That wasn't bad eh? I have been walking around all day with a silly grin on my face, but I'm determined to try to keep this as objective as possible. We started the game with Hughes's preferred 4-4-2, with Barton on the right and Adel on the left, but drifting into a free roll when we had the ball. Derry and Diakite were in the centre. Hill was left out, with Young returning to RB and Onouha joining Ferdinand at CB. Liverpool started with 4-5-1 which left us out-numbered in midfield and it showed!! The game started amid a great atmosphere under the lights, but, as seems the norm with us, we started terribly slowly. The first 10 mins saw Liverpool all over us with about half a dozen corners. I'm afraid Barton was simply awful, giving the ball away almost every time he touched it, with Diakite not far behind him. Although Diakite got better and better, whilst Barton simply didn't!! The crowd got on Barton's back during the first half, booing him at regular intervals. It got so bad that he actually received an ironic cheer when he found a team-mate! Liverpool were fantastic in the first half....the movement of Gerrard, Suarez, Downing and Kuyt was simply different class! After 5 mins Onouha let the ball run under his foot (about the only mistake I can remember him making) and Suarez was in on goal. Kenny made a good stop from the weak shot and was quickly up to smother the follow-up. Somehow, Rangers survived the 1st half onslaught but we were bereft of many ideas going forward, save for a ferocious effort from Cisse that fizzed just wide! At half time, the conversation around me centred on us somehow holding out for a draw! The 2nd half started evenly but Liverpool opened the scoring with a spectacular goal. Coates, on for the injured Kelly ripped a scissor kick into the roof of the net with Kenny and Zamora on the line unable to react. In truth, the ball was passed them in a flash! Those around me were questioning whether MH would have the balls to remove Barton from the game. HE DID!! To a chorus of boos and jeers Barton was replaced by Mackie. Joey applauded the crowd as he left the field. He has such a high opinion of himself, he probably thought the cheers were for him!! Kenny then made a good save down to his left from Downing. The substitution made little immediate effect and Liverpool continued to press forward, getting their reward with a second goal. A mazy run by Suarez ended with his low shot coming off a post to Downing, who beat a couple of players before forcing Kenny into another good save, only for Kuyt to follow up and slide the ball in. 0-2....game over!!? Oh no....not this night!! Suddenly Mackie was chasing everything and all the Rangers players seemed to react to this and we suddenly found an extra yard of pace. A deflected thunderbolt free kick from Taiwo, on for the injured Traore went for a corner. This time there was no Barton to fail to deliver a decent ball in. Instead Taarabt did just that and Derry rose majestically to thump home a header. A consolation only surely? Rangers were in this game now with Liverpool visibly tiring with this being their 3rd game in a week. Then Taarabt played a nice ball into BZ who laid it off to Taiwo to send in a good cross. Cisse was left unmarked to head in from 4 yrds out. The ground exploded!! We then had a priceless comedy moment as Cisse went down with cramp. Taiwo ran up and started stretching out his WRONG leg. Cissed gesticulated wildly for Taiwo to work on the other leg....really very funny!! "Hang on...please hang on" we all bellowed, viewing a come back to 2-2 as the best we could expect....Oh no....not this night!! With 2 mins of the 3 additional mins played, Young sent a header into Liverpool's half. Inexplicably, Skrtel pulled out of the defensive header, wrong footing Enrique who completely missed his kick. Suddenly Mackie was in on goal and he calmly slotted the bouncing ball through Reina's legs.....cue total pandemonium!! Complete strangers were hugging each other as the ground exploded with joy!! An incredible ending that might, just might be a watershed moment in our bid to avoid relegation!! Player ratings and comments: Kenny - 8 Rubbished suggestions that he couldn't get down to low shots by pulling off a number of good saves and keeping us in it Young - 7 A bit shaky early on, but he wasn't alone in that. Improved as the game went on Onouha - 8 Apart from that one early slip he was superb Ferdinand - 8 His best game for a while Traore - 7 Got forward well and gave us our only hope of any width. Superb sprint across the pitch and saving tackle which led to his injury Barton - 2 Terrible and rightly substituted. Would have been a 1 but he did do a good block early on to prevent a Kuyt shot from hitting the target. Diakite - 7 Shaky start but got better and better. I like this boy who my son has nicknamed "roadrunner" because he gets the ball and runs...a bit like a big kid on the park, but has potential imo Derry - 9 Simply stunning performance from Derry. A great goal and hardly gave the ball away Taarabt - 7 Another good game from Adel...he needs a goal!! Zamora - 6 Ok...but nothing special. I'm not convinced he's much better than Bothroyd Cisse - 8 Always a threat although he lacked service for a lot of the game Subs: Taiwo - 7 Did well and looked much better. Good cross for the equaliser Mackie - 8 Helped turn the game around with his energy and took his goal superbly, making it look easier than it was! Buzz - N/A Not enough time to judge Was Barton's substitution the reason why the players suddenly picked themselves up? I know what I think, but we can't know for sure!! Thoughts?
Fantastic write up as usual Col, i just wish i was as elequant as yourself then i would put in a few more reports like yours
When Barton went off we stopped giving the ball away cheaply, no more wayward crosses, that together with Mackie's energy made a huge difference. Surely Barton cannot start against Sunderland?
Glad you enjoyed last night fella. Everyone said it was a pleasure to meet you. Let me know next time you are over and we will meet face to face.
That's a great read col, it was like re-living the match again. I'm so glad that I was there. The roof nearly came off of the ' Old Girl ' twice when the second and third went in.
The celebrations during and after the 3rd were amazing, i got on my mates shoulders and everyone was just in party mood, shirts off everywhere, i think a couple went on the pitch I loved some of the cars outside beeping to the tune of hoops And the rate at which the scousers managed to clear the away end was alarming
Superb Col, absolutely superb write up Think I've read four or five newspapers today and yours are by far the most accurate. Great way to relive last night, cheers. Only one thing though His first half was shocking and almost gave the ball away as much as Barton! But really upped his performance in the second half, that's were he hardly gave the ball away. Just watched the game again on my PVR and I can assure you I'm correct on this. Kenny my MOTM, we would not be in the game when our revival started without him.
Absolutely loved it coming out of South Africa Road Stand to the chorus of "2-0 and you F****d it up, 2-0 and you F****d it up....sheer magic.
Excellent report once again col. You really have a way with words. Derry was very very good and did just what he think he could do. Almost all the passes he made go to player with white and blue hooped shirt. Simple first passes as you should do if you are not someone like Xavi or Messi. Derry show perfect excample to Barton how things should do on the field.
Cheers igor. Funny how you and I see his performance so different to Norway eh? BTW....I forgot to put in my report that sublime moment when Adel nutmegged Gerrard...that was brilliant!
In my books Stevie G was the best footballer in the world few years ago.............. Yes ,he was very good yesterday for the first 60-70 minutes. For the last 15 minutes or so he melt like rest of the poolteam.
Can't do much when the players fall asleep all around you. Dunno what our defence was doing for the last 15 minutes, it was an absolute shambles at the back. Fairplay though, Suarez off for Carroll ruined our momentum while Mackie on for Barton lifted the whole crowd and meant you actually pressurised the ball in our half instead of letting us have it. Would back you to survive now, even though you've got a tough run, purely because Bolton are ****e and Wolves/Wigan are even worse.
Would back you for Seventh now, even though you've got a tough run, purely because Swansea are sh*te and Stoke/West Brom are even worse. Liverpool! What a joke!
