Liverpool 2-2 Everton: In game thread and post match discussion

it just showed how important carra still is. as slow as he is and as much as he likes to punt the ball, nobody organises the defense like he does. we need a leader to emerge to take over from him.

it was crazy how much dropped off in the second half and invited them to attack though. i remember thinking "oh jesus have we reverted back to hodgson type in second half".

credit we showed desire to get back into it and the corner should not have been a corner, but i'm not surprised by refereeing mistakes anymore. anyone see raphael's studs up lunge in the tottenham game yesterday? f*** sake, the
sh!tting little cu*t got nowhere near the ball, completely took the player out in a challenge that could break a leg (and he looked like he didn't give a sh!t about getting the ball). he gets a yellow f***ing card. his tackle was worse than stevies in the fa cup game where stevie genuinely qwent for the ball and got a bit of it.

tired of inconsistent refereeing.

Unlucky Fernando Torres only hit the post after making so much effort to release the shot.

And yeah, it was definitely a goal kick before they scored from that 'corner'. For the 2nd goal, how the hell was Skrtel brushed aside so easily by Beckford?! I'm glad Kelly wasn't seriously injured because that was one heck of a fall, he was probably 2-3 feet in the air when he fell on his bum.

I actually start to feel that we have been so unlucky this season. It was a pity we didn't score more in the first half.

Didn't win this but was definitely a much better performance, especially in the first half.

Average positions of both halves :

yea liked this bit of analysis on motd. showed how much support torres was getting in 1st half, reflecting in the chances. we should take heart from it and say "look lads, we're at home and we should press opposition throughout the game, not just 1 half".

like that kenny's giving youngsters a chance. kelly's growing by match, spearing's the future and shelvey seems to do well. still need a bit of reinforcement at the back, left wing and a strike partner for  torres though.

Wonder what was in the drinks at half time for us to fall asleep like that for 10 minutes at the restart. 

2 crucial errors by the REF, surprise, surprise combined with awful defending, once again the culprit being Skrtel was our undoing. Rauls' soft arse missed tackle on Beckford didn't help.

Felt like we played well in the first half but 2nd half was a different story with those blue pricks dominating the possession.

For once I didn't cry at the end of the game although I was furiously shaking my head at the missed opportunities from the first half and the diabolical defending in the 2nd half.

Oh how I long for a player in the middle of the park who can play that killer pass. Felt there were so many opportunities and space for Torres to run into but that final ball, that special ball was lacking.

Hope KK gets the funds to sort it out and he can also sort ship out Skrtel our defensive frailties.

Great first half, should of put the game to bed to be honest. Great to see spearing but thought he became anonymous in the second half. Kelly was as awesome as Johnson was woeful.

Torres back to something like we know he can play. Bitters have two attacks and score hate the scum esp a tw*t of a brother who lost his football brain and his ability to have an opinion when he put the blue shirt on. Who thinks they should have won the retard honestly you couldn't make it up.

Again another positive with Shelvey coming on and looking at home.

Wtf was skrtel doing at corners? he doesnt look at the ball so how the hell can he try to clear it? on their goal if he was facing the ball he could have easily nodded it clear rather than facing completely the wrong way!!!

other than that i was happy with the performance and the quick passing football we were playing was a pleasure to watch at last...keep it up guys

Looking at Rafael's yellow card yesterday, I am really pissed off.  Gerrard's tackle was not as bad as his as his foot was not as high and he was coming at the side, rather than straight on to the player.  To lose such a great player for Kenny's first three matches was a F***ing joke, but to see that little sh*t get away with something worse just rubs salt in the wound.  If we had Gerrard on the pitch, we'd have romped home against both Blackpool and Everton and would be sitting 7th on 31 points.  When is someone going to do something about the F***ing disgraceful standard of refereeing in the Premier League? It cost us the title two years ago, affected us badly last season and is hampering our fight back this year.  If Rafael was sent off, I wouldn't be as bothered about the red for Stevie but it really pissed me off - especially when the commentator said you don't want a red card to ruin such an important game, I flipped at that one.  Bad refereeing decisions rarely go in our favour - two yesterday (plus one last Sunday) cost us the game.  

While the FA is full of corrupt, self seeking individuals at the highest level the situation will continue.
LFC has never benefitted consistently from any official ruling affecting a result while some teams and we all know who they are, have the luck of the devil (and apparently the referee in their pocket) week in week out.

Plenty of positives from the match with the chances we created, the pressing and tempo were better and Torres looked like the player we know he is.

Not seen anyone mention this, but did anyone else notice the linesman (near the kop) never gave us anything all afternoon. Every close decision and some not so close went the other way. 

Didn't see the match, first one this season, gutted we didn't get the 3 points, interesting to see the same arguments by the same people about the same players, it seems to me irrelevant how people play the same arguments are trotted out

Not seen anyone mention this, but did anyone else notice the linesman (near the kop) never gave us anything all afternoon. Every close decision and some not so close went the other way. 

Fed up with watching linesman who can't make a simple decision. So many times over the last couple of seasons I've seen linesman look towards the referee on which way the decision should be going.

Ha vent seen any tv highlights of the game but I thought the back four were shocking apart from Kelly (again). Skrtel is becoming more and more a liability and cant understand why Kenny picked Johnson ahead of Kelly at LB.

Thought overall we were better going forward, Torres looks like he's got the hunger back, Kelly was constant threat bombing down the wing and thought Spearing did well in the centre (seem to remember one horror pass though). Still have concerns for the centre midfield and still not sure what Meireles role in the team is or going to be.

Just a shame we had that 10 minute spell at the start of the 2nd half as that spell aside we were the better side.

On another note, what happened to Blues and Reds sitting side by side? Didnt see any Blues in our sections and compare that to years past you'd have them everywhere including the Kop which is quite sad I think!

Fed up with watching linesman who can't make a simple decision. So many times over the last couple of seasons I've seen linesman look towards the referee on which way the decision should be going.

Yes he was shocking! the useless tw*t!

I had a kids match to attend so only had MOTD to assess the game. Had updates sent to my
phone and went through....ELATED....PIS SED OFF....SUICIDAL.....RELI EVED. all in less than 2 hours. Just glad we battled back to get a point when 3 was more deserving. As was said earlier, Kelly was fouled and no corner. 2 key elements going against us again. So disheartening but when your down, things do seem to go againstyou. With a bit more of the same effort, we could be on the mend. Will only be sure following Wolves next week end.
Fingers crossed, Kenny has reinstilled some belief into the players long term.

There is an improvement in the desire, no doubt and thanks Kenny for that. Bit this ga,me highlighted (if it was necessary) the massive problem in the back. Skrtel has no dominance in the air whatsoever and that cost us dearly again vs everton.

Our greek, is a good squad player, but he is sitting far too deep inviting the opposition to play in our own half far too much as it is necessary.

Carra is missing, big time, although I agree that he hasn't perform as well as we expected this year, in a game like everton, his spririt, experiences and leadership are missing.

At least we are back scoring again, let's leave Kenny sort it out the back and we will be running again.

In Kenny we trust.

I was at this one- block 305 in the KOP.

What an atmosphere! I knew it would improve as our performances improved anyway.

I agree with the comments on the linesman- what a n*b! How many decisions? Especially Heitinga`s two-footed challenge on Torres right under his nose!

And i also thought it was sad not to see the Red mixed with Blue, but i can only talk for what i could see.

I am so unbelievably glad to see the instant improvement in our performance since Kenny took to the throne, but we need to start winning before the end of the season creeps up on us!

Looking at Rafael's yellow card yesterday, I am really pissed off.  Gerrard's tackle was not as bad as his as his foot was not as high and he was coming at the side, rather than straight on to the player.  To lose such a great player for Kenny's first three matches was a f**king joke, but to see that little sh*t get away with something worse just rubs salt in the wound.  If we had Gerrard on the pitch, we'd have romped home against both Blackpool and Everton and would be sitting 7th on 31 points.  When is someone going to do something about the f**king disgraceful standard of refereeing in the Premier League? It cost us the title two years ago, affected us badly last season and is hampering our fight back this year.  If Rafael was sent off, I wouldn't be as bothered about the red for Stevie but it really pissed me off - especially when the commentator said you don't want a red card to ruin such an important game, I flipped at that one.  Bad refereeing decisions rarely go in our favour - two yesterday (plus one last Sunday) cost us the game. 

And yet my best mate (who is a manc) was crying on facebook saying 'Mike Deans an effing twit, how the F**k was that a red!!!'

I just simply wrote 'Now you know how it feels' - fair play to Dean, seems to be the one official who is prepared to say F**k you to fergie when he offers a pre-match bj.

Anyways, still feeling pretty positive about the derby, despite the annoyance of some slack defending. Regardless of the injustice of it should have been a goal-kick, it still doesn't mean its an excuse for the defending. And there was one later in the game where the ball clearly cannoned off of Kuyt to go out for a corner, but the ref gave a goal-kick. Happens often, so i don't see that as an excuse. It highlighted again what we drastically need to work on, and hopefully Kenny and co. are gonna get some heavy work in on that side to try and shore up that defense.

 fair play to Dean, seems to be the one official who is prepared to say f**k you to fergie when he offers a pre-match bj.

Disappointing result really. Although there we're a few good signs that we'll improve massively under Kenny, really, we should have put the game to bed before HT.

For me the Agger change was the difference. He was easilly this best player on the pitch before he was subbed off for illness. When he went off the defense was shambles - with the exception of young Kelly who once again was immense, as was Spearing.

So yeah, gotta look at the positives really. First half was boss, reminiscent of some of the 08/09 days and Torres was dangerous. I think he definitely needs more support up front, maybe Luis Suarez can provide that?

Also thought the atmosphere wasn't as good as I had built it up, but still pretty impressive.

Just been watching the game again.  I usually give the referee 6-10 mistakes, because not a single player will make less, but he was poor yesterday.  Making mistakes against both sides.

Though even poor refereeing isn't an excuse for our sloppy defending at times.