Wednesday, 14 March 2012

Steven Gerrard’s Bestrides The Mersey Derby Like A Colossus

The difference between Liverpool tonight as opposed to so many other times this season is we had a cutting edge and that cutting edge was as it has been through out the last decade was Steven Gerrard.  He was head and shoulders above anything else on the pitch, as good as any defender, the best midfielder and his potency as an attacker was there for all to see.  What was great to see was his drive from midfield and he appeared reenergised following his recent injury problems.

Returning with Gerrard to the starting line-up was Carroll and that statement of intent was shown in how quickly Liverpool hit their straps, with Gerrard at the forefront of everything in the first few minutes, almost fashioning a chance out for himself when inter-linking superbly with Suarez and then curling a shot which Tim Howard managed to scramble away and Jordan Henderson’s shot was blocked as he second Premiership seemed on the tip of his boot. Everton led by example by the impressive Baines began to get more into the game as he created a shot which Piennar blazed over.  Suarez sniped in and around the area, in the space left by the ever increasing physicality of Suarez and was unlucky to see a shot well saved with Howard reacting quickly to block his shot.

As Everton began to get more of a foot hole in the game, Liverpool struck.  The irrepressible Howard saved from Kelly, having a sparkling game filling in for the injured Glen Johnson, Gerrard showed awareness and clarity of mind in picking up the ball, to deftly guide the ball in over the head of Howard  to put Liverpool ahead, a lead they held comfortably until half-time.

The match was over as a contest little after half-time, where Suarez again auditioning for the Uruguay winter Olympic team, slalomed his way into the area, but instead of shooting, teed up an invitation for Gerrard to an unleash an explosive shot on the run, reminiscent of his first goal in the 2006 FA Cup Final against West Ham.  The stadium almost took off with Captain Fantastic at the controls of the Good Ship Liverpool, ably assisted , by Lieutenant Suarez and Sergeant Major Spearing, terrier like in the midfield.  One sensed the Everton crowd in the Anfield Road End, even as much as they kept up the support in their team, sense the game was up, especially with the formidable Skrtel and Carragher sweeping up any loose remnants.

Steven Gerrard celebrates the 2nd or his 3rd (Image: Daily Mail)

Apart from a few alarms Liverpool, Liverpool had enough chances particularly from Kelly and Carroll to have extinguished any flicker of ambition from Everton before Gerrard brought down the final curtain. With Everton going forward a final move broke down at the feet of the Liverpool captain who powered forward to the edge of the Everton area where he passed to Suarez, who in turn provided Gerrard with a simple tap in.
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In was nothing less than Liverpool deserved, led by Gerrard giving his wards a lesson in finishing of the highest order.  The 2012 Steven Gerrard may differ from the 2006 version, but one will thing will always stay the same, he is pure and simple a world class footballer.

Kop-Post Man of the Match: Steven Gerrard – Form is temporary, class is permanent.

44 comments:

  1. Cometh the hour, cometh the man! Stevie G made a statement the day before this match where he said players had to step up and take more responsibility- so what did he do? He stepped up like the great player he is and demonstrated the desire and commitment required to show the level required by some of the under-performing players.

    We need to enjoy having this great player in our team for as long as possible because there is nothing on the horizon anywhere near his level.

    Special mentions to Martin Kelly and Jay Spearing who showed the required desire for local players- Kelly providing excellent attacking support down the right and Spearing showing the tenacity and never afraid to call for the ball.

    Carroll showed very good touches at points during the game and the potential is there with his partnership with Suarez.

    Suarez again showed he is more a creator of chances setting up two of Gerrard's goals than a scorer-when Suarez gets chances he never takes the simple option and that's why he isn't a 25-30 goal player.

    Gerrard and Suarez are our two world class players on the pitch and always seem to know each others runs - its a sign of the fantastic players they are with their instinctive telepathy.

    This was the first league game that Gerrard, Suarez and Carroll started together and it has brought 3 goals- their first cup game together brought a glut of 6 goals vs Brighton

    What if we could get them fit and playing well for every single league game next season?

    Our talisman again came to the rescue to stop this horrible slump- we now have 30 points to play for!

    Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange

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  2. Also I would like to add we again dedicate our victory to Edet wgo again reminds his sonwho controls Merseyside!!!

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  3. Thanks David,

    How about that!!! He talk the talk and walk the walk not like some who talk loose and do not turn up? Stoke up next. Note this is the Everton team that beat the likes of Man City and Spurs and have not lost in 9 games. Even the pundits two days before the match were predicting Everton win and going 1 point clear of Liverpool. It was refreshing to see someone with a drive and passion and I can't recall Pepe making any spectacular save in the whole game. At least my son has been put in his place!

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  4. My final message before I leave it to the reat of guys to comment is:-

    HOW HARD? GERRARD!!!!!

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  5. I'd just like to point out that I picked the exact same team as Kenny yesterday. I also gave Stevie a ring and told him to get his shooting boots on, he says hi by the way!

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    1. Barry, I did notice last night. Seems like Kenny listens to you!

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    2. Hey Baz, you should take the job from KD.

      Mervyn

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    3. Noticed that barry and I was p*ssed of cause had been meaning to say i'd go with same line up...

      http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/latest-news/twitter-tributes-to-hat-trick-hero - what an absolute leg - love how other players sings his praises too as he's obviously an alright bloke - cant imagine the same tributes flooding in for JT if he had a match winning performance for chelsea....

      Such a relief to get a win as sense of doom round club if we'd lost would of been almost unbearable. Hopefully we can build on it with a win on sunday and a strong finish in the league....

      Really impressed with Carroll last night, so obvious that he has just been cronically short of confidence as his game really game together after he'd had a few good touches. Where for most of the season he's been falling about like heskey at his worst their players were just bouncing off him last night. Signs of understanding with suarez starting to develop too although he still posed little goal threat indiviually. Really hope with CL now utopia, to borrow some hodgson phraseology, that Kenny just persists with carroll for rest of the season and hopefully we can get him into some goal scoring form.....

      Thought srktel was absolutely boss again (player of the season for me at this stage) and spearing again proved how under-rated he is with battling and composed performance. Also, whilst it wasn't an amazing performance from henderson and whilst I share frustration with him seemingly being one of first names on team-sheet despite some very anonymous performances, and share frustration with him being played wide midfield, thought henderson showed glimses of real class that he obviously has in him and must be showing in training for kenny to be persisting with him. There are few players in our team who could play the first time ball into suarez towards end of first half and I'm hopeful/deluded that with bit more confidence that is the sort of thing he will be able to bring to the team. As I always argued with lucas the coaches obviously see something in henderson that make them confident he will develop into a top player and that is why they are persisting with him....

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  6. Still buzzing from last night - the atmosphere was super charged - I was sitting not to far away from the blue mob and they were as nasty as it gets. Trying to light a fire, vitriolic to the point where arrests were made, but it was well sweet.

    It wasn't just the goals, it was Gerrard's work rate. One minute, covering at full-back the next headering a ball away in the centre-half position, truly awe-inspiring. Picking up the ball outside in his own area and driving down the pitch in injury time was pure Gerrard. Spearing, the little terrier, was running around putting out fires and Kelly had an excellent game going both ways. In the long-term Spearing will do a job for the club as a squad player coming in, should call him Polyfilla, but right now given what we have he is the player in possession.

    What was not difficult to miss, is the sharp intake of breath every time Henderson touches the ball and you can tell it's getting to him, especially when he makes a mistake as some of the cries I wouldn't repeat on here. Downing's also getting some of those same verbal's.

    I agree, that Skrtel gobbled up everything, so much so that Jamie had not much to do. On top of his work holding up the ball, Carroll produced plenty of defensive headers to alleviate the pressure and Suarez link up play with Gerrard was at times stunning.

    Leyton Baines, got to say a quality footballer and a wand of a left foot.

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    1. It's funny no one makes mention of Kelly who in my estimation had a wonderful game. He could even have scored to cap his excellent work.

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    2. Totally agree on spearing, don't think he is quite good enough to command a regular place when all our fit but I think he is certainly good enough to be an important squad player - understudy to lucas etc. Important to kep players like hm who have come through the ranks at the club - united have many similar type players over the years who have made a massive contribution to success...

      Agree on baines too - as good as enrique is defensively (most of the time) and in getting up and down his delivery is not a patch baines'.....

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  7. Watched Liverpool u-19s (Raheem Steling et al) yesterday against Ajax in the semi-final of the NewGen Cup against Ajax hoping they would get through to the final, especially as the final will be at Leyton Orient. They missed an early penalty from Suso which would have brought the scores back to parity at 1-1 (couldn't believe it when I heard he took the ball ahead of two designated penalty takers!). At the end, they gave us an abject lesson in finishing which was levelling on the embarrassing.

    It seems as if we haven't got a prolific striker at the club from age 16 upwards - all the money spent at the club at Melwood and on a building a scouting system and we have trouble hitting the proverbial barn door! We were outclassed in many areas and some of our players just looked inept in comparison especially at the back. It's not the first time as they were beaten handsomely by Sporting Lisbon.

    Seems Raul Meireles maybe leaving Chelsea upset about AVB... should we get him back or do we have bigger fish to fry?

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  8. We have more pressing positions that need strengthening than attacking midfielder like Raul, ie:

    Striker
    Defensive Mid

    Right sided winger

    These three positions need to be sorted pronto. And we probably need 2 strikers.

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    1. Then we will have three strikers with Pony Carroll.

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    2. I agree Barry. We may also need a left winger too.

      Where would Meireles play? If available at no cost, then I guess I would be happy to have him as a squad player as long as he stopped sulking and apologises to the fans for leaving on transfer day.

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    3. We need goal threats from midfield in central positions - Stevie's hardly kicked a ball in comparison and already there's only Bellamy and Suarez ahead of him in the scoring charts.

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  9. So is that an overwhelming yes from you?

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  10. I just threw the question out there - it's obvious we need quality in all those positions, but in the scheme of things we are way down the pecking order and as I said to you recently, Livi, Comolli needs to start earning his corn.

    I would go foa player like Joao Moutinho as he is a good player playing below the radar.

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    1. I do believe we get chances in front of the goal, but finishing is poor, look at Andy Carroll, we have given that guy many chances, but he's not consistent enough to score 20 goals a season, and can we keep relying on him, another striker is needed.

      I don't know if the owners will hand out another wod of money to KD. They now want to see results slowly ( I say slowly because they will provide time for develop) but will require a consistency pattern of the players we have got, and if they don't do that come next season, it be a bad slump.

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    2. Even a central midfield player like Inler at Napoli would improve our midfield 25-30%

      If you are judging Carroll on everytime heplays he has to score – well yes he can be classed as a failure –the main problem is we over-paid for a player that is still developing –when you pay £35m it should be for a finished article – Carroll is aplayer we should have paid about £10-15m tops to give him time to get to thelevel we needed rather than have this extra pressure of having to produce everygame when he isn’t that type of player yet.

      Dalglish hasn’t helped the situationwith Carroll by dropping him everytime he has a good game so there is not acontinued momentum – Carroll then comes back in the side after beingdropped and is then off the pace again – it has been a recurring patternall season and we need to open our eyes to this fact.

      He has not done as well as I had hoped but Dalglish has to take some of the blame.

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    3. Agree with all of that David - hopefully will get decent run now until the end of the season, but wont hold my breath.

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    4. Let's just go for it and play Suarez, Carroll and Gerrard for the rest of the season - I would not be surprised if bewteen them they get 25 goals in those 10 games.

      It may just be my LFC tinted glasses but they will score a lot of goals as a trio.

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    5. Add Carig Bellamy to the mix too.

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    6. The only thing about my favourite current LFC player Bells is that we can't guarantee he can play all 10 or I would have added him into the mix - what a player!!!

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    7. He's due a goal I reckon - like the rest of the team!

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  11. I personally think Spearing has done an adequate job for us in Lucas's absence but is not quite the very top level to establish himself as a first teamer in his own right- he will always be seen as a useful squad player to me in the absence of others! Not sure if he is a better player than Rodwell just feel Stevie is trying to increase his confidence which isn't a bad thing I suppose!

    The article below raises the Spearing better than Rodwell question- I will be interested to hear Livingston's comments on his favourite LFC player at the moment! Lol

    Spearing is *better* than '£25m' England star. Is he right?

    Liverpool midfielder Jay Spearing was a bit-part player at Anfield under Rafa Benitez and Roy Hodgson, but this season, he's been trusted with a lot more time on the pitch, and this appears to be paying dividends for the club. Spearing put in another good performance against Everton on Tuesday night, prompting gushing praise from Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard, who claimed that his team-mate is on a par with one of England's bright young prospects.

    In an interview with the Liverpool Echo, Gerrard made some bold claims about Spearing's ability, arguing:

    "He was up against Jack Rodwell. People talk about him as a £25million player and England's future, well I think Jay more than matched him if not was better than him.

    "I think he's been consistent all season. Every time the manager has called on him, Jay has been superb.

    "We're really pleased to have him. He's such an unselfish player who keeps it ticking. You have to play with him to appreciate him".

    As is usually the case after any important victory, Liverpool players are always quick to massage each others' egos; just look at the slightly exaggerated deification of Gerrard over the last couple of days.

    Spearing has profited from Lucas's absence this season, but the harsh reality is that when the Brazilian returns, he will probably go back to being a bit-part player again, which is a shame for him.

    Is Gerrard right though? Overall, is Spearing a better player than Rodwell?
    Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange

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    1. I've always thought Spearing is a better player than he is given credit for. He passes a quickly and ell using both feet. He is a better option in the middle to play next to Gerrard than Adam.

      Is he better tha Rodwell? No.

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  12. The Spearing issue highlights the defiencies in the Liverpool team, even at his best his merely decent which is not the quality you're looking for when your aim is get back into the four. The fact I agree with Karl that he should be given the nod over Adam goes to show how poor Adam has been rather than any great improvement from Spearing.

    Let's not forget Gerrard also claimed Joe Cole was as good as Messi!!!

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  13. Kop-Post - this is where you come in??

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    1. Good point on his joe vole messi abberation! Don't think he was actually saying he was better than rodwell just that he dominated him in that particular game....

      I agree totally with Karl's point of view, think his passing and tactical awareness are really underated and think he keeps thing ticking over really well. Joe cole aside gerrard is really one to dish out such praise lightly and it is evident he trusts playing alongside him. I still think he should ideally only be an understudy to lucas who is more dominant in centre mid but I would hate to see him leave the club....

      Think rodwell has the athletic attributes and potential to be a really great player but he'd need to start turning in consistent performances soon if he's going to justify the hype

      Looking forward to your team announcement for sunday later today Barry! Think i'd go with same team, possibly putting bellamy in for henderson....

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  14. I like Spearing and think he works hard, but his hard problem like the rest of the team is inconsistency. He's played a lot of games this season with mixed results. When Stevie praises a player I can't help thinking how he said that Joe Cole was similar to Messi. Hilarious!

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  15. David hit the nail on the head with the word 'adequate'....you can't get more adequate than Spearing. He'll neither save you a game or win you a game. It's all well him ticking things over but that won't achieve much in the long run. Liverpool have been dominated in the midfield far too often this season when Gerrard hasn't been there. Teams like Norwich, Swansea, West Brom ect all have better midfield players than Spearing.

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  16. David agree on that Dalglish hasn't helped the situation with Carroll by dropping him every time he has a good game run, but I would like to see him picked from the remaining

    10 games, he must be played, he can only get better by playing more games, hope.

    Lets just go for it, and push everything into the last remaining games.

    Bellamy in for Henderson works for me too.

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  17. Maybe Stevie will be a Ged Houllier type manager - remember Brono Cheyrou comparisons to Zidane and Salif Diao to Patrick Veira!!

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    1. That's exactly the point the team that dominates midfield controls the game, and when our midfield quartet is Spearing, Adam, Hendo & Downing it has the distinct look of a Championship rather Champions League team.

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    2. I said earlier this week that I thought he was a good squad player and Luke picked on the point that I've always made that club like ours should always have home-grown players to fill in the breach, as O'Shea, Phil Neville, Wes Brown did over the years. It's easy to knock the guy, but he is filling in the absence of Lucas and he wasn't originally even the first choice for that. No Adam hasn't been a success, but one could argue that just like Henderson he's been played out of position in the sense that at Blackpool he didn't have to worry so much about tackling - whether they are good enough is another question, but Adam is never going to drive the team forward or be that holding midfield player that Ian Holloway kept saying he was in order to get a higher price.

      Talking about midfield players it would be nice to Suso and Sterling been given their heads in terms of a regular spot on the bench and some playing time. Often think back and wonder what if... in regards to Pacheco who is now languishing on the bench at Rayo Vallecano - over the last few years it seems a certain kind of player makes it out of the reserves and isn't those with a loads of skill, hence the stories about Sterling being disillusioned.

      We have other problems as Barry and Karl pointed out yesterday on the striking front, but Comolli and Dalglish have always said they will rely on young players coming through, which is why I was so underwhelmed watching the under-19s and the youth teams this season and it might just explain why a striker hasn't broken through. Even the much vaunted Adam Morgan is suddenly going through a 'Torres like patch' obviously which we hope he gets over, but it's worrying.

      We've been tracking Javi Martnez for the last two years and he'd never spoken about his future until last week when he mentioned Man United and the same with Hazard, just show where we are in the scheme of things, but there are players out there as the likes of Newcastle have proved with Tiote.

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  18. Just got off the phone with Kenny, we’ve agreed that Bellers in for Downing will be the only change on Sunday. Carry on…..



    Reina



    Kelly Carra Skrtel Enrique



    Hendo Spearing Gerrard Bellamy



    Carroll Suarez

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  19. Baz,

    Given your hotline, he must have mentioned to you why Henderson and not Kuyt or A N Other... any insight? ;-)

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  20. Turns out Hendo is indeed Kenny's love-child... :)

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    1. Barry, are you sure Kenny is willing to play Carroll two games in a row? If he doesn’t play Carroll, I would play Bellamy furthest up field as lone striker allowing him to jet propel himself onto tjpse cumbersome centre halves. Hopefully, Henderson will put in a performance against his old club.

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    2. T reckon we'll play Carroll as much as a defensive option as an attacking one. Stoke have a few big units and like a long throw and set piece as a we all know.

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    3. I don't think he played Carroll last time. I think he went for 6 defenders instead.

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    4. Yeah but that didn't work out too well for us as I recall. Twas 1-1 draw at Anfield and I can't see us making the same mistake on Sunday.

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  21. I strongly believe he will go with threeat the back to combat the aerial threat of Stoke – which Dalglish alwaysseems to do vs Stoke – so I think it will be a three of Coates, Skrtel& Carra.

    Coates has started the last two times wehave faced Stoke – so I feel that Dalglish likes utilising his height butI would go with the same team as the one used vs Sunderlandwith the exception of Bellamy coming in to provide more of a cutting edge fromthe left.

    Downing would have to sit this one out I think.

    My concern about playing three at the backis that if Stoke start with just Crouch up front – we will have 3 playersmarking one forward– which happened in the home game vs Stoke.

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