Emotional day for everybody

Aug 27 2007 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

Emotional day for everybody

FOOTBALL was always going to be secondary on Saturday to the mourning of Rhys Jones and it’s fair to say that the pre-match applause in the presence of his parents was the most emotional I’ve ever seen Goodison being.

If we’ve got aspirations of being in the top five this season, the ambition for every game has to be the three points… end of.

However, given the proceedings on Saturday which were painful at times, we’ve got to be happy with a point.

As Blackburn should have had the game wrapped up by half-time, we’ve got to be grateful for what we got in the end.

Injuries and red tape restricted Moyes’s options for this game, but it’s got to be said that the ‘Ginger One’ got his selection and tactics wrong for this game.

The first-half horror performance was x-rated, with head barely out of hands at the sight of Blackburn running rings around us in midfield while Carsley and Neville were terrified of receiving the ball and simply lumping it up for Blackburn’s nine foot defenders to swallow up.

Looking at the glass half-full though, you’d hope that the team on Saturday was the weakest we’ll put out this season. Throw in Yakubu, Cahill and Vaughan into the team while acknowledging Jagielka, Baines and Pienaar will be accustomed to our style of play, and you’ve basically found the remedies to the ills from this performance.

The second-half performance was a considerable improvement, with Jagielka and Baines both excelling while Anichebe finally made the Blackburn defenders realise we did actually have strikers on the pitch.

Overall though, it was Blackburn who showed the greater quality and to a neutral watching this game would seem the more likely to be challenging at the top.

However, bring in the cavalry and confidence is still there that a successful season beckons for the People’s Club.