Live Thoughts: Cardiff vs Liverpool (Carling Cup)

I covered this match live. Here are my unedited thoughts when Liverpool took on Cardiff in the Carling Cup final!

Hey there and welcome! Liverpool are in their first final in five years, it's been too long. I remember that final too well, when we lost 2-1 to AC Milan in the Champions League final. It was horrible. I really don't want to feel that feeling again, especially not today. We just simply have to win. If we lose, it'll be the first time in 21 years since a team outside of the top division won the League Cup. We just have to win. I'm thoroughly looking forward to this, but I just wish I was with my family in North Wales, who are all Liverpool supporters, rather than on my own in my house with my three year old daughter who doesn't understand football quite yet. But still, let's hope we can win and I'll be just as happy!

Here are the teams:

Cardiff: Heaton; McNaughton, Hudson, Turner, Taylor; Cowie, Gunnarsson, Whittingham, Gestede, Mason; Miller. Subs: Marshal, Kiss, Gerrard, Earnshaw, Conway, Naylor, Blake.

We were expecting Miller to play on his own up front but no matter, he's the main threat and he can score if given the chance. Peter Whittingham has been a great Championship player for years and can also be a threat. But this is a still a team we need to beat, no excuses.

Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Agger, Skrtel, Enrique, Gerrard, Adam, Henderson, Downing, Suarez, Carroll. Subs: Maxi, Kuyt, Spearing, Carragher, Doni, Kelly, Bellamy.

The pundits on Match of the Day were surprised Bellamy didn't start but I'm not. We're not being overcautious, but this is a balanced side. It's 4-4-2 and there's some nice balance here. I like it. Having Bellamy and/or Kuyt would disrupt the balance in that team and I think it's important today to get on that pitch, maintain possession and go forward when we're in full control. This team allows that. Bellamy can come on later if we need an injection of pace in the squad. 

1' - JOHNSON! He hit the bar! So close! Gerrard on the rebound and it's over. What a shot by Glen Johnson! Both teams had a good attack then and we almost scored! 

3' - They just mentioned Johnson being an FA Cup winner when Portsmouth beat Cardiff here a few years ago. I live in Portsmouth and I can tell you, that was a special win for the south coast team. I'm not a Pompey fan but I was really happy for them. I want a taste of that tonight for my team! 

6' - We're piling the pressure on early, two corners didn't really get that close to their goal, but we're on top at the moment. We need to keep on this pressure early on, hopefully it'll lead to an early goal. 

9' - The pressure is off a little at the moment, but there's a long way to go. What matters is that we win, not how! 

12' - Another corner for Liverpool, Carroll is penalised for a push on a Cardiff player. 

15' - Carroll has an effort at goal and it's over the bar. 

17' - A nice bit of movement from Henderson, Johnson and Suarez and Suarez chips the ball to Carroll who has a troubling yet tame effort on target,


18' - GOAL! Joe Mason. We're behind. Martin Skrtel heads the ball back to a Cardiff player, the ball is played to Miller who passes to Mason, who clips the ball past Reina. Awful defending all-round.

21' - That was a poor bit of defending. Credit where it's due Cardiff passed the ball nice and slick for the goal, but our defence was asleep. I can't believe we're behind. 

21' - Agger doing one of his vintage runs down the the centre of the pitch and his shot is blocked by a defender.

22' - Possession is 65%/35% to Liverpool. Yet we're behind. We need to get back in this match, thankfully there's a lot of time to go. 

25' - We're all around their box at the moment, lovely work from Downing who backheels the ball to Jose Enrique into the box. We pile in their box but Cardiff deal with the pressure. 

28' - Downing loses his defender again and crosses low into the box again, it misses everyone, only Carroll was in the box that was in a Red shirt. It was a good ball from Downing, who's definitely winning the battle on the left flank at the moment.

31' - Handball claims in the Cardiff box but it was too quick in my eyes for it to be a penalty.

31' - ADAM! So close! A low drive from Adam and it's just wide. Good effort.

33' - We're still piling forward but with not much intensity. Cardiff are defending well. Hopefully we can equalise before the second half, it's important that we do in honesty. 

36' - They just showed John W. Henry and his wife Linda in the stands. Man Linda is so hot. Lucky man. 

38' - GERRARD! Over the bar! Downing plays well again on the left flank, twisting and turning his defender out and he whips the ball into the box, Suarez, Carroll and Henderson all miss it and it comes to Gerrard outside the box and he shoots high above the bar. Great chance. 

41' - Suarez has been a nuisance a few times in the box today, but he's not controlling well enough to make opportunities to score. Hopefully he can continue though, he's a pain to deal with for defenders. He takes a shot in the end but it's tame and saved by Heaton. 

43' - Free kick, Gerrard takes it and it's inch perfect for AGGER who heads it straight at Heaton. Gutted, that was a great opportunity to equalise then. 

44' - Gerrard gets the ball in the box but can't control it and shoots high. Three defenders were in Gerrard's way. 

45' - One minute of added time. 

45+1' - Half time.

Well what happened? They got a goal, we couldn't score. Not much else to say in that respect. We've had a few chances but nothing clear cut, we haven't been clinical enough in front of goal. It's been the story of the season but if there's one match, one game of football where we need to right that wrong it's TODAY. We need to score. It's as simple as that. We haven't been bad but we haven't been good enough. Cardiff are defending very well. This needs to chance. I really hope we can avoid embarrassment today. Come on Reds! Please! 

48 ' - Miller! Just wide. Cardiff make a nuisance of themselves in and around our box and Milelr takes a chance from outside the box and it's just wide. Not the start we wanted, Cardiff are in our faces at the moment. 

49 ' - Suarez makes a nuisance on himself and intercepts the ball in the box! He shoots across the face of goal and it squirms under Heaton, then Cardiff clear! Unlucky! 

51' - Henderson is the first for a yellow card for a clumsy challenge. He's had a poor game today.

54' - The game is opening up a little, but we're still not really taking the game by the scruff of the neck yet. 

57' - Liverpool Substitution: Craig Bellamy comes on for Jordan Henderson. Says it all really. Henderson has been poor. Bellamy cheered by both sets of supporters due to his strong connection there. 

59' - GOAL! Martin Skrtel! Our eight corner of the match and Suarez gets on the end of it, it hits the post and then Skrtel shoots low into the box! Great finish!

61' - Finally, an equaliser. Hopefully we can now work for a second goal. No mistakes can be afforded now. 

63' - Skrtel's fourth goal of the season. He's had a brilliant season, both defensively and attacking for a defender. He's been a rock for us. Excellent player. Thanks Rafa! 

64' - Mason has a decent effort at goal, but it's met well by Reina. 

66' - The winds are definitely changing at the moment, we're really going for blood at the moment. It's about time, but we need to make sure we're not left open at the back. 

69' - A few more corners for us but with no end product. We're still the better side though. 

71' - Gerrard knocks a forearm into the back of Gunnarsson's head. The ref didn't see it, poor from our captain. I don't think it was intentional but it was dangerous. 

73' - 89,041 is the official crowd total today. Great work from both sets of supporters!


73' - SKRTEL! Great save from Heaton. It was a snap shot at short distance for Skrtel, that Heaton saves low  to. Good effort again!

74' - 21 shots on goal for us, and only 4 on target. Story of our season in a way, lots of effort but no product. But now is not the time to be negative, we need to score again! 

77' - Mark Hudson has gone down with cramp and we kick the ball out. Boos from some of the Reds faithful. Poor reaction from our own, we should respect things like this, if the boot was on the other foot we wouldn't like it if Cardiff continued. 

77' - DOWNING! Great save from Heaton! Downing takes a low driven shot through the Cardiff defence and Heaton just sees it in time to make the save. Great effort from Downing, who's been my man of the match so far for me. Great effort from Downing today. 

79' - Free kick in a dangerous area for Cardiff, Peter Whittingham shoots and it hits our defence and out. 

82' - TURNER! Just wide! Don Cowie whips the ball and it curls round the Reds and Turner heads the ball just wide. That could have been an upset if that went in, thankfully it didn't.

86' - Liverpool Substitution: Daniel Agger leaves the pitch with an injury, and Jamie Carragher takes his place. 

87' - MILLER! Just above the bar! Cardiff free kick and once again our defence is asleep and Cardiff take advantage, Miller shoots hard and high and thankfully it was just over the bar. Come on Reds! Seriously! 

89' - Free kick for Cardiff and Jamie Carragher doesn't give them the ball! I think his message was because we weren't ready to defend the kick.

90' - Four minutes of added time.

90' - Suarez is on his own up front and is onside! Three Cardiff defenders catch up with him and he takes a shot that's well over the bar.

91' - Corner for Liverpool and it's passed to Johnson who sets Gerrard up for a belter outside the box and it's over the bar. Good idea, but its execution wasn't what it should have been. 

94' - Ten seconds remain and Gerrard delivers a long ball to Downing who puts his hands in his face because he failed to control the cross. Full time. 

Thirty minutes of added time to go now. The main thing is we got the equaliser. We still have one substitution left, Cardiff have all three. You have to give it to Cardiff, they've worked their asses off today to get to extra time. But we need to finish this match off. I really don't want it to go to penalties, despite being confident in a shootout situation. I want us to win on goals scored not penalties. Let's hope we can finish them off in these 30 minutes. Come on Liverpool!

90' - Cardiff Substitution: Filip Kiss comes on for Joe Mason.

90' - Bellamy takes a corner and SUAREZ heads it and Andrew Taylor clears it off the line! So close again! 

91' - Gerrard shoots from outside the box again and once again it's well over the bar. He's not been very clinical today our captain. I dare say he's not had the greatest of games in honesty, but we need him on that pitch that's for sure, in games like this.

94' - Free kick, Gerrard takes it and Suarez frees from his marker and volleys just wide. He was offside anyway, but great movement from the Uruguayan. 

97' - That's an odd statistic, Kuyt has the longest Liverpool career without winning a medal since Emlyn Hughes, in six years without a metal. It's true though, since he joined we haven't won any trophies. 

98' - Kiss gets a yellow card after his little tussle with Craig Bellamy.

99' - Cardiff Substitution: Mark Hudson comes off and Anthony Gerrard comes on, whose cousin is our captain Steven.

102' - Downing takes another corner and Carroll heads it backwards towards goal, a good effort. That's his last touch of the match.

102' - Liverpool Substitution: Andy Carroll comes off and Dirk Kuyt comes on. Carroll's had a mixed game, not as good as recent weeks. 

103' - BELLAMY! Just over the bar! A great one-two with Kuyt and he makes some space and curls a right footer just over the bar. Best effort from the Welshman so far. 

105' - One minute of added time. 

105' - JOHNSON! Just wide again. Lovely work from Adam who set up Johnson, his shot was nice and clean but just wide. 

105+1' - Half time.

Nothing much different to report, it's been pretty much all Liverpool with no end product. It feels destined for penalties, the way it feels at the moment. Hopefully that won't be the case, and we can score in the next fifteen minutes. 

Cardiff Substitution: Kevin McNaughton comes off in place for Darcy Blake. Cardiff and Liverpool have now made all their substitutions.

106' - Kuyt loses his defender and is free! He puts the ball square across the penalty box and it's just slightly behind Suarez, who tries to adjust but can't. Great effort from Kuyt, unfortuante of Suarez not to be positioned correctly!

107' - GOAL! KUYT! COME ON KUYT GET IN THERE! Kuyt shoots and a defender clears poorly back to him, and he shoots hard and low to the bottom corner!

110' - We need to be patient and careful now. We can't let this lead slip. 

113' - Haha, sorry, you've got to love OptaJoke on Twitter, check this tweet:


"55 - Dirk Kuyt's first attempt on goal was going 55 metres wide. Rebound."


Follow OptaJoke @OptaJoke, they're really funny.

115' - Cardiff are on top at the moment, trying their best to equalise. We're defending well enough at the moment, but they've just won a corner. 

117' - GOAL! Ben Turner. Three corners in succession for Cardiff, they almost score from the second corner and Kuyt clears it off the line, but that third corner was the same, we couldn't clear and they bumble it into the box. Penalties loom.

120' - One minute of added time. 

120+1' - Full time. Penalties.

Amazing match, Cardiff have been amazing. Penalties now. I can't believe this match. I'll cover the penalties on this site as well. I'm in bits at the moment. Horrible feeling, although as I said I'm comfortable with penalties, Reina is usually very good at penalties.

• Gerrard to take first. SAVED! Tom Heaton! Amazing save! Gerrard top corner and it was amazingly met by Heaton! Instant pressure for Liverpool! 
• Kenny Miller to take now. He hit the post and out! YES! 0-0 still! Stalemate still! 
• Charlie Adam now... WELL OVER THE BAR! WHAT THE HELL!? 
• Cowie now to take for Cardiff and it's in the goal! 1-0 to Cardiff on penalties. Not good. 
• Kuyt now for Liverpool, come on Kuyt! Kuyt scores! Thankfully! Now we need Reina to save.
• Rudy Gestede to take now for Cardiff... and it hits the post! 1-1 now after three attempts each! We're back in it! 
• Stewart Downing now and he scores! We take the lead in penalties! 
• Peter Whittingham now for Cardiff... he scores. 2-2 now with one penalty each remaining. 
• Glen Johnson now to take. Come on Johnson! He scores! Cardiff NEED to score now! 
• Anthony Gerrard now... and he misses! LIVERPOOL WIN THE CARLING CUP!

We did it! What a match! Emotions were everywhere and I'm so proud that we've won. Great credit to Cardiff who worked as hard as they could to cause the upset. We put in a lot of effort today and it felt like it wasn't going to happen, especially when we missed our first two penalties. But we did it, and hopefully this can now be the catalyst for more trophies. Hopefully we can win the FA Cup later on this season. It's about time we won a trophy. Now we want more! Carling Cup winners. Amazing. Thanks for joining me today and if you're a Liverpool fan, enjoy your celebrations!

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Live Thoughts: Liverpool vs Tottenham Hotspur (Premier League)

I covered this match live. Here are my Live Thoughts on the match between Liverpool and Spurs.

Hey everyone, it's me again with another one of those Live Thoughts posts. I'm going to do these less often from now on, maybe once a week or a fortnight. I enjoy doing them but they take a lot of space on my blog, when I cover four topics on here. But this is a match I can't avoid covering. It's a big match. We win today, we stay in the pack for a fourth place spot. We draw, we are on the bottom end of the pack. A loss, while isn't the end of the world, means we are a the bottom of the pack with a big ask to get fourth place. We need to stay in the pack, and above it, if we want Champions League football. Spurs on the other hand also need to win to stay close to the Top 2. It's a must win game for both clubs, but hopefully with a fully fit Gerrard, an Andy Carroll who is looking better recently than in most weeks and most importantly, the little firecracker that is Luis Suarez returning to action, means we'll hopefully have the three points at the end of the night. Let's do this!

Here are the teams: 

Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Kelly, Agger, Skrtel, Spearing, Kuyt, Gerrard, Adam, Carroll, Bellamy. Subs: Doni, Suarez, Henderson, Coates, Downing, Carragher, Aurelio.

Suarez returns! Gerrard starts! Looking good. I'd have liked Suarez to start today but I can understand the reasoning. While he's fully fit he's probably a little rusty. Not only that but he can make a big impact later on. Nice to see Fabio Aurelio on the bench, it dawned on me today that his contract ends again this season. He'll probably be released, while I like him, his injury problems are still far too relevant. Flanagan needs to develop further so I think this is the beginning of the end for Fabio Aurelio. I like our starting 11. Lucas, Enrique and Suarez aside, it's our strongest side. Should be tough to break down and hopefully we'll have enough firepower to score and win.

Tottenham Hotspur: Friedel, Walker, Dawson, King, Assou-Ekotto, Parker, Livermore, Modric, Kranjcar, Bale, Adebayor. Subs: Cudicini, Saha, Rose, Nelsen, Luongo, Lancaster, Khumako. 

A weakened Spurs side, lacking Defoe and Van der Vaart. Adebayor isn't fully fit either. Saha will try and make an impact later on, being an ex United and Everton player, let's hope we thwart that plan. This side can still cause problems, particularly Modric and Adebayor if he plays to his potential. Dangerous but a weakened side means we should be taking advantage tonight.

3' - A poor start for Liverpool sees Spurs being pinged back to their goal in the early minutes. We defend a corner relatively well. We usually start with aplomb but not today. 

4' A lovely ball from Gerrard to Carroll and he's through! Dawson tackles in the penalty box and my first thought was penalty, but on replay I'm not so sure. 

6' - Scott Parker brings Glen Johnson down JUST outside the box! Free kick! Gerrard takes it and it hits the wall, there was a lot of messing about in the box, kudos to Spurs for providing enough distraction. 

9'  - The game is looking relatively open for both sides, as expected. Both sides have had a decent spell of possession so far. 

11' - A stray cat found its way on to the pitch. Poor little thing. Really cute as well.  The Liverpool fans boo when the stewards removed it.

14' - Liverpool starting to look a little more threatening now, using the left wing. Bellamy combining well with Johnson, who's on the left today, down that side of the pitch.

17' - There's a lot of crossing today by Liverpool, but not long straight balls to Carroll, but strong diagonal balls that are causing the Spurs defence to tear apart slightly. It's good.

18' - Two defeats in 21 matches for Spurs. Incredible statistic. Hopefully we can make it less awesome sounding tonight. 

18' - That's twice now I've seen Charlie Adam covering Glen Johnson down the left back position. Doubling up. It's working at the moment though as that's the side we're using most. 

21' - Once again we're dominating on the left wing. It's not come to fruition yet but it feels like we're really dominating that area of the pitch and if we score, it's likely to source from there. 

24' - The first time I've seen us go down the right but the cross is poor. I'm not sure who crossed that, it might have been Martin Kelly, but it was high and over the box. 

27' - Another few crosses from the right are poor, by Kelly and Adam. Our end product in the final third really isn't good enough at the moment. We're dominating possession but not doing enough clinical crossing. 

29' - Adabayor accidentally catches Bellamy and he goes to ground. It was accidental but a little clumsy by the man from Togo.

30' - A fizzing cross from Adam from a free kick reaches Kuyt in the box but it was offside and his header was well wide anyway. But that cross is the type of cross we need to be doing. A strong, hard, low drive from Adam.

32' - SPEARING! So close! A beautifully balanced tap from Gerrard sets up Spearing perfectly, and it was inches wide! Excellent shot, it's a shame it wasn't the other way round, with Spearing assisting and Gerrard shooting, it probably would have been in as I reckon Friedel was beat.

35' - Possession statistics are 50/50 for the last 10 minutes. It doesn't feel like it. There's been very little from Spurs over the course of the 35 minutes.

37' - A nice one-two from the two Liverpool Youths, Kelly and Spearing down the right wing wins us a corner. I'm so proud of those two representing Liverpool so well. It's about time we have some fresh Scousers in the squad.

38' - Yellow card for Scott Parker, who blocks off a storming Gerrard run. Free kick just outside the box. 

39' - Bellamy takes it and it hits the wall. We need to be better than this when it comes to attacking these set pieces.

41' - Tottenham counter attack and Gareth Bale has a decent sly effort at goal, a cross from the left wing and Bale somehow volleys discretely with his left foot. Thankfully it's straight at Reina. 

43' - Spurs are on the front foot for the first time since the opening minutes. Needing to defend well at the moment. 

45' - One minute of added time. 


45+1' - Johnson takes his chance from far out and Friedel blocks it with his body for a throw in. Half time.

We've looked the better side, that's clear. We've decided to double up down the wings when needed and try to use the wings to make space and cross the ball. And that's as far as we've got. We've dominated the width of the pitch but our crossing has, to be frank, pretty damn poor. We need to be more clinical than this if we're playing the crossing game. I'm surprised we're playing the crossing game when we have good pace and trickery with Gerrard and Bellamy on the pitch supporting Carroll., and Suarez yet to come. But if that's the tactics we need to be crossing better. Adam is the only one whose crossing has been okay, but even that's hit and miss. If this is the tactics Kenny wants, we need to be more clinical. Or change tactics. One of the other. Either way we're looking the more likely to score, and if that remains the case, hopefully we'll get the goal our dominant gameplay deserves.

45' - Nice to see Adebayor and Bellamy having a laugh before the whistle. They obviously got on when they were both at City. 

48' - The commentators have said that Bale has been pretty quiet today, it's true. We've done well to contain the Welshman. 

51' - Suarez is doing a bit of warming up, I don't know if he's coming on yet. Probably not this early I'd imagine. 

54' - Gareth Bale goes down. Agger never touched him but Bale loses it! He pushes Agger back and is really in Agger's face! Really unlike Bale. He gets a yellow card for his troubles. He's probably really frustrated over his lack of influence in the match. 

55' - Bale is getting heavily booed by the Anfield faithful now. Corner for Spurs

56' -  The ball is all over the place in our box as Spurs don't make the most of a strong attack. Adebayor and Bale both had good chances but failed to have a clean shot at goal.

58' - KELLY! Great save by Friedel! Martin Kelly shoots to Fridel's left post and it was a nice save by the American.

61' - Suarez is about to come on! 

64' - Reina the sweeper kicks the ball long and Carroll heads it to Kuyt down the right wing, it's laid off to Adam whose shot is blocked by Dawson. Nice idea. 

65' - Liverpool Substitution: Dirk Kuyt comes off for the returning Luis Suarez. Kuyt, after scoring two games in a row, has been relatively ineffective today. 

66' - Carroll header from the corner! Straight at Fridel. The angle didn't go in his favour. 

69' - Yellow card for Suarez, who's high foot kicks Scott Parker in the stomach. He's winded terribly. Suarez accepts the card with understanding however. 

70' - Tottenham Substitution: Adebayor comes off for Luis Saha. Adebayor has had a relatively poor game, he hasn't really made an impact today. Let's hope Luis Saha makes a poor impact in his place, on his debut. 

72' - Liverpool Substitution: Stewart Downing comes on for Craig Bellamy. Another player who hasn't really had the right impact. Hopefully Downing's crossing ability works well in the last twenty minutes in Bellamy's place. 

73' - CARROLL! Awful shot. Kelly finally whips in a dangerous cross and it gets to Carroll whose immediate half volley is way over the bar. He should be doing better than that.

75' - Skrtel yellow card. Controversial call. He gets the ball off Bale but he uses his studs and Bale goes flying. It really looked bad live. Skrtel is lucky to still be on the pitch. I'm an unbiased Liverpool fan and I'm telling you, we're lucky to still have 11 men on the pitch. That was rash.

77' - Suarez nicks the ball and starts a counter attack! He puts the ball square to Carroll who has to go wide and his cross is headed away. Nice combination between the strikers, but it could have been more. 


80' - Steven Gerrard whips in a strong cross that Friedel palms away, taking a Skrtel set of studs to the chest in defence. The ref calls for a free kick for the American, who questions it as he palmed the ball away. Brad Friedel has balls for taking that kick from Skrtel, who in turn shows his admiration as well. Absolutely awesome from Friedel.

83' - Last 10 minutes or so, including added time. We need to score soon.

84' - Bale's clear! One on one with Reina and Reina wins! It's not dealt with though! Eventually a Agger clears the ball out to the left wing.

85' - SUAREZ! Straight at Fridel. A Stevie G free kick is inch perfect for Suarez who heads it straight at Friedel. That was quite poor from Suarez, a header either side and its in. 

87' - Tottenham Substitution: Danny Rose comes on for Niko Kranjcar, who's also had a game of very little effect. 

89' - A cross to Carroll who heads it to Suarez who's in the box! He tries to turn and shoot but he hands the ball and it's a free kick. Scott Parker does another excellent block to deny him anyway. In honesty, not that I've mentioned it enough, Scott Parker has been brilliant today. Man of the match. 

90' - Four minutes of added time. 

90+2' - Three crosses into around the penalty box in about 20 seconds and all three crosses are deflected by Scott Parker. Story of the match I'd say. 

90+4' - Full time.

7 draws in 9 games for Liverpool at Anfield. It's a problem. It's the problem. We're so hard to beat this season but we just can't score consistently enough. The effort is there. The chances are there. But the story of our season simply is we haven't made the most of scoring opportunities. We've been scoring more recently than we were in the start of the season. But it wasn't enough today. But it's not all doom and gloom. We have a fully fit Gerrard and Suarez back, and Carroll has been a bit better recently. Hopefully arguably the three important players in our striking force can start playing together. It's a fact - Gerrard, Suarez and Carroll all together have never started a game. Never. We've had Suarez and Carroll a full year now. Get those three in tandem, and hopefully goals will flow. That's the idea anyway. That's why Suarez and Carroll were £55 million between them. And Gerrard is to support them. Let's see this happen! Hopefully good times are ahead for Liverpool. We're not out of the race for the Top 4. We just need to continue this decent form with some goals. Goals! That's all we need. Hopefully this is the beginning of a free scoring run.

That's it from me, have a good evening!

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Live Thoughts: Manchester City vs Liverpool (Premier League)

I covered this match live. Here are my unedited thoughts on the Premier League match between Manchester City and Liverpool.

Hey there, thanks for joining me on another live thoughts feed. After a two match break (or 'ban', whatever word you prefer), I'm back. Before I get to the preview, let me talk about Suarez.

Just in case you didn't know, Liverpool are not to appeal against the Suarez ban. They're backing Suarez, are still showing the FA they're unhappy with the situation yet they're accepting of the ban for the good of football and the fight against racism. My thoughts? All in all I think Liverpool have done the right thing. They're standing ground in terms of their beliefs and support yet accepting of the situation, predominantly because everyone has been against their strong support of Suarez because the media are twisting that somehow as 'pro-racism'. It's not. It's pro-Suarez. Big difference. But still, it means we have no Suarez for eight games. No more. No less. I think it was too risky to appeal, because it just felt the FA wanted to make an example of Suarez. That's fine, as long as they show the same stance for every player doing a similar thing. Starting with John Terry of Chelsea. I wrote an article about this a few weeks ago if you're more interested in my thoughts on the Suarez situation, you can read that here. Anyway, like Liverpool, let's all draw a line against this.

Man City! Away from home! Tough match. But with City losing on the weekend, I think it's a good time to play them. Especially as we scored 3 goals against Newcastle, the first time we have scored 3 in the Premier League since August, when we beat Bolton 3-1, the same margin. Let's hope our strikers have their scoring boots on, and the defence can keep their watertight lock on that goal! I feel quite confident today in honesty!

Here are the teams:

Man City: Hart, Clichy, Toure Kolo, Richards, Kompany, Silva, Toure Yaya, Barry, Milner, Aguero, Dzeko. Subs: Pantilimon, Lescot, Zabaleta, Savic, de Jong, Johnson, Kolarov. 

It's hard to find a fault in this team. But this is the team we drew earlier this season, and beat last season. In fact, Man City have only lost 1 of the last 13 games against us. But City are very very dangerous now and we need to be careful. I think we can still win though. No Balotelli, but Aguero and the emergence of Dzeko this season makes a strong attacking duo. 

Liverpool: Reina, Enrique, Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Spearing, Adam, Downing, Henderson, Kuyt, Carroll. Subs: Doni, Gerrard, Maxi, Carragher, Shelvey, Kelly, Bellamy.

Naturally no Suarez now. Bellamy on the bench is surprising though. He's been our best player recently and has scored most of the goals too. It looks like 4-4-2 today, with Carroll and Kuyt up front and Henderson and Downing on the wings. I suppose you can understand, what with us playing away from home, against the benchmark team of the Premier League. Bellamy can always come on later if needed, and Gerrard. Our bench looks pretty good at least.

3' - We're all wearing black armbands in memory of Gary Ablett who passed away a few days ago. 

6' - A half chance for Dzeko who hesitated in front of goal. Good for us. Richards was the man who set him up.

7' - DOWNING! Great chance but Hart saves! 

8' - Silva goes down the left wing and sets up Dzeko in the Liverpool box, who from a tight angle forces Reina into a save. 

10' - GOAL! Aguero. Kuyt concedes the ball and it gets to Aguero who takes a tame shot at goal, and the ball lands under Reina and goes in. That wasn't good from the usually excellent Reina. 

12' - I love Reina so much, but he's done a few mistakes this season, more so than usual. But that being said our defence has been pretty solid this season in comparison. I hope this is a little blip because Reina is just brilliant on his day. 

13' - A strong City attack with many one-twos ends up with Aguero who tries to chip the ball above Reina, and fails. 

15' - A half chance for Liverpool, Kuyt crossed from outside the penalty box on the right and Carroll gets a head to it, and it's over the bar. 

17' - @Anonymous - I don't think Reina needs to be sold, I just think he's having a blip. He's one of our most consistent players usually. He's still at a great age and I doubt he's going to slip long term. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt I say. 

19' - Some good pressure there from the Reds. It's hard to pinpoint one good moment really, but it was nice to see. We're not out of this by a long stretch.

21' - A shot from Dzeko takes a deflection and Reina attempts to save in shot's direction, and Aguero almost slotted the ball in an empty net but it was travelling too fast. Relief.

22' - Downing has been tripped by Silva just outside the City box. Shame Bellamy isn't on the pitch to take this cross, he's been pretty good with his crosses recently. 

23' - Adam takes the free kick and it's dealt with easily by Hart. 

24' - Henderson was set up nicely for a shot by Kuyt and it goes wide to Hart's goal. Decent effort though. 

26' - We've responded very nicely from the goal we conceded, we're much more dominant now. City have barely threat, bar the deflected shot five minutes ago. 

27' - A battle between Aguero and Skrtel and Aguero wins, but the ball once again travels too far and Reina clears. 

27' - Adam wins us another free kick in another great position.

28' - Henderson takes it and it hits the wall. Shame, it was an excellent place to win a free kick, central and just outside the box. 

30' - Aguero looks for a handball against Skrtel but the replay rejects it. The replays clearly show Skrtel's hand moving away from the ball, he couldn't have done anything about it. Good refereeing decision.

32' - KOMPANY! Great save by Reina from the corner! Lightning reactions from the Spaniard! 

32' - GOAL! Yaya Toure scores after another corner. Another header and this one goes in. We're 2-0 down now. Not good.

35' - Downing gets called for a free kick for handball. That wasn't handball either, the ref got this one wrong I'd say. 

36' - Steven Gerrard is warming up. Put him in at the start of the second half? I'm not sure. 

38' - @Anonymous #2 - Are you a Liverpool fan? I really hope not, Reina has played more than 300 times for this club and doesn't need fans turning on him when he's set numerous clean sheet records and saved many penalties over the years. Show him some respect.

41' - Charlie Adam concedes a free kick after a poor tackle on Dzeko. This is a decent area for City, I really hope we don't concede a third now. Silva takes it and it's gone for a goal kick.

42' - Carroll heads it down to Kuyt who has a decent effort but it's blocked by Kompany at goal-sight and then dealt with. 

44' - There's been a few tackles for the past few minutes by both sides that have been pretty poor, tensions are rising I'd say. Gareth Barry goes in the book for the latest one. 

45' - One minute of added time. 

45+1' - Half time. 

Well we conceded a poor goal by Reina. He should have done better than that, but there's no point in hounding Reina, he's been one of the best players for Liverpool in the past 6 and a half years and all players make mistakes. The difference being a goalkeeper's errors are easier to see. The second goal was unavoidable, City were strong in the set pieces and Toure's headed goal was too strong for anyone to deal with. Between the two goals they scored we looked pretty solid, definitely the better side. Are we out of the match? No. We need a quick reaction in the second half and then it's game on. Do we go to the bench and make changes? That's up to King Kenny of course, but my opinion is purely based on the fitness of Bellamy, Gerrard and possibly Maxi. Any of those three can be match winners when on form so if they're fit and raring to go, put on or two on at the start of the second half. We can still get something out of this, but if we concede another I'd say that's the end then.

45' - No substitutes made. That's fine, but it's going to have to be in the next 20 minutes surely, unless we score in that time of course! 

48' - A decent cross from Enrique, the first time he's been able to get forward properly, and Kompany heads it for a throw in, stopping Carroll from getting a vital touch.

50' - We've started the second half well, pushing City back as often as we can. No major penetration yet though. 

53' - The commentators think we lack pace, it's possible. We do have pace on the bench in Gerrard and Bellamy, that's not a hint I promise! 

56' - Double Liverpool Substitution: Steven Gerrard and Craig Bellamy come on for Charlie Adam and Dirk Kuyt, who both haven't had the best of games. 

57' - I think Kenny has made a good move putting these two players on. They're both match winners and both scored good and important goals against Newcastle.

60' - We need to score soon, 30 minutes left to go, a goal soon would make take momentum strongly in our favour.

62' - Enrique and Reina have a mixup whether or not who retrieves the travelling ball. It's not good that there was a communication issue at the back.

64' - Aguero has caused a lot of problems for us today. He's a tremendous player. That being said I'd say man of the match so far has to be Vincent Kompany, who's been a rock at the back for City.

66' - Both Milner and Glen Johnson have gone down due to a tackle from the former on the latter. 

69' - We're still dominating possession without putting that much pressure on City. I don't think this is going to be our night to be honest. We need a piece of magic from somewhere and fast. 

71' - Manchester City Substitution: Sergio Aguero comes off for Adam Johnson. Aguero was excellent today, really getting in between our defenders and just generally causing chaos, not too dissimilar to Suarez.

72' - RED CARD FOR BARRY! Two yellows for Barry, for a tackle on Gerrard. I don't think it was deserving of a yellow that tackle, I think he's unlucky, but it gives us some hope! 

73' - PENALTY FOR CITY! Grrrr! The ref gave a penalty as Toure went down when Skrtel was chasing, I'm unsure if that was a penalty! Some possible bad decisions here by the ref.

74' - GOAL! Milner scores the penalty and City are 3-0 up, and have pretty much got the points in the bag.

75' - Manchester City Substitution: David Silva comes off in place of Lescott, a good move for City, who have to defend for 15 minutes, now with 5 defenders. 

75' - Liverpool Substitution: Jay Spearing comes off and Maxi Rodriguez comes on. It might be too little too late, but you never know in football.

78' - Another miscommunication from the back! This time it's Skrtel and Reina, Skrtel gave a very short passback and Dzeko almost took advantage. Our back 5 really haven't been very good today. 

79' - ADAM JOHNSON! Hit the post! A lovely strike from the young Englishman, Reina was beat! This is definitely a match to forget for us. 

81' - GERRARD! Just wide. It was a nice strike, vintage of Gerrard, and it was just passed the post. 

84' - Kudos to Liverpool, we're still trying to get another goal despite being three down, but it lead to a counter attack in the end. We don't want to concede a fourth. 

85' - Rodriguez! Close. He was in the box and backheels to make space, and shoots just over the bar. More accuracy and it would have been a nice goal.

89' - Bellamy! Saved by Hart and it rolls for a rebound for Rodriguez and another Hart save. Frustrating stuff.

90' - Gout minutes of added time.

90+1' - Vincent Kompany wins man of the match, and it's rightfully deserved. He's been absolutely amazing today. At least it wasn't the goalkeeper this time that did all the heroics, not that Hart has had a bad game either.

90+2' - Downing finds some space in the penalty box and goes for goal, but Hart saves low to his right. 

90+4' - Full time.

What to say? Well, simply, this was a Premier League title winning performance for Manchester City. I don't mean they thrashed us or anything. But they had their chances and took them. Over the ninety minutes, we were the better side, the side with possession, the side with the most chances. But important moments in this game cost us. Reina's mistake, followed by a strong City set piece header by  Yaya Toure, and then the excellent break by Yaya again for Skrtel to concede the penalty, and then Milner's spot kick. Three important moments, three goals. That's what champions do, that's what United have done for so long. I really think City can win the title, if they keep staying one step ahead.

As for us? Same old Liverpool, loads of chances, zero goals. We need a new striker, it's as simple as that. Bellamy and Kuyt aren't always being used as strikers, so Carroll and Suarez are the only two out and out strikers we have. That needs to change. It's a major priority to get another striker in. Who? For me, dare I say it, but we need someone like Yakubu. Despite being an ex-Blue, I've always been a fan of the Yak. When on form he's fantastic. He's big and strong and really intimidating. He's an up front presence we haven't had at Liverpool since the days of in prime Emile Heskey. We need that time of presence. But as long as we get a clinical finisher, another good quality striker, I don't mind who we get. That's up to the owners and Kenny. Anyway, thank you for reading my live thoughts, it's been a pleasure, have a good night.

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Live Thoughts: Liverpool vs Queens Park Rangers (Premier League)

I covered this match live. Here are my unedited live thoughts on the match between Liverpool and Queens Park Rangers.
Hello there, welcome to my live thoughts feed on the match between Liverpool and Queens Park Rangers. I hope you've got your Christmas shopping done in the build up to the big day. And if you don't take part in those festivities, enjoy your December in your own way!

There's only one acceptable outcome today, and that's win. We have to win. Another draw at home against a newly promoted side would be pretty disastrous. We lost our 11 game unbeaten record last week but that's okay, as long as we have learnt our lessons. And those lessons are simply to put that ball in that net! Something we just can't do, we play great football and then barely score. Let's hope that all this bad luck in front of goal turns into a drubbing of QPR today!

Here are the teams...

Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Enrique, Maxi, Henderson, Adam, Downing, Kuyt, Suarez. Subs: Doni, Coates, Carragher, Kelly, Shelvey, Bellamy, Carroll.

Maxi comes on for Bellamy, which is fine, I just don't know why Maxi didn't start against Fulham, not that I had any problem with Bellamy last week at all. Kuyt starts up front in place of Carroll, a move I approve of as Kuyt and Suarez work very well together, and that probably means Henderson is in the middle with Adam in midfield.

Queens Park Rangers: Cerny, Young, Gabbidon, Ferdinand, Traore, Wright-Phillips, Barton, Faurlin, Mackie, Smith, Bothroyd. Subs: Putnins, Orr, Hill, Derry, Campbell, Buzsaky, Connolly.

A team of half Premiership half Championship players, QPR are a threat when they want to be. All the promoted teams have done well so far this season but I think QPR have the best chance to stay up. Barton is a great midfielder and Wright-Phillips when on form is as deadly as any winger. But we should beat QPR today, there's just no excuse.

1' - Two corners straight away for Liverpool although nothing comes from either.

3' - Suarez is on the right side of the penalty area and he cuts it to Rodriguez who is blocked by a defender, another corner! Which went no where again, but some fantastic pressure early on from the Reds! Maxi has gone down however.

6' - The game has slowed down slightly, although we have looked good so far. Maxi is okay by the way.

7' - From what I can tell Kuyt and Maxi have been given free reign of the attacking team, to support Suarez. I'm still not sure of the formation, but both have supported Suarez on occasions. Kuyt has been on the left as well. 

9' - SUAREZ! Straight at Cerny! Downing, who was on the right wing, delivers a lovely cross from the right and Suarez heads it straight at the Czech keeper. 

10' - Glen Johnson has shaved his head, if any of you hair observers care... 

11' - A lovely move from Kuyt and Suarez. This time Kuyt was in the centre, see, I'm still not sure who's playing where, but it's effective! Anyway, Kuyt was in the centre and he lay Suarez down the right of the penalty box but his shot is square and it crossed the face of goal, and out towards the left for a throw in. 

14' - Maxi and Suarez work together very nicely, playing one-twos while attacking, but Maxi passes when he shouldn't, and Suarez's shot is badly wide. It's still good movement and good attacking play though. 

17' - Alejandro Faurlin brings down Downing on the right wing, and Charlie Adam's free kick leads to a corner. The corner is quite poor however.

20' - Penalty claims from Suarez, he backs into a QPR defender and falls, it's another debatable one from the Uruguayan. The ref doesn't give it but replays show there was a little bit of tugging.

21' - Yellow card for Daniel Agger for clumsily taking down Jay Bothroyd when he was through on goal. 

24' - A little bit of pressure from QPR at present, although we're coping with it comfortably. 

27' - Not much to report, apart from us getting yet another corner, which lead to a scramble but QPR deal with it. 

29' - We've had 8 attempts to QPR's 1 so far. Story of our season so far. We've only converted 9% of our chances this season. 

30' - Maxi is let in past the defence! He runs towards goal and tries to take it round Cerny but it's a great save from the QPR keeper, and Suarez tries to make up ground but can't. Best chance of the match so far! 

33' - A great run from Charlie Adam earns us a corner, he storms from the centre of the midfield and ends up on the left of the penalty box before being driven wide but earns a corner. Once again, nothing comes of the corner. 

35' - There's an Andy Carroll chant of some kind as he warms up. He's smiling, I'm not quite sure what they're saying I have to be honest, but it wouldn't surprise me if it's about this... 

38' - Johnson goes down in the box and another penalty claim is waved off. This one seemed like it was the right decision this time mind. 

39' - Looking at the replay properly Johnson went down very easily, he clipped a QPR defender's foot, but that foot was far from extended. 

41' - SUAREZ! Cerny saves! It comes back to Suarez who tries again and it goes across the face of goal! We just can't score! That second chance could have been a pass to another Red but he went for goal again. 

43' - In that move earlier Anton Ferdinand went down uncomfortably, and had to be taken off the pitch. He seems like he's okay though, probably winded due to how he fell. 

45' - 2 minutes of added time. 

45+2' - Some late pressure from Liverpool ends with Downing having a great chance gathered by Cerny. Half time.

You can't help but feel this match is going to end the same way the matches at Anfield against Swansea and Norwich ended, and that's a disappointing 0-0 draw with many chances from Liverpool, and some amazing goalkeeping from the opposition. Which is exactly what this match has been so far. We haven't been amazing, but we've threatened a lot, and we've had many chances and they've all been dealt with by Cerny and the QPR defence. One thing I've observed in this 45 minute period is sometimes we don't make the right attacking decision, particularly Suarez, who sometimes is a little selfish when he could be assisting another player. But there's still 45 minutes to go, let's remain optimistic, and hope we can break this frustrating shots/goals hoodoo we have!

46' - GOAL! SUAREZ! His first goal in two months! Charlie Adam goes down the right wing and crosses perfectly and it's a simple header into the QPR net! 1-0!

48' - Anton Ferdinand is down again, it's a lot more serious this time, he's going off the pitch to be substituted. 

49' - QPR Substitution: Bradley Orr comes on for Anton Ferdinand. Poor Ferdinand, having two problems on the pitch at different times. 

52' - The game is surprisingly quiet at the moment, considering we just scored. 

55' - Usually when we score we try to get a second, it's not really happened so far, we've not been on the front foot at all. At this stage of the game we should be going for a second I'd say. 

56' - Kuyt goes for goal and it's wide. It's one of his main weaknesses the great Dutchman, he's not got a clinical shot. But I love that man to death so I don't want to criticise him! 

58' - A bit better by Liverpool, we put some pressure on the away side, earning a corner and Agger had a blocked shot. 

60' - MAXI! Great save from Cerny! Suarez on the right wing cuts the ball square to Maxi who's shot is saved brilliantly again!

62' - Jamie Carragher is on the bench again I'm sure you noted already. It seems like Dalglish is really making a transition in the centre of defence, with Agger and Skrtel starting all the time and Carra being used for the big games or when required. Carra always said he's not accept being second best and is willing to go to another club if he's not good enough here, if he keeps being benched I wonder if he will actually move? I certainly hope not.

63' - Suarez wins us our FOURTEENTH corner of the match, and Cerny punches it away. Kuyt goes for goal again and it's saved relatively comfortably again by Cerny.

64' - Corner #15... 

65' - QPR Substitution: Tommy Smith comes off and D.J. Campbell takes his place, Campbell's first match in around 6 weeks. 

66' - Suarez and Maxi combine nicely again and Suarez lays the ball for Maxi, but he hits it straight at Cerny when the Czech goalkeeper closes the Argentinian down. Maxi just can't score today! 

68' - Corner #16... 

71' - Skrtel takes down Bothroyd on the right wing for QPR, it's a good chance for QPR. Barton takes it and Gabbidon sticks a leg out and it's over the bar. Best chance for QPR so far.

74' - Two corners for QPR in a minute, we're thrashing them on corners 16-3 however! Seriously though, some pressure from QPR at the moment, let's hope we can defend it well. 

76' - Gabbidon passes back to Cerny and Kuyt is on it! Cerny puts him off though and it goes for a throw in. 

77' - QPR Substitution: Fitz Hill comes on for Jamie Mackie. That's all three QPR subs used.

77' - Liverpool Substitution: Craig Bellamy comes on for Maxi, who has looked good today, had some good chances but just couldn't get past Cerny, who has been man of the match today for me. 

79' - Shaun Wright-Phillips attempts at goal and it's well over the bar. He hasn't really had much chance to shine today the pacey winger.

82' - Not long to go now, although a 1-0 lead is never great at the end of matches. QPR are still looking a little threatening too. We need a second really. 

84' - BELLAMY! God I thought that went in! It hit the side netting! Suarez won a free kick for us just outside the box and the Welshman's chance was fantastic! 

84' - Bellamy has a yellow card, for having an altercation with Joey Barton of all people.

85' - Liverpool Substitution: Stewart Downing comes off and Jonjo Shelvey comes on. Nice to see the young bald headed player back in a red shirt, he's had a great little spell at Blackpool. It means that Henderson goes to the right, Bellamy to the left and Kuyt up front. 

89' - Faurlin falls to the ground from a challenge from Skrtel, but he goes down like a sack of spuds, Liverpool play on but the ref calls for a free kick. Silly really.

90' - Three minutes of added time. 

90+2' - ORR! Corner for QPR! A lovely cross from Armand Traore and Jose Enrique does enough to put off Bradley Orr. We deal with the cross as well. 

90+3' - Bellamy down the left and tries to cut the ball square for Suarez, and Wright-Phillips sticks a foot out to the ball and almost scores an own goal! It hits the cross bar! Not much else after happens before the whistle blows for full time. 

We did enough today, we deserved the win but like many other games, we had loads of chances and it didn't convert into goals. Our chances to goals ratio remains pretty horrible, but what's important is that we got one of those chances to hit the net, and we got the three points. What matters is that we win games, whether it's 6-0 or 1-0 is quite irrelevant. We avoided another embarrassing draw at home and got the points. That's a major positive. What we need to do is start another good run of results, preferably wins, and even more preferably are goals. So let's hope this result can build a bridge that we extend to have a great winter of points, wins and goals. That's it from me, have a good night.

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Live Thoughts: Everton vs Liverpool (Premier League)

O hollo. O'm Woll Smoth. Hor or mo lov thoghts os Lovopol tok on Ovoton.

Today, we take on our local rivals Everton in the first of two Liverpool derbies this season (unless we face them in the FA or Carling Cup). Everton haven't had the best of seasons so far but they are often slow to start their campaigns so it doesn't matter, we're away from home and it's a derby. This isn't an easy game. But... we can get three points today and it should be the target today. Especially as we have lost both our last two PL away games.

Here are the teams:

Everton: Howard, Hibbert, Baines, Jagielka, Distin, Cahill, Osman, Coleman, Fellaini, Rodwell, Saha. Subs: Mucha, Bilyaletdinov, Drenthe, Stracqualursi, Neville, Barkley, Vellios

It's a strong line up. Saha is always a threat when fully fit, and Fellaini and Cahill always cause problems. Seamus Coleman is one of the brightest young football players in the Premier League at the moment, he's a quality player. I have a lot of respect for Everton, despite naturally hating them due to the rivalry. Let's hope we can beat them, it's definitely possible, but it won't be easy.

Liverpool: Reina, Kelly, Enrique, Carragher, Skrtel, Kuyt, Downing, Lucas, Adam, Carroll, Suarez. Subs: Doni, Coates, Gerrard, Henderson, Bellamy, Flanagan, Spearing.

And Gerrard starts from the bench again. Some people are getting annoyed

with Dalglish for doing this but I think it's the right decision. He was out for six months. He can slowly get his fitness back up. Not only that, but it's not like Adam, Lucas or Suarez have been playing badly for him to take their place. He needs to earn it, I don't care if he's our captain, he has to start from scratch. But it's a debate that I'm sure many Liverpool fans will disagree with me on and that's fine. Kuyt starting is a good move as well, as I think he offers more than Henderson at the moment, and Henderson didn't have the best of games last week.

2' - Corner for Everton, sloppily given. Everton take it and Pepe Reina claims it with ease.

5' - Everton taking control for the moment without any real effort. There's some nice tackling going on as always in this match. Personally I love these derbies, although not everyone does.

8' - Suarez header! Straight at the keeper. A deep cross from Kuyt gets to Suarez but it wasn't a good header.

8' - Cahill! Nice save from Reina. Everton corner. That was some great attacking football from both sides then!

10' - Distin! Over the bar. Everton piling on the pressure at the moment.

13' - Possession is 66%/34% to Liverpool at the moment, it doesn't feel like it. The match has calmed down for the moment.

14' - Louis Saha has a decent low effort at goal that's a few inches away from Reina's bottom right post.

17' - Not too much to report at the moment, it's died down a bit.

20' - An Everton freekick from around 35 yards to the left is easily headed away by Liverpool.

22' - RED CARD! Jack Rodwell clumsily tackles Suarez with a double footed challenge. He got the player AND the ball, but it was dangerous and worthy of a red card.

25' - The Everton faithful aren't happy naturally and are very noisy at the moment. But it was the right decision based on it being a double footed challenge.

26' - They just showed replays of Rodwell storming off. I'm sure Phil Neville tapped him on the back of the head!

27' - Yellow card for Tim Cahill.

30' - Deep cross by Kuyt and Tim Howard claims it. We're naturally more dominant now. As for the tackle, to be fair to Everton, Rodwell didn't have his studs up when going into the challenge. There is a claim of unjustice for the Blues, although I just think for the potential danger, it was the right decision.

33' - Another replay of the incident, once again, more justice for the red is that his knees connected with Suarez's leg. It's a real debating point for some, as I said I stand by my opinion that it was the right decision.

36' - Free kick for Liverpool in a dangerous area, centrally on the pitch about 20 yards out. Fellaini brought Lucas down.

37' - It leads nowhere and Everton try to counter attack without success.

40' - Charlie Adam brings down Leon Osman and no card is shown. The Everton fans are almost begging the ref to give it out. Osman is down to be fair.

42' - PENALTY! Phil Jagielka brought down Suarez on the cusp of the penalty box! It did feel like Suarez did his best to be tackled just in the box and he got his way.

43' - SAVED! Dirk Kuyt takes his shot to Howards left and it was beautifully saved by the American stopper! What a shame!

45' - Three minutes of added time. Absolutely gutted. It was a decent penalty, but Howard met that very well.

45+2' - ADAM! Crossbar and out! What a shot that was! Deserving of a goal!

45+3' - Half time.

My first half analysis is that we've had fortune go in our favour in this match and we haven't capitalised. That's not to say it wasn't a red card or it wasn't a penalty, they were, but we haven't made the most of what was going in our favour. We barely broke their defence down, despite being one man up. Kuyt's penalty was fine, he did nothing wrong, it was Howard's excellent save that made the scores level. Adam deserved a goal at the end for his fantastic shot, but you have to earn your goals in this league. It's 0-0 at the break, and it's probably a good time for Dalglish to work some tactical magic now.

48' - Well so far we're on top of the game which is good, but we haven't done much as of yet.

49' - Yellow card for Lucas.

51' - Saha scuffs a shot wide to Reina's left post.

52' - A Liverpool corner and Carroll heads the ball on target but an Everton player gets to it and it's a break for Everton, that comes to nothing.

53' - Another Carroll effort that Howard pushes wide.

55' - A 50/50 challenge goes in our favour and Everton really think they're being penalised today. Even David Moyes puts his head in his hands.

57' - Lucas takes a shot from distance and its over the bar and wide. Royston Drenthe is about to come on for The Toffees. He's a great player when his attitude is under control.

58' - Everton Sub: Royston Drenthe comes on for Seamus Coleman.

60' - Saha takes his third long range shot of the match and once again it goes wide, this time to Reina's right.

64' - Fellaini has gone down with cramp. Not good for just over an hour of football. It might be worse than that mind, although there was no tackle or anything that caused this.

64' - The commentators are saying that they don't think the Rodwell challenge should have been a red card. Maybe I'm being biased, although I don't feel I am. Who knows?

66' - The boos are reeling in why? Liverpool Subs: Steven Gerrard and Craig Bellamy come on for Charlie Adam and Stewart Downing. Finally, Gerrard and Suarez on the pitch at the same time!

68' - Everton Sub: Leon Osman goes off and Phil Neville takes his place.

70' - GOAL! Carroll! Yes! A lovely run from Bellamy down the left flank finds Enrique who cuts it into the penalty box and Carroll clips it in! Great Liverpool goal!

71' - Replays of Reina celebrating. I absolutely love our Spanish keeper, he has so much love for this club, always celebrating like he scored himself!

73' - Finally, a goal. We haven't been very productive in front of goal, despite having one man more than Everton for 50 minutes now. But that goal has finally put us in front. We can defend better now we have that one man advantage, as we finally have something to defend.

76' - We're pressing them more now which is fine. A second goal would put the game to bed. I just hope we don't prioritise that over defending our clean sheet. We can wear them out with a one man advantage and we aren't really doing that at the moment, going for a second goal instead.

78' - Everton Sub: Tony Hibbert is off and replaced by Apostolos Vellios. Vellios has scored before this season so he can be a threat. He's only 19. That's Everton's last substitution.

81' - GOAL! Suarez! He has the ball in the box and the Everton defenders deal with him, but he somehow gets the ball back off them and slots it past Howard, to the keepers right! That should clench the game!

82' - Everton press and the ball is crossed from the left to Saha who controls the ball, but shoots it just over. He's tried very hard today Saha and kudos to him for that.

83' - My assessment on Suarez's performance today is that he's been dealt with for the most part by the Everton defence. He's been a little menace, but a controlled menace. That was, until the 82nd minute of the game.

85' - Jordan Henderson is getting ready to come on. I wonder who will come off, Kuyt or Suarez?

87' - A Liverpool corner. Carroll does a Suarez and becomes a difficulty in the Everton box and Howard pushes the ball out for a corner.

87' - Liverpool Sub: Jordan Henderson comes on for Lucas. Haha, I got it wrong both ways. I'm presuming Henderson is going to play in the middle, his preferred position when he was with Sunderland.

90' - Three minutes again of added time.

90' - Drenthe takes a decent effort at goal and Reina saves. It had a bit of pace on that shot.

90+1' - A Liverpool corner, no one is in the box but Kuyt, Suarez takes it and Kuyt somehow hits the post before Everton clear it.

90+2' - Everton penalty claim and the referee ignores it. I thought that was a penalty although I didn't see it clearly live.

90+3' - Full time, and the Everton fans boo.

Full time analysis, we did enough today. Everton had a red card that some are arguing wasn't the right decision. I think it was, but it doesn't matter, it's what the referee thinks that matters. A penalty just before half time was saved wonderfully by Howard. Our second half performance, although better than the first, was adequate. We did enough. We got our two goals with enough grit and the first goal was some great movement from Bellamy and Carroll was in the right place to slot it in. But the performance can be described with two woods. Did enough.

That's it from me today, have a good day and I'll be back here tomorrow with my review of the year 1997 in music! Take care!

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