Liverpool v Everton. 28th Jan at 20.00.

[chicoazul]

I briefly considered a pineapple chutney.

Sir we need to operate on your taste buds at once.

Ketchup. Wools. HP you bad bad meffs. Koff Everton goin to bed

YES.

 

[riddick]

Well, they were mate. They were atrocious. Jagielka, Alcaraz and Pienaar looked at best about 20% fit, while Barry didn't get out of a jog all game. He was Osman-esque in midfield. He's been brilliant this season, but in this, the most important of games... dear oh dear.

has barry played in just about every match? he's not exactly a spring chicken. but thats ok, we dont need cover for CM, just like Roberto sai....hang on a minute..

 

[Ducans elbow]

gutted watched in pub there were some RS that made it worse,very poor at the back and no one getting stuck into them Kev was the only good thing, Barkley had a go but think he is still got a knock,

 

[dannyboy]

It was a ridiculous game. We had amazing possession stats, amazing passing stats (and it wasn't like that was only amongst the back four) away from home and deservedly lost 4-0. Yes, we could have scored 3 or 4, but so could they 3 or 4 more (and their chances were better than ours, 7-0 is not unrealistic given the game). That's weird. It doesn't happen and I know of no other game where a team has dominated so much of those stats and yet felt so outplayed.

In that, I feel we might not be far away. You can guarantee Liverpool would prefer to have outpassed and outpossessed us. We missed Distin's pace and Coleman's ability to expose their left side when they push too far forward. But we're not far away.

I am not even sure I was that bothered Lukaku went off. We can't rely on him - great player as he is - at the moment.

So it was weird.

Liverpool's tactics were spot on. Anyone who has seen us play can recognise how much we struggle against a well organised team. We find it so difficult to create chances even with the amount of possession we enjoy.

They simply waited for their chance and exposed us on the break. Disappointing that Martinez didn't do anything to address this, lesson for the future I guess.

 

[Diogenes the Cynic]

Sir we need to operate on your taste buds at once.

Throw in some booby implants and we have a deal.

 

[rascal]

If I was Bobby I'd send the players out tonight, make sure that they got properly lashed. Back in training on Thursday.

It's what Clive Woodward used to do whenever England suffered defeat. So there's method behind such madness.

 

[deipnosophist]

We were truly dreadful, no two ways about it. RS thoroughly deserved their win and defended superbly - it could have been 8-0. How many shots did we have on target? About three, and only one of those really troubled Mignolet. We fart about too much in front of goal for my liking - too many passes out wide when a shot might be on the cards, especially at 4-0 down ffs. Even speculatively into a packed defence might result in a richocet into the net/to another blue shirt/out for a corner. Only Mirallas shone imo, although McGeady looks promising. If we'd been at full strength things might have been different. We are having a nightmare re injuries to key players lately. I really feel for Lukaku and Oviedo, and send my best wishes to both if they happen to be reading this from their sick beds. We will be back though. That's a lesson learned. Martinez is a great manager and one day his moment of revenge against RS will come. Fourth spot might be difficult now, but maybe 5th is still within reach.

Hope so mate but a revitalised Spurs and United are better candidates than an injury ravaged Everton

 

[IllinoisBlue]

Did anyone see Suarez's stamp on Stones, (I think it was him).

 

[carolinablue232]

We were beaten, kicked, stepped on, and then beaten again. Worst derby I've seen from top to bottom. Outplayed from the off. The team has looked knackered for 6 weeks now. We need new blood or at least some depth. Our bench today was a sad sight, but then again so was everything else. The sky is not falling, but we need something to happen to light a fire.

 

[BluePingu]

Had a moment before when I thought "I still effin love you, Everton". And I do. I'd lose to that lot every time rather than be a kopite. Except that one day, I swear, we will start smashing those feckers all over the place, and it will taste so, so sweet. In defeat, however, we as always will remain magnanimous and classy. COYB.

 

[billycopper]

Team selection- Maybe Martinez made an error picking rusty players or ones carrying knocks (Jagielka, Alcaraz, Barkley and Pienaar). Did he have much of an option though? It seems as if Heitinga is already out the door, so the only way he could have reshuffled the defence was to play Stones at centre back and play Hibbert at right back. It possibly couldn't have been too much worse.

Tactics- We got it all wrong. We played a high line where Alcaraz has no pace and Jags is struggling. We compounded it by sending both full backs forward at the same time. Liverpool could keep 8 men behind the ball and break 3 v 2 time and time again. It was a surprise that they didn't punish us more. Playing out from the back was a very risky strategy too and they caught us on the ball three or four times in the first half.

Substitutions- We didn't have a lot to choose from, but I thought Ossie did quite well. I think at 3-0 I'd have told the full backs to stay at home and switched to 4-4-2 with Barkley on the right and Mirallas linking up with Naismith. They defended well and it would have been tough to break them down anyway.

Summary- We were missing a lot of players and some of the ones we put out weren't at the races. We played into their hands by going at them and maybe it would have been better to have taken a more cautious approach? We didn't seem ready for Suarez's corner and McCarthy possibly could have reacted quicker on the post. We were far too over-committed for the second goal. If Howard had stayed at home they might not have scored the third and it was poor from Jags for the fourth. Thankfully they didn't add to it and turn it into a real rout.

 

[mrb85]

A case of naivity and misplaced confidence on RM's behalf. The selection, the line up, the tactics were all badly wrong.

I didn't see any lack of fight or over-awed players -- just a disorganised mess.

 

[Tubey]

A case of naivity and misplaced confidence on RM's behalf. The selection, the line up, the tactics were all badly wrong.

I didn't see any lack of fight or over-awed players -- just a disorganised mess.

Good post sadly. Martinez's rep as a tactician flushed down the toilet over 90 minutes really. Couldn't have got it much more wrong from start to finish.

That said, you'd expect eleven professional footballers to put up a bit more of a fight than the did, regardless of tactics. Mirallas and Barkley aside, we offered nothing. Osman was just less gash than the rest, but gash nevertheless.

 

[arch stanton]

good night, i hate derby day

 

[deipnosophist]

Good post sadly. Martinez's rep as a tactician flushed down the toilet over 90 minutes really. Couldn't have got it much more wrong from start to finish.

That said, you'd expect eleven professional footballers to put up a bit more of a fight than the did, regardless of tactics. Mirallas and Barkley aside, we offered nothing. Osman was just less gash than the rest, but gash nevertheless.

As an RM fan, I have to say that he got his tactical/selection ass handed to him by his Liverpool counterpart. We should have parked the bus tonight, not spread our legs.