Match Thread Liverpool V Everton

Great finish to a great birthday, So glad we won today and felt we did well enough to winthe game by more but i was happy with 1-0 at the final whistle. Hopefully we can push on from this and carry on that winning streak we had.

Just like a few others, not long back from the match myself.

We started like we meant real business today, but for all our possession / chances we just had the one goal to show for it.
We must really start to polish off teams when we have the chance, as this is one reason why we are behind in the title race.

But apart from that little moan, a good victory today.
The crowd seemed up to it (and so they should), and the team worked hard for each other.
The first half saw some great football being played by us.
Torres scoring yet again for his 28th of the season (Everton's current top scorer in his Everton's career is Cahill on 29 !!)
Kuyt and Babel were both a whisker away from adding to the scoreline, and Gerrard also coming very close by hitting the post.

But 1 - 0 was all we had to show from a great first half performance.

Second half was a typical Derby day half, both teams in for a battle, but with no real chances.

My man of the match would go to Kuyt today. Simply because he faught so hard for every ball, won his challenges and also received a great applause when he moved up front to replace Torres and chased down Everton's defence when they should of been preesing up front.
Well done Dirk, enjoy your night !!

Other performances to note:-
Skrtyl - simply becoming more confident in defence, and winning some brilliant tackles later on.
Carra - Marshalling inbred Neville virtually into submission.
Gerrard - keeping his head, and knitting the team together today.
Riise - best game this season for him by far. Linked up well with Babel, giving him many a pass to attack from.


Kop had some good songs today also:-

The city is ours
The city is ours
F**k off to Kirby
The city is ours

The Moscow chant as Kenny posted above

Your not scousers anymore



Nice to meet Redkenny again before the match, and also meet Venison for the first time.
Take care lads, and see you soon again.

easy 3 points today but the chances we've wasted made me panic cuz any small mistake can cost us much but every thing went right and we won the points easily. i'm glad from the player's performance without any exception

Just finished watching MOTD2 and we did play very well. Our passing was accurate, our tackling was spot on. It was a great performance, although the scoreline didn't match our performance. We had so many chances yet they weren't converted into goals. But like many said a win is a win and 3 points was exactly what we needed.

Oh, I am loving Fernando Torres, his first Merseyside derby and he scores. Brilliant player and definitely one to keep.

Poor old Andy Gray looked quite upset afterwards......tw*t

My personal rankings for the game

Reina - 6/10 had F**k all to do

Skrtel 9/10 not a foot wrong MoM
Hyypia 8/10 not a foot wrong not MoM because he is Massive
Riise 7/10 even decent on crosses!

Kuyt 5/10 pretty useless... must go or improve, patience has run out...loved the guy
Xabi 6/10 average... not convinced he should be here next season
Lucas 6/10 average... did not impress in a critical match
Babel 5/10 bad show... many chances to impress did not deliver

Gerrard 8/10 played his scouse heart out
Torres 8/10 took his chance welll

The city is ours
The city is ours
F**k off to Kirby
The city is ours

The Moscow chant as Kenny posted above

Your not scousers anymore

Nice to meet Redkenny again before the match, and also meet Venison for the first time.
Take care lads, and see you soon again.

Good to see you again Tommo mate. How did your mate get on? Did he make it to the car? 

That 'You're not scouser anymore' was quite amusing today.

nothing like a clear difference of opinion on the game.

mr tommo gives dirk his MOM, and don gives him his worst rating with a "must go or improve comment"

could this be that dirks contribution is lost on the tv screen, and actually being at the game, you can appreciate his effore more

Going to bed happy tonight got back from the game quarter to ten a long day but very much worth it .My one thought i think the season caught up with Lucas today thought he was a weak link,anyone else agree?

Yes I would agree he was pretty poor in his passing game with the exception of a few switched balls to Babel, gave away alot of posession too.

Forgot to comment on the game, I though we were excellent in the first half and we gave them nothing. Dropped off heaps in the second half, great match from the back four Gerrard and Alonso, Torres too.

Babel is really starting to get on my nerves he always lacks that final touch had he being more sharper and aware he could have had a double at least.

nothing like a clear difference of opinion on the game.

mr tommo gives dirk his MOM, and don gives him his worst rating with a "must go or improve comment"

could this be that dirks contribution is lost on the tv screen, and actually being at the game, you can appreciate his effore more

Spot on mate, its a game of opinions.  If its passion and work rate that gets the marks then Kuyt will nearly always getting good marks.  But if shear quality is the measurement then he will nearly always going to be at the bottom of the rankings.

Babel is really starting to get on my nerves he always lacks that final touch had he being more sharper and aware he could have had a double at least.

I think he is unable to really adapt to the LM position he plays. We need a natural LM like a Kewell (In his prime), Babel will be more productive as a second striker.

Babel is really starting to get on my nerves he always lacks that final touch had he being more sharper and aware he could have had a double at least.

He should have scored today when Riise put that cross in, in the first half. I admired the way he made space for himself a lot today though. Something he seems good at. He's proving to be a really good outlet for the team.

The lads learning, he was amazing but his final product let him down as i stated before. A win is a win and those bas**rds are on their way to the UEFA Cup

Lucas and Alonso started bright but dropped off massively and Kuyt, well the lad does nothing in attack or defence for mine. Gerrard played his heart out.

MOM - Skrtel and Sami. They shut down Yak brilliantly, well played.

We did what we needed to do and that's beat those blue nose bas**rds , oh yeah and grab the three points. We played a fantastic first half and it really should have been 3 or 4-0 nil, but not to be. 2nd half, for me was very nerve racking, you just get that feeling in your gut that if we don't score a 2nd goal, those bas**rds are going to equalise. Thank F**k it didn't happen, although to be honest they never even looked like it apart from that Osman header. 5 points clear of them now and would just love to be with you Scousers in the city, this week, celebrating and rubbing their bluenoses into it. We did the double over them, they must be hurting .

One player I felt for though was, Crouchie. What did he get? Something like 38 seconds pitch time. Poor fella, let's hope he gets a go against the Arse and repeats his brilliant hat-trick from last season.

I thought Babels performance was summed up well on MOTD. A few things most people dont notice he is learning alot and instead of just making moves that benefit himself he is make moves that benefit the team alot more like coming inside from the wing to get the ball from a teammate rather than sticking on the line and making the pass less lkely to make it. By moving inside more he gives more options, the only problem i have is his final ball but i think that is a bit to be expected with him having to use his left to cross which he isnt atall used to.

He is improving game by game and i think he is being a bit more adventurous now, he wont just cut inside and shoot now and although he isnt producing the final ball that we are expecting alot please be patient as if you think back to earlier in the season those attempts he made to put the ball into the box for someone else to finish he wouldnt have made earlier in the season he would have been more likely to try and take on the men himself which shows he is learning and is improving with time. It is difficult playing out of position and i think even though at times today he didnt do what was expected of him he seemed to be having one of those games where you just cant get into the rythmn of the match and he still managed to do some good and make some moves that went unnoticed.

Just think at the moment out on the left he is practising at getting past players and running at defenders and he is improving at it, his footwork is already good and he is getting more confident at taking players on, when he is finally deployed as a striker just imagine him taking on centre backs with his tricks and being able to let off one of those thunderous shots at goal from a more centre position as opposed to from an angle coming in from the left. I think the goal vs derby was a good indication of the type of goal he likes to score when in a central postion, take on the defenders and just slot the ball home with both power and placement.

I'm glad we went ahead as early as we did, hoped it would settle the nerves and it certainly did. We had our chances to make it safe but we hit the post or just couldn't hit the target. I think that Babel's positional play was spot on today, he got himself into good positions out wide and also in the centre but, as mentioned above, he just lacked that final touch or that killer instinct that sets you apart. He will get there, definitely. Lucas really disappointed, struggled to keep up and gave the ball away cheaply in the midfield...

Torres...no comment, no words actually. Gerrard was good, drove the play forward alot in the first half did alot of tracking in the second. But my Man of the Match, Martin Skrtel...you ninja turtle...

Well played boys, 3 points in the bag. Bring on the Arse...

Walk on...

IRWT

I couldn't post last night as I was to pissed, how the F**k I didn't get filled in in the pub after the game I don't know?
I was givin these two bitters f***in loads Ha well I had to endure it off them first game of last season!  payback time Ha
I should know better at my age but I can't resist it!!!

The Game
Firstly I agree with what Ard Mhacha has to say about Kuyt, the boys application and work rate are second to none! Yes he does make mistakes but when you are as involved in everything has him that's going to happen.
There are a a good many of our squad who should take a page out of Dirks book when it comes to his work rate, and we should also be cutting him a lot more slack,  especially earlier this season, because of the loss of his dad, it hit the lad extremely hard.
Babal, well I see him as a rough diamond and we are not going to start to see the best of him for another season or two.
Lucas is a light weight, I'm still to be convinced.
MOTM mine would go to both Sami & Skrtel simply outstanding.
I still have concerns about our ruthlessness, if it were the Mancs playing them yesterday they would have buried them in the first half, 3 nil at least! we need to be far more clinical.
Were the bitter's that sh*te? or was it us showing them up for what they are?
Nevertheless three points are three points and I went home a happy (if not pissed man!)


IRWT
IDIC we pray

Did anybody hear Parry on 5 Live early yesterday morning? he was havin a go at the americans, especially Hick's. I can't find a link for it, but it will be available on Podcast it was on about 8:15 yesterday morning. Gabby Logan's show
Found it!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/sol/newsid_7320000/newsid_7321500/7321507.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&news=1&bbcws=1

We got the right result and that was all that mattered,I thought Torres ,Gerrard ,Skrtel and Hypia had excellent games.I was disappointed with Babel on the left wing,thought he should of made more of the brilliant passes he got on the wing from Stevie,Alonso and Lucas.He should of tore Everton apart but all will be forgiven if he does the business against Arsenal in all 3 games. Kuyt deserved a goal with that effort of his toward the end,it had the goalie well beat,also 2 of Stevies efforts deserve mention.Lets hope this is the start of another good run from RAFA and the LADS.

Just happy we got the three points...looking forward to beating Arsenal.

I'm really intruiged by the story on the official page about the 'disrespectful' chanting by the BS. I didn't pick anything up through the tv, can anyone who was there fill me in on what the chant was.

I was very amused by the BS attempt at humour with their banner 'BS welcomes LFC supporters to Merseyside'. I love it when inferiority complexes are so openly displayed. Just cause no one outside of England knows your little club exists boys, doesn't mean you have to insult us intelligent foreigners who through fate and fortune ended up supporting the football club of Merseyside.

They were singing about Michael Shields mate. (regarding the size of his backside passage).
Also singing to Gerrard regarding 'The babies not yours'
Typical low life from them !

And regarding there banner - well lets just say I overtook at least 4 blueshite cars on the M6 Northbound after the match.

Another couple of cracking chants from the Kop were :-

Feed the Yak and He'll get fat

And

Your just a Fat Purple Aki (regarding Yakubu again)