Manager reaction - Liverpool 4-0 Everton Everton manager Roberto Martinez: "It does not look good for Romelu Lukaku, he picked up a bad injury. It was that type of night when everything went against us. Bad for Everton, but this will hopefully be a blow which knocks them down a bit. Lukaku being injured is really bad for them.
Great game today! I don't think we dominated as many people are saying on here, afterall Everton had far more possession than we did. What i think we did really well was counter attacking football creating good chances for the frontmen with quick breaks, dare I say in the style of manure of old!! I was also impressed with our closing down, tracking and tackling in defence(especially Gerrard, Stirling and Flanno), the best I've seen all season I think we deserved the clean sheet today. Perhaps Gerrard even showed that he can play DM afterall saying that he always plays better in the Derby! Downside was SAS looked isolated in the second half and we couldn't seem to put any put any passes together in their half but I guess the plan was to keep a clean sheet so I'm very happy.
Ramsey got injured. Could be out for 4-6 weeks. Flamini red carded. 3 match ban. Walcott out for the season. Arsenal could have trouble ahead.
We played far better than we ever had cause to expect today. Everton are a very good team. They may have had a bad day at the office, but we were quality on the counter attack. Kudos to BR for the tactics -- for if he gets slated when we lose, he should get praised when we win! SAS, Coutinho and Gerrard were fantastic. In fact, there were very few if any poor performances. Would we like Aly to play better? Of course! But he didn't fail us and so that deserves a mention. A clean sheet at home is almost expected but given our current issues and Everton's previous form we fully deserve it. It's illuminating that after one of the biggest derby wins we've seen we crticize for not scoring goals. And, it's true, had Daniel (or stevie!) scored that penalty it could have been a record-breaking win. However, we have so many positives to take from this game it seems churlish to point fingers and play the name game. I'm just happy we won and hope the next games solidify our top-four position.
I can't believe how high the threshold is for CL footie these days. We have been playing some super stuff this year and had some great wins but competitions is so fierce! Wonder if UEFA would ever consider awarding a 5th spot? We have so much class in the prem
Yes, and that was one of his best games for us. As crap as Cissoko is- I am noticing an improvement steadily coming in him. Not that I want anyone injured- but Arsenal having a torrid time is good for us... we may need them to have a severe tumble to stay in top 4.
Special shout out to Sterling - he looks possessed at the moment. He was known as a kid with blistering speed but I never really saw it until over the past couple of months. Playing with real confidence and real speed but also showing fight and grit, great body strength.
I tried to put a fiver on us winning 3-1. Thank **** I couldn't remember my password and it was too close to kickoff to do anything about it
Given how small he is it really does show how clever he is to shield the ball and keep cool when he is being hassled
I think BR got his tactics spot on tonight, especially in the second half. We don't have the midfielders to hog the possession and pass it around to work a gap, but we do have a fantastic quartet up top who could hit on the break at pace. I thought we kept it quite tight, Hendo and Gerrard worked hard on that and Coutinho to his credit didn't shy away from his duty as part of that trio in the centre. If we can plug the gaps, we'll always find space on the counter. On the game, Martinez can say things went against them, but for me, Mirallas should have been red carded for his forarm/elbow assault (again, let off in a derby game) and another dodge offside called when we were 2 V the keeper - but were onside. Never mind the penalty miss. I felt BR could have used his subs earlier once we'd got the fourth, just to keep things fresh and give some game time, but that's just nit picking. Sterling's decision making and strength on the ball were the two biggest faults I found in his game last season and earlier in this - he's come on leaps and bounds there! Great run of form. Clean sheet is good for Migs confidence who looked more solid again. Even Cissokho played alright and this'll help him.
