26 Oct 2012

'They spoiled it!' - Ex-Reds slam 'overrated' Anzhi and 'silly' Suarez...

Liverpool are top of their Europa League group after a rare Stewart Downing goal handed the Brendan Rodgers' side a 1-0 victory over Anzhi last night. The Reds put in a decent performance overall but struggled to break down Guus Hiddink's disappointingly negative team, and after the match, former Liverpool star Jason McAteer revealed his disappointment with Anzhi's negative approach, and accused the Russian club of 'spoiling the game'.

Analysing the game for LFC TV, McAteer - who made 139 appearances for Liverpool - conceded that Anzhi have 'Champions League quality', but bemoaned their lack of adventure on the night. He observed:

"They [Anzhi] were overrated. I was excited coming here tonight, and they had enough quality on the pitch to do a lot better, but they came to spoil the game, and they were boring".

Macca also revealed his 'frustration' with Luis Suarez's performance, complaining that the Uruguayan 'made it hard for the referee at times'. He explained:

"I can see why referees get frustrated; I was frustrated with him! I know he gets bashed about a bit, but as a centre forward, you’re always going to get defenders coming through the back of you, and sometimes you just need to stand up and take it. He falls over too easy and it’s so frustrating".

Ex Reds striker Neil Mellor added:

"He [Suarez] was battling away with the referee and ended up getting booked. They’re mounting up and we need him as he’s our only fit striker, and he doesn’t want to be getting silly yellow cards like that and getting suspended".

I can't see anything but positives to take away from the game:

* Third clean sheet in a row.
* Unbeaten in 5 of the last 6 games.
* No new injury worries.
* Andre Wisdom put in another solid performance.
* Raheem Sterling continues to be impressive.
* Suso got a much-needed rest before Sunday.
* Oussama Assaidi was great all night.
* Another clean sheet for Brad Jones.
* Stewart Downing did something useful for a change.
* Touch of class from BR at the end with Downing and the Kop.

Bring on Everton :-)

Jaimie Kanwar


25 comments:

  1. Completley agree with all your positives.

    Bring on Everton! I think we can win it. They have agruably their 2 best players out dont they? Fellani, and Pienaar.

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  2. Well said Jaimie!, agree with all of your bullet points totally. We look very solid again and Assaidi, Downing and Sterling looked very threatening.

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  3. Is Neil Mellor retired or something? He says "we need him and he's our only fit striker". Sounds like an ex-red pundit talking.

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  4. Yes, he's retired. Knee injury issues. He is an ex-Red, and he did pretty well when he got the chance. He'll always be remembered for that amazing winning goal against Arsenal at Anfield, and for his vital impact against Olympiakos in the 2005 CL run.

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  5. why spend big money when we have so many young players coming through? buy a proven striker and we will be back where we belong soon enough! proud to be a red

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  6. Anzi came for the draw which would have been a decent point given their points tally and the fact they play us at thier place next. McAteer is talking like it's something rare in football. It's always difficult to step up performance having started with a draw in mind then gone behind and it often means nothing happens until the last 5-10 mins when there's little to lose, as we saw last night when Anzi actually created a couple decent opennings.

    I actually think Anzi (and Hiddink) showed us eithr too much respect (read, negative) or too little (i.e. thinking they could easily get a 0-0 at Anfield. As it turns out, except for the wonder strike we hardly tested their keeper even so their plan almost came off. We were only just the better team but against a decent team such as Anzi who top thier league and haven;t lost in 15-odd games we can be very satisfied. Looks like it's all slowly coming together.

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  7. How we supposed to get a 'proven striker' (not one that is in the twilight of his career) without spending 'big money?

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  8. High points for me were Brad Jones in goal and Assaidi. Would like to have seen Suso coming on for Shelvey late on but hopefully he is saving him for the derby. Also what a performance by Wisdom, not a foot wrong all game. Is he really only 19?

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  9. Shelvey was a bit disappointing today. I still prefer Henderson...Don't hate on me!

    But a good win nonetheless and a confidence booster too. Good stuff.

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  10. Overall a solid performance from defense. let's make Anfield a fortress again. Clean sheets is what we want with the 3 points.
    Suarez is wasteful and becoming very predictable in his movements. Defenders have his game sussed out. he has to come out with mew tricks.

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  11. Agree with all the positivity. I wouldn't be too fussed if we sold Suarez for an upgrade. Just my own personal opinion.

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  12. Predicatable, like how he megged one defender in at the beggining twice in about 4 seconds. I dont think they have him sussed. He just needs to convert more chances.

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  13. Abit cringeworthy seeing rodgers shove Downing out at the end loool! made me laugh though!

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  14. I wish Assaidi gets a start, for his performance last night, in the game against Everton with Sterling shifting to Right forward and Suarez upfront.

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  15. A good solid performance. Nice to see Downing put in a solid shift and cap it with a goal, but he has to turn in that sort of contribution consistently and then maybe Brendan won't have to take his hand and ask the Kop for an acknowledgement ! Andre Wisdom was superb. What a future this lad has. Only down side for me was the way that Saurez seemed to go out of his way to pick a fight with the ref. I like Suarez, but if he gets suspended he can only blame himself for incurring stupid yelow cards.

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  16. How do I 'like' the original blog?

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  17. At last we finnally get the replacement of McManamam in the person of Assaidi.

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  18. superb performance, young lads just getting better. suarez was top, what is mcateer talking about, only few run as much with the ball as luis are players supposed to stand off and not make a challenge, and would love to of seen mcateer cope with him in his day.........he wouldnt have

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  19. What is it that most ex players need to voice their opinions ....

    They just bash the owners, the manager, the players, the club - if they can't say something positive about Liverpool Football Club, they better just shut up !!

    There are only a few you need to listen and those are John Barnes, King Kenny and Alan Hansen in my opinion.

    True Liverpool legends !!!!

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  20. The ineptitude of FSG during the transfer window, has left us with one striker, Suarez getting yellow cards and heading towards a possible suspension at some stage, will only highlight their ineptitude further. Mellor and McAteer, should be pointing the finger at their paymasters and not at committed Footballers, who do what they are payed to do, play football.

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  21. what the hell suarez doing on the pitch..he z really stupid to fall down easily..it makes hard 4 ref 2 judge fouls on him..he always tries to do everything on his own too too much& end up being losing possession and fall down plus some dives..he is a player with some extraordinary,on his day he is the best footballer in the caliber but what makes that wast,certainly his attitude...feel sorry for him because if he carries this attitude forever he won't be getting penalty decision ever!!

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  22. We might get Klaas Jan-Huntelaar either for free or at minimal cost...he has another 2-3 yrs in him and in that time, Samed Yesil and Adam Morgan will be competing for 1st eleven...

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  23. I think he's tired... His mentality could do with a lift. He does not have a weak mentality like Torres for instance, but he allows frustrations to get the better of him. His decision making sometimes is a bit strange... so a little more composure for him would be great.

    I do however think he's a goal or 2 off top form...

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  24. hate to say it but the worrying thing for me on thursday night was gerrards performance ,,i love the guy to bits but he really did look out of sorts and ended up giving the ball away with passes that werent there in a part of the field that playing a better team would of been costly,,Am not asking the question should gerrard be dropped am only stating that theres a cause for concern i dont think he,s the same player he was ,and unless his performances get better maybe its time to find him an other position like a holding midfield player,to be honest apart from the utd match i think gerrard has been below his normal playing average since the season started,,,,

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  25. I wonder what tactics we will employ in Russia? it won't be attacking like at Anfield, the team played well until they reached the penalty box then failed to get bodies into the box, that's why we are not scoring goals, that and not shooting enough, you can't walk the ball into the net! crosses going in to a box empty of red shirts, unless we sort that out we will struggle, it's about scoring goals.

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