Gerrard Inspires Lacklustre Reds

Organised vs Disorganised; 3-5-2 Mess

English Premiership

LIVERPOOL 1 - 0 Manchester City

Scorer:
LIV - Gerrard (67min);

1-0 Gerrard:

If you're a Liverpool fan, you must have heaped a sigh of relief.

If you're a neutral, you'll be glad the bore fest was over when Rob Styles blew the whistle.

A beautiful right foot strike from Steven Gerrard ensured Liverpool's victory over a determined and organised Manchester City. Just like the uncountable number of occasions where Gerrard pops up from nowhere to score the winner, he was there to pounce on a mistake from City captain, Sylvain Distin and scores his first Premiership goal for Liverpool this season.

That goal must've made all the critics who says Gerrard should play in the middle real happy. It was a typical Gerrard-esque goal.

A run from deep and then a powerful shot which gave Nicky Weaver absolutely no chance. Like an eagle pouncing on it's prey. Precise and swift. He was also the player who came closest to scoring in the first half.

Manchester City set out a very defensive tactics at Anfield in hope of a change of fortune away from home. They have been just as bad as Liverpool in terms of away form and in order to avoid defeat, they had Chinedum Onuoha, Micah Ricards and Hatem Trabelsi all in the same team. Obviously they are there to shackle Liverpool's left flank as well as exploit it.

Without Stephen Warnock, Fabio Aurelio and Harry Kewell, John Arne Riise was the only outright option for Rafa Benitez.

With injuries abound, Rafa tinkered not only with the players, but now with an experimental 3-5-2 formation which made us looked so disorganised at times and the players were obviously confused and were nearly caught out on a couple of occasions.

The first half was a dull affair with the home team having a lion share of possession. Crouch, Gerrard and Luis Garcia all had chances to put Liverpool ahead and kick start the pace of the game, but the finishing was found wanting.

Second half was no better as Rafa decided to keep the formation as Liverpool continued to toll on as Man City sat deeper and deeper. Distin and Dunne led the defence line very well and they rendered Crouch and Kuyt almost useless. The 2 strikers could not get a sniff at goal throughout although Kuyt looked very energetic as usual and seemed to be running his socks off.

The game finally reached its peak when Gerrard scores and it did have a certain effect on the Liverpool team as well as City's. Inspired by captain, the Reds pushed on for the second but sadly, lost the momentum as time wore on. Introduction of Fowler didn't do much impact while Pennant was active, but final ball still poor.

Man City looked to have a last push with Giorgios Samaras coming really close with a shot towards the top corner, but Pepe Reina was alert enough to stop it and saved Liverpool from embarrassment.

Overall, a below par performance from the Reds. But I was pleased to see us winning despite playing poorly. Credits goes out to Man City who defended superbly until a lapse of concentration cost them a credible draw. They were organised, but were obviously not there to play much football.

By the way, can we just take a corner rather than always keeping it short? Because if I'm a defender and by sprinting 50-60 yards to the opponent's box only to see it goes short and then lose possession, I'll be well pissed.


Liverpool Ratings:

Reina - 8 - Inspired confidence. A couple couple of good catches and vital saves.

Agger - 7 - Did well. But dwells on ball too much to be reliable.
Hyypia 7 - Towering presence. But he seemed to be VERY slow.
Carragher - 7 - Made to play on the right, then left back. Did okay.
Finnan - 7 - Nothing spectacular. Didn't provide width when required.

Gerrard - 9 - Disciplined performance as an anchorman and a goal to his name.
Zenden - 7 - Tried luck with some shots. Overall, his passing is still pretty poor.
Luis Garcia - 5 - Infuriating. Showed poor touches and decision.
Riise - 7 - Worked hard down the left flank.

Crouch - 5 - Did nothing that I can remember of.
Kuyt - 7 - At least he tried and his constant closing down is a problem for opponent defenders.