Liverpool didn’t exactly cover themselves in glory at St, James’ Park today as the wheels seem to be coming off on Merseyside.
Liverpool in 12 league games since they beat Newcastle 3-1 at Anfield on 30th December, have just two wins and two draws for a measly 8 points.
Liverpool are doing great in the Cups this season, but their league form is relegation stuff, and how much has Kenny Dalglish spent on players in the last 15 months?
Andy Carroll should have scored in the first half after just 10 minutes, when he was straight through on goal, but instead of shooting the ball home, he tried to round Tim Krul and dived pathetically for a penalty, and he was given a yellow card.
And then with Liverpool trailing 2-0, Pepe Reina saved a header from Mike Williamson on 82 minutes, and then raced out of his goal and brushed by James Perch, and he then stupidly went back and head-buuted Perch.
The only thing we didn’t understand was why Perch got a yellow card – and why didn’t Newcastle get a penalty – if it’s a red card offense then it’s a foul – so it’s a penalty because it took place in the penalty box?
Pepe Reina should be ashamed of himself, as he let both his team and the fans down, and as we said Liverpool didn’t exactly come out of this game smelling like roses.
Newcastle are now 11 points clear of Liverpool in the league table and level with Chelsea on 523 points and now are away at Swansea on Good Friday.
Comments welcome.
36 comments so far
Spuggy
Apr 1, 2012 at 4:37 PM
Comment #1Credit to Ashley, Lambias and Pards for seeing what we couldn’t. Gettin rid of Carroll, Enrique, Nolan and Barton and replacing with younger hungrier players.
Ashley has taken some stick – it’s time to get behind the board and the manager in the run up to the summer window!
geoff777
Apr 1, 2012 at 4:39 PM
Comment #2The Geordie coming out in you Ed?
He head-buuted him like man, pet.
gaz 44
Apr 1, 2012 at 4:39 PM
Comment #3enrique i would have still liked to be in black n white today but he’s the only one.. however he left after offering him a deal so he’s as much as a Judas as Carroll.. 42mill thank you dagliesh
thepict
Apr 1, 2012 at 4:42 PM
Comment #4All. Hail to Perch and Williamson . Excellent performances from both of them.
joppadoni
Apr 1, 2012 at 4:44 PM
Comment #5for me today was a bit like tense shoulder syndrome. nervous as hell for the entire game. but thats the class liverpool have. we did great overall. you have to, to beat a team like liverpool. its my daughters birthday today as well so a fantastic day 😀
joppadoni
Apr 1, 2012 at 4:46 PM
Comment #6anyone know how is Ed? hows he doing btw?
tsangcym
Apr 1, 2012 at 4:46 PM
Comment #7why there wasn’t a penalty?
nm… good question, i wasn’t thinking of that either….
joppadoni
Apr 1, 2012 at 4:48 PM
Comment #8if you want to see pardews interview here is the link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17578661
~Perchinho the Pheonix~
Apr 1, 2012 at 4:49 PM
Comment #9There wasn’t a penalty because the initial foul was perch’s trip on Reina, so rightfully Liverpool should have gotten the free kick. Reina was sent off for his reaction to the challenge.
HOVIS (the poster formerly known as cheick norris)
Apr 1, 2012 at 4:51 PM
Comment #10well i said i wasn’t too worried about their team and have
been proven right they looked really poor. willo looked pretty solid if not perfect.
perch keeps up his run of form.
cisse shows what we already knew. he’s a natural goalscorer.
Ben arfa looking great
matclarke4000
Apr 1, 2012 at 4:51 PM
Comment #11i think we had a bit of luck today. simmo could have given away a penalty with that handball, and it was tough to see any contact on the ball leading to the second goal, so cisse was perhaps lucky to not be given offside. he took the goal brilliantly though, such composure.
reina deserved to go off, not much of a headbutt – perchy definitely made the most of it – but reina knows the rules and knew he’d be off if he did something like that.
it wasn’t a penalty because it wasn’t a foul – the ball was not in play – it was an off the ball incident
we were comfortably the better team, just wish we’d tested enrique a bit more in goal. great win today, bring on swansea on friday
Spuggy
Apr 1, 2012 at 4:52 PM
Comment #12Sell: Obertan, Smith, L’krands, Xisco, Kadar, Gosling
Buy: Douglas, Hoilett, CM, CF
GK: Krul/Harper/Forster/Elliott
LB: Pieters/Santon/Perch/Rayor
CB: Collo/S Taylor/Douglas/Willo/Perch
RB: Simpson/Santon/Perch/Raylor
LW Arfa/Hoilett
CM: Tiote/Cabaye/Guthrie/?????/Vuckic/Abeid
RW: Jonas/Marveaux
CF: Cisse/Ba/????/Ameobi/Best
We could then start to rotate the whole squad.
MagpiesFlyHigh
Apr 1, 2012 at 4:54 PM
Comment #13Good to see Perch doing so well. He has really come on this season despite some dodgy moments. It has got to be the coaching and good man management that has helped Guthrie, Simmo and Perchino to improve.
Credit to AP for the 4-3-3, that’s our front three terrorists on great form. Hope Ba not downhearted but he’s making the space for Cisse – that’s the sign of a great emerging partnership.
Spuggy
Apr 1, 2012 at 4:54 PM
Comment #14Loving how versatile our players are now – Jonas, Perch, Raylor, Cabaye, Ba all shown their versatility this season in different positions – great for cover and resilience – thats what manu does,
Credit to pards for being brave enough to trust them.
Constanstine
Apr 1, 2012 at 4:55 PM
Comment #15Couldn’t ask more from our defense, Perch just got himself a permanent space in the line-up. I’m starting to worry about Santon and our young players now. Awesome counterattacking btw.
Oleg G
Apr 1, 2012 at 4:56 PM
Comment #16Sky sports, what a joke.
Giving us 6.5 and Liverpool 5.5.
6.5?? You got to be kidding me.
MagpiesFlyHigh
Apr 1, 2012 at 4:57 PM
Comment #17Santon is class and has the management team that will get the best out of him just as they have for Benny etc.,
geoff777
Apr 1, 2012 at 4:58 PM
Comment #18@Spuggy
Smith, Lovenkrands and Kadar are all out of contract so if any one wants to sign them we won’t get a fee.
Xisco is on a massive wage that no one will match so we’re stuck with him for another year.
Obertan needs to be given time, it’s his first season and he didn’t play much at Manure.
Why you would want to sell Gosling I have no idea.
Massive potential – Future England Captain lol … not putting any pressure on the lad.
HWTL
MagpiesFlyHigh
Apr 1, 2012 at 5:00 PM
Comment #19Geoff
Apparently it was Gosling on that Tweet thing. Not a happy bunny. I think he’ll be massive for us too given time and good management as he has the ability. Agree Obertan needs time too.
HOVIS (the poster formerly known as cheick norris)
Apr 1, 2012 at 5:01 PM
Comment #20spuggy i think obertan has 1 more season to impress. likely not to be sold this summer
AK Malaysia
Apr 1, 2012 at 5:04 PM
Comment #21Perch need not to do that.. I hate play acting… Reina will be out vs Everton in Semis of FA Cup, the game that we want Liverpool to win… huh! Other than that.. I will not take away his performance… PERCH is superb / Brilliant… Time to play Colo / Perch in central defence!!! HOWAY,,,
AK Malaysia
Apr 1, 2012 at 5:05 PM
Comment #22Liverpool has a bigger chance of winning when Reina is playing…. 3 Game match ban isn’t goona help!
Oleg G
Apr 1, 2012 at 5:07 PM
Comment #23Good stuff:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1127299-liverpool-fc-5-reasons-why-andy-carroll-is-to-blame-for-defeat-to-newcastle
davybtoon
Apr 1, 2012 at 5:07 PM
Comment #24Honestly perch n Williamson were brilliant today
Spuggy
Apr 1, 2012 at 5:07 PM
Comment #25If we could attract hoilett (good chance if we get Europe), then I’d prefer Hoilett and Arfa RW.
I trust fergy – he would have kept him is he had true potential.
Gosling has little pace – not good for PL.
I wouldn’t be disappointed if we kept them for another season though.
HOVIS (the poster formerly known as cheick norris)
Apr 1, 2012 at 5:10 PM
Comment #26ole. we won’t get the credit we are due unless we go above and stay above chelsea
Marty-Toon
Apr 1, 2012 at 5:11 PM
Comment #27Perch got a yellow for the trip on Reina
Ed,we can’t get a penalty when play is stopped.
If we were taking a throw in and the same happened it’d still be a throw in as the play is stopped.
Oleg G
Apr 1, 2012 at 5:14 PM
Comment #28Pards is afraid to say that we are in it for the CL spot. But I like that. He doesn’t pressure the players. IF we will get there, fine, but that is not the goal. great interview.
Was it a hand by Simpson? It was like a top arm/shoulder thing, no?
bullsear
Apr 1, 2012 at 8:55 PM
Comment #29Headbutt? HEADBUTT?!
I am a die-hard Newcastle fan, and there is no universe in which that was a headbutt. It may have looked like it to the referee (who was behind the action and to Reina’s right, obscured from view), but it wasn’t.
Perch went down to get the call, not because he was hit.
My guess is that he knew that (somehow), or there should have been a PK. The only way a PK shouldn’t be given in an instance like this under the Laws of the Game is if the sending off is for a verbal or unsporting offense (which is not physical).
To me, he deserved to be sent off for stopping the game in order to attempt to start a fight.
bullsear
Apr 1, 2012 at 8:56 PM
Comment #30Sorry guys, when I say, “My guess is that he knew that …”, the “he” I am referring to is the referee.
martoon
Apr 1, 2012 at 8:59 PM
Comment #31Ed I wish we did have 523 points – we’d be champions by now 🙂
Sav
Apr 2, 2012 at 1:26 AM
Comment #32Was driving today and had to listen to match on Talksport with rabid reds Ray Houghton and Stan ‘The Dog’ Collymore. The whole build up was why Liverpool needed to win to be restored to some ‘rightful’ place. The whole aftermatch was what this means to Liverpool and, of course Simpson’s upper arm clearance and Perch’s trying to get a fellow pro sent off. I’m not absolving Perch, but there was nothing about Carroll trying.to get Krul sent off. Collymore even contacted Gordon Taylor to demand what the PFA were going to do about it. My own fault for tuning in to such rubbish but they were the only commentary I could get.
cupiddstunt
Apr 2, 2012 at 2:17 AM
Comment #33geoff777 @ #2
your posts pi** me off most times but
“He head-buuted him like man, pet.”
I must admit I had a hearty laugh at that one, been away from the town for longer than is good for me and that hit the spot.
NUFC Fan in Idaho
Apr 2, 2012 at 2:23 AM
Comment #34Carroll didn’t dive – he lost his balance because his hands were around his throat… that and the ball was under his foot. Glad he didn’t score that one, might’ve changed the game. Am sorry such a young guy is having such a tough time but I couldn’t stand Liverpool before they bought him.
davis_toons
Apr 2, 2012 at 2:26 AM
Comment #35Looking at Ashley during the match, he seems relax and Lamb’s look stress..
davis_toons
Apr 2, 2012 at 2:29 AM
Comment #36Santon looks versatile as well he was used at the right by AP.