Liverpool 1, Manchester City 1: Almost There

Had to go off the grid to watch the match this morning w/o knowing the result. Pretty nervy 24 hour wait. Suffice it to say, a Sham-Wow match (super absorbent) that could have gone either way if not for some incredible goalkeeping on both sides. I'll take 4 points from a 2-game stretch like that all season. 

Now comes the real challenge (since we've proven to be more than capable to get up for the big games). Too lazy to do the research but I imagine we have one of the, if not the, easiest end of year run-ins. 13 points from the next 5?

charmin ultra absorbent match. 

18 points up for grabs in the month of December, and all winnable. Couple tricky ties--away to Fulham, home with Newcastle--but a four week stretch that needs to be taken advantage of.

*From your keyboard to Fowler's ears*

In addition to my previous point of we guys not finishing properly I would like to examplify it.
The last minute chance against Norwich, the ball from StevieG (God, please make him like the StevieG of 05-08') which fell to Suarez and he took first time shot which was saved by Ruddy. If we see properly in the video the shot was neither \top corner or bottom corner nor a bit low for a keeper to cause problems. It was just a bit above shoulder length which is pretty perfect for a keeper to save. 
Then previous match, Carroll's header. Again it was neither top corner or bottom corner it was just the perfect height for a goalkeeper to stretch and get something on it( that would depend on a keeper's reaction time).
Then just before that header Suarez's shot. Again the height of the shot. 
Then Adam's drive in the first half on which Hart got his feet somehow. Even in that it was just hit along the ground in the Left Centre of the goal. So for a keeper running from left to right it is comparatively easier. 

Though I know I am being critical with top corner and bottom corner finishing but just cant see us playing so well against all teams and still not scoring. 

P.S- We need a poacher badly. 

How did Vorm, Ruddy and now Hart  perform exceedingly well against us. I know Hart is one of the best currently (though no way near to our no.25!) but when Vorm and Ruddy play like that I started to ponder whether their game has improved many folds or is it that our finishing is fucked up. 
I think KK should have done more subs in order for players to get some rest esp. Suarez cz he has been playing non-stop since Copa and I think we all would be heart broken if he gets injured. 

can we start having the conversation about how perhaps every single person on this blog, including myself, were wrong about the lucas/adam partnership's ability to hang without a 3rd enforcer?

mad kudos to the king for insisting that his team improve upon what they are doing instead of changing ish around to accomodate poor performance. 

there's certainly something going right there, the team is keeping a shape and working hard for each  other.  

Adam still tries (and fails) with his forward runs, but I think he's learning not to run up behind someone he's trying to tackle so much (and so give away the foul).  

He's learning quickly, as he should at this age but he's playing alongside someone who looks like a master at his craft which makes a big difference and the forwards are mobile.  

Playing like this, everyone will up their game.  Good play, like confidence is infectious.  

No.

Double no.

lol

I've got to put my hand up and admit that I never really thought a duo of Lucas and Adam was gonna work out as well as they have for the last two games. Certainly thought both offered attributes too much on the opposite extreme of one another to find a balance but that has certainly been proven wrong.

It's only been the last two games that have seemed impressive though for me, so I'm hoping that this partnership blossoms in longevity and not short-termism.

And that is how the Luke Lucasness Monster shows the middle finger to the doubters.

Charlie Adam has really stepped up in the last two games it must be said, he's been showing good signs that he's adapting from his old role at blackpool. Of course it helps that Henderson was around yesterday to shore up the midfield. 

Thought our defence was dodgy yesterday but not more dodgy than it has been the entire season, i think its pretty funny that we still have the third best defence in the entire league. 

Lucas was just immense, according to the guardian he made 6 interceptions and 11 tackles, all successful, the only way he could've been better was if he scored in the last few minutes instead of passing to Suarez. We definitely outplayed them in this game. Best in the league? Bah. 

Lets hope he keeps this recent level of performance up. Has anyone got the stats on distance covered? I recall this being of particular concern for some fans - has he improved in his workload in that respect?

I remember reading somewhere, (don't have the page or any statistics to back it up) that Charlie Adam covers one of the greatest distances in the pl so far this season. Which is pretty disturbing, just suggests that he needs to work on his defensive intelligence maybe? And his tackling, its almost as bad as scholes. But at least he puts in a decent shift. 

Scholes would've certainly been proud of that pressing tackle Adam made on Mikel just awhile back though.

10 games unbeaten including games against both Manchesters, Chelsea, Stoke (A) and Everton.  If a few more of those draws were wins, we'd be ecstatic.

Also, I think Kenny's tactical nous and adaptability bode well for our (eventual) return to the CL.  He seems to be able to switch up his tactics and get results against big teams, similar to how Rafa could.  

Finally, Lucas, you are a beautiful, beautiful man, even without your long golden locks.

I can't help but be frustrated by today's result, but I realize patience is a virtue with this year's Liverpool. Considering the tear Man City has been on, a draw is far from a shameful result. And my god were Lucas and Pepe amazing today. 

"Liverpool proved to be unusually wasteful". Is this a joke? After arsenal, I would nominate Liverpool as the most wasteful team in the PL. Even arsenal not so much now with van persie on fire. That's the type of striker we need to partner suarez with. Unfortunately I don't think suarez will stay too long with us either.

I was talking in the passing game--obviously they've been atrocious at taking chances, but it seemed like early on today they were giving the ball away way more often than usual.

R.I.P. Gary Speed. Very sad.

My fave comment for the day (content re Gary Speed's death aside) came from a telegraph comment:

'Is "Balotelli" Italian for "congenital retard"? '

Another truly absorbing game.  David Silva who?  Well, Pepe got us out of quite a few holes today, but the team were just fantastic. 

They kept their shape really well and seemed to win most loose balls as there was always a red shirt nearby if the ball was slightly stray.  It gives the team such a strong foundation having that shape and the work ethic, I'm sure they will get high off it.

And of course Lucas was everywhere.  God that boy's good.  So good, infact I'm gonna have to say it again.  God that boy's good.  His reading of the game is something else.

Again the chances were there and I believe as we get better and more familiar, the intensity will continue to grow.  Based on good performances that intensity will lead to an urgency to finish, rather than a desperation, which is what it would be if it were based on poor showings.

It really does look like we're starting to play better football than Rafa's teams.  There's more solidity to it and the attacking is more incisive even if we're not finishing yet.

I think the entire squad will eventually look like very good assets.  Some aren't performing yet, but the team performances will drag everyone up to scratch.  it's looking good.  Kenny's sprinkled some magic into the squad.

ya it wasnt like citeh were flat all game was it?  the sending off obviously shifted things in our favor late, but that was prolly the most competitive game ive seen all season.  mano a mano, toe to toe, we were every bit up to the task. 

I think it's about time we start rethinking this whole "two man mid with adam will never work" thing... 

my only complaint is the lack of game time suarez and carroll get together.  the big lug was only on the pitch for 8 minutes, but within that time there were 3 clear instances where suarez made the exact same run as andy instead of taking advantage of all the attention 9 was drawing in the air and looking to react to a knockdown... that's gotta improve, but when it does, watch the fuck out...

 Wow, you guys used to write a lot...but if I remember right, this was kinda a one time KABAM post, http://liverpool.theoffside.co...

Hey! I'll have you know I've hit 2k a couple of times this season! Though I suppose that's probably the only time I got over 3k. Unless you count when I tidied up the Purpose of Lucas and put up a revised edition for when he signed his new contract, though that might be cheating.

 Oh, you're probably thinking I was being critical. no no no. I hate reading! Its dumbf. I'm more of a, charts and graphs kinda guy..or pictures and animation, don't know how technology has developed at The Offside.

It is absolutely hysterical reading some of those comments from a year ago. How Lucas is terrible defensively. He's really an attacking midfielder. As we all noticed today, he is a defensive beast. 7 for 7 tackles(top tackler), 13 for 16 in ground duels(most ground duels attempted and most won), most aerial duels won 4, and not too bad offensively - passing 69 for 75 (92%), most passes, highest accuracy, best passing accuracy in opposing half 39/41 (95%), best passing accuracy in final third 18/19 (95%). 

I find the fact that he wins aerial duels hilarious because he's like a head shorter than everyone else. It actually makes him more awesome because he's so superman at what he does.

Holy Great Expectations Batman, I didn't know they could put that many words on an html page!

Just finished watching the game and I was SCREAMING at Downing. Hit the target, ffs!! I swear, Maxi would have won that game for us.

Anyway, great stuff overall. Four pts from the last two is pretty damn good.

And I agree with everyone praising Lucas. Not only was he rock solid in the middle (I don't fault him for that sweet move by Dzeko), he almost had a beautiful assist. 

I experimented with visiting another liverpool website. They said they wouldn't trade Maxi in for Messi if given the chance.

0_0

That said, Maxi could have made the difference. If you're going to play Downing, I say Carroll should have been played. They are made for each other in heaven. 

It's tough to criticize Downing because for a large part of the game Suarez was isolated and our main thrust came from him and Enrique on the wing. But he really needs to finish at least once in a while to build a little faith.

He really needs to practice striking a ball. Timing, body position, mechanics, focus and concentration totally on the ball until impact all need to be worked on. That and some confidence. If the keeper saves it, the keeper saves it. But put the damn shot on frame with some power and pace on the ball. It's not difficult. That cross just on the left of goal should have been crushed to the far post. He had two more easy shots that should have been rocketed onto goal. Come on Stewie. Finish the damn shot.

Totally. We are one of the worst shooting/scoring teams in the league. Own goal is our second leading scorer behind Suarez! xO

Love that Own-Goal lad...the kid puts a shift in for us!!

*sigh* c'mon folks... downing doesnt put that shift in physically and richards is all up in enrique's grill all day long causing havoc like he did against newcastle.  give the boy his props. 

maxi is an extremely intelligent player, but his goal scoring 'streak' has come over the course of, what 7 months?  He's a nice changeup and great to have in the squad, but do we honestly think he wud've coped with the richards/toure/barry challenge?  its very easy to criticize wingers when they're not on the scoresheet or assist sheet, but the boy stuey did his thing last night....   

Completely agree with you about Downing. Yes he's having a dip in form and he hasn't scored or assisted while Maxi has. But this was a game against the beast of English football right now where if you play offense more than defense you'd get slaughtered. If Maxi was put on, he probably would have been bulldozed over by Richards whose HUGE. Like I'm not kidding probably double Maxi's size. The fact that Richards had to resort to flopping around like a Magicarp on the ground to get the ball is testament to Downing and Enrique's defense. And in this game, defense was probably more important than offense.

Agreed, he did his thing and was effective on the left with Enrique. Richards was contained from going forward much of the match because of the threat from those two. But, put the damn shot on frame. Stewie should have been on the scoresheet, if only he masters the basic skill of ball striking. A player can decide the match with a goal. In 1/100 of a second you can DECIDE the damn match. Concentrate, focus, and put the shot on frame.

its a mental thing with him at this point re scoring a goal.  wudve like to have seen him take that one on with his right, steer it into the goal instead of goin action blasters on it.  im jus not so fussed with it, i guess.  much more important he do all the other stuff well, goals will come. its just the adam critique all over again - if stuey pops in a goal a game over the next 3 games people will start scratching their heads 'gee, maybe he's not the worst player in history after all...'

The last 5 games Stewie has played he has had 18 shots. 1 shot on target! And that one shot on target was the mis-hit volley into the ground against City that Hart had to save at the top post. If the coaches do nothing else with Stewie, they have to teach him effective ball striking.

i get what ur saying, but his striking is fine cuz his crossing has actually been pretty good (an his touch is there). what i mean by mental thing, just right as he goes to shoot he's thinking about it too much.  wenger jus mentioned this re gervinho - the boy does all the hard work, gets into position, but in that final instant instead of just shutting everything off and goin with the amphibian brain, he thinks about it and its over.  i guarantee his lack of goals bothers him more than it does us, he's just gotta remember how to relax in those moments.  of course, thats one of the few things u cant really practice, ur either in the zone or not...

EXACTLY. relax in those moments and total concentration and focus on the 1 square inch of the football that you have to strike with your instep. and don't shift focus to the goal until after impact. it's like hitting a golfball. when you look to see where it's going before you strike it, you NEVER strike it clean.

he prolly sucks at golf too, damnit downing sucks... ;)

You're missing my point. I thought Stewie had a very good game. I was never more confident in our play than when  the ball was played out to Stewie. He caused problems all day. I thought he was very good on the day. I am one of Stewies biggest supporters. But, he has to improve his ball striking while shooting. His body mechanics, body positioning, hip snap through the ball, focus until impact, confidence, etc. are all wrong. It's an EASY skill to master. Give me one hour with Stewie on the practice field and I'll have him smacking a ball like Jimmie Floyd Hasselbaink. Striking a ball while crossing and while shooting are completely separate skills. He has the skills to be great at it. 1 shot on goal in 50 shots is ridiculous. A little practice would have made that 6 goals.

And yea, he prolly sucks at golf. like me.

nah i got u, homes.  jus joshin

To be fair, Messi could have made a difference, too.

Who?

Was that another liverpool website RAWK?

Nope, it was actually a multi-team forum website, sortof like the offside, but all..forumy. Goal Legacy. I came across it during a google search for Zidane passing statistics (I'm scouting for new Liverpool players, I heard he was decent, kinda slow..), and saw they have a Liverpool forum. my gawd... http://goallegacy.forumotion.c...

Zidane - 'he was decent, kinda slow..'

lmaofotfc!!!

Good photo choice and dignified account of the late Gary Speed, decently done Ed.  

I've posted before on one of your international posts about Gary being one of those intelligent footballers, and he certainly continued that into management with Wales making them look very good bets to qualify for a major tournament for the first time in literally decades.

I have dim memories of going to watch Wales play back in the very early nineties when I lived in Cardiff.  
They had a strong team back then with Speed, Giggs, Rush, Saunders and even Neville Southall I think (have killed that braincell since) and you could wander up to the stadium of an evening and get entrance to the game.

Certainly relegated the football to the near trivial status given the shock that the football fraternity has expressed on the wires all day, also from people who had seen him literally yesterday.  Mark Lawrenson on MOTD gave an account of an every day conversation he had with him in the Focus studios on Saturday and Robbie Savage shed tears while being interviewed.

The man was just 42!  Very sad indeed.

Can't wait for the Lucas compilation. 

You should see ElAlonso14's on youtube.

Today's result shows that Liverpool are well and truly on the way back up.  We played the scariest team in the Premier League and gave them all they could handle and more.  Think about that for a minute:  The team that hammered Manchester United 6-1 and had everyone else in the league quivering with fear needed a career game from Joe Hart to salvage a draw at Anfield. We should take pride in that.

There are so many positives on the team at the moment:  The defense is becoming more solid with every game, especially the pairing of Skrtel and Agger.  Lucas is growing into a world-class defensive midfielder, and Charlie Adam is starting to justify Kenny's faith in him.  Enrique is turning into the steal of the summer transfer market, Carroll is developing into a real attacking threat, and Suarez is just magnificent, even on an off day.

Yes, we still need to improve in many areas.  In particular, I really want to see this team start playing well against lower-table opposition.  The Reds should be collecting easy wins against clubs like Swansea and Norwich, not struggling for draws.  That's what separates us from clubs like Manchester United right now.  But this squad is definitely an improvement on last year's version, and great things are on the horizon.

Here here.

And it looks like the only thing that the squad needs to really kick on is time together. That and effective succession planning for Carra, Gerrard, Kuyt, Maxi and Bellers in whatever order they start to lose their 'powers'. The rest of the squad has age on its side.

Togetherness?! Slumber party at Enriques!!

GT now has mental image of LFC squad in blue striped pyjamas having a pillow fight at Enrique's......

Mental imagary has changed since the mention of pillow fight; it's no longer the LFC squad and I am now imagining a group of ladies playfully engaging in a tussle with pillows, but they're not wearing blue stripey pyjamas......

Got 2 go now...

yes, the force is deep within them.

So we created enough chances to win, but didn't finish well enough.
The defense was resolute, despite a couple of scary moments.

We've drawn against the top team in a game where either team could have taken 3 points.

6th is disappointing though, I hope we are able to sign someone who will make a difference in the final 3rd this January...

we gotta take this mentality into our slew of upcoming 'winnable' games. you dont secure top 4 by beating citeh and chelsea, u do it against stoke, newcastle, fulham, villa, etc.

As an aside, has everyone seen Suarez's last tweet? "We keep summing"? As in adding up points? As in he forgot the L in slumming to describe sharing honors with inferior Mancunian teams? What does it mean?!?

You know. Summing. Everyone's doing it. 

That should be the site's new motto,"The Liverpool Offside: We Keep Summing." In fact, I demand that it gets used for the next stats analysis; e.g., "How many defenders has Suarez nutmegged this season? We keep summing."

Just as long as it doesn't get in the way of talking about Steven Gerrard's groin.

"How many times has Noel contemplated the state of Steven Gerrard's groin? We keep summing."

I'll tell you summing, that Lucas boy is summing else and if he keeps summing performances like that, he'll be in the running for Player Of The Year....or summing...

It's been an hour and I am still laughing at this. I want to more than like this comment. I want to love this comment. I want this comment to love me.

It does airamanna...it does. It wonders about being inappropriate...but it just doesn't care

I wish we were as sharp in front of goal as some of our fellow forumers are as sharp witted with these comments!

I don't see this word used that much -- yeah, probably just means keep adding points to our league total.

Yeah, I was just wondering the same, made me laugh.

Pepe Reina was motm imo,as a captain he endeavored outside his box all the game long to show the boys the right way to fight. He was massive as a libero.it's a new facette of his game.
Lucas was impressive as well,but I'm a bit disappointed with Henderson, he wasn't coping with the pressure.

As for Adam he was good bar the header he missed only to let Kompany score with his shoulder,and with lack of pace from time to time he gives me the feeling he's slightly overweight. He should lose 10 pounds to be pacier,I guess.

At the end of the day I'm disappointed we didn't get the 3 pts but I'm happy the team is gelling,we have sent a strong message to the league today and if we go through on Tuesday game vs Chelsea I think it'll be very very difficult to any side to play us from now on especially those prem "minnows".

I've been pretty quiet lately, dealing with my own depression; needless to say, the news of Gary Speed's death has hit me pretty hard. Depression is no joke, my friends. Go find someone you love and hug them.

So I began the day unable to muster the energy to care at all about football. But...the match has had a kind of amazing effect on me. I was so pessimistic all week thinking about this match; I was sure we'd get battered. Knowing that Joe Hart was the only thing that stood between City and full-on rout still kind of amazes me. 

So, a draw that feels like a win while simultaneously feeling like dropped points is rather novel. It's oddly invigorating, actually. I feel hopeful for the first time in weeks. End of the storm, golden sky kind of stuff. Thanks for that, red men.

Beautiful words. Thanks yourself.

I would not swap Lucas for any other defensive midfielder in the league. So so happy that he has rammed those doubters words down their throats. A near faultless performance from our next captain.

I'm just thrilled by what he's going to become.  

At 24, he'll still be learning and as you master one part of the game, you can go on to add other parts of the game to your quiver.  

Already indispensable, he could really be something to behold in a couple of seasons time.

That team with Gerrard in for Hendo and literary anybody else in for Downing (no goals, no assists) would be pretty tasty. Lucas was immense as he has been for the last 2 years. Dagger seems to bring the best out of Skrtel and they are developing a real partnership. Pepe outstanding again. Best keeper in the league bar none.

Perhaps what wasmost pleasing was the work rate of Suarez (and Kuyt) and watching Johnson put in a top defensive performance. Last week he got a greal goal but was all over the place defensively. This week he just defended excellent and showed me that perhaps he can be trusted after all!

Pepe was really amazing today.At times he really worked as an additional FB.

Lucas proved today that he is simply the best defensive midfielder and the most underrated player in the EPL by the so called general public & press.
On the other hand I think that your assessement of Henderson is too kind ...in my opinion he was clearly the week link in our starting eleven and should have been subbed at half-time.
Let's quickly forget about the missed chances and focus on Chelski - Wembley is 3 games away!!

one of the most underrated in the world, by far... im so happy that menezes recognizes the skills though...

Great game
Agger and Skrtel HAVE TO be first choice by now,they're brilliant
Downing is the flop of the season,he cant do anything at all
Adam scares me when hes very calm with the ball no matter where he is but thats what we need
Johnsons defending has gone much better
Suarez can kill almost any defender in the world

Starting line up for chelsea game?

Wow someone agrees with me! I was beginning to think I was the only one who has noticed that Downing (no goals, no assists,) contributes nothing towards the team.

'nothing towards the team'??  now your just fixin spite sammiches that you can wash down with your purple haterade...

i forgot to say the most important thing:what a beast llucas was,almost every liverpool tackle was made by him,he was great in the air and he even OUT MUSCLED yaya toure

Man City came to Anfield today with their $300 million of transfer fees and would have left with a loss if not for the blinder played by Joe Hart. Every man on the pitch today competed like a warrior. Skrtel and DAgger were tremendous. Pepe was his briiliant self, always alert to the danger. Lucas was everywhere and gave Yaya a run for his money, eventually running him out of his shoes and to the subs bench. Any time the ball was played out to the left, Enrique and Stewie created dangerous situations time and again by running at the D. Kuyt's pullback to Charlie should have been a goal, Hart saved well, and if on his left foot would have surely been finished. Would have settled for a point today at the begining, certainly after Kompany's shoulder goal, but was disappointed at the end we didn't get what the boys fully deserved. They ALL competed like men. Glen created a number of dangerous situations as well. Luis caused problems for them all day. Leaving Clichy for dead on the left was almost finished by Kuyt. Carroll was dangerous at the end. So many positives on the day. Charlie was very good as well and competed all day. Looked good on the ball most of the day.

'Twas very touching to listen to Warren Barton's remembrances of Gary Speed on Fox. They were roommates for five years at Newcastle and very good friends. Was also emotional to hear Kenny's thoughts about Gary from an interview with Kenny earlier in the day. It's all just so sad and so tragic. My thoughts are with Gary's family and friends.

I echo those sentiments.   

Kenny purchased Gary for £5m when he was Newcastle manager.  He bought a few good players into the team back then.

So. We can't win at home and we win our away games. I'm ok with that, actually. It's just the reverse of what it usually is for teams. Fortunately for us, the other teams still rely on getting a majority of their points at home, so by taking that away form them, it's actually better this way...right? 

Nonetheless, Chelsea and Arsenal give me a lot of hope that we can still beat the Manchesters at their home. More often then not, these draws would say "damn, if we can only draw them at home, then we'll surely loose away". Nah, not this year. 

Keepers we face having the games of their lives against us once again.

There must be some kind of facility in the away dressing room that powers them up, but at least, since Balotelli busted the place up, we've an excuse to have a quick look in there now.

I think Pepe decided to play centre back for a bit today, but Skrtel and Agger (I think) covered well enough so I don't really mind.

A point. And City have only drawn against one other team this season, so I suppose I'll take it and have a drink and hope that sooner or later Henderson decides to become visible in midfield.

pour one for me too.
I'm sure Hendo will come good. Happy to give him some time, after all, he's only 21 and is better than Lucas was at that age!!  

He'll probably struggle through this season but next season he'll feel a lot more at home and beable to push his game on.  You can see he doesn't have the confidence to 'own' his patch at the moment.

He'll benefit from the team settling and geling, as a young player, you need a system to fit into and that is developing very well but still needs a bit more work.   

I think it'll be impressive on the run in to the end of the season as the team will be working very well by then.  It just takes time for a team to bed in and develop - they're all new north of Lucas other than Kuyt.

But you're right about the goalkeepers that come to Anfield and walk away with MotM performances.  Infuriating.

You can see he doesn't have the confidence to 'own' his patch at the moment. He's getting all the opportunities to work on it, so hopefully it will beneficial to him sooner rather than later cause it would be good to have another player you can add to the "We can depend on him" list.

Our defence at the moment, is incredible! Buzzing if we keep playing like this for the rest of the season!

...and I can't wait for us to start thrashing teams so when we're 2/3 goals up so we can start getting Coates/Flanno/Kelly/Robbo/Wilson on the park to give em some experience....

So we have played Manchester City, Manchester United, and Chelsea. We won against Chelsea and could've/should've won against both Manchesters. It makes me happy to see that we can compete against all of them with the personnel we have. I'm kinda sorta comfortable with where we are at. But only kinda sorta because why can't we handle Norwich and Swansea and Sunderland and all those "little" guys

With ll the new faces is it really a suprise that they've taken a while to gel? I can't wait for the day we start dishing out thrashings!

It's early days for the team.  The run in will go well. There's no substitute for teams playing competitive football, and this is a new team.

Playing the big 5, we've got 8pts from 15.  We still have to play Newcastle.  Not brilliant, but not terrible either, particularly for what is a new team.  

You have to assume/hope we'll be better on the return matches with our own team development so overall that won't be so bad.

I was saying that I am happy to how the team chemistry has become. I do think we have gelled together. I'm not saying it just happened now, but after the mancs, chelski, and citeh, I think it has been confirmed on how well things have worked out

Lucas was Lucas. Honestly, what's there left to say about this boy? There's no superlative SUPER enough for him.

Have to say though that with every passing game that both Skrtel and Agger feature the more excited (for lack of a better word) I get.

Adam continued his good form. Downing seemed to get quicker later in the game. Hendo showed some intelligent touches.

Kuyt didn't have his best game but his defensive work is still a good contribution.

For everything that we know A.Carroll is not, that header at the end was a very good effort and has to garner some credit since we're not playing "his" game at the moment.

All in all, we're a team in transition and while performances this season have been very jekyll and hyde there's no way we're gunning for top spot at the moment but such performances can only solidify our belief that the only way we're going is up.

We're gonna be going places people. Hold on for it's gonna be one helluva ride.

PS: I'd like to thank Rafa Benitez for bringing that Lucas boy in. He might've never become the player he is today if you hadn't stuck to your guns and played him while everyone ridiculed faith just because they couldn't see what you could see in him.

Certainly he's the example for all of us frustrated at some of the new boys performances to date. 

Time to settle is a great thing and often not afforded enough and especially the younger lads time to mature into your role within a squad. 

What a game.  As much as we really could have and should have grabbed the 3 points today, that City team is monstrous.  As soon as they build up a couple sharp passes they are off to the races.  Thankfully, worldbeater Lucas Leiva was having none of that today.  I can't bring myself to imagine what a horror show that might have been without him.  

Pepe was fantastic today, showing how well he sees play develop and how much more there is to goalkeeping than swatting down shots.  Several of the times he came out today to make really creative plays, other GKs would have stood put and perhaps had a goal put past them that they wouldn't have been held at fault for.  Pepe put out those fires when they were a pile of wee embers.

Really pleased to see Stuey making some progress in the second half, and Carrol is once again inches away from breaking through.  It will come.  (frightening challenge from behind from him though.  Kenny will discuss I'm sure)

Lastly, another really solid game by Chaz.  Can't believe I'm saying that, as a few weeks ago I thought teams like Chelsea and City were tailor made to rip him apart.  But his goal and general attitude remind me of a Bob Bradley quote about Clint Dempsey.  To paraphrase: "He just tries stuff."  That's two Chaz shots deflected for goals this year now.  Sometimes you've just gotta try stuff.

Onward, reds.