Phew.......... that was a horrible last 10 minutes. Great game of football, played in the right way. Thought we were going to get it in the second half, but we defended valiantly and Clint got a deserved goal. 4 points from 6 against Arsenal and Liverpool, hopefully we can step on now and get our season going. COYW
Agreed Froggy. Didn't someone say 4 points from the games against Arsenal, 'pool, United and Chelsea would suffice? Well we've done that, we can push on with confidence. Didn't watch the game, anyone care to give a rundown? (looking at you C58)
great win. I was listening to Gentleman Jim on the WWW. Ruiz played weel it seemed. Exquiaite chip onto the bar from Demps before he got his goal. Great great win. I was thinking I'd take a draw but love a win. It feels so good to avenge the loss of the last game against Liverpool. One question, Gentleman Jim was sounding very animated about Suarez falling down all the time, any comments? COYW
Craving, Hangeland did a job on Suarez tonight, he was very tight to him whenever he was in the area. Suarez was going down very easily in the first half and was moaning the whole time, I think it was through frustration. Bidders, the game was what I would class an old fashioned one. Played at break neck speed and some proper solid challenges, with a little bit of bite as well. Great advert for the premiership. Dembele was awesome in the first half, as were Senderos, Hangeland and Etuhu. Ruiz played well but I am still unsure whether right wing is his best position. Dempsey was brilliant and was the most likely to score all night, totally deserved his goal. Not sure what was going on with BZ. He started limping early on in the game and was very quiet. When AJ came on we looked much more like scoring. The Big Schwarz was immense, some amazing saves. Get well soon Papa Smurf, Jol has just said his ankle is swollen.
Aside from zamora looking dodgy again and senderos should have been sent off, we were brilliant tonight. Etuhu was reinvented himself since coming back in the team, while dembele and dempsey's movement was excellent tonight. Onwards and upwards hopefully COYW!!!!
Personally wasn't so sure about Ruiz. by all means it wasn't a bad game from him, but slightly too many attempted smooth touches went to liverpool players. Bobby was ok, but did very little infront of goal. Hangeland was great, and indeed as a result suarez fell over whenever possible. total scum that man, especially after the world cup. Senderos was solid, some good blocks and some good positioning, but he did quite literally rugby tackle Adam (i think?). Johnson impressed me when he came on, great movement and brought pace and lines of running to the attack. Dembele and dempsey were pure class.
forgot to add, Schwarzer was absolutely immense. Tipped a 20+ yard pile driver onto the post near the end of the game to get us all three points. An unbelievable save, and there were many others too.
Great result! I would have settled for a draw, but then again this maybe makes up for Everton and Spurs at home. Dembele was a spark for many parts of the game, really good to see his continued improvement. Clint dipped in and out of the game but made some good chances and came close of course, the goal was great! Surprisingly, Bobby was not his usual pointing/directing self tonight, but he did not have AJ playing off him. Good to see AJ looking hungry. Ruiz remains still a bit of a fish out of water. It's worth reinforcing the point that Senderos had a good game, and I doubt he desrved anything more than the yellow he got. Having said that Brede/Aaron is our best combination, Philippe is now definately part of the equation. I hope Danny is ok. Also, Etuhu had the best match I've seen from him in a long time. I normally enjoy Liverpool coming to The Cottage, but they were disappointing: Andy Carroll was well managed by us, and Luis Suarez was always falling over (a great pity) and Craig Bellamy was Craig Bellamy. They maybe deserved a point, but we just got the rub of the green.
A great all-around team performance. Schwartzer was great, as was Etuhu and Senderos. Zamora was a little off, possibly tired from the Thursday game. Ruiz started slowly, in the second half began to show some quality. Dembele and Dempsey looked dangerous throughout. That was the result I was expecting. Saturday's game looks win-able as well.
A lot of positives to take from tonight's game. Schwarzer was brilliant, so reliable. Full-backs played well, I thought this was going to be a big problem for us before the game. Hangeland made Suarez look silly, going down far too easy trying to buy free-kicks and a penalty. Senderos should have been sent off but I think it was one of those so called 'smart free kicks' to concede as I think Liverpool could have scored. I think Etuhu has been amazing since coming back into the team and all of our forward players looked sharp apart from Bobby, he didn't seem too interested....again!! All in all a good win. We seem to play so much better against bigger teams, beating Liverpool, drawing with City and Arsenal and despite losing to Spurs we played them off the pitch for a large amount of the game..... suddenly December's fixtures don't look too scary after all. COYW!
Watched the game tonight,and were very proud of the lads Swartzer & Dempsey,were my men of the match. Ruiz & Dembele are getting there,and ably backed up by a great team effort BZ ?.We should now be onward and upward. But for me comes Jan a c/f. & r/b.
Every one has said much of what I would said. If I was to be totally fair this was a draw game - each side with equal chances. With football it makes up for the Everton and Spurs games that we arguably should have won. Ruiz is improving and I agree he is a star in the making. Next two games are winnable and if achieved will bring us right up there. COYW
Hi fellas, haven't made a comment on your performance last night yet as we have all been discussing the ref (for obvious reasons). But credit where it's due, good win for you and Dembele looks a good prospect.
Thanks Zingy, very gracious. I'll admit that before the game I was getting irritated by some of your fans on the official pre-match thread, talking about how Liverpool needed to put down a marker to the other leading sides by not just beating us but smashing us and so on. I was tempted to go on and remind them of those comments, but didn't want to be a WUM. It's good to be reminded that the arrogant, patronising and condescending ones aren't entirely representative of Liverpool fans. Best of luck for the rest of the season (apart from when we come to Anfield, obviously!)
I think we had a solid performance. We played open football and luck was on our side in some cases as it was on theirs. Balanced game overall... I don't think Senderos' foul was a red card. Bellamy and Suarez should have been booked much earlier for mouthing and diving respectively. My only worry is Bobby. He was playing alone up there with 2-3 defenders on his back but he looks a bit distant.
please log in to view this image This is an image of the Spearing tackle on the BBC Web site. Just in case people didn't see it, this the fair tackle that Spearing put in on Dembele that all the Media are convinced, should be allowed in the game.
