13 Mar 2012

Macca: Everton were rubbish, and it was an 'easy game' for Liverpool...

To suggest that Liverpool are over-reliant on Steven Gerrard is a massive understatement, but once again, with the club going through a bad spell, it was down to the Captain to inspire Liverpool to victory, which he did in style with a brilliant match-winning hat-trick against Everton.

After three league defeats in a row, another loss was unthinkable, but there was no way more negative history was going to be made tonight, especially at Anfield. Defeat was never really an option anyway thanks to David Moyes, who made the damaging decision to keep several of his most important players on the bench. What better way to hand the initiative to the opposition?

Co-commenting on the game for ESPN, Liverpool legend Steve McManaman was overjoyed with the victory, but the self-confessed Everton fan was highly critical of Moyes' team selection, and Everton's overall performance. He argued:

"I didn't like what he [Moyes] did [with team selection]; I'd rather have a full team out and then bring people off if he wants to rest people.

"The way they [Everton] went about the game was poor. Application was poor; no real fight; no real vigour; no real aggressive attitude. It was a real poor performance tonight, and an easy game for Liverpool.

"Overall, a great night. The Skipper's back on goalscoring form and that's how we like to see him. There will be lots of smiles around the place now, and so there should be".


Beating Everton is always fantastic, and hopefully it will provide the catalyst for Liverpool to go on a positive run. However, one victory does not define a season, and it doesn't magically make everything perfect.

The problems that existed yesterday still exist now, and winning one game doesn't change the very valid criticism levelled against the team and manager over the last few weeks.

It's the age-old conflict between short-termism and taking the long-view: in difficult times, the short-termers will latch onto anything positive and make it the centre of their universe, trying to convince anyone who'll listen that everything is okay. Conversely, those - like myself - who take the long view, will place the positives into the proper context, and measure them against overall progress (or lack thereof).

Thus, for me, in the context of the season so far, one victory against Everton - which moves the team to within (a less than impressive) 10 points of 4th placed Arsenal - is nothing to get excited about. If this victory begets a 5 or 6 game unbeaten run, that will be the time to get excited.

I'm not suggesting one way of thinking is better than the other; everyone is entitled to think whatever they like, but I personally prefer cold, hard realism; and the reality here is that Liverpool have won only two out of the last 9 league games.

Still, as McManaman said, it's a 'great night' for Liverpool, but hopefully in a few weeks, we'll be talking about a great month for the club, and not just one solitary highlight.

Jaimie Kanwar


35 comments:

  1. Hopefully the start of a winning streak that will see out the season. It's a pity we have to have a run of poor games before the message gets across. Captain Fantastic to the rescue - yet again. Brilliant link up play from Suarez and even Henderson didn't play too badly. More of the same please.

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  2. Youneverwalkalone69611:35 pm, March 13, 2012

    please stay suarezzzz

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  3. Everton weren't at their best and I think its clear where we are in that they don't pick their best team any more. Even so, 3 points and we might get 6th!

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  4. When Liverpool lose, Jaimie can't wait to shout "LIVERPOOL ARE RUBBISH"
    When Liverpool win... "It was only because the opposition were rubbish"

    When Liverpool win a trophy... "Yeah, but it's a rubbish competition"

    If Liverpool manage to finish fourth it will be... "Fourth is rubbish, winning the title is what it's all about"

    Lifting the Champions League... "No, Rafa is still an absolutely rubbish manager because he could only finish second in the league"

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  5. Yeah Rednapp is a disgrace to the cause.  Its alright saying its a mickey mouse cup but you still have to win it - penalties or no penalties.  Anyway we're good at pens! Come on you redmen!

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  6. Great win, but it feels a little empty with 4 spot all ready gone. Makes me think tho that if Kenny could get a good goal scorer next year as well as a top right winger to takeover Henderson's place and then Lucas coming back Liverpool could do well..

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  7. Also tonight Liverpool did better without Adam, no surprise there..

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  8. Stefan Thorgrimsson12:20 am, March 14, 2012

    This victory buys KD more time, I was hoping for a Everton win to seal KD fate. 

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  9. for me tonight although SG was  a deserved motm he was run close by Kelly.I thought he was outstanding in defence and attack. Henderson also had a better game as did Suarez and Carroll. There are 10 games left in the PL i would like to see a settled line up but I would like to see Shevley introduced ahead of sprearing because imo he is a better player and also lets have some more of this younger talent we are told about on the bench (Stirling etc) For me Adam needs to go back to basics and shouldnt be around the first team at all. Probably wont happen but its a great game fuelled by vastly different opinions 

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  10. Padraig O'Connor1:03 am, March 14, 2012

    It might be argued that at times you take a short term view but in a negative light.

    I don´t subscribe to the opinion that those who are positive are deluding themselves and those being negative are merely being realistic. You can be realistic with a positive or negative slant.

    Those like myself (the optimistic types) take the long term view also. I wasn´t expecting for the change to happen overnight. I wasn´t EXPECTING to qualify for the Champions´ League this year. We´ve had a tough couple of seasons. There was a major overhawl done last summer. Albeit, some of the signings haven´t thus far worked out. Some may still turn it around. Some may not. We´ll have to wait and see. We spent money, but that doesn´t guarentee success.

    Hope is not such a bad thing. It´s the thing that sustains the fans "through the storm". Sometimes good things happen against the odds (Istanbul for example). Sometimes we need a little patience. In the meantime, there´s nothing wrong with criticising, but there has been progress made. Statistics don´t tell the whole story.

    Just as one victory does not make a season, neither does one statistical chunk of the season. Let´s see where we are by the end of the season, and then we can decide if progress has been made.

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  11. Everton know where they are in the food chain and realise their ambition is the domestic cup, so they tailored their team to reflect that. Maybe we should be like that too, considering our woeful league form. 

    Well done to Stevie G for taking full advantage of a very poor Everton side and to the lads as well, as per usual turning up in the big games.

    Where would we be without Stevie G. You know what, I don't want to think about that as the thought scares me as to where we would be without him. Urgh.

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  12. Yashasvi Diptivilasa3:00 am, March 14, 2012

    You're the kind of guy who would be criticizing the team even if we win the league.

    Don't you think short termers are also those who take one defeat and make it seem like everything is going wrong at the club, while long termers will understand that any team building exercise takes time.
    Progress has not been made since last season you say? Well, we have won the League Cup(I don't consider that all that important except getting a monkey off our backs), but more importantly, we now have a young and vibrant squad, not an aging one with the likes the Poulsen, Jovanovic, Degen and Voronin.

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  13. I didn't get to watch the 2nd half, but if the first was anything to go by, it was a fantastic team performance and we got the victory it deserved. I wouldn't say we had to rely on Gerrard to win it, but definitely to score the goals. His first goal was very well taken, and I'm shocked it has never occurred to any of our forwards to shoot cleverly. However, why I say it isn't all down to him is because Jay, Jose, Jordan, Carroll, Downing, Kelly and Suarez all played their parts in sending the ball up the pitch swiftly and moving to accomodate each other - great stuff! Everyone seemed to know what they were doing, much like the Arsenal game, only this time we won. Like the Arsenal game, we pressed the opponent and didn't let them play much - like how Sunderland pressed us and we pressed them simultaneously, resulting in the dross on the pitch.

    Everton weren't as poor as Macca made them out to be. They fielded a very strong lineup nonetheless. They had to bench some players because they wouldn't be able to play at their best without a week's rest. Alot of us forget how necessary the week's rest is in enabling players to perform to their potential. They may be fitter than the rest of us, but Rafa did do an analysis on his site with stats to back the fact that without the rest, players' performances did drop.

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  14. 1st of all congratulation to our team. Tbh each player played well except henderson. I knew we will win against Everton because it's a derby match and derby match always not up to the current form + we always win a big match but loss against lesser team. Espanyol 4 example. They are not a strong team as their local rival Barcelona, but when it comes to derby day they will match or even do better than barca. Hope we can carrying this kind of performance until the end of the season, if not i'm afraid KD should just have to resign for both liverpool & his own good.

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  15. In our last 5 games we've played Man Utd (L), Spurs(D) , Arsenal(L) & Everton(W) !!!!

    We played well against all these sides and have been unfortunate not to have taken more points.

    I agree that 1 win does not change a very average season, but what it does show is that if & when we can get this group fit and playing well, we are damn good....

    Lets not demean EFC here , on the current form table they are in the top3 and have been dominating sides the last 2 months.

    This is a big, high pressure win, there was so many negative feelings around LFC this week and the players managed to go out and perform at a level that we all knew was there.

    Yes SG8 is aging, but every team has their big gun...City rely on Silva, Utd Rooney, Arsenal RVP , Spurs Modric......LFC have 2 maybe 3 players who can change the course of a game.

    I thought that AC was immense, he was physically up for it and the only time he went down was from a Fellaini elbow...Suarez too was sublime , Hendo showed glimpse of superb vision, Cara turned into Franco Baresi !! Skrtel is just playing out of his socks....


    Lets be positive and enjoy our victory, there are still 30 points to play for and we have played all our major rivals except Chelsea...

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  16. Everton were on fire before this game and were perhaps marginal favourites. before we dominated Europe all we heard about was the flamboyant Spanish,The silky Italians,The sublime Dutch,The Clinical Germans....when we started winning the European Cup for fun it turned out these guys werent actually that good and Liverpool's achievements were devalued by the same media who lauded the Europeans to the skies. You can only beat what's in front of you and Liverpool did that

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  17. True fan.Idiot

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  18. The victory itself was massive and much needed against a confident Everton side playing well having beat Chelsea, Man City and Spurs recently.

    This does not define the season, but for christ sake, enjoy it!!!! Always a negative spin put to enforce negative opinions.Doing the league double over Everton is always nice.

    Everyone has their opinions of the season so far and rightly so too many draws do not reflect our true deserved position(IMO)

    LFC need to learn off Man Utd, they are so average in so many games but have match winners and end up winning games where they should have been dead and buried!! Man Utd would not be top if points were based on performances.

    LFC lack the clinical finishing touch, anyone who has played football knows the hardest part is creating chances and as the Chances Converted table shows we are bottom!!! This is alot easier to rectify than our overall style of play and trying to create chances.

    performance wise we have been excellent in so many games this season, so in my opinion this is progress, including 6 out of the 8 home drawn games and deserved more.

    Time is the key aspect here, chopping and changing is working for Chelsea I see!!!!progression was always going to be long term in the owners eyes, shame too many fans not sharing the same vision and expecting too much too soon!!!! Just enjoy the way we pass and move the ball, creating chance after chance, I have loved watching us play at home lately, loads of chances created, bit of luck here or there(Woodwork smashed more times than I can Count, Sure you have the correct figure JK), outstanding goalkeeping witnessed at Anfield from Ruddy, Robinson, QPR reserve Keeper, Szezney, Begovic!!!!!!
    True, we are not where we had hoped in the league and Chelsea and Arsenal have been worse than us for most part of the season, but I am convinced we are not that far away

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  19. Jamie - as a long term reader of the site, I can say that I value the alternative view you offer.  However, I much preferred the old way you did it.  A couple of years ago you would have done your research, analysed the stats and then made a reasoned argument to back up your opinion.  That's why I read your comments because you just don't get that on Sky Sports or from reading any of the papers. 

    For example, you used to analyse Crouch and his value to the team in terms of goals, assists etc.  Now you just seem to search for a negative quote from anywhere you can get it (usually Steve Nicol on ESPN), quote it, and then use it to back up your negative views.  This kind of gutter journalism is beneath you and you should go back to the old ways.

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  20. Caught_pants_down1:05 pm, March 14, 2012

    It's an illusion that Man U have match winners. They play dross for long spans, waiting for the opportunity to set up a perfect counter, and when they do and eventually score a goal, they normally have 2-3 players in goalscoring positions.


    Man City has match winners, Chelsea has match winners, Arsenal has RvP who proved you can play Arsenal off the park, but he only needs half chances. All these teams and how we've been playing before Arsenal, we all tend not to get enough players into dangerous positions when the final ball is delivered. For most of the season, Downing would have been very lucky if there had been even 1 of our guys in a good position to cross to when he had beaten a fullback. If Man U had Downing, they'd be scoring for fun.

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  21. Pretty ridiculous to equate short-termism to blind positivity. No logical foundation to that at all.

    As pointed out by someone else, long-termism doesn't need to be anhedonic and 'cold' as Jaimie puts it.

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  22. IDIOT!!! You'd want Everton to beat us at Anfield?? Are you Jaime in disguise??

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  23. Skyrtle didn't put a foot wrong tonight and had to cover on several occasions for Carragher the Hoof getting caught out. Shelvey and Spearing are totally different players, Spearing as great last night, Shelvey would be found out of position to much, why this big push for Shelvey?? Oh yeah he had a good spell in the Championship!! 

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  24. Yikes, we sure find it hard to say anything good about the red mancs don't we

    To non-Liverpool fans, we must sound so petty and bitter sometimes

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  25. Theycallmemrburt2:47 pm, March 14, 2012

    Moyes disapointed me.  He played a weakened side so he could compete in the cup on the weekend.  Everton's 1st team isn't the best as it is so to field a reserve side.........

    Moyes is in position to replace Redknapp at Spurs if Harry goes to England, a cup final or cup final success could gaurantee him the job.  I think Moyes let a lot of fans down on both sides last night to fulfill his own personal ambitions.  It's not something he has done before but who can blame him Everton are a static club going nowhere.  

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  26. Agreed, he made 6 changes. It was a good win and a decent performance, but when you see Carroll playing cross field passes and knocking balls round the corner for Suarez, you suspect the opposition were not at it 100%. Last time we won 3-0 everyone went overboard as well. We beat Wolves, everyone said what a great performance it was, people who wondered were called negative. Next thing you see, after a 2-2 draw at Newcastle, Wolves get stuffed 5-1 at home to WBA. 2 games after that, Fulham are beating them 5-0. The team Everton play on Saturday will be a lot stronger and fired up than that team. But at least we were fired up, unlike saturday. But that game is not a turning point and nothing has changed.

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  27. Yes, there was me thinking that Rooney, Young and Hernandez, in particular, were match winners. Not to mention that they still have Giggs and Scholes knocking in the goals at places like Norwich. If only we had so few match winners!

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  28. It is a positive observation about the Mancs! They're just about the only team that sets up those types of counters. When they do counter, they typically score. They don't count on anyone in particular to win them a game, although they could do it - in particular Paul Scholes hemming us back at OT, but generally, their game is all about their team effort to create high probability chances as opposed to the fluff that requires a genuine match winner or luck to capitalise on which characterises all the other premier league sides.

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  29. They have a tendency to have all their potential goalscorers arriving at the box at the same time. When Man U scores, they typically have both strikers and a midfielder waiting to pounce.

    Suarez's dribbling is only of any good with someone else waiting to pounce as Stevie demonstrated not once but twice in this match, and when Kuyt put 3 past the Mancs last year. Suarez isn't very fast, so it gives our other players enough time to get into shooting positions which seldom ever happens.

    Except for a better shot, Young isn't very different from Downing. His team just reads him better. Suarez is also going to create more half chances than Hernandez ever will - but Hernandez is a superb finisher, which our players can be if they kept their cool and got into position. When Stevie robbed Suarez to everyone's surprise to score, that said it all.

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  30. Spot on and couldnt have put that any better myself.

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  31. Trust me mate it pains me to say positive points about Man Utd but gota accept they are where they are due to how they win games they should nt and due to th players such as Hernandez, Nani, Rooney, even Giggs, they might  not be in the game for 89mins and somehow always pop up at the end with match winners.
    As for bloody Chelsea having match winners, really struggling to think of any of these??

    Torres maybe!!!!??????

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  32. Either you have Hernandez's (Gomez, RVP, etc) level of finishing or you don't.   Our players may improve in terms of finish but to be 'superb' like natural composed players in front of goal like Hernandez, Gomez, Falcao, etc, simply isn't going to happen.

    But we have made our bed with the players we bought. We got to do the best we can with them.

    Young is different from Downing, in the sense that he can make things happen on his own as illustrated by his dribbling when cutting inside the box which has earned at least 2 penalties this season. He is different from Downing that he has a better 'bottom level', he can make something happen out of nothing on a bad day, whereas Downing couldn't hit a barn door if it was right in front of him on a bad day. Partially, to do with being in a wing play team like United, yes, but also, Young is simply better and more dynamic. They aren't that similar at all, Young is good at coming inside from the wing especially when carrying/dribbling it, whereas Downing doesn't seem to be anywhere near as comfortable at doing so. Downing really should be left out on the left, none of this coming inside from the right as he doesn't suit it.

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