Dreadfully disappointing but reasonably fair result from a spirited performance, but imo one lacking in quality - continuing schoolboy defending, poor passing that continually conceded possession, limited power and invention from midfield, no punch up front. To our credit we never gave up - well, most of them anyway.

Perhaps the most worrying aspect of tonight's events is the prospect now of facing Arsenal without Speed, Jenas, Dyer, Bellamy and possibly Cort!

Other thoughts?

-- Anonymous, March 06, 2002

Answers

Any chance of a floodlight failure in the SJP area around 5.30pm Saturday?

-- Anonymous, March 06, 2002

Cort's substitution described as tactical - perhaps the speed at Bernards arrival on the pitch backs this up.

Bobby has not suggested any knock post match - so lets hope not

-- Anonymous, March 06, 2002

I'm sure everyone is completely gutted. Not only at the fact we lost but at the lack of creation. We should have had a clear penalty when Xavier pulled down Solano by the neck after Roberts free kick. Solano would have had a clear shot at goal from 1 yard out if he hadn't been pulled down so technically Xavier should have been sent off or at least given a yellow card.

Overall Liverpool looked A LOT better than us. They used the ball a lot better than us and also had many runs through the middle where they should have done better. Our defence was terrible again. Failed to clear,getting in each others way, passing ball back to given when Owen is 1 yard away etc.. First goal was definitely Dabizas's fault.

Robert is a waste of space. I am sick of hearing, "he's fantastic on his day" He's got a great left foot and thats about it. Distin did better in the last 3rd today than Robert. When Distin got the ball down the left he got it into the box. Robert didn't and hardly ever does. I am definitely not trying to blame our defeat on Robert but I really don't rate him. And I do realise that today he had quite a good game for him. He won a couple of free kiks and laid it up nicely for Speed in the first half.

Jenas was fantastic again. And I seriously would say that if all we got from this season was 7th place and the signing of Jenas it would have been a good one. That's how good he is. I'm sure he'll be massive for us in the future.

Given was excellent as well. Maybe he should have dived for the first goal rather than stuck his foot out, but he made some other good saves otherwise it might have been 5-0. I thought Acuna did alright, better than I expected anyway and Cort was OK. Solano did well considering the lack of movement around him.

Prospects..

I am not at all worried about the fact that we've lost 2 on a row. I am slightly bothered that we've failed to score in 2 and haven't made too any chances. I think we are now playing for 4th place and if we win the next few games then we can push for 3rd and possibly 2nd. Looking on the bright side, we don't have to play another top 6 side this season and Dyer and Bellamy should be back soon.

-- Anonymous, March 06, 2002

The difference was in the midfields. Their two central men, Murphy and Hamman scored all three goals. I thought Jenas did well in the first half but tired, not surprisingly, in the second. Speed was struggling from early on, Acuna didn't do much when he came on, Solano was excellent, Robert was poor. So we had one and a half in midfield compared to their four!

I didn't think, individually, the defence did that badly. Bastard Owen didn't do a serious amount of damage and Heskey and Anelka were both playing quite wide, although they did pull us about a bit and make the space for their midfield to use.

[Diversion here - does anyone remember some little toys that were quite popular about 20 years ago called Weebles? They were advertised on the telly with the catchphrase "Weebles wobble but they don't fall down". Owen is definitely not a weeble.]

Al worked his socks off without a great deal of decent service. I thought Cort had moments but was obviously far from match fit.

All of this, of course, is from the telly rather than being there. I await a proper response from someone who was watching the game and not a box.

-- Anonymous, March 06, 2002

Bobby wrote off any chance of Dyer, Bernard and possibly Speed for Saturday. I noticed at the end he tried what we'd all wanted - Robert with Shearer and Bernard wide left. Robert was poor, actually piss- poor - one of the one's Bobby pointed out as looking fearful. Jenas poor at times, much better at others. I felt Hughes had a poor game too but I'd like a second opinion. Maybe it was just him coping with the threat on their left. No overlapping runs and lots of panic kicks.

Pluses were Solano, Distin and Shearer - Al looked our best midfield player for quite a while. It's annoying to keep their forwards quiet and have their midfield walk through to score. This was one of 'Pools best performances of the season (and certainly Anelkas) but I suppose we shouldn't be surprised. They usually save their best for us.

We went through spells when we couldn't pass for toffee. At other times I thought we might get into the game. In the end I'm just pleased these games are over and we can get on with our season - after Saturday. We're only 4 points behind them with a game in hand. If we can get back to winning there's a few twists left yet.

-- Anonymous, March 06, 2002

I'd sell Robert for £5M and spend it on Distin.

I've backed Robert up to now but the guy is just not a premiership player. He's cack. If he's a flair player... then let's see the flair ... he isn't.

I'll be slow to criticise Cort although he had a poor game as he is just back from injury.

Robert should start on the bench on Saturday (if at all) and maybe contribute the pathetic amount he has in his locker in the last 20mins.

-- Anonymous, March 06, 2002

Robert was terrible overall. 12 million quid FFS. But if we drop him, he'll be off.

-- Anonymous, March 06, 2002

that would be good

-- Anonymous, March 06, 2002

Who is this fecking Robert bloke ? On the basis of tonight's showing, he can p1ss off back to disneyland as soon as he likes. Completely inept. Never put a foot right. Complete waste of space. We did everything wrong tonight. How many of us posted that if we just kept hoisting high balls into their half, we'd be doomed I tell you, doomed ?

Sure enough, that's what we kept doing. If we were aware of that, why weren't they ? Completely lacking in guile from back to front.

Gutted, me, that's what I am. We ran around like blue arse flies, going exactly where Liverpool wanted us to go.

How the feck can one man missing make that amount of difference ? I'm not even sure that Bellamy would have made a difference tonight.

Welcome to the real world, that was the outcome of tonight's display, as far as I'm concerned.

By the way, this is a conditioned reflex for which I'll apologise and of which I'll think better in the morning, but at the moment, they can all get fucked.

-- Anonymous, March 06, 2002

I could not and would not defend Robert on tonights showing. He stood and watched people running past him. On the other flank you have an player who probably hasn't been blessed with the same talent who played out of his skin in Solano, I'd have another Solano in Robert's place on the left with a tab in my mouth.

I thought of starting at thread titled "Like a desert misses rain" like that stupid song about how Bellamy is our season. Big Al was superb but without his ploy is gonna look gormless. Like I've been shouting in the club (a bit pissed) we've been beaten by two sides in the top four but haven't looked out of our depth, I would never expect to get anything there (Anfield) at the start of the season, it's only the fact we've outdone ourselves that expectations are so high.

A champions league place beckons so if we beat the lesser sides and build on it were doing OK

I would love to say that we deserved a goal but from where - Acuna, I wouldn't miss the bloke if he left tonight.

-- Anonymous, March 06, 2002

It's nearly 1 am just got back to Manchester and to say I'm pissed off is an understatement. In fact I'm going to have to have tomorrow off work to recover..........

Bloody awful. Robert is a disgrace. I was right next to the corner flag and saw him stroll around there numerous times when he should have been attacking the ball.

The rest huffed and puffed and i couldn't say anyone had a really terrible game but they were totally outclassed in every department and at times it was embaressing.

Now we know we can't underestimate Bellamy's contribution to our team. He WOULD have made a difference tonight because he would have ran at the Pool defence, taking defenders with him and leaving space for others, even if he hadn't scored. No one else was doing this job.

My worry is though - that unless we start picking up results - Leeds and Chelsea could overtake us. We must get back to winning ways and get Bellamy and Dyer back.

Also if Speed and JJ not in mf on Saturday do we have Acuna and McClen up against Viera etc. brilliant.

BTW - Liverpool won't win the league - Arsenal are much better than them.

-- Anonymous, March 06, 2002

I don't think we should blame the defence. Individually and as an entity I think they stood up well against Liverpool's onslaught. The fault lay in the midfield where we had no one to take control. It was not a coincidence that all three goals were scored by their midfielders. The first goal would not have happened if our left back was not in their right corner to take a throw in. On the counterattack Hughes had to go acroos and Murphy was unmarked. I hope that is the last time we try that. Shearer I thought played well, Cort should not have been thrown in as he was not up to full fitness - - fatal when playing Liverpool. Robert was a disgrace. Can we ask for our money back.

-- Anonymous, March 06, 2002

Trying to salvage something positive out of that game this morning. To be honest, I think the defence did well not to let a few more in - Liverpool seemed to be really be up for it last night. Shay made some great saves, Distin worked really hard. Amazingly, under all that pressure we occasionally played some proper passing type football, and there was a spell, before we conceeded our first, when I thought we might be able to scrape something. Shearer worked his socks off, Solano had an excellent game, Jenas looks full of promise, Acuna, OK not the greatest of talents, worked hard when he came on. Overall we never gave in and kept fighting till the end.

On the downside, Court definately is not ready to be back, Acuna missed a sitter (but maybe it looked easier than it was), we should have had a penalty, and Robert should be ashamed of himself. The key to this game was Robert pulling out a performance and he didn`t. Distin made more impact up front than he did.

Had we got the penalty, and had Acuna scored, we would have been looking at the game as a typical Liverpool v Newcastle battle. However, `if only` doesn`t count for much, and at the moment I`m feeling that I`ll just be pleased when Saturday is over.(:o|

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2002

Galaxy, I didn't think Acuna's miss looked easy. When you are leaning back like he was, it's very difficult to get over the ball and keep it down, if that chance had fallen to a taller player we would have scored.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2002

After watching the game last night and reading the comments on here this morning I've come to these two points...

1) We are a one trick pony. Without bellamy we are nothing. This was not always the case, but this is what we have become. Do you really think that if Dyer was playing instead of Robert, he would have done any better? The entire team was rubbish, except for Shay "best keeper in england" Given who was outstanding, again.

2) Did anyone really expect us to win this? I said at the start of the game that I'd rather we win on Saturday and lost tonight. We were never going to win the league, that was always going to be ManUre's.

At the end of the day Liverpool are going to win fcuk all and we're going to win the cup.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2002

Fair comment Kegsy, and it did all look very frantic in there at the time. (:o)

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2002

We tried to play football, we do move the ball around well on the right hand side, the forwards did come off their defenders to jooin the play up, Jenas has some wonderful moments.

We usually sit in the Family Enclosure well up from the pich level so this was our first view closer to the action. I am not one to criticise players until they've had a while in the side, and particularly not when they have the ability to do something special, so I haven't had a go at Robert. Last night was different though. He does suffer badly from not having players moving around him, helping space appear, and like others is far better when the pace of Dyer and Bellamy are moving fast and pulling defenders around. His reaction to the ball running away from him was just unacceptable. Letting the ball run out when it was only 50:50 it would, and the Liverpool player reaching it was bad, but not chasing a ball late on as it trickled away was disgraceful. It doesn't make him a bad player but it does wind the crowd up. He seems to be the anti-matter version of Warren Barton, there was a player who had no skill at all but was 100% commitment, now we have a player who can score spectacular goals and beat players but looks to have 0% commitment.

If only we'd got Lovenkrands !

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2002

Lovenkrands ? Didn't he go missing with Guldenstern, mac ?

Slightly hungover but otherwise as sane again as I'll ever be. Beautiful spring morning out, but it might as well be p1ssing down.

The only positive I can come up with is that the plan worked perfectly - Owen hardly got a kick. Pity they forgot that lpool aren't the one man band we are.

Roll on Saturday, the sooner we bottom out the better. :-{E{

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2002

I didn't go to the game so this is based in impressions from highlights and what others have said.

Firstly, the depressing thing is that we came away from Anfield with the same scoreline at the end of last season when we were just about at the point of signing me. Last night, we were two players away from our first choice team. This suggests that Bellamy has papered over a lot of cracks, particularly because his pace in the counter takes the heat off the defence. In actual fact, I think Dyer would have made a difference because he has similar pace and is tremendously effective playing up front. Remember SJP last season where he almost single- handedly won the game against Liverpool (although he played in the middle that day)? How impotent our attack is without Bellamy or Dyer shows that attacking options can't be ignored in the summer.

Robert only works when we are winning. I can't wait to see his interview today because if he slags the rest of the team off, I'm going to have fairly plain words on his forum as it seems the lads and lasses who were at the game thought he was sh*te, too.

The defence were up against it and all the good things, like overlapping fullbacks, went out of the window because we were under such pressure. Maybe we need to try to play our normal game more, but I'm not slagging off the defence alone because we looked to be giving possession away very cheaply which always doubles the pressure on the defence.

We always lose at Anfield so there's nothing new in it. I just hope that successive defeats don't depress the lads too much. We have a lot of winnable games and we should see Dyer or Bellamy at some point soon.

Furthermore, we've got Jenas. Us. Not Liverpool. Not Man Utd. Not Leeds. Us.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2002

Firstly, the depressing thing is that we came away from Anfield with the same scoreline at the end of last season when we were just about at the point of signing me.

Did you fail the medical?

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2002

No, London Lady Lawyers' League offered me better terms.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2002

Haven't contributed for a while, so it seemed like4 the right time to re-enter the fray. Like everyone else I was a tad disappointed with what I saw last night. However, there were some positives (I thought). Jenas looks tremendous for a bairn, very impressive. Nobby ran his socks off and gave one of his best performances of the season. Distin tried like hell to make things happen, and his tackling was excellent. Cort performed like I'd have expected after such a long lay off, but at least he kept going. Shay was brilliant. Robert is a luxury we cannot afford, and I've thought that for a while. I'd prefer to see Bernard playing, at least he gives the impression of somebody trying and he looks interested. Robert is a waste of a clean shirt, and if YBR can't motivate his french arse then I would advocate getting shot. So there you have it. (the glass is still half full and we're heading for Europe)

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2002

Even if Cort wasnt match fit I think he looked more up to it then Shola.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2002

Floridan - you're post reminded me, I was screaming at the TV when Distin took that throw in the right corner! I said to my son he shouldn't be taking them 'cos they break so fast we could be caught short at lb. What happened? - they broke quickly and scored! My son blames me for wishing it on us!

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2002

I'm afraid I had precisely the same thought Pilgrim about Distin's right wing throw in - indeed I seem to recall someone on here recently predicting that sooner or later that would happen. Not exactly rocket-science, is it.

Actually, I had a real bad feeling about things last night after listening to BR on Sky - who was clearly the only person on the planet who believed Heskey would play against Distin on their right wing!

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2002

Another fully expected defeat, but we should not be too despondent. We all knew our title hopes died with Bellamy’s knee. Make no mistake, though. I think with Dyer and Bellamy we would have beaten Liverpool. They were missing Gerrard, but our first eleven is at least a match for theirs. Can any of us imagine even being able to think that a year ago?

Having seen the game on dodgy Serbian TV here are my player reviews:

Given – Should have done better with their first, although he was wrong-footed slightly. Has improved so much with his kicking, and even dribbled around Liverpool attackers with ease a couple of times.

Hughes – Top-class right back in the making and almost made. Defended very well and provides neat links on the flank.

Distin – His pace, strength and distribution will be vital when he plays in the centre next season. Nice to have someone who can throw the ball long (one in the second half was enormous) as we’ve conceded so many shite goals from this tactic in the past. A real asset.

Dabizas – Always a threat to the goal at either end. Has the unhappy knack of returning the ball to the opposition when blocking/defending. See Murphy’s second. Squad place for Nikos next season.

O’Brien – Excellent tackling and covering in general. Just a little improvement and we’ll have a top-class defender.

Solano – Busy performance meant he generally kept momentum in our attacks. Harried his men well, but his open-play crossing was not up to its usual standard.

Jenas – A Rolls-Royce of a player. Who is not purring at the thought of Jenas and Dyer together in the middle? Took so much responsibility as the youngest man on the pitch.

(Speed – Probably entered the match with the knock as he did nothing, but at least we were spared those miskicks that have been a feature of his game over the last few weeks.)

Replaced by Acuna – Should have scored (twice) within seconds of coming on. Did little wrong, but appeared to lose out in challenges by getting fouled without Winter blowing for it.

Robert – Yet another frustrating performance from Lolo. Has to learn to make a second challenge in certain situations when the ball is up for grabs or he’s just lost it (watch Nobby). Crossed superbly, and his crosses/shots always looked our likeliest route to goal in open play. The Serbian commentator also said he was on his way to Inter. Anybody else seen a sniff of this story? This would be a shame as I think given the work he needs to put in to meet the challenges of the English game he could be a key player next season.

Shearer – Needs a rest. Battled away with total commitment in attack and defence, but his passing was not up to its usual standards. It was mostly excellent, but once or twice his lay-offs to the right wing arrived very awkwardly for the flank players. Was generally nowhere near the box when the crosses came in.

Cort – Should not have started. Way off the pace. Neatest thing he did was to slap he ball into their net, for which he should have been booked. The run-out would have done him good, but if he plays in the future it should be instead of Shearer, not with him. Never saw him face the goal except at set pieces.

Bernard – Good to see him back in favour. Next season’s left back?

All-in-all we played fairly well despite the scoreline, and should have scored in this game. For me the highlight was seeing Distin give Anelka a five-yard start and still beat him to the byeline. I though Anelka played well, incidentally, and would have looked good in our side as a Bellamy replacement. Now we have to make sure of at least fourth, although I’ll be confident of doing that when Little Kevin and Craig return. Hard to see us making it through on Saturday, but you never know. We didn’t have much goalmouth luck against Liverpool.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2002

I can't see Inter needing him to tell the truth.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2002

" By the way, this is a conditioned reflex for which I'll apologise and of which I'll think better in the morning, but at the moment, they can all get fucked."

Classic ! Pitt Bill

Made me smile that did.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2002

Nearly over it Hiro, There are only one or two now for whom the sentiment still applies.

Along the lines of the Distin throws, I'm also waiting for the first goal we'll concede because of Shay coming miles out to take free kicks. Bound to happen.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2002

lot of jibes at individual players when we're getting beat, but nothing really has changed all season.

we are undermanned in central midfield and have been all season except the few games that dyer played.

when bellamy plays this isn't so much an issue because he's a great outlet, one hopeful long ball into space and he'll get it or get near enough to harras the defender. without bellamy you've got one old CF who can't run and one young one(cort or ameobi) who wants to play the exact same game.

our wide players are good, sure robert has made some mistakes in the last few games but he's worked hard. the reason he isn't turning games is that by the time he gets the ball out wide there are 2 or usually 3 defenders covering him. if you include the touchline that's like being marked by 4 players. folks were complaining that he didn't skin lee dixon on saturday, he would have if he could have got past vierra and grimandi first.

what's my point here?

point is it's ridiculous to judge individual players in a vacuum. shearer was a hero 3 weeks ago, last 2 games he's looked like a sunday morning player without bellamy to carry his bags. speed was simmilarly hailed when dyer was in the team and he didn't need to move out the center circle, on saturday he looked like a little boy next to vierra. the strengths and weaknesses of the team have been the same all season, the squad isn't big enough to cope with the loss of certain key players, but blaming individuals for doing what they've been doing all season is ridiculous.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2002

RE: Distin's throw in, I forgot to post about that earlier, me and my brother thought exactly the same thing.

I said to him, watch them go and score now with a break down their right wing. Low and behold, it went and happened. I know we were under pressure but this was stupid. It wouldn't have been so far, but the throw was nowt special, in fact you could have thrown in further without any arms.

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2002

Anyone else think Robert's work rate has actually improved recently? A few weeks ago he was reluctant to cross the half way line. Now he actually comes back and contributes a bit to defending. He still looks petrified of tackling however. Could it be a transitional period, where he is changing the way he plays, but it takes a bit of time?

Bobby Robson has a wealth of experience and has surely come across similar players to Robert in the past, both in attitude and ability. There MUST be something BR sees as as asset otherwise Bernard would be played surely?

-- Anonymous, March 07, 2002