Match Thread Liverpool V West Ham United 1/12/08

i lost a tenner on this match, gutted!

But Robby were not Evertonians.

Theres moanin, go on for as long as i can remember going the game.

The booing thing though, makes us sound like every other muppet prem support.

Our knowledgeable crown slips even more

I lost a tenner on this match, gutted!

I'm more gutted about the two points we dropped!!

Disappointing. We played well. At times, we seem to play well but we just can't score. Same old problem again.

As for the Anfield Ghost, I reckon our Chris would have ghosted in a goal tonight if he was playing.

Oh yes indeed, what I wouldn't give to have a player like that back in the side

im gonna get more negatives but I dont care, ill tally them up like a "go against the flow medal"

booing, is just letting the manager know what they think of what has happened on the day, its correct, its part of the passion footy fans have,.... I dont agree with booin xplayers though they should be applauded.

but if results happen like tonight, when it should have been a more attacking approach by rafa, then in my humble opinion a boo is fare game

But Robby were not Evertonians.

Theres moanin, go on for as long as I can remember going the game.

The booing thing though, makes us sound like every other muppet prem support.

Our knowledgeable crown slips even more

I agree with Huyton Red there Robby. And it pisses me off even more when the majority of the booers are the ones who can't be arsed to get behind the reds through the game, but are all too happy to raise their vocal chords with boos at the end of the game. You say it's just a way of letting the manager know what's happened on the day, so why doesn't the majority of supporters let the players know they're behind them through the game? Where's the passion then?

It all boils down to me that there's a good number of non genuine reds at the game these days. It would be a slightly different arguement if Anfield was in full voice all the way through tonights game and then there were boos at the final whistle.

It's strange MsG. I've never felt so underwhelmed going top of the league. I just hope that we don't have too many more of these poor peformances left this season.

I tell you what srs, if we carry on playing like we did tonight, you can kiss goodbye to the League yet again this season, after our best start for years, I can't believe we aren't doing everything in our power to move further forward and give ourselves a bit of breathing space, its' almost like were making it as difficult as we possibly can.

Oh yes indeed, what I wouldn't give to have a player like that back in the side

Indeeeeeeeed!

I agree with Huyton Red there Robby. And it pisses me off even more when the majority of the booers are the ones who can't be arsed to get behind the reds through the game, but are all too happy to raise their vocal chords with boos at the end of the game. You say it's just a way of letting the manager know what's happened on the day, so why doesn't the majority of supporters let the players know they're behind them through the game? Where's the passion then?

It all boils down to me that there's a good number of non genuine reds at the game these days. It would be a slightly different arguement if Anfield was in full voice all the way through tonights game and then there were boos at the final whistle.

Kenny, you know only to well how difficult its been of late trying to get a large part of the Anfield crowd to support and sing.

These people, although I will never agree to booing your own team, its' something I have never done or never will do, these kind of fans probably don't know the history of LFC, just got a ticket on the off chance...........oh yeah, let's go down to Anfield, we'll see a good game and Liverpool will batter West Ham, obviously we didn't ,so these kind of so called supporters think its a good idea to vent their anger on Rafa and the players, because they haven't had their money's worth, you and me would NEVER stoop to such levels, because we are true fans and understand.

Yeah, we'll have a moan about it in the pub after, but whilst were at Anfield we'll give it our all, unfortunately not everyone thinks like us, and I suppose it's their right to express their opinion if they feel cheated............lets just hope they never come back, cos we can do without so called fans like that eh 

Oh ! By the way I'm not making excuses for them..............I think its absolutely diabolical to boo your own team, and it makes some of our fans no better than the likes of some of the scum that support these lesser teams...........surely to god were better than that aren't we?

We pride ourselves on being a cut above the normal football supporter with our wit, good humour and our ability to recognise and applaud the opposition, don't let us forget that fact.

love to of seen babel on one wing riera on the other,gerrard just behind the front two of keane/kuyt,,,,,,just to have ago from ther off..

It's November again and I'm sure we also did something similar last season like drawn home games which left us chasing the pack.One thing different this year we're top of the league.....

Kenny, you know only to well how difficult its been of late trying to get a large part of the Anfield crowd to support and sing.

These people, although I will never agree to booing your own team, its' something I have never done or never will do, these kind of fans probably don't know the history of LFC, just got a ticket on the off chance...........oh yeah, let's go down to Anfield, we'll see a good game and Liverpool will batter West Ham, obviously we didn't ,so these kind of so called supporters think its a good idea to vent their anger on Rafa and the players, because they haven't had their money's worth, you and me would NEVER stoop to such levels, because we are true fans and understand.

Yeah, we'll have a moan about it in the pub after, but whilst were at Anfield we'll give it our all, unfortunately not everyone thinks like us, and I suppose it's their right to express their opinion if they feel cheated............lets just hope they never come back, cos we can do without so called fans like that eh 

Oh ! By the way I'm not making excuses for them..............I think its absolutely diabolical to boo your own team, and it makes some of our fans no better than the likes of some of the scum that support these lesser teams...........surely to god were better than that aren't we?

We pride ourselves on being a cut above the normal football supporter with our wit, good humour and our ability to recognise and applaud the opposition, don't let us forget that fact.

Well said MsG.

Not sure how it made players like Hyypia and Gerrard feel when they were walking off that pitch last night. No doubt they'd be gutted about the result as well.

Hyypia looked like he hadn't missed a game all season for us and offered some form of attack in tonights game. Not to mention he's been a loyal and dedicated servant to the club for nearly ten years. And Gerrard was walking off the pitch after ten years of playing for the reds and we all know what he's about.

Yet it ended in boos and we actually went a point clear at the top of the league in December. If you look at it that way - considering the disgraceful lack of support the vast majority of supporters have shown this season at Anfield, it seems even more of a joke.

Hypocrites.

It's November again

Stop right there...

Just got back.
I've been in London all weekend and listened to the match in the car on the way home and I was pulling my hair out. So frustrating to listen to, must have been even worse to watch. I haven't seen any highlights yet but from the radio commentary (which may not be right) this is the impression I got from the players performances:
Reina - Had nothing to do all game and done nothing wrong.
Arbeloa - Didn't get involved enough in helping the attackers
Carragher - Along with Reina, the only player who done his job.
Hyppia - Sound defensively but missed our best chances from corners.
Dossena - A mixed performance. Made some errors but also played some good balls to the attackers..
Riera - I only heard his name mentioned in the first 5 minutes and he seemed to do nothing all game.
Benayoun - Played terrible. Wasteful with the ball and didn't look too threatening in the final third
Gerrard - Poor. Sounded as though every time he got the ball he gave it away. His corners were bad and. His worst performance of the season by far.
Alonso - Didn't really do enough and seemed as though all of his shots were blazed miles over the bar.
Kuyt - Also played awful. Twice I heard the commentator say if he played one extra pass into the box to gerrard/benayoun it was a certain goal.
Keane - Didn't do anything. Although it sounded as though he didn't get enough service, he was uneffective again and complained about coming off.
Subs:
Ngog - Played the last 30 and heard his name 2 maybe 3 times. Had no positive effect.
Babel - Played the last 20 had one run and shot but wasted every ball and took some terrible set pieces. Also had no positive effect.

This is what it sounded like from 5live commentary but half the time they don't give a very good impression of the game atall, but I'm guessing that the team was very very poor today. Please tell me how those ratings look.
Wasn't our best possible starting XI but still good enough to take all 3 points easily, especially at anfield. Another missed opportunity.

Having had time to reflect on the result and calm myself down a bit I have come to the conclusion:
We are actually top of the league by a point and a title winning team would put this result behind them and win their next 3 or 4 games and stay top.
We're extremely lucky chelsea dropped all 3 points but manure are catching us now (3 points IF they win their game in hand).
However, between now and the new year, the side must prove to everyone that they are title contenders by staying top every weekend and most importantly, they MUST figure out a way how to break down sides who come to anfield and put 11 men behind the ball because I'm positive every side minus manure arsenal and chelsea will do exactly the same as fulham, stoke and west ham have done. Torres and gerrard may not be playing together for a while and at the moment it's just not good enough. Quite unbelievable how we are top of the league right now and if we don't pull our socks up I could see us being 5 or 6 points off the pace come 2009.
Thoughts?
Edit: Why am i a "Forum Matt busby"?

What can you say to that and how long will it be before we get overtaken. Up untill the spurs game we were playing pass and move and pressing other teams and where has it gone so quick,apart from our normal grafters the others have stopped and they look out of sorts.Riera looked like he wouldn't run pass Dosena at the moment,Keane is losing it match by match and that's a worry with Torres out. I was hoping we would not fall into this trap this season but I think Rafa worrie's to much about our opponents and for some reason he turns to his old defensive ways and tonight  he should have thrown caution to the wind and gone for the win after making subs but instead he went all defensive to get a point. Not the way to win the league is it......

absolutely agree with your post. in fact i would go further and say that Rafa's obsession with avoiding errors, and constantly talking about it, makes the players tighten up so much that they are afraid to relax and express themselves in the attacking third. how many times do our attacks turn into backpasses to our effin goalkeeper?

time after time we recruit good quality forward players and one by one they fail after a promising start. keane looked good for a while but now looks bewildered. same happened with bellamy. god forbid torres loses his way...if we ever get him fit enough to find out.

  

Our problem - getting goals/converting our chances.

That has been our problem really for the past many seasons, to me. Dropped 6 points at home already. We could have been 7 points ahead of 2nd place and now United are only 3 points behind us(6 if you think Fulham can hold them at Old Trafford). Now every 2nd half of the league teams have a believe to come to Anfield and nick a point. That's what cost us last season and i hope it doesn't this season.

All that is over and we can't do anything. Look forward to the next game, and now please put in a champions performance. Need to buck up if they want no 19 or we'll have to wait another season. And freaking score goals !

This was a game that was there for the taking,I think we had 9 corners in the first half and failed to capitalise on them.I thought Hypia was man of the match and deserved a couple of goals for his efforts,he never put a foot or a head wrong.Rafa has to come up with a system that is able to beat these packed defences,I see the Hull City manager was in the crowd so can we expect more of the sane against them and also Blackburn this weekend.Come on REDS you are better than this.

Whatever happened to the days when instead of booing a bad result, the fans would sing YNWA to lift the players spirits?
Booing your own team is not on, Anfield is quickly filling up with sh*t.

Only just brought myself to write the match report.

Normally do it after the game but with Rafa saying we would all wake up today happy at being top of the league I thought I'd sleep on it.

Don't feel much better to be honest.

http://www.anfield-online.co.uk/match-reports/premiership/2008/liverpool-0-0-west-ham/

Whatever happened to the days when instead of booing a bad result, the fans would sing YNWA to lift the players spirits?
Booing your own team is not on, Anfield is quickly filling up with sh*t.

I agree, you shouldn't boo the players at all, but I think Rafa wants to sort out the problem we have with playing the "lesser teams"

to be honest dossena was a blessing last night, he performs like that all the time happy days, we are still looking more and more like a one man team! To be honest freezing my bollocks off for another 0 - 0 didnt quite seem worth it! Top of the league we do need to improve though

to be honest dossena was a blessing last night, he performs like that all the time happy days, we are still looking more and more like a one man team! To be honest freezing my bollocks off for another 0 - 0 didnt quite seem worth it! Top of the league we do need to improve though

Have to agree there...Dossena had a decent game. Can't say the same about Riera though. - what did he do?

Not one player was willing to run at the defenders and take them on...all we did was attack from crosses and corners...and the occasional weak shots from long range. I'm sorry - but we can't blame last night on the striking force...the midfield was just uninspired. Even Stevie was below par by his standards.

I don't feel any better than I did last night...we are dropping too many crucial points...

YNWA!