A few thoughts from being at the game:
Most players in the Prem would have gone down if they were Bellamy, and then the ref would surely had to have sent Dempsey off. I'm not necessarily saying he should have, but our little fella gets loads of stick in the media and I wonder over the coming days whether he will get any praise for keeping Dempsey on the pitch, or at least giving the ref an opportunity to do so.
Luis goes to ground too easily too often. I know it won't make me popular to say that, and I don't say it as a way of having a go at him, I just think he limits his effectiveness by crying wolf too much in a match. This is particularly the case away from home, where the crowd reaction can put the ref in a situation where he isn't going to give our man anything. Last night he was fouled a couple of times in the second half but wasn't going to get it as the pattern had been established in the game. The penalty claim against Hangalund was a classic example.
Charlie Adam had a decent game, but is going to need to take far more responsibility while he hasn't got Lucas alongside him (unless Gerrard plays). It was unreasonable to expect Spearing to come in after such a long absense and be capable of compltely filling the void, and he should have sat in more. This is particularly the case as we had plenty of attacking options on the pitch.
Jose Enrique is the best left-back we've had at the club for many a year.
If we are going to play Andy Carroll, then we must get someone closer to him when he hit him from distance. Too often he is isolated and any flicks and knockdowns are wasted.
On the subject of Carroll, his partnership with Suarez looks at this stage to be a non-starter, null and void. They don't work off each other at all, don't hunt together, and my guess from watching Suarez a few times now is that he'll always be better with a Beardsley type who sits in behind and off him. In that respect, he is similar to Torres was in his prime.
Lastly on Carroll, he is a far better player than he currently looks. If Suarez was to get an eight game ban from the FA Kangaroo racism court, my guess is that when playing as the actual focus, he would do a more than decent job. The problem is, when Suarez plays and is the focus (rightly because he's the better player) it causes us to play in a manner which doesn't suit the big lad.
The crowd were excellent, there was a new Lucas song which took a while to get going but was a goodie.
Logged
