Ratings

[carheex]

5 = Average performance

Reina (8) Couple of fantastic saves and an overall command of the penalty area.

Dossena (7) Solid.

Carragher (7) First goal aside, he was absolutely immense.

Skrtle (7) Needs to cut out the clumsy tackles, but over 90mins, it was another good game from Martin.

Arbeloa (7) I thought he played extremely well tonight. Bags of energy and certainly not afraid to get forward in support offensively. I know he's got his doubters, but I for one think Arbeloa has a firm future at the club.

Kuyt (6) Worked his socks off. Never looked like scoring.

Gerrard (9) His first goal was delicious. His pen was ruthlessly tucked away at the second time of asking. Thank God he's ours.

Lucas (3) Gave the ball away, lost 50/50's and offered absolutely nothing offensively.

Mascherano (6) Not Masher's best game in a red shirt, but he played his part and was constantly to praise for breaking up their attacks.

Babel (7) Won a pen. Hit the post. Missed a sitter. A real curate's egg of a performance from Ryan. Definitely looks more dangerous playing through the center and there's no question he's a constant threat.

Torres (5) I love the man and to be fair he hasn't played for a couple of weeks, but he was sluggish and unproductive tonight.

Subs:

Riera (7) Came on, skinned his man and fizzed in a cross. I like him.

I thought Reina looked quite shaky to be honest - I'd give him a 6, Kuyt a 4.5 and the rest are proably about right.

[carheex]

I think you`re way to nice to the defense, excluding Arbeloa. The line was too high in the first half, luck saved us there. Skertl gave away too many needless free-kicks and Dossena could not get hold of his side. Carra battle away as he always do, but looked a bit tired.
It`s not often I think this, but we looked better going forward then in defense.
It was clear that several player were tired after Saturday, so I`m very pleased with the win.

They've had 3 whole days to sit and rest - if a full time professional athlete/footballer playing regularly in the prem can't recover in 3 days then something's seriously wrong. I'm very dubious when people use the "tired" excuse for por peformances.It just doesn't wash - we have a squad and players get rotated willy nilly so why would someone "tired" be in the starting line up????

[Resu]

I agree, they should be able to recover. It`s to early in the season to blame the amount of games played, but some still looked tired yesterday.
Gerrard and Torres are back from injury, so that is understandable. A player like Mascher didn`t look like he covered as much ground as he usually do, but that could be due to the type of game it was. He has also travelled a lot lately and those things drain you.
Some players doesn`t seem to care in certain games, but when when players like Mascher, Carra and Kuyt looks tired it`s usually because they are.

[Shaggy]

I thought Reina looked quite shaky to be honest - I'd give him a 6, Kuyt a 4.5 and the rest are proably about right.

Reina? Shaky? WTF????????????? He was totally and utterly authoritative!

You can only be thinking of that one shot that was skimming just wide but Pepe chose to field it instead...and sort of semi-spilled it initially before grasping it at the 2nd attempt.

Other than his performance was faultless.

[wiw]

I thought Reina looked quite shaky to be honest - I'd give him a 6, Kuyt a 4.5 and the rest are proably about right.

Firstly, i'm fairly sure you hate Kuyt so there's not much point arguing that one - Reina a 6 though? 99 times out of 100 he would've stopped their goal, and aside from that, I fail to see how he was shaky AT ALL?

[Robbie-9-Fowler]

Reina 8 - Saved us countless times in the Europe already this year. Another good performance
Arbeloa 7- Solid performance and did well going forward.
Dossena 6- Did okay but will need to improve if he wants to keep his place in the side.
Skrtel 7- Reliable, Strong.. Typical Skrtel.
Carragher 7- Great in the air but he played them onside for the goal and I can't stand the way he hoofs the ball
Mascherano 6- Looked tired from the weekend and just not himself
Lucas 4- Poor.. Give the ball away cheaply gave away silly free kicks.
Kuyt 6- Worked hard as usual but never had the impact he did against united.
Babel 7- Did well on the wing an up top, his 1st touch wasn't good enough.. still
Gerrard 7- Scored a blinder but was quite i thought.
Torres 5.5- Hardly in the game...

Riera 6- Nice touches on the ball and did well for the time he got.

[Kenneth]

Reina 8 - Saved us countless times in the Europe already this year. Another good performance
Arbeloa 7- Solid performance and did well going forward.
Dossena 6- Did okay but will need to improve if he wants to keep his place in the side.
Skrtel 7- Reliable, Strong.. Typical Skrtel.
Carragher 7- Great in the air but he played them onside for the goal and I can't stand the way he hoofs the ball
Mascherano 6- Looked tired from the weekend and just not himself
Lucas 4- Poor.. Give the ball away cheaply gave away silly free kicks.
Kuyt 6- Worked hard as usual but never had the impact he did against united.
Babel 7- Did well on the wing an up top, his 1st touch wasn't good enough.. still
Gerrard 7- Scored a blinder but was quite i thought.
Torres 5.5- Hardly in the game...

Riera 6- Nice touches on the ball and did well for the time he got.

Regarding Skrtel, I thought he was pretty poor by his usual standards. As has been said, he was committing himself to tackle too often and he also looked a bit uncomfortable playing the offside trap. Expect a return to form next outing as he is class.

[Robbie-9-Fowler]

Skrtel has been doing that all season and i think thats his most obvious fault.. he tries to pinch the ball and gives fouls away.

He's been booked twice for it in our past two games now, its only a matter of time before he gives away a pen or sent off.

[Laz]

Skrtel has been doing that all season and i think thats his most obvious fault.. he tries to pinch the ball and gives fouls away.

He's been booked twice for it in our past two games now, its only a matter of time before he gives away a pen or sent off.

Well that's possibly the lamest prediction I've seen for a good while. It comes to the vast majority of central defenders at some point.

I know what you're trying to say though. There's that grit your teeth moment as he goes in to a tackle because he doesn't hold back alot. It's not quite as bad as when I used to watch Traore lunging in.