Red vs. Blue- Battle for the 6th place trophy

bring it on

same team as saturday plz.

if there is a god, we'll win 1-0, with a 94th minute winner by Carragher

Win.

Win win win win win win win win win win win win win win win win win win win win win win win win win!

Before the match at Goodison, Suarez was in the media for diving.
During the match Phil Neville was booked for diving...

Before the match, at Anfield, Suarez is in the media for biting.

Everton yet to play Chelsea. Outside chance for 6th if we win the next 3.

Same team pls.

After that 6-0 win, I am excited again for the remaining season, off course last derby game at anfield was eventful with gerrrard's hattrick. But this time I expect others to score and win.

Liverpool starting line-up: Reina, Johnson, Agger, Carragher, Enrique, Lucas, Gerrard, Henderson, Coutinho, Downing, Sturridge.

Subs: Jones, Assaidi, Coates, Shelvey, Suso, Skrtel,Borini

Assaidi back again

Everton - Howard, Baines, Gibson, Jagielka, Mirallas, Distin, Osman, Pienaar, Coleman, Fellaini, Anichebe

most boring game ever?

Definitely the worst derby in the past decade. Can't believe I woke up at 8 (After sleeping at 6) to watch this

Well now we really have nothing to play for. The chance is gone. 7th place

I've been afraid of this inconsistency from Sturridge. On his day, he's a world beater but sadly he has way too many of these sort of games. Not having Suarez for the first 6 games next season will hurt us unless we get another forward in. Be it an inside forward, AM, or whatever, just someone with an eye for goal at least until Luis comes back.

Gerrard MOTM. Was immense in the first half. And still better than everyone else in the second. Carra

It was a very dull match. I woke up at 5am for this borefest Sep, you've got nothing to complain about.

Sturridge has to learn when to be greedy and when to pass to your teammate. Stu should have finished that sweet through ball from coutinho.

Coutinho's through ball was the highlight of the match. Really one of the only plays that got me excited.

That was pretty dire.

Desperately needed better wingers in our 4-4-1-1 than Henderson and Downing, although I felt Hendo did otherwise well. We just had no idea how to create chances out there. Too many long balls downfield without purpose.

Everton unlucky that their goal (from a corner, surprise surprise) got ruled out, but that just balances out our unfairly ruled out winning goal in the first game.

Sturridge never looked like a threat in this match and he dropped too often too deep for my liking, but he's not to blame for our overall performance.

Gerrard and Coutinho our best players, the only ones who occasionally looked like they might create a bit of something.

I am surprised, no one is talking about downing, mind it but we will have to still talk about him in next season

I'm just hoping Rodgers is playing Downing consistently right now so that his stock rises. Otherwise I have no clue what he's doing in the team whatsoever.

Downing has played 89 games for us in 2 seasons he's been here. That's about 80 games we've basically played handicapped. And I'm being generous giving Downing 9 games in which he did well. Much too generous.

yeah dont know what we will be able to do with downing in this window, i am just saying that no one should be surprised if he still remains at LFC.

It certainly wasn't a "good" match to watch.

Downing and Enrique were black holes for possession play today. (There's a fair amount of hyperbole in that statement, but you get the point.) Downing offered one or two promising plays all match, but otherwise put in an utterly anonymous performance. Enrique had plenty of touches and influence, but his decision making was very suspect at times. This was one of the days when he frustrates to no end. He's certainly capable of being nearly the ideal full-back for Rodgers, but he's also capable of days like this, when he starts thinking he's friggin' Xabi Alonso and starts pinging long balls directly to the forwards.

Sturridge didn't have his best day (personally think the buildup to the match may have gotten to him a bit, being his first derby and all). However, to blame him for the performance is a bit harsh. Coutinho and Henderson didn't offer nearly the same level of supporting play as they did against Newcastle. I really think a lot of the lack of attacking impetus could come down to Coutinho not performing at the same level. He was challenged far more quickly and competently today, and it showed in his ability to provide for Hendo & Sturridge (What do you mean, "and Downing?"... Downing who?). I'm really not trying to slag off either, as tehy are both young and have a lot of room to grow as footballers and within this squad. This was simply not their best performance.

I thought Borini had a good appearance today. THat's a qualified statement, as he's obviously not back to 100%, but his movement and intelligence was apparent. He just needs more appearances like this, and possibly a few goals, to really get his confidence up. I think he could be a GREAT player for us to bring off the bench next season, as he knows the areas to get into and the runs to make. It's just a matter of getting him re-acclimated to the Premier League. Even so, we could probably use another striker, especially in Suarez's absence. Not necessarily a world-beater or a young, future superstar, though. I think a relatively cheap, experienced poacher could just do the trick...? Just throwing the idea out there.

All in all, it was a disappointing match, and it's a shame it happened in such an important (pride) match. However, that's been our season in a nutshell, and I probably shouldn't have expected anything else. I've now officially moved into the "let's prepare for next season mindset". We've grown this season, and we've seen evidence of progress. Time to build on that, solidify the concepts that saw us succeed this season, and address the things that caused us problems. Roll on 2013-14!

donttreadonred wrote:Coutinho and Henderson didn't offer nearly the same level of supporting play as they did against Newcastle. I really think a lot of the lack of attacking impetus could come down to Coutinho not performing at the same level. He was challenged far more quickly and competently today, and it showed in his ability to provide for Hendo & Sturridge (What do you mean, "and Downing?"... Downing who?). I'm really not trying to slag off either, as tehy are both young and have a lot of room to grow as footballers and within this squad. This was simply not their best performance.

IMO our poor attacking display was all down to our wingers or lack of them. We needed more pace and one-on-one trickery on the flanks but there just wasn't any and our build-up play became way too slow plus there wasn't the option available to bring the ball up the wing in a controlled fashion. I thought Coutinho and Henderson did well, but it was just too easy for Everton to shut down the center lane when we had no quality on offer on the wings.

I'd have introduced Assaidi for Downing at half-time, but meh.

to everyone's liking or disliking, my love for downing will continue until he leaves the club, it is better to like him instead of hating him and getting frustrated.
BR's sub were also questionable, subbing downing instead of hendo for borini would have been more useful. I know why skrtel was brought on but that move didnt prove to be any useful either.

In the first half we didn't play with wingerS, IMO. Henderson is not and was not playing as a LM or LW, he was again in a relatively free role that simply involved moving into space, whether that space was in a wide area or a central one. He played, or attempted to play, several very intelligent passes in the final third when he was able to get involved that high up the pitch, but we regularly by-passed midfield too quickly for him to get the opportunity to get forward.

Coutinho quickly started drifting deep to find space and the ball from his central position which left Sturridge isolated in the first half, as well. Henderson had to push wider than normal to accommodate this. I think Coutinho actually looked more threatening in the second half when he stayed a bit wider to find space rather than drifting deep. He did make some brilliant runs from the central position behind Sturridge that the forward failed to notice/pick out with a pass though. Can't help but feel a bit for Coutinho when he was starting to give Sturridge some words after all the hard work he's done to feed the striker and not having the favor returned today.

I do think having another creative outlet today could have been the deciding factor. Coutinho's been fantastic since joining but there were times when he'd dropped deep or been well marked that there were no real passing options and times when he got trapped on the ball due to lack of options around him. Another creative player in Downing's place (in the line-up, not necessarily on the pitch) could have really helped us control the ball and establish some sustained pressure for longer periods, and potentially found that killer ball.






I wonder, will we hear anything from the media about Fellaini's repeated elbows?

Good thing you brought Fellaini's elbows. He's such a a dirty player, every time there's scuffle for the ball his elbows are up catching someone in the face. Today Stevie, Carra, Agger, and Skrtel were all victims of this guys idiocy.

RedOranje wrote:
I do think having another creative outlet today could have been the deciding factor. Coutinho's been fantastic since joining but there were times when he'd dropped deep or been well marked that there were no real passing options and times when he got trapped on the ball due to lack of options around him. Another creative player in Downing's place (in the line-up, not necessarily on the pitch) could have really helped us control the ball and establish some sustained pressure for longer periods, and potentially found that killer ball.

Enter Eriksen Hopefully

Enrique lost possession 31 times today apparently. Johnson's woeful form continues as well.

They are so sloppy in opposition halves both of them, Our team would improve 10 fold if we had 2 fullbacks like Lahm and Alaba who use their brain effectively.

Jose and Glen are either brilliant or absolutely infurating

Messiah "Aggerswagger" wrote:

RedOranje wrote:
I do think having another creative outlet today could have been the deciding factor. Coutinho's been fantastic since joining but there were times when he'd dropped deep or been well marked that there were no real passing options and times when he got trapped on the ball due to lack of options around him. Another creative player in Downing's place (in the line-up, not necessarily on the pitch) could have really helped us control the ball and establish some sustained pressure for longer periods, and potentially found that killer ball.

Enter Eriksen Hopefully

Eriksen, HBA, G. Ramirez... hell, I think even Wigan's Maloney could have offered more of what we needed than Downing did today.

And this is hardly the first time he's been caught on video for such actions without facing FA or referee action... how does he continue to get away with this?

Sky Sports ranting about Luiz sticking an elbow into Rafael's chest prior to Rafael's kick-out and red card, but no mention of Fellaini.