Results tagged “mascherano” from Liverpool Echo - Another Red Letter Day
IN CONVERSATION with the ECHO's Everton reporter Greg O'Keeffe after Saturday's derby, we both hit upon a similar conclusion.
"Liverpool are Merseyside's new Dogs of War,' we agreed. "It's come a full circle."
FIGHT, passion and commitment.
That's the first way to battle out of a crisis of confidence that is seeping through Anfield at present.
When signs of footballing quality are in short supply, one of the initial things fans demand from their players is effort.
And to be fair to the Reds, last night, they gave us that in spades.
AFTER many of our dismal draws or defeats this season, some fans have been quick to chirp up and say: "What do you expect, when the owners won't financially back the manager?"
A fair point, some would offer.
But dropping points at well-baked Spurs and being held at home to money-bags Man City is one thing. Being outperformed by a side five places from the foot of the Championship is quite another.
AS IF it wasn't hard enough to play a rejuvenated Sunderland side without our two best players.
Minus Torres and Gerrard, even random beach balls are conspiring to work against us now.
I ALWAYS have a sense of gloom when we get ready to play Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
It's never been a happy hunting round for us, and Liverpool performances at their place often follow that samey path of lots of endeavour, but ultimately, a lack of real class that is necessary to topple the strongest squad in the Premiership.
IN A BIZARRE kind of way, Liverpool losing their player of the year might easily end up benefiting the Reds in the long run.
All kinds of flaky rumours sprouting up today about Frenchman Frank Ribery possibly moving to Anfield.
Does, an article posted by www.goal.com add weight to a speculative story? It seems to have been generated by a welter of people lumping a tenner on the winger joining Liverpool, prompting Skybet to slash the odds on Frank playing in front of the Kop.
You can be certain it's been a good night for Liverpool when much-maligned full back Andrea Dossena sprints 60 yards to get into the box, controls and fires into the net of the best keeper in the world with aplomb.
IT'S BEEN a while since a league home game at Anfield has been looked forward to with such little anticipation.
Defeat to Middlesborough, following on from the draw against Man City the week before, had knocked all the fight of every fan alike, it seemed.
AS the clock ticked down towards 90 minutes on early Sunday evening, the knives were being sharpened to further puncture Liverpool's faltering title challenge.
But three mad-cap minutes changed all of that and breathed vital new life into the pursuit of Man Utd's at the top of the table.
AND so to Goodison as for the second time in a week we couldn't find a way to beat a much-depleted but battling Everton side.
No two games could have more perfectly summed up Liverpool's currentl failings in a season that still promises to deliver so much.
Newcastle must be sick of the sight of us.
Come rain or shine, good or indifferent form, Anfield or St James Park, we always give the Toon boys a good whipping.
And with Chelsea being pegged back by Fulham, it's fantastic going into the New Year with a three point lead at the top of the Premiership.
IT'S OFFICIAL. Liverpool are in a bad spell at the moment.
Thankfully, that bad spell is twinned with a professionalism and ability to get results which is just about keeping us on track.
There's no doubt, however, that the unjustified loss to Spurs in the league did more mental damage than we imagined.
Ah, it tastes sweet doesn't it?
All those years of undeserved defeats at the hands of the lucky Mancs momentarily evaporated on Saturday as we once again bossed them off the park at Anfield.
ROBBIE Keane must wonder who the hell he's signed for.
The centre forward is being told to play as a midfielder, as a left winger, there are balls whistling past his earlobes, and he hardly got one shred of decent service to him all afternoon.
That said, Liverpool fans must wonder who the hell we've brought.
Four yards clear, running in on goal, the supposed lightning quick frontman gets caught by that football legend Nigel Reo-Coker and limps a gilt-edged chance wide.
WITH 80 MINUTES on the clock at the Stadium of Light, I might as well have just copy and pasted my blog after the Standard Liege game, posted it under the heading 'Sunderland Game', and nobody would have been any the wiser.
Fortunately, the best striker in the world popped up to spare our ever increasing blushes on Saturday evening.
It's dropped points away at mid-table sides like Sunderland that has prevented us from getting close to Man Utd and Chelsea in recent years.
And I'd go so far to say that Torres's thumping strike was massive, already, in terms of our season.
GOOD job Pepe Reina was Man of the Match, wasn't it?
Any early season optimism was shattered by a a thoroughly dispiriting 90 minutes of football by us last night.
Still, it's early days and we'll defintely get much, much, much better.
But, we hardly looked like a new-look Liverpool team ready to launch our first proper assault on the Premiership title for years, did we?
LIVERPOOL and Everton approach this weekend's Merseyside Derby with their tails somewhat between their legs.
Some chastening draws or defeats have taken the wind out of the sails of barnstorming runs embarked on by both teams.
But that shouldn't hide the fact that this is one of the most important Red/Blue fixtures for years.
Steve Bennett produced a worryingly inept display on Sunday afternoon.
And before anyone interjects, a petulant Javier Mascherano let his side down massively as well.
If what happened at Old Trafford doesn't act as some kind of watershed for a new brand of adult and mature player behaviour and sensible grown up refereeing, then it's a huge opportunity gone begging.
