It had gone really quiet after the way we'd started the game, but by taking our foot of the gas and allowing them to hang around, we were inviting trouble and that's what we got immediately after the break. They started the second half on fire. They pressed us, got balls in the box and had us completely penned in. There was a spell in which it seemed like Jones made about ten interventions in two minutes, it was incredible. We had no grip of the midfield and were relying on Jones and the two centre backs to keep them at bay. Rodgers wasted little time in getting Suarez and Henderson on. Suso going off was a given, he'd not got into the game and was the most glaringly obvious candidate to be replaced. I was hoping Sturridge would stay on so that he and Suarez could get some playing time together before Old Trafford next week, but given his lack of games of late the sensible choice was to get him off. Suarez made an immediate impression, as did Henderson who's strong running helped us get out of our own box and down the field. Downing too helped in this regard, making a few surging runs from inside his own half to the Mansfield box. That helped relieve the pressure we'd been under, and also led to the second goal that ultimately settled the tie. Downing ran at the full back and cut inside onto his left foot, with many expecting the shot he rolled the ball instead into the path of Suarez who collected the ball and prodded it goalwards. The keeper blocked, the ball bounced up onto the hand of Suarez and as he followed it into the goal he smashed the ball into the net in a clear act of frustration. I was sat behind the goal and had a great view of it all. Like everyone else, including Suarez, I assumed the handball had been seen and it would be a free-kick to Mansfield. I was just hoping that the ref wasn't going to book him for what was clearly an accidental offence that he could have done nothing about. As clear case of ball to hand as you'll see, he even tried to pull his hand away but the ball had already struck him as he attempted it. Suarez then realised the goal had been given, so went into his customary goal celebration of first kissing his finger (for his wife) and then the tattoo on his wrist (for his daughter). The Mansfield fans were furious, as you'd expect, and they began chanting 'cheat', presumably at Suarez although it could just as easily have been at the ref too. It wasn't long before they broke out the 'Luis Suarez, you know what you are' chant, but I can't hold that against them as we'd have been pissed off too had that happened to us. The Mansfield fans were great, as were the club. We couldn't have been made to feel more welcome, there was the 96 empty seats gesture, a banner on their stand supporting the Justice campaign and they even played YNWA just before kick off (as well as 'He Ain't Heavy'). Their match programme even had a double sided poster featuring Liverpool legends on one side and Mansfield legends on the other. The Mansfield legends included Liam Lawrence, best known for being a bit part player at Stoke. There's a huge gulf in size and stature between the two clubs, for them to have given us such a game is to their great credit. The goal they scored was deserved based on their second half showing. From their point of view they'll say they dominated us and penned us in. That's true, but we have to look at how that can happen. Against the top sides it's just one of those things, they've got great players they are going to have spells in the game where you just have to ride out the storm. Against a non-league side it shouldn't happen, no matter how much they perform above themselves. We were sloppy, the pitch began to cut up and because we had let them hang around they grew in confidence and belief. Suddenly it became a cup tie, when if we'd done our job properly in the first half the second would have been a formality. The goal was somewhat inevitable, if a side gets as many crosses into the box as we allowed Mansfield too, in all likelihood something will eventually fall to them. When balls that many balls are being pumped into your packed penalty area, it doesn't matter if you're up against Barcelona or the Dog & Duck, you're running the risk of conceding. The goal ensured it would be an uncomfortable ending to the game, but one or two hairy moments aside it wasn't that nervy. Whilst this was hardly the ideal way to prepare for next week's trip to Manchester, it counts for little. In terms of how I view the side and where we are at, this game doesn't affect things either way. It's the FA Cup, strange things can happen and sometimes little teams upset big ones. Thankfully that didn't happen, we didn't play well but we survived to fight another day, and most of the side that played in this game won't be lining up against the Mancs next weekend anyway. All the talk afterwards was of Suarez and THAT goal. That might not be a bad thing in some ways as it deflects away from the fact we just about scraped past a Conference side. Still, it's not nice seeing Luis villified again, especially as he did nothing that virtually every other footballer on the planet would have done. I'm not talking about using his hand to score a goal, as only an absolute moron could look at that and say it was a deliberate act. I'm talking about this notion that he should have 'owned up' to it. Has that ever happened? A player scores with the aid of his hand and then goes and tells the referee not to give the goal? I'm sure it must have happened, but you're talking about a one in a million event. It's ridiculous that Luis is getting any criticism at all, but aside from one irresponsible gobshite ESPN commentator (who has since been reprimanded by his bosses), a few knobhead journalists and of course fans who hate Luis anyway, the reaction within football has generally been a case of 'what's the big deal?'. Plenty of people within the game have spoken up for Luis, from Andy Gray to Ian Wright, with Gordon Strachan giving a particularly stirring defence of him on ITV. The comments that carried the most weight were probably those of Paul Cox, the Mansfield manager who's post match interview was as refreshing as anything I've seen in some time. I wouldn't have blamed him if he had gone on front of the cameras in the heat of the moment and let rip, it would have been understandable given the circumstances. It's rare to see that kind of class and dignity in football these days. Being at the game I wasn't aware it at the time, but ESPN did everything they could to stoke up the controversy, Jon Champion was an absolute disgrace to his profession and hopefully he's had a proper bollocking from his superiors. I didn't particularly care for the line of questioning from Ray Stubbs to Paul Cox either, but the Mansfield boss didn't go down the path Stubbs was attempting to lead him. I haven't read any papers, I assume it's a mixture of gobshitery, agenda driven moralising sprinkled in with a fair bit of common sense. Hopefully those idiots who've attacked Suarez for 'kissing his hand to taunt the Mansfield fans' are now back in their boxes, having been informed that he does that after every goal he scores. And then there's those who say he should have admitted he handled and not claimed the goal. I assume they would have been quite happy to take his word that he was onside against Everton and awarded him the goal, or that he was assaulted by Leon Barnett at Norwich and awarded him a penalty? In fact, I know, why don't we just let Luis make all the decisions on incidents he's involved in, starting next week at Old Trafford. That'll be fun. Of course that's ridiculous, but no more ridiculous than this notion that he was wrong to claim the goal. Where was this indignation when Everton's defenders didn't go and tell the linesman that Luis was onside? Or when Mongo cleared that shot from a yard behind the line against the Ukraine? Or on every other incident where a referee has made an error that a player is aware of? The only regret I have about this whole thing was that it was poor old Mansfield that suffered, as they didn't deserve that kind of injustice go against them. I just wish it had happened next week at Old Trafford. Fat chance of us getting a favourable refreeing decision there like. Still, you never know, maybe Luis has something else lined up for them. Team: Jones; Wisdom (Flanagan), Coates, Carragher, Robinson; Lucas, Allen, Shelvey; Suso (Henderson), Sturridge (Suarez), Downing:

LIVERPOOL 3 Sunderland 0 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Raheem Sterling, Luis Suarez (2)Half Time - 2-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Wed 2 Jan 2013 Star Man – Luis Suarez You can't understate the part luck plays in the outcome of football matches. Regardless of how each team plays, games are decided on such small details; a missed chance here, a slice of fortune there. I thought we were fantastic in this game, it was a joy to watch some of the football we produced, and the work ethic and intensity when we didn't have the ball was equally impressive. And yet as well as this turned out, there are a lot of parallels in the first half of this game to that of the Aston Villa game, which turned out to be the biggest disappointment of the season so far. As I said, small details. Villa had three chances in that first half and scored twice. Sunderland had three chances and scored none. We had loads of opportunities in both games, we put two away against Sunderland but drew a blank against Villa until eventually getting a late goal when we trailed 3-0. I'm taking nothing away from how we played against Sunderland, l'm excited about many of the things we saw, I'm just saying that sometimes there are such fine margins between winning and losing. We walk that line far too often because of our deficiencies in the final third, but that wasn't an issue in this game as we converted three of the many opportunities we carved out for ourselves. Quite how we only managed to score once in a completely dominant second half is a mystery, but it was largely irrelevant thanks to the two first half strikes that ended Sunderland's resistance. Sunderland had more about them than Fulham had shown a few weeks ago, considering how well we performed Sunderland actually deserve some credit for what they did in the first half. With better finishing they could actually have made a game of this, despite being completely outplayed pretty much from start to finish (I thought the opening ten minutes or so were relatively even but after that we were in full control of the game). Steven Fletcher was bright and busy and full of running in the first half. By the end of the game he looked a completely broken man, having got nothing out of Agger and Skrtel and having had little or no support from his beleaguered team-mates, who spent the entire second half chasing the ball to the point that when they got it back they were too tired to do anything with it. When Brendan Rodgers spoke of his intent to turn Anfield into a place where opponents hate playing, this is the kind of performance he was referring to. "Death by football" he calls it. We've seen it in flashes, but not consistently. I'd probably say the first 45 minutes against Udinese is the best display of it we've seen so far (although the City and United games were also impressive given the standard of opponent), but in terms of a 90 minute display of dominance and high tempo football, this might be the best we've seen. You're not going to completely dominate the top sides in the league and win by three or four goals. It might happen once in a while, but generally speaking it's going to be pretty tough to do. Against the lesser sides though, it's an attainable target. The Mancs under Ferguson have based all of their title successes on doing just that, whereas not being able to beat the sides we should beat has been a massive problem for us for many years. It's still an issue now of course, the Villa defeat is proof of that, but Norwich, Wigan, Fulham, QPR and now Sunderland have now all been seen off handily. Hopefully a sign of progress, but until we add consistency it will count for little. I doubt Sunderland will have a tougher game than this all season, especially what they endured in the second half. And they sure as hell won't come up against a better player than Suarez. He ran them ragged all night, the only surprise was he didn't come away with a hat-trick. The whole team performed well, but it was Suarez who provided the thrust and cutting edge that proved decisive. Without that, the good work of the others counts for little. He scored twice, made another and also laid on other opportunities that were not taken. The assist for Sterling's goal was incredible, he was running away from goal, the ball was going away from goal, but he's just a supremely gifted footballer and he somehow adjusted his body to hook the ball perfectly into the path of Sterling. Most players wouldn't have even contemplated it, let alone been able to pull it off. Sterling showed a cool head to lob the ball over Mignolet and the pair then celebrated jubilantly together. That's another thing I love about Suarez, there's no hint of ego about him and you never get the impression he thinks he's above any of his team-mates, even though he clearly is as he's one of the world's top players. He plays like a superstar but he doesn't act like one, he seems just as happy celebrating team-mates goals as he does his own. It was just the start we needed, but it was almost ruined just three minutes later when a good passing move from Sunderland ended with Fletcher playing in McLean who shot wide. He should have scored, it was a terrible miss and a big let off for us. Like I said, fine margins. If Benteke's shot the other week goes the other side of the post…. You can't legislate for these things, what you have to do is have enough firepower to be able to overcome setbacks when they happen, and to capitalise on the let offs when they come along. Against Sunderland we showed that. Far too often previously we haven't. Daniel Sturridge should help in that regard. The second goal was all about Suarez once again. Gerrard did well to win a loose ball and play Suarez in with a well weighted first time pass. Luis took it on his chest and tried to go by Cuellar on the outside. Cuellar fouled him, the linesman flagged but then the defender fell over and Dowd waved play on. He'd been about to put the whistle to his mouth but credit to him for waiting to see what happened before stopping play. It's funny when you watch the replay because Gerrard sees the flag go up and spits his dummy, turning away in disgust whilst Suarez sets off towards goal! You'd think Stevie has been in the game long enough to play to the whistle. Sterling and Henderson both got up in support of Luis, and even though he scored I'd say Suarez should have squared to Henderson really. His shot found the net but he was a little fortunate, it wasn't a great finish it just squirmed through Mignolet's legs. Henderson would have had every right to tear a strip off Luis if he hadn't scored, but he did score, so Jordan will have just bitten his tongue this time. Sunderland then had another great opportunity and we had Reina to thank for keeping them out. Gardner's free-kick was blocked by the wall but collected by Adam Johnson, who's ball was met by Fletcher at the back post. Pepe made a smart save to keep Fletcher's effort out, but it looked like the loose ball would be turned in by a Sunderland player until Reina reacted quickly to clear the danger. That and a routine stop from Larsson (who should have done better with a presentable opportunity) were just about the only things of note he had to do, but he did them well, and in addition to that his distribution and quick thinking started numerous counter attacks. A good night for Pepe. Some of the football we played was an absolute delight, whether it was through patient build up play or swift counters. There was one fantastic break that almost resulted in a goal for either of Downing or Henderson. Sterling won the ball by his own corner flag and played a ball up the line to Suarez. He spun his man and then set off down the right wing before playing a ball inside to Henderson. Usually a player would take a touch here and then assess his options, but Henderson had already had a look and knew Downing was racing up in support on the left and he just played a lovely little first time ball into his path. Downing took it to the edge of the box and then drilled a shot that looked to be going towards the far corner before it nicked off a defender and went about a foot wide, just eluding the outstretched boot of Henderson who had charged into the box. Superb stuff and it had the crowd purring. It had been a good first half, but despite how well we'd played it was a little concerning that Sunderland had managed to have three good opportunities. The second half was completely one way traffic, we were confident when we were in possession and hungry to win it back when we were not. Sunderland couldn't cope, any time they had the ball it seemed like we forced them into an error within a few seconds and we had it back again. Sterling should have had a second goal shortly after the break. Gerrard picked out Suarez who played a lovely first time ball round the corner into path of Sterling. There was a lack of composure this time, he hesitated as Mignolet came out and ended up disappointingly squaring the ball instead of shooting. Actually it may have been an attempted shot, either way it was poor. Overall Sterling had a decent game though, and this is the kind of thing he'll get better with as he gains more experience. The arrival of Sturridge and the impending return to fitness of Borini may mean fewer starts for Raheem, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. A rest won't do him any harm, and he'll have to up his game to force his way back into the side. Suarez made it 3-0 when he collected a stunning pass from Gerrard, controlled it on his chest and smuggled it past Mignolet. The pass from Gerrard was like an excecet missile, but he had his range all night and sprayed some fantastic passes around. Credit to Downing too, his run across the back four took a centre half away and opened up the gap that Gerrard exploited so perfectly. Without Downing's run though, that goal doesn't happen. He played well again, and fully deserves his place in the side at the moment. Sterling was replaced by Allen midway through the second half, with the Welshman going into the advanced midfield role that Henderson had filled to good effect. Henderson went to the right, before he himself made way for Suso. Carragher got a late run out too, coming on for Skrtel for the final 20 minutes or so. In doing so, he overtook the great Billy Liddell to go into 2nd place on the club's all time league appearance record. A great achievement from a Liverpool legend, he won't catch Ian Callaghan for top spot, but I doubt anybody ever will and in this case, first is first, but second is still pretty fucking impressive. Well done Carra, lad. Suarez almost got the hat-trick when Allen picked him out with a fine ball. Great first touch from Luis, but Mignolet did well to save the shot. Allen enjoyed himself when he came on. He nearly scored from a Downing cutback but Rose made a great block. He then hit the side netting after brilliant wing play by Johnson and when he finally did find the net it was ruled out as Downing was half a yard offside. A pity, as he could have done with that goal as a confidence boost. Still, it was interesting to see how comfortable he looked in that role with free reign to make runs into the box. He was one of the many positives to come out of this game, but Henderson also did a good job in that role. The midfield is basically Lucas and Gerrard plus one, and we have three players battling it out to be that 'plus one'. It looks like Sahin is out of the picture, rumours are linking him with a move away this month, which wouldn't be a massive shock. For a brief time he looked like he was hitting some form but it didn't last and he's fallen way down the pecking order. Pity, the lad clearly has ability but he needs to games to reach his best level, and we aren't here to just help him get fit for Real Madrid, we've got games to win. This was one of those rare games where everybody performed to a high level. There were no passengers or weak links, the whole team were on top of their game and the subs also contributed. Suarez gets the star man but Gerrard ran him close with a virtuoso display in the middle of the park. Much has been said and written about the skipper's form this season, but based on numbers alone he's having a hell of a year. He leads the rest of our midfielders in pretty much every important category, and leads the entire league in assists apparently. The eye test tells a slightly different story, there have been some games where he's just not been at it but there's also an element of him being judged by far higher standards than others are. He's judged against the incredible standards he's set for himself over many years. Even an average Steven Gerrard is still vastly superior to the majority of midfielders in this league (the below average one we've occasionally seen, such as at Stoke the other day, not so much), but on those days when he's on top of his game, like this one, there's no-one to touch him. Glen Johnson was top class again too, it doesn't matter whether he's on the right or the left, he's just a fucking menace and teams are having huge problems keeping him in check this season. Suarez apart, he's been our best player. The absence of Enrique hurts us though, not so much defensively as Wisdom is solid and dependable, but going forward young Andre isn't at the level of Johnson or Enrique yet. With some really big games coming up the timing of Enrique's injury couldn't have been worse, but nevertheless we go into those games in good spirits. Too often we've had a run of easy looking fixtures where we've looked ahead and totted up how many points we should amass from them, only to be disappointed when we drop points to someone shite. This time there are not exactly high expectations for the upcoming away fixtures, so hopefully the reverse will prove true. Maybe we'll surprise ourselves? The worry is that every time we've looked like we were making progress, we've dropped a bollock. With back to back 3-0 wins under our belt we look like we're on the right track, but next up in the league is the most difficult fixture of our season. It's a tough game for them too though, the last thing they'll want is for an in form Suarez to run wild on them in their own back yard. It won't be a game for the faint hearted, that's for sure. Team: Reina; Wisdom, Skrtel (Carragher), Agger, Johnson; Lucas, Gerrard, Henderson (Suso); Sterling (Allen), Suarez, Downing:

QPR 0 LIVERPOOL 3 Report by Dave Usher Scorer(s) – Luis Suarez (2), Daniel AggerHalf Time - 0-3 Venue - Loftus Road Date - Sun 30 Dec 2012 Star Man – Luis Suarez Having recently had to sit through demoralising defeats to Villa and Stoke, I feel a bit bad for Brendan Rodgers that he wasn't there to witness this cakewalk. It was one of those rare occasions when he'd have been able to relax early on and enjoy the game, as a truly woeful QPR side were completely outmanned and over ran by a Reds team without their manager but inspired by the unplayable Luis Suarez. Instead he was probably praying to the porcelain God, shitting through the eye of a needle, or, God forbid, both at the same time. Still, he had to be faring better than poor old Clint Hill. A boyhood red and a good honest pro, he was so over-matched it was difficult not to have sympathy for him as Suarez ran him ragged in an opening half hour in which we scored three and could have had double that. QPR were terrible, there's no point pretending otherwise, but you can only beat what's in front of you and we looked very good. Let's not forget, Aston Villa are abysmal too, but we lost to them. A 3-0 win away in the Premier League isn't to be sniffed at, regardless of the opposition. I'd have been made up with that score before the game, but given how that first half went I felt we should have gone on to administer a real hiding to Redknapp's men. They were ripe for a 6 or 7-0 scoreline, but in the second half we eased off and were happy enough to just see it out. To be fair to QPR, they made a tactical change at the break that tightened things up considerably, but it was noticeable that we dropped off several notches from the first half standard. Ultimately it's not a big deal, but for me this was a chance to not only boost our goal difference (which isn't great), but to also put up a score that would help everyone's confidence. And by everyone, I'm talking fans as well as team. There's no confidence in the support right now, and how can there be when we're so inconsistent? Performances aren't that bad, we don't look like a terrible team, but there's no confidence when it comes to attaining results because we just aren't getting enough of them. Losing at home to Villa is enough to make anyone doubt their team. Had we bagged hatful against QPR, with attacking re-enforcements on the way in this week hopefully, it would have lifted everyone's spirits. We didn't do it though, for a number of reasons. QPR battening down the hatches was a factor, us easing off was another, but the lack of quality in the final third was another. In particular, I'm referring to Raheem Sterling who had a stinker. Not getting on the kid's case, overall he's done well this season given his lack of experience, but watching this game I couldn't help but think that a more experienced, more clinical player, like oh I don't know, let's say Daniel Sturridge, would have filled his boots given the time and space we had in the final third. Unlike earlier in the season when his decision making was so impressive, Sterling repeatedly made the wrong choice or a bad pass. It wasn't the homecoming the former QPR youngster had hoped for that's for sure. A bit of a rest will do him no harm at all. On the other flank, Downing was Downing. He was ok, did nothing wrong, but the bottom line is that the system we are playing requires the three forward players to be scoring and creating goals, and at this moment we only have one of them doing it on a consistent basis. Or on any basis really, considering Downing and Sterling have just two league goals between them. When Suarez is having the kind of day he had at Loftus Road (or at Norwich for that matter) it doesn't matter, but it's on the days when Luis is kept in check that we need those other two to be contributing more than they have been. That's why Sturridge could be a real asset to us, and the sooner that deal goes through the better. As long as his attitude isn't a problem, I could see him being just what we need as he's quick, skilful and scores goals, three things that only one other player in the squad possesses, and Luis isn't even THAT quick. Suarez is just brilliant though, sometimes I think we may take for granted just how good he is. He was superb at Stoke the other night in a losing effort, and he's just relentless in terms of always showing up to play and leaving everything he has on the field. Effort and commitment are never in question, he only knows one way to play no matter who the opposition are or how big or small the game is. If he were to play next week at Mansfield (and hopefully he won't be risked) he'd put in the same kind of shift as he would against the Mancs at Anfield. Clint Hill was run ragged by him and probably wished he was back at Tranmere. The first goal was embarrassing for him I'm sure, but he shouldn't too hard on himself as better players than him have been made to look foolish by Suarez. His second goal was ace too, he's that good he can even play one-two's off defenders. When Agger headed a third from a well worked corner I honestly thought we were going to get double figures, and so did the home crowd based on how they were reacting to their team. They offered nothing, the defence were a shambles and we were completely bossing the middle of the park. Redknapp's answer was to send on 63 year old Shaun Derry in place of the Lord of Frodsham. Amazingly, the veteran defender's presence did slow down Suarez and he was restricted to one real chance which Cesar did superbly to tip onto the bar. We also played a part in slowing down Suarez in how we approached the second half. Perhaps some of the team were mindful of what happened last season when we completely dominated and led 2-0 before somehow losing 3-2. That was never going to happen this time, we may not have been tearing it up in attacking areas but we kept a solid grip on the game and QPR seemed happy enough to keep it at 3-0 and avoid further embarrassment. The only sour note was the hamstring injury suffered by Enrique. He'd been excellent again, his duel with Wright-Phillips wasn't really a serious contest, it was a full grown man against a little kid. Enrique completely owned him, and he'll be missed for however long he's out. Downing went to left back with Suso coming on, whilst stand in boss Colin Pascoe also sent on Lucas for Henderson and Carragher for Allen. Henderson did really well in the first half in that advanced midfield role. Allen played his part too, linking well with Gerrard as we totally controlled midfield, at least in the first half. M'Bia and Diakite were a little more involved after the break. Whilst my over-riding emotion at full time was that we'd wasted an opportunity to record a morale boosting rout, having had a day or so to reflect on it I'm more than happy with the win. The game was over inside the opening 25 minutes or so, as a few other games should have been, including the loss to Villa the other week. This time we were clinical, and it makes everyone else's job so much easier when that happens. Suarez was obviously the star man, but Gerrard was excellent and bounced back from a poor outing at Stoke. Henderson did well too, he probably deserves to keep his place and see if he can build on some encouraging displays of late. 2012 has been mostly shit, but wasn't without it's high points. Three trips to Wembley, one resulted in a trophy, the other a semi final win over the blues and the less said about the third the better. The league results have been dire though, we've seen Kenny Dalglish sacked and I won't be sorry to see the back of this year. Hopefully 2013 will be better, but the only way that will be the case is if we can find some consistency and add players who are more capable in the final third than those we have now. Team: Reina; Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Enrique (Suso); Allen (Carragher), Gerrard, Henderson (Lucas); Downing, Suarez, Sterling:

Stoke City 3 LIVERPOOL 1 Report by Dave Usher Scorer(s) – Steven Gerrard (pen)Half Time - 2-1 Venue - The Brittannia Stadium Date - Wed 26 Dec 2012 Star Man – Luis Suarez One step forward followed by two steps back, the story of our season. Any time it looks like we're making progress, a massive spanner is thrown in the works. Stoke isn't an easy place to go of course, they're unbeaten at home all season and better sides than us have failed to win there. Even taking that into account though, this was absolutely inexcusable. Inept in the opposing penalty area, as weak as a kitten in our own. Just a completely unacceptable performance, especially given that almost everyone else around us in the table won. Generally you can afford to lose at places like Stoke, but not when you've recently lost at home to shite like Aston Villa, who have conceded 12 goals in the two games since they beat us. When you throw away a 'gimme' three points, you have to make up for it by winning one of the more difficult games. This was a chance for us to do that, but we simply weren't good enough. I was going to say we were bullied out of it, but that's not really the right word as it implies we were kicked off the park and that couldn't be further from the truth. I doubt there's anyone out there more critical of Stoke and their 'style' than me, but much as I'd like to slag them off for their overly-physical approach, I can't do it as that's simply not what happened. Stoke weren't dirty, they didn't bend any rules and we have no cause for complaint whatsoever as they deserved their victory. We weren't 'bullied', but we were definitely overpowered. Worryingly so. You know what you're going to get from Stoke. Loads of long balls, flick ons, set pieces and long throws. That's all you have to deal with, they aren't going to be hurting you in any other ways than that and they present a completely different challenge to anyone else in the league. With some teams you have to worry about their pace on the break. With others there's a playmaker or dangerman you need to be aware of. Stoke don't have any of that. You don't need to be pressing them and stopping them from having time on the ball as you would with a Swansea or Arsenal or example. Stoke wouldn't care about that as they don't want to play anyway. With Arsenal, you try to force them to play the ball long as it's not what they want to do. With Stoke? That's ALL they want to do, and there's nothing you can do to stop it. You can play a pressing game and work hard to make it difficult for a team that wants to play football, but it's impossible to stop a side that wants to hit it long from hitting it long. You just can't do it, and if they have a giant up front you aren't going to win the first header either. These are things you can do nothing about, but controlling what happens after that is something you can do and that is the key to dealing with Tony Pulis' side. Stoke are the least complicated team in the league. They hit it long and try to get on the end of flick ons. When they have the ball in wide areas they launch it to the back post, and their whole game is based around forcing as many set-pieces as possible as that's their strength. You have to make sure you win the second balls and don't give them cheap set pieces. We failed miserably on both counts. We knew exactly what to expect, and yet we conceded a goal from a flick on, another from a corner and the tri-fector was completed when we also let them score from a long throw. Stoke will see it as the perfect hat-trick. To make matters worse, two of the goals were scored by that alehouse twat Walters. Open play goals from him are as rare as rocking horse shit, yet we let him bag two. That's just completely unacceptable, and the blame for all of these goals lies with the two centre halves who just couldn't compete with the aerial strength of Kenwynne Jones and allowed the limited Walters too much room to feed off him. That's why we lost the game, although those further forward didn't help by showing their customary cluelessness in the penalty area. We had plenty of opportunities that we wasted, and even more promising situations that didn't even result in a clear chance due to woeful decision making, poor execution and a general lack of desire to get into goalscoring areas. That's the worst thing about watching us these days, the complete and utter ineptitude when we get near the box. I actually had the opportunity to ask Brendan Rodgers about that last week when a number of fansites were invited in for a meeting with him, and he basically said that particular issue will only be solved by bringing in new players who have the desire to score goals and to get into danger areas. The perfect example of our failings in this area came late on when Suarez lashed a ball across the face of goal and no-one had got in there. Sterling only started to make a move to get on the end of it after the ball had left Suarez's boot, but players who have that goalscoring instinct would have already been on the move, anticipating a cross before Suarez had even reached the ball and they would have had a tap in. We just don't have enough players who have that in them. Maxi had it in spades, look how many goals he scored from drifting into danger areas and getting tap ins. Downing doesn't have that, never has and never will. Sterling doesn't have it either, but maybe it will come in time. Adam Morgan definitely has it, but he's not seen as being ready to play at this level yet. Jose Enrique showed in the few games he had further forward that he has it too, but he's not the long term answer and he's doing well at full back again now. Borini may have it, but we still don't know enough about him as he's been injured for what seems like an eternity and wasn't showing too much before he got hurt. I thought Rodgers' appraisal of the issue was spot on, you can see these failings on a weekly basis as a ball comes into the danger area and we're all left cursing the lack of bodies in the six yard box. Rodgers insists this is not down to tactics or discouraging players from getting in the box, it's just about the make up of the player. We don't have enough players who's natural instinct takes them into goalscoring positions. Hopefully Sturridge has that, but one player alone isn't going to change it. It should certainly help though. (you can find the interview on the Redmen TV's youtube channel, it's definitely worth a watch if you've got the time) We aren't a terrible side, we've shown on several occasions this season glimpses of what we could be, but we are flawed and therefore very inconsistent. Whatsmore, we're a soft touch, the kind of side that Stoke must lick their lips about facing. We can be knocked out of our stride when pressed high up the pitch, we have a soft centre that struggles against big powerful frontmen (Carlton Cole, Benteke and Jones have all given us massive problems recently) and we're fairly toothless in the opposing penalty area. Basically, meat and drink to a side like Stoke. What makes this even harder to take is that we got off to the perfect start and were a goal in front inside two minutes. Barely 30 seconds had elapsed when Suarez skinned Shawcross and was hauled back by his shirt. It was probably complacency on the part of Shawcross, you can't blame him for that as it's been open season on Suarez in the box and refs have repeatedly turned a blind eye. Shawcross was just the unlucky one who finally got penalised. Could Suarez have stayed on his feet? Possibly, but he absolutely did the right thing in going down simply because Shawcross had cheated by dragging him back to stop him from getting past and going through on goal. If Suarez stays up, he doesn't get the penalty and whatsmore he has no advantage as Shawcross has prevented him getting away by fouling him. He had a hold of the shirt for a good few seconds, initially Suarez tried to play on and get by him, but he couldn't do it as Shawcross wouldn't let go of him so eventually he went down. 100% nailed on penalty and Suarez has done nothing wrong, despite the snidey line of questioning from some Sky jabroni to Jamie Redknapp at half time. If that was any other player in the league that question wouldn't have been asked, it's disgraceful. Suarez was the one shining light for us in this game. He was a constant danger but he can't do it all on his own. Some of the blame has to go to the manager for his team selection I guess. In fairness I can't really criticise as I liked the idea behind what he did, even if I could see the risk. There's two ways of looking at it. The first is that you're playing Stoke and need to select players who are better equipped to deal with the problems they pose. The second is that you pick the players you want to pick and let them worry about you. Rodgers will always go with the second option, although in this particular instance it played into Stoke's hands as the 'let them worry about us' approach works a lot better when you have players that the opposition are actually worried about. I like the Rodgers approach, it's what I always do when playing footy manager! Play to your own strengths and don't let the opposition dictate what you do. It's a brave approach and it's something I like to see from a Liverpool manager. I'd be a lot happier with it if we had better players though, as what we have at the moment is just not good enough to make it work. Those who criticised the team selection before the game are perfectly entitled to do so afterwards. Me? Well I didn't have an issue with it prior to the game so I'm not going to start caning Rodgers for it now. All I will say is that with the benefit of hindsight I feel we'd have been far better including Coates and playing three at the back. Before the game it's not something I'd have considered, and I find it somewhat difficult to have a go at the manager too much for naming an unchanged line up from a side that had just won 4-0. I'd concede that the inclusion of Suso was questionable, if ever there was a game where he was unlikely to have much impact you'd have to say this would be it. Having said that, I felt he was very unlucky to be the one to make way for Sterling at half time. Raheem had to come on as the game was screaming out for him, but for me Suso should have been moved more central in place of Shelvey, who was having a shocker. Suso wasn't bad, he was just not in the game much (the same with Downing). Shelvey was in it a lot, but was repeatedly found wanting. It didn't get any better for Jonjo after the break either, I thought he was absolutely terrible from start to finish. He wasn't alone in not playing well but he was clearly the worst of a mostly bad bunch, and Suso, Lucas and Downing could all be forgiven for wondering what the hell they'd done so wrong that they were hooked before Shelvey. At 2-1 we were in with a shout as we had plenty of the ball and we created some openings. There were similarities with the West Ham game, and I was confident we could get at least a point until we gifted Stoke a third goal and then it was clearly all over. Such a shitty goal to concede too, basic route one stuff, we have to be doing better in that situation. There was a sense of inevitability about our play after that. We tried to get back into the game, but never looked like we believed we could. We enjoyed plenty of possession but it usually broke down once we reached the penalty area and ran out of ideas. Suarez was booked for a lunge on the keeper, but more concerning was that he seemed to injure himself in the process and was hobbling around for a while afterwards. Apparently he's been nursing an ankle problem and aggravated it. Christ, that's all we need isn't it? Team: Reina; Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Enrique; Lucas (Henderson), Gerrard, Shelvey; Suso (Sterling), Suarez, Downing (Cole):

LIVERPOOL 4 Fulham 0 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Martin Skrtel, Steven Gerrard, Stewart Downing, Luis SuarezHalf Time - 2-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Sat 22 Dec 2012 Star Man – Stewart Downing A goal and an assist in the same Premier League match for Stewart Downing? Not even the Mayans would have been bold enough to make that wild prediction. It happened though, I know it did as I was there. I may not have believed it otherwise. He also blotted his copybook with an incredibly stupid celebration, but that's a minor irritation on what was a really enjoyable day and the perfect way to bounce back after the Villa disappointment. We steamrollered Fulham, they couldn't live with the tempo we set and the 4-0 score didn't flatter us at all. Martin Jol said afterwards we weren't great, and he had a point. We've played better and lost, but we were still very good and Fulham had no answer to it. It was a result we desperately needed after that humbling defeat to Villa seven days earlier (even more humbling after them letting in eight a week later), and to be honest this was never in any doubt once we got the early goal. Brendan Rodgers had said earlier in the week that some of his players needed a rest. Allen and Sterling would have been top of most people's list of players who've looked goosed lately, and both started the game on the bench as Suso and Enrique returned to the side. That meant Downing switching from left back to right wing, and Shelvey reverting from the left of the front three into the attacking midfield role that he seems far more suited to. The shape and balance of the side looked very good, especially the midfield three. Joe Allen has been getting a bit of stick on forums and twitter recently, and the team doing so well without him will only add fuel to that particular fire. I don't think it was specifically about Allen and we could just as easily have beaten Fulham with him in the side, but Gerrard had his best game in a while playing in Allen's role and the Welshman may find it difficult to get back in. With Henderson and Sahin also trying to get back in, midfield is definitely the deepest area of the squad. It's just about finding the right combination, and right now this may be the best trio in terms of the balance of the side. We'll need to see them against better opposition than Fulham though, that goes without saying. Jol's side are really hit and miss. On their day they can beat anyone and we've certainly had plenty of trouble with them at Anfield in recent years. They've had a few 0-0s and they beat us last season. They can also lose to anyone though, especially away from home. Despite their reputation for being poor travellers, I don't think we should be downplaying this win and performance just because it was 'only' Fulham. For me, a big reason for them being poor was the way we completely smothered them when they had the ball. The pressing and tempo of our game was good throughout, it's not easy for anyone to play against us when we do that. Better sides than Fulham have struggled with it, including the top two even though they both went home with points they didn't deserve, three in United's case but they can thank Mark Halsey for that, the shithouse. Anyway, Skrtel's early strike obviously helped as an early goal does wonders for the confidence. If we'd got that against Villa last week then who knows what would have happened. But even more crucial than the opening goal for me was that we added a second. That ensured there'd be no repeat of the Southampton and Reading games where we dominated but ended up hanging on nervously to a 1-0 lead knowing that one lapse would cost us two points. The goals were all well taken, and we could easily have had more given the chances created. I'm not going to worry about the ones we missed though, we scored four and that's plenty. You're not going to score with every chance, but putting four away generally means you won't go far wrong, so no complaints from me. Skrtel's finish was superb, controlling a corner and then lashing an unstoppable shot past Schwarzer. Surprising he had so much time, but I think a couple of Fulham players collided with eachother and that's why Skrtel was left free. Agger should have got in the act minutes later when Gerrard's shot was blocked into the path of Suarez, who squared the ball perfectly to the waiting Dane who somehow put the ball over the bar from about three yards. Incredible miss, but typical Liverpool. Thankfully Gerrard did add a second with a good finish following a clever pass by Downing. The pass was well disguised and perfectly weighted. Was that his first Premier League assist? I've got a feeling he got one late last season, possibly to set up Carroll? There haven't been many that's for sure, but that's not all his fault as often he's been let down by the finishing of others. The lack of goals is completely on him though. He's bagged a few in cup games but not in the league until this game. At half time I commented to the fella next to me that it probably won't be a popular view but I felt that Downing has been playing quite well of late. He was our best player last week, and arguably he was again in this game. When he scored I was genuinely pleased for the lad, as although he's had a bad time of it and hasn't been anywhere near good enough, when he was shunted to left back his attitude and professionalism have been admirable, despite having been told he could leave in January. He could have thrown the towel in but he didn't. Honestly, I felt really happy for him when he cut inside Riise and thumped a shot into the Kop goal. The first I knew of his celebration was afterwards when a mate asked me if Downing had 'shushed' the Kop when he scored. A quick look on twitter confirmed he had, and suddenly I wasn't so pleased for him anymore! I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, maybe his actions meant something else and he wasn't directing it at the Kop, but it sure as hell looks bad doesn't it? I'm not sure what is the most shocking, the fact that he scored or that he had the brass neck to 'shush' the Kop afterwards. Let's examine some facts: 1) he cost us £20m 2) he's been here for 18 months 3) during that time he's been collecting a reported salary of around 80k a week 4) he's not scored a single league goal in all that time. You'd think when he finally did find the net his reaction would be one of relief, or maybe even contrition. You know, a kind of "look, I know I've been shit and you don't like me much, but hopefully this redeems me a little" gesture. But no, he told the Kop to 'shush'. What a div. The worst part of it is that he's always had good support inside the stadium. He may get caned on forums and twitter, not to mention in the boozers and work places etc, but at the game he's never been singled out in the way other players far less deserving of it have been in the past. Who exactly was he telling to 'shush', the cheeky bastard? If it is was the fans, he's a tit. If it's his 'critics', he's still a tit, as criticism has been warranted based on his lack of production. The last player to do this was that gobshite Voronin. Not the kind of company anyone wants to be associated with. Hopefully Downing will clear up what he meant by it, even if he lies through his teeth. Some sort of explanation/apology is in order if he's planning on staying here beyond January. He says he wants to stay, and Rodgers said if he keeps on playing like this then he'll be in the side and will have no need to leave. That's the question though isn't it, can he keep playing like this? The evidence suggests no, not because of a lack of ability (for me he's technically very sound, keeps possession well and should be performing a lot better than he has done), but because he just doesn't seem to have the strength of character to make it here. I'd still keep him until the summer unless someone offers decent money, I don't see any point loaning him out when he's shown that he's a useful squad member. And he is a useful squad member, he just isn't a £20m winger. Maybe if he'd cost £7-8m people wouldn't have such a problem with him, but then I guess you'd still expect more than one league goal in 18 months even from a player who cost a third of what he did. Who knows, that goal may kick start him and he may go on to become a key member of the side. Stranger things have happened, I can't think of any off the top of my head but I'm sure there must be something. The goal gave him a real confidence boost and he almost added a screamer shortly after, his blistering drive going inches wide of the top corner. That would have had everyone in the ground pinching themselves to see if they were dreaming, and what would his reaction have been to that? Mooning the Main Stand? At 3-0 the game was over, the main question now was whether Suarez would get himself on the scoresheet. He's missed a great chance early in the second half when Downing's deflected shot fell to him, but his shot was horrible. He was getting frustrated, and it looked like it would boil over when a linesman's flag stopped him when he had a clear run on goal. It was one of those where a defender made a play for the ball and the striker used his body to roll him. I hate those decisions, it's bullshit, but they are given almost every time. Suarez seemed about to go mental, but instead just started laughing at the lino. He's desperately trying to behave himself and I've seen him do this a few times recently. It's easier to laugh when we're 3-0 up I suppose. Thankfully he eventually got his goal late on, when Enrique did brilliantly to work his way along the touchline from a short corner and then pick Luis out with a perfect pass for him to score from close range. Enrique was top drawer again, he's in great form now and it traces back to the spell he had further forward that has clearly given his confidence a huge boost. Interesting that Downing has had the same kind of renaissance since being moved further back. Credit to Rodgers for both I'd say. Those positional changes were met with scepticism by a lot of us, but the results are there for all to see now, especially with Enrique who has emerged from what was more or less a year long slump and is back playing at the high level he was when he first arrived here. Overall, you'd have to say a very satisfactory evening's work. Given the way other results went it was vital we won this game as despite the loss to Villa we've not lost that much ground thanks to Spurs drawing at Stoke. We got a bit too full of ourselves when we got within four points of the top four and we laid an egg against Villa. Rodgers said that himself, he put that shock defeat completely down to complacency and presumably he'll be using that as an example from now on any time he thinks the players are getting a bit too pleased with themselves. I thought everyone played pretty well against Fulham, Downing, Enrique and Gerrard especially. Both centre backs were good too, but a somewhat disinterested Berbatov presented a far less stern challenge than the pumped up Benteke had done seven days previous. Suso put a real shift in and Sterling appeared to have something of a spring in his step when he came on. Maybe I'm imagining that, but it just seemed like he had the bit between his teeth having finally signed that contract. Could be interesting to see how he does next time out, Rodgers has laid down a challenge to him to score more goals and that has to be the next step in his development, as for all his promise he's only contributed one goal so far and that's not enough for the position he plays in. Just ask Downing. The Kop were in festive mood too, at least a vocal minority were. They sang non-stop throughout the game, occasionally the rest joined in but mostly it was just a small hardcore who had clearly taken advantage of the later kick off time to get an extra couple of hours in the boozer. How else can you explain the repeated airings of "So here he is Brendan Rodgers, everybody's having fun"? Riise got a terrific reception at the start of the 2nd half and his song was belted out a couple of times. Good to see, it ended badly for him here with the own goal against Chelsea, but he was a good servant for a long time and it was good to see the Kop let him know that. We also had the first airing of the 'Jonjo Shelvey baby' song, to the tune of the Human League's Don't you want me baby". We've got Depeche Mode for Suarez and now Human League for Shelvey. What's next, Haircut 100 maybe? Perhaps Duran Duran? I can see that Shelvey chant catching on though. The Rodgers one? Not so much. Team: Reina; Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Enrique; Lucas, Gerrard, Shelvey (Allen); Downing, Suarez, Suso (Sterling):

LIVERPOOL 1 Aston Villa 3 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Steven GerrardHalf Time - 0-2 Venue - Anfield Date - Sat 15 Dec 2012 Star Man – Stewart Downing So much for only being four points off a Champions League place. That may be as close as we get if we don't improve massively on this. Every time we look at the upcoming fixtures and start thinking it's a chance to pick up a load of points, we shit the bed. Every frigging time. You can set your watch by it. I should have seen this coming really, but I didn't and it leaves a real sour taste in the mouth. I mean come on, this was Aston fucking Villa. You can't lose at home to Villa, it's bad no matter who you are, but for a team with any aspirations of making the top four it's completely unacceptable, not to mention more than a little embarrassing. This game exposed the two glaring flaws this team has at the moment. We played a lot of nice football only to continually fuck things up once we reached the penalty area, and we looked hugely vulnerable on the counter any time we lost the ball cheaply. Both have been huge problems for us all season, the former is something that only new arrivals can fix, but the latter is an issue I hoped would be resolved with the return of Lucas. Maybe it will get better when he gets fully fit but at the moment he looks understandably off the pace. What's really frustrating about this loss is we should have been comfortably ahead before Benteke's strike gave Villa the lead. We'd been all over them, passing and moving, breaking into the box and winning possession back quickly by pressing them into mistakes in their own half. It was really good stuff.... until we got to the box, when it was pitifully bad. We're just so sloppy when it comes to that final act, be it a pass or shot. The game was a comedy of errors from us in attack, with the opening spell particularly bad as it ruined all the good approach work we put in. It's no longer about missing great chances, it's about wasting the opportunities to give us great chances. There were just so many examples of it against Villa, it was bordering on incompetance. Apparently we had 29 shots, yet I don't remember Guzan making a save of any note. Risible stuff, it's difficult to comprehend how international players can be so inept and make so many bad decisions in the final third. Do they even work on it in training? They must do, but you'd never guess by watching us play. Suarez should have put one on a plate for Gerrard but his pass was awful. We had a three against one after Allen had robbed a Villa player but Suarez cocked it right up by not playing it early enough, or accurately enough. The ball did eventually end up at Gerrard's feet via defender but his snapshot went straight to Guzan. It was a criminal waste of a great opening, but we see this kind of thing far too often. Gerrard then miscontrolled a great Suarez pass when a decent touch would have sent him clean through. Worse was to follow as Suarez robbed a Villa defender and fed Shelvey, but he took too long letting the ball roll across his body and a defender made a block. The pass could have been better and Shelvey could have reacted quicker, it was the story of the game really, not making the most of great positions. Villa went ahead totally against the run of play when Suarez lost the ball near halfway trying to backheel his way past a defender on the touchline. Whilst you can point the finger at him for losing the ball, it still shouldn't be costing us a goal as we had everyone else behind the ball when he lost it. I'm far from comfortable putting it on Suarez, it's not like he got caught out on the edge of his own box as the last man, he was near the halfway line. What we did after he lost the ball was of more concern. Benteke was given too much room and maybe Reina should have done better with the shot, although it was right in the corner and went in off the post. We've seen this so often in the last couple of years, more or less total dominance and then the opposition score with their first real attempt of note. There didn't seem to be too much reason to panic as we'd been playing well, and we continued to look dangerous going forward. Suarez was sent clear in the inside right channel by Gerrard but shot into the near post side netting instead of putting ball across goal where Shelvey was in a good position. Another bad decision. Weimann should have put Villa 2-0 up when he latched onto some poor control by Johnson and lobbed the ball onto the top of the net with Reina helpless. That had come from a punt up the field that was flicked on by Benteke, and the big forward won virtually every header all day. He was like a man possessed, like Drogba on steroids, we just never got to grips with him at all and Skrtel especially had a torrid time trying to deal with him. It wasn't just the physical presence of Benteke that gave us problems, he was a threat with the ball at his feet too and the backheel to Weimann to set up for the second goal was great play. We really didn't deserve to be 2-0 down at that stage and there was still hope we could come back, mainly due to the fact they are Aston Villa and they're not very good. They are organised and hard working though, and sadly that's all you need to have a chance of frustrating us. Rodgers made a half time change, bringing off Shelvey and sending on Cole. You could argue that Cole deserved his chance having scored last week, but I've got to be honest I felt a lot better about us as a team when Suso was getting a chance. Bad results are easier to take when you've got some youngsters in there, it makes it a little more understandable and the disappointment is tempered by hope for the future. When you're losing games with Downing and Cole on the field and Wisdom and Suso watching from the bench, it's a lot harder to find positives. Having said that, I thought Downing was our best player by some distance, his use of the ball and composure in possession was excellent and he did what little defending he had to do well enough too. Downing apart, Daniel Agger was the only other outfield player who can maybe be satisfied with his performance as all the rest were below par, including Cole who offered very little. The 2nd half wasn't good at all. We had a penalty shout early on when Agger was held as he tried to latch onto Skrtel's header. Agger was also pulling the shirt of his marker which may be the reason he didn't get the decision, or it could have been the unwritten 'LFC to get no penalties this season' rule. You'd normally expect the home team to get the occasional close call in their favour, with us they all go the other way, just like this one did. Within minutes we were 3-0 down, and it was totally self inflicted. Allen played a pass to Cole when he had a man on him, he was robbed far too easily and Benteke was running at the heart of our defence. I don't know what the hell happened next. Allen tried to get back and make a challenge but he couldn't get goalside and had he then tried to get a tackle in he'd have conceded a penalty and probably been sent off. It looked incredibly weak though, like a little kid trying to tackle a full grown man. I was more concerned with what Skrtel did, he just seemed to back away and not close Benteke down at all. It was embarrassing how easily the striker was allowed to advance into the box and score with such ease. Really terrible play from us. The weird thing is, even at 3-0 I was still thinking we could come back. If we'd been able to pull one back quickly it could have been a different story. The crowd didn't turn on the players despite the scoreline, but there was precious little to lift them. By the time we did score everyone knew it was too late. We had another decent shout for handball later on, I've not seen any replays but at the time it looked clear cut. The ball hit the defender's hand and unlike Joe Allen last week, it wasn't from point blank range. We're not getting any help from officials but that's not why we lost this game and it's not really worth dwelling on. Individual players need to look at themselves after this, as some of them just aren't contributing enough. Rodgers said a few months ago we'd see "50% more" from Allen when the return of Lucas allowed him to revert to his natural position. If by 'more' he meant 'less' then he's right. I like Allen, I'm sure hell go on to be a fine player for us but at this moment in time he isn't offering much. He's not a defensive midfielder, and he does'nt seem to be an attacking one either. In a side with plenty of attacking talent and goals in abundance, he'd be a nice complimentary piece to the team, but at this moment in time we need more than he's giving us. He can consider himself lucky to be holding down a place ahead of Henderson at the moment, and what's happened to Sahin? Is he still out with a broken nose? We could really use a player like the one Sahin was billed as when he came here. And where the hell is Assaidi? He's not a world beater, but surely he's a better option right now than using Shelvey out of position? Shelvey looked really promising early on in the season when he was playing in midfield. Since then he's been moved about and played right across the front three and his performances have suffered along with his reputaion amongst the fans. I've seen a lot of people having a pop at him, but I can't go along with that as he's clearly not suited to playing so far forward. Why are Assaidi and Suso not getting more of a chance? And then there's Sterling. I'd love to sit down with his agent, watch the DVD of this game and then get him to explain with a straight face why he thinks we should be paying Raheem 50k a week. He's not worth it, simple as that. He might be one day, but it's by no means nailed on. He's a good young player who could hopefully go on to become a great one, but at this moment in time he's not worth anything like 50k a week and this whole thing is doing him no favours. Earlier in the season everyone was right behind Sterling, if something he tried didn't come off the fans would encourage him, especially given how hard he'd work to win the ball back. He still does that, there's been no drop off in his effort or his attitude, but unfortunately when it's not happening for him people are naturally going to be less indulgent now and far more likely to say "50k a week???? Fuck off". He's losing a lot of goodwill the longer this drags out. He also looks like he could use a bit of a rest as this was his worst display of the season. Hopefully the result won't affect the confidence of the side too much, although it may even do them some good to be brought back down to earth a little. I felt we were maybe a little bit too pleased with ourselves after a couple of narrow wins. There was talk from players and manager about how we're improving all the time and ready to make a charge. Foolishly I bought into it, and that's what makes the disappointment of this much worse. We can't do much about how shit we are in and around the penalty area until January, although better performances from Suarez and Gerrard for example would go a long way to helping us. We sure as hell need to do something about how wide open we are at times when we lose the ball though. Fulham next week won't be easy, they are adept at coming here and making it difficult for us and we'll have to do a lot better than this if we're to avoid another disappointing day. Team: Reina; Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Downing; Lucas (Henderson), Allen, Gerrard; Shelvey (Cole), Suarez, Sterling:

'Numbers' is joined by former Reds striker Neil Mellor and TLW Editor Dave Usher to discuss the recent winning run, the role of agemts in the game and to look ahead to the upcoming games against Villa and Fulham. Listen now either on the embedded player below, or by visiting our podcast page here. You can also subscribe through itunes and have any new podcast automatically delivered to your computer. Clicking the link above will download the latest episode straight into your itunes, and will subscribe you to any future episodes. Those of you wanting to listen on your phone, try this link as it should work on most smartphones. To listen in this window, simply click the play button in the box below. To listen in a new tab, click here. Podcast Powered By Podbean

West Ham 2 LIVERPOOL 3 Report by Dave Usher Scorer(s) – Glen Johnson, Joe Cole, James Collins O.G.Half Time - 2-1 Venue - Upton Park Date - Sun 9 Dec 2012 Star Man – Glen Johnson It wasn't the greatest performance we've seen, but it wasn't bad either all things considered and frankly, who cares. Having played well and not won so often, I'm not going to get all snooty about winning one that maybe we shouldn't have. This was a fantastic result and it was our third win a week. Given the way other results went, this was a massive win for us. We'd had a tough European away fixture three days earlier and West Ham isn't an easy place to go, just ask Chelsea who got steamrollered there last week. Nevertheless, we started brilliantly and finished brilliantly. What went in between wasn't too hot but the character and spirit was admirable and there's a lot to be pleased about, most of all the score, obviously. The first twenty minutes were excellent, as were the last twenty. The spell in between was somewhat ropey but it's unrealistic to expect us to go to West Ham without our best player and dominate them for 90 minutes. We had Shelvey at centre forward, Downing at left back and Joe Cole on the field. We also had an awful referee to contend with, and for a long time it looked like we would come away with nothing. So to turn it around like we did was huge. Enrique going off was a big blow and co-incided with us losing our grip on the game. West Ham will say the same about Diame being forced off, and they'd have a fair point too. The way we started the game was really impressive, right from the first minute we took control, keeping possession and moving the ball around the field. We had a good tempo and we looked really confident, Johnson was running riot and Sterling was getting into threatening positions. It's becoming more and more evident each week how important Johnson is to how we play. In the Rodgers system the full backs are expected to be wingers as well as defenders, as the wideman come inside whenever we attack which creates the space for the full backs. Some teams deal with it better than others, last week against Southampton Johnson had the freedom of Anfield in the first half and it was the same this week. When you have Andre Wisdom, or to a lesser extent Martin Kelly there, it's not that big a deal for the opposition. When it's Glen Johnson? You've got a big problem. Johnson murdered West Ham in the first half, they just couldn't contain his marauding runs. The goal he scored was stunning, but he almost created a couple more as he terrorised the left flank of the Hammers. The flip side was that when our attacks broke down Jarvis was able to exploit the space left by Johnson's forward runs. That wasn't much of an issue early on, but it turned into one when we lost our grip on the game. Sterling then put two shots wide when he probably should have done better, and it wasn't a good half for him. A lot of things didn't go his way but to his credit he doesn't seem to let any of that faze him and always shows for the ball. By the end, he was running them ragged. Enrique going off signalled the start of West Ham getting back into the game. It wasn't so much Downing having to go to left back that was the problem, he did well there to be fair. Cole coming on and Downing having to move away from the right flank was the issue. Downing was doing a good job on the right and his movement was a big part of why Johnson was enjoying so much space. Cole took a while to get into the game, we stopped passing the ball and West Ham came right back into it. Jarvis suddenly didn't have to worry about chasing after Johnson and began making an impact at the other end. He beat Johnson and crossed low towards Carlton Cole and only a terrific block by Agger prevented the striker getting on the end of it. Then with Johnson caught upfield Jarvis had a free run at Joe Allen. It was a complete mismatch, he blew right by him but fortunately his cross didn't find a team-mate. The momentum had shifted though, we were no longer in control of the game even though we still had the lead. Not for long, Mr Probert saw to that. Technically he was well within his rights to give the penalty, it wasn't a 'wrong' decision as such. It was well fucking harsh though and you know he wouldn't have given it at the other end. Allen had his arm up and the ball hit it. That was there for everyone to see, it wasn't in doubt. It's the kind of thing you see in every game, and it's hardly ever penalised. Either it is a pen or it isn't, someone needs to decide and then make sure decisions are the same across the board. Allen wasn't doing that 'making himself big' shit, it was a normal movement and there was no way he could have gone to make a challenge with his arm down. The ball was probably going to clear the roof of the stand too, it certainly wasn't going to hit the target that's for sure. I felt hard done by, but I can't deny that at the other end I'd have been claiming a penalty. There's too much of a grey area with these calls, most of the time they aren't given so when you get one go against you like this you have a right to be upset about it, especially when the same referee then denies you a far more obvious penalty later on. We were already wobbling prior to that decision, it's not like it came completely out of the blue against the run of play. What it did do though was give West Ham a huge lift and put us even further on the back foot. The decision to give the pen was as good as giving them a goal, as Noble doesn't miss spot kicks. 17 out of 17 now for him, although I'd be surprised if he's hit a more accurate one than this. Pepe went the right way, he was at full stretch and had that kick been anywhere other than exactly in the bottom corner he'd have saved it. It got worse for us shortly afterwards, Probert awarded a free-kick after Skrtel looked to have won a header cleanly. He got up early and won the ball before Cole got off the ground, but the referee blew for the foul and we didn't deal with the free-kick properly. Johnson didn't spot Jarvis in acres of space until it was too late, and even when he did he was in no great rush to get tight to him. He gave the winger too much time and space to deliver a cross and the next thing the ball was in the back of our net via the head of the unfortunate Gerrard. I'll be honest, I thought we were done. I didn't like how we were playing after we'd made such a good start, and looking at the personnel we had on the pitch I didn't see how it was going to change. I'd have probably gone into panic mode and brought Suso and Morgan on at half time, but as we'd already been forced into one change that restricted us in terms of substitutions, as the last thing you want is to play all of your cards at once in case you get an injury. Rodgers didn't make any changes at the break, and to be honest the game didn't change much either. We didn't look like scoring and the Hammers were very comfortable. We had a couple of decent efforts, Sterling had a deflected shot just about kept out by the Finnish tramp and Shelvey headed wide after a good ball by Downing. Generally though it wasn't too good. Diame was bossing the midfield and we looked toothless and lightweight, although the effort was never in question. We were struggling to regain the control we had early on. Cole was doing a good job for them holding the ball up and being a nuisance, and the long ball stuff and bombardment with crosses was making life difficult for us. Then Diame's hamstring snapped as he made a run down the right hand side. Allardyce opted to put a centre half on in his place, and lo and behold we regained control of the midfield and the game. Way to go Big Sam, you tactical genius you. I'm sure one day you'll get that big job you claim you deserve. Maybe Madrid will give you a call when Mourinho packs his bags, they're sure to have been impressed with how you handled replacing Diame. Allardyce was lauded last week for the tactical changes that won the game against Chelsea, but this week he more than met his match with Rodgers. Having already sent on Joe Cole, the Reds' boss made his next move by introducing Henderson for Lucas and it paid immediate dividends. 'Hendo' played a big role in this victory and deserves a lot of credit for how he's performed this week. Our equaliser was a cracking goal, really well worked. Henderson played the ball out to Sterling on the left who advanced forward towards the box. Shelvey dropped off to exchange passes with Sterling, the defender came with him and Cole made a run into the space. Textbook stuff. Sterling's first time ball to Cole was superb, a lot of players would have needed to take a touch first as it was a difficult ball to deal with. Raheem adjusted his feet well and the ball hit Cole perfectly in stride. Joe still had a lot to do but he did it beautifully, feigning to shoot to draw the defender in and then lashing it into the bottom corner with his left foot. The goal transformed us, you could see the confidence and swagger return to our game and it was like the opening twenty minutes all over again. Within minutes we had the lead, albeit somewhat fortunately. Henderson saw space on the right and surged into it before delivering a good cross to the near post. Shelvey stretched for it but didn't get there but the ball looped up over the keeper off the boot of Collins. Shelvey celebrated in front of a delirious away end but there was still time left for West Ham to force an equaliser so we had to be careful. Rodgers made another good substitution, sending on Coates to deal with the alehouse ball to Carlton Cole. Sterling almost made the Hammers pay when he got away from Collins but his touch was just too heavy and the Hobo was able to come out and clear. Then came the non-penalty. Shelvey turned superbly and set off on a Ricky Villa style run into the box where he was eventually upended by Reid. The defender got a toe on the ball but he caught Shelvey first. Was it a 100% cast iron pen? No, but it was probably 80-20 and more often than not you'd expect to get it. We're getting fuck all this season though, I'm just glad this one didn't prove costly. Defensively we held out without too many problems, Reina did a good job of punching clear a number of dangerous crosses and despite the referee playing about three minutes extra on top of the allocated stoppage time we held on for a huge three points. We're just four points off 4th place now despite all the problems we've had. That's pretty incredible and bodes well for the new year if we can get a couple of attackers in. 10th place in the league isn't good but at this stage it's fairly irrelevant, it's about the points and in terms of that we're well within touching distance of the top four, even if there are five other teams ahead of us before we get there. It's up to us now to stay close and then hopefully make a push in the New Year. Few will have expected us to go to West Ham and win without Suarez, let alone scoring three goals in the process. We need to take advantage of that now by winning the next few games we have coming up. Some other observations, the fact we have no song for Glen Johnson has now become embarrassing. He's one of our best players and has been for a while, if anyone deserves a song he does. In fact, the lack of songs in general for players is something that needs addressing. Finally, what's with the hatred the Hammers fans have for Jonjo? "Shelvey, you're a cunt" they chanted. Why? Is it because he played for Charlton or is there something I'm missing? They chanted the same thing to Gerrard, they really hate Stevie as well. Probably related to him being a part of a failing England side. West Ham fans take that personally, the Hammers won the World Cup in 1966 don't you know. Him stealing an FA Cup out from under their nose in 2006 may also have something to do with it. Team: Reina; Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Enrique (Cole, Coates); Lucas (Henderson), Gerrard, Allen; Sterling, Shelvey, Downing:

Udinese 0 LIVERPOOL 1 Report by Dave Usher Scorer(s) – Jordan HendersonHalf Time - 0-1 Venue - Stadio Friuli Date - Thu 6 Dec 2012 Star Man – Jordan Henderson It was almost typical Liverpool, and had Di Natale's last second shot been a few inches lower then it would have been. Thankfully it wasn't and we not only qualified for the knock out stages, we did so by topping the group. Fair enough I'd say, we were the best side in the group by a distance for me, even if results didn't always show it. We battered Udinese for most of the game at Anfield and somehow lost. This wasn't anywhere near as one sided, but we mostly dominated and should have had the game wrapped up long before Di Natale had that chance to equalise. Bizarrely, the Italians were only still in the game thanks to the heroics of one time Liverpool keeper - and by one time I literally mean 'one time' - Daniele Padelli. The former Italian u21 keeper spent six months on loan at Anfield in 2007, playing in the final home game of the season when he had a 'mare against Charlton. That was the last I'd heard of him until this game. Unsurprising considering he's spent all his time since on loan at crappy Italian sides and amassing only 25 games in five years. He looks different to how I remember though, he was sporting a set of chompers the likes of which I haven't seen since Matt Dillon's character in 'There's Something About Mary' got his teeth capped to impress the aforementioned 'Mary'. This was actually his debut for Udinese, and it certainly went far better than his debut for us. He was beaten just the once when Henderson's shot found it's way through his legs from close range. He possibly could have done better, but he made up for it with a string of fine saves, the pick of which denied Suarez what would have been a great goal int he second half. He was certainly far busier than Reina, who made a fairly routine stop early on and then had nothing to do for the rest of the game. The opening exchanges probably belonged to the Italians and we were not helped by having to make an early change when Sahin broke his nose and had to be replaced by Shelvey. We settled into the game and forced a few free-kicks and corners, one of which led to the only goal of the game. Suarez flicked on Shelvey's corner, Suso collected it and laid it back nicely for Henderson to score. Suso then laid on a chance for Suarez who blasted the ball wide with Shelvey and Downing left cursing him in the centre. Suarez then had an overhead kick tipped over by Padelli, who then wanted to pick a fight with the striker for some reason. A defender got involved too, and as Suarez tried to give his version of events Skrtel just came over and escorted him away whilst Johnson took up the discussion on the Uruguayan's behalf. We set about trying to make the game safe after the break but our achilles heel of not converting chances was evident yet again. Suso wasted a good chance when he put a right foot shot disappointingly wide, and Suarez blasted one high over the bar after good wing play by Downing. Henderson had a volley saved by Padelli after latching onto a good Enrique cross, and the keeper then made the save of the game to deny Suarez after he'd been picked out by Downing again. It was all very comfortable and we were in complete control, but the lack of a second goal was worrying, even after Udinese had been reduced to ten men due to the recklessness of Pasquale. The first yellow was for a disgraceful stamp on the calf of Suso, the second was for an accidental looking foul on Sterling, who'd not long replaced Suso. He was lucky to stay on after the first one, he was unlucky to go for the second. The referee was horrendous all evening though. His performance was even worse than the hideous shirt UEFA have the officials wearing for this competition. Udinese had nothing to play for having already been eliminated, but to their credit they kept trying to get something from the game and very nearly did. Di Natale had only been on the field a few minutes and that's probably just as well, as had he had a bit longer to get into the game maybe he'd have buried the chance he had. From our point of view it should never have happened, as we had a chance to counter attack but didn't make the most of it and Henderson lost possession. One pass later Di Natale was through and that's how close we came to going out. It would have been extremely harsh, but we've often not gotten what we've deserved this season and Di Natale's reaction said it all. He just sat there laughing, he knew we'd gotten away with one, big time, and so did Carragher who was about to go ballistic at someone - probably Henderson - before the full time whistle cut him off in mid yell. When it's said and done though, we finished top of the group and we've qualified for the knock out stages despite often resting our bigger names and using youngsters and fringe players. It's the manager's first experience of European football too, and overall he should get credit for negotiating a group that on paper was more difficult than Champions League groups I could mention (Manchester United I'm looking at you) . Star man is probably Henderson, although both centre backs played well, Joe Allen was tidy and Enrique was good once again. It's nice to be able to put this on the back burner now until well into the new year, it means Rodgers no longer has to worry about juggling the squad and trying to keep players fresh for Premier League games. We've done what needed to be done and we've got European football to look forward to hopefully well into the spring if we can overcome whoever we get in the next round. In the meantime we can hopefully start climbing the table, as a few wins could make a huge difference to our league position as it's such a tight league this year. West Ham is a difficult fixture, especially without Suarez, but if we can go to Udinese and win then we can certainly do likewise at Upton Park as long we take our chances. Someone else is going to have to step up in the absence of Suarez though. Team: Reina; Johnson, Skrtel, Carragher, Enrique; Allen, Henderson, Sahin (Shelvey); Suso (Sterling), Suarez, Downing:

LIVERPOOL 1 Southampton 0 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Daniel AggerHalf Time - 1-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Dec 1 Dec 2012 Star Man – Jose Enrique Brendan Rodgers claimed the first half was the best we've played all season. Can't say I agree with that but it's fair to say he will have been looking for different things to the rest of us. His view will be based on the team carrying out things they've worked on in the training ground, patterns of play, ball retention, shape etc, stuff that only Rodgers, the players and his staff will be aware of. Still, it seems a pretty bold statement given how we played against both Manc teams for example, or in the first half against Udinese or even the other night at Spurs. We did well against Southampton, but let's be honest, it was 'only' Southampton. This is what we're supposed to do, I was pleased with it but from an uneducated fan's point of view it didn't look anything out of the ordinary to me, but if the manager is seeing his plans take shape then I guess that's encouraging, as are the much needed three points. We only had the one goal to show for that excellent first half, but scoreline isn't an accurate barometer for us anymore due to our deficiencies in putting the ball in the net. For me, we were really special in that first half against Udinese, but we went in 1-0 up in that game too. If we play to that level and add the finishing touch to the numerous chances created then people will be blown away by it, but when you're only scoring one goal it does temper people's excitement at what they've seen, it's only natural. 4-0 at half time wouldn't have flattered us and would have given a lot more credence to Rodgers' claim but we had to settle for just the one, much like against Reading a few weeks ago. We kept possession well, we moved the ball around the pitch quickly and had Southampton chasing shadows at times, whilst defensively we looked very sound. All in all that was a very good half, it's a pity we didn't produce the same level of performance after the break. We failed to meet the same high standards but the positive is that Southampton didn't threaten us at any stage and it ended up as comfortable a 1-0 win as you're likely to see. The Saints aren't very good, but it's rare that they are kept off the scoresheet. They'd only failed to score in two other Premier League games prior to this one, but they never looked threatening and this might be our best defensive outing of the campaign, so I suppose in that sense I'm with Rodgers. It was a day full of positives, and the same, usual, frustrating, solitary negative, which - as if I even need to say it - was not converting dominance into goals. No point dwelling on it, it's the same old story and until we get some new recruits we'll see this more often than not. So let's stick with the positives. Firstly, Lucas was back, and he was ace. There were a few stray passes which you'd expect after such a long lay off, but generally he looked like he'd never been away. The shape of the team looked good with him in there, especially in the first half when Allen and especially Gerrard caught the eye. Lucas will only get better with more games, and the team will only get better through having him back. With Lucas patrolling in front of the back four, Southampton couldn't get anywhere near Pepe's goal. They had two efforts in the first half, both from long range by Lambert. One went just wide, the other was just about kept out by Reina. Aside from those two speculative efforts, it was one way traffic. The return of Lucas gives Rodgers far more options in midfield. He opted to go with Gerrard and Allen for this game, but Shelvey also found himself in the starting line up. I'd hoped that would mean Gerrard playing on the right of the front three, but instead it was Jonjo who was pushed into the frontline, starting the game on the left but switching to the right midway through the first half. With Shelvey and Sterling both coming inside when we had possession, Johnson seemed to have the entire right hand side of the field to himself at times. As we moved the ball around the field, he just hugged the touchline and waited his moment to make a run in behind. It was a successful tactic and it was surprising that Southampton didn't do anything to shut it down before half time. Shelvey was ok, but the role doesn't suit him and he was hot and cold. The hottest he got was a stunning blast with the outside of his right boot from a tight angle that rattled the inside of the post. That came a couple of seconds after he'd wasted a great opportunity to play Sterling in. Those few seconds were Shelvey's afternoon in a microcosm. He won't be a wideman as long as he has a hair on his he… erm, a hole in his arse. He might be centre forward next week as Suarez finally succumbed to that fifth yellow card he's been flirting with for weeks. It was a frustrating day for Luis, he played well but it didn't happen for him in front of goal. He missed a sitter late on and felt he should have had a penalty in the first half when he was dragged back by his shorts. He stayed on his feet and got his shot away, which made the refs decision a lot easier. Had he gone down things would have been different, he still wouldn't have got his penalty but he'd have picked up his yellow card a lot earlier than he did. His best effort was a stunning, dipping free-kick that hit the bar. He was still beating his hands on the floor in frustration as Johnson collected the loose ball and crossed for Agger to power in a superb header. At the time I didn't notice, but replays showed Agger was offside when Johnson put the cross in, although by the time he headed it he was well onside and that's probably why the linesman missed it. A little bit of fortune going our way for once, it still doesn't make up for the points taken from us at Goodison, or the Enrique goal that was incorrectly ruled out last week at Swansea, but it's a start. Having made the breakthrough it was all set up for us to go out and finish the game off after the break. The chance was there to record a morale boosting 3 or 4 goal victory, but the tempo of our game dropped after the break and whilst we never looked in any trouble, the game just drifted along with not much happening. I'd have liked to have seen us fly at them in the opening ten minutes of the second half and put the game to bed. We didn't do that. it was very flat and one paced. The tempo dropped significantly. We still had chances, just not as many as in the first half. At least not until the very end when Southampton had to throw men forward and left big gaps at the back. We had two gilt edged opportunities to finish them off late on and wasted both. Suarez shot wide when he really should have scored, and then he turned provider with a great ball to send Sterling clean through. The youngster delayed his shot and allowed a defender to get back, but he showed good awareness to notice the run Gerrard had made off the back off him into space. Unfortunately his intended pass was cut out. Sterling had another useful game, not a 50k a week kind of game mind, but he played quite well. He's doing very nicely but let's not forget that the only reason he's playing every week is because we have no-one else better than him, not because he's playing like some superstar. He's very good, but he's not Michael Owen at the same age. One goal in 24 appearances so far. That will get better in time of course, and when it does then maybe he'll be worth the 50k a week it's claimed his advisors are looking for. Right now? Not a chance. His people are apparently fluttering their eyelashes at the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United, whether that's to get more cash out of us or if they're seriously considering moving him out of here I don't know, and to be honest I don't care. This is the best place for him, if he can't see that then so be it, but hopefully all this talk of 50k a week and discussions with other club's is just a leveraging tactic and it will all sort itself out. Ideally we'll keep hold of him and add one or two players who play in the same position as him. That will help him and us, and we won't have the likes of Shelvey and Enrique having to play in roles they aren't ideally suited to. Still, the spell he had further forward seems to have done Enrique the world of good. He played well in his time on the wing, scoring a goal, seeing another wrongly disallowed and looking a threat each time he played there. Against Southampton he reverted to full back and for me he was the best player on the pitch, he was terrific at both ends of the field. This was a vital three points and with some winnable games coming up we've got a chance to climb the table and put ourselves into a decent position ahead of the transfer window, when we will hopefully bring in the attacking re-enforcements we need. In the meantime, we've got the small matter of a must win European game to negotiate this week. At least Suarez's domestic suspension means we won't need to rest him for the Udinese game. Team: Reina; Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Enrique; Lucas (Carragher), Allen (Henderson), Gerrard; Shelvey, Suarez, Sterling:

Tottenham 2 LIVERPOOL 1 Report by Dave Usher Scorer(s) – Gareth Bale O.G.Half Time - 2-0 Venue - White Hart Lane Date - Wed 28 Nov 2012 Star Man – Jose Enrique All too predictable wasn't it? We always lose at White Hart Lane and given that Spurs have finished above us for several years now it would have been more surprising had we managed to come away with anything. And yet we should have done, because aside from the opening 20 minutes we bossed this game. Even in that early spell in which Spurs scored twice, we contrived to miss two gilt edged openings of our own. We should have at least drawn this game, but this is who we are right now, a decent but flawed team. There's been much gnashing of teeth and wailing about this defeat, but I just can't get too worked up about it. Don't get me wrong, I was furious whilst watching it, each missed chance had me cursing the players, their families, even their unborn kids. It was difficult to watch as the game was there for us and we just couldn't take it. That's during the game though, having had time to reflect on it I usually feel differently and that's the case here. That's the reason I always wait a day or two to write the report. That and the fact I'm lazy and easily distracted. Having watched a replay of the game, we played really fucking well, the only real negative is the result, which admittedly is pretty important like. It's frustrating, irritating, infuriating and loads of other words that end in 'ing', but what are we expecting here? We have a squad that struggles to score goals. We have a manager who is new to the job and has only had one transfer window to address the problems we have. A transfer window in which he was let down badly by those above him. Granted, he could have spent the money he had differently and he shouldn't have let Andy Carroll leave until his replacement was secured and blah blah blah Brendan Rodgers isn't blameless, but the guy has to be given some time to put his own stamp on things before any kind of judgement can be made. The lack of firepower means we're going into games fighting with one hand tied behind our back, and there has been no finer example of that than this loss. We were better than Spurs in most areas of the game but in the one that really matters, the scoreline, we fell short. We had more of the ball and we did more with it, but it counts for nothing if you don't put it in the back of the net. Hell, Spurs even had to score our goal for us too as we were never going to manage it ourselves. Throw in the regular unfavourable refereeing decisions and it was just a miserable night. Our problems started early on when we just couldn't handle Gareth Bale. He ran all over us in the opening 20 minutes, but after that we kept him in check and the only concern he gave us was through his diving. He wasn't alone, his team-mates were at it all night too. Any time one of our players so much as looked sideways at a Spurs player they hit the deck like a sack of shite, and nine times out of ten Phil Dowd blew up for a foul. Bale, Dempsey, Walker, Vertonghen… they were all at it. Bale created the first when he blew by Johnson, Gerrard and Skrtel and drilled the ball across the face of goal where Lennon tapped in at the back post. Downing switched off for a second and allowed Lennon to get goalside. It was poor from Downing but this is the risk you run when you play an attack minded player at full back. It's easy to slate Downing for it, but even natural full backs occasionally make those mental errors. After the Swansea game I'm not sure why Rodgers persisted with him, especially with Wisdom available again. Maybe Andre wasn't fully fit, but why not Robinson? The position is natural to him and there's far less risk of him switching off and losing Lennon. Others have to look at themselves too. Henderson missed an open goal when the score was 1-0. An open fucking goal, and he put it wide. Suarez had earlier failed to take a good opportunity when he shot too close to Lloris, and we were guilty of some woeful decisions that stopped dangerous moves in their tracks. The decision making and execution of this team in the final third is brutal at times, and that is not going to change until we get better attacking players on the field. The ones we have are doing the best they can, but with the exception of Suarez it's just not good enough for where we want to be. Enrique is doing his best, he's exceeding expectations he gets himself into some great positions and has a real nose for it. Like Downing however, he's not a natural at the position and we can't expect him to provide us with what we need from a left sided forward. Whatever we get from him is a bonus, but a side with any aspirations is not going anywhere with Enrique on the left of a front three and Henderson as the number 10. That's just a fact. Spurs went 2-0 up in contentious circumstances when Dempsey won a free-kick when he was being chased by Henderson. There didn't seem to be hardly any contact there, it looked like he just threw himself to the floor. It reminded me of Gudjohnsen's dive to get Alonso booked in the CL semi in 2005 at Stamford Bridge. Dempsey went down, Henderson said he didn't touch him and Dempsey then got all aggressive and up in his face. He's a twat and he has a face you'd never tire of slapping. I don't like him at all. Dempsey I mean, not Hendo. It's bad enough that they scored from a free-kick that should never have been, but for it to beat Reina thanks to a big deflection just rubs our noses right in it. If we didn't have bad luck we wouldn't have any luck at all. The last thing we needed in our current state was to go 2-0 down so early on. Results have been hard to come by and the lack of firepower means any goal conceded is likely to prove costly. Heads could have gone down and there was a real danger we could end up losing even more heavily than last year, but to the team's credit they responded really well. Yet for all our possession and nice football, we couldn't find a way past Lloris and to be honest he didn't even have to make many saves. Shots were either straight at him or off target. There were two efforts from Suarez, Enrique put a snapshot on the turn straight into his arms having earlier missed his kick from a Downing cross. We also had a penalty shout ignored when Gerrard may have been impeded as he burst into the box. Dowd was spared having to make a decision because Suarez latched onto the loose ball and sent it goalwards but Walker got back and hacked it clear off the line. Gerrard was shoved in the back as he ran into the box, it was certainly more of a foul than the one on Dempsey that led to Bale's goal. We were never going to score though, it had that feeling about it all night. Certainly from the point Henderson missed that sitter anyway. We dominated the second half but it seemed like every time we got into a threatening position we messed it up with a poor decision or bad ball. I often wonder if part of our problem is not getting enough people in the box. When someone has the ball and they're looking to cut it back to a team-mate, it has to be perfect as there's usually only a couple of people in there. You watch the Mancs play and they flood the box any time they have the ball in wide areas. Even if the cross doesn't find it's target you'll often see a lucky bounce fall right to one of their players. It's not luck though, it's playing the percentages. We don't get that because we usually don't have enough bodies in there when we attack. The lack of quality we have in those attacking areas doesn't help either, but I do think we have to be too precise at times because there's only Suarez and maybe Enrique in the danger area. It felt like we were all over them in that second half, but it never felt like we would score. The goal we got was a fluke, Gerrard's header was hacked off the line by Lennon, hit Bale in his monkey face and flew into the net. There was plenty of time left for us to get an equaliser and we pushed hard for it. Suarez volleyed over after great work by Agger, and Enrique fizzed a shot inches wide. With time running out Enrique clipped a lovely ball over the head of Gallas into the path of Suarez. His control was fantastic and then he was sent tumbling by Gallas. The defender got the ball and man at the same time. Had it been given against us at the other end I'd have been furious, so I can't complain too much. All I'd say is it seems none of these decisions seem to go in our favour. No penalties in 26 games tells it's own story. Rodgers was upbeat afterwards, speaking of how pleased he was with the performance, bemoaning the decisions that didn't go our way and mentioning that Carragher and Gerrard said that's as well as we've played at White Hart Lane in many a year. From reading the forums and twitter that's a view not shared by a lot of fans. I'm totally with him though, having watched the game again he's absolutely right. What do people want him to do, come out and say we were shite and got what we deserved when that's clearly not the case? It's really difficult to remain upbeat when looking at the league table, but for the most part we are playing good football and dominating games. It's the same old problem though, not enough matchwinners. And given how there's nothing can be done about that until January I don't see the point in getting hysterical after every bad result, especially when the performance doesn't warrant it. It baffles me how people can say before the game that we've got no chance and then go ballistic when we lose despite actually playing well. They say we'll get battered, and we come away with either a draw (like at Chelsea) or a narrow defeat such as this, and they kick off because we didn't win. If we'd gone there and got battered then I'd expect that reaction, but Spurs have been better than us for a while, that's the unfortunate reality we find ourselves in and it's not because of Brendan Rodgers. Only having three wins in the league at this stage of the season is terrible, but without trying to make excuses I'd be a lot more worried if we were being outplayed regularly. We aren't, it's only happened a few times and whilst we haven't been great every week by any means, we completely dominated both Manc teams and have seen numerous points taken away by poor officiating and our own inability to turn possession into goals. We're single handedly doing our best to ruin that stat Rodgers likes to use about how 80% of games are won by the side with the most possession! The league table makes for grim reading, but what I'm seeing on the pitch isn't making me feel that way. Maybe I'm kidding myself but I see very little wrong with this team that a couple of matchwinners to complement Suarez wouldn't fix. A goalscoring wideman and a quality number 10 would transform this team. Of course finding them isn't an easy task and if we don't address it in January then criticism will be warranted, but given that there's fuck all can be done about it until the window opens, there's no point flying off the handle every time we don't win a game, especially when it's at a ground where we never win anyway, against a team widely accepted as being better than us. January 1st can't come soon enough. Team: Reina; Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Downing (Assaidi); Allen, Gerrard, Henderson (Shelvey); Sterling, Suarez, Enrique:

Swansea 0 LIVERPOOL 0 Report by Dave Usher Scorer(s) – Half Time - 0-0 Venue - The Liberty Stadium Date - Sun 25 Nov 2012 Star Man – Glen Johnson Really good first half, really bad second half. So that being said, I guess a draw was a fair result. Feels like we should have won it though, and these draws are a right pain in the arse. You don't move up the table with draws, which explains why we're floundering around halfway. We let Swansea off the hook. There was only one team in it in the first half and we can consider ourselves extremely unlucky not to have the lead at half time, but for whatever reason we just didn't get it done in the second half. It's not as though Swansea played particularly well, our problem was the significant drop off in our own performance. I felt we struggled in midfield, even in the first half when we were on top I'd have said that our three midfielders were our weakest performers (with the obvious exception of Downing). Allen didn't have the best of times against his old club, Gerrard was very disappointing and Henderson just seemed to be doing nothing other than passing the ball backwards. I was disappointed with all three in the first half and I'd say they all got worse in the second, especially the skipper. Despite that misfiring midfield we still managed to dominate the first half and we had our opportunities in the second too. We just didn't make the most of them, and the one time we did we were denied by a linesman once again. Not the kind of daylight robbery we experienced at Goodison the other week, but Enrique's goal should have stood. It was a marginal call but it should have gone our way. The benefit of the doubt is supposed to go to the attacking side, but once again it didn't. That came at a time when we had Swansea completely on the ropes. Sterling had just smacked a stunning volley onto the bar and it was constant pressure from the Reds at that point. Johnson had earlier seen a shot clip the keeper's calf and go over the bar, it was unfortunate as the keeper knew little about it and had the ball been an inch or two higher it would have gone in instead of over. Johnson was outstanding in that opening half, he was a real threat and linked up to good effect with the lively Sterling. The other flank wasn't as productive. Enrique was busy and put himself about, what he lacked in quality he tried to make up for in endeavour and you have to hand it to him, he gets himself into some dangerous positions. There was the disallowed goal, there was another effort that he tried to steer in with his chest after it arrived at a difficult height, and any time the ball came in the box Enrique got himself in there. Dossena was like that when he was switched to midfield too, it's a pity some of the more natural wide players don't have those instincts. Whilst Enrique made a decent fist of his new role, Downing struggled at left back and those two just don't seem to be able to form an effective partnership regardless of who plays where. Rodgers was always going to leave himself open to criticism by playing a winger at left back and a left back on the wing if it didn't work out. Well it didn't work out, but in the manager's defence Downing has looked better at full back and Enrique has been doing well further forward, so there is at least some logic in the decision. Personally I'd have preferred Jack Robbo to Downing, other youngsters have done well when given the opportunity so why not give Jack a chance? Besides, Downing has already been told he's not wanted so where's his incentive to play well? Not that I'd accuse Downing of not trying. I have no complaints about his effort, in fact I'd give him credit for his professionalism in the last couple of games given his situation. I'd rather he didn't play though as it doesn't make any sense given the manager has already told him he isn't in his plans. Whilst we were the better side in the first half, especially in the latter stages of it when we were completely dominant, Swansea did have some moments of their own and Reina had to make a decent stop at his near post early on. They had a couple of other efforts that went narrowly off target, and it was quite an open game. One thing which surprised me a little was the lack of good pressing from both sides. Rodgers believes in winning the ball back as quickly as possible, so you'd think his present side and the side he recently left would be pretty adept at doing it. I didn't see it though, we had plenty of the ball and then in the second half so did they. The tempo of our play seemed to drop in the second half, maybe due to the European game last Thursday, I don't know. What I do know is we weren't the same team in the second half that we were in the first, and it was pretty tough to watch. The amount of bad decisions we made in the final third was ridiculous, culminating in the complete balls up between Suarez and Sterling on a two against one counter attack. Sterling seems to be getting most of the blame for that after overhitting his pass, but for me Suarez made a bad decision by playing the ball to him too quickly. I expected him to hold the ball and commit the defender before sending Raheem clean through. By playing it as early as he did it left Sterling with little option but to try and give it straight back to him (the defender hadn't committed and was still goalside) and he overhit the pass. It was just poor all round, and summed up the second half for me. Given how we lost control of the game after the break things could have been worse. At least we didn't get beat and generally we defended pretty solidly. I don't like how easily teams are managing to go from back to front against us with little resistance from our midfield though, and Allen is really struggling from a defensive point of view at the moment. Rodgers has said all along that this isn't his position and he's just filling in for Lucas, and hopefully with the Brazilian edging closer to a return that will help Allen and also Gerrard by allowing them both to move forward one spot. Gerrard just doesn't look like he has the energy to play the role he's in at the moment. His talents would be better utilised further up the pitch in my opinion, I don't see the point in using Henderson in a more advanced role than Gerrard when the lad can't score. Shelvey you can make a case for, he almost found the net with a late piledriver and always looks like he may have a goal in him, but Henderson? Nah, let him do the running Gerrard can't and let Gerrard try and get us a goal. Overall I'm a bit deflated after this as I expected better, but at the risk of repeating myself yet again, this is what we're going to have to deal with until we add more players who can get goals and provide Suarez with the quality support he needs. In isolation it's not a bad result, just like the draw we had at Chelsea in our last away game. We're unbeaten in eight which isn't bad, but we've only won three which is crap. We have to somehow find a way to start turning these draws into wins, but the worry is what if we start turning them into defeats? I wouldn't like to predict what will happen on Wednesday at Spurs, as they haven't been overly convincing themselves but they have two regular matchwinners to our one so we're up against it. Star man is a tough one as nobody really stood out that much. Both centre backs did ok and Reina did what he had to do well, including a brave stop at the feet of Dyer when he ended up taking some studs to the face for his troubles. Sterling worked hard and did some really good things but he was also a little erratic, so I'll go for Johnson I think, although I could easily be talked out of it. Team: Reina; Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Downing (Cole); Allen, Gerrard, Henderson (Shelvey); Sterling, Suarez, Enrique:

LIVERPOOL 2 Young Boys 2 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Jonjo Shelvey, Joe ColeHalf Time - 1-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Thu 22 Nov 2012 Star Man – Joe Cole Looks like we're going to have to do it the hard way then. No excuses really, we should have won this and sealed qualification for the knock out stages, and it was pretty negligent how we threw this one away at the end. Young Boys played well and both of their goals were terrific strikes, but we have to be able to see this game out and be more responsible in our game management. Now we've got to go to Italy and win against Udinese, a feat we're certainly capable of as I think we're a better side than them. The Italians may have beaten us at Anfield but we outplayed them for most of that game and they've lost twice to Young Boys. As they used to say on Jerry Springer back in the day, "they ain't all that and a pack of potato chips". I still expect us to go through, but it's annoying that we'll now have to send a strong side over when had we held onto this lead we could have rested everybody and given more playing time to people like Morgan, Coady, Robinson etc. And spare a thought for poor old Joe Cole. The fella just can't catch a break can he? He should have today been basking in the glory of being a matchwinner, with a goal and an assist to his credit as well as a man of the match award. It would have been a rare highlight in what's been a torrid time since he came here. Instead this will be quickly forgotten. It's just not meant to be for him at Anfield is it? This was a cracking game, both sides wanted to attack and play good football and it made for an entertaining spectacle. The atmosphere was decent too, mainly due to the noisy away end it has to be said. The banner they displayed midway through the first half in memory of the 96 was class too. Young Boys made their intentions clear from the opening kick off when they caught us by surprise by not doing the usual 'passing the ball back' routine and just took off running at us. They almost scored from it, fortunately Wisdom just about got a foot in to prevent the initial shot and the follow up overhead kick went over the bar. They were lively whenever they had the chance to get forward but I always felt we had a fair amount of control of the game and looked the more likely winners. Some of our football was excellent, especially in the first half when Cole, Suso and Shelvey regularly combined to good effect. Shelvey's role was interesting, he was the centre forward but he didn't really play up there and was coming very deep a lot of the time. They call it the 'false nine' role, but if I ever do that then you have my permission to hunt me down and kill me like the pretentious dog I'd clearly become. 'False nines' 'midfield pivots' 'controlling midfielder' 'seven and a half' etc are all acceptable terms if you're a football coach. If you're a fan and you use those terms? Not so much. Spain and Barcelona both use this tactic to good effect, but they have far better players than we do. In theory, your striker comes deep which leaves space in behind for the wider players and midfielders to run into. Sounds great, sexy football and all that, but when one of your wide men is Joe Cole who can't actually run anymore, it kind of loses it's sex appeal a little to me. And yet it worked, and Cole was a big part of why it did work. He was a threat all night and got in behind their defence several times. The first time he dragged a shot wide from a tight angle after Shelvey had dropped deep and then slid a pass through for him to run onto. The tactic worked again when Shelvey came short and then cleverly flicked the ball into the path of the onrushing Henderson. His touch wasn't the best and the ball got stuck under his feet a little and he ended up hitting the keeper with his shot. 'Hendo' was doing well in the middle of the park with Sahin, but unfortunately Rodgers had to change things around a bit after half an hour when Wisdom had to come off with a knock. Henderson was probably enjoying himself on a rare opportunity to play in his best position, but sadly for him he had to fill in for Wisdom at full back with Gerrard coming on in midfield. Up until the reshuffle we were playing well and pulling their backline around quite a bit, and it continued despite the enforced change. The opening goal actually started on the right with a quick pass inside by Henderson to Cole. Cole and Suso played a nice one-two and Shelvey was left with an easy header from close range after Cole had clipped the ball over the keeper. Suso was class in the first half, I love watching this lad as his technique is top drawer. He's got the making of a potentially world class player one day, he just makes it look effortless. The way he just drops the shoulder and glides away from people, and he's strong on the ball too. Rodgers always talks about Joe Allen's "great body work" and Suso has that too. So does Sterling for that matter. All small but difficult to knock off the ball because of how they use their body to hold off defenders and quickly change direction. The only thing lacking with Suso right now is goals and he should have scored just before half time when Cole sent him through. He rolled his shot just wide, but he managed to look class whilst doing it! Good players still look good whilst doing not so good things. At the start of the second half it was Suso's turn to set up a chance for Cole, his slide rule pass sending Joe in on goal for what looked to be a great chance. Unfortunately Cole's lack of pace meant by the time he reached the ball the keeper was right on him and smothered the shot. No blame attached to Cole, he couldn't have done any more with it, it's just a pity he isn't half a yard quicker. From the loose ball we got completely sucker punched as Young Boys broke out of defence and took advantage of some poor positioning by Henderson by playing an early ball in behind him to Bobadilla. His first touch was brilliant, his second even better as he leathered the ball past Reina on the half volley. Brilliant finish, and whilst the finger can be pointed a little at Henderson you have to take into account that he isn't a natural right back and this kind of thing is to be expected. 99% of the time his slight error would have gone unpunished, as it wasn't an easy chance by any means. Just a great goal, although it is concerning that we have often looked at our most vulnerable this season when attacking. The goal was a setback, and Rodgers was forced to bring Suarez on to try and win the game and ensure qualification. Unfortunately Suso made way for him, it was disappointing to see him go off and personally I'd have liked to have seen Assaidi sacrificed instead as I thought he faded after a lively first half. Suarez was involved heavily as you'd expect and he played a part in the goal that put us back in front, collecting the ball from Assaidi and playing it square to Gerrard. The skipper played it first time into the feet of Cole who had taken up a good position in the box, and one swift turn and shot later we were in the lead again and Cole was off celebrating in front of the Kop, enjoying his long awaited moment in the sun. I was really happy for the guy, I know he's been an awful signing and hasn't even come close to playing up to the level of his huge contract, but by all accounts he's a good pro and a popular fella around the club. Chances are he'll be off in January if there's any interest in him, but if this was to be his last game at Anfield then I'm pleased for him that he's gone out on this note rather than with the embarrassing show he put on against Swansea the other week. One egg doesn't make an omelette of course. It was only one game and this doesn't mean he's suddenly going to become a regular first team player again, but it was nice to see him perform well and not just because it may help to persuade other clubs he's worth taking a chance on. It was just nice to see a glimpse of the player he used to be. He was brought off shortly after his goal and got a good ovation from the crowd as he made way for Sterling. He was probably tired, it's difficult to tell with Joe as he's usually blowing for tugs within the first five minutes. Cole looking knackered isn't always a sign that he actually IS knackered, but with 75 minutes gone and him having put in a real shift, chances are he was pretty goosed. A shame, as I'd have liked to have seen him stay on to see if he could build on this, his confidence was probably higher than at any time since he's been here. We continued to push forward looking for another goal and the game was far more stretched than it should have been. Instead of keeping the ball and taking the sting out of the game late on, it was like watching a game of basketball as it went end to end. Once again, we ended up conceding a goal from one of our own failed attacks. Suarez beat his man three times and instead of shooting tried to beat him again. Frustrating, but it shouldn't have led to what it did. When you watch the replay of it, you can see both Gerrard and Shelvey just walking back and showing no urgency at all. Sahin dived in to try and win the ball when he'd probably have been better served jockeying his man, but he'd won back possession several times during the game in similar fashion so it would be wrong to single him out. At least he was trying to defend, the rest of the midfield made no such effort. Within seconds of Suarez losing the ball Young Boys were on the edge of our box and one thunderous shot later they were level. Reina has to do better in my opinion, as although he was unsighted the ball has gone in the middle of the goal and basically went through his hands. A couple of yards either side and I wouldn't have expected him to do anything, but straight at him? I think he needs to be saving that, but maybe it's just me. The way teams have been able to break from defence and end up slicing through our midfield has been a problem all season, and the sooner Lucas is back in the mix the better. It was just irresponsible the way we threw this away. If you're going to go charging forward in the last minute of a game in which you hold a one goal lead that's fine, but you better break your neck running back the other way if it breaks down, and we didn't do that. That's the most disappointing thing for me, but overall we played pretty well with a weakened side and we've still got one more shot at getting through the group. With Joe Cole in this kind of form, winning in Italy should be a piece of piss. What? Team: Reina; Wisdom (Gerrard), Skrtel, Carragher, Downing; Henderson, Sahin, Suso (Suarez); Cole (Sterling), Shelvey, Assaidi:

LIVERPOOL 3 Wigan 0 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Luis Suarez (2), Jose EnriqueHalf Time - 0-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Sat 17 Nov 2012 Star Man – Luis Suarez So this is what a comfortable home win feels like. Been a long time hasn't it? It was pretty far from comfortable at half time like, but the early goal just after the break settled everyone's nerves and it ended up being an enjoyable afternoon. You can literally count the number of those we've had at Anfield in 2012 on one hand. Wigan have been a bad bogey side for us in recent years, we couldn't even beat them when we were good and they were shit. Now we're not so good and they aren't so shit, and only one point separated the two sides going into this game. The first half reflected that, there wasn't much in it as we failed to make the most of a lively opening ten minutes and allowed Wigan to settle and knock the ball around for long spells. At one point they seemed to have possession for at least a full minute as we stood off them, and I found myself thinking back to something I remembered reading about Brendan Rodgers and how he likes his teams to win back possession within six seconds of losing it. His blood pressure was probably rising with every completed Wigan pass, which would explain why he took the unusual step of making a tactical substitution before half time. The unfortunate Suso was hooked in favour of Henderson, a move that I didn't like one bit at the time as I thought Suso had been lively and you never like to see a player hauled off in the first half as it's a bit embarrassing for them. Besides, if Joe Cole survived until half time against Swansea, then surely Suso deserved at least the same? It's not even as though he'd been poor, in fact he'd had three goal attempts in the time he was on the field and looked our most likely source to create something. His first effort was well blocked by a defender but came after an exciting run that took him away from several defenders. Next he headed over following a great cross by Johnson. Should have done better but I'm not sure whether the ball brushed off a defender before it reached Suso, as the ball appeared to just hit him on the top of the head. The third opportunity saw him drill a powerful shot from 25 yards that stung the palms of Al Habsi. Shortly afterwards he was subbed, the poor lad. We know now that it was tactical but at the time it wasn't so clear, as this kind of thing happens so rarely you just naturally assume there must be some kind of injury or illness involved when a player goes off before half time. Suso certainly looked surprised by it and didn't appear to be injured so that suggested it was tactical, as did the fact it was Henderson coming on rather than the more attacking Shelvey or Sahin, who would both have been a more natural replacement. The one thing Henderson brings to the party that the other three don't is incredible stamina and a willingness to chase everything. That's what he did from the moment he came on, and Wigan didn't seem to have as much of the ball as they had previously, although we weren't doing much ourselves. Rodgers described the change as 'flipping the triangle around'. Instead of having two holding and one supporting Suarez, we now had one holding and two pushing up onto Wigan's midfield, the idea being we could press the ball better and stop them having so much possession. You could say the substitution changed the game. You could just as easily say the goal right at the start of the second half did. I'd lean towards the latter, although Henderson did play very well and contributed plenty to a fine second half performance from the team. I'd also have to give credit to Rodgers for wasting no time in changing something that he didn't like. It takes courage to make a tactical change so soon in a game and it shows decisiveness. You can't overstate the importance of the goal though, that changes everything from our point of view. It takes a weight of pressure of the side, it means the opposition have to come out and be more open and it basically makes it much easier for us to play. It was a bit of a gift too, which makes a change as usually we have to work hard for anything we get. This was a mistake by Wigan, as a short pass was picked off by the ever alert Sterling who scampered into the box before picking out Suarez who finished superbly. Sterling's awareness and composure was impressive. He always had his head up as he advanced into the box and he was fully aware of where Suarez was at all times. Suarez just stopped in space and the Wigan defenders didn't pick him up. Sterling's pass was slightly behind Suarez - intentionally for me, as had he played it in front of him there was a chance it would be cut out - but the finish from Luis was brilliant. He's in a good spell in front of goal recently. He may not be a 'great finisher' but perhaps he is a streaky one? He'll have his days where he misses chances, but lately he's generally been quite clinical for club and country. It would have been easy to miss this one, but he put it away emphatically and he's been the best player in the Premier League of late. A lot of us would prefer to see him playing either wide or roaming behind a clinical goalscorer. Rodgers has always maintained he wants Suarez as his centre forward. The number of goals Luis has scored makes it difficult to argue with Rodgers on this, and rather than a Huntelaar type maybe we'd be better served with a goalscoring wide attacker or two and leave Suarez where he is? Certainly for me now I'd much prefer a Theo Walcott than say, a Darren Bent type. Suarez's second goal was just as well taken and just as well made. This time it was Enrique who was the provider. The Spaniard probably should have played an early pass to Johnson but he delayed and then the opportunity was gone and he had to carry the ball infield. He did well to keep the ball and hold off a challenge whilst Suarez began to make his run, and the pass he played through was perfect. Suarez took the shot early and poked the ball into the corner when the obvious option would have been to take it around the keeper. Class finish. The third came after some lovely interplay between Sterling and Suarez. Raheem played the ball into Suarez and continued into the box. The first time lay off from Luis with his left foot was beautifully weighted, Sterling was onto it in a flash and shot across the keeper who could only parry the ball, and Enrique showed good instincts to get goalside of his man for the tap in. Enrique deserves a lot of credit for how he's played in the last couple of games. It was a big call by Rodgers to play him on the wing, and I can't say I was too excited about it if I'm honest. I'll admit that at half time I was having a moan, not because Enrique had done anything wrong but because I didn't think he could really be expected to do too much more than he was doing. Should a team that struggles for goals really be playing a full back who's never scored in such an advanced position? To be fair to him he was terrific in the second half, his engine is phenomenal as not only was he often the furthest man forward and always in the box when the ball was on the other flank, but any time Wigan attacked down the right he'd just appear from nowhere next to Johnson and Wigan had two full backs to take on. I'm not sure what will have given him the most pleasure, the goal, the assist or the moment when he got to shepherd the ball out of play in front of the Kop by getting his body in front of the winger and using his strength to hold him off. Jose lives for that shit, you can almost see him fighting the urge to turn around and start posing like Hulk Hogan as soon as the ball rolls over the line out of play. We had other chances and the scoreline could have been even more emphatic. Suarez could have had a hat-trick but put chance just wide, and had another effort that was so far off target it went out for a throw in. He was eventually replaced by Shelvey late on, a sensible decision as the game was won and the last thing we need is for him to get injured or pick up a yellow card. He could easily have done just that, as a mistimed challenge on David Jones went unnoticed by Kevin Friend and his assistant. Much was made of it by the media, which says a lot about their particular agendas given a worse challenge by Figueroa got precisely ZERO coverage. When you see the slo-mo, it looks bad. I'm not having it that it was intentional though, the mere suggestion of that is ridiculous. The game was won, Suarez had enjoyed himself and was not frustrated or wound up. It's not as though he'd been in a running battle with any of their players, least of all Jones, so why would he suddenly see the red mist and decide he was going to do him? Besides, if Luis wanted to nail him he'd have done this.... So no, it was clearly unintentional but it did look nasty and could have injured the Wigan man. Thankfully Jones was ok, but he was only on the field because Ben Watson had sustained a freak injury when he somehow ended up with a broken leg after a collision with Sterling. I heard a loud crack and I'm at the other end of the field, but initially I thought it was a clash of heads as they were both off the ground when the impact came. Even after seeing replays of it I can't see how he managed to suffer a broken leg from that, he's incredibly unlucky and no blame can be attached to Raheem there. Back to the Suarez / Jones incident though, Luis definitely dodged a bullet by not being at least yellow carded for it and we've caught a rare break there. Actually we caught two breaks in this game, as our third goal should clearly have been a Wigan throw but the officials missed Suarez getting a touch on the ball. Maybe our luck is changing at last? Team: Reina; Wisdom, Skrtel, Agger (Carragher), Johnson; Allen, Gerrard; Sterling, Suso (Henderson), Enrique; Suarez (Shelvey):

Issue 85 of the fanzine is out now and will be on sale outside Anfield before and after this Saturday's game with Wigan. You can pick it up from the usual people in the usual places, but if you can't get to Anfield it will be available to buy in both outlets of WH Smiths in Liverpool City Centre later next week. If you aren't local, fear not, you can order your copy online in our webshop, or subscribe for 5 or 10 issues. For those who already have subscriptions, your copy will be sent out early next week. The fanzine is now available in digital format too. You can either take out a five or ten issue digital subscription and have each new issue emailed to you as soon as it's ready, or you can sign up for a 12 month access to the digital fanzine forum where you will be able to access any issue that is published in that 12 month period, as well as having access to a number of back issues. To order your copy from our shop, click here. To subscribe for five or ten issues, click here.

'Numbers' is joined by Darren and Stu to breakdown the Chelsea and Anzhi games and to look ahead to Wigan this weekend. Listen now either on the embedded player below, or by visiting our podcast page here. You can also subscribe through itunes and have any new podcast automatically delivered to your computer. Clicking the link above will download the latest episode straight into your itunes, and will subscribe you to any future episodes. Those of you wanting to listen on your phone, try this link as it should work on most smartphones. To listen in this window, simply click the play button in the box below. To listen in a new tab, click here. Podcast Powered By Podbean

Chelsea 1 LIVERPOOL 1 Report by Dave Usher Scorer(s) – Luis SuarezHalf Time - 1-0 Venue - Stamford Bridge Date - Sun 11 Nov 2012 Star Man – Jamie Carragher The glass half full shiny, happy people will say coming away with a point from the home of 'the European Champions' (damn, that really sticks in the throat) having gone a goal down is no mean feat, especially as we ended the game as the stronger side despite having three teenagers on the field. Meanwhile, those glass half empty doom mongers will point to numerous let offs due to profligate Chelsea finishing and an equalising goal that could easily have been ruled out on another day. Stick me in the first camp. I'm happy but not ecstatic. Any assessment of this game needs to be tempered by a few cold hard facts. Firstly, this wasn't a clash between two evenly matched teams and shouldn't be judged as such. They are a much better side than us and most neutral observers expected them to win this game. Hell, many Liverpool fans expected them to win this game. Chelsea's front four are in a different stratosphere to anything we have other than Suarez. Mata £20m. Oscar £20m. Hazard £30m. Torres £50m *sniggers*. That's not even taking into account the wages they are on. We aren't competing with Chelsea right now, on or off the field. It's worth pointing out too that we were without four first choice players in Lucas, Reina, Kelly and Skrtel. Possibly even five, as Borini started more often than not before his injury. That's almost half a team. We ended the game with a 17 year old, an 18 year old and an average left back playing in support of Suarez. Yet we still finished the game strongly and could easily have picked up three points with a little more luck. I'd say Chelsea fans have more reason to be upset about this than we do, although in terms of the big picture they're in much better shape than we are, obviously. By all means be unhappy at how the club has gotten themselves into this state in just a few years, but don't take it out on the young manager who has been here five minutes, or a group of players who put everything into this game and showed great character to come back and earn a point. It's easy to pick holes in the performance, be it collectively or individually. The first half especially had some things to be concerned with, but the longer it went the better we got. We figured it out and by the end of the game we were the side who looked more likely to win it. That's what I'm choosing to take from this. Rodgers elected to go with a change in formation. It's something he has spoken about before and he felt his hand was forced a little for this game. For maybe the first time in his life Glen Hoddle made an interesting point as he explained why he felt Rodgers changed his system. I'm paraphrasing, but basically he said "If two teams are playing the same system then the side with the better players will usually win". Was that uppermost in Rodgers' thoughts when he picked his team? Chelsea are playing 4231 these days, which is more or less what we've been doing, but man for man they look a lot stronger. So I had no issue with us mixing things up a bit. It didn't work too well but it wasn't a complete failure by any means as we seemed to have a lot more of the ball than Chelsea. Unfortunately we didn't convert possession into chances and they were far more dangerous when they had the ball. Should that be a surprise though? If you put Mata, Hazard and Oscar into our team behind Suarez I'd expect us to be ripping teams to shreds. We don't have those players though, Suarez has to do a lot on his own. Thankfully they have Torres and not Suarez. He had one chance in the first half that Jones kept out, and a header from a free-kick in the second that Jones again saved with his feet, but he was otherwise kept in check relatively easily by our back three that was marshalled superbly by the excellent Carragher. If Chelsea were to somehow persuade Atletico to take Torres back in a part ex for Falcao, it'd probably be game over for everyone else. Let's hope that doesn't happen. What was alarming for me in the first half was how easily Chelsea were just running through the middle of the park at our backline. We'd pass the ball around for a bit, then lose it and suddenly they were slicing right through our midfield and were on our defence within seconds. It's games like this we desperately miss Lucas. They had a few chances that way. Oscar blazed over the bar after a mistake by the sub par Allen put us on the back foot, there was the Torres one and Mata put one over when he should have done better too. For all their expensive attacking talent it took a good old fashioned corner kick for them to score as 'Mongo' escaped the attentions of Agger to plant an unstoppable header past Jones. He got a hell of a lot of power in it, but that's hardly surprising given the size of his fod. Kind of like hitting a marble with a tennis racket. That was as good as his day got, as not long after he was stretchered from the field in agony after Suarez fell on top of him. You could hear Terry's scream as soon as it happened, and the replays are X rated, it looked pretty horrific. Still, never mind eh? We had plenty of the ball and did ok up until we reached their box where it usually just fizzled out. Sahin had a weak shot wide from 18 yards and that was about the closest we came before the break. Sahin again flattered to deceive, he did some neat little passes and moved around a bit, but he's something of a liability when we don't have the ball and right now isn't doing enough when we do have it to compensate for that. He's struggling at the moment. I'd have subbed him at half time, and had Shelvey been available perhaps Rodgers would have too. We'll never know because Shelvey is another on the injured list. The second half continued in a similar fashion, Chelsea looking more dangerous despite having less of the ball. Jones got lucky when he flapped at a free-kick and the ball ricocheted off Ramires inches wide, and there was the Torres flicked header he saved, but at least we looked a bit less vulnerable through the middle. Set pieces were the main source of danger. Sahin made way for Suso early in the second half, and that co-incided with a change in formation that got us right back into the game. We went to a flat back four with Johnson going over to the left and Wisdom playing right back. That meant Enrique going to the left wing, Sterling to the right and Suso playing in the hole. It worked a treat. Wisdom got forward to win the corner that we equalised from, and Johnson and Enrique linked well down the left. The goal was class, Suarez giving a little nudge to Ramires to create space for himself as Carra flicked the ball on. Well, it was more of a huge shove than a little nudge, but Ramires did have a hold of Luis' shirt so you could say he was arguably entitled to free himself. Still, if Webb or the linesman sees it, the goal is probably ruled out. The clever part was Suarez did it so early that no-one was even looking at him, they were watching Carragher. You can't give what you can't see, unless you're that twat who ran the line at Goodison the other week of course. It's only when you see the replay from behind the goal that it becomes clear how Suarez was in so much space as he headed the ball in gleefully. He went off to celebrate and oddly none of his team-mates joined him. His poor little face when he looked round and saw he was on his bill. After that we grew in confidence and were the better side. Suarez had a great chance after a superb first time pass from Enrique put him through, but Cech was out quickly and did well to make a challenge. Suso fired over after good play by Gerrard and Sterling had created the opening, and then finally Enrique saw his shot saved by Cech at the near post after a great Liverpool move. That was the moment we could have won it, but the chance fell to the wrong player unfortunately. Enrique had an excellent game despite giving the ball away a little too much for my liking and repeatedly getting caught offside. His effort was fantastic though and he won back possession on numerous occasions. American coaches would call it 'great hussle'. This was his best game in a while, hopefully it will be the start of a return to the form he showed early on. Not holding my breath though. All things considered, this was a good point and a decent performance. There's more to be pleased with than not pleased, but then the 'success' of our season is not going to be decided on games against the top three or four, it's what we do against the rest. We shouldn't be expected to be able to go to Chelsea, play them off the park and win in our current state. We're capable of course, but more often than not you'd expect the team with the better players to come through, and that's not us I'm afraid. I'm happy with this result but it counts for nothing if we can't go and beat Wigan at home next weekend. Unfortunately for us, regardless of who we play it's usually a struggle because of the lack of goals. At least Suarez is banging them in, but it's about time others started helping him out, at least until January when the manager can hopefully address the problem. Finally, Howard Webb had an excellent game. He made a couple of terrific interceptions that set Chelsea on the attack, one of them led to the corner from which they opened the scoring. In all seriousness, apart from getting in our way a couple of times he was excellent. Just shows you, when he's not deliberately being a cunt he can be a top ref. Team: Jones; Wisdom, Carragher, Agger; Johnson, Allen, Sahin (Suso), Gerrard, Enrique; Sterling, Suarez:

It's a Europa League week so just like Brendan Rodgers we've rotated the squad and gone with a mixture of youth and the, shall we say, surplus to requirements. Alex Woo fills the Adam Morgan role whilst Stu Montagu brings his Joe Cole/Stewart Downing like qualities to the show, as the lads join your host 'Numbers' to break down all that's happened since the last show. Listen now either on the embedded player below, or by visiting our podcast page here. You can also subscribe through itunes and have any new podcast automatically delivered to your computer. Clicking the link above will download the latest episode straight into your itunes, and will subscribe you to any future episodes. Those of you wanting to listen on your phone, try this link as it should work on most smartphones. To listen in this window, simply click the play button in the box below. To listen in a new tab, click here. Podcast Powered By Podbean

Anzhi 1 LIVERPOOL 0 Report by Dave Usher Scorer(s) – Half Time - 1-0 Venue - Lokomotiv Stadium, Moscow Date - Thu 8 Nov 2012 Star Man – Suso It's difficult to be too disappointed with this given the side we put out in Moscow. A lot of people I saw commenting on this beforehand seemed to think we were going to get embarrassed but that didn't happen, we more than held our own and probably should have gotten something from the game. That's where the disappointment comes in for me, this was a game we could easily have got something from but we failed to do so. We looked very comfortable for the most part, any time we were in trouble in the first half was usually of our own making and Anzhi failed to create anything for themselves. We had a couple of self inflicted anxious moments due to losing the ball cheaply in our own half, but generally we defended well and looked in control. Then we gave away a stupid goal with the last kick of the half and undid all the good work that had gone before. Typical. We'd not created much ourselves mind, but with the team we selected that was always going to be the case, especially on such a terrible pitch. The surface didn't help either side, it looked terrible. The best opening we had was created superbly by Adam Morgan. He played Henderson in for a one on one with the keeper, but the midfielder inexplicably failed to shoot and cut the ball back blindly to no-one. It was staggering really, and showed a complete lack of self belief as there should have been no other thought in his head but to score in that position. We had some other decent situations but that was the moment that should have been pivotal. If Henderson scores we'd probably have gone on to pick up at least a point. Goals are hard enough to come by for us at the best of times, but with a weakened side such as this it was always going to be tough and when you waste an opportunity like that you're asking for trouble. Still, we should still have gone in at the break on level terms but we gave away a terrible goal just as time was about to expire. Coates has a really irritating habit of trying to nick the ball all the time instead of just jockeying his man. He gives away a lot of free-kicks because of this and this time he got too tight and allowed Traore to turn him far too easily. That was mistake number one. Mistake number two was Brad Jones then coming charging out when the ball was bouncing. This is just basics, you should never come off your line when the striker has a bouncing ball as there's nothing easier than lobbing a keeper when the ball is sitting up like that. It's far more difficult to chip a keeper when the ball is on the ground, but when it's bouncing? Easiest thing in the world, it's more difficult to miss. Had Jones not come rushing out like that then Traore would have had to get the ball under control and get a shot away under pressure from Carragher who had got around on the cover. And unless he managed to find one of the corners then chances are Jones would have been able to make a save. By running out like that he made Traore's mind up and effectively gave him an open goal to aim at. Horrible decision by Brad, which was a shame as he had earlier made a fine save to deny Eto'o after Wisdom's error had put us in trouble. He was certainly culpable for Traore's goal though, as was Coates. So frustrating to concede a goal so close to half time, especially one that should easily have been avoided. It gave us a massive uphill task as uh-oh, now we had to score! Aside from the goal just before half time I was really happy with how we'd played in that half. Flanagan had done well, Shelvey had some really good moments and Coady and Henderson had been steady in the middle. It was tough for Morgan as he's a player who thrives on service. He's a goalscorer, a real livewire around the opposing box with great movement but when we're not attacking much it's tough for a player like him to shine. Still, I thought he looked decent and had we been able to get more support to him I fancied him to get a goal. He had an effort after the break when he played a one-two with Cole and then shot into the side netting. He should have gone across goal rather than near post, or maybe even cut the ball back where there were people waiting. He showed good movement to get in there though and that was a feature of his play all night. He's got some limitations and in an ideal world I'd say he's a fair bit away from being first team ready, but in our present predicament we could do worse than have Morgan as an option off the bench as he can finish and his movement off the ball is great. I was really disappointed to see him brought off, although changes clearly had to be made. Coady also made way, but that was more a case of needing to get more creative players on than any reflection on his performance, as he did fine. Suso and Pacheco came on which made sense, but Cole staying on ahead of Morgan didn't. Cole wasn't THAT bad, he did a few decent things but he just looks like he's completely broken. I've never seen a player fall off a cliff in the way Cole has. A few years ago he was a top player, and now he's anything but. It's weird as he's still relatively young. Leaving him on just seemed strange to me, but it almost paid off when he reacted first to a spill by the keeper after some great play by the lively Suso. Cole got to the loose ball and got a shot away, but the keeper recovered well to make a block. Cole couldn't have done any more than he did really, it was a difficult chance. That was his last contribution as he was then replaced by Assaidi. The Morroccan didn't make much of an impact either, and we just looked really unbalanced as we played without a centre forward. It might work for Spain, but it's a lot easier to play with no striker when you have players of the calibre of Iniesta, Xavi, Pedro, Fabregas etc The best chance we had was when Flanagan got forward well and cut the ball to Henderson. This time he did shoot, but put it miles over the bar. He had another attempt that he curled a few yards wide, but Anzhi had the two best opportunities of the second half and could and should easily have wrapped the game up. Traore headed straight at Jones (who made a good reaction stop with one hand) and then wasted a glorious chance when Assaidi lost possession cheaply and Anzhi hit us on the counter. Traore got in behind Coates (who looked like he was running in treacle) and found himself clean through on goal only to shoot wide. The result was probably just about fair based on chances, but on the balance of play we were worth a point and there were some things to be encouraged about, not least the outstanding cameo from Suso. He doesn;t get to play central very often but on the couple of occasions he has (West Brom in the League Cup and this game), he's been class. Might be worth switching him and Gerrard at some point. Flanagan acquitted himself well on his first start of the season, Carragher had a good game and both Coady and Morgan can be satisfied with what they did. Dani Pacheco can feel a bit hard done by not getting a start ahead of Cole given his form for the u21s, but he didn't do himself any favours when he did get on as he found it hard to get into the game. It's never nice to lose any game, and I found this really frustrating to watch as I felt Anzhi were there for the taking. They were poor and didn't seem to have any kind of spirit or urgency about them. Their play was all very pedestrian and lacking in tempo, and our first team would probably have won this at a canter (although you can never be sure due to our inability to convert chances). There's not much point moaning about it though, a lot of people thought we'd get embarrassed and but didn't. Rodgers certainly did the right thing in leaving out most of his regular starters and the young players he brought in did well and will benefit from the experience. Beating Young Boys at home is the key now. If we do that we'll be in a strong position going into the last game in Italy, and looking at the results Udinese have had there's certainly nothing to fear about facing them. They lost at home to a side our second string put five past. Depending on what happens in the game between Udinese and Anzhi, we may even qualify with a win in our next game. If we can get out of the group having rested players for several of the games, that's a decent achievement given how small our squad is. Star man is Suso, even though he wasn't on long he was comfortably our best player and showed an urgency and positive approach in his play that was sadly lacking in others. Honourable mention to Flanagan as well, he hasn't played in the first team in a long while but did a good job on his return. Wisdom played well too, one notable error apart. Team: Jones; Wisdom, Coates, Carragher; Flanagan, Henderson, Coady (Suso), Downing; Cole (Assaidi), Shelvey; Morgan (Pacheco):

LIVERPOOL 1 Newcastle 1 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Luis SuarezHalf Time - 0-1 Venue - Anfield Date - Sun 4 Nov 2012 Star Man – Luis Suarez Same shit different day. It seems that every home game we play is more or less the same, the only thing that changes is the score. I actually think I may have even used that line before. I probably have, as it's all a bit De Ja Vu isn't it? Add this one to the lengthening list of 'should have won but didn't'. It's incredibly frustrating but entirely predictable and it won't change until we can add more goals to the team. We outplayed Newcastle more or less from start to finish, although admittedly the middle part of the game didn't match the opening and closing stages. We began the game brilliantly, the first ten minutes were especially impressive, and we played well once we'd equalised too. In between it wasn't bad but Newcastle never looked in too much trouble in that spell from midway through the first half to midway through the second. Perhaps it would have been different had we scored early on when we were really on top. Some of the football played during that early spell was terrific, with Sterling and Suso both prominent on the flanks and Sahin getting forward to good effect to join the lively Suarez. We got into numerous promising situations but failed to turn them into clear cut chances, the best opportunity coming when Suarez ran clear but saw his shot saved by the feet of Krul. Suarez also headed just wide and sent a curling free-kick about a foot wide of the post with Krul well beaten. As the half wore on Newcastle began to look more settled than they had been to start with, but we were untroubled at the back. I'm struggling to remember them threatening even once up until they scored just before half time. Their goal came out of nothing, Ben Arfa skinning Enrique and crossing to the far post to an unmarked Cabaye, who was given too much time and space to control the ball and then fire a shot into the top corner. Great finish to be fair, but we have to do better, especially Enrique (although I accept Ben Arfa is a really tricky customer and was otherwise kept in check by Enrique). It was just a real kick in the bollocks yet again though wasn't it, especially as it started with a foul throw by Wisdom that gave them possession. Typical Liverpool though, dominate a game then go in at half time a goal down. It happens so often to us, but there's a reason for it and we all know what it is. If you struggle to score goals you'll struggle to win games, it really is as simple as that. I'm boring myself repeating it seemingly every other week, but that's how it is. It was our number one problem at the start of the summer and it became an even bigger issue at the end of the transfer window when it turned out that we'd replaced Maxi, Kuyt, Bellamy and Carroll with just Borini and Assaidi. Now that Borini is sidelined we're down to the bare bones and if Suarez doesn't score you have to wonder who else will. Gerrard is playing really deep (which for me is a mistake and will hopefully be rectified when Lucas returns), Sahin has been ineffective after a promising start, Shelvey was terrible when he came on in this game and we're asking a lot of two teenagers to come in and start contributing goals so soon. The harsh reality is that we need goals from those wide areas and from the most advanced of the midfielders (which in recent weeks has been Sahin). The entire system hinges on it really. If you look at Swansea last season they had Dyer, Sinclair and Sigurdsson chipping in to help out Graham. And to get where we want to be we need to score more goals than Swansea did, not less which is what looks like happening. Suso and Sterling are showing a lot of promise and both have very exciting futures ahead of them, but they have one goal between them. It's not a criticism of them as it's completely understandable, I've got no doubt the goals will come for them in time but it's too much to expect from them at this stage of their development. Both are exceeding expectations I'd say, but the lack of goals from the wide positions is adding to the burden on Suarez. Thankfully Suarez is doing his job and then some. Without him we'd be in serious, serious trouble. I'm not sure we'd even win a game if you took him out of the line up, he's that important to us. There's some stat doing the rounds that has us bottom of the table without Suarez's goals and assists. Whilst that is a little misleading as if you take him out of the side then someone else would have been in his place and may have chipped in with a goal or two, it does show the importance of Luis to us. I don't need any hypothetical stat to know that without him we'd be fucked. I couldn't see us scoring in this game until he produced that incredible piece of skill to get us back into the game. For all the 'tiki taka' passing and patient probing to try and create openings, it took a good old fashioned ball over the top for us to score. It was a good ball by Enrique and something that he and Suarez had planned before the game apparently. Still, Suarez had a hell of a lot to do and only a very special player could have scored from that position. The first touch was brilliant, the second just as good and the third was a tap in. To be able to do that under pressure from a defender of the calibre of Colloccini and with the keeper bearing down on him was simply incredible, breathtaking even. After that we were a different side. The crowd woke up and the players were attacking with a renewed confidence that had been lacking since that early spell of pressure. Rodgers had made his first change by introducing Shelvey for Suso. I'd have hooked Sahin instead, Suso wasn't seeing much of the ball and had he been replaced by, say, Assaidi, I could have seen the logic, but taking him off and moving Sahin out there seemed odd. The other change that I thought was glaringly obvious was to get Downing on for Enrique. The way the game was going, Enrique was the spare man all the time and was getting loads of the ball in advanced areas. The problem is he's not really very good when he's in those positions, and attacks kept stalling when they reached him. He wasn't having to defend much, so it seemed like an ideal scenario to put Downing into. We really missed Glen Johnson and he can't return soon enough. Wisdom is solid defensively and is performing above expectations, but he offers little going forward as that's not really his game. He'll improve as he gets older, but at this stage of his development he's not going to bring too much to the side in terms of overlapping and crossing. With Johnson bombing on from the other flank it's not a problem, but Enrique is no Glen Johnson and we didn't get enough from the flanks against Newcastle. Downing did come on, but it was for Sahin which meant Sterling moving to the right and Downing linking up with Enrique on the left. Sterling did well out there, but then he'd done well on the left too. He was excellent all day, the one blemish was the chance he failed to take when Suarez played him in. He took a little too long to get his shot away and allowed Taylor to get back and make a good block. With a bit more experience he gets that shot off a split second earlier and at the very least forces the keeper into a save. Overall though Sterling was really impressive. He played with a maturity that you don't normally see in kids of that age. His use of the ball, his close control under pressure and his decision making were exemplary. Early on he was out wide and gave the full back a lot of problems, but for some reason it seems like a tactical switch was made that sent him much further inside. He was less of a threat but he was still impressive in the way he kept the ball and passed and moved. He's made his name as a flying winger but there were shades of, dare I say it, Iniesta about him at times in his ability to control the ball in tight spaces and move away from people before finding a team-mate. He was so composed on the ball and he's gone from a kid who would always look to just run at people to a much more rounded player who has shown there's far more to his game than a lot of us realised. If only he'd put that chance away though…. In fairness to Raheem, the best chances actually fell to Shelvey, who aside from Suarez and Gerrard is probably the one player I'd want in that situation. He fluffed his lines big time though, surprisingly. The first was a sitter that he made a complete mess out of. Suarez did superbly to set him up but Jonjo got his feet in a mess and went with his right instead of his left and the chance went begging. He had another great chance from a brilliant Downing cross, but he headed straight at Krul. It was obvious now we weren't going to score another, even when they were reduced to ten men following Colloccini's rush of blood. The danger was we might do something stupid and get caught on the break. We almost did a couple of times (Enrique had me worried on more than one occasion) but thankfully Newcastle didn't take advantage of those opportunities. We did hit the bar with a deflected free-kick from Suarez, but it never looked like it was going in. Ba was about six yards away when the kick was taken though, he actually blocked it with a raised foot, that's how close he was. That was one of a number of mistakes made by the ref. He also gave Newcastle a corner when Sami Ameobi got caught up in his own legs and ran the ball out of play. Thankfully nothing came of it, as there'd have been murder had they scored from that. The biggest failing of the official though was not dealing with Krul's time wasting. The Toon keeper was wasting time from about 20 minutes into the game. He did it all day and was not once spoken to by the ref, despite the continual protests of a frustrated Suarez. As for the sending off, I didn't see it at the time as it was so late I was watching the ball and missed it. I was surprised to see a straight red as I just assumed he'd caught Suarez late. The replays showed that the officials got this one right at least, as it was both nasty and dangerous. Thankfully he didn't connect properly or Suarez could have been seriously hurt. The disappointment of failing to win yet another home game makes it difficult to look to any positives. It's demoralising dropping so many points at home, and I certainly wasn't as happy with the performance as Rodgers seemed to be. Having said that, he's only been here since the summer so hasn't had to sit through as many of these kind of performances as we have. For the first half of 2012 he was in South Wales enjoying himself whilst we were watching draws and defeats in L4. Maybe if he'd been witness to as many of these disappointments as we have he'd find it a bit more difficult to focus on the positives too. I didn't necessarily disagree too much with anything he said about this, I just couldn't take as much solace in our domination of the game as Brendan did. I'm just fed up of seeing us fail to win games in which we've been comfortably the better side. Like I say, it's demoralising but it's not surprising as we knew when the season started it was going to be a struggle due to the lack of goals in the squad. That doesn't make it any easier to accept, but as Bruce Hornsby famously sang, 'That's just the way it is'. 11 points from ten games is shit no matter how you try and dress it up, and not even the sight of a rogue sprinkler soaking a load of fans at half time could raise a smile. Ok that's not strictly true, I laughed my head off at that but that was when we still had 45 minutes to win the game. Yes, we've been unlucky and should have more points and yes, we've had some really tough fixtures. I get that, and I've made that very point to people who are even more disheartened than I am. It's still depressing though, and it may get worse before it gets better as next up is a trip to Stamford Bridge. A difficult enough fixture under any circumstances, but even more so this time given that South Yorkshire Police's finest, Howard Webb, will be officiating it. Suarez is one booking away from a suspension and I'd be half tempted to leave him out of this one as you can make a strong case that we'll need him more the week after at home to Wigan, a game which - unlike the trip to Chelsea - we will be expected to win. That won't happen of course, and nor should it. We'll go to Chelsea to try and win the game and we're more than capable of doing so. Having Suarez in the side gives us a shot at beating anybody and I'm not advocating leaving him out, I'm just saying I'd be a little tempted to in terms of the bigger picture. Ideal scenario is he plays and performs to the same standard he did against the Geordies and we win the game. Worst case scenario is he plays, gets booked and we lose not only at Stamford Bridge, but against Wigan the week after due to having no striker. Given the way the season has gone so far I know what's more likely, although you could argue we're due a bit of good fortune at some point, surely? Team: Jones; Wisdom, Skrtel, Agger, Enrique; Allen, Gerrard; Suso (Shelvey), Sahin (Downing), Sterling; Suarez:

LIVERPOOL U18 4 Wolves U18 2 Report by Dave Usher Scorer(s) - Jerome Sinclair (2), Seyi Ojo, Kris Peterson (pen)Half Time - 1-1 Venue - The Academy, Kirkby Date - Sat 3 Nov 2012 Star Man - Seyi Ojo Liverpool U18s were involved in yet another high scoring contest at the Academy on Saturday as a Jerome Sinclair double helped Steve Cooper's side to a hard fought 4-2 win over Wolves. Kris Peterson and Seyi Ojo were also on the scoresheet as the young Reds recorded their fourth win of the season. The nine games the lads have played so far this season have resulted in 40 goals, with 24 being scored and 16 conceded. Going forward they play some fantastic stuff and there are a number of players capable of getting on the scoresheet, but far too many goals are going in at the other end and that will be a source of real frustration for the coaching staff. Last week the Reds hit three at Palace but still lost the game having let in five. These two sides met on the opening day of the season and the game ended 3-3. For a while this one looked like it could go the same way as Wolves got back to 3-2 midway through the second half and were pushing for an equaliser. The Reds were struggling to find the attacking rhythm they'd had in the opening 45 minutes but relief came when Sinclair made it safe with an excellent goal to secure the win. Sinclair and Ojo had both missed the last couple of games due to being away with England u17s but the lads had coped relatively well in their absence. Peterson had excelled as an emergency centre forward and had found the net in both of the games he'd started there, but he was back in his more familiar role on the right flank for this one, with 15 year old Ojo making only his second start at this level on the opposite flank. Cooper was still without Jack Dunn but the talented scouser is due back soon having been sidelined with a persistent hamstring injury. The Reds lined up with Ryan Fulton in goal behind a back four of Daniel Cleary, Lloyd Jones, Nial Heaton and Joe Maguire. The regular pairing of Yalany Baio and skipper Jordan Lussey were in the middle of the park, with Peterson, Ojo and Dan Trickett-Smith playing behind lone frontman Sinclair. Liverpool made all the early running, with Peterson and Ojo especially prominent. Both wingers had the beating of the Wolves full backs and created numerous openings for team-mates. Trickett-Smith almost opened the scoring from close range after Ojo's run and shot had created the opening. The Wolves keeper made a terrific stop to deny the former Crewe youngster however. Ojo created the opening goal when he beat his man down the left and crossed for Sinclair who glanced a header past the keeper into the net. Wolves' right back had a torrid time with Ojo, I'm not sure he managed to stop him at any point during the game. Not fairly anyway, a couple of times he just hauled him down having been skinned. He was eventually put out of his misery midway into the second half when his coach subbed him following a booking for dissent. Sinclair was close to a second when Maguire broke forward and sent a teasing ball across the six yard box that just eluded the striker. That came after the referee had played a good advantage when Ojo was left in a heap by the beleaguered full back. Ojo then won a penalty when he ran onto a perfectly weighted through ball by Peterson and was brought down by the keeper. Lussey had scored from the spot at Palace last week but this time missed the target, his kick sailing over the crossbar. Wolves gradually began to get a foothold in the game and drew level with a penalty of their own. Technically it was a pen, the striker got to the ball before Fulton and was caught by the keeper. It was soft though, as he was never going to catch the ball before it went out of play and never really had any intention of doing so. His only intent was to get a touch on the ball before the keeper as he knew there'd be a collision. Most referees will give that every time, although it's frustrating for the keeper. Fulton made a tremendous save to keep out the penalty but unfortunately for him the rebound fell kindly to a Wolves attacker who buried it. All square at half time, but the Reds regained the lead early in the second half when Baio released Ojo who found the net with the aid of a slight deflection. Peterson then won and converted a penalty to make it 3-1 but Wolves hit back quickly when Keita finished from close range after latching onto a mis-hit shot. It was getting a bit edgy now, Wolves weren't creating much but both of their goals had come out of nothing so it wouldn't have been a shock had they managed another. They were having to commit men forward and that was leaving space and it was from a counter attack that Sinclair made the game safe. Trickett-Smith found him in space and the 16 year old turned the centre half inside and out before firing the ball into the roof of the net with his left foot. Made it look easy, he's a real talent. Trickett-Smith was denied by the keeper after a superb turn and run into the box, and Wolves had a goal ruled out for offside in stoppage time. Borderline call that one, but it probably wouldn't have made much difference as time was running out anyway. The Reds deserved the win and played some excellent stuff in patches. It was in patches though, and it wasn't a flowing performance by any means. Sinclair scored two good goals but was largely quiet. Trickett-Smith wasn't as involved as he usually is and the midfield duo of Baio and Lussey didn't dominate quite in the way we've become accustomed to. The middle of the park didn't bring too much joy, but the wide areas were very productive and both Ojo and Peterson were outstanding. Choosing between the two for the star man was tough as there wasn't much in it, both really caught the eye. Peterson is having a fine season, he's stepped his game up this season and is playing with more consistency than he has before. He's scoring and creating goals and he's exciting to watch. I'm giving Ojo the star man though, he was the youngest player in the Liverpool side and probably the youngest player on the field. You'd never have guessed though, he ran the right back ragged all day, scored one, made one and also won a penalty. A good day's work for the young man. Team: Fulton; Cleary, Jones, Heaton, Maguire; Baio (Randall), Lussey; Peterson, Trickett-Smith, Ojo; Sinclair: