Well that was thoroughly disappointing. I don't even know what to say about it. Again, it took two fantastic world class save by another no-name keeper as well as a last ditch clearance off the line to deny Liverpool 3 points that they probably deserved. Stop me if you've heard this script before. I don't know what to say other than George Carlin's seven dirty words. I think I'll just continue repeating those while pacing back and forth in my living room. Watching these games and writing these brief intro thoughts is making writing for this blog feel like Groundhog Day. Ratings after the jump:
STARTERS:
Reina - 6 - Nothing to do except pull the ball from his net. Definitely not at fault for the goal.
Enrique - 7 - Made a ton of great runs/crosses and, as usual, still got back and defended well. He had a couple of ill-advised wasteful shots though.
Agger - 5 - Poor. He almost saved his ass at the end, but it was his foolhardy defending that led to the corner. Also took a dumb dive for no reason to try and con a penalty. He had beaten his man and instead decided just to flop to the ground. I thought he was actually playing quite well until he gave up that stupid corner.
Skrtel - 6 - Didn't do anything spectacularly good or spectacularly bad. Just an average outing where the back line was playing more in a mop up role that actual defending.
Johnson - 7 - Very good width, craft and guile. Provided a number of decent balls into the box as well as opening space to slot a short pass into the box. Overall a good outing.
Downing - 7 - I assume this one will cause some controversy as I know there are a number of Downing haters, but I personally thought he did exactly what he was bought to do. He pelted the box with crosses and did very well to make space, send in the crosses and win corners. Now he just consistently needs to do this.
Henderson - 4 - Very poor and very wasteful in possession. Just not a good day for the lad. He really needs to do some soul searching and figure himself out. I thought he was playing way too close to Adam a number of times.
Adam - 6 - Well it was a tale of two halves. He was playing very well until the own goal. I hardly blame him for it though, it was just a fluke. I'll blame Agger's poor defending. Up to that point, he had been spreading the ball around fantastically. However, after the goal, he just faded a little bit. I would have rather seen Hendo subbed though.
Maxi - 8 - Well he always does just pop up and nick one doesn't he? I thought he looked quite dangerous and worked very well with Suarez. Well taken header for the goal and his overall movement is better. I didn't see him wandering the pitch like he usually does. Also should have earned a penalty if it hadn't been for the linesman's incorrect offside decision.
Suarez - 7 - he always looks a constant threat, but Kenny really needs to run him through a couple of finishing drills. He has to put more on target. If anything, there will likely be a few scraps for other players if he at least gets them on net. He has to start finishing. No excuses, I want shots on target and not shots from impossible angles.
Carroll - 5 - He definitely got better as the match went on, but he still seems as if he is just off the pace a bit. I understand he hasn't gotten a consistent run...blah, blah blah. These ratings are subjective performance based ratings. I don't care about the excuses. His second half was much better, but he was beaten to far too many headers for my liking. He did have a few good flicks and touches and was very unlucky to not have scored twice, but in a game where Liverpool had 54 (yes 54!!!) crosses, he should be getting on the end of a few more of them. Part of the problem though is that I can't see his runs normally since they are off screen so it is hard to offer up any sort of reasoning. By the way, I noticed his shiner, did he get into a bar fight?
SUBS:
Stevie G - 7 - He is an inspiring leader and should have had the assist with his first touch. He clearly is unbelievably influential and the team really started clicking when he was brought on.
Bellamy - 6 - A few good runs and a decent corner in the dying minutes. I probably should just give him an N/A based on the amount of time he was on the pitch, but since he didn't manage to pick up a yellow I'll give him a 6.
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