What more can I say!!!!!
Read it and weep.

REINA: 10 - Didn’t let in a goal.
CARRAGHER: 10 - Didn’t give an inch from the get go. Excellent retalitaion tackle on Pienaar
AGGER: 10 - Can’t remember but who cares. We beat Everton!
KYRGIAKOS: 10 - Great abiility with both feet.
INSUA: 10 - Played like a giant.
KUYT: 10 - Debry goal scorer extraodinaire.
MASCHERANO: 10 - Took some but dished out some too! Love it!
LUCAS: 10 - Did I mention. We beat Everton!
MAXI: 10 - 1 - 0 to the Pool.
GERRARD: 10 - Excellent ball and man tackle on Pienaar and great flop for the sending off. The free kick that hit the bar wasn’t too bad either plus the assist on the goal!
NGOG: 10 - LIVERPOOL LIVERPOOL LIVERPOOL.

BABEL: 10 - Generally ran around. But who cares. We beat Everton!!!!
AURELIO: 10 - Impressed by how he came on really slowly to eat up injury time.
SKRTEL: 10 - One of the greatest 1min performances in history. Came on and we won!!!!!

UNUSED Subs CAVALIERI, DEGEN, AQUILANI, RIERA:10 - Totally dominated the Everton subs with their warm-ups and snazy Liverpool training kits.

MANAGER: 10 - Another Derby win notched up and back in the top 4! Watch out Arsene.

TEAM: 10 - WE BEAT EVERTON. WE DID THE DOUBLE ON THEM. WE IN THE TOP 4. Bring on the Arsenal!!!!!

MoKo gives us his player ratings for the match against Bolton on the weekend. The ratings have come in a bit late this wee as MoKo only managed to watch the game as a replay thus he was not as tense as usual during his assessment of the play.

REINA : 7 - A rock as usual. Bolton games always require a commanding performance by the keeper for dealing with crosses and set pieces. Pepe did not disappoint.

CARRAGHER: 6.5 - Was a solid performance. Was never put under pressure. Distribution was much improved from last week.

SKRTEL: 6.5 - Roles reversed from last week. Was responsible for sweeping up. Did ok but never excelled.

KYRIAGOS: 8 - Yet another commanding performance from the Soto! Won the aerial duel with Davies in my view. When you lose a tooth in a fixture you know you’ve put in your all.

INSUA: 8 - Superb game on both ends of the park. But his attacking contribution was top notch. Added great width and was able to supply dangerous crosses throughout.

KUYT: 8 - Another game another goal! Let’s hope this is a habit he keeps up till the end of the season. This is more like the Kuyt of last season. Especially loved the mini-crossover that put Zat Knight on the ground!

MASCHERANO: 7.5 - Every week I say pretty much the same thing. Has found some consistency and is now the fulcrum for the teams play. His passing was exceptional, both long and short.

AQUILANI: 5.5 - Didn’t quite get into this game. His passing was not what you would expect. Hopefully this we can chalk up to experience of physical fixtures. Unlike many commentators I’m not writing him off in his first season.

REIRA: 7 - An efficient performance. Worked well in tandem with Insua. You can see his form is slowly coming back. Visible lacking in fitness.

GERRARD: 7 - This was more like it! The touches were there and the runs were penetrative. He was shadowed by Muamba but managed to get free and make some great plays. I guess Rafa was right last week to keep with him - I’ll be admit it I was wrong!

NGOG: 6.5 - Lead the line well even though marked by Zat Knight (6′7″ defender) managed to win some 1st ball. This fixture did expose his lack of strength a little. Maybe he can get on the same diet as Agbonlahor. Should really have scored though.

LUCAS: 6.5 - Was effected and was more adventurous than normal in getting into advanced positions. Came out looking good in comparison to Aquilani’s performance. Hopefully this buys him some slack from his band of detractors.

MAXI: 6 - Was impressed at the way he ghosts into the box. Always makes the early run in when the ball is on the opposite wing. This could be a sign of goals to come. Also spotted him is defensive positions which is a relieve as some imports are a tad lazy on that end of the field.

BABEL: 6 - Came on to eat up time and well….ate up time. Nothing else to report. I will admit a bias against him as it just doesn’t seem like he is making an effort to get into this team. Maybe the battle for a world cup place will wake him up

MANAGER: 7.5 - As I’ve said before. The system is pretty much set these days. Personnel is the only issue for the manager. He got the Gerrard decision wrong when many of us felt he was not in the right form. Another clean sheet shows the defensive issues are being addressed. One thing to note is that we do better when we don’t give away free kicks deep in our half. It sounds a rather obvious observation but is something we have not been applying this season.
That’s 6 unbeaten, 4 wins and 2 draws. You can’t complain about that form!

TEAM : 7 - Overall an efficient performance. When Lucas was in for Aquilani we bossed the game and were more stable. Defence is now back to something close to the standard expected. In the weeks to come the attack has to come to the party.

The season began with the team balance tipping to attack. We scored goals for fun (6 vs Hull, 4 vs Burnley and Stoke, 3 vs. Bolton and West Ham all before the end of September) but conceded plenty.

Now the balance is back to the defence. In the last six league games since 26 Dec it’s 8 goals for and 1 against. That’s more like the Liverpool we know!

MoKo Ratings Explained:

1 – “You’re beginning to remind me of Gary Neville”
4 – “Are you f#@King joking”
5 – Reserve level performance.
6 – Very standard performance.
7 – Contributed to the team performance. Only just.
8 – Instrumental to the team’s performance.
9 – Involved in all of our best play.
10 – Won this one on his own.

Reina - 6.5 : Not much to do throughout. Some well earned rest!

Carragher - 5 : Struggled to deal with Jarvis (Wolves left wing) and was exposed for pace. Didn’t get forward to much effect and was responsible for giving away possession on numerous occasions. Needs to remove the 40yrd passes from his rather limited repertoire. When not contributing defensively his lack of footballing skills is laid bare.

Skrtel - 6 : Was given the responsibility of keeping Doyle at bay. Was poor in the tackle and decision making on when to go in and when to hold off. Only succeeded in this because Wolves were poor in attack which forced Doyle to play a long way form the Liverpool goal.

Kyriako - 7.5 : Was commanding in the air as should be expected. Also took up great position in cover defence as he was effectively the sweeper since Wolves played one up. More encouraging signs form the big man.

Insua - 7 : Snuffed out Wolves right side attacking options. Was position ally good as shown when he covered across the box to the right side to put in a block on a shot and in winning back post headers. Also got forward but was let down by some poor support play by most of the team.

Maxi - 6.5 : Was impressed at how he was not bullied or hurried off the ball as I normally expect from foreign players coming into the Prem. A couple of touches but not much else of quality form him. Did not look potent at all on the left side after Reira left the pitch.

Mascherano - 6.5 : Same as Reina not much to do. Well at least not as much as usual. Wolves didn’t keep possession well so there was little to do in the centre of the park on defence. He was good in possession and found some good forward passes.

Lucas - 6.5 : Same as above. There really was not a lot of work for defensive CM in last night’s game for both teams. Passed neatly enough but as usual did not try to be adventurous with his range.

Riera - 6.5 : Put in a lot of effort and was always decent with the ball at his feet. Did not link up with Insua well, often denying the Argentine the overlap. HE also suffered as a result of Liverpool front men being poor on the night.

Gerrard - 5 : It’s time it was said to be honest. Gerrard was poor in possession all night. The set pieces were almost all wasted. He didn’t make any tackles. Was dangerous on direct forward runs but without the precise control he is used to all the runs ended in disappointing losses of possession. As a hole player he should be expected to drop in and also run the channels but he did not do this much - stayed far too central.
Lets hope the real Gerrard comes back at some point this season coz we haven’t seen him once yet!

Kuyt - 5.5 : Did not give options in attack for the left side players (the only side that really contributed in attack). His job was to stay central and look to link up with Gerrard when we have possession. Gerrard never had possession and neither did Kuyt hence no joy on the night.

Ngog - 7.5 : In the 20min he played showed up Gerrard and Kuyts efforts. His skill set makes him more effective as he wins first ball headers, has good touch and enough pace to work the channels. Only when he was on the ball did we finally manage to stretch the Wolves defence. in the end his quality of play wasn’t top notch and decision making not that good either but at least he was lively.

Rafa - 5 : Liverpool is now a recognised 4-4-1-1 team which meant the Manager’s job is only then to combine the appropriate personnel for the game at hand. The starting line-up cannot be question as before the game you would say they are more than capable and it was arguably the best line-up we have fit.
As the game progresses though the manager must decide if the personnel are delivering on the jobs they have been given on the pitch. With the game at 0-0 in the middle of the second half, with Liverpool having been unable to keep possession and to craft attacks I think changes should have been on his mind. Reira was visibly tired and it was correct he go off. Ngog came on and did well so that substitution worked well. However, keeping Aquilani and Degen and to a certain extent Pacheco on the bench did not make sense.
Carragher was not contributing and Degen could have come on to defend against pace better and also retain and use the ball better. Lucas did what he was asked but there really was not use in 2 DM when Wolves were not keeping possession either. With Gerrard’s troubles Pacheco could have come on to shake things up a little - there are obvious risks in such a move though.

All in all it didn’t look like Rafa was pushing for the win. It is always worth noting that we have not insight about what the state of the squad is at any point in time so cannot make these comments with any assurance

TEAM - 6 : Did enough not to lose but never did enough to win the game. Must do better!

P.S. The ref last night was terrible. He let go of some things then he blows for other less serious things. Just made it difficult to know how to play. Both teams were affected.

The scoreline flattered Spurs! Reira hit the bar, Skrtel missed a volley, Deggen turned down a shot, Kuyt miscued 2 tap ins, Ngog had one brilliantly saved. It could easily have been 4/5 (assuming you can never score every chance unless you are Arshavin).

My Ratings:

Reina: 7 - Good save from Modric at end of first half, but mix up with Kyriakos could have been costly.
Carragher: 7.5 - Defensively very good and one lung busting sprint in first half set the tone for the Liverpool performance. Well played the Captain.
Skrtel: 7 - Man marked Defoe out of the game but was not always comfortable.
Kyriakos: 8 - Battled Crouch and made it difficult for him. Also popped up in great zone marking situations to pick up runners into the box and prevent opportunities. Could be what’s needed to shore up our leaky defence.
Insua: 6.5 - Not a busy day as he was up against Modric. Stuglled early on how to mark Modric cutting in from the right but did better when he realised it’s not his man when he cuts in (Rafa had a word).
Deggen: 7.5 - Industrious on both ends of the pitch. Was the target of repeated fouls as a result of good pace combined with good close control. Added balance by stretching the field and staying wide.
Lucas: 6.5 - Did enough without ever standing out. Did contribute with some good forward runs to create space for others.
Mascherano: 7.5 - The usual. Was all over destroying anything needing destroying. And had some good distribution and injection of pace into our passing game.
Reira: 7 - Added balance and was goo help in defence after he finally realised HE is meant to cover Modric when he cuts in. Had some neat touches and linked up well with Aquilani and Insua. Almost had a goal to cap up a welcome return to fitness.
Aquilani: 7.5 - Looked more comfortable out of the hustle and bustle of CM. Had some great touches and showed he’s ability to see creative forward passes. Really knitted together the team shape by going to the ball and making great layoffs. No goal threat though.
Kuyt: 8 - Great finish for the goal and super calm for retaken penalty (scored both). Hard work through our and linked up with Aquilani and wide players really well. Should have score 2 more.

Maxi: 6 - Had no impact on the game.
Ngog: 8 - High scored based on the fact he was instantly up to speed and showed trickery to get in on goal after embarrassing Bassong in the box. denied by a great save. Won the penalty (fouled by Bassong) and chased down all over the field during his cameo (not bad for 15min).
Darby: 7.5 - Only played in injury time but still managed to surge into space and provide the pass that lead to the goal (5min of really good work).

Rafa: 8 - Tactically the team was well set up with balance and width (which has been missing of late). went with a man marking scheme for central defence which worked perfectly in stifling one of the best partnerships in the league. The role given Aquilani caused spurs problems as they did not track him in his free role – popped up all over the pitch, including in defence). The substitutions were all good (including the Maxi one, he needs the game time right now). Also was quite aggressive on set pieces sending up the centrebacks even when the score was still 1-0 late on.

The point when he called over Insua to tell him not to be dragged infield by Modric showed he hasn’t lost his eye for the game.

Also worth noting the Kop banner in support of Rafa! He has managed to keep the support of the faithful and based on the display still “has the dressing room”. This is why I can’t believe anything I read in the British press (including the broadsheets). Plus Gerrard laughed at the rumours of him having had a bust up with Pelligrino!

TEAM : 7.5 - Some would say that is a bit harsh but at the end of the day it was a great win from a hard working display. There were definite glimpses of quality but it was not sustained. The confidence was definitely rising throughout.

My initial reaction following last nights loss to Reading was that we must get rid of Rafa as soon as possible and that Liverpool needs a total ‘reboot’, something similar to CTRL+ALT+DEL. “Get him out now” was my thought. But again I look at the work that’s gone into reshaping the football side of Liverpool and I think we are on the right track. The academy is better, the scouting is better, the first team is better (on paper), the value of the club is better. That is a solid foundation for a long term dynasty of Liverpool success. It’s a lot more like the Liverpool of old that had the best structure in the league and the best young players in the league, the best run business in the league. Those are the things that got lost since Dalglish was manager and only now are they coming back. That project is what will make us a force again.

Man Utd. allowed Fergie to do the same when he came in during the 80’s. They built the best ground in the league, the best academy, the best training facility, the best business model. During that time they avoided relegation on the last day of the season on one occasion. But all that effort in setting themselves up properly has really paid off big time. They rode out the tough times and came out the better for it. One thing they did which we haven’t set about doing is buying great players. Man Utd. spent huge during those days. They broke transfer records at will.

I can’t remember the last time Liverpool actually had an all encompassing plan for the football Organization (not just the game plan). Under Souness the plan was “We’ll win coz we are Liverpool”. Under Evans it was “We’ll win coz I’m from the bootroom”. Under Houllier it was “We’ll win if we sign a lot of French guys”. There was no mention of managing the brand. No mention of maximising sponsorship earnings. No mention or physical plans for a truly world class stadium. These are the ingredients Man Utd. put together to end up where they are today. But we were stuck in the past thinking we are football royalty.

Only now are we actually thinking about Liverpool as an organization and not just a football club. This is not a social footy squad that just lands on match day to play!

I think we need to persist with the plan we have started. It looks good to me. I think the owners must support the plan with big money so that we can be competitive. We need to shake our season awake. A major world class signing would be the perfect boost for the whole team. Confidence is the only thing missing right now. The potential is definitely there.

We must hold our nerve people, ride out the storm. We’ll come out better for it on the other side.

YNWA

The transfer window officially opened today and as expected, there is a lot of transfer talk already through out the whole league. As always, there will be stories just being made up to unsettle teams and players, whilst some stories will just be made up to sell the papers.

It is no secret that we need some additions to our squad this January but we also know that Rafa does not have a lot of money, if any, to spend on new players so he has to sell first before he can buy.

But this morning, reports or appearing from quite a lot of sources that Liverpool are on the verge, or have already completed a deal which will bring the Argentine Maxi Rodriguez from Atletico Madrid to Liverpool on loan until the end of the season.

We have been linked with Rodriguez in the past, notably during the 2008 summer window. Now when I first heard about this deal I was a bit surprised and thought that it was just another rumour but this deal does make some sense:
We would not have to pay a transfer fee for Rodriguez which bodes well for us as we do not have the cash to buy him outright. Secondly, Rodriguez is out of favour in Madrid and needs some regular first team football so that he can push for a place in the Argentina world cup squad. Thirdly, Rafa is an admirer of Maxi and the player is close friends with Torres and Mascherano so I can not see the player not wanting to come to Liverpool. Fourthly, we need a player of Maxi’s quality out wide. He would be perfect coming in on the right flank in place of Dirk. Once we have the lead and need to protect it, then maybe we could take Maxi off and replace him with the hard working Dirk to close out the game.

What do you think of the potential arrival of Maxi Rodriguez to Liverpool?

Just when it seemed like we are getting into some sort of form and we have gotten all our players fit again, news hits us that Glen Johnson suffered a medial ligament injury to his right knee during the win against Aston Villa.

Now this is not good news at all as Glen could easily be out for up to 3 months. He is going to see a specialist who will determine exactly how long Glen will be out for. It is always tricky with these type of injuries as they can rule a player out for just a week or two or they can be long term.

Glen has received quite a lot of stick from the fans over the last couple of weeks as he scored an own goal against Arsenal and was at fault against Portsmouth. Let has not hide the fact that Glen has some defensive problems but he is a gem when going forward.

The question now is: Who is going to take over at right back if Glen is out for a long time? The obvious candidate is Jamie Carragher. Rafa could move Carra to right back and then partner Skrtel and Agger in the middle. Jamie is not a fan of playing at right back but he has filled in already there this season. I am not a fan of Jamie at right back as he simply does not have the pace to play in that position anymore. That leaves us with Degen and Darby. I am not a fan of Degen at all!! I would much rather see Darby starting ahead of Degen any day. My problem with Degen is along the same lines as Johnson; he is great going forward but can not defend. Degen also has a serious injury problem; he may be fit for one game and then he gets injured and he is out for two months! If only Martin Kelly was fit, he looked great when he played at right back against Lyon this season but injury has forced him to be sidelined.

 Loading ...

Two wins in a row..now that is something as Liverpool fans we have not been used to over the last couple of weeks. After we beat Wolves, I was very worried about facing Aston Villa at Villa Park. Truth be told, we did not play well against Wolves but we still got the win. Last night, we did not play particularly well and I had settled for the draw but we have that lad from sunny Spain, who got the ball and scored again!

I am reading reports this morning where Steven Gerrard is saying Torres is the best striker in the world and I can not disagree with Captain Fantastic. Torres’ goal yesterday in stoppage time was simply brilliant. Here is a guy who had not had many chances during the course of the game but one mistake by the Villa defence and we punished them to take a 1-0 win.

That is the beauty of having a player like Torres in our team. He may do nothing for 90 minutes but give him one sniff at goal and he will score. There is a lot of talk that has been going around that Torres may leave Liverpool if we do not qualify for the Champions League. I am sure Torres himself is rubbishing such speculation and I don’t think it is even going to matter as we ARE going to finish in the top 4.

All we need to do now is get on a run of winning a couple of games and we will be right up that solidifying our top 4 finish. We have Spurs as our next league game and that is going to be a big one! You can almost call it a six pointer as a win for us would close the gap between us and Spurs.

It is a great feeling to actually win! Yesterday we beat Everton 2-0 at Goodison Park. We all know we have been going through a really tough patch over the last couple of weeks but hopefully yesterdays win will spur the team on to more success as the season goes on.

They say you need a bit of luck in football to be successful and we certainly had lady luck smiling on us at Goodison Park as Mascherano took a long range shot which was deflected into the Everton goal. I am still not sure if Mascherano has been given the goal or it goes down as an own goal, but for the way Mascherano celebrated that goal, I think they should credit it to him.

The turning point of the game must have come when we were one nil up and Everton were putting on the pressure and then Pepe Reina came up with two amazing saves! For me, those saves won us the game. If Everton had leveled it up at 1-1 we may have been in trouble.

Many people do not give Reina the credit he deserves. Yes he has made some mistakes in the past but he has made more telling saves than mistakes during his time at Liverpool. He literally won us the game yesterday but most of the plaudits will go out to the goal scorers, Mascherano and Kuyt.

It is a pity that Reina is only the second choice keeper for Spain. I believe he should be their number as Reina is the best in the business. Not only is his shot stopping brilliant but he can start off an attack with his quick awareness in releasing the ball. I would pick Reina ahead of any other keeper in the game today.

After Reina’s amazing saves yesterday we then went on to seal the game with a goal from Dirk Kuyt. 2-0 and the game was in the bag. I crossed my fingers that the scoreline could remain that way as I was desperate for us to keep a clean sheet.

We have been leaking goals this season and we have conceded the most number of goals in the Premier League from set pieces. What is wrong with our defence?

A lot of people are bringing up the Zonal marking issue again saying that it does not work. But if you recall a ‘goal’ from a corner yesterday that Everton thought they had scored but their player was offside: that showed the benefit of Zonal marking as we do not have players on the posts during corners.

But even as this season has gone, we have not changed tactics in defence as we still play Zonal marking so what has changed from being the best defensive team to being one of the worst if the tactics are the same? The simple answer has to be the personnel we have now. What has changed then? Glen Johnson has come in for Arbeloa, Carra is still there, Agger and / or Skrtel are still there and Insua has now come in ahead of Aurelio and Dossena. So where is the weak link?

Glen Johnson is not the best right back when it comes to defending so could he be the cause? Maybe, he is new to this whole system and as a player he is not too strong defensively. But then again, not too many goals we have conceded have been through his mistakes. On the other hand take a look at Insua. I have been keeping a close eye on him this season and he has made quite a number of costly mistakes. Yes he is still young but he is a full Argentina international now so he has to be the part. My biggest concern with him is that he is just too short. When it comes to defending set pieces he is of not much use to use if the ball is put high in the box (but then again he almost scored with a header yesterday against Everton). His positioning at times has also been questionable. So is Insua the weak link in our defence? I think so.

But with all the problems our back four may have, we still have what I think is the best goalkeeper in the world in Pepe Reina. So if you get past our faulty back four, you still have Reina to deal with.

Dear Liverpool Fans,
We apologise for the lack of activity on OurKop.com over the last month. We have been upgrading our server inorder to meet the demand the fans bring by visiting the website.

We are pleased to announce that all is back online now and the OurKop.com will be blogging again. We hope to have you joining in the discussions we will be having through out the rest of the season. It has been a tough start to the season for Liverpool and it is funny how our slump in form coincides with OurKop.com being offline.

Hopefully now that we are back online, our fortunes can change for the better.

YNWA