TLW

Stoke City 1 LIVERPOOL 2 Report by Dave Usher at the Britannia Stadium Scorer(s) – Luis Suarez (2)Half Time - 1-0 Venue - The Britannia Stadium, Stoke Date - Wed 26 Oct 2011 Star Man – Luis Suarez Have that you pitch shrinking, time wasting, ball wiping, alehouse bastards. Stoke had stolen a win from us once this season and at half time it looked like they might do it again. We battered them, but chance after chance went begging and as soon as we made an error at the other end it was punished with a goal. Story of our season so far that. Then Luis Suarez took matters into his own hands and ensured we got what our impressive performance deserved. Suarez has been guiltier than anybody when it comes to the wastefulness we've shown in front of goal this season, and he'd had several chances in the first half of this game too. It's difficult to hold it against them though, as he's just so fucking ace and he never stops trying. Eventually he was always going to get his reward, and there have surely been few more deserving matchwinners than Luis Suarez in this game, as he just refused to accept defeat and put the team on his back and carried them home. Stoke can fuck off. They deserved NOTHING from this game, and something needs to be done about the amount of playing time that is lost every time they get a fucking throw in. Absolutely ridiculous it is. Throw-in is awarded, their defenders slowly make their way into the box, Delap strolls over and then spends a good 30 seconds wiping the ball with a towel and deciding where he's going to throw it. And this happens over and over. If I wanted to spend half an hour watching a big ugly grock towelling his balls, I'd go the gym. Rory Delap simply can't play football, he only gets a game because of his freakish throw ins, the shit bastard. We were outstanding in the first half. Chance after chance was created, but we just couldn't put the ball in the net. It's been a problem all season, but as I wrote after the Norwich game, part of it is down to bad luck. Little breaks not going our way, like when Carroll's shot was parried by the keeper but just didn't fall right for Suarez and he couldn't direct his follow up effort on target. When things are going well, that falls right into the path of Suarez and he scores. It's also partly down to bad finishing of course. Carroll should have done better with a close range chance on his right foot, but his shot was weak and Sorensen saved. Suarez also should have done better when he burst through the inside right channel just before half time. He was fouled but stayed on his feet and then dragged his shot wide. If he'd looked up Carroll had found acres of space in the centre and would have had a tap in. Some of the football we played was brilliant though, not least the move that ended with Lucas getting in behind and playing a perfect ball across to Suarez who's shot was magnificently kept out by Sorensen. It looked a certain goal, but I'm not sure what Suarez could have done differently. The keeper was on him as soon as the ball arrived and again, this was more bad luck than bad finishing. More specifically, it was great goalkeeping. Stoke had not really done much. There were a few hairy moments from set pieces, including a disallowed goal when Walters flicked in a Delap throw in. I don't know what happened but I do know I heard the whistle before Walters even got his head on the ball. Pulis wasn't happy, but tough shit. He was also upset that Carragher wasn't given a red card for a lunge on Etherington after Spearing had played him into trouble with slack pass. Could have gone either way that one, I'd describe it as a bit worse than a yellow but not quite bad enough for a red. Pulis should just be thankful for the decisions that went their way in the league game and shut the fuck up, the tramp. Stoke were absolutely shocking. Their entire gameplan was about getting the ball into the channels and trying to win throw ins. I accept they have to play to their strengths, and I don't care if they want to play it long or base their whole style around getting set pieces. It's the other shit they do that I don't like. The time it takes them to get the ball in and the way they make sure the game doesn't flow by stopping it as much as possible. Whenever we were building up any kind of momentum, they'd win a set piece and take about two minutes to get the ball back in play. It's so difficult to get into a rhythm against them as they do everything they can to ensure the game doesn't flow and is constantly stopping and starting. And then there's the constant grabbing and holding they do when defending corners. It was happening all night and despite the ref constantly talking to them about it prior to ball being played in, they carried on doing it and he let it go. Having said that, Coates got away with the most blatant one of the game late on when he grabbed Crouch by the arm and hauled him down. The ref saw it, as did all of us behind that goal. He didn't give it though, and whilst he got that wrong at least he was consistent as Woodgate, Huth and Shawcross had been doing that all night. It must be incredibly frustrating to have to play against them but we remained patient, kept playing our football and this time we were eventually rewarded. I'm made up with how we played, I thought we were terrific and on another night we'd have been out of sight by half time. We don't make it easy for ourselves though do we? Aside from the missed chances, we seem to be throwing in one defensive error every game and whenever we do it costs us a goal. Coates clearly should have put the ball into the stands instead of letting it bounce and allowing Walters to dispossess him. That being said, most of the time that leads to nothing. At the moment though, any time we do something like the ball ends up in our net. Walters picked out Jones and his header gave Reina no chance. Right before half time too, a real hammer blow. Presumably Kenny's teamtalk will have been along the lines of 'Don't let your heads drop, keep doing what you're doing and you will win this game." We had to do it without Carragher though, who had picked up a calf injury and didn't come back out after the break. Skrtel came on to replace him and I thought he was fantastic, I was really impressed with him. Coates was decent too, he put his mistake behind him and was solid for the rest of the game aside from the grab on Crouch that he got away with. Everyone played well I thought. Agger was very good at left back, Spearing was superb in midfield (that one sloppy pass to Carra aside) and Henderson was purposeful throughout. The front two were the pick of the bunch for me. Carroll led the line excellently, his link up play was very good and he worked his arse off. He deserved a goal but if he keeps playing like this the goals will come. I hope he keeps his place for the weekend as for me he needs a run of games to get into a groove, and he's starting to show signs of settling in. As for Suarez, what can you say about him? He's just fucking boss, he ran Stoke ragged and that first goal was out of this world. You look at some of the chances he's missed this season and then you see him produce something like that. If he could score the easy ones he'd be scoring 30+ a season easily. The nutmeg was class, the finish was just ridiculous. The ball started out about five yards outside the width of the posts and curled back in. The keeper had no chance, and that's the best goal I've seen a Liverpool player score in years. Probably since Fowler. Genius. We kept pressing looking for the win, and Kenny sent on Bellamy for Maxi. In the first half Maxi had been very influential, but he wasn't as effective in the second half. Bellamy wasted no time getting involved, racing past a defender and laying the ball into Carroll's feet. The big man held it up and gave it back to him, but the shot hit the post. The latest in a long line of shots we've had against the woodwork this season. We kept going but it was looking like extra time was on the cards. Then Henderson spotted Suarez unmarked on the back post, and delivered an inch perfect ball onto the striker's head and we had the lead we deserved. Stoke threw everything they had at us in the last few minutes, forcing numerous throw ins and corners, but we held firm and defended them very well. Admittedly we got away with a blatant pen, but as I said earlier Stoke do that kind of thing all the time. Besides, they were diving all over the place late on whenever there was a set piece so maybe the ref didn't want to give them the benefit of any doubt as he couldn't be sure? I don't care, we got shafted in the league game so if it's balanced out after this then fucking great. We were by far the better team and deserved the win (as I think Pulis actually admitted in fairness). For the most part this season we've played very good football and I'm happy with where we are headed. There's room for improvement, but if our finishing had been up to scratch we'd be riding high in the league despite the lack of clean sheets. There's not much wrong with us that a little change in fortune won't fix. Someone is going to get a mauling from us soon, hopefully it will be West Brom this weekend. As for the League Cup, the draw is on Saturday and the chances are we'll get a tough draw as all the big guns are still in there. Ideally you'd want Cardiff or Palace, but as long as we get a home draw I'll happily take on anyone. I love how we've approached this competition, we've put out a strong team every round but Kenny has still been able to give the likes of Maxi, Spearing and Coates some much needed game time. Whether he'll continue to do that if we draw Chelsea, United or City remains to be seen, but those who have come in have played very well and the side certainly hasn't been weakened by it. Star man Suarez, honourable mentions to Carroll, Spearing, Agger and Henderson. Kenny has plenty to think about ahead of the trip to West Brom, as there are a lot of players who've done enough to deserve a place in the side. I'm not one for making bold predictions, but assuming that Suarez is ok to play then I think we're going to fucking twat Roy Hodgson's side on Saturday. Team: Reina; Kelly, Carragher (Skrtel), Coates, Agger; Henderson, Spearing, Lucas, Maxi (Bellamy); Suarez (Kuyt), Carroll:

1. Grazy 2. Mark 3. Ste Mc 4. Ted 5. Carra D 6. Woo 7. Extremely likely 8.Chris Mul 9. Cris 10. Dave W 11. Dave U 12. John G 13. Rene

LIVERPOOL 1 Norwich City 1 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Craig BellamyHalf Time - 1-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Sat 22 Oct 2011 Star Man – Luis Suarez Is there a more wasteful team in the Premier League right now than Liverpool? Poor finishing cost us two points against Sunderland, three at Stoke, another two against Manchester United and two more here against Norwich. We should have won every one of those games based on the ratio of chances created compared to our opponents. The only points we've dropped that can't be blamed on missed chances was the drubbing we suffered at Spurs. We're playing pretty well overall, but we aren't finishing off the good work and we're leaving points on the field far too often. Suarez is the biggest culprit, but he's by no means the only one. Carroll and Downing both squandered excellent opportunities against Norwich, Henderson missed chances against Stoke and Manchester United, Skrtel and Kuyt also didn't put chances away in that game with the mancs… I could go on but I won't. Basically it's been the same story every time we've dropped points. Some misses were obviously worse than others, whilst we've also hit the woodwork more often than any other side. It's part bad finishing and part bad luck. Someone is going to get a severe beating from us soon, but that won't bring back the points we've already thrown away unfortunately. This was just incredibly frustrating. Actually no, it was more infuriating than frustrating. We started brilliantly, played some wonderful football early on and created chance after chance. It was ridiculous that we had to wait so long to eventually score, more or less with the last kick of the first half. Suarez, Kuyt and Bellamy in particular were just cutting through the Norwich backline with some incisive football, but the end product just wasn't there. Glen Johnson was back in the side and he got forward well before the break before disappearing in the second half. The chances came regularly early on. Skrtel hit the bar with a good header from an Adam corner, but most of the chances fell to Suarez. The only weakness in his game is that he just isn't clinical enough and fails to convert a high percentage of the chances that come his way, and this game was a perfect illustration of that. He makes a lot of those chances himself through his sheer brilliance and persistence and for that reason it's difficult to be critical of him. The turn he produced to leave two defenders completely bamboozled was genius. The shot he then dragged wide was anything but. You simply have to score there. He was unfortunate with another effort that was pushed onto the post by impressive City keeper John Ruddy. That came at the end of an electrifying move that started with Adam's stunning ball out to Bellamy on the left. Bellamy escaped the full back and cut the ball back to Suarez, and I can't fault his finish as he did everything right. Just a great save by Ruddy. That said, Downing's follow up effort was horrific, he needs to be putting that in the back of the net. Suarez had another chance when Johnson's first time pass found him in the box. He let the ball roll across his body but then dragged his shot across the face of goal. Not an easy chance but he'll feel he should have hit the target. Then he should have done better with a header from a nice Downing cross but he didn't get any power on it. Another chance went begging when Suarez and Bellamy caused confusion in the Norwich rearguard, and Suarez did well to win the ball and drill it across the face of goal but Kuyt hadn't anticipated it and nothing came of it. The goal eventually came just on the stroke of half time. Suarez managed to get in behind the Norwich defence and appeared to have been held back, but Bellamy had ran onto the loose ball and advanced into the box to just about find the net at the Kop end. Not a convincing finish, it went on off the boot of a covering defender, but no-one cared as we'd finally got our noses in front and Bellamy had his second goal in as many starts since his return to the club. Downing's place is surely under threat now, as Bellamy's understanding with Enrique is much better than Downing's at the moment in time. That goal should have given us the platform to go and finish the game off in the second half, but as we've done so many times already this season we ended up making hard work of things due to our inability to put the ball in the net. Even some of the games we've won have been closer than they should have been because of our inability to convert a decent percentage of our chances. Had we put away one of the early chances we created in the second half this would have ended up a comfortable win. We didn't, but there was an element of misfortune involved and we really aren't having any luck at the moment. Suarez produced another breathtaking piece of skill to bring the ball down and nutmeg a defender, but he had no time to set himself as another defender was coming in to challenge. He tried to toe poke it into the far corner but the defender got a touch on it and it hit the post. Can't blame Suarez for that, he was desperately unlucky but it's typical of our season really. Gerrard then went surging through after a one-two with Suarez but his left foot shot was weak and straight at Ruddy. We were getting into some very promising positions but we just weren't taking advantage of them. Bellamy tried to pick out Kuyt with a left wing cross but a defender cleared. He tried again, and this time Downing arrived at the far post and did very well to turn the ball back into the six yard but neither Kuyt nor Suarez were in position to capitalise on it. Norwich were under the cosh but they kept trying to play their football. They knocked it about when they could and had a real pace and purpose to everything they did. They are an extremely well coached team and based on what I've seen so far I don't see any danger of them being relegated. I was very impressed with them, even in the first half when they were getting battered they stuck to their gameplan and kept their shape. They'd had a few half decent attacks without looking overly dangerous, but they certainly looked like they had a goal in them. It wasn't until they sent on Grant Holt that they really offered any serious threat though. Morrison had done his best up there on his own, but he needed help and when Holt came on that the Canaries looked a much more potent threat. At this point it's worth mentioning that aside from our inability to convert chances, the other big problem we've had is making silly errors at the other end. That reared it's ugly head once again, this time Pepe Reina was the culprit. Pilkington's cross was a cracker, and Reina was never getting anywhere near that as it swung away from goal. He shouldn't have come for it, and by coming out like that all Holt had to do was get his head on it and it was a goal. Credit to the striker, he attacked the ball and Carragher and Johnson were powerless to stop him. Pepe should have stayed put though. Maybe he still wouldn't have saved it, but at least he'd have had a chance. We need to cut out these errors, but that's not our biggest issue. You'll always have mistakes, it's impossible to play the perfect game. With better finishing, the mistakes aren't costly. I also think there's an element of bad luck involved here too, we seem to be getting punished for every error at the moment. Norwich's tails were up now though and they could see that Holt was giving us problems with his physical presence. He almost gave his side the lead from another superb Pilkington cross, but this time Pepe had stayed put and was in position to make a smart save. We quickly regrouped and regained control of the game, but we just couldn't put the ball into the net. Kenny replaced Bellamy with Henderson, a move I didn't understand and one that I think weakened the side. Why is Henderson being brought on ahead of the striker we paid £35m for? It doesn't reflect well on Andy Carroll at all. And then when Carroll was brought on, Kenny took off the player who had been signed to provide the ammunition for him! Downing can have no complaints about being hooked, he didn't do enough again and continues to frustrate. He wasn't awful and he still managed to put in three or four very good crosses, but he simply has to do more. He looks a little short of confidence to me and isn't being assertive enough, but that said I'd have taken off Kuyt and told Downing to hug the touchline and bombard Norwich with crosses aimed towards Carroll. I thought Kuyt played well in the first half, but was very poor in the second. Nothing typified that more than a break we had late on when we had three against three. Suarez went to Dirk's left, and Carroll was all alone on the right edge of the box as two defenders converged on the Dutchman. All he had to do was roll it across to him but instead he tried to shoot and the ball looped up into the air. Carroll managed to nod it to Suarez but he put the ball wide. The linesman flagged anyway so it wouldn't have counted, but still, come on Luis put it in the fucking the net. Carroll hasn't had particularly good service for much of his time here, but Gerrard whipped in a great ball that should have been meat and drink to the big fella. He seemed to get a little bit ahead of it though and as a result was unable to get his header on target. He has to score in that situation, and when that didn't go in I knew we were done. There was time for one more opportunity when another great Gerrard cross found Suarez, and although he did everything right and produced a great volley, Ruddy was on hand to make another fine save. It's difficult to take, and it's incredibly frustrating. I was really pissed off after the game, not at the performance but just at the wastefulness we keep showing. I'm enjoying how we're playing and I certainly think we're going in the right direction, I just wish we could put the fucking ball in the net. Is it something we will be able to correct with the group of players we have, or do we need to bring in an out and out goalscorer? That player isn't Luis Suarez, it needs to be Andy Carroll and if it isn't then we're going to have to get someone else in. We could quite easily score six next time out, but the concern for me is that the game after we'd end up wasting a load more chances and drawing a blank. Luck is playing a part too, and if that turns then results like this won't happen. It's incredibly frustrating, but it's not the time to panic. The time to panic is when we stop creating chances and stop playing our football. Still, it's impossible not to look at the points we've dropped at home already, as you just can't do that if you want to be competitive. You have to win at home and you have to beat the teams you're supposed to beat. We've got Chelsea and City coming up soon and we needed to take the three points here to keep pace with the top four as it's not inconceivable that we get nothing from those two games. Dropping points at home to Norwich means you have to make them up somewhere else, against a side that maybe you wouldn't expect to beat. I wouldn't be surprised if we beat City at Anfield or Chelsea at the Bridge, but you certainly can't bank on it and we aren't going to beat anyone unless we start putting away our chances. Star man was Suarez, despite the fact he failed to convert any of the numerous chances that came his way. He made most of them himself anyway, and was a constant menace to the Norwich defence. He also got nothing at all from the referee, and I don't think that is unrelated to the comments made by Ferguson last week. Again, much like last week I didn't see Suarez doing anything wrong and he wasn't 'diving' at all, but Peter Walton just didn't want to give him any decisions. As for the rest, Gerrard and Adam both played well and Bellamy was decent. Team: Reina; Johnson, Carragher, Skrtel, Enrique: Downing (Carroll), Gerrard, Adam, Bellamy (Henderson); Kuyt, Suarez:

Last weekend against Manchester United talismanic midfielder Steven Gerrard made his first start in six months following a groin operation and responded by covering more ground than anyone on the pitch with 12.976km, contributing to an overall distance covered of 121.091km by Liverpool. Leiva Lucas had the highest average speed for a Liverpool player with 6.07mph. Lucas has won 92% of tackles he has attempted this season. Jose Enrique is Liverpool’s top ranked player in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index in 24th place. The full back has put in 18 crosses and won 83% of tackles entered into this season Norwich have continue to perform above expectations this season and beat fellow Barclays Premier League new boys Swansea 3-1 last week Norwich remain the hardest working team in the Premier League after covering 142.522km in the game Norwich midfielder Bradley Johnson received media plaudits last week for having covered so much ground in the Premier League, and he responded with a lung busting 14.14km distance in the game against Swansea. Miraculously, this was not the most distance covered by a Norwich player, David Fox responded to the challenge and the new that his team cover the most distance overall with 14.286km covered. Russell Martin also covered over 14km in the game (14.067km). The trios achievements are even more remarkable given no player had covered over 14km in a game until this match (although this was assisted with 8 minutes added on) Norwich defender Russell Martin and midfielder Anthony Pilkington both made the EA SPORTS Player Performance index team of the week after their performances in that game Pilkington has scored 3 goals this season from 6 attempts at goal while also putting in 12 crosses and competing 13 dribbles and 66 passes in his opponents half in 7 appearances Marc Tierney continued his rise up the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index to 54th place, making him the highest ranked Norwich City player on the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index

It looked like a golden opportunity to turn them over when the teamsheets were handed in. No Rooney, Nani or Hernandez and a midfield of Giggs, Jones and Fletcher? Happy days. The seven on United's bench would probably beat the eleven they put on the field, so there seemed to be a great chance for us to get the win. As it turned out, that team selection did us no favours. Ferguson came to park the bus, and that's what they did. To read the full report, click here.

LIVERPOOL 1 Man United 1 Report by Dave Usher at Anfield Scorer(s) – Steven GerrardHalf Time - 0-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Sat 17 Oct 2011 Star Man – Charlie Adam It looked like a golden opportunity to turn them over when the teamsheets were handed in. No Rooney, Nani or Hernandez and a midfield of Giggs, Jones and Fletcher? Happy days. The seven on United's bench would probably beat the eleven they put on the field, so there seemed to be a great chance for us to get the win. As it turned out, that team selection did us no favours. Ferguson came to park the bus, and that's what they did. We found it very difficult to play through them and the game only opened up late on when they had to come out of their defensive shell and introduce their attacking players. When that happened, we created a load of chances. We couldn't put them away though and had to settle for a point. Frustrating, and yet at the same time encouraging. Steven Gerrard's return was always going to make Kenny's team selection interesting. I was happy to see us go with a three man midfield as I believe that plays to the strengths of all three. Lucas and Adam as a pair hasn't really convinced even though I'd say both have played fairly well individually. Adding Gerrard to the mix should, in theory, help both of them as well as the skipper. The problem is that if you go with the extra man in midfield, someone further forward misses out. Suarez is an automatic selection, so it's any two from Downing, Kuyt, Carroll and Bellamy. This time Kenny opted for Kuyt and Downing, with Carroll unfortunate to sit it out after scoring in the derby last time out. United went with the same system, and both teams cancelled eachother out for most of the first half. They only had one chance, when Evra got to the byline and crossed to the back post where Jones headed wide. We only had one clear chance ourselves, Suarez shooting straight at De Gea after collecting a ricochet following Adam's driving run and shot. Basically the first half was crap, there weren't even any tasty challenges going in. It was pretty dull stuff, and I'd put the blame for that squarely at the door of the mancs. They set out to stifle us, their team selection proved that and the way they played was further evidence. And we weren't good enough to overcome it. When Reina was in possession, they pushed up to mark all of our players and prevent us building from the back. Adam and Gerrard were man marked whenever they dropped deep to try and get on the ball, and United showed virtually no ambition other than to keep us in check. Of course it's up to us to get past that, and for the most part we didn't look capable of doing it, so Ferguson will feel his shithouse approach did the business for them. We knocked the ball around a bit but we didn't get enough from wide areas and most of our play was in front of their defence. Suarez should have done better when he failed to get on the end of a brilliant ball in from Gerrard and he then tried his luck with a shot from inside the centre circle that he didn't quite catch flush and it drifted wide. Not particularly threatening though, and I wouldn't even describe them as half chances. The one time we did get a good sight of goal was from Adam's surging run from deep that took him past a couple of players, but even then it took a fortunate rebound to create the opening for Suarez. He dummied well to make space, but his left foot shot was straight at De Gea. The biggest disappointments of the first half for me were Lucas and Downing. This is the kind of game that Lucas usually thrives in. Not this time, he looked a bit off the pace right from the start, perhaps due to the travelling he'd done in midweek. His passing wasn't as crisp as usual and he just didn't seem to be himself. The harsh booking he collected didn't help either, and he'll now miss our next game through suspension. The rest might not do him any harm actually. As for Downing, he wasn't terrible, but he just wasn't assertive enough. He wasn't trying to get by Smalling on the outside enough, and his understanding with Enrique was off for most of the first half. If Kenny sticks with the 433 system, Downing will have to step it up quite a bit as Bellamy has done well on the left whenever he's had an opportunity. In fairness, Downing got better after the break though I thought. As did the rest of the team. The second period started in much the same vein that the first had. Very tight, not much in the way of chances and stalemate written all over it. As so often happens though, once you get to around the hour mark, the game starts to get stretched and you get chances. Kenny acted fairly swiftly to change things, bringing off Lucas after 57 minutes and sending on Henderson in his place. Lucas had conceded a couple of free-kicks early in the second half (one of them incredibly harsh when Young ran into him) and that may have had a bearing on the decision, as he was probably one more foul away from a red card for persistent offending. Spearing would have appeared to be a more logical replacement, but Kenny went for the more adventurous option of Henderson, with Gerrard dropping a bit deeper to fill the gap vacated by Lucas. It worked well, with Henderson and Adam both getting forward to good effect. We had a decent penalty shout when Kuyt's header struck the arm of Evans. Seen them given, but it's not one I can kick up a stink about as you can't just make your arm disappear. Not much Evans could do about it as his arm was more or less by his side, but if it had been at Old Trafford and it was a Liverpool player…. The deadlock was finally broken with a little over 20 minutes left. I'm not going to say it came in contentious circumstances, because I don't believe it did. The only thing contentious about it was whether Ferdinand should have been sent off for a second yellow. He probably should have but again I'm not overly upset about it. I've got no doubt he caught Adam and despite a lot of talk to the contrary I don't think Adam went down too easily. Why would he go down? His next act would have been to get a shot away as he still had control of the ball and was running into the area. I don't see why he'd go down unless he had to. The contact was minimal, but it looks like he stood on Adam's standing foot which will usually bring you down when you're running. His fall looked pretty natural too, and if it was a dive (and only Adam will know) then he must practice that a hell of a lot as it looked convincing enough to me. Ferdinand's sense of injustice was compounded when Gerrard stepped up and put the ball through the wall and into the bottom corner. Great to have him back, the big fucking leg. Ferdinand was bitching about it on his twitter afterwards, but fuck him. For years he's kicked lumps out of our strikers without any recourse. Torres got some terrible stick from him that usually went unpunished, and the camel faced twat was trying to kick lumps out of Suarez all day as well. You look at some of the cheating bastards he's lined up alongside over the years, and he's got some balls on him calling Charlie Adam out. He should be calling out Giggs, who moved out of the way of the free-kick like a little girl who didn't want to get hit by the ball. Fanny. Ferguson responded by sending on Nani and Rooney. Strangely, Rooney went to a centre midfield position. He was taunted unmercifully by the Kop. "Who's the scouser in the wig?" and "your hair isn't yours, you baldy bastard you hair isn't yours" Whilst I admit I was pissing myself, I was also thinking it might be tempting fate a bit, especially as we had started to sit off them and looked like we were just trying to hold what we had. They came right into it and were seeing much more of the ball than they had been previously. Ferguson played the final ace up his sleeve, sending on Hernandez as they threw everything they had at us. They forced a few corners, but Pepe hadn't had to make a save and we were defending well. Then from one of those corners, Wellbeck got away from Carragher to flick the ball across the face of goal, and Hernandez escaped the attentions of Skrtel to head it in from close range. It's easy to point the finger at our centre halves, but it's incredibly difficult staying with people who are moving around in a crowded penalty area. Wellbeck cleverly shoved off on Carra to give himself some space, and the only way Skrtel would have been able to stick with Hernandez would have been to grab hold of him, which he tried to do and ended up falling over and losing him. How do you stay touch tight to a player who is running around in between other bodies in the box? It's nigh on impossible, you just have to get as close as you can and hope the ball doesn't fall to them. Unfortunately for us, it fell perfectly for United. It was a soft goal to give away, but we had lost the momentum we'd been building before we scored and we paid the price for that. Maybe Kenny should have made some changes, but I could see why he didn't. At 0-0 I'd have definitely been looking to get Carroll and Bellamy on for Downing and Kuyt, but once we went in front suddenly Kuyt becomes much more valuable. I'd have still sent Bellamy on for Downing, mainly because United were having to commit men forward which meant space to counter attack. Kenny opted to stick with what we had, and once United drew level he may have felt changing things then could have unsettled us. I don't know why he didn't change it, but given how the rest of the game played out I'd say he got it right because we pummelled them after that equaliser. I had feared the worst when they equalised and expected us to go on and lose. But we regrouped and looked like the only team trying to win it by the end. Almost immediately after they scored Downing whipped in a stunning cross that Kuyt did well to get on the end of, but his shot went straight at the diving De Gea. Henderson was next to be denied by the keeper, his clever lob being clawed away when it seemed headed for the top corner. Just needed another six inches on that and he's a hero. We then went close from a couple of corners. First when Downing did well to turn the ball back into the middle from the back post only for United to just about scramble it away. Then another when United failed to clear the danger and Adam found himself in behind and nodded the ball across goal towards Suarez. It looked a certain goal but Rooney managed to outjump him and nod it away as far as Skrtel, who ballooned his volley high over the bar. That seemed like it would be our last chance of the game but it wasn't. We continued to pile forward and Downing put in another great cross that found the head of Henderson, but he couldn't direct his header well enough and it dropped onto the roof of the net. Should have done better, but I liked what I saw from Henderson in this game. Playing central with the freedom to get forward, he did very well. We really should have won the game as we were the better side and De Gea was by far the busier of the two keepers. It's frustrating that we couldn't take the three points, but we need to take heart from the performance and make sure we go on to beat the teams we should be beating. If we do that then we'll be in good shape. Having Gerrard back will hopefully give us a huge boost in the coming weeks, it's fantastic having him back and fitting that he scored on his return. Star man was a toss up between Adam, Kelly, Carragher and Suarez. I'm going for Adam as this was his best game for us and I thought he was excellent in everything he did. The way he'd shield the ball when in possession to compensate for not being the quickest was very impressive, and I'd like to see more of him carrying the ball forward like he did on a couple of occasions in this game. Good to see him playing like this and hopefully now that Gerrard is back we'll see more of the three man midfield and therefore more of Adam as an attacking force. I've not mentioned the Suarez / Evra thing as far too much is being said about that at the moment. Let's see how it plays out, I've got my thoughts on it but I'd rather wait and see how this all comes out in the wash before commenting. I will comment on Evra's manager though, the purple nosed, bacon faced cunt. Hate is a word that is much overused in football. I use it far too often myself about people who in reality I don't actually give two shits about in the grand scheme of things. We all do it, "I hate that Jon Walters dickhead" or "I can't stand that Neil Warnock". Really though, it's bollocks isn't it? I do actually genuinely hate Alex Ferguson though. With a burning passion. I despise the man. He's just a massive, malignant, spiteful cunt. Hearing him talking afterwards about 'the boy' Suarez 'diving all over the place' wound me up no end to the point where I was wishing things that I'm really not proud of. I guess I'm not alone in that either. He brings out the worst in people. Just why did BBC have to inflict him on us again, that's what I want to know. Non-Utd fans have been perfectly content not having to look at him and listen to his warped, hypocrital, one eyed views for the last few years, but now they go crawling back to him and we have to suffer that kind of attack on a player who actually did nothing wrong whatsoever in that game. There was not a single dive from Suarez in that game. Not one. So why that attack on him? The vile old bastard is jumping on this bandwagon that was started by Everton a couple of weeks ago. Make sure Suarez gets a reputation so refs think twice about giving him decisions. It's obvious what he's up to, and I bet it works too as most refs are so weak they are influenced by that bullying cunt. He's got previous too, as he did it last year when he had a go at Torres and called him a diver. Torres had become a big thorn in United's side and they'd had people sent off for fouling him. It was obvious what he was up to then, and it's obvious what he's up to now. Roy Hodgson was pilloried for not sticking up for his player, and rightly so. I doubt that Kenny will allow this to go without response, and nor should he. Tell Ferguson to get his own house in order before sticking his purple nose into our business. Team: Reina; Kelly, Carragher, Skrtel, Enrique; Gerrard, Lucas (Henderson), Adam; Kuyt, Suarez, Downing:

LIVERPOOL U18 2 Man United U18 1 Report by Dave Usher Scorer(s) - Adam Morgan, Matty ReganHalf Time - 2-0 Venue - The Academy, Kirkby Date - Fri 14 Oct 2011 Star Man - Matty Regan First half goals from Adam Morgan and Matty Regan gave the reds u18 side their first home win of the season today as they edged out Manchester United 2-1 in a tight game at the Academy. Having thrown away some points this season through a lack of concentration, it was important for the lads to be able to see out a close game and hopefully it will stand them in good stead for the remainder of the season. There were no real surprises in Marsh's side. Tyrell Belford was in goal behind a back four of Lewis Hatch, Joe Rafferty, Regan and Tom King. In the continued absense of Jordan Lussey the midfield pair was Peter Aylmer and Baio, whilst the three behind Morgan were Kriss Peterson on the right, Jack Dunn on the left and Josh Sumner in the hole. Nick Barmby's kid was playing centre forward for United. Makes you feel old that, doesn't seem that long ago Barmby was playing his part as we won the treble. His kid looks quite useful and scored a cracker in the second half. Liverpool got off to the perfect start when Sumner's superb cross from the right found the head of Morgan, and he doesn't miss those. Two minutes gone and the reds were 1-0 up. The early exchanges saw Liverpool well in command. Sumner picked out Peterson with a raking crossfield pass and the Swede showed nifty footwork to get away from a couple of chances and create a shooting opportunity, but his effort was blocked. Sumner picked up the rebound but his shot was surprisingly disappointing, he's usually lethal from the edge of the box. Morgan then intercepted a pass across the United backline but his attempted chip didn't get off the ground and drifted well wide. United almost drew level when a free-kick was awarded after a handball by Dunn. It was whipped in low and spilled by Belford, but King was on hand to hack it away before any United player could capitalise. Ten minutes before half time Matty Regan doubled the lead, outjumping the United keeper as well as a couple of defenders to head in a high hanging cross by Peterson. Good work by Regan, but there's no way he should be scoring in that situation and he probably couldn't believe his luck. United weren't offering much in attack, but then a fortunate ricochet of Rafferty saw their gangly forward go clear, but his shot from a tight angle was easily saved by Belford. Dunn had been quiet, he's much more effective centrally than out wide, but just before half time he collected a throw in and then produced a stunning, dipping volley out that hit the crossbar. A great strike, especially as it was on his right foot and Dunn is predominantly left footed. Peterson was harshly booked before half time for a nothing foul, and early in second half Baio was booked for repeated fouling. He didn't really catch the United player, but only because the lad saw it coming and got out of the way. He wasn't happy about the decision but it had been coming. United were starting to come into the game a bit more in the second half, and it was no great surprise when they pulled a goal back through Barmby. It was a bad ball from Aylmer that presented the United striker with the ball, but the run and finish were extremely impressive. Marsh then brought Sam Gainford on to replace King, meaning Dunn had to go to left back. Gainford gave the reds attack a different dimension with his willingness to get down the outisde. Some persistent play down the left by the substitute saw him win possession and cut the ball back to Morgan who took his shot first time but hit it straight at the keeper. Gainford had a good chance to score himself with 15 minutes remaining when he latched onto a terrific through ball by Regan. Unfortunately his lob didn't quite have enough on it and was saved by the keeper. Seconds later Morgan brought a fingertip save from the keeper with a piledriver from at least 35 yards out. Mike Marsh then sent on Dave Moli for Sumner, who's influence on the game had waned considerably after a bright start. The reds were looking to get the killer goal and were pushing forward in numbers looking for it. Baio got himself into the box and looked certain to score but his shot was charged down by a defender. United immediately went up other end and their substitute went clean through the centre. He took too long to make his mind up though and Hatch got back really well to block him twice and the danger was averted. The u18s have given up a couple of late goals this season, including an equaliser last week against Everton with the last kick of the game. This time Marsh was not taking any chances, he made a change to eat up some time, bringing on defender Michael Wilson for Peterson, and both Moli and Morgan did their best to take the ball to the corners and ensure there was no repeat of what happened last week when they lost possession trying to get another goal and paid the price. All in all a good performance and a much needed win. There were some good individual displays but it's difficult to pick one person out. The midfield competed well, Morgan was dangerous, Sumner started well before fading and Hatch had a good game at right back. Both centre backs did well too, and I'll go with Regan as the star man as not only was he solid in defence, but his distribution was good and he scored the winning goal. Team: Belford; Hatch, Rafferty, Regan, King (Gainford); Aylmer, Baio; Peterson (Wilson), Sumner (Moli), Dunn; Morgan:

Liverpool defeated one of their great rivals in their last Barclays Premier League game. Liverpool covered 107.6km in the game against Everton compared to the Toffees 106.4km. Martin Kelly covered more ground than any other Liverpool player with 11.6km while Leiva Lucas had the highest average speed with 5.47mph Jose Enrique is Liverpool’s top ranked player in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index in 21st place followed by Luis Suarez in 21st place Suarez has now hit 4 goals in the Barclays Premier League, joint 4th in the goal scoring rankings with a shots on target percentage of 57% Leiva Lucas has been anchoring the Liverpool midfield this season and has won 96% of tackles he has attempted so far. With 23 tackles won he is ranked 6th in the category in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index Manchester United made it 6 wins out of 7 games with a 2-0 victory over Norwich in the last round of games United have 4 players in the top 10 in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index. Wayne Rooney remains in top spot with midfield duo Oliveira Anderson and Ashley Young in 3rd and 4th place respectively United covered 122.9km in the game against Norwich with Darren Fletcher once again covering the most ground with 12.2km, while Ji-Sung Park showed typical industry in a rare Premier League start by covering the second highest amount of ground with 11.98km Wayne Rooney remains the Premier League’s top goal scorer with 9 goals this season. Rooney has had an incredible 32 attempts at goal this season, one every 18 minutes, getting 59% on target Nani has been a revelation for Manchester United this season. He is their top passer with 185 passes, one every 3 minutes 22 seconds and also the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index’s top dribbler having completed 32 dribbles. He is also ranked second in the Index for delivering crosses with 29 this season, just 1 behind Damien Duff who has 30 Ashley Young’s stats are another great example of United’s delightful attacking football this season, completing a pass in his opponent’s half every 4 minutes 24 seconds, completing 30 dribbles, and delivering 25 crosses Rooney has gone on the record recently as saying that United are now defending from the front like Barcelona, and the stats show he is right. Rooney, Nani, and Young have won 6, 9 and 5 tackles respectively this season. This is especially impressive when you compare it to cross city rivals Aguero and Dzeko who have each won just one tackle.

Alan Kayll from the Liverpool Supporters Club and TLW Editor Dave Usher join your host 'Numbers' to talk about victory at Goodison, the Rodwell sending off and subsequent appeal and then take a look ahead to the big one this weekend as the mancs visit Anfield. Also, what a difference a year makes. 12 months since the takeover, the lads share their thoughts. 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. Alternatively, you can download it to your computer by clicking here. Podcast Powered By Podbean

Everton 0 LIVERPOOL 2 Report by Dave Usher Scorer(s) – Andy Carroll, Luis SuarezHalf Time - 0-0 Venue - Goodison Park Date - Sat 1 Oct 2011 Star Man – Jamie Carragher Merseyside derbies eh? Never a dull moment. It was a pretty safe bet Martin Atkinson would be the name on most people's lips after the game, I'm just glad it wasn't us getting shafted by him this time. The red card was clearly a contentious decision, in fact it was equally as controversial as the decision to not show one for a typical Tony Hibbert lunge. I'm sure David Moyes will have pointed that one out too, being the fair minded good egg that he is. What's that you say? He didn't mention the Hibbert challenge? Well I'll be damned. In fairness, he does have a blind spot where 'Hibbo' is concerned. Selecting him over Phil Neville is proof of that. As my cousin Al said the other day, "Hibbert is Moyes before he found the ring". He's right you know, just look at his face, Hibbert is the Smeagol to Moyes' Gollum. Moyes accused Atkinson of ruining the game with the sending off of Rodwell. Speak for yourself bogeyes, it didn't ruin it for me. I'd say it contributed greatly to my enjoyment of the occasion. I think he got it right too. It was a bad challenge and Suarez is fortunate he wasn't injured by it. Hopefully the FA look at it and increase the ban from three games as frankly that's isn't enough. If the FA are serious about stamping out violent, dangerous play then they need to start handing out stiffer punishments. Of course, I'm taking the piss. Much as I'd like to try and justify the red card, it was clearly a God awful decision. It might actually turn out to be the worst sending off decision we'll see all season in fact. It may have cost them three points or it may not have. No-one knows how this game would have turned out had Rodwell stayed on. No-one. At the time, it was an even contest, a typical derby in fact. Most of these games are like this, high tempo stuff with not much in it until one team scores. Neither side were on top, but that doesn't mean it would have stayed like that. Of course we'll never know because Atkinson's mistake put Everton on the back foot and they remained there for the rest of the game. Did it help us win the game? Hell yes it did, and it makes the win even sweeter just for the comedy element of it. We'll be hearing about this for the next twenty years I expect. Poor old Clive Thomas might start feeling a little neglected. And don't forget about Collina the Kopite. It's not easy having to play in derbies a man down, we should know as we had to do it two seasons back when Atkinson harshly sent off Krygiakos (we still won, so it's not quite the 'game ender' that Moyes would have you believe). As I said in the opening paragraph, I'm just glad we weren't the ones on the receiving end of his incompetence for once. These games are very difficult to referee, but until that decision the game was nothing out of the ordinary with not a bad tackle in sight. He made a rod for his own back after the red card though, as it whipped the mob into a frenzy and they were baying for our blood even more than usual. I thought our players then did a great job of not allowing Atkinson to even up the score. There were a few moments where it looked like one of our lads would go into a 50/50 before they thought better of it, and I'm sure there will have been instructions from the bench for them not to take any risks by going into tackles that could give the ref the chance to 'rectify his mistake'. Atkinson couldn't nail any of our players, so instead he opted for leniency on theirs. Fellaini caught Lucas with a studs up challenge on the edge of the box that was far worse than Rodwell's, whilst Hibbert's lunge on Adam didn't even result in a free-kick, let alone a red or yellow card or even a talking to. That was a potential leg breaker, whereas I didn't even think Rodwell's was a free-kick let alone anything else. That's Martin Atkinson for you though. In fact, that's referees for you. They're all terrible these days and it's getting worse every year. Before Rodwell's dismissal it was shaping up to be an interesting game. We should have scored through Suarez following outstanding play by Kuyt, but seconds later Reina had to acrobatically tip over a header from Cahill. The Aussie is a one trick pony who offers little else other than an aerial threat, but he is unbelievably good at that 'one trick'. Never ceases to amaze me how good he is in the air. Great save by Pepe too. Distin then shot over after showing nifty footwork to go past Skrtel and Enrique, and Saha curled a low shot a foot wide. It was a good even contest at that point, then Rodwell flew in on Suarez and all hell broke loose. I don't know what Atkinson thought he saw but his reaction was immediate, there was no hesitation. Lucas and Adam were both on the spot complaining, but they weren't demanding a red card. It was a typical reaction to a strong challenge on a team-mate, I'm sure they were as surprised as everybody else when Rodwell was sent packing. They did nothing wrong, but I can see why Evertonians would be upset about it. I've noticed Suarez getting criticism too for his part in the incident, but the bottom line is nobody knows how much or how little that hurt. There was certainly contact as Rodwell's knee caught Suarez's ankle on the follow through, and Suarez was limping around for a bit afterwards. He may or may not have been milking it, I don't know and neither does anyone else. The only person to blame for that red card is the referee, it's not the fault of Lucas, Adam, Suarez or Rodwell for that matter. He went in hard and got the ball. His follow through caught Suarez, but it wasn't with his studs it was with his knee. In terms of being dangerous, I don't think it was. Hard, yes. Dirty, absolutely not. It was borderline as to even being a free-kick I thought, never mind anything else. Evertonians don't need much to send them into a seething mass of frothing at the mouth, bile spewing, booing neanderthals, and Atkinson's action was the equivalent of waving a red rag to a bu... well, an Evertonian. The rest of the game saw them booing, screeching 'aaaaayyyyyyyyyyyy' any time one of our players went within five yards of a blue shirt, and of course the usual demands for 'handball!!!!!!!!' whenever a Liverpool player controlled the ball with any part of their anatomy that wasn't their foot, and sometimes even when it was. And that's without even mentioning the 'corner flag mob' and their contorted with rage, hate filled faces (more on them later). Their players were losing their heads too. Cahill was booked for catching Adam (I didn't think it was too bad but was worthy of a booking), Fellaini did Lucas (nasty challenge) and there was the shocking Hibbert assault. They couldn't get on the ball and we were completely bossing it now in terms of possession but they were defending well, especially the centre backs. Suarez shot into the side netting instead of trying to cut it back to Carroll and Adam hit the bar with a terrific strike. The best chance of all came from the penalty spot when Suarez was clumsily chopped down by Jagielka. Stonewall pen, didn't stop the blues from chanting 'cheat' at Suarez though. Dirk is normally the main man from the spot, especially against the blues. Not this time though. It wasn't an awful pen, he just didn't hit it hard enough and Howard got down to make a superb save. Unfortunate for Dirk, he played well I thought. By and large we weren't creating as much as I'd have liked. What we did do was keep the ball and make them work. That would pay off later on. It's not easy when the opposition have nine men behind the ball, but it was difficult to imagine Everton being able to keep us at bay for the entire game a man down and on such a sweltering hot day. They were going to run out of steam, and we had Gerrard and Bellamy to call on. At half time it was difficult to see anything other than a Liverpool victory, but the penalty miss and the shot hitting the bar was weighing a little heavy on my mind. One those days? The way the second half began did little to ease those concerns. Everton looked to have regained their composure during the break and they did ok for a while. More than ok actually, they did about as well as could be expected I thought. Saha had a couple of shots and they got some decent crosses in too. Our back four held firm though, every one of them performed well with Carragher and Enrique especially good. For us, Andy Carroll twice went close with towering headers from corners. One was cleared off the line, the other was deflected and brought a good save out of Howard. It was starting to have stalemate written all over it until Kenny played the aces up his sleeve. Bringing on Gerrard and Bellamy was a no brainer, the only decision to be made was who should go off. Downing was an obvious choice as he'd done nothing. He wasn't doing much wrong, he was just anonymous. I've been saying that most of the season about Henderson, but this time it was Downing who was Mr Invisible. Very disappointing, especially as he was up against the awful Hibbert. I think he's played quite well so far for the most part, but this wasn't good enough and he has to contribute more. Did he even put in a single cross? I can't remember any. The other change wasn't as straightforward. I guess most people would have taken Carroll off, and if it had been 11 v 11 then maybe Kenny would have, we'll never know. Looking at it now, it was a masterstroke by Dalglish leaving Carroll on as obviously he scored. More than that though, I like it because of the intent it showed. I don't think Adam did anything wrong, he played fairly well but they were down to ten men so we got as many attacking players as possible on there. They'd have been happy to see Carroll go off as it would have been one less attacking threat for them to worry about. The mancs have won so many games with that approach, keep sending on attacking players until you break them down. Suarez, Carroll, Kuyt, Bellamy and Gerrard. That's a lot for ten men to handle, especially in that heat. It didn't take long to pay off either. Bellamy and Enrique had shown some good signs of an understanding at Stoke, and it was evident again here as the Welshman collected the ball and the Spaniard flew past him on the overlap. Bellamy's pass was perfectly weighted, Enrique's cut back was cleverly ducked under by Kuyt and Carroll buried it in front of the Gwladys Street. Massive relief, not just because we'd finally broken the deadlock but also because it will hopefully get Carroll going and silence the ever growing number of doubters. Those doubts are justified as he has struggled for the most part but some of the things written about his 'lifestyle' certainly aren't justified. Kenny probably went a bit overboard afterwards and he's more than a little defensive about any questions relating to his number nine. If it helps to get Carroll firing and playing well I don't care how prickly he is in interviews and I'm sure Carroll really appreciates the backing he's getting. The goal was a relief, but we needed another to make it safe and it came when Suarez took advantage of a mix up between Baines and Distin to gleefully side foot past Howard. That tipped some Evertonians over the edge. The goons by the corner flag had earlier been hurling abuse at Adam whenever he took a corner, but now they were yelling more than insults, they were throwing whatever they could get their hands on. Coins, plastic bottles, pies... We're no angels and you occasionally see this from our fans too, usually when Rooney comes to town. It also used to happen to Gary Neville (who brought it on himself and in fairness never complained about it) and I remember some dickhead spitting on Phil Neville when he was taking a throw. Generally it's a rarity however and it's reserved for only the most reviled of opponent. Not excusing it by any means, but as a rule there has to be some history there with the player and it simply doesn't compare to the gauntlet ALL of our players have to run at Goodison. It's just weird I think. I can't imagine being driven to that kind of rage just at the sight of say, Seamus Coleman or Bilyadel… Billyaladi.. Bil.. that Russian lad they have taking a corner at Anfield. I can understand their hatred for Gerrard and Carragher, I can see why they despised Torres and now Suarez as they are/were all seen as symbols of the club. I can't relate to how they can get themselves into a slobbering vitriolic mess over Charlie Adam though, who's only been here five minutes and has done nothing so far to offend their sensibilities other than don the red shirt. Just look at the faces in the crowd when Adam is taking a corner. So much hatred. I've been at Goodison and sat in with the home fans whilst they were hurling all kinds of insults at people like Josemi, Diao, Mellor and Pongolle. It's anyone in a red shirt, no matter how crap or inoffensive they are. I mean Josemi??? Really blues fans?? You want to abuse Josemi? You should have been buying him drinks, not yelling abuse. With Adam off the field, their new target was Craig Bellamy who just stood there laughing at them. He loves that kind of shit, he's in his element. One whopper was screaming insults at Bellamy whilst filming him on his phone. Bizarre. It probably made Bellamy's day seeing how they reacted to him. Suarez also had to deal with it and was hit by a coin (insert your own joke about David Moyes' transfer kitty). His response was to take a brilliant quick corner to Kuyt who was desperately unlucky to hit the post. Would have been a memorable goal that, brilliantly worked between them. * I don't know who to credit for the fantastic gif you see to the right, but whoever it was who produced it, top work. * Gerrard had also come within a whisker of scoring, pity that didn't go in as I'd have loved to have seen his celebration. Kenny gave Lucas a well earned rest late on, sending on Henderson to partner Gerrard in the middle. Lucas was on a yellow card so it made sense to get him off. His little fist pump to the away end was class too. We won 2-0 at Goodison with a team that is still bedding in. It wasn't perfect, but we're only seven games in and we're doing ok. We've got 13 points which is decent but should be better, and we've got four of the most difficult away fixtures out of the way. We've got Gerrard back and Carroll is off the mark for the season. And of course we've got Suarez. I thought this was his worst performance of the season, but he still scored and won a penalty. All in all, I'm happy. I know there's things that weren't especially great but I'm not going to nit-pick over it. I'd rather just savour the moment rather than worrying about how many times Andy Carroll touched the ball in the opposition half or what Charlie Adam's pass completion ratio was or why Craig Bellamy isn't starting etc I understand a lot of the concerns people have, and those concerns may well prove to be justified. I just think it's far too soon to tell and I'm trying to stay positive as on the whole things look promising. Certainly a lot more promising than the last time we visited the Pit anyway. So those concerns can wait for another day. We've got a two week lay off, so for now I'd rather just enjoy the win. We got the three points, Everton got a ready made excuse for losing and something to complain about, so Bonet de Douche, everyone's a winner. My glass isn't overflowing, but it's definitely half full. Team: Reina; Kelly, Carragher, Skrtel, Enrique; Kuyt, Lucas (Henderson), Adam (Gerrard), Downing (Bellamy); Suarez, Carroll:

Liverpool’s Charlie Adam is the player from either side to be currently ranked highest on the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index. Adam is currently in 23rd place while Everton’s highest ranked player is Phil Jagielka in 75th place Adam has one goal in 507 minutes of Barclays Premier League action this season and has hit the target with 66.67% of his 12 total shots this season. Adam has also won 72.73% of all the tackles he has entered in to this season Stewart Downing has had 7 shots on target (58% of all shots) without scoring this season The Liverpool players covered a total of 112,645m (69.99miles) during their 2-1 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend Lucas Leiva was the Liverpool player to cover the most ground (11,900m/7.39miles) during the game against Wolves, closely followed by Charlie Adam (11,637m/7.23miles) and Stewart Downing (10,636m/6.61miles) The Everton players covered a total of 115,703m (71.89miles) during their 2-0 loss at Manchester City last weekend Marouane Fellaini was the Everton player to cover the most ground (12,611m/7.84miles) against Manchester City, followed by Leon Osman (12,112m/7.53miles) and Jack Rodwell (11,099m/6.90miles) Leiva Lucas has won 21 tackles this season, behind only Wigan's Maynor Figueroa and Chelsea's Ashley Cole in the tackles won category of the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index Jagielka also has one Barclays Premier League goal this season and has won every one of the eight tackles he has entered in to this season. Jagielka has also made five clearances and six interceptions for the Everton cause already this season The two goalkeepers, Tim Howard and Jose Reina, facing up on Saturday have 462 Barclays Premier League appearances between them, conceding 238 goals (Howard) and 186 goals (Reina) respectively. Between them, they have only received one red card, Reina’s in the 2005/06 season Everton's Sylvain Distin has now won 12 tackles without conceding a single foul this season, making him the cleanest tackler in the league (in comparison Lucas Leiva has conceded 9 fouls from 21 tackles won)

In the first of two podcasts this week, Charlie Adam joins us to talk about life at Anfield, the start to the season and how he thought the chance to join the reds had passed him by last January. Your host 'Numbers' is also joined by Dave Maddock, the Merseyside Correspondent for the Daily Mirror, to preview this weekend's Derby at Goodison. 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

LIVERPOOL 2 Wolves 1 Report by Paul Natton at Anfield Scorer(s) – Roger Johnson O.G., Luis SuarezHalf Time - 2-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Sat 24 Sep 2011 Star Man – Luis Suarez Prior to kick off yesterday afternoon there was some bewilderment amongst fans - and possibly a little consternation too - regarding Kenny’s selection for this match. After the debacle of the previous league game when we were embarrassed by a far superior Spurs team on the day, the manager had rung the changes for the midweek league cup tie away to Brighton and reaped clear dividend for doing so, even if that game also raised some performance-related question marks in its aftermath. However, the continued selections of Bellamy and Kuyt had seemed certain after their fluid and attack-minded displays on Wednesday night when they linked up well with Suarez. The fact that they reverted to the bench for this encounter was a surprise, therefore. That said, it needs reiterating that this is still pretty much a brand new Liverpool team and Kenny’s selection decisions will be based as much on the need to integrate players as to respect the maxim that you play on merit. In that context, I was surprised to see that, with 30 appearances, Martin Kelly of all people, has more experience in a Red shirt than over half the other players who started the game, including the integral Luis Suarez. Such considerations don’t remove doubts however and I felt a little concerned about playing so many players who are looking for consistent form in a match where - already - the three points were looking very important. To that end, my concerns were born out by a slow start from Liverpool with Wolves putting us under a little early pressure and aided by silly errors from Adam, with an errant downward header that handed dangerous possession to the opposition, and Lucas with the concession of a free kick. This was then followed up by a poor pass back to Pepe by Carra from over on the right hand side that Wolves failed to capitalise upon and all of these early errors served to mute The Kop from the fine voice it had been in during the last home match against Bolton seemingly an age ago. Things began to pick up a little for Liverpool soon after with Pepe looking to re-create the understanding he had with Torres in a succession of decent long passes either directly to Suarez or indirectly via the head of Andy Carroll. Indeed Carroll was involved in the build up to the first goal as he made a nuisance of himself (arguably illegally) in the Wolves box when challenging Roger Johnson for a high ball leaving the centre half poorly positioned for his attempt to head out Charlie Adam’s shot the edge of the box and conceding an own goal in the process. The advantage on the score board clearly settled the players a little and the crowd responded to Luis Suarez’ increasing dominance of the Wolves defence with both gasps and laughter when he tormented Berra down the left flank, forcing him into an air kick before conceding a corner. From that Carroll had a decent headed attempt and soon after another long ball from Pepe led to another moment of Suarez magic when he back-heeled the ball around Johnson before darting past him to try to find Downing bursting forward into a crowded six yard box. The second goal came on the 38 minute mark and it was, unsurprisingly, the result of yet another moment of inspiration from the superb Uruguayan. Darting on to a ball over the top from Enrique, he beat the ponderous Wolves off-side trap and took possession on the left side of the penalty area where a quick double change of feet bamboozled both defender and goal keeper to open up the merest glimpse of an opening at the near post which he duly exploited with a vicious finish from a reasonably narrow angle. Brilliant. The first half ended with yet another moment of Suarez magic in the opposing box as he jinked past several opponents to flick a shot just wide and the interval came with the score looking comfortable even if our all-round play as a team had been far from impressive (the excellent Suarez notwithstanding). Mick McCarthy responded to the deficit with a bold pair of substitutions, sending on the half-fit Fletcher to double his contingent of strikers and also handing a debut to a teenage defender for the second half. This resulted in an almost immediate response from his side as they exploited a fortuitous deflection from Enrique’s attempted clearance of Henry’s cross from the right with a cut back by Hunt to the menacing Fletcher who buried his chance leaving Pepe with no hope of a save. Liverpool almost immediately charged back at Wolves as Downing worked a cross for Carroll to challenge Hennessy for. The ball fell to Suarez who pulled the trigger from almost point blank range only to find the Wolves keeper directly in front of him again for a great blocked save with his body. Enrique and Downing then linked up effectively together for (strangely) the first time in the match in order to put a cross in for Carroll at the back post who rose to head powerfully, but slightly inaccurately against the upright. Soon after, a counter-attack at pace saw Adam feed Downing in the inside left channel but his shot produced another good save from Hennessy. For the next few minutes, Liverpool began to seem nervy with a couple of minor errors from Pepe resulting in half chances for Wolves. However the introduction of Dirk for the largely anonymous Henderson injected a much-needed degree of purpose into proceedings and this was notably supplemented when Steven Gerrard returned to the fray at Anfield for the first time in six months in place of the ovation-receiving Luis Suarez (who nevertheless displayed his frustration at being substituted with an unbecoming show of petulance). From almost his first touch, the captain showed a reassuring freedom of movement and previously lacking display of his trademark aggression and attacking intent. Certainly, there was nothing tentative about his cameo which bodes well both for his state of body and state of mind. The final throes of the game saw him involved in a couple of half chances, the latter of which (coming after a timely defensive tackle from Lucas to break down a Wolves attack) saw Andy Carroll receive the ball in the Wolves area and twist and turn this way and that before the chance finally came to nought with the whistle sounding immediately after. When I came out of the ground I felt a sense of deflation at the lack of fluency and aggression in our football as well as what appears to be a growing issue around the keeping of clean sheets. Furthermore, I fixated on a perceived inability to win second balls and a somewhat relaxed demeanor from Carroll to conclude that things had been pretty poor. However, on reflection - and with the benefit of reviewing the match on TV - I think my initial thoughts were too harsh. Certainly, whilst hardly putting in a world-beating display, Andy Carroll was far better than I initially gave him credit for. In his touch, link up play, positioning and understanding with Suarez, this was an encouraging performance; albeit one that should be regarded as a mere starting point for sustained improvement. I also feel that I was too critical of other elements of our play without giving due regard to the embryonic nature of this team that Kenny is building. Don’t get me wrong: this was no barn-stormer of a match that set Anfield alight. However, nor was it a shambles either. Rather, it was three points earned in slightly tricky circumstances in spite of the fact that we’re still learning how to play with each other after a summer revolution of the playing staff. With the derby up next, we absolutely must find more cohesion throughout the team especially between the various new partnerships we’re building; furthermore, a bit of defensive obduracy can’t come soon enough for my liking. That said, this was a match that saw us come through unscathed with maximum reward and a few small steps taken on the road to full form and confidence. Let’s hope that continues next week at the pit. Star man was Luis Suarez. Team: Reina; Kelly, Carragher, Skrtel, Enrique; Henderson (Kuyt), Lucas, Adam, Downing; Suarez (Gerrard), Carroll:

Brighton & Hove Albion 1 LIVERPOOL 2 Report by Dave Usher Scorer(s) – Craig Bellamy, Dirk KuytHalf Time - 0-1 Venue - Amex Stadium Date - Wed 21 Sep 2011 Star Man – Craig Bellamy We're in the hat for the next round and the Spurs game is out of our system. Bellamy is back amongst the goals and Gerrard was back on the field. All in all, a satisfactory night despite being outplayed for long periods of the second half by a Championship side. The first 40 minutes were superb, we played some great stuff and should have been out of sight. We didn't take our chances though and to be fair Brighton were fantastic in the second half. Whilst it is a little disconcerting seeing a Liverpool side being outpassed by a team from a division below, the important thing is we got the win and progressed to the next round. We're taking the competition very seriously and once again Kenny named a strong side. He was still able to give some bench players some much needed game time, but the core of the team was still there with Reina, Carragher, Lucas and Suarez all starting. Bellamy and Suarez hit it off immediately, ably assisted by Kuyt who was heavily involved in the first half when we were so dominant. The movement of the three was great to watch, as was some of the one touch passing between them. We played very well early on and the opening goal was a cracker. Great movement by Bellamy, perfectly weighted pass by Suarez and a nice finish. Suarez should have added a second not long after when Kuyt's brilliant first time ball round the corner sent him in but he put his shot inches wide of the far post. Should have scored though, his finishing is possibly one of the weakest parts of his game. Not that it's bad, but it isn't as good as other areas of his play. The only thing keeping this from being a rout was the woodwork. Suarez saw a header clip the post, Bellamy smacked the bar with an amazing strike from distance and Spearing saw a fine low shot tipped onto the post by the keeper. At the other end Brighton hadn't done much at all until half time drew near and suddenly they came to life. Their left winger Craig Noone had gotten a fair bit of publicity prior to the game as he's a lifelong Liverpool fan and he'd done some work on Gerrard's house when he was a part timer playing non-league. He looked useful throughout and had a great chance to score five minutes before the break but he hit his shot too close to Reina. Pepe made a meal of it though and it looked like their centre forward would have a tap in but Kelly came to the rescue with a terrific clearance. That gave Brighton hope and they never looked back from that. The second half was all the home side, they were outstanding to be fair. Not the usual 'up and at 'em' lower league stuff either, they just passed us off the park. At one point a stat flashed up on the screen showing they had 61% possession in the 2nd half. I doubt Spurs even had that on Sunday when we were down to nine men! Really impressive stuff from Gus Poyet's side. Noone was superb and was within a whisker of scoring a dream goal when his dipping effort from 25 yards hit the bar. That came after an inexplicably bad pass by Coates across his own box. I wasn't overwhelmed by him, but I'm not particularly bothered about it as it was always going to take him time to adapt. He did ok, but missed a few challenges and positionally seemed to be too close to Carragher a few times. Very early days though and the outing will have done him a lot of good. As well as Brighton played, you still have to look at how we allowed it to happen. It's difficult to pinpoint exactly what our problem was. It looked like we just stopped doing the things we'd been doing well in the first half. Lucas and Spearing had bossed the game before the break, but they were barely in it 2nd half. Maxi all but disappeared until he had a hand in the second goal, and Suarez was way below his best. Defensively we were did ok and Bellamy looked sharp all night. We needed that second goal though, especially as Gerrard's introduction was dependent on the game being safe. Had we got a second or third goal the skipper would have come on sooner, but Dalglish had to be cautious if there was any possibility of extra time. Eventually it was time to send him on, and it was no surprise to me that it was Suarez who made way. It makes sense to rest him any time it's possible, and besides, he was playing second fiddle to Bellamy on the night anyway. The crucial second goal eventually came from a quick counter attack. Bellamy collected it down the left and played an inch perfect ball into the path of Maxi who didn't have to break stride. A defender got back at him so he couldn't go on is own, but the ever willing Kuyt had made a great supporting run to his right and collected the pass before finding the far corner with a perfectly placed finish. As it turned out, that goal would prove decisive as Brighton got the goal their performance deserved when a mistake from Spearing resulted in Carragher bringing down Vicente in the box. Pepe's run without saving a pen continued but this was a perfect penalty, you don't save those no matter who you are. The late goal took the shine off things somewhat, especially for Spearing who will be kicking himself over the error. We are making too many mistakes in defensive areas, but I don't expect that to continue and I'm sure we'll tighten things up as the season progresses. Kenny will have some selection headaches ahead of the game this weekend though. Bellamy has surely played himself into the starting line up and it would be harsh on Kuyt if he had to drop back to the bench too. It's also going to be interesting to see who makes way for Gerrard when he's ready to play a full game again. Overall, more positives than negatives but we can't afford a repeat of that second half when we're playing Premier League opposition as we'll be made to pay. Star man was Bellamy, he was head and shoulders above everyone else (insert your own 'no neck' joke here). Team: Reina; Kelly (Flanagan), Carragher, Coates, Robinson: Kuyt, Lucas, Spearing, Maxi; Suarez (Gerrard), Bellamy:

The Liverpool players covered a total of 99,775m (62.00miles) during last Sunday’s 4-0 loss at White Hart Lane. This was 9,359m less than the total distance covered by the Tottenham Hotspur players. The Wolverhampton Wanderers players covered a total of 115,400m (71.71miles) during their 3-0 home loss last weekend. This was 3,376m less than the QPR players covered during the game. Karl Henry and Jamie O’Hara led the way for Wolves during the game covering a total of 12,002m (7.46miles) and 11,150m (6.93miles) respectively. Lucas Leiva was the Liverpool player who covered the most ground (11,833m / 7.35miles) during the game, followed by Jordan Henderson(10,563m / 6.56miles) and Andy Carroll (10,236m / 6.36miles). Stewart Downing may be cursing his luck – the winger has completed 102 passes in the opponents half, put in 14 crosses, and completed 12 dribbles, yet remains without a goal or an assist to his name this season. Wolves defender Richard Stearman is the only player in the Barclays Premier League to have already been shown three yellow cards this season. Stearman and his defensive partner, Christophe Berra, have won 18 and 17 tackles respectively this season. Only Ashley Cole (20) and Maynor Figueroa (18) have made more than them. Liverpool striker Luis Suarez is not known for his defensive qualities and has only won 14.29% of the 14 tackles he has entered in to this season. He is the only player in the Barclays Premier League to have lost more than 10 tackles this season. Wolves midfielder Jamie O’Hara has won every single one of the 16 tackles he has entered in to this season, the most of any midfielder in the Barclays Premier League.

Tottenham Hotspur 4 LIVERPOOL 0 Report by Dave Usher Scorer(s) – Half Time - 1-0 Venue - White Hart Lane Date - Sun 18 Sep 2011 Star Man – Nobody Ouch. Woeful from start to finish. It was torturous to watch and there was no respite from it at any stage during the game. No-one played well, no part of the team functioned even remotely close to an acceptable level and we got our arses handed to us by a Spurs side who aren't even that good. White Hart Lane is becoming a seriously unhappy place for us, bad things always seem to happen to us when we go there. The score looks bad, but the performance was even worse. The only surprising thing was that up until Skrtel stupidly got himself sent off the score was only 1-0. It's understandable that the floodgates opened after that as playing with nine men is nigh on impossible. What went before that though was completely unacceptable. Both red cards were justified, the referee clearly wasn't in any mood for leniency and was certainly a bad jobsworth but much as I’d like to I can’t complain about the two dismissals (had he seen an off the ball kick by Parker on Lucas then Spurs would also have found themselves a man down, but unfortunately he missed it). The ratio of fouls to yellow cards gives cause for complaint, but looking at the incidents in isolation I can’t say I feel particularly hard done to. Adam's first yellow was possibly a little on the harsh side but having already been booked he was stupid to then go in with his foot up. He didn't even see Parker coming and it wasn't a deliberate foul, but you've got to be careful when you're on a yellow and he was reckless. It could even have been a straight red under the letter of the law as it was studs first and knee high. Certainly a yellow and I have no complaints. Defensively Adam is poor, it was a concern for me before we signed him and I've seen nothing to ease those concerns. He'll be an asset for us in 75% of our games but he might turn out to be a liability in the remaining 25%. Better teams can play around him as he's not the quickest, can't tackle and gives a lot of free-kicks away. The Skrtel red card was similar. First booking looked harsh (very harsh in fact but I've only seen one replay of it) but the second one was fucking idiotic and he needs his arse kicking. There was just no need to make that challenge, he just couldn't help himself though. It's his biggest weakness and it's something he's never been able to eradicate from his game. Playing out of position is not an excuse and minutes before it he'd allowed himself to be outmuscled by Jermaine fucking Defoe. Pitiful. To make it worse, he then stayed down on the floor as Spurs attacked.There's your hard man right there. His red card didn't really affect the result, only the margin of our defeat. Going down to nine men made it easy for Spurs to run up the score but it was Adam's dismissal that really ended our hopes of getting anything from the game. We were already 1-0 down and playing awfully. Even with eleven men there was little to suggest we'd get back into it, but going a man down ended any slim chance we had. We'd been sloppy right from the opening whistle and Spurs were right at it. They could have scored a couple in the first few minutes as we were all over the place. When the goal eventually came it was one of those you can't really legislate for. It was an amazing strike from Modric, you just have to take your hat off to him for that. The goal was just one of those things, but I was more concerned with how bad we were when we had the ball, and how easily Spurs were playing through our midfield. We'd started with a 433 formation, yet our three central midfielders were being outplayed by Spurs' two. That simply can't happen. You have three in there so you control the middle of the park, but Parker and Modric took the piss and we didn't get near them. Lucas, Adam and Henderson were beyond useless. That's where our problems started. We weren't great anywhere else either, but it was in the midfield where we lost this game. They didn't protect the defence, they didn't support the attack, and they didn't keep the ball. They didn't do anything. Carroll was rubbish too, even if once again he can point to a shocking lack of any kind of service as a reason for his ineffectiveness and I have some measure of sympathy when I see him sent to the right wing. What's he gonna do out there other than look slow and shit? Completely self defeating having him out there. Suarez looked to be the only hope we had, but he didn't get any kind of support either and eventually became so frustrated it looked like he'd be sent off for dissent. He was booked for sarcastically applauding, and then continued to rant and rave in Spanish at both the ref and linesman. The half time whistle came at a good time for him. It was just brutal all round, topped off by an injury to Agger sustained when trying to prevent Modric's goal. He tried to stay on but eventually had to make way for Coates. Not the kind of situation you'd want a new signing to make his debut in. Coates didn't stand out much either positively or negatively. The only thing I really noticed him do was get done for pace by Adebayor and collect a yellow card for bringing him down. The most alarming thing about this for me is that I had been very confident when I saw the starting eleven. A narrow three in midfield with Downing and Suarez either side of Carroll looked good to me. Skrtel was a concern up against Bale, but Kenny had little choice but to use him there as Kelly and Johnson were ruled out. Flanagan was the only other option but Skrtel had done well in the previous two games and deserved to stay in. He hadn't been up against Gareth Bale in those two games though, and this was a big test. He failed it. Not that he was given much protection. I say 'much' but I should probably say 'any'. I don't know who's job it was to help the full back out, whether it was Downing or maybe Henderson, but whoever it was they didn't do it. After the sending off, we then had Andy Carroll playing right wing. I just couldn't get my head around that at all, it was infuriating. Carroll is big and lacks pace. His technique is decent enough for the kind of player he is (a target man) but he doesn't have the skillset to be able to play on the flank in tight spaces. It reminded me of Egil Olsen's Norway with Jostein Flo on the wing. Why was he out there, it made no sense? It wasn't helping us in any way, and certainly did Carroll no favours. Speaking of which, the white boots don't help either Andy. Try banging in a few goals before you go down that road. Surely Carroll either had to be left up top as the lone forward with Suarez dropping wide, or get him off and put Kuyt or Bellamy on who can both actually play that role. Having Suarez central was probably the most logical move as he was basically the only hope we had of doing anything, so that being the case just get Carroll off. Don't stick him on the right wing and let him struggle. Henderson should have gone off too as he was a total passenger. No-one was getting amongst their midfielders and pressurising them when they were on the ball. The same thing happened at Anfield towards the end of last season actually. I assume the reason Kenny didn't make changes earlier was because there were so many players worthy of getting the hook and he was spoiled for choice. I can't think of any other justification for not doing anything as we struggled so badly. Eventually Suarez and Downing went off, more to protect them for the games ahead than anything else. Downing was anonymous, but then we weren't getting the ball to him because our midfield was so bad. Doesn't excuse his performance, but it does explain it somewhat. There isn't anything remotely positive to take from this. It could easily have been even worse than 4-0, as Spurs had numerous opportunities they didn't take. As for us, it took an hour to even produce some kind of shot. The only effort on target I can remember was a long range effort from Downing. We did have a goal disallowed in the 1st half but Suarez was a yard offside and we can't complain about that. Worth mentioning that had Carroll's touch been better he could have gone himself and Suarez wouldn't have even come into the picture. After three games we were flying and hopes were high. After five games, not so much. Seven points from five games isn't a good start (we're even below Everton who have a game in hand too), but it's still far too early to be judging the side or the new players. What worries me a little is that the teams we have beaten have since been proven to be garbage. Arsenal let in eight to the mancs and just let in four at Blackburn. Bolton shipped five at home to United and just lost to Norwich. We played well and lost at Stoke, but they just got caned by Sunderland. Whilst you can twist these things to suit whatever point you are trying to make, I can't help but be a little concerned. I thought the days of these kind of performances were over, and this was a shock to the system. The two red cards obviously didn't help, but they don't explain the complete ineptitude we witnessed. There are clearly some things that need working out, and the next few games will tell us more about where we actually are as the sample size at the moment is still too small. A couple of weeks ago Spurs were in disarray and we were looking good. Look how quickly things can turn around. One thing that occurred to me whilst watching the game was that when we were playing that great stuff towards the end of last season, some of the players who were influential in that are no longer in the side. Spearing, Kuyt and in particular Maxi all contributed greatly to those performances. I'm not saying we need to bring them all back in and we'll suddenly start hammering teams, but the players who are in the side ahead of them haven't done much to warrant it yet. I can't hide the fact that I'm pretty depressed about it right now. Two consecutive defeats will do that at the best of times, but it's the manner of this one that's really dragged me down. Still, it's a long season and even the best teams can have days like this one. I remember thinking just how bad the mancs looked when we battered them at Anfield last season but they still ended up winning the title. Any team can have a really bad day, the important thing is to make sure they don't happen often and when they do you bounce back quickly. It's up to the players to show that this was just a bad day at the office and to get back on track against Wolves next weekend. That's a game we have to win as the buzz that was surrounding the team after those consecutive wins over Arsenal and Bolton has all but been wiped out now. As we've seen though, things can turn around in a couple of games and if we win our next two then we can put this nightmare behind us. Team: Reina; Skrtel, Carragher, Agger (Coates), Enrique; Henderson, Lucas, Adam; Downing (Spearing), Carroll, Suarez (Bellamy):

Your host 'Numbers' is joined by TLW Editor Dave Usher and Alan Kayll from the Liverpool FC Supporters Club to review the contentious defeat at Stoke and to look ahead to the trip to White Hart Lane this Sunday. In addition, ever wondered what movie roles could be filled by past and present Liverpool stars? No, well the lads discuss it anyway. 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

With Liverpool fans discussing whether Jamie Carragher is still the player he once was, Carra responded by covering more ground in the Stoke game than any player apart from consistent top workers Lucas Leiva and Charlie Adam. Carra has also won every tackle he has gone for and contributed 8 clearances and 2 blocks. Stewart Downing continued his flying form for England by being Liverpool's fastest player, with a top speed of 25.72 mph On the back of his first Barclays Premier League goal of the season last week against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Jermain Defoe was the biggest riser on the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, rising 260 places to 146th place During last weekend’s 1-0 loss to Stoke City, the Liverpool players covered a total of 121,990m (75.80miles). This was 4,512m less than the total distance covered by the Stoke City players Tottenham Hotspur players covered a total of 118,538m (73.54miles) during last weekend’s game against Wolverhampton Wanderers Lucas Leiva was the Liverpool player who covered the most distance (12,335m / 7.66miles) against Stoke City, closely followed by Charlie Adam (12,196m / 7.58miles) Gareth Bale and Niko Kranjcar were the two Tottenham Hotspur players who covered more than seven miles last weekend. Bale covered a total of 12,213m (7.59miles) and Krancjar covered 11,770m (7.31miles)

Stoke City 1 LIVERPOOL 0 Report by Dave Usher at the Britannia Stadium Scorer(s) – Half Time - 1-0 Venue - The Britannia Stadium, Stoke Date - Sat 10 Sep 2011 Star Man – Charlie Adam "I think we have been respectful to the referees. But more important than being respectful to the referees in their campaign is having respect for Liverpool Football Club. And if I feel they are suffering in any way, shape or form, then I think I'll just need to go the same route as some other people go and see if we can gain some benefit from that. I'll speak to the owners first and see what they say, because the last thing I want to do is have my behaviour to impinge on the club's success in any way, shape or form." Very strong words from the King, justified too in my opinion as this was really hard to take. Usually when we go to Stoke we're garbage but this time we went there and basically dominated the game. Not quite from start to finish, but certainly for at least three quarters of it. I don't like using referees as an excuse, but sometimes it's impossible to ignore it. Kenny's right, the difference between the two sides was Mark Clattenburg. I'll certainly concede that we didn't help ourselves with some poor finishing, but essentially we lost this because of a penalty that never was, and two or three that probably were but Clattenburg ignored. It's not just sour grapes, it's a fact. If you're going to give a soft penalty like the one awarded when Walters dramatically flung himself to the floor the second he felt Carragher's arm go around him, then you can't suddenly become Mr Lenient when Stoke's players decide to start playing basketball in their own box. Three times there were strong appeals for handball. One was an absolute stonewall penalty, one could have gone either way and I haven't seen any replays of the third one so cant really comment. Dalglish has every right to feel aggrieved. His comments were basically a case of "I've tried keeping a dignified silence, but that's not working. If the owners are ok with it maybe I'll go down the Alex Ferguson route and just bully officials to the point where this doesn't happen to us anymore" Stoke never looked like scoring, they didn't cause us any problems and they couldn't even get out of their own half after the break. It was completely one sided, but until the final twenty minutes or so we really didn't do enough in the attacking third. Clattenburg is the reason we lost, but he isn't the reason we didn't win, if that makes any sense? That's on ourselves I'm afraid, for leaving it too late to really turn the screw and for wasting the clear opportunities we created. I guess what I'm saying is Stoke wouldn't have scored without that gift from the official, but it's our own fault that we didn't then do enough to get back into it. I didn't particularly agree with the side we went in with, but I understood it. The team played so well last time out against Bolton that it's understandable Kenny chose to stick with them. That included Skrtel at right back, and once again I thought he did pretty well. Defensively he was fine, and he did his best to get forward whenever possible. The end product wasn't always there, but that's ok as to be fair he's no Steve Nicol or even a Glen Johnson. He did about as well as could be expected I'd say. My main gripe with the team was up front. I thought Andy Carroll was a certainty to start this one. Firstly there's the height aspect. Him coming back for set pieces would have helped neutralise their main goal threat. Secondly, after the week he's had in terms of bad headlines (through no real fault of his own this time) it would have been just like Kenny to put him in there and say 'go and show 'em son'. Instead Dirk kept his place alongside Suarez. As it turned out, we didn't need Carroll to deal with their set plays as they hardly had any and those they did have we dealt with comfortably. In an attacking sense though, it didn't work. Usually as a pair they combine really well, but it just didn't happen for them in this game and Kuyt was fairly anonymous before he eventually made way for Carroll. The first half was scrappy, as you'd expect against Stoke. They don't play football, and it's difficult to play any against them. Not because of their style of play, but because of the pitch. Funny how teams only seem to have difficulty passing the ball against Stoke in games at the Brittannia. We don;t have problems at Anfield, but going to their place is usually a different story. I lost count of the number of times passes played into the feet of our players came up just short and were intercepted. I didn't think anything of it at the time, I was just frustrated with the team. It was only afterwards when I heard it mentioned that they deliberately allow the grass to grow longer to make it difficult for passing sides that it clicked. Enrique, Lucas and Adam in particular struggled with this a lot before the break I thought, and there were far too many for it to be a co-incidence. The second half was better as the player's adapted and put a bit more fizz into their passes. We started brightly enough, Suarez put a shot over from 25 yards early on and we were on the front foot in the opening exchanges. Stoke were looking for Crouch at every opportunity but he wasn't really getting any kind of decent service and Agger and Carragher were coping easily enough. Then out of nothing they were awarded a pen. The way I saw it from behind that goal, Walters barged Carra who lost his balance as a result and put his arm around the player in an attempt to steady himself and stay on his feet. Walters flung himself to the floor, and my first reaction was that the ref would blow for a free-kick in our favour. I couldn't believe it when he pointed to the spot. Having seen the replays, I stand by that view. It wasn't a penalty, it was either a free-kick to us or 50-50 and you let it go. Walters is a big lad, it should take a hell of a lot more than that to put him on the floor. A clear dive, and I hate all this justification of it by commentators and pundits. "He felt the contact so he's entitled to go down". Really? That's acceptable now is it? If players are 'entitled' to hit the floor any time a defender puts a hand on them, then we're going to see fifty penalties every game, half of them against Martin Skrtel. Walters is one of those players who seriously grates on me, but until this game I had no particular reason for it other than I think he's dogshit and I don't like his face. He's just a big bruiser, a slightly less shit version of Shefqi Kuqi if you like. I didn't appreciate him shushing the away end after scoring a pen that he'd cheated to win, and it offends my footballing sensibilities that he now has a winning goal against Liverpool on his CV. He joins a not so elite club that includes such luminaries as Ian Marshall, Helder Postiga, Tommy Mooney and Kevin Lisbie amongst others. Clattenburg may as well just have awarded a goal instead of a pen, as the days of Pepe saving spot kicks are in the distant past. Players are clearly now just smashing them up the middle as they know he's diving before they take it. There was a time when his goalkeeper coach would be pointing that out to him. Not any more it would seem. It's too easy these days. I say again, can we not bring back Xavi Valero? We didn't deserve to be behind, especially due to the nature of the goal, but there was still plenty of time to turn it around so I wasn't unduly worried. We lost our way a little bit after the goal though, and passes were going astray too often. Charlie Adam was one of the biggest culprits, but I was ok with it as it was Adam that was constantly trying to get on the ball and get us playing. He never hid and became more and more influential as the game wore on. One thing I have to give Stoke great credit for is the blocking by their defenders. Every time it looked like we had a clear opening a body would appear from nowhere to charge down the shot. The best opportunity we had before the break was a shot over the bar by Skrtel when he arrived late in the box to get on the end of a Suarez cut back. Apart from that, every other shot we had seemed to be blocked and they really did defend superbly. There was also a clear handball that wasn't given. I couldn't see it at the time as it was down the opposite end, but when you see the replay it was a definite pen. There's always that grey area of ball to hand and whether it was 'deliberate' or not, but you can't stick your arm out and then palm the ball with your hand. Penalty all day that. Clattenburg didn't want to know though. I felt it it was obvious at half time we needed to change things, as did most of those around me. Kuyt had not done anything, neither had Henderson and Downing had been largely disappointing too. In Downing's case I felt we just weren't getting him enough of the ball. He was up against Huth, and that's a match up I'd expect him to win more often than not. He can't do it if he doesn't have the ball though. Kenny did it change it at the break, but not with the use of substitutes. He switched Downing and Henderson, which was a bit puzzling. It was probably worth having a look at Downing on the right, but I couldn't see Henderson doing much on the left other than cutting inside or passing the ball backwards to Enrique. For the most part that's what he did, but there was one break through the centre that should have turned the game on it's head. I don't know how come he ended up in so much space but when Enrique sent him clear he simply has to score in that situation. I didn't have any confidence that he would though, and when I asked a few mates afterwards they said the same. I don't know why, but I fully expected him to miss. Too much time to think about it, and he just bottled it. The tame shot straight at the keeper was straight out of the Emile Heskey handbook. Henderson was fortunate in that he got a second bite at it as the rebound fell nicely to him. He missed that one too, not getting enough height on his shot and allowing the keeper to save again. The third effort was well blocked by a covering defender but Henderson then did well to get the ball to Adam. His first shot was blocked yet again but he showed great composure to take the ball goalwards and looked to have done everything right until the finish, which was saved by Begovic and scrambled to safety. Part of me knew then we weren't going to get anything from this game. There was still plenty of time and we were well on top, but when something like that happens you do start to wonder if it's one of those days. Henderson put another presentable opportunity high over the bar from 18 yards, and was hooked shortly afterwards. He probably felt like shit, I felt sorry for him. Kuyt went off too as Carroll and Bellamy entered the fray. Bellamy made an immediate impact, twice playing Enrique in on the overlap as the reds piled on the pressure. One Enrique cross found Downing on the far post but his header was saved. The other was looking for Suarez but was cut out by a defender. Suarez wanted a corner and flipped when he didn't get it. He was getting more and more frustrated and had earlier gone nuts at Henderson when he missed that great chance. Suarez's temper snapped completely when his cross struck Upson's outstretched arm but no penalty was awarded. From behind the goal it looked a blatant penalty and the travelling fans went nuts. So did Suarez, who ran over to harrass the linesman, cursing and baring his teeth like a rabid dog. A yellow card was inevitable but merely rubbed salt into the wounds. The move that had led to the 'handball' was superb, as Suarez and Downing combined to slice through Stoke. Downing was becoming more and more involved, and was very good in the last half hour of the game. He produced a series of good crosses that came to nothing, but he also blazed a shot over when he should have at least hit the target. Johnson also came off the bench to replace Skrtel but had only been on the pitch about a minute when it appeared he'd injured himself again. He was running back but seemed to be treading water and got completely left by Kenwynne Jones. After that he wasn't going forward much and it was clear he'd done something. He tweeted after the game his hamstring went again. Looks like Skrtel will be keeping that job next week then. Bellamy headed wide from a Downing cross and Suarez went close when he ran through several challenges and dragged a shot just wide. The final opportunity of the game fell to Suarez as Begovic flapped at an Adam cross and the ball dropped at the feet of the Uruguayan, but he failed to hit the target as the ball rolled agonisingly wide. He was distraught, as were the fans behind that goal. This was our first defeat of the season and it was an undeserved one. It was really difficult to take and it was just an incredibly frustrating afternoon. "We're Stoke City we'll play how we want" sing their fans. Fair enough, I don't mind them going long ball and playing for set-pieces. Doesn't bother me if that's how they want to play. Letting the grass grow bothers me, as does the gamesmanship shown by Upson when he went down with an 'injury' a yard from the goal-line just to try and kill our momentum. Clattenburg should have told him to step off the pitch for treatment, instead he stopped the game and let the physio on, the dick. No surprise that Upson was fine to continue. I hate him too, he's just a fucking head on legs. Begovic also feigned injury to try and get Lucas in trouble. There was minimal contact - if any - but he went down clutching his face demanding the referee do something about it. Shithouse. We'll batter Stoke at Anfield, but it won't make up for the points we lost here. I don't know if I'd have rather we'd been outplayed or not. It would have been easier to accept the result but then there wouldn't have been anything positive to take from it. Not that it's easy to take anything positive from a kick in the bollocks, but all I can say is compare it to the game at the Britannia last season. We lost that one too, but the difference in the performances was night and day. We weren't great this time and we can certainly improve on what we saw, but to go to Stoke and completely dominate them as we did is not something you'll see too many teams do. Take away Clattenburg's contribution and the wastefulness in front of goal, and we win this easily. Look at the stats for possession, shots on goal etc Completely one sided game. We just didn't make our superiority count. You have to be pleased with how comfortably we dealt with their aerial threat. That was in large part due to not letting them get near enough to the goal to pose any problems, and I can barely remember them having any long throws either. That was encouraging, the lack of end product wasn't. You can't miss chances like those Henderson and Suarez had and expect to win games away from home. Having said that, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if we went to Spurs next week and won comfortably. Hopefully this result was just a little bump in the road. An undeserved bump, although some players will feel they weren't at their best and certainly didn't perform to the levels they did against Arsenal and Bolton for example. Enrique's standards certainly slipped from what he's shown so far, although I thought he was much improved second half. Carragher had a day to forget too. The penalty was unfortunate, but he hit too many long balls and more to the point, they weren't particularly accurate. Lucas wasn't himself either, at least not in the 1st half. Usually he rarely wastes a pass, but a few went astray in the opening 45 minutes. Carroll was frustrating when he came on as too often he wasn't getting in the box when the ball was out wide. We don't want you showing for a five yard pass from Downing out wide, we want you busting a gut to get on the end of the crosses he'll be putting in!! Kuyt was poor, Henderson didn't play well and looked devastated when he went off, yet despite all this we still dominated for most of the game. I guess that is a positive, even if it doesn't feel like it right now. I mean if we can completely boss a game against Stoke despite having numerous players below their best, we should be pretty good when everyone plays well. Referee's permitting, of course. Team: Reina; Skrtel (Johnson), Carragher, Agger, Enrique; Henderson (Bellamy), Lucas, Adam, Downing; Kuyt (Carroll), Suarez: Update: Turns out that Walters is an Evertonian: "My dad is from Liverpool, but it's a Blue family so we're all happy. My brother was up there in the stand, and he's a Blue as well. Most of my family are Evertonians apart from the wife's father who is a red, but most of them will be happy and so will I because I'm a blue". And suddenly it all falls into place. That'll be why I couldn't stand the fucker despite not having any really good reason for it. I can smell them a mile off, it's like a sixth sense.

Given that you've both posted from the same computer I'd say there's a decent chance you know eachother.

Neil Mellor talks Olympiakos, Arsenal and life after Liverpool as well as discussing the NextGen Tournament and who of the current crop of youngsters have caught his eye. Your host 'Numbers' is then joined again by TLW Editor Dave Usher and Alan Kayll from the Liverpool Supporters Club as they recap Exeter, Bolton and transfer deadline day before looking ahead to the weekend's game with Stoke at the Britannia. 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 though, 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

LIVERPOOL U18 2 Derby County U18 3 Report by Dave Usher at the Academy Scorer(s) - Jack Dunn, Adam MorganHalf Time - 1-0 Venue - The Academy, Kirkby Date - Sat 3 Sep 2011 Star Man - Jack Dunn Jack Dunn scored a cracker and Adam Morgan notched his second of the season but the reds u18s suffered a disappointing 3-2 defeat at home to Derby today. Dunn's brilliant strike had given the reds the lead at the interval, but Derby equalised within 15 seconds of the restart before scoring twice either side of Morgan's goal in a crazy four minute spell to condemn Mike Marsh's side to their first loss of the campaign. Despite having several players unavailable, including recent signing Nacho (no international clearance) skipper Joe Rafferty (played for the reserves the other night), England u18 full back Brad Smith and Swedish winger Kris Peterson (both injured), Marsh was still able to name a strong side with plenty of quality. Jamie Stephens was in goal behind a back four of Peter Aylmer at right back, Tom King on the left and Matty Regan and Michael Wilson in the middle. Jordan Lussey and Lewis Hatch were in midfield and the three behind lone striker Morgan were Josh Sumner, Dunn and Henoc Mukendi. The reds came close to opening the scoring within the opening ten seconds, as Sumner got in down the right and his cross was spilled by the keeper in the direction of the lurking Morgan, but a defender managed to clear the danger before the prolific reds' frontman was able to pounce. Derby then had a couple of decent opening themselves, and it was obvious from early on there'd be goals in this one. Sumner then released Aylmer on the right and his deep cross was nodded down by big Henoc into the path of Morgan, who's blistering drive was parried behind for a corner by the keeper. Less than a minute later the keeper was again having to get down to make a stop to deny Morgan, and this was all in the first five minutes. The opening goal arrived in spectacular fashion after quarter of an hour. Derby only partially cleared a corner and the ball dropped to Dunn about 16 yards out on the right side of the box. He almost had his back to goal but somehow managed to turn his body and unleash a fantastic half volley that flew into the corner leaving the keeper with no chance. Wonderful technique. Derby almost hit back immediate though as a free kick was whipped in from the left wing and the centre forward got a glancing header on it that had Stephens scrambling. The ball drifted just wide of the post though. 22 minutes in and it should have been 2-0 to the reds. Morgan picked out Mukendi with a fine pass and he brought the ball down and struck a powerful low shot that hit the base of the post. The rebound fell invitingly to Morgan seven or eight yards out but he somehow managed to put the ball over the bar. It was on his weaker foot, but still you'd back Morgo to put that away 99 times out of 100. The visitors continued to pose a threat themselves, and went very close twice in a minute, with both attempts going just past the post. Seven minutes before half time Dunn had another opportunity when Morgan raced clear down the right and picked him out in the box, but the ball arrived at a difficult height and Dunn couldn't get anything on his volley. He looked to have injured himself in the process and was hobbling around for the remainder of the first half. It didn't stop him producing a classy little 'around the corner' pass to send Morgan through to go around the keeper and score, but a linesman's flag ensured that one didn't count. So half time and the reds lead 1-0. I take a stroll over to the other pitch to see how the u16s were getting on, and watched them for about 10 minutes (for those who are interested they were 1-0 down but came back to draw 1-1 thanks to a Callum Pilkington goal). I got back round to the u18 game a minute or two after they'd restarted, only to discover a few minutes later that Derby had equalised about 25 seconds after the restart. Haven't seen the goal, but apparently it came from a left wing cross and was finished by their big number nine, Ball. Mukendi should have done much better not long after when more good play by Dunn sent him clear, but he sliced his shot wide of the near post when he needed to go across goal or to roll it into the path of the supporting Morgan. Marsh made a double change on the hour mark, introducing Yalani Baio for Hatch and Sam Gainford for Mukendi in like for like substitutions. Derby went in front from a set piece that was beautifully converted by Ball who whipped a shot over the wall and past Stephens into the far corner. Terrific strike but I thought the award of a foul in the first place was harsh, as although Wilson came over the striker's back to win the ball it looked to me like the forward was backing in and there wasn't much else the reds' defender could do. The lads didn't let their heads drop and hit back very quickly, as Baio won the ball on the corner of the box and curled in a perfect cross for Morgan to head the ball in off the underside of the bar. Great cross, great header, game on again. Morgan and Dunn were anxious to retrieve the ball and get the match restarted, but the Derby centre half was having none of it and some verbals ensued. I think the defender was then rightly booked by the ref, and the momentum was with the reds at this point. Nathan Quirk came on for Sumner in a straight swap immediately after the goal as Marsh looked to inject some further pace into our attack and try to strike whilst the iron was hot so to speak. Then amazingly Derby took the lead again. Picking up a loose ball in the middle of the park, their midfielder played a ball in behind Regan to send the striker racing clear. He cut the ball across the box where England schoolboy winger Kwame Thomas had a simple finish. Really frustrating for the reds, who looked to have done the hard part by getting back on level terms only to fall behind again so soon afterwards. It was crazy stuff now, it like watching an NBA game where it was just going from end to the other. The madness almost continued as the reds were within a whisker of equalising again almost immediately afterwards. Baio found space in the box and forced the keeper into a terrific save, and as Quirk closed in on the rebound it looked a certain goal but the keeper was up quickly and got enough on the substitutes shot to deflect the ball over the top. From the corner, Dunn pulled the ball back to Lussey 25 yards out and the midfielder showed great technique to control his first time side footed shot but the ball flew inches wide. It really was a fine attempt as hitting a first time shot on the run like that is a very difficult skill to master. Would have been a fantastic goal had it gone in. Quirk and Morgan then combined to almost fashion an equaliser but Morgan was just about crowded out and Quirk couldn't quite reach the loose ball before a clearing defender. Dunn and Morgan both had shots comfortably saved and despite seven minutes of stoppage time the reds couldn't get the goal their play had deserved. A draw would have been a fair result, and as Mike Marsh pointed out afterwards it's a long time since many of these players tasted defeat as last year's u16 side were virtually unbeatable. They paid the price for a couple of lapses of concentration and for not being as clinical as they should have been in front of goal. There were some good performances though, not least from Dunn who although not in the game as much as Marsh probably would have wanted, made things happen whenever he got on the ball and looks a class act. I thought Baio was very good after coming on too, but Dunn is clearly the star man. One final observation. I've commented before on how beneficial it has been with the Academy and reserve sides all using the same 4-2-3-1 system and how the players all now know it inside out. It's been a key part in the recent success of our Academy sides, but there are times when it is also hindering them slightly I think. There's no flexibility in it, as the system is never changed, only the players are. That poses a problem in games where we are behind and you'd like to get another striker on. It happened in the NextGen defeat to Sporting the other week, when Morgan had to make way for Ngoo as without changing the system there's no ideal way of having them on the field together unless you play one of them out of position. It's the same for the 18s, as Morgan and Dave Moli can only play together when one of them - usually Moli - is out wide, where they are nowhere near as effective. The first team have a flexibility about them as Dalglish is not averse to changing the system and often does it several times within the same game. It could be a 442, 433 or one up front and three behind in the 4231. The reserves and Academy sides are very rigid however and never seem to stray from the 4231. I wonder if it's something that we may start to see happening, in particular with the reserves? I'd like to see how Morgan and Ngoo played together as a pair, and for that matter I'd like to see what Morgan and Moli could do together. I don't know if it will happen, as the system being used now is very effective and the players are extremely comfortable in it. I've got no issue with it as for the most part it works extremely well. I just think it restricts you to only being able to have one out and out forward on the pitch, and given that we have two very good goalscorers in the u18 squad that can occasionally be a drawback, especially when we're chasing games. I don't know, it's just something I've been thinking about a bit recently. Team: Stephens; Aylmer, Wilson, Regan, King; Hatch (Baio), Lussey; Sumner (Quirk), Dunn, Mukendi (Gainford); Morgan:

The reds' second string got their season off to a losing start, as a mad five minute spell in the middle of the 1st half proved their undoing. Leading 1-0 through Conor Coady's early strike, a mistake by Stephen Sama gifted Swansea an equaliser and minutes later Emanuel Mendy conceded a penalty and was red carded. The home side converted the spot kick and despite a valiant second half effort the young reds couldn't get back on level terms. To read the full report, click here.

Swansea City Res 2 LIVERPOOL RES 1 Report by Dave Usher Scorer(s) – Conor CoadyHalf Time - 2-1 Venue - Parc-Y-Scarlets, Llanelli Date - Wed Aug 31 2011 Star Man - Raheem Sterling The reds' second string got their season off to a losing start, as a mad five minute spell in the middle of the 1st half proved their undoing. Leading 1-0 through Conor Coady's early strike, a mistake by Stephen Sama gifted Swansea an equaliser and minutes later Emanuel Mendy conceded a penalty and was red carded. The home side converted the spot kick and despite a valiant second half effort the young reds couldn't get back on level terms. Swansea fielded a very strong, experienced line up and this was a good test for Rodolfo's young side. Nathan Eccleston provided some senior experience for the reds, but David Amoo had to settle for a place on the bench as 16 year old Raheem Sterling and 17 year old Toni Silva filled the wide berths. Liverpool were without a number of players due to international call ups, including John Flanagan, Jack Robinson, Andre Wisdom and Jonjo Shelvey who are on England duty. The reds lined up with Tyrell Belford in goal and a back four of (right to left) Joe Rafferty, Mendy, Sama and Matty McGiveron. The midfield duo were Coady and Suso, with Krisztian Adorjan joining Sterling and Silva behind lone front man Eccleston. It was a dream start for the away side, as Swansea failed to clear an Adorjan free-kick and Coady had a simple tap in at the back post. It was almost two not long afterwards when Silva skinned his man and got to the byline before picking out Eccleston, but he couldn't quite direct his shot inside the post and it flew inches wide. The reds were looking quite comfortable if a little wasteful in possession, but then out of nothing Sama failed to cut out a cross and Beattie was left unmarked for a simple finish. That was quickly followed by a moment of madness from Mendy as he recklessly brought down Beattie from behind in the box. The ref had little choice but to award the pen and send Mendy back to the dressing room. The experienced Cotterill made no mistake from the spot and Borrell's lads had a mountain to climb. Coady dropped back into defence and Michael Roberts was brought on to replace the unfortunate Adorjan who had to be sacrificed. Swansea dominated the rest of the half and went close to adding to their lead a couple of times but the score remained 2-1 at the break. The second half was shaded by the ten men, they created the most chances and played the better football. Sterling was involved in most good things, he worked tirelessly up and down the flank and had the beating of the full back. Swansea were doubling up on him most of the time but even then he still got away a few times. The arrival of Ngoo in place of Eccleston gave the side a boost as his presence and persistence began to cause Swansea some problems. It wasn't always pretty from Ngoo and he looked like Bambi on ice at times, but he ruffled some feathers and for the final twenty minutes of the game the reds were on top. Sterling had a left foot shot saved by the keeper and then a great run saw him somehow wriggle away from two defenders but his attempted cut back didn't reach Silva. Swansea had a number of defenders back and Silva was the only option for Raheem to pick out. Really good play though. Silva was then replaced by Amoo who wasted no time making his presence felt, forcing a save out of the keeper after a terrific ball by the excellent Roberts sent him racing clear. He had options in the centre but it's difficult to criticise him for going himself as it was a good shooting opportunity. Sterling went very close with a low shot from the edge of the box that skimmed the post and Suso almost released Ngoo but the striker was challenged just as he was about to get his shot away. The goal just wouldn't come though as Swansea bounced back from a heavy defeat to the mancs last week to record the victory. A disappointing result and not a great first half even before the five minute meltdown, but the second half was encouraging given the circumstances. Suso and Roberts did well in midfield, whilst the full backs were both fairly solid. Star man for me though was Sterling, he was the best hope of getting his side back in it and also worked hard defensively too. I think this may actually have been Raheem's first start in the reserve league, which is surprising given how well known he is at such a young age. Given his talent he probably won't be in the reserves for too long, but he'll certainly be fun to watch whilst he is. Team: Belford; Rafferty, Mendy, Sama, McGiveron; Suso, Coady; Silva (Amoo), Adorjan (Roberts), Sterling; Eccleston (Ngoo):