Unbridled positivism from Colm Kavanagh on the Anfield derby result
Ahhhhh.....
Liverpool have been stringing together some superb results of late — but they have all been away from Anfield for some unknown reason. At home they have struggled. Since the turn of the year, Bolton, Southampton and Leicester have all faced the Reds and only Leicester departed empty handed, going down to a lone Heskey strike.
Ten goals, without reply, on their travels at Leeds and Ipswich had most Evertonians fearing the worst. Going into today's game, I think it's fair to say most of us feared a good old-fashioned hammering — akin to the 5-0 mauling suffered many many years ago. Would today be a case of Glenn Keeley revisited? I feared as much; expected to see us lose by at least three.
As for scoring — well, I'd fancy Miss World to escape any advances made by an Everton team bereft of ideas in recent games. Today though, we needed to see a positive reaction from our team. If nothing else, a half decent effort would warm the spirit a little and give us something to clutch at this coming Tuesday night when we travel to face Crewe Alexandra in a game of huge significance for both Walter Smith and the team he manages. When the team was announced, I was amazed to see no Niclas Alexandersson and no Jesper Blomqvist. Not even a place on the bench. A signal of intent from our Walter? Perhaps... With Paul Gascoigne also a notable absentee, you would have to look very closely to find any source of creativity in the side. A return, albeit for one day, of the old Dogs of War?
They’ll probably be tagged as being that in tomorrow’s back pages but I think it’s a little unfair on the likes of Gary Naysmith who did well in an advanced position today, the left of midfield. Gemmill too on the right provided more than a simple body in the way of marauding red hordes!
Initially, I thought the pace of Liverpool would cause many problems but the early goal never came and they lost their fizz. That seems to be their problem at Anfield this year. When teams are hard to break down, they’ve struggled to open the lock, so to speak.
We remained solid throughout if not exactly causing them problems up the other end of the pitch. When called upon, Simonsen was there. There was one break midway through the first half, well anticipated by Simonsen and he was out of his goal like a hot-shot and the danger was averted! Well played, son!
I was glad to see Walter ring the changes at half-time, as we had created so little during the opening 45 minutes. David Ginola once again left Kevin Campbell in isolation so it was inevitable that he’d make way, being replaced by Tomasz Radzinski, with Tobias Linderoth making way for the walking windmill himself, Thomas Gravesen. Incidentally, has Gravesen piled on a few pounds since we last feasted our eyes upon his talent in Royal Blue?
Within seven minutes, Walter’s changes had come good. A move on the right flank involving the Windmill spread out to the opposite flank where a beautiful one-two between Pistone and Naysmith left the Liverpool defence for dead. Or should that read Abel Xavier?! Cheers, Abel anyway!
A nicely threaded ball back across the box from Pistone found Tomasz Radzinski in acres of space and, though he didn’t connect cleanly with the ball, it went exactly where he intended it to go. Back of the net, 1-0 to the Blues and Evertonians the world over were in shock. Cue sweaty armpits and calls for the full-time whistle with a full half-hour (and some) left on the clock.
Now, how often does it happen? A team goes 1-0 up and then switches game plan, hitting reverse gear. 0-0 was a point to protect. 1-0 was a glorious bonus. Worth defending, in numbers?
Liverpool rang the changes themselves, throwing on Emile Heskey and then Vlad (The Impaler?) Smicer. We continued to give away cheap ball and paid dearly late on, just when we were beginning to think this was going to be our day. A nicely worked Liverpool move straight through the center of our defence found Anelka goal side of our central pairing and sad to say, but Pistone just about played him onside. Anelka coolly slotted home under the feet of Simonsen who looked as though he tried to save by throwing his feet instead of his body at the Frenchman.
I suppose a draw was a fair result on the day as Liverpool had much more of the possession. They didn’t play well though and they cannot claim to be unlucky to have dropped even more points at home. We deserved something for our efforts also. We still didn’t look capable of creating much but to be honest that was always a likely scenario for the day that was in it.
And yet we could’ve stolen all three points five minutes from the end when a shot on the turn from Radzinski drew a cracking save from Kirkland. I’m sure there were quite a number of Blues behind that goal at the Anfield Road end halfway up in the air celebrating a late winner that was denied by that fine save!
The fitness of Radzinski I reckon is central to our hopes for the remainder of the season. With the hopes of attracting fresh blood to the forward ranks now dissipating somewhat, we need him alongside a visibly struggling Kevin Campbell. Starting with Crewe on Tuesday night, it’s about time Tomasz Radzinski and Co earned their corn.
Colm Kavanagh