YOU RESCUED ME!
Blundering Carragher grateful for comeback
HE MARCHED towards the centre circle when time had been called on a frantic encounter, dropped to his knees and spent a few moments on his own, looking at the turf.
Watching Jamie Carragher at the end of any Merseyside derby is always the best barometer of how it has gone, and usually the veteran defender is the fist- pumping, smiling embodiment of elation.
This time was different. Liverpool had scrambled into the FA Cup final by beating their oldest rivals, but rather than leading the celebrations, Carra, whose 24th-minute error had led to Everton’s goal, was emotionally spent.
‘This was the biggest derby I’ve played in so I’m delighted the lads have helped me out,’ said Carragher, who was so wound up about the game that he struggled to sleep for three days.
‘It’s one of the biggest games I’ve played in, right up there with the Champions League final. I was close to tears, to be honest. The thought of the stick we would have got on the streets of Liverpool if we’d lost that game…i’m not sure we would have ever recovered.’
Had Liverpool failed, many would have asked the same of the Kenny Dalglish reign. Having endured intense scrutiny, in which results and performances have fluctuated wildly, losing to Everton would surely have been one blow too many.
The sacking of director of football Damien Comolli last week rattled Dalglish and left him under no illusion that Fenway Sports Group, the club’s owners, would act again if things went further awry. Liverpool simply had to win to release the pressure. That is why relief was the overriding feeling on their flight home.
‘If it’s me getting dog’s abuse then that’s good,’ said Dalglish, who celebrated Andy Carroll’s late winner with more gusto than he showed after his own strike that clinched Liverpool’s second European Cup in 1978.
‘It takes the pressure off the players. There are a lot of them here in their first year. It is important for everybody to go through some bad bits to realise how good the good bits are.
‘I have never said we are the finished article and still won’t say that now. But what we will do is get this club moving in the right direction.’
There was a certain irony that it was Carroll and Luis Suarez who lifted Liverpool off their knees. They, more than anyone, one have kept Liverpool in the headlines this year, but, they produced when it was needed, repaying a chunk of their combined £57.8million transfer fee.
Suarez played with more menace than he has done since that exchange with Patrice Evra last October. It looked at one point as if John Heitinga had him under control, which led to flashes of temper and petulance from the Uruguayan. Yet he was unrecognisable after the break and Carragher described him as ‘brilliant’.
Suarez’s speed, allied with Carroll’s power, unsettled Everton’s defence and the unflappable way he inflicted maximum punishment on a mistake from Sylvain Distin showed all that is good about him. If Liverpool are to progress, he must stay. ‘I have four years left on my contract and I am very happy,’ said Suarez. ‘I am over ( what happened with Evra). The important thing was the support from all the people (here).’ Should Liverpool complete a
ROYSTON Drenthe’s Everton career is almost certainly over after he was sent home from training for being persistently late. Manager David Moyes omitted the winger, 25, on loan from Real Madrid, from his FA Cup squad.
cup double double, it would not mask the fact that huge work must be done. They are unlikely to finish higher than seventh and need to win their last five games to avoid a lower points total than last season.
‘We won the Carling Cup and we should have put up a real fight to get in the top four,’ said Steven Gerrard. ‘It never happened. But if we win this cup, I think we can look at this season as a success as far as the cups are concerned.’
On a day of great emotion and poignancy, when both sets of supporters held an impeccable minute’s silence for the 96 souls who perished at Hillsborough 23 years ago, it was impossible not to feel sympathy for Everton.
Many believed this would be their day. David Moyes had his players believing before this contest but they were undone by a lack of biggame quality. They never laid a glove on Liverpool after taking the lead and, having now lost 13 of the last 23 games against their neighbours, one wonders how demoralising this defeat will be for Moyes.
‘Liverpool seem to have luck when they play us,’ said Tim Cahill. ‘We have lost to a good team but have had an amazing experience.’
d.king@dailymail.co.uk