****in' top!!! Man of the match! Skrtel was responsible for Cardiff's first goal, awful defending, but redeemed himself after that. Carroll didn't have a good game, Suarez was bloody unlucky, Adam worked hard, so did Johnson, so did Bellers. Kuyt is a god! Henderson was ****. Cardiff were ****in' hot. My nerves are ripped to shreds. I'm going to have a seizure....
Pretty much spot on. Carroll was back to his normal "can't be bothered to attack the ball" self, although he had his uses defensively
I got bashed last week for saying Downing isn't playing as bad as everyone makes him out to be and it was mostly the strikers which make him look bad. Downing is a class player on his day, he's just been having an average (not terrible) season. Today proved that when he steps up, he's quality. I don't care who the oposition was, Cardiff played fantastically and defended well, anyone would have had to play well to get through them on that performance. Go Stewie! Keep on improving.
Yes, the penalty shootout which we won *shakes head* Do you even watch games? Or do you just judge people's performance based on their reputation?
Carroll made me so angry - lazy git!! That time he passed to Suarez in the box then just stood 20 yards out not being bothered to move whilst Suarez worked his ass off to make something before realising he had noone to pass to. Kuyt showed him later what he should have done - charged into the box, pressurised the defence, and scored!! I was v pro giving Carroll more time, before today, to see if he can blossom into a drogba, but his attitude / personality seem all wrong... At best I think we should loan him next season.
I completely agree with this, he just looked uninterested which is a real shame after his recent improvement in form
Bit harsh on Carroll. He didn't make runs in the box, but I think it was more a positional error than effort. Replays of Cardiff's chances second half show him lunging in for blocks, harassing defenders etc. He got into our box and made some great defensive headers. He is finally holding the ball up and spreading play, which he did really well - took a couple of difficult high passes throughout the game. Was unlucky not to put his backward glancing header on target, it was a lovely effort.
Carroll's improved alot the last few weeks, he actually WINS headers now and fights for them which he didn't do at the start of the season, he harrasses much more, lays off balls nicely (almost setup Suarez brilliantly but luis was a few yards offside not expecting it) and almost scored himself. That said, he lacks the instinctive positional sense that a number 9 requires. If he develops this part of his game before the start of the next season, I'll be happy.
Carroll's highlight of the game - lunging dive to put pressure on Kenny Miller who should have done better. Overall, poor game from him. I do agree that he looks a lot more aggressive in the air now but everything else about his game is poor. The players simply do not want to pass to his feet, his positional sense is atrocious - why the hell was he on the 18 yard line when wingers are trying to cross? As soon as we put Kuyt on, we played better football. Ball on the deck, passing around the box rather than trying to cross the ball aimlessly. Going back to the OP - brilliant from Downing. Good pace and dribbling, ran at the full backs and put in some good balls. Was a genuine threat and attacking outlet for us!
I watched Moneyball before the game yesterday after i ran out of pre-Final build-up programs and one of the interesting things is how subjective factors can lead to misrating players. Carrol didn't have his best game, and yet he was far from the horror show some are making out. For a start he won the first header in the build-up to Skrtel's goal, so practically had an assist. Secondly he did some really good defensive work when needed. Thirdly, for most of the time Carroll was on the pitch Suarez was really poor. We all 'know' Suarez is an awesome player so a few flicks after about 70/80 mins means we forget how useless he was before then. Now i love Suarez so i don't have an agenda, but when people slate Carroll's link up play and yet it was Suarez who could never find a player first time (put it out of play a few times) then i sense a bit of bias. Don't forget what we have seen lately is improvement. It's not 5 games and bam he should be the finished product so it's time to get on his back again. We're still seeing the unfinished article. Downing and Henderson gave the perfect contrast of how confidence affects your play by the way.
you guys do know carroll put a real shift in defending for us don't you? its his first bloody final... ever... h'es only 22/23 and you know 90% of the time hes in a poistion but the team fails to deliver. he got on the end of 6 chances and headed ever bloody on over the bar and thats annoying but hey... its a LEARNING experience. where are the suarez bashers? cos i get the feeling carrolls the nice easy soft target wehn in fact his partner had a shcoker but is excused. cut carroll SOMe slack, not totally but some. then call a spade a spade, he worked hard got around the pick a bit, didn't mak many errors and all in all compared to suarez he did ok.
Carroll did defend well but we didn't buy him for that purpose. If he had put more effort in his attacking as he did with his defending then fair enough. And there aren't that many Suarez bashers because whilst he did have a poor game by his exceptional standards, he worked his socks off (as per usual), and did his best to win the ball back. Fans are more forgiving to those who try their best and work hard for the team.
That's laughable! You effectively praise Suarez for what you're criticizing Carroll for! Did we buy Suarez as a defensive midfielder then? Let's be glad Kenny isn't this biased.
I think Liverpool's penalties were fine, bar Adam's. One great save by Heaton but the rest were very good penalties.
