West Brom 0 Liverpool 2
Saturday 29th October 2011, 7:30PM BST.
First-half goals from Charlie Adam and Andy Carroll sent West Brom to defeat at the Hawthorns.
Adam converted a ninth-minute penalty that was controversially awarded when Jerome Thomas was adjudged to have body-checked Luis Suarez.
Carroll made it 2-0 in first-half stoppage time, as the visitors punished a poor pass from Jonas Olsson.
West Brom could not replicate the spark they showed in beating Wolves and Aston Villa and failed to test goalkeeper Pepe Reina.
The Baggies were behind after just nine minutes in controversial circumstances.
Thomas stepped into the path of Suarez and the Uruguay international went down and, as referee Lee Mason turned away to signal ‘play on,’ linesman Gary Beswick flagged for a penalty.
Mason responded and Adam tucked the spot-kick into the bottom corner.
The home side had some moments of promise but Suarez should have doubled the Reds’ lead on 37 minutes, firing over from the edge of the six-yard box after the ball broke to him from a free-kick.
But the second goal came seconds into first-half stoppage-time, when Jonas Olsson gifted possession to Lucas Leiva and was left outnumbered by Suarez and Carroll.
Suarez squared to his unmarked strike partner, whose low shot crept past advancing goalkeeper Ben Foster into the gaping net.
Three minutes after the restart, Somen Tchoyi wriggled free on the edge of the Liverpool box, producing a smart turn before firing a low cross-shot wide of the target.
At the other end, Foster tipped a powerful shot from a tight angle over the crossbar.
Liverpool applied lots of pressure with Suarez pulling the strings while the home side also posed an attacking threat, especially following the introduction of substitute midfielders James Morrison and Graham Dorrans.
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It’s gone.
Move on!
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Inevitably, and with regret, I refer you honorable gentleman to the answer I gave some days ago.
We only need one half!
October 23, 2011 at 10:58 am
“bit concerned about the fact that Dalglish is making a big song and dance again, this time about referees not “protecting” and “respecting” Suarez, so you know whats coming don’t you?”
So predictable!
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Very poor performance all round only Jones McCaully and Olosson came out with any credit. Even Roy had it wrong for me in midfield Scharner and Mulumbu were out numbered and out played Thomas should not even be in the team and each time he goes near a player in the penalty area he gives away a penalty. We did’nt close down we stood off them and we let them play around us. I saw Roy at times show emotion and him throw his coat down in disgust but he still just remain sat on the bench….for Gods sake Roy get up and shout some instructions. Very very disappointed.
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just got back after leaving at halftime. i knew we were in trouble after watching the warm up. woeful. if i made the erffort to get there for kick off the very least i expect is rhat the players are there as well.
If we cannot put a foot on the ball and pass to a player in blue an white stripes then it is time for me to stop travelling to watch games. Should i just watch it on line. shocking. absolutely shocking. I cant put my feelings into words
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How did those three officials manage to get their licenses. Since when has shielding a ball been an offence worthy of a penalty?. we did it again and nothing was given. no wonder fans say the game is now fixed. Liverpool were diving all over the park and getting the goodies because of the officials incompetence. Well played lads in spite of playing against a gang of fourteen.
BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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Good to see the Premier League still has the best officials money can buy.
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we didn’t have the run of the green, we didn’t win the bounce of the ball,we didn’t have the ref on our side. but despite all this we didn’t play all that badly. I would like to have seen Gera introduced, could have been a whole different ball game !
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I have not reviewed the ‘penalty’ yet, but it looked dodgy to me. Then we were 25 yards from Liverpool penalty area attacking and with some ‘delightful’ back passes gifted them the 2nd goal.
Frankly, if Liverpool could shoot, it would have been much worse. As they couldn’t, it might have been 0-0. Would that have made me happy? Definitely not! We couldn’t get near the ball for 70 minutes and from a supporter’s point of view, it was BORING. I could not watch that stuff very often without packing it all in.
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Observations from today’s game:
1) We were awful today. The stats say it all; possession, 44% us, 56% them. Corners, 3 us, 10 them. Did we even create a legitimate goal scoring opportunity all game? It was like a training match for Liverpool.
2) This is where Roy needs to have flexibility with his system. It was obvious after 10 minutes they were coming through us too easily. We needed 4-5-1 to counter Suarez, who we didn’t handle all afernoon.
3) Against the better teams in this division we’re going to need a plan B if plan A or 4-4-2 isn’t working.
3) Odemwingie, Tchyoi and Thomas were non existent (especially in the 1st half) and as a result, it was like playing with 8 men against 11 (+ 1 incompetent referee).
4) I thought McAually, Olsson and Jones did ok considering they had minimal protection.
5) After 4 good results, I’m not going to throw the toys out of the pram but this was a wake up call and remember, Norwich, Sunderland and Stoke have all taken points off Liverpool this season.
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That penalty may just about have been correct to the letter of the law but do you think we would have got it at Anfield in front of the Kop ??
Me neither….
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we played to deep
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Disappointing but in all honesty, we were not good enough. Gave the ball away much too cheaply and often and you cannot do that against that sort of quality. Didn’t really get at them at all and you have to say we got what we deserved. Tough game next week but I feel that if we can get at Arsenal and have a go, then who knows???
Come on you baggies
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A disappointing result,but when you look at the circumstances-Hutton ‘taking out’ possibly our current best striker last week,Liverpool having spent many,many millions on players (allowed to happen even when they were very deep in debt),and the usual bunch of officials giving every possible decision to the opposition-then it turned out very predictably.
After Liverpool started strongly,I thought we were settling down to even it up when the ‘penalty’ was given,which immediately swung things in their favour.
From where I sat in the East Stand,I saw absolutely nothing wrong with JT’s challenge,and having just played it back 2 or 3 times on video,close up, I still see nothing wrong with it.
Basically,he was allowed to ‘scoop’ the ball away from Suarez,and when he tried to get it back,he fell down BEHIND JT.
A disgraceful decision,no wonder I saw Gareth McAuley being held back from possibly attacking the officials.
Still,we know how it works in the prem. by now,and it’s not unusual to find ourselves 3 players short in a game-11 against 14.
As I’ve said in the past,we want to play in the top division,but at the same time,I have a deep dislike of the premiership.
Mainly because something about it smells very,very badly.
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Well I have to be honest, and say the better team won. It is not the end of the world, and I think we will be safe by the end of the season.
I stated earlier in the season that you can not tell much difference between us, Wolves and Villa as McLeish, Mad Mick and Roy employ very similar styles. I think that Albion and Villa have better squads, which will see them safe. As an Albion fan that is a little disturbing for me, because we are traditionally a more cavalier and entertaining team. Last season, it looked like we could beat anyone on our day, but conversly, we could also lose to anyone as well. This season looks all about beating the sides around us, and grinding out those results. Function over form, by all accounts. Which I find a little bit dull, especially as I believe we have the talent in the squad to dictate, entertain and win games. I suppose I am not easily pleased!
Au Revoir
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i was sat right in front of it,it was a penalty,as was Rieds hand ball,dont blame the ref,we were awaful.
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A well known pundit on MotD, stated Thomas put his foot out and tripped Suarez. That person should know a player does that (Puts his foot out) as a matter of course when he has to change direction suddenly, which Thomas had to as he needed to carry on shielding the ball. Suarez could have evaded it but chose to dive. The assistant referee couldn’t help but see the right arm of Suarez wrapped around Thomas. Didn’t Tony Pulis mention officials favouring Liverpool in their league cup duel?. Everyone can’t be wrong. At this rate Liverpool should win the league.
BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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well we picked the right w/e to put in horror show.
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The referee nor Liverpool players signalled for a penalty, they all turned to head back to the centre spot.
BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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Disagree with you Rocket I’m afraid, it was a clumsy challenge for the pen and we were lucky to get away with Reid’s handball too. Also poor defending for Carroll’s goal as players were well out of position.
This wasn’t a game we expected to win though and we avoided a hammering which could be important for goal difference at the end of the season.
We move on.
Boing Boing!!
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Alan green said on 5 live last night that Roy Hodgson dosent know what hes talking about,at times i tend to agree with him.
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Bad performance all round from us, although a penalty so earlier on helped I doubt we would have hit back.
Dissapointed!
I have my ticket for the Emirates and am a little worried.
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as Cyril says it was boring,Hodgson is taking away our football,even Mulumbu is a shadow of his former self.
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13)CR78, Spot on about debt, a level playing field it aint, hopefully with the changes coming we will no longer have to face teams like that, Saturday was prime example, we could have had our team out, our subs, (and had change to buy the ground) for £30 mill, that would have left Liverpool with….er Carroll on the pitch (lets be sporting and let them off with the extra £5 mill that would take!)
Whether we played awful or not is another issue, the fact remains the penalty and early goal was always going to change the dynamics of the game.
Reading other forums what I find most amusing is the amount of Liverpool fans who are claiming “everyone could see it was a penalty” really? funny, because the ref never and he was right on top of it!, and given it was Suarez, who is known for cheating (World Cup, blatant handball) not even he thought it was, or he would have been the first to shout.
For all their crowing, stacked decisions, millions spent, lets not forget, in this Albion (Roy) v Liverpool (Kenny) fixture its still only one all!
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most encouraging thing to take from the game was the fans’ loud renditions of the Psalm and ‘we love you Albion’ during the last ten minutes, and Roy’s polite acknowlegement of it at the final whistle
long as the crowd don’t turn on the players or the manager we ain’t got too much to worry about
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Extremely bad day at the office. Yes, it was a soft pen but we started slowly and never got going.
I’m not sure what was more disappointing, our direct play and inability to pass the ball or the fact we were set up in such a negative fashion but still couldn’t get near them! We made ok footballers (Lucas, Henderson, Adam) look like absolute world beaters.
One thing I really can’t understand is why we allow other teams such an easy time at re-starts. We allow them to throw the ball in to their central midfielders, who can turn or switch play without so much as a wayward breath from an Albion player. Contrast that with Liverpool who, every time we had a throw in, closed us down and made us play backwards or long.
Playing Liverpool was always going to be difficult, but the manner of the defeat was very disappointing (poor officials or not). I think out midfield four was exposed against a better side; there will be bloodshed next weekend unless we resort to 5 in midfield away at Arsenal.
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what king of an idiot travels all the way down from York, and sulks off at half time because we’re losing to liverpool, just so he can be amongst the first to get his moan in?
see no. 4
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Classic over on the dark side!
Waynes big gloves!
October 30, 2011 at 7:26 am
Can’t really blame Hennesey, thought he had a good game and pulled of some great saves to stop it going higher. He must be pushing Hart for the England jersey, far better keeper IMO.
Umm? spot the problem!
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Sorry lads, definite penalty , very clumsy from Thomas. Ref and linesman ( East Stand Side) may as well of worn red but the real reason we lost was that we were very poor and simply cannot play 4-4-2 against the top six .
Pluses for me were Foster and Mcauley , minuses most of the rest , Mulumbu and Odemwingie in particular have not yet hit the heights of last season .
Back to the drawing board Roy .
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Lots of good points on here.
1 WONOH.
Even worse decision than Cox against Stoke last year or Donk against Blackburn. Unfortunately decisions like these are what the PL is all about, making sure the rich get richer while ourselves Wolves and Blackburn are kept firmly in our place. As Rocket says Gareth McCauley was furious and fortunately others more accustomed to PL ways held him back.
It’s a difficult thing to say because I hate seeing Dalgleish, Ferguson, Pulis et al whinging over every throw in that goes against them. I hate seeing players of their clubs mob the ref over every decision but perhaps its time to think if you can’t beat them join them. Sorry Cyril I know you will hate the idea but as with Cloughie’s Forest team in the 80′s, if you don’t do it it’s like playing with one arm tied behind your back.
8 Cyril.
Can’t argue with a word of that, I said to the bloke next to me after about an hour ‘I wish it would just finish now.’ The sort of performance that sucks the life out of you.
9 NYB.
As I’ve said before I try not to knock Roy’s line-ups he knows what he’s doing while I don’t and his selections actually play whereas mine never fail because they don’t.
I can just about see why he persevered with JT in the hope that he could produce the goal we needed after ‘the penalty.’ Having said that I think he left it way too long. The problem with Tchoyi is that he might spark any time but you don’t know when so again I can see why he kept him on.
I think your point about the 4-5-1 is spot on against the big clubs. They have better players than us so trying to outfootball them rarely happens, we need to frustrate them first. I hope after Saturday Roy realises that as well.
As for the game, they have some great players but are not a great team. That ‘penalty’ effectively killed us (I’m not a violent man but I would happily have inflicted ‘Saw’ type torture on that little twerp on Saturday night.) I think Liverpool had enough to beat us anyway but the PL has designed things so that teams that aren’t the chosen ones (ie rich) are clubbed to death like baby seals in Canada.
Last (cue for cheering) I thought Stephen Reid had a good game and was my M.o.t.M. Simon Cox livened things up for the first time in the game when he came on and surely must get more of a look in, especially while SL is out. And finally Suarez. What a very talented player, ruined for me by his obsession with cheating. I know it is a way of life especially amongst a lot of the ‘latin’ players but like Cristiano Ronaldo and Maradonna etc a fantastic footballers but my memories of them will always be tainted by their diving antics and amateur theatricals.
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We were awful. Because we played 4-4-2 they
over ran us in midfield. We looked better when
Morrison and Dorrans came on
Hope RH has the sense to play 4-5-1 at Arsenal because if he doesn’t they will tear us to shreads as will Spurs in a few weeks
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TRBH
Was that the same Reid who spent the entire game passing to red shirts ???. Sorry mate cannot agree on that one .
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When the balls going out for a goal kick or a corner you see the defender or attacker shielding the ball to allow it out of play all the time and a free kick is never given so why is it deemed an offence when in the box…with the ball going away from goal. Mind you we had a very dodgy penalty against the seals last week so I guess you win some you lose some.
As for the rest of the game I think we were crying out for an extra man in midfield as Liverpool were tearing us apart. Some of their passing moves were sublime although admittedly we well below par. Best team I’ve seen a the Hawthorns since Citeh last season and Suarez, apart from the theatrics is a phenomenal player. To be honest I think we were lucky they didn’t have their shooting boots on as it could have 5 or 6.
And anyone who thinks it was a penalty when Carrols header hit Reids arm knows squat about football.
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26 sherlock
Im the Idiot who skulked off at half time. I left my house at 11am on saturday morning travelled 280 miles and because i left at half time managed to get home at at 10pm. it cost me £60 in tickets,the same in fuel,Food and drink was extra.
I was angry at the performance(or lack of it) on saturdsy and am angry still. So i think that after all that time,effort and money i am entitled to have a rant dont you ?
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Just got tickets for Bolton, the clubs doing Wigan as well for £15 if anyone interested.
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33 YORKBAGGIE
You travelled all that way to see one half of Football when you could have watched it on the Tv in your local.Moaning ?? i think you need your head testing mate .
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so you paid 60 quid and left at half time to get home early because the food and drink was expensive?
i’m sorry i called you an idiot, you don’t deserve such high praise
maybe come down on your pushbike next time and bring some sandwiches and a can of pop with ya?
as for getting home, why not just stay overnight? there’s a YMCA in the area and i’ve heard it’s fun to stay there
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Probably a reaction to the two victories in the two Derby games. You expect the euphoria to carry on but it rarely does. Take Suarez out of the Liverpool team and they are not much better than us.
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34 WONOH
Not very fair on Season ticket holders though is it ????
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I agree with everyone, we were truly awful on saturday, however I would rather us perform terribly against Liverpool than say Bolton in three weeks time!
What cannot be forgotten is how well we have played in the last few weeks, and lets be honest loking at the likes of Bolton,Wigan, Blackburn and WOLVES, Im certain relegation won’t be an issue.
38. Wall Heath
As a season ticket holder, it dosen’t bother me in the least these discounts, I want the Hawthorns full week in, week out.
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Yorkbaggie – I live in Kent and drove up which took 4.5 hours to get there as the M25 wasn’t at it’s usual stand still, but I stayed until the end.
A) I want to see my team play whatever the circumstances
B)I want my full quota of a ticket which I’ve forked out for.
C) We were playing Liverpool for goodness sake.
Maybe you should stay at home and help the enviroment instead!
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38) well you could look at it that way, or, you could say that people who pay on match by match basis pay more than season ticket holders pro rota, plus season ticket holders have the advantage of being guaranteed a ticket for the bigger games and cup games? you pays your money and takes your chances!
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39 STOKE AND 41 WONOH
Good points well made lads. Perhaps the Club should stop charging £ 40 for cat a games and spread the discounts across all the games. I for one would not entertain paying £ 40 for one game. I guess what ever happens there will be winners and losers.
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42. Wall Heath
couldn’t agree more mate.£40 for one game is way too expensive, given the fact that the fans have shown continually that when the prices are dropped the supporters come out in their droves. The fantastic loyal support we have is definately there, just at the right price.
However its difficult I suppose for the club to strike a balance between making as much money from gate receipts to sustain our financial future, and making games more easily attendable for the majority of our fan base without costing the club extra income.
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Don’t know why your complaining about the penalty,you all sound like the echo from Villa fans last week.
Beaten by a better team on the day, move on.
Yorkbaggie.
Can’t understand your thinking there mate,what’s the point of going to the match?
If anybody’s interested my season ticket’s available for 20 quid a match when I’m not in the UK.
See Y’all
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42) I fully understand where your coming from, its defo swings and roundabouts, some seasons I win, some I lose, dependent on games I can get to. I do run my own business, and I also suffer with ill health, so sometimes its just not possible to attend. If it was purely down to money I could have a disabled season ticket, as officially I’m a cripple due to Military Service, and then I could take my son for free, but that would mean some other poor bugger losing out has disabled season tickets are strictly limited (I think there is a 3 year waiting list), has it is, such as with the Wolves game it cost me 80 quid for two tickets! was worth it though ;-). I like Stoke would like to see the ground full at all times, even if it meant giving tickets away through charities to the unemployed, ex Forces or school kids.
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451 Roy the defence played well but the attack was non existant , it was 14
against 11 most of the time too
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Ahh!!! Lets face it we were beaten by a well stocked and in form team.
I hope Roy watches a video of last season at the Emirates and realises 4-5-1 is the way forward against Arsenal.
Either way we support them!
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My sympathies lie with York Baggie. Here is an excerpt I wrote on the Old Throstles site for ex OTs now in living in OZ:
“and back, and whoops, he’s in red not blue! Oh dear. 0-2. By now I am bored witless. Total and utter tripe! Liverpool can’t shoot, otherwise it would have been 5-0. It was strange to watch our lot moving in unison like in a dance routine, but never making contact with the little white orb. Should this be the pattern of the future, you may be certain my association with Baggies will cease. I just could not wait to go home. Had I been alone, I would have left. Yes, Chris and others, it really was that bad…..
I wrote that Saturday evening. I would not change one word of it.
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36 Sherlock.
That’s a bit harsh but very funny so I’m sure York will forgive you.
31 Max.
I might be on my own but I thought Reid played well, I heard a couple of people say Jones was out of his depth so as you say its all down to opinion. I disagree about the cheap tickets, I’m a STH but I think the only thing that would have made Staurdays game more depressing would have been great gaps in the crowd.
Also as you are one of the foremost members of the ‘Why doesn’t the Chairman spend more money’ club, you should know we need to make every last quid count. Full on Saturday and hopefully full at the reduced price games shows JP isn’t doing a bad job (don’t expect you to agree.) I also have every sympathy with people that are being priced out of the game I may well be one of them in years to come but I don’t have the answer to that one, it’s the sad cost of being in the PL.
44 Kev.
Don’t often disagree but the penalty was well worth a moan. Had it been against Liverpool, Man Ure or Chelsea they’d still be debating it on Talksport next year. But again its only little old Albion so it’s barely got a mention.
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15, Festering Shirley Thing
you must have got back from Manc ever so quickly, seeing as you’ve posted your views on Hennessey’s performance on the other side, under the name of Greengrass
dear oh dear, how many times do we have to catch you out sonny?
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I still don’t understand why nobody seems to have picked up on Carroll’s blatant elbow on Ollson in the first couple of minutes!
We should’ve been playing against 10 men from the 3rd minute onwards, but as carroll is “an old fashioned centre forward” he can get away with it.
Can you image if St Peter had thrown his elbow into one of their centre half’s throat?
Straight Red.
What Tamas did the other week (and had a 3 match ban for) was nowhere near as bad (or as calculated) as that was.
It makes me angry!! Then to concede a naff penalty a few minutes later, can nobody understand why we weren’t at the races?
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Everyone knows quality has a price and we were beaten by a top six team. It doesn’t help when 90% of the 50-50 decisions went against us either.
The penalty had a huge impact; I’ve watched it a dozen times and see different points to consider. Yes, there was bodily contact, (as far as I know, the fluffy brigade haven’t outlawed it yet), but it was a “coming together” after Thomas had touched the ball away.
I was born with cerebral palsy so balance is a real issue for me and I believe there is little doubt the guy took advantage of feeling Thomas’ leg go across him. How often do we here managers and players admit that some have a policy of going down after the slightest of touches?
Nevertheless Albion looked lacklustre and some players were poor – Olsson keeps telegraphing passes and st times Brunt moves like a giant oil tanker trying to turn and therefore fails to keep the ball. As I said weeks ago, the flair and adventure has been lost to ‘safety first’ and when that fails there isn’t a plan B. Finally, the Hart quotation from the darkside has cheered me up!
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We often talk about how biased the national media can be,so ‘kop’ this-
I don’t often bother with national newspapers,but sometimes buy the ‘Stun’,so my wife can read the gossip.
I picked it up earlier today,and read the match report-written by a ‘Antony Kastrinakis’.
Just some quotes from the piece-
‘this great Reds show’.
‘Suarez is world class.A genius.A cult figure,a folk hero’.
‘It was a stonewall penalty,but the Ref. tried to bottle it…’.
‘Given Albion’s pathetic performance,it’s no wonder Hodgson used the penalty as a poor excuse…’.
‘Thanks to Dalglish,the ‘pool fans have long forgotten the dark days under Hodgson’
‘Pepe Reina said this is how we want to play the game-hear hear!!’.
So this is supposed to be a ‘fair-minded’ report in a national newspaper.
I then had a look at google,and saw this story-
‘an assessment of Benitez,by life-long Liverpool fan Antony Kastrinakis…..’.
Needless to say,there’s a certain daily ‘rag’ that I won’t be buying again……….
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