Derby County 1 - 2 LiverpoolWednesday Dec 26 2007 03:00
taken from www.football.co.uk
Steven Gerrard rescued Liverpool's title dreams with a last-minute winner against desperately unlucky Derby County.
Derby, trounced 6-0 at Anfield last September, took the Merseysiders all the way and deserved a point for their second-half performance alone.
Another rout had looked on the cards when Fernando Torres opened the scoring for the visitors with just 13 minutes gone.
There looked little on when Ryan Babel found the Spaniard on the right-hand edge of the Derby box, but he showed why he's now netted 15 times this season, as he danced past a static Derby defence before shooting home with his left foot.
Stand-in Derby keeper Lewis Price had only started after Stephen Bywater's shoulder injury flared up during the pre-match warm-up.
It looked like he was in for a busy afternoon as Liverpool took a grip of the game.
But both Gerrard and Xabi Alonso looked out of sorts at the heart of the Reds midfield and chances were few and far between in a scrappy opening period.
But the second half was a different story as a succession of injuries and substitutions left Liverpool playing an unfamiliar 4-2-4 formation.
Alonso and Gerrard were outnumbered in midfield and for 20 minutes Rafael Benitez's men struggled to get the ball into the Derby half.
The Derby fans scented blood and got behind their team as they realised Liverpool were there for the taking.
The goal duly arrived on 67 minutes when Alonso handled just inside his own half. Eddie Lewis fired in the free-kick which cannoned off a ruck of players into the path of Jay McEveley, who gleefully sidefooted home.
The equaliser finally spurred Liverpool into action and for the last 20 minutes they looked a different side although Derby had their fair share of goal scoring opportunities.
Benitez brought on Dirk Kuyt for Babel as Liverpool went looking for the winner, but it seemed a goal would never come as Alonso, Kuyt and Torres all came close without success.
Gerrard had finally woken from his earlier slumber and drove Liverpool forward forcing a fine fingertip save from Price and then thundering a shot against the underside of the bar.
Derby almost snatched the points with five minutes to go when Lewis was put through on the left and his cross was met at the far post by the diving Giles Barnes, but the header flashed just wide of the upright.
The winner came with just a minute to go after Derby felt they should have been awarded a free-kick deep in enemy territory.
Instead the ball fell to Gerrard who set off on a marauding run down the left leaving Derby defenders stranded in his wake.
He fed Yossi Benayoun, who cleverly cut inside and found Torres whose shot rebounded off Price into the path of Gerrard, who turned the ball home from close range.
Goals: Torres (12) 0-1; McEveley (67) 1-1; Gerrard (90) 1-2.
Derby County (4-4-2): Price; Mears, Moore (Feilhaber, h-t), Leacock, McEveley; Teale (Earnshaw, 56), Barnes, Pearson (Johnson, 27), Lewis; Miller, Howard.
Substitutes not used: Hinchcliffe (gk), Johnson, Fagan.
Liverpool (4-4-2): Reina; Finnan, Hyypia (Benayoun, 54), Carragher, Aurelio; Babel (Kuyt, 72), Gerrard, Alonso, Riise; Torres, Voronin (Lucas, 90).
Substitutes not used: Itandje (gk), Mascherano.
Referee: A Wiley.
Booked: Derby: McEveley.
Man of the match: McEveley.
Attendance: 33,029.
Goal Match Highlights
Derby Vs Liverpool Highlights (http://www.goalcentre.com)
3 comments:
When Gerrard scores last minute winner .... it is same old story - capt to the rescue and team played badly. But when Ronaldo scores last minute ... it is individual brillance and team resilience - Utter media rubbish!!!
Remember, we had Hyypia injured and we don't have a central defender in the subs bench.....a fact which is forgotten. We also don't have Arbeloa who is out with flu on the night..... and not forgetting, we don't have Agger yet! So, we're not at full strength.
Its a propoganda by the media by way of selective reporting to create unrest by the supporters - especially those who don't understand the intricacy of the game! The targets of the media are those so-called fast-food fans who don't spend enough time to analyse and understand the game proper....... only trouble is that these reporting is applicable for the top two tier for the E
addendum .... for the top 4 teams in the epl especially for LFC!!
I was supposed to write a match report but was so into the holiday mood that it's still on the back burner. Anwyway, it was just going to turn into a rant as with my previous post match 'report'.
I think I'll just rant on here. For the record, I don't share the shite that the media is spinning. It's crap, lazy and biassed journalism.
But you'd have to say that our play was poor. I won't go into the defensive performance as Will rightly pointed out that we are short handed there.
Most players played pretty badly on the day. It is also without a doubt that Stevie G had to score in the last minute to rescue us the 2 points that were heading out the window.
After this match, I have this feeling that we're no longer a 1-man team.......we're now a 2-man team. If Torres and Stevie has an off-day, we're going to struggle.
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