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

The 1st half for me was OK. We had the better scoring chances, but the BS played the better football . And think that followed in the second half too.




It seems the long hoofing game has gone, but our passing at times is woeful, and that is what is killing us. The lack of ability if keeping the ball, plus some dreadful defending.

Passing game needs work, but that figures after Roy's 6 months of yoga balls and string training. With no match mid-week this should be a decent time to put in the scheme and really work at it during practice.

Shocking defensively. Skrtel makes constant positional mistakes and rash challenges for the ball, case in point Beckford's goal. Johnson is not good defensively at RB let alone playing on his weaker side at LB. Agger needs to keep fit and play because right now he's our top centre back. Fortunately Kelly seems to be coming on leaps and bounds every game and looks solid at RB, both in the air and in the tackle.

Not only do we need some attacking flair players but we also need a good LB and another world class CB to bolster our lacklustre defence. We'll just keep shipping goals they way we're going now.

What mystifies me the most is how Rafa got this defence (most of them anyway) playing so well in our 2nd place season. Didn't we have the best defence in the league back then? What the F**k has happened!

Kenny Dalglish believes his side were unfortunate not to claim all three points against Everton on his emotional return to the Anfield dugout.

 Raul Meireles put Liverpool in front with his first goal for the club before quick-fire strikes from Sylvain Distin and Jermaine Beckford after the restart gave the Toffees a 2-1 lead.

It was a Dirk Kuyt penalty that earned the Reds a draw - but Dalglish felt it could have been more.

"I think we were a wee bit unfortunate to come in after the first half only 1-0 up," he said. "They got two quick goals but we showed a great deal of desire and determination to get back into the game.

"Overall I think we had more shots, more efforts and more clear-cut chance, so possible we could say we deserved more from the game.

"The first goal should have been a goal-kick instead of a corner - you could see that clearly. Even without lenses in I could have seen it. Then the second goal - Kelly got battered.

"We can be really pleased with the football we played in the first half and we can also be pleased with our desire to show the supporters that we care as much about the football club as they do.

"I think you can see there's a bit of belief now coming back into the players, and that's great for us. The players are much better than where we are at the moment."

The Kop displayed banners such as 'Dalglish is cooler than The Fonz' after giving him a rapturous reception on his first home game back at the helm.

"There has always been a very good relationship between the Dalglish family and Liverpool Football Club," he added.

"That won't ever change and I'd never want it to change. It was emotive for me to go down there into the dugout and the response from the crowd was very much appreciated. And more important is the way they stuck with the players."

One player that stood out for Dalglish was Jay Spearing, who replaced Christian Poulsen in midfield.

Asked to explain his surprise decision to include the Wirral-born youngster, the caretaker boss said: "He had a game in midweek with the reserves and did particularly well. Daniel Pacheco did also, and that's why he was on the bench.

"Wee Jay can be really proud of his performance today. Steven Gerrard might not get in now!

"Honestly, I don't care where they are born. You can't get a game of football because of your birthplace. You get a game of football because of the way you play. If he had been born in Scotland he still would have played.

"If a local lad can come in to play we're delighted to have him - but they won't get preference and it won't be held against them either."

Liverpool's chances weren't helped by the substitution of the excellent Daniel Agger at half-time because of illness.

Dalglish added: "He was ill during the week at Blackpool and did well to survive that game. He's got a stomach problem.

"He's not really eaten properly since the Blackpool game so it's a great credit to him that he wanted to play and he did play so well in the first half. I don't think the change was the reason we lost a couple of goals - the bounce of the ball just went against us."

The manager was once again delighted with the performance at right-back of Martin Kelly.

So will Glen Johnson, who once again operated on the left against Everton, have trouble regaining his natural position?

"If Martin keeps playing like that, Glen could have a problem - though I'm sure he's happy to play left-back.

"I thought Martin was excellent again today and it's fantastic for us to see a young boy starting to develop."

There was also praise for Meireles.

"The confidence is a big factor - and it's the same for every player," said Dalglish. "Raul is a very good footballer, he passes and moves well and that goal won't do him any harm whatsoever."

The game was watched by owners John Henry and Thomas Werner, who will have talks with Dalglish this week.

But the manager has no plans to demand new players in the January transfer window.

#/'


Instead he believes youngsters such as Kelly and Spearing are proving to be valuable assets - while the Scot also hopes to bring more out of Paul Konchesky and Christian Poulsen.

He explained: "We'll sit down, have a chat, and hopefully they might buy us a bit of dinner! But what's going to be involved in the chat I don't know.

"If they are going to ask me a question and ask me how it's going, I'll give them an answer - but I'm not going to give that answer in here!

"We've got a couple of senior players who the supporters haven't exactly seen eye to eye with. We've got to try and rebuild them. If we can get Christian Poulsen and Paul Konchesky back on side then that makes the squad that bit deeper.

"Christian played very well at Blackpool and Paul will get an opportunity as well."

Another player set to get a chance in the coming months is Danny Wilson, who is still waiting for a Premier League start since his move from Glasgow Rangers this summer.

"I've not seen Danny play yet for us since I came in, so he might get a wee run out," said Dalglish. "He's been fantastic in training."

 

I'd have to disagree with him on Poulsen's Blackpool perfomance. Oter than that very good points from Kenny.

Link Please.

Shocking defensively. Skrtel makes constant positional mistakes and rash challenges for the ball, case in point Beckford's goal. Johnson is not good defensively at RB let alone playing on his weaker side at LB. Agger needs to keep fit and play because right now he's our top centre back. Fortunately Kelly seems to be coming on leaps and bounds every game and looks solid at RB, both in the air and in the tackle.

Not only do we need some attacking flair players but we also need a good LB and another world class CB to bolster our lacklustre defence. We'll just keep shipping goals they way we're going now.

What mystifies me the most is how Rafa got this defence (most of them anyway) playing so well in our 2nd place season. Didn't we have the best defence in the league back then? What the f**k has happened!

I think Skrtel is ok as long as Agger is beside him. Agger seems to be the brains of the defence. Once he's not playing, we seem to lose all sense of positional defending and we start kicking around the penalty box in a mad scrum until Lucas or Raul miraculously find the ball at their feet and lump it somewhere in the general trajectory of Nando or Dirk. This also explains why we were so poor in possession after he went off.

Link Please.

Sorry mate, http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/latest-news/kenny-on-derby-owners-konch

He wasn't sh*t at all, He didn't put a foot wrong today.

He didnt do anything though.

So we saw heart and desire today, but a distinct lack of quality. That suggests we have the ship righted and now we need to make intelligent investment in quality players.

my thoughts exactly, too many rogue passes and that Q word is uppermost in my mind too, complete lack of Quality, Kuyt for me runs his heart out, but reminds me too much of the chicken with his head cut off. effort is not in question with his game, but a total lack of quality for me too from many out there today. Loved Kelly for his game, other players need to take a look at him for his overall performance. 

He didnt do anything though.

He stopped everton attacking through the middle. Covered spearing all game. People only notice what people do offensively never what they do defensively.

Thought we played well today, worrying thing though is the defence. We are now needing to score at least twice in a match in order to get something out of  a game. Since Carragher was injured at Spurs - the man who organises the back line-  we have kept one clean sheet in the last seven.
On a more positive note Kelly was excellent - cannot believe that Dowd allowed play on for Everton's second after Anchiebe clearly took him out- IMO Johnson also had an ok match, and hoping that Warnock will return to the club, ensuring that PK never plays for the club again
Finally can't help but feel that if we had gone 1-2 when RH was in charge then the Bitters would have just closed the game down for an easy win, so goto give the lads some credit for pulling back a point.

He didnt do anything though.

As lfc_ynwa has just stated he stopped Everton playing and kept the ball well as always, covered Johnson well at times aswell.

I think Skrtel is ok as long as Agger is beside him. Agger seems to be the brains of the defence. Once he's not playing, we seem to lose all sense of positional defending and we start kicking around the penalty box in a mad scrum until Lucas or Raul miraculously find the ball at their feet and lump it somewhere in the general trajectory of Nando or Dirk. This also explains why we were so poor in possession after he went off.

EXACTLY MATE.

Basically we cant play skirtel & soto together.

Kenny has suggested today wilson will get a game. I can see wilson & dagger being a good pairing while carra is out.

Wilson and Agger are the future!

I admire the way we're playing football now. The tactis are spot on. We just have no pace at all down the flanks and its doing us in.

First half performance was great, if we had a bit of luck and a bit more confidence, we'd have put the game to bed in the first 45. 

Their goals... two bad decisions by the ref, two mistakes from Skrtel cost us today

The 1st was clearly a goal kick - but Skrtel was awful at the wrongly awarded corner
For the 2nd, Kelly had been poleaxed and was laying on the floor with a head injury - the ref should have stopped the game.  But he didn't and Skrtel made another mistake I really like Skrtel, but he cost us two points today doubt he will still be here in the long-term

Still - we are playing so so so much better, we came back and got the draw.  Kelly and Spearing were great today, Torres had support for the first time in ages.

The rebuilding process has begun.  IKKWT.

Kenny post match.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/9363399.stm

First half performance was great, if we had a bit of luck and a bit more confidence, we'd have put the game to bed in the first 45. 

Their goals... two bad decisions by the ref, two mistakes from Skrtel cost us today

The 1st was clearly a goal kick - but Skrtel was awful at the wrongly awarded corner
For the 2nd, Kelly had been poleaxed and was laying on the floor with a head injury - the ref should have stopped the game.  But he didn't and Skrtel made another mistake I really like Skrtel, but he cost us two points today doubt he will still be here in the long-term

Still - we are playing so so so much better, we came back and got the draw.  Kelly and Spearing were great today, Torres had support for the first time in ages.

The rebuilding process has begun.  IKKWT.

ALL CORRECT MATE.

Im finding it hard to fault anybody today except for the stupid errors that led to goals. We are getting punished for every mistake right now though.

And we are not getting many breaks. But the more we attack the more breaks we will get.

The footi is so much better under kenny, and its only 3 games. ok 1 draw and 2 losses, but ive actually enjoyed all 3 games, except for the errors and fukin refs. .

Id pair Kelly and Agger in the middle with Johnson and Aurelio as full backs

Wilson and Agger are the future!

Kelly is also a CB and one with a bit of pace as well. Hopefully if Carragher gets fit he can have a few games alongside him.

I felt we could have scored 3 today, at least we are starting to see chances come our way ,some positives to take from this game in the way we tried so hard to win ,something we lacked before , the defence is the problem ,get that sorted and it will allow Lucas and Raul to work and supply the front ,also good to see our midfield attack ! it's coming Kenny ! ynwa

I went to the game, real good first half, defence obviously let us down in the second half. Enjoyed the atmosphere, just a pity the Reds could not get that vital win. Once again poor defending, as in other games this season, needs to be sorted.

The footi is so much better under kenny, and its only 3 games. ok 1 draw and 2 losses, but ive actually enjoyed all 3 games, except for the errors and fukin refs. .

Bang on, despite the lack of a win I've not come away from any of these games bemoaning life and why football is so sh*t now. It's a positive!

Compared to seeing us camped in our own half ,what i witnessed today was a vast improvement we looked to get forward and support Torres which up until 3 games ago was not happening ,
Mistakes again cost us ,saying that a blind man in a blizzard knew that was a goal kick and not a corner ,not getting the breaks at the moment but keep going in this direction and the breaks will come ,too late for this season perhaps but now is the time to start building for the future ,a couple of outs and a few additions and the future looks a whole lot better than it did a few weeks ago
, Oh and the people and pundits including that c**t collymore saying roy was hard done by and the players should look at themselves for not playing under him but seemingly turning their  performances round for Kenny , just take a look at how many we have over the half way line in the last couple of games should tell you all you need to know why he fcked it up ,let the players play and they just might respond to you take note colly you tw*t.

Im finding it hard to fault anybody today except for the stupid errors that led to goals. We are getting punished for every mistake right now though.

And we are not getting many breaks. But the more we attack the more breaks we will get.

The footi is so much better under kenny, and its only 3 games. ok 1 draw and 2 losses, but ive actually enjoyed all 3 games, except for the errors and fukin refs. .

I came on with a view to giving a (sort of) in depth analysis but you know what - this sums up how i'm feeling at the mo'.  I'm seeing more commitment from players that seem to be enjoying the game again and subsequently my enjoyment has returned also.