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Match Report: Liverpool 2-0 NUFC
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 Thursady
29th December 2005
By Howaythetoon
15 months ago Liverpool finished a mere 5 points above Newcastle in
4th place. A failure punishable by P45 deemed the Anfield board, sacking
then manager Gerard '5 trophies in 5 years' Houlier and replacing
the Frenchman with one of Europe's finest - Rafa Benitez.
Fast forward to the present and the two teams that drew 1-1 at Anfield
in May 2004 are virtually unrecognisable in almost every way. Unlike
the Reds however who went on to win some big eared Cup for the 5th
time, United have went so far backwards, the latter circus months
of Sir Bobby's reign feel like glory days compared to today. Where
we once again took a step backwards having took two forward prior
to this Boxing Day clash.
Forget the 2-0 scoreline, this was men against boys stuff and but
for a series of magnificent Shay Given saves between the sticks and
some wastefulness in front of goal by Liverpool, this could have been
six or seven-nil it was that embarrassing!
Predictably changes were rung for United, but five wholesale changes?
Changes that saw Taylor and Babayaro recalled in place of Bramble
and Elliott respectively, while in midfield Bowyer came in for Solano
on the right, N'Zogbia for the suspended Parker in the centre and
forgotten man Luque came in on the left in place of Ameobi. Otherwise
it was an unchanged side from the one that beat West Ham 4-2 at Upton
Park.
And perhaps for once, Souness should have stuck with his perceived
weaker side and left the likes of N'Zogbia, Bowyer, Luque and Taylor
out. Especially the latter who walked off on the half-hour mark with
pain etched across his face, clutching his troublesome shoulder.
They say in football do not change a winning team, they also say do
not rush injured players back, well, Souness is guilty on both charges.
Baffling team selection from the Scot that saw him play a central
midfielder on the wing to accommodate a winger in central midfield.
Work that one out...
And to throw Taylor in at the deep end in a high profile match like
this is sheer madness and shows the lack of foresight at our club
because there was nothing in the challenge that saw the Toon man's
shoulder pop out of place, nothing at all. Yet it did and you didn't
need to be a doctor to know that it would either.
How he was deemed OK to play begs belief it really does and this will
go down as costly gamble that backfired. As it turned out, Titus Bramble
- his replacement - was the best outfield player in our side. Putting
in a decent enough performance at the back despite ironic cheers from
the Liverpool fans whenever he touched the ball.
So why then couldn't he have started alongside Boumsong, Graeme? Just
one of many questions going begging...
Not long back from Japan there was talk in the build-up to this match
that Liverpool would suffer from some kind of fatigue. Not likely,
they were like whippets out of the traps and pinned us back from the
first to the final whistle with a display of passing and movement
reminiscent of their own glory days.
That said, without any pressure on the ball (or any challenges) even
the most technically poor of players would excel. Give the likes of
Gerrard, Alonso, Kewell, Morientes and even beanpole Crouch the freedom
to play like we did and you're just asking for trouble. Which they
delivered like a Mike Tyson punch.
You'd think we were the ones not long back from a Far East sojourn
not the Reds so listless were those in a Black & White shirt!
Both sides lined up in a 4-4-2 and looking at the two formations moments
before the kick-off, Liverpool took up a deep defensive position as
forecasted by yours truly. With the returning Owen who was booed throughout
by the home support, Benitez was obviously fearful of the England
man's pace.
However it didn't take Liverpool or their manager long to realise
that Owen's afternoon would be a fruitless one with United content
to launch it long to the front as much as possible. Within 5 minutes
of the kick-off, Rafa ordered his charges a further 10-15 yards up
field, witnessing our own deep defensive line.
A 'game plan' that just served to isolate Owen and render our own
midfield obsolete, leaving Liverpool the freedom to take over the
middle of the park, with that man Gerrard having a field day as a
result.
Not surprisingly he opened the scoring, running all of 40-yards unchecked
to get on the end of a sweet move before evading a flat-footed Taylor
to rifle home high into Shay's net. Game over after less than 15 minutes
on the clock!
Faye who had been warned moments earlier by the referee for a lunge
at the Liverpool midfielder and whose job it was to mark Gerrard,
almost apologetically let his man just run through, as if to say "ooops,
don't mind me Stevie". Had Scott Parker been on the field, Gerrard
would not have broke clear for a strike on goal, of that I have no
doubt!
If you're reading Graeme, you can use that little snippet as an excuse
in your programme notes...
Liverpool's second goal was equally avoidable too, an unchallenged
left wing cross from Kewell saw Crouch get a head to the ball which
squirmed under Shay's arms - just crossing the line despite the Ireland
man's best efforts to push it away. Once again poor marking, with
Bramble and Boumsong guilty this time, allowing for a free header
at goal.
What is it with United and set-pieces? You would think we'd have people
on the line given the height of Crouch and to defend so deep is just
asking for a 6ft 7in. striker to score. Had he been 5 or so yards
back, his relatively tame header would have been saved by Shay or
cleared on the line (had we had a man on it!).
For all of Liverpool's energetic display, movement and crisp passing,
we went into the break the victims of our own mind boggling tactics
and lackluster defending.
Game over and in the comfort zone, Liverpool just toyed with us after
the restart, using the length and width of the park to pass the ball
and whenever they attacked, you felt they were capable of adding to
their tally, or that we were going to shoot ourselves in the foot
once more.
Which we did of course, or rather Lee Bowyer did - getting himself
sent off for the 4th time in his Toon career and for the second successive
season at Anfield.
A rough challenge on Alonso by the United man resulted in a ridiculous
over the top melee that saw Crouch push Bowyer to the floor, Gerrard
and Shearer get involved and lots of finger wagging.
Yet amazingly it was Bowyer who walked. A yellow would have sufficed
and this decision just confounded the ineptness of Halsey's officiating
which was poor throughout. That said, he did us a favour really because
Bowyer, like most of his team-mates, was having a nightmare. 11 men
or 10 men, it didn't really matter at that stage. We could have had
12 out there and it wouldn't have made a blind bit of difference,
that's how shockingly poor we were.
There was no shape, no rhythm, no plan, nothing - just a mess of Black
& White shirts running about listlessly into one another. To capture
just how appalling the tactics were in this match, we defended deep
up against Crouch and Morientes, neither of whom would win a race
to the fish shop never mind outpace Boumsong or Bramble, and when
Liverpool brought on Cisse, a man with blistering pace, we defended
high up the pitch.
As a result the Frenchman broke clear 4 times, testing Shay once,
skewing a shot wide once and Bramble doing well to snuff him out the
other two times.
Incredible use of tactics that totally undermined our cause. Liverpool
in fine form and with a defensive record verging on the ridiculous
needed no encouragement to get at Newcastle yet by playing so deep
and punting it long to Owen and Shearer at will, we played right into
their hands. We were like putty, soft, mushy and messy.
It's noticeable that Rafa changed things a number of times during
the course of the match while Newcastle did absolutely nothing of
any note to a) counter-act the Spaniard's changes and b) to get something
out of the game ourselves.
We played exactly the same way as we did in the first minute - hoofing
from the back - right to the final whistle and it is this turgid lack
of intelligence and planning in our game that is costing us points
and twisting that knife into Souness further.
We have been unlucky with injuries and refereeing decisions, yes,
the Scot has also had off the field problems that have undermined
him, but it is on the pitch of play where we are slipping into a steady
seam of mid-table mediocrity.
And the signs are plainly transparent that he neither has the ability
to spot these glaring weaknesses (if he had, he would have changed
things) that are infesting the team nor the ability to work around
them. In fact, Souness' tactics are the cause of our woes, most of
them anyway.
He has had 15 months to mould a team that had finished 3rd then 5th,
along with over 50 million to add to that team, into a side capable
of defending, playing football and picking up points in a reasonable
fashion. We don't expect free flowing football, or Title challenges
nor do we expect clean sheets galore, but is it to much to ask for
some kind of game plan that at least gives us a chance? Some kind
of consistency? Especially given the fact that lesser sides are up
there, playing well and picking up points?
Why aren't we?
Souness simply hasn't delivered out on the pitch. We cannot defend
as a team, forget stats and clean sheets, we are atrocious in defence,
relying on individuals. We don't play football, unless you call punting
the ball 70-yards upfield to a player who could audition for a role
in Dwarfs the musical, football, and we certainly aren't picking up
points otherwise we wouldn't be in a despicable 10th place heading
into the New Year.
Forget injuries, forget everything else and ask yourself is this good
enough? When is enough, enough?
With a New Year hours away, do we keep hoping that all will be well,
that injuries will heal up, decisions will go our way and that the
Post Office will find that tactics manual we sent Souness for Christmas
and deliver it safely to his door?
Are we sticking with Graeme for the sake of it? Can we get in a better
man? Are we deluding ourselves?
So many questions, very few answers.
Many happy returns for the New Year fellow Mags and my apologies for
the lateness of this report. It's been a hectic few days in my household
and here on Newcastle-Online.com
Lineups & Match Facts |
Liverpool: Reina, Finnan (Josemi 78), Hyypia, Carragher,
Riise, Luis Garcia, Gerrard, Alonso, Kewell (Sinama Pongolle 67),
Crouch (Cisse 72), Morientes. Subs not used: Carson, Warnock.
Booked: Crouch.
Goals: Gerrard 14, Given 43 og.
Newcastle: Given, Ramage, Boumsong, Taylor (Bramble
28), Babayaro, Bowyer, Faye, N'Zogbia (Solano 45), Luque (Ameobi 86),
Shearer, Owen. Subs not used: Elliott, Harper.
Sent Off: Bowyer (66).
Att: 44,197.
Ref: Mark Halsey (Lancashire).
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Post-Match Reaction: Graeme Souness |
"We got off lightly.
"We were played off the park in the first half, and 2-0 certainly
didn't flatter them at half time.
"When it was 1-0 and we were in the last minute of the first
half, we wanted to get the lads in and sort it out, but they made
it 2-0 and gave us a mountain to climb.
"At 1-0 anything can happen, but 2-0 is a different story.
"It got a little bit better in the second half and they weren't
as threatening. If we had a chance we may have got back into it, but
the sending off ended those thoughts.
"They peppered our goal, and we have to learn from that. They
were better than us, and we can have no complaints after that.
"You have got to dig in and get the ball back, and we didn't
do it."
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Post-Match Reaction: Alan Pardew |
"I thought we played really well in the first half and created a lot
of chances and we didn't give a chance to the opposition.
"I am happy with the performance of the team but we should
have scored more goals and their goalkeeper played very well.
I told the players at half-time to finish the game off but we couldn't
get the third goal.
"We have confidence and we are playing really well and creating
a lot of chances. In defence Sami, Carra, Steve Finnan and John Arne
Riise did a good job but we are thinking always about winning and
not about clean sheets and records.
"If you keep a clean sheet then you always have a chance for
winning the game."
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