Taylor Swift

What's Fergie on about? How have Liverpool needed the linesman to get back into the game? VdS didn't have a save to make. Well, neither did Reina.

But at least he'll have played a part in an important match...

Stu, what does Nolan do that other players in our squad can't? Lovenkrands, with his pace up front, would cause far more trouble for the opposition, even though he's not Premiership-standard.

Come on, man, there's still time.

2-2!!!

Oh fuck off, that's a red.

Nani is just a shit version of Ronaldo.

Get in.

Penalty. Good call.

Sensational, 2-0.

He's one of the most replaceable players in our first eleven right now.

He's not a very important player for this club. Our important players, in no particular order, are Carroll, Enrique, Barton, Tiote and Ben Arfa. The rest can be adequately replaced by other players in the squad, like Nolan can be. Tell me what skills he has. He had a decent game yesterday but he didn't do anything particularly well, did he? Did he link up play? Did he break up play? Was his movement good? Did he score? Did he contribute to our attack? He had a decent game purely because he got touches, but his touches weren't special nor were they crucial to our play. If he can consistently get involved in the game then people won't have anything to say about his game, because yesterday was pretty much an average performance. It's only because he's usually so invisible that people feel the need to criticise and obviously give him some credit when he actually shows some semblance of footballing ability (like yesterday). No one else in our current starting line-up is afforded the luxury of coming in and out of the game that he has, and that's a reflection of his importance to our play (not very). We can easily afford to drop Nolan. I'd say that if we dropped any of the other players that I mentioned then our play would be significantly affected.

Berbatov, 1-0. No one on the post.

Dive from Nani, the cunt.

The starfish returns.

9 would be fucking awesome. 7 would be decent and definitely a tally that I'd take right now, but anything above 9 would be pretty exceptional.

Come on, Liverpool.

Exactly. I guarantee this thread will deservedly be bumped a few more times throughout this season.

That's classic.

Quality just skimming through this thread.

Looks like he's adapting to how fast the strikers are by playing a bit off and timing his interceptions/tackles instead, which he has always done well. Like I said in the match thread, I thought he was sensational today - easily on a par with Tiote and Ben Arfa - and it was probably his best performance for us in the Premiership. It was an excellent clean sheet where we didn't give them any clear cut chances. Looking at the replay on Fellaini's last second miss, I think Colo caught the ball and pretty much saved the victory for us. It just capped an immense display from him. He didn't put a foot wrong all game, completely marked their striker/s out of the game and his passing was very, very assured today.

Was it Acuna who bundled the rebound in?

33 more points to go.

Coloccini had a sensational game today. I thought that was his best performance for us in the Premiership since pretty much his debut at Old Trafford. He looked calm, was composed on the ball, swept up perfectly and intercepted and tackled superbly in and around our penalty area. I honestly thought he looked a class above the other defenders on the pitch, with Enrique being the exception. Tiote was magnificent, as well. He's got good control, has a good engine, reads the game well and doesn't panic when pressured, which is such a difference from Smith. Barton had an excellent match, too. Similar to Tiote, he read the game well today and controlled our tempo really well. His movement seemed to be better today and his distribution was as good as it was against Wolves. Ben Arfa: smooth criminal. What a hit. He'll skin most Premiership players with ease, and I'm including the likes of Terry and Vidic here because the guy's so agile and technically gifted. He'll probably only struggle against a quick, strong fullback like - someone like Evra and Cole - but if Hughton gives him the free role that he got today, he'll end up being our best player (performance wise - I don't think there is a doubt that he's our best player skills wise right now). Carroll was a bit quiet and was well marked by Distin, who won the physical battle today, but he more than made up for it with his defending late on, which was superb.