Player ratings :
Reina : 6
Honestly had absolutely nothing to do for 90% of the game, only had one save to make which was a superb reaction save from a heskey header. Couldnt do anything abt the goal. Alonso chested it one way and he was going the other.
Finnan : 7
Did well, had his usual consistent game, hughly under rated. Got in well in the second half to support the attack. Played a move advance role in tonite's game.
Aggar : 6
Probably would have given him a 6.5 but for a few mistakes here and there, including one in the first half which almost gave the visitors the lead, a miskicked attempted flick-clearance which went straight to heskey. Otherwise, showed loads of potential. Didnt look out of place in the defence at all considering its his debut. Looks very promising and certainly a good buy.
Hypia : 6
Read the game well but honestly didnt really have much to do, especially in the second half. looked comfortable along side aggar.
Risse : 6.5
Was his usual self pushing up the left flank. tracked back well when needed.
Gerrard : 7
The motivation and inspiration in the team. His goal was a tad fortunate as it was never going in until it took a deflection but nevertheless, great postioning. Really thought he should have stayed on while we were 1-0 up.
Hamman : 6.5
Flawless covering of the back 4. Played a bit too deep though. especially in the second half where we had to be more adventerous to take advantage of our numerical advantage.
Kewell : 7.5
My man of the match. Had a superb first half and didnt let off any in the second either. Has been getting a good run of matches lately and getting some of his old touches back. Welcome back Harry.
Garcia : 5.5
Missed probably the best chance we had in the entire match when he had only the goal keeper to beat after being put thru via an intelligent flick off moro. Made intelligent runs but often came out short tonight. Not his best game.
Crouch : 6.5
Had a couple of headers, one of which went narrowly wide off the right upright in the second half. Gave the opposition defence plenty of problems.
Morinetes : 6.5
i know alot of ppl are going to disagree with me on this one, but i thought moro had a good game. He's clearly the most intelligent player we have in the last 3rd of the field and his mind moves faster than his feet. nice assist for stevie's goal and had several intelligent runs and flicks.
Alonso : -
whether the own goal he scored was his fault or not is rather debatable. On hindsight, he shd have just cleared it away from goal instead of chesting it down for reina. however, after looking at replays, there was really nothing much he could do anyway. Birmingham players were all around him. Could see that he was really gutted after that and nearly made amends with a sweetly struck free kick.
Fowler :
Looked a little off the pace to be honest, for the 25mins or so that he was on but showed that he still has the technique and execution up front that we so sorely missed for the first half of the season. Needs to improve match fitness, would be exactly what we need when hes fully fit.
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Overall, we played well, created loads and loads of chances but at the end of the day, the same problem persists.. we can't put our chances away. Look at the number of clear cut chances we had.. especcially the one garcia missed. But then again, things were just not working out for us. Its one of those days where we throw in everything including the kitchen sink but yet cant score. Maybe its abit of justice served on the part for birmingham as i didnt thought that the sending off was fair. True that it was a 2 footed challenge but it looked like a 50-50 challenge and both players were goign for the ball before that.
Rafa shd have played stevie and replace hamman with alonso instead. we were a man up and there was really not much of a need for hamman's holding midfield role.
And we clearly missed the organization that carra brings at the back. To be honest, the defence fell alseep after stevie scored. The signs were already there before the alonso OG. If not for Reina;s brillance, heskey would have scored from a free header. The defence was guily of ball watching at that time, nobody was even relatively close to heskey.
And finally, ppl keep saying that we have been conceeding goals via set pieces. True, that is a problem, but to me, the bigger problem is out concentration level. Its the second game in a row that we concede a 'game-determining' goal in the last 1 -2 mins of the match. Maybe its complacency, but we will need to concentrate for the full 90mins if we want to get any result against any team. Rafa will have to drill that into the players, especially the defence.
In conclusion, i know many of us (including myself) are frustrated over tonight's game but to be honest, i'll be very happy of we can play at this level for every remaining game of the season. We dictated the game, controlled everything.. only failing to convert our chances. Some may argue that its the same old story as last season, where we dominate teams only to drop points. but im sure for those of us who watched the match tonight, we can tell that the liverpool team playing now is one with confidence and with the ability to back that up. Dont be too down regarding tonight's game. ITs 2 points dropped undoubtly, but also a point made up against the scum, who had Rio 'im the man' ferdinand sent off. Cant wait for Gary the kunt neville and gang to turn up at anfield for the FA cup.
Bring on chelsea this weekend.
