After the dust had settled on the Luis Suarez biting incident, The Redmen responded in tremendous fashion to hit Newcastle United for six at St James Park, last Saturday evening.
I have to admit that I feared we might have lost the game due to the turbulant week the club had and the fact that this was an important game for Newcastle in their fight to avoid relegation. But the game proved that this Liverpool side are far from just a one-man team, as some people like to label us, and there were some outstanding performances in a red shirt. Notable performers included Daniel Sturridge and Jordan Henderson, who both netted a brace, and also wideman Stewart Downing, who also played his part in terrorising the Geordie’s backline. The game saw Lucas have his best 90 minutes since returning from his long term injury with the Brazilian seemingly getting fitter with every game, it’s just a shame the season is coming to end for him.
A special mention though has to go out to our little Brazilian magician, Philippe Coutinho. The boy from Brazil is a genius footballer. His silky touches and awareness for a key pass are breathtaking at times and Newcastle just couldn’t cope with him. They couldn’t seem to pick him up and he managed to weave his magic all across the park for the duration. He’s deceptively quick as well, as shown on numerous occasions, as he went so close to capping off a marvellous performance when his mazy run and shot was tipped onto the bar by Rob Elliot, late on. I can’t help but wax lyrical about this boy, he’s got all the makings of a huge player for this football club in the seasons ahead.
With the season coming to an end, our league position is unlikely to change, so the upcoming Merseyside derby game at Anfield is more about pride than anything else. If all goes to plan, we can still finish above our neighbours from across Stanley Park, but to do so we must win all of our remaining three games. But as we’ve experienced all season long, that’s a tough task due to our lack of consistency.
Both clubs have seen their campaigns fizzle out and European football is likely to be vacant on Merseyside next season for both teams. Although Everton do have an outside chance of it but would need to beat us convincingly on Sunday; effectively we can end that dream of theirs with a derby win. It has been mentioned that this derby game is meaningless, but I’ve never known one of those matches in my entire life. It’s massively important to fans; we want to go out and win the game and hopefully continue a jubilant seven days.
Previous derby games at Anfield have seen Everton come to contain us more than ‘have a go’. David Moyes seems to drum it into his players; avoiding defeat than actually try to win the game. His game plans and tactics just haven’t worked at Anfield in his 11 year tenure, but I don’t see why they can’t come and ‘have a go’ this time around, as they’ve certainly got the personnel to do so. The likes of Kevin Mirallas, Steven Pienaar, Leon Osman and the big clumsy handful that is Fellaini all pose huge threats to our sometimes leaky defence.
They’ve also got good attacking full backs in the shape of Leighton Baines and Seamus Coleman, so there’s no excuses for them to not come and not ‘have a go’. Now, some of what I am saying is tongue in cheek, I would love them to play that way on Sunday, as I’d be confident that we could then pick them off on the counter attack, as we certainly have the players capable of doing so. The second half display at Newcastle last week proved that. One thing’s for sure though, Moyes will definitely instruct his players to close down Coutinho as early as possible, not afford him the time and space Newcastle did, as that would be criminal.
Last season’s derby game at home was inspired by the now suspended Luis Suarez, but Steven Gerrard notched a memorable hat trick and a repeat showing of that would be wonderful. However, I’m not greedy, a winner on Sunday from the skipper would be just as good.
The tension that surrounds these games can be unbearable at times and this one will be no different. Do I think we’ll beat them? I think it could be very tight, as both teams are closely matched and in all honesty it wouldn’t surprise me if there weren’t many goals in the game.
I am tempted to be boring and predict a 0-0 draw, but instead I’ll be bold and go for a 2-1 Liverpool victory. For some very strange reason I fancy Stewart Downing to score the opening goal of the game. I’ve also now talked myself into saying Steven Gerrard will score the winner as well, a penalty would do, just to rub it in.
Come on you mighty Reds, lets show who is the biggest team in this city, regardless of league standings.
