Note From Toronto Member - Brian Lewis;
His thoughts on the Derby game
Well, my first Merseyside Derby certainly proved to be a memorable one as the Reds hammered the Blues 3-0. I should go to these more often. :)
I was cautiously optimistic heading to the game. I saw a fair bit of positive play in the Spurs game Wednesday, and thought that if we continued that type of play and if the ref did a decent job we would be okay against Everton. Since the game was not at Old Trafford, maybe Riley would do okay. I mean, it could be worse, it could be Rennie again, or Winter!
On the bus to the ground the team selection was read by a Blues fan off his mobile. We were unchanged from Wednesday (yeah!) and the Blues had Simonsen in goal, with Naysmith, Stubbs, Yobo and Pistone across the back, a real "school of science " midfield of Unsworth Linderoth, Pembridge and Weir with Schrek and Tomasz "I know your Canada's finest striker, but please God don't score today because I couldn't bear it" Radzinski. The Blues were speculating where Kewell would play for us... right midfield...left back.... keeper etc. Yeah, they were taking the piss, but it had that little bit of reality to it to make it sting.
My seat was in the Upper Gwladys St end. Partially obstructed view of the area, but the sightlines were generally okay. The seat was definitely designed for someone shorter and narrower than I. ;) Had a few Reds around me but mostly Blues supporters in this section.
Everton put their stamp on the game early with a nasty challenge by Naysmith on Diouf, Naysmith being rightfully booked by Riley. Good to see the ref wasn't intimidated by the atmosphere. The first 20 minutes or so were pretty frenetic, with the Blues harrowing our players all over the pitch. It was pretty clear they were going to bring their usual physicality to the fixture. As seems to be Houllier's tendency for away games, we seemed inclined to sit back early on and absorb the pressure.
Everton earned a few corners early on, but we seemed to defended fairly capably. Rooney and Radzinski both missed on what appeared to be decent scoring opportunities.
We started to assert ourselves better as the half wore on, with some decent "pass and move" football (!). Everton had seeming lost their momentum and we were looking increasingly dangerous with Kewell and Diouf looking dangerous down each flank (width!). Minutes before the half Owen ran onto a brilliant through ball (from Kewell, I think) and slotted it home off the far post past and outstretched Simonson. 1-0! A goal from open play!
Both teams kept at it in the second half. Liverpool started to resort more to long balls as Everton pressed for an equalizer. The Blues started to get physical with Dudek, who was run over and barged into twice each by my account, with no bookings in any instance. At least Riley waved off one goal. In one instance it looked like Dudek was making more out of the contact than it appeared to merit, and the abuse from the Lower Gwladys St intensified with a few empty bottles being tossed on the pitch. Disgraceful.
Our second goal came off a great example of how I think Houllier wants us to play. Kewell threads a long ball up field to Baros, who barged headlong towards the net in that charming style of his. Once Milan had attracted the defender's attention he played the ball across to Owen who slotted his second goal home and continued his celebratory run towards the traveling Kop. 2-0! Brilliant! Once the Liverpool fans clamed down you could have heard a pin drop in Goodison.
Desperate to get back into the game, Moyes brought Drunken Duncan on for a go. He stunned one and all by hammering a free kick off the crossbar.
Any chance to the Blues getting back into the game was killed off by Kewell opening up his Liverpool account converting on an opportunity created by Owen. 3-0! Unbelievable!
There were some tense moments in our area as the game wound down. First of all, the Liverpool lad beside me said he put 20 on Liverpool to win 3-0 at 28-1. He showed some very mixed reactions when Liverpool threatened to score a fourth! (This is why I don't bet! I hate these dilemmas!) There was a bit of agro between supporters with a fight in the Lower Gwladys right below us. One Liverpool fan in the section to my left really wound up the Blues in our section after the third goal and then left a few minutes before the final whistle. Thanks a lot, knobhead.
After the game I went for a stroll through Stanley Park and a pint at the Arkles. Magic.
Later on in the City Centre there were Blues everywhere getting a belly full to drown their sorrows. The Blob Shop seemed to be a popular spot.
On my way into the City Centre much later on I saw what might be a great example of what the myth and reality of footy fan violence. As I walked down Mount Pleasant someone on their mobile was shouting about rioting in the city center and some people were being urged inside by their mates in the pubs. Curious, I continued on to see about a dozen coppers in full riot gear hustling three extremely drunk Blues up Renshaw Street. The Blues were being urged away by a woman, but they were reluctant to back off completely. The coppers wouldn't stop coming, and eventually the three Blues were pounded to the ground by the shield bearing coppers. My feeling is that if either the Blues or the Coppers had exercised a little restraint the whole thing could have been averted.
Well, that's all I saw, anyway. No much of a riot.
Okay, here go my player ratings, out of 10.
Owen: 10 Brilliant. MotM. Scored two, made another, threatened all day.
Kewell: 9 Also brilliant. MotM runner up. His pace, vision, passing and vision were all on display. Only negative mark was for a poorly executed tackle for which he received a yellow card.
Smicer: 8 Excellent in the first half, very active supporting Baros and Owen, faded after the break.
Diouf. 8 Same comments as Smicer. (I think it is great that we have excellent attacking midfielders on both the left and right, but at times this means one of the other is going to seem left out if we primarily attack up the other side.)
Gerrard: 8 Very good game in the holding role. Did very well cutting out Blues passes, responded manfully to their physical tactics. Gave away a few free kicks near our area.
Carragher: 8 Brilliant defensively. Never gives up on the ball. Just the right amount of determination and cohones needed for the derby
Hyypia: 8 Defended Rooney brilliantly, commanding presence in both ends for corners. Tended to spray long clearances out of play for some reason.
Biscan: 8 Seems to look more comfortable in the CB role. Cannot remember him being caught out at all.
Finnan: 6 Fairly anonymous. Picked up a foolish yellow card.
Dudek: 9 persisted in the face of some very aggressive play by the Blues. Made a few nice saves.
Subs:
Heskey: 6 Not much to do. Managed to stay on his feet more than usual.
Riise, Murphy: 7 had little to do as late substitutes.
Ref:
Riley: 7 I know we are supposed to slate refs on principal, but I thought Riley did okay. The early yellow on Naysmith helped keep the blues from making the game too dirty, and he rightly called fouls on their players who were bustling Jerzy around.(/p>
Linesmen: Missed at least one clear offside v Rooney IMO, but I don't have the benefit of replays.
Our Support: 8 Traveling Kop made a lot more noise than the home version did v Spurs
Their support: 5 Started well by cheering their side on, but later got caught up in their apparent rather, erm, strong dislike of us with some negative chants, and throwing bottles on the field is way off. Also lost a mark because the only player name I saw on the back of a shirt was Rooney. :)
Brian Lewis
