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Season 2001-02 
 Match Report 2001-02 - Liverpool (a) 
 Premiership



This match report is brought to you by a Roaster Bar - United were well and truly cooked.  
(Click food for details)


 Date:
Wednesday 6th March 2002,  
 8.00pm (delayed 30 minutes due to 
 floodlight failure).

 Venue: Anfield

 Conditions: gloomy - and that was 
 when the lights came back on.....

 


Liverpool  3 - 0 Newcastle United
Teams
 

Goals

33 mins Danny Murphy got onto the end of an Anelka pull-back and as Jenas tried in vain to get a block in, Murphy squeezed the ball between Shay and the near post.

Half time:  Liverpool 1 Newcastle 0

53 mins Dabizas and Distin both went for the same ball and Dabizas ended up handing it on a plate to Murphy who waltzed through the middle and shot past Shay, who got a hand to the ball only to see it enter the net at the Kop end via his right post.

75 mins A break down the right saw Smicer cut across our 18 yard line looking for an opening. With the way blocked he ended up laying the ball off for Hamann to sidefoot expertly home beyond the reach of Given's left hand from about 20 yards.

Full time:  Liverpool 3 Newcastle 0

We Said

A dejected Uncle Bobby said:  

"We looked overawed tonight. Four or five of our players were without belief and that amazed me because we've had a marvellous season.

"Half the side were nervous as kittens. We just didn't play half as well as we should have.

"Take nothing away from Liverpool, they beat us fair and square and were up for it. We were second best all night.

"They have pace, always threatened to get in behind us and they did. We were all at sea.

"We were relying on Shay Given to make marvellous saves all the time and that's not going to happen. I'm quite cut up by the way we played."

"They had pace up front that we just couldn't handle. Nicolas Anelka looked one hell of a player.

"I have always said we would never win the title but that we would give it a real go and get close. That is what has happened.

"Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool are the biggest teams in the country with the best squads and the money.

"They will fight it out for the title because they have the better class of player and we are not there yet, realistically."

"Gary Speed's hurt his hamstring so it's looking grim, but now we must regroup for the cup game at the weekend. We've got three days to recover, and we will.

"It's muck and nettles on Saturday for the cup, but I've got some talking to do first - and some hammer blows to throw about." 

They Said

Pinocchio uttered:

"There is great self-belief coming from the lads. They realise this is a great opportunity and they don't want to give it up - they want it.

"They want to push on now and it was an all-round tremendous performance."

About the three-pronged attack:

"It was a joint decision. We realise that we need to push on now, and we needed that bit more in attack - especially at home, and it paid dividends."

"We have some criticisms at home - some justified and some not, but the second goal is the crucial one and we got that tonight and pushed on from there. It was a very good team performance."

About pre-match Houllier's visit:

"It's always nice to see him, he's always positive and I believe it gives the lads a boost. He's there for them, and now it's important that we all push on together.

"Anelka was outstanding tonight, he has fleet of foot, has great pace and had some wonderful touches. He linked up well with Emile and Michael, and he is getting better by the day. I thought Danny was outstanding and he was rewarded with his two goals.

"He showed great feet and great awareness for the first goal and his second goal was magnificent as well. The boy deserved it.

"The fans were fantastic tonight. Absolutely fantastic. They played their part. I asked them to play their part and they did do, so it was a great victory all-round."

Match Stats

Shearer marked his 300th Premiership appearance with a quiet performance not really having a chance to speak of.

This was the fifth time in the last seven seasons that we've conceded three or more goals at Anfield. At least the diving dwarf didn't score against us again....

We've now conceded 153 league goals at Anfield in 67 games (2.28 goals per game) while we've only scored 72 (1.07 goals per game).

It had to happen: We'd got off reasonably lightly so far, with only Fulham's Louis Saha coming back to haunt us by scoring against his old club. Didi Hamann's strike was his first since September 2000 in Liverpool colours - his last goal in England had been the one for his native land at Wembley that precipitated the departure of Wor Kev from the England post.

Liverpool became not only the first team to do the double over us this season, but also the first to keep us from scoring in both home and way games. Only West Ham and Fulham can now repeat that double feat. 

Waffle

Right, hands up those who honestly believed we would get something out of this game.

To be utterly honest, with the taste of defeat still in the mouth from Saturday, my expectations were of a draw at best and our best chance of anything positive disappeared when the lights flickered back on shortly after 8.10pm.

In this season of valiant performances on the road, this just seemed like a game too far for us and unfortunately a number of the players seemed to share this opinion.

As they had been at St.James', Liverpool were effective without being too impressive. A team with good players and an air of confidence will always play well when they grab the initiative, and from an angled view in the Anfield Road lower tier the home side seemed to have done this within a few moments. That's not to say we were overrun, just that the tide seemed to inexorably rise against us until the goal went in and once they'd scored that was thank you and good night from us.

A similar thing happened at Highbury, but we rose above that and hit back. Aside from the comedy Acuna miss and a Jenas run that almost evoked memories of the Watson wonder goal though, we failed to test Dudek - never a good sign.   

The scoreline and the sight of a jubilant Phil Thompson at the end may have conjured up memories of the 1974 final, but if anything this game was reminiscent of our last two final (non) appearances, when we just seemed to lack conviction and were there to be beaten in what was almost a routine manner. That's what hurts the most I suppose, the fact we were ordinary almost to the point of ineptness.

Regular sufferers/readers of this section will know often the only relief from the repetition of ideas and theories from previous waffles is when I start to contradict myself. Well, plagiarism isn't an offence when it's something wot you wrote, so have a gander at this:

"we struggled to break down a well-organised defence and always looked prone to a lapse that would end the contest."

"Although it pains me to say it and thus concur with those clever football writers from the home counties who say we've been lucky and are over-achieving, they aren't too wide of the mark. We got to the top of the league with a modicum of luck and a welter of effort, unfortunately we won't stay there if we rely only on those components."

The first one is from the Liverpool (h) report, the second from the Man U (a) report. Lest ye forget that Bellamy played in both games, and a fat lot of good he did in either, at least according to the record books.

Both quotes are equally relevant to the Anfield game - we just didn't have that extra intangible something to really hassle Liverpool - maybe 0-0 at half time might have changed the complexion, but there was never that spark, that turning point that comes along from time to time. Robert falling over at Highbury and getting a penalty, a fortunate handball at Leeds seen by Mr Winter, or remarkable saves from Given in too many games to mention. 

The usual mood of the toon fans as they trudge down past the Arkles after the final whistle was been slightly crestfallen for as long as i've been coming here. We may have scored more goals and shed more tears on other nights, but we've left empty-handed just the same. Personally, i'm almost immune to it, like the similar Old Trafford story and now travel with no expectation.

Maybe that's not the right attitude, but long ago it became logical to just remove those six potential points from the possible list and celebrate a draw at either ground like the bonus ball had just turned up trumps. Whether the players do the same is not for me to say, but unlike them the fans ain't getting paid for this - you could certainly never accuse your correspondent of being professional.....

Positive bit: 

We may have lost three points in this game, and lost them to a Champions/Champions league rival but that's all. What's important now is where we go from here. 

Put aside the Cup game, and we have nine league games, 5 at home. Aside from Fulham the other 8 sides have already been beaten at least once by us this season (Ipswich having already gone down in Tyneside in cup competition) and none bar Derby have shown anything like a sustained improvement. 

If we are to be anything other than plastic pretenders a' la Leeds and Chelsea, the sleeves have to be rolled up and some serious damage handed out to sides we've already shown no mercy to. We can justifiably sigh while watching better footballing sides beat us as we have done twice this week, but once the Arsenal cup game is over that excuse is no longer valid.

Disregard the Cup game, that's a different world. Ipswich have to be the first team to feel the backlash - it's time to get angry, mean and nasty. A Champions League place is there to be earned, let's get out and just do it, as the advert says. No more "we'll get it right" stories in the Chronicle, just do your talking on the field.

Biffa

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Page last updated 06 March, 2012