Derby day victory again - even with 10 men

Liverpool beat neighbours Everton 3-1 for the second time this season, despite having influential captain Steven Gerrard sent off after just 18 minutes. A Phil Neville own goal just before half time opened the scoring and just after the interval Luis Garcia expertly lobbed Richard Wright for 2-0.
Everton pulled one back through Tim Cahill but then had substitute Andy Van Der Meyde sent off for an elbow on Liverpool’s man of the match, Xabi Alonso. Sami Hyypia had the ball in the back of the net not long after, but a strange offside decision disallowed the goal - not that it mattered, with Harry Kewell firing in a wonderful strike from the edge of the box to compound the Blue side of Merseyside’s misery.
Gerrard, sporting ‘08′ on the back of his shirt, along with Beattie, to represent the captial of culture for 2008, was sent off for two yellow cards. The first one was for kicking the ball away and minutes later he slid in on the edge of the box. Definitely a dismissal which could have been avoided.
The match saw 11 cards in total, but most for silly challenges rather than anything malicious.
A great win, made even better by the fact it was done with 10 men after so early, made better still that one of the ugly sisters scored an own goal and better still that it showed that in Alonso we have the two best midfielders in the country.

Next Match
West Brom (a)
Saturday 1st April

Premiership

The Hawthorns

18:15 KO

FA kup: Birmingem 0, Liverpul 7!

Fudbaleri Liverpula plasirali su se u polufinale FA kupa na spektakularan način – “Crveni” su u gostima pobedili Birmingem Siti rezultatom 7:0! Klub koji je još uvek zvanični šampion Evrope demolirao je tim Stiva Brusa golovima Hipije u prvom, Krauča u 5. i 38, Morijentesa u 59, Risea u 70, autogolom Tebilija u 77. i Sisea u 89. minutu. Već posle 54 sekunde Hipija je na centaršut Džerarda doneo prednost gostima (posle odbitka od golmanovih leđa), a u petom minutu meč je gotovo rešen pogotkom Krauča. Treći gol u tri dana napadač engleske reprezentacije dao je posle solo prodora u finišu poluvremena, a kao i kod prvog krivac je bio Martin Tejlor. Martin Tejlor je na poluvremenu ustupio mesto Francuzu Tebiliju, ali se ništa nije promenilo. Majk Tejlor je vadio loptu iz mreže na svakih deset minuta, kod poslednjeg mu je lopta ispala iz ruku. Pre toga Rise je postigao najlepši gol na meču, Džerard je asistirao Morijentesu, a Tebili doprineo debaklu autogolom.
Sramni nastup “Plavih” gledalo je više od 27 hiljada gledalaca, a gostujuče navijače je, pored briljantne pobede, veoma obradovao povratak Mohameda Sisokoa, koji je izašao na teren prvi put posle ozbiljne nezgode u lisabonskom duelu sa Benfikom, kada je umalo ostao bez oka (na donjoj slici). Ekipa Stiva Brusa je u teškom položaju i u Premijer ligi, gde se nalazi u zoni ispadanja. Iako im je FA kup svakako bio manje važan od opstanka u ligi, katastrofalni nastup u ovom meču otkrio je ogromnu psihološku nestabilnost i mogao bi značajno da utiče na rasplet ligaške borbe. U ponedeljak je mesto u polufinalu FA kupa izborio Vest Hem, a u preostalim četvrtfinalnim mečevima Čelsi igra sa Njukaslom (sreda), a Čarlton sa Midlzbroom (četvrtak).

NEWCASTLE V LIVERPOOL: THE FINAL WORD

NEWCASTLE UNITED 1 - 3 LIVERPOOL

Sunday 19 March 2006 13:30 ,

Barclays Premiership

Liverpool continued to put the pressure on Manchester United in the race for second place with a 3-1 win at Newcastle. Here's the best of the post match reaction.
The Liverpool manager "I am really happy because we played well, scored goals and could have won by a lot more than 3-1 in the end. We used three centre backs today and had Warnock and Kromkamp as wing backs and it worked very well. The movement of Kewell caused problems for Newcastle and we started the game very well. It is really important for the team to see the strikers scoring goals and it has given me a good problem for the next game. Peter Crouch showed today why we signed him as he scored a good goal, kept the ball and won headers. It was important to win and our idea is the same and that is win one game at a time, keep going and keep closing the gap on Manchester United." Rafael Benitez The Newcastle caretaker manager "It goes without saying Boumsong is very upset - who wouldn't be?. There isn't a footballer that wouldn't be upset with what led up to the penalty and what led up to the sending off. He didn't make enough contact with what appeared to be a simple clearance and the ball evaded him. He then had a to make a decision on whether to attempt to tackle or let the player go in on goal. He made the decision to attempt to win the ball back, and I have no complaints with the penalty, it really killed us off. But what you won't get me to do is criticise him publicly because I was a player once of some sort and any manager or coach who criticised me or another player after a bad mistake wasn't a person for me, was not a good coach, was not a good manager. But that does not mean to say I will not sit down with Boumsong and go through the goals and share my view of where he could have done better." Glenn Roeder The Liverpool player "It was good, we did most of the work in the first half. It's pleasing, we scored five last week and three today so it's good. We've always been playing well and getting results but it's nice to kill teams off and the last couple of days we've managed to do that. We could have gone on to score more." Peter Crouch The broadsheet newspaper The Liverpool players' movement, vision and all-round professionalism meant they took full advantage. Their fresh system here, with Peter Crouch playing an advanced role and supported on either side by Harry Kewell and Djibril Cissé plus wing-backs, led to some energetic attacking and Rafael Benitez's side's pursuit of second place shows little sign of stuttering. Crouch had an early chance when he met Stephen Warnock's curling cross with a firm header but watched it drift wide. When handed a second chance, his accuracy was unerring. Jan Kromkamp chipped a diagonal pass towards the far post where Crouch snuck in between Boumsong, who missed the ball with an attempted headed clearance, and Peter Ramage, to head in from three yards. Liverpool were buoyed as Warnock and Kewell showed some splendidly swift one-touch football.

Arindam Rej, The Independent The local newspaper This Liverpool performance had Rafael Benitez stamped all over it - a fluid 'team' effort. The three goals could have been more, but after the five-goal showing at Anfield last Wednesday, the goalscoring woes of just a week ago seem a distant memory. Even Djibril Cisse, without a goal in 2006, notched from the spot to make it five goals from the strikers in the past week. In all honesty it was a game Liverpool never looked like losing. Yes, they played much of the second half against 10 men after Jean Alain Boumsong was sent off for man-handling Peter Crouch in the box. And yes, Newcastle were poor, but make no mistake this was one of the best Liverpool performances of the season, a real tonic for the final push for second spot and FA Cup glory. Paul Chapple, Daily Post The tabloid newspaper Steven Gerrard has played 46 club games so far this season but thankfully for Liverpool and England the Premiership's marathon man is showing no signs of slowing up. So far he has shouldered the burden of hauling Liverpool into the Champions League with his goals way back in July. Their Premiership season has largely been defined by his driving play. And in 13 weeks' time England will push him to the limit and hope a run to the final can extend his season into its 13th month. Yesterday Gerrard produce yet another awe-inspiring show, capped by a wonderful goal that took his tally for the season to 19. Gerrard is an amazing eight goals ahead of striker Djibril Cisse as the club's leading scorer. England fans can only pray that he stays fit - and fresh, if that is possible - for the summer. Gerrard netted Liverpool's second, and best, goal after 35 minutes. St James' Park was subdued and being given little to inspire them and it was no surprise when Liverpool took total command of an embarrassingly one-sided game. Simon Bird, Daily Mirror The Liverpool supporter This was possibly one of the best (and most comfortable) performances I have seen from the boys this season. Agger looks so calm and his distribution is spot on most of the time. As for Kromkamp, he was fantastic marauding up and down the right, defending and attacking when needed. His performance leads me onto the three men at the back and why I think it worked so well. Warnock and Kromkamp played the wing back roles superbly well and Sami, Carra and Agger were rocks. Well done Rafa for the willingness to play a different formation. Daipac, LFC.TV Message Boards

Next:

BIRMINGHAM C (a)20:45 Tue 21st March FA Cup Quarter Final

GERRARD: BLAME ME FOR THE DEFEAT

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard today held up his hands and admitted that if it hadn't of been for his lapse in concentration in gifting a back pass to Thierry Henry, Liverpool might have 'robbed' a point from the Gunners.
Having gone behind in the first half to a wonderful striker from the Henry, a second-half header from Luis Garcia looked to have sealed a vital point for Liverpool when Gerrard played an backpass straight to the Arsenal No.14, who made no mistake with only Pepe Reina to beat. It was a carbon copy of an incident during England's defeat against France in Euro 2004 when Gerrard's backpass to David James was intercepted by Henry before the striker was brought down for a penalty. "It was just like France all over again," revealed Gerrard. "I was trying to take up time. I did not see him. The last player you want the ball to go to is the best player on the planet. "It was completely my fault and I hold up my hands. It was a stupid mistake that has stopped us from robbing a point because we did not play well at all."

Next: FULHAM (h)

21:00 Wed 15th March

Barclays Premiership

Moja prognoza: 2-0

Reds 1-0 Man City

Match Report from BBC Sport
Harry Kewell’s first-half goal was enough to sink Manchester City and put Liverpool level on points with second-placed Manchester United.
Kewell found acres of space on the left to run on to Steven Gerrard’s pass and thunder a low shot past David James.
City were dismal early on and things got worse for them when Joey Barton was sent off for a second bookable offence.
But that kickstarted the visitors’ best spell of the match and Georgios Samaras missed a golden chance to level.
Stuart Pearce’s side have won only once away from home in any competition since August and showed why with a miserable first-half display.
They were fortunate to be up against a Reds side that has struggled to score goals in recent weeks and who were unable to create a clear-cut chance in the early stages.
Peter Crouch nodded over when well-placed and Kewell had a shot deflected wide but the home side’s best chance fell to Sami Hyypia who missed the target with his header.
City were competing well enough in midfield but they rarely attacked with any purpose and continually gave the ball away.
With Liverpool enjoying so much possession it was just a question of whether they could fashion an opening, and they found the space to do just that on 40 minutes.
City right-back Danny Mills was dragged out of position, leaving Kewell free to latch on to Gerrard’s cross-field pass and steady himself before firing home.
Mills did partly redeem himself before half-time when he cleared Crouch’s bouncing header off the line but the damage had already been done.
And things did not improve for City after the break.
Barton had already been booked for a late challenge on Jan Kromkamp and a nasty tackle on Hyypia earned him a second yellow card - and his marching orders - on 52 minutes.
But being reduced to 10 men seemed to reinvigorate City and they enjoyed their best spell of the game immediately afterwards.
Substitute Bradley Wright-Phillips tested Jose Reina with a shot on the turn and the Liverpool keeper had to be at his best to push aside Trevor Sinclair’s swerving drive soon after.
But Samaras did not even force Reina to make a save from City’s best opportunity.
Kiki Musampa set the Greek striker free and he lifted the ball over the keeper but wide of the target.
Liverpool were still threatening themselves, with Crouch going close with a clever flick before firing in a dipping shot that James had to tip on to the bar.
Gerrard needed prolonged treatment on a foot injury after a fine tackle by Richard Dunne but the Reds skipper was soon able to rejoin the fray.
Crouch was a handful throughout but James continued to thwart the big target-man’s search for a first league goal of 2006, rushing from his goal to block his shot on 73 minutes.
By that time City had run out of steam and the Reds held on comfortably in the closing stages to record their third straight 1-0 Premiership victory.
Sledeca:
Subota 4.3.2006. 18:15h home vs Charlton
Moja prognoza 2-0