The Mail Bag
A Slightly Different Take!
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I posted on here yesterday within a minute of the match finishing, angry, hurt and disappointed. Today I feel only slightly less angry but no less hurt and disappointed, that's for sure.
With the anger having subsided, though, it's allowed me to recall things about the game (was it a game?) that only really sunk in over an evening of pretending to be happy while out having a meal with the muisses (sorry love).
Firstly, it seems quite obvious that "the shite" (no capitals for them) had a game plan. Whether it was one cooked up by the paella server, or whether the two most hypocritical, scumbag scallys Gerrard and Carragher got together to decide it, it was obvious that they saw Fellaini and Pienaar as the main threats. Fellaini had shown in his half hour or so on the pitch that it was business as usual just calming down the play, breaking things up, and distributing the ball (on the deck) to players wearing a blue shirt.
So shithouse number two decides he'll take Pienaar out in the first couple of minutes by trying to break the lad's shoulder, put his back out, just basically hurt him... which he did, and it worked in my opinion. Having said that, Pienaar's form has dipped recently, though I'm not going to call his character into question bearing in mind the World Cup blah blah...
Shithouse number one, a despicable excuse for a man in my opinion, thought he'd have a go at the smallest player on the pitch later too. So he dived in two footed (nothing new to him) one foot in Pienaar's chest and one in his mid section. To Anichebe's credit the lad was incensed and showed the sort of reaction and obvious feeling that was sadly lacking elsewhere throughout most of the game.
To finish, I noticed shithouse number one do his famous "splay the legs while running and you'll go down like you've been scythed down". He did it against Hibbert that time when they were both shoulder to shoulder in the box in a previous derby. It annoys me because it's SO obvious as it's a totally unnatural physical movement... and one which referees fall for all the time. The sad fact is though that he must have actually practiced the move he's become so adept at it... a complete arsehole of a man, and not just on the pitch either.
Does all this excuse Everton's guiless, gutless, tactically inept performance? No it doesn't... but it makes me feel a tiny bit better for getting it off my chest.
Brian Williams, Posted 07/02/2010 at 09:04:57
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There’s no point using muscle in a football match and then complaining whenever it’s used against you... We were as dirty as they were.
I don’t think I’ve seen two players red-carded for the same tackle before — But that’s what should’ve happened with Fellaini.
The match was an utter disappointment — we resorted to competing in a kicking match, and we lost... wasn’t really helped by the anonymous player in the crucial position of centre midfield..
Well and truly fucked off — but attacking their tactics is ridiculous.
Agreed that we did nowhere near enough to win yesterday, and that was very disappointing. But on Steven Gerrard I actually said yesterday that if he is made England captain I cannot support them.
What is perhaps most infuriating about Gerrard is not the fact that he is a diving cheat (so are Drogba, Ronaldo etc.). It is first that as you say he is a ’butter wouldn’t melt in my mouth’ utter hypocrite. And second he is for some reason given a completely free pass by all the media. Finally he is a sneaky bastard (the kick on Pienaar yesterday, and so many other cases).
And, when you think about it, Drogba and Ronaldo don’t assault other players (e.g. Naysmith). Or innocent guys in bars (and, once more, get off without the correct punishment).
Okay, stop me now... The man is as you say an utterly despicable human being. Let’s hope he is injured before the World Cup.
It is that he is a cheat and a hypocrite. Mentioning Fellaini and Cahill actually makes the point - they are openly criticised for their tough behaviour on the football pitch. Gerrard never. And Fellaini and Cahill actually don’t dive. The Yak does and he is criticised for it.
I could also add the way Gerrard chases after referees for entire games and never gets punished, but where you can stop with this man? He really is as bad a shithouse as there is in the modern game.
A severe talking to? Might have made a difference but probably not. The damage was done and some punishment was really needed.
A yellow card? No referee is going to flash a card in the first minute unless it is a really serious offence.
I think this was really serious... I think it deserved a straight red card. But Stevie P was so stunned, he didn’t even think to stay down / roll around / play dead and milk it for all it was worth.
Strong refereeing was called for and an utterly cynical opening gambit like that should have been punished unmercilessly.
Shithouse #2?
Michael, I think no ref would give a straight red in the first minute - although Carragher’s challenge merited it. But why not a yellow? Who knows, that might just have sent a message to the players to calm down a little bit. And we may then have avoided the Fellaini / Kyrgiakos horror show.
Carragher’s tackle, however, should have been red. It would have set the tone. By allowing it to go it just descended into a free-for-all then and not a football match.
For a Premier League match between two of the better teams in the league it was a fucking joke. It looked like a Championship relegation scrap, the football on show was dire by both.
Yes, yesterday we were shite, yes Fellaini was lucky (though his ankle wouldn’t agree with that) but watching them - Mascherano, Kuyt, all of ’em - at least made me realise I’m supporting the right team. Big Vic might be our Ngog (well, actually...) but he earnt my respect yesterday in a Big Dunc kinda fashion through his reactions, which mirrored my own at that punch. Except I think I probably would have nutted "Stevie G" by that point...
Rant over, bring on Chelsea, get well soon Felli and come on Man City ;-)
The problem was, we were sucked in by their dogs of war tactics, and with an average height in the midfield of five foot ten, we were feather against heavyweight. The waiter has taken a leaf out of Big Sam’s book and opted for big hoof, shirt pull and second ball, and we tried to copy them.
After how we have been playing lately, I was disappointed with our lack of invention, but as many have already said, Pienaar had been brutally buffeted out of the game early on, and he is paramount to any pass and move stuff for us.
That said, schoolboy defending of a corner cost us, together with a lack of creativity.
Stil, only Chelsea next FFS
First time for everything I suppose, but a certain yellow, possible red, would have put a different cast on the game.
And the ref wouldn’t have sent the Greek no-mark off if the 4th official hadn’t watched the replay a couple of times. No new technology? Bollocks.
Ciarán — this isn’t complaining about tactics, but wishing to air something that a corruptible man like Rafael Benitez would do and, I believe, David Moyes wouldn’t. The order to maim came from the top. He was proud of his victory.
He knew it could be done with a referee at Anfield who would ’let the game go on’.
Bring on the stretcher bearers. Change the course of the match.
That 'performance' ... and I will call it a 'performance' because no word in the English dictionary could describe how disgusted, disappointed, shattered I am with the end result. <>P> Yes we can blame Moyes; yes we can blame some absolute horrific tackles/refereeing. But, in all honesty, Liverpool wanted this match a lot more than us. Now winning at Anfield has always been hard for us, but honestly I got the feeling that everyone at Everton were confident that we could come away with SOME points.
Two MAJOR points I would like to discuss/vent;
- The referee lost the match within the first 25 seconds when Pinaaer was absolutely smashed. He was intimidated by the tackling and the crowd, and even the pure emotion. Although he did a great job at letting some stuff go, he made some instrumental stuff ups.
- Louis Saha, congratulations my friend, you are rewarded with 2 more years. And if you play like you have the last say, 2 - 3 weeks, you should be shown the door. No heart, didn't see him lay one tackle, or hound the defenders like Cahill, Pienaar, Donovan.
Now hopefully we can bounce back against Chelsea. And play the type of football we have shown in glimpses this year, because when we play at our best we can most certainly beat anyone in the EPL.
Player Ratings: Howard 6, Neville 6, Heitinga 7, Distin 5, Baines 6, Felliani 5, Osman 5, Donovan 8, Cahill 7 Saha 3, Anichebe 6, Yakubu 6 Arteta 6.
Wake up referees, he’s taking the piss out of you, book him the next time he tries to cheat you.
How about discussing the fact that we have a manager who is never bold enough to make brave decisions and make key changes when neccessary??
David Moyes and the team fucked up lets not look for any excuses beyond that.
Question is where does the season go from here? We have nowhere to go except in the Europa and that could end in the next round. Personally I would like to see extended runs give to the fringe players who are ready to come in such as Rodwell, Coleman, Anichebe and Yakubu.
Arteta obviously comes in to get fit for Europe and Yobo needs games as Heitinga is cup-tied or is Senderos eligible? It’s still been a lousy season despite some better results since Xmas and we can only hope we can finish on a high note.
Fat Spanish Waiter.
Correct and devastating appraisal. Fucking appalling performance. Team and manager should be ashamed of themselves.
The words of our warrior-manager. Unbelievable!! When there’s ten of them, I think we are nearly as good as them. Grow a pair of balls and stop deferring to that crap team. Really. It makes you and the whole team sound pathetic. You and Neville. Its embarrassing. Even their moron of a manager has sniffed you out. Fucking humiliating.
If you haven’t seen this you tube link before, send it to everyone you know.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVb2gbMtN3I
I think Liverpool are very poor, yet they still beat us comfortably with 10 men. Did anybody seriously think we would score second half? Very disappointed, the entire team crapped themselves second half, no bottle whatsoever. I’ve said for ages Distin is crap, why Moyes went for him and not Dunne when he could have done a deal in getting rid of Lescott I just have no idea.
Saha, who I think’s great most the time and dissenting voices on him usually irritate me was absolute garbage in skill and most of all workrate. Only hope he played injured because he was truly awful.
Frustrating for Evertonians because we didn’t adapt our tactics well enough, once the defender had been sent off. Had it been the other way around, and one of Central Defenders had been red carded, I am pretty sure that Benitez would have instructed his team to put lots of crosses into our penalty area.
In the end we resorted to playing hoof ball up the middle of the pitch — meat and drink for their defenders.
There were a couple of times that Donovan used his pace to get past their defence, once he played the ball back when he should have crossed. The second time he put in a great cross that stretched their defence. If only we had been able to do that more often — ie use the flanks and put in crosses into their box.
Personally it shows a weakness in Moyes — he doesn’t seem to have a plan B. He appears reluctant to change tactics. The only times he seems to do so is when we go a goal behind and there’s less than 20 minutes to go.
Angry — well I have to admit that Pienaar (one of my favourite players) made a very poor challenge and should have got a red card. I think the Greek guy shouldn’t have got a red — I felt a yellow — remember Kuyt’s two-footed challenge on Neville at Goodison a couple of years ago?
The Liverpool player I felt should have seen red was Gerrard. He dived to win a free kick from a Cahill challenge and then he slid in with all studs showing into the back of an Everton player. I was also appalled at Gerrard’s role in Pienaar’s second yellow card and resultant red card. He clearly knew who it was who was challenging him, he went down holding his head yet less than 5 minutes later he was talking merrily to the bloke from Sky TV!!! The only consolation is that come the World Cup he will be shown up for what he is — yes, a good player, but highly overated.
Saturday we allowed ourselves to become involved in a battle, it was clear that we needed to change our tactics. But David Moyes couldn’t change. His use of Arteta was also strange, given the nature of the game, with reckless challenges flying in. I would have liked to see him put Coleman on for Fellani and move Neville to defensive midfield. In my opinion, Coleman is just as good as Baines going forward ad I think he is better defensively.
I am not in the anti-Moyes camp — more the very frustrated with Moyes camp.
DM’s weakness is Neville rather than the lack of a "Plan B" Fact is, Plan A sucks. Yet he continues to deploy Plan A. I’m not sure that putting Neville in the holding midfield role buys us a whole lot, because he’ll still lob long balls and get beat by any midfielder with average pace.
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1 Posted 07/02/2010 at 07:37:43
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Now on to my words for Gerrard:
Mr. Gerrard I have decided that without ever meeting you I think I despise you for all the right reasons. You are the first to complain. You are the first to cheat. You are a hypocrite and have the audacity to accuse others of diving when you swan dive at the first chance you get. You fake injury to get players sent off. You disgust me.
If you are to become the next England Captain I will consider rooting for France this summer. (At least Henry admits he cheated) Your friend Carragher may have even less class than you which is really saying something. And whatever you do to get the dirty refs to kiss your ass must be illegal or at least frowned upon if brought up at dinner parties.
In conclusion I want to say two things. First my only hope is that during the derby John Terry was paying a visit to your wife. And I hate Dirk Kuyt's face.