Birmingham held out for a point in a game that Liverpool should have taken all 3 points.
Two more reds went off with injuries, Albert Riera lasting just before half time before suffering a hamstring injury. Yossi Benayoun also pulled a hamstring in the second half. Daniel Agger sustained a back injury that will be assessed by the medical staff at Liverpool tomorrow.
The reds opened the scoring in the 17th minute with a David N’gog strike before Birmingham hit back from a set-piece. In injury time a wonder goal from Birmingham gave them a shock first half lead after Liverpool dominated the half.
The second half was even more dominant from Liverpool with the reds camped in the Birmingham half. The blues had all their men back as Gerrard and N’gog attempted to thread their way through.
In the end, a controversial penalty was awarded for Liverpool as Carsley recklessly dived in to a challenge on David N’gog. N’gog managed to avoid contact but went down in the box. The reds were awarded a penalty which Steven Gerrard dispatched.
There’s our point back from the beach ball anyway.
Moments later Gerrard had a decent shout for a penalty which was waved away by the referee.
Liverpool will be disappointed they lacked the cutting edge to take all 3 points in a performance that was vastly improved on recent weeks.
Lucas and Mascherano controlled the game from midfield, Glen Johnson showed what the reds have been missing in his absence and Alberto Aquilani came on for a brief cameo in his Anfield and Premier League debut.
Off the pitch the reds have new injuries to look at but some players returning to fitness.
In terms of points this game was a disappointment – in terms of improvement in performance and grit this was a big step forward from most of October.
Post Match Comments
Rafael Benitez:
“I think we have to be realistic and then think about the next game, that’s it.
“We cannot be talking about the title when we have to win some games in a row.
“The main thing is for us to win these games, still trying to create chances like today, showing character until the last minute and win. That’s it.”
(On the reds penalty)
“I haven’t seen the replay but maybe it wasn’t a penalty. I still think that we deserved to win anyway.
“Possibly it wasn’t a penalty but we have had a lot of situations during the year and one for us I think is not the worst.”
Stats
Possession: 67%
Shots: 27 (13 on target) [Bham – 5 (2 on target)]
Corners: 11 [Bham – 1]
Teams
Liverpool: Reina, Skrtel, Insua, Agger, Johnson, Mascherano, Benayoun (Babel 77), Leiva (Aquilani 83), Riera (Gerrard 44), Ngog, Kuyt
Unused subs: Cavalieri, Kyrgiakos, Darby, Spearing
Goals: Ngog 13, Gerrard 71
Booked: Ngog
Birmingham City: Hart, Ridgewell, Dann, Johnson, Carr, Larsson, Bowyer, Jerome, Tainio (Carsley 15), McFadden (Vignal 68), Benitez (McSheffrey 86)
Unusued subs: Taylor, Espinoza, Queudrue, Phillips
Goals: Benitez 26, Jerome 45+3
Booked: Carsley, McFadden
Ref: Peter Walton
Att: 42,560
Our Man of the Match
Glen Johnson looked lively and continues to show why he was a solid summer investment.
CulCul,
‘Utd should have winning’…..What does this mean. It must be hard being both stupid and illiterate. Fletcher is one player. How would Utd cope if they were without Vidic, Giggs, Rooney, Fletcher and Scholes. Don’t tell me, they’d use Nani whom at £18m has been an even bigger waste of money that our own Ryan Babel. How about Tosic? A £17m signing that has played approximately two games for Utd. I know what you’re thinking, they’ll use the misfiring Michael Owen? Michael Carrick? he cost the same as Masch, the difference is we had to offload Sissoko to get him. Did Utd get rid of anyone to get Carrick? No they went out and paid a fortune for Owen Hargreaves as well. I know what your thinking. Hargreaves has been unfortunate becuase he’s been injured so he’s not a flop. Philip Deggen’s been injured too. Any such sympathy for him? Deggen was free, Hargreaves cost £18m, yet I don’t see people criticising Fergie for signing an £18m injury prone flop. The average cost of a Utd player is £18m. The average cost of on eof our players is £11m. Clearly the like sof Utd are operating in a different transfer bracket than we are, yet we have beaten them easily on the last 3 straight occasions and caused them to break their own premier league points record last season as we finished second.
When you understnad football, i.e., when you’ve experienced it away from your armchair or PC, come and have an adult conversation with me. Until then shut your uneducated mouth.
Kev, you talk such crap on this forum.
‘Lets wait till the injuries clear up’
The reason you have a squad is to cope with injuries, thats whats wrong. Arsenal & Utd have not put out anywhere near their best teams yet.
Fletcher was injured for the game against us, so by your reakoning, if he was fit Utd should have winning.
Take of the Rose tinted glsses and stop sniffing Rafas crack
Gerrard wasn’t playing either.
‘Arsenal and Utd have not put ANYWHERE NEAR their best teams yet’?
Please expand.
Ow ye Arsenal and United have had 11 – 9 players ( most first teamers ) out all at once havn’t they i forgot ! No wait they havn’t even had their ball boys out this season let alone their two most influential players !
Gimme a break , of course were going to loose games with that many out , any team on the face of the planet would and if you don’t think so maybe you should be supporting the ‘Harlem Globe Trotters’ not ‘Liverpool fc’
Why do people find it hard to comprehend the simple fact that we’ve not had anywhere near our full squad since the last international break, even before !!!
It was clear that we needed to shoot from outside the box, and with Alonso not with us, who would shoot? Lucas or Mascherano?
Why did you keep Aquilani till the 80th minute Rafa?
Believe me guys, we’ll be lucky if we achieve a top 4. If you think that we will win every game while Chelsea, Man U, Man City and Arsenal are losing then you are not only wrong but also dreamers!
Lucas out of our squad!
YNWA
This season has allot of twists and turns to take on the way and with 70 odd points still to play for, most of our first team to come back from injury, the African cup of nations round the corner, Chelsea, arsenal, man city yet to get any lengthy layoffs and results and luck can only get better for us so the league could look very different come may !
It wasn’t a penalty!.We’d be furious if such a thing went against us so let’s be fair,from the ref’s position it certainly would have looked like one so he can’t be blamed.We’ve not been having much luck lately starting with that beach ball incident but Ngo’s actions don’t justify this so in conclusion we were lucky to get away with a draw.
I feel the overall performance was good i mean no one can accuse the boy’s for not trying but we can’t give what we don’t have and that’s the cutting edge that converts chances into goal’s.We had most of the posession but their goalie didn’t really have much to do other then a few saves,they only had two chances scoring both times.Their first was bad defending on our part but the second was a cracker similar to Insua’s strike against Arsenal recently.
A half fit Steven Gerrard is better then many fully fit players,that’s how good our skipper is.Still a long way to go yet i sense that playing for a top four finish that can certainly be accomplished.
Lets start judging our season when everyone’s fit. OK we’ve had a miserable time of it so far, but name one side that wouldn’t if they’d been decimated by injuries in the way that we have. I personally beleive that our strongest 11 is as good as anything in the country. Problem is, we’ve been unable to field it very often this year. I don’t think we should panic about 4th spot. We’re better than City, Spurs and Villa. OK we need to go out and do it, but come on, we’ve not become a bad side overnight. The side that pushed so hard last season has lost a couple of players that’s all and of those two players we’ve lost only Alonso could be considered a regular. As good as he was for us a don’t think he made that much difference. Besdies, we’ve gained Johnson and Aquilani this year. We nned some time to get our key players back and start picking up points. As long as we’re in touch wiht the top 4 come the new year we’ll be there. Remember, under Rafa we’re notorious for finishing strongly, whereas Spurs and Villa have traditionally faded away after January. City are an unknown quantity but on the strength of their last 5 games they haven’t been great.
Eh! John k
Ngog pen ??
Who’s side are you on mate. I was at the game, it looked like a pen the ref saw it that way as well.
On slow motion on the tv IT looks different but to say he should be ashamed is so sad for a red!!! to say that.
THE MIGHTY REDS LFC
I agree with john K…… We dont want to be compared with chelsea. we have never been a cheating team… well maybe baros was a diver. yes we need every goal, every point, but not at the sake of our reputation and football in general.. I hate to see cheats win (even though they often do) and I hope L.F.C. will do it without resorting to drogba type tactics
P.s. I think it needs mentioning.. Lucas…. another good game..I`m sure we all hope he keeps it up
I was their and saw the pen as clear as day and in the ‘flesh’ it looked stone-wall but later on sky all slowed down it did look like a dive but whatever it was don’t we all think that we deserved it ! and then some in my book !
That was the Jammyest game Brum will ever have i mean the Equalizer was just poor defending and ball watching but that second was like the second shot on goal in a possible of three that i can remember ( maybe 4) compared to our shots on target which must go into double figures and our possession too. The fact is that ‘Luck’ (which is against us for the most part) was the main reason they got a wonder goal and not one of our second half efforts would go in but displays like that will only help to turn fortune in our favour .
I was right in line with Ngog about 10 rows back in the Anny Road and even without my rose-tinted glasses on I immediately thought penalty. I was probably about as close as the referee was.
Maybe next time he should just let Carsley snap his ankle.
I don’t know wether it was sky or not ? Because it looked different . I was in the Anny Road end too but to the left and about half way up and as soon as he beat one and dinked inside they panicked and carsley slid in ! Whether he got Ngog or not , he didn’t get the ball so what do you do !
I find it amusing how they’re’ getting so worked up over this when they should look not at Ngog but at the standard of refereeing in this league !!! , that is the real cheat at work every week .
Good performance.
Difference in the 2 teams was vast as they (B ham) will never be luckier to get a point. We dominated from start to finish but had we swaped keepers we would have won the game at least 5-1
Hart was brilliant saving close in shots unlike Pepe easily beaten as per usual.That is apart from their special shot,but i did say 5-1.
THE MIGHTY REDS LFC
If anyone should be ashamed its you.
Its going to be a tough couple of months til injuries clear but seriously… season over… already… your having a laugh
There’s still like 77ish points to play for and everyone’s still beating everyone so i totally agree still allot to play for this season !!! and we’ll be a force once everyones back in the squad . Keep the Faith Y.N.W.A
Id have given it to Mascherano because he was everywhere from start to finish and broke every play up and passed the ball well which some people aka Lucas/ Kuyt didn’t manage.
This was a vast improvement on Fulham however the defense is still filling me full of dread at the moment because we just don’t look like keeping a clean sheet ! even the simplest of balls into the box seems to throw the lads into a panic and their ether not working on it or what their doing simply isn’t enough.
It’s really bad news to here that Riera and Yossi may have a tare in their hamstrings respectively and that means a month each . With Riera just coming back from a lay off and Yossi in such good form it’s another one to add to this seasons already swelled injury list and a blow to our progress.
But on a lighter note it was great to see Stevie on the pitch again making his piercing runs and little dinks, players just don’t know how to handle him. What he brings to the team can’t be reproduced because everyone just seems to want it more with him around and after all the doom and gloom it’s nice to have a silver lining …..now just to get Torres back in the fold and we can start pushing forward !
Fair shout. I wanted to give it to Mascherano as well, but he stopped concentrating for their second goal when he was still thinking about the conceded free kick.
Apart from that I thoroughly agree he had a brilliant game and showed he really is knuckling down.
Ye i agree and that seems to be a failing of his sometimes because he dose get caught up ‘day-dreaming’ at crucial moments like free kicks and corners !, that aside he was class again , remembering a blistering 10 yard run and slide tackle when a birmingham player ( can’t remember who ) had beaten both Kuyt and Jhonson !!! absolute class !!!
Shocking………..
Ngog should be suspended for that dive, that was worse than Eduardos. He should be ashamed.
Lots of positives ie possesion but too many negatives ie poor finishing and players striking from distance that couldn’t hit a barn door do some of these players just play for money or actually play for Liverpool FC. Teams used to come to anfield and fear the place now they come and enjoy themselves. I’m trying to be upbeat about this season but I can’t, it looks like the title is over, Europe is finished bar luck, league cup gone only thing left now is the FA cup and trying to finish fourth and it’s only November oh well maybe next year.
YNWA