Liverpool v Man City

redspider

Liverpool 2-1 Man City

I got to see a full 90-mins of Liverpool at Anfield thanks to the Setanta Sports channel. It was interesting from a number of aspects.

The first is how subdued football matches in the premiership can be. The crowd were silent for large parts and the first half was very pedestrian. Man C seemed determined to go for a draw and wait for a break by Anelka or Fowler. They were defending with 4 backs and 4 midfielders very deep, ala Greece, from the 30m line back. This is “Olympic Handball” style tactics. Liverpool were short on inventiveness and lacked ideas to break this walled defence down.

Gerrard was again the star performer. Baros and Cisse are very poor at communicating and linking up. I think Cisse is worse than Owen and does not have lightning speed so with all that happened it doesn’t look as if Liverpool gained. It was hard to believe that Dunne was keeping the tabs on both Cisse and Baros.

In terms of Finnan, he is being played out of position. He is a right back and has some options going forward. But yesterday, his crossing was poor and he didn’t link up well with Josemi. As for Josemi, from yesterday’s performance he if anything is slightly worse than Fnnan. I’m not looking through green tinted glasses either. Josemi was poor at crossing and gave the ball away on a number of occasions very cheaply. It was a poor game by both of them.

Kewell on the other hand created most of the threats on the left. Gerrard was not so effective in the first half and seemed to be playing too far up, starving himself of the ball and Liverpool of his distribution. Sometimes he should go back and spray the ball around. Not the 70-yard passes, but the 30-40 yard ones. Liverpool need that. Hamann was dependable and did his role well, breaking up the play.

Liverpool clearly deserved the win. Man City’s goal came out of nothing and was due to Liverpool errors, 20% by Carragher (another case for him better playing at right back) and 80% by Dudek (another case for playing Kirkland!). Liverpool came back with a good goal, created by Gerard, a neat ball to Baros just inside the box, losing his man nicely (not Dunne!) and finishing clinically. Ironic that Cisse had a much easier chance earlier in that half and failed to chip it over the oncoming James. Liverpool created most of the chances as seen by the stats.

Liverpool Man C
Total Shots 15 7
Shots on target ( Inc Goals ) 9 4
Shots off Target (inc woodwork) 5 3
Blocked Shots 1 0
Corners Won 8 3
Total Fouls Conceded 8 17
Offsides 3 2
Yellow Cards 1 2
Red Cards 0 1

Liverpool got the winner when a good ball through to Baros was cut out by James but only to the oncoming and unmarked Gerrard who side-footed it from about 10 yards into an almost empty net.

I was pleasantly surprised by Diao’s performance. He was on for 30 mins (Josemi slightly injured) and played as a center back, alongside Hyypia and he seemed very safe. Carragher was moved to the full-back position and is better there but I think Diao is better in the center of defence than Carragher. Riise played at left back but didn’t have a good game imo and failed to link up with Kewell who was lively and impressive. Warnock came on for Finnan, who seemed glad to go off and is not comfortable in midfield. Warnock played in left midfield while Kewell switched to the rightside. Kewell is less effective over there. But Warnock did ok and is obviously buoyed by the confidence that Benitez is giving him.

So what now for Finnan? I think Liverpool have too many right back’s and Finnan does not have enough talent going forward to play wide right midfield. (Wasn’t that Diouf’s role?). The Spanish influx may pick up this hole with Alonso, but overall I would rate the new buy Josemi below that of Finnan. Perhaps for Finnan it is better if he leaves Liverpool and gets a chance to play in his natural right back position, unless Josemi gets badly injured. Benitez is not going to sell Josemi!

So, overall, I don’t see a huge sea-change in Liverpool under Benitez. The quality of players hasn’t greatly added to the team. The best players on display yesterday were Gerrard, Kewell and Baros – none of them new. I’m still holding my vote on Benitez.

Liverpool: Dudek, Josemi (Diao 61), Hyypia, Carragher, Riise, Finnan (Warnock 77), Hamann, Gerrard, Kewell (Biscan 90), Baros, Cisse.
Subs Not Used: Sinama Pongolle, Harrison.
Booked: Hamann.
Goals: Baros 48, Gerrard 75.

Man City: James, Thatcher, Distin, Dunne, Mills, Sibierski (Barton 82), Bosvelt (Sinclair 82), Reyna, Wright-Phillips, Anelka, Fowler.
Subs Not Used: Macken, Jihai, Stuhr-Ellegaard.
Sent Off: Dunne (85).
Booked: Thatcher, Dunne, Bosvelt.
Goals: Anelka 45.
Att: 42,831
Ref: G Poll (Hertfordshire).

mike65

I like Josemi he showed some nice touches I thought esp a good dink over a City player. Dunne should have got red-carded for his first lunge at Baros - boy it was clumsy. The Baros/Cisse partenership does'nt really exist yet, a couple of times one had the ball and did'nt look up and see the other was well placed to strike but give it time. Finnan is one the way out it seems only the injurey to Nunez is keeping him on the field. I though Kewell was too easily disposessed in attack but did some good work otherwise. He really needs to show willing down the flank all the way to the goal line.

With the new boys still to play it remains to be seen what effect the Spanish Armada (copywrite Some Lazy Sub-Ed) will have but I remain hopefull.

Mike.

Thanx 4 The Fish

There is talk about Finnan on the way out anyway, there are a couple of teams that are supposed to be in for him. Am not sure how I would feel about him going but just for the sake of his Irish chances I hope that he gets a place and plays regularly on some team.

StickyMcGinty

finnan is a full back, why wont benitez get him in instead of riise or josemi? he would be good cover anyway! i dont think the lad has got a full chace at liverpool yet. garcia will start on the right for sure though.

eirebhoy

mike65 wrote:

Dunne should have got red-carded for his first lunge at Baros - boy it was clumsy.

I only saw the incident 2 or 3 times but from what I remember he hardly touched Baros and got the ball. I'm nearly certain I heard the commentator (who's name escaped me but was completely biased towards Liverpool) the commentator say Dunne made no attempt to play the ball. :eek: Am I alone in thinking Dunne got the ball? (its was probably pretty clear but the alzheimer's is kicking in ).

mike65

eirebhoy wrote:

: Am I alone in thinking Dunne got the ball? (its was probably pretty clear but the alzheimer's is kicking in ).

I think you're wearing green specs! Mine are Red of course, but Dunnes charge seemed to connect more with Baros than the ball.

Mike.

Guy:Incognito

eirebhoy wrote:

I only saw the incident 2 or 3 times but from what I remember he hardly touched Baros and got the ball.

He didnt get a lot of contact on baros, he clipped and spun him and he hit the ground very heavily. He definately didnt get anywhere near to touching the ball, baros flicked it down the line a split second before dunne got there.

Drag00n79

finnan is a full back, why wont benitez get him in instead of riise

He's not better than Riise. I think Riise has been rejuvenated under Benitez. I'm very happy with him in the games so far. Seems to revel in the attacking full-back berth. In fairness Riise was deteriorating under Hou. Very clear to see last season — when he was selected.

jesus_thats_gre

eirebhoy wrote:

Am I alone in thinking Dunne got the ball? (its was probably pretty clear but the alzheimer's is kicking in ).

Definelty did not get the ball

Dub13

eirebhoy wrote:

Am I alone in thinking Dunne got the ball? ).

Yes you are alone,the ball was a good 4/5 foot away when the Honey Monster hit Baros.

redspider

The Dunne "tackle" on Baros in the first half nearly deserved a red and Dunne got off with a few tackles after that (as did Thatcher) and clearly deserved to go in the end, albeit that the last foul he commited was quite lightweight. He definitely did not get the ball in the first tackle.

In terms of comparing Finnan and Riise, I think that Finnan is better in defensive qualities, which as a full back is your no.1 responsibility. Riise is not great in dead ball situations defending. Finnan is better at that. Riise is probably better than Finnan when going forward especially if he gets loads of space to exploit it with his pace, but if he doesn't and in tight situations, Finnan is better going forward - from the full back position! Riise didnt get out of 2nd gear on Sat. They have both been tried as wide midfielders at different times but neither are good enough imo.

I agree that it will take the rest of Spanish "invasion" to play before any final judgements can be made on the squad, and it will take a while for partnerships to develop, such as Baros/Cisse. All I can say for now is that Josemi does not *add* to the Liverpool 11.

(btw, I dont see a thread about Arsenal but they were awesome yesterday, once again inspired by Bergkamp but also many players playing good, apart from Lehman - that is Arsenal's achilles heel at the mo and Cygan at the back is not too hot either).

midget lord

Dub, do you, or anyone else know of a link to saturdays goals? I was in marlay park on saturday so didnt get to see the match.

kida

Dunnes first tackle was not as bad as it looked. He was only barely late but due to the speed Baros was going looked far worse, but was a booking. Baros fouled his man on the run up the incident though and for the second I thought the initial foul was by Sissie. Hamann also shoudl have seen red as he F*&^ed the lineman out of in the first half and was then booked in the 2nd half.

cerbeus

Thatcher's tackle on Baros should have earned him a yellow card as he made absolutely no contact with the ball.

First half was average at best. Dudek dropped another clanger and I seriously doubt had Kirkland been available Dudek would have warmed the bench. The second half was much better but there is still some gelling to do between Baros and Cisse as stated earlier they don't seem to be looking for one another.

As always Gerrard stole the show charging around picking up the ball and either running at Man City or picking out people with pinoint accurate passes.

It can only improve once Garcia and Alonso get involved.

Finnan and Troare seem to be on their way out and rumours going around that Henchoz may also be lined up for an exit. Hope Benetiz is lining up replacements otherwise the Centre back positions are going to be extremely stretched.

kida

Baros and Mills should probably have gone also.
Baros dived with no contact and then proceeded to kick out at Mills(at best 2 yellow cards if not 1 red for the retaliation) and then Mills for stamping on Baros.
Refs need to apply some sort of consistency.

midget lord

Trust in rafa.

Dub13

midget lord wrote:

Dub, do you, or anyone else know of a link to saturdays goals? I was in marlay park on saturday so didnt get to see the match.

If you get yourself a E season ticket from the official Liverpool site you get to see all the goals and get live match commentary,not bad for 3/4 Euro a month you also get a good shoot at tickets with an EST,and you can watch interviews from the past etc..another good thing about it is after every game you get an email from the manager I told my young cousin I no Rafa and he sends me a private email after each game I have to tell him soon as he is telling his mates etc etc.

Lex Luthor

First half was mediocre....a lot of posession with no real penetration. Hyypia's passing has improved immensely.
I think Baros was unjustly accused of kicking out at Mills....in the slo mo he was looking at the ball and tried to kick that and then Mills jumped to avoid the kick and stamped on him.
I thought Didi was man of match with SG close second.

Toffees in for Traore...welcome to him

Bobby Robson quoted this morning that the 2 signings of Alonso & Garcia are great signings.

The refs were a bit inconsistent over the weekend....I heard on the radion this morning that Barry Ferguson got 2 yellows but no RED....what's with that?

Drag00n79

I heard on the radio this morning that Barry Ferguson got 2 yellows but no RED....what's with that?

The ref, Andy D'Urso, is being called to explain his actions to the F.A. Basically Barry Ferguson was already on a yellow and near the end of the match he kicked the ball away when Beattie was fouled. The ref then showed him another yellow card. The fourth official then spoke to the ref but Ferguson was not shown a red! Apparently he will still serve a one-match suspension for the two bookings.

eirebhoy

mike65 wrote:

I think you're wearing green specs!

I know now that it warranted a yellow card after been told by about 10 people but I honestly didn't see much from a certain camera angle (I think the camera was on the other side of the pitch).

Anyway, Keegan said Cisse was coming from an offside position for the second yellow card incident.

jesus_thats_gre

You must be insane to say that Baros blatantly kicked out at Mills. He was fouled and was on the ground thinking the whistle was gonna blow. The whistle did not sound and he went to kick the ball that was sitting next to him, as he did, Mills cleared it and proceeded to stamp on him. To suggest otherwise is crazy.

p.pete

I think Baros deliberately kicked and Mills reacted quickly and landed intentionally on Baros. Baros said fair play and went over and apologised.

You could call for both of them to be suspended or you could say they've sorted it out themselves - don't think there will be either club reporting it (although Kegs has been know to be a stupid man).