Liverpool 2 - 1 City. Website review

I don't want to make this a negative review of the Carling Cup tie between Liverpool and Cardiff. The end result was another defeat for City but against a team that regularly plays Champions League football and a team that contains one of the best midfielders in the world in Steven Gerrard, we did OK.

Liverpool made 9 changes from the side that drew against Arsenal on the weekend with Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher the two survivors. The Liverpool line up included other names you would recognise like Crouch, Babel, Arbeloa and Aurelio and they had a strong bench to fall back on that included Mascherano, Riise, Kewell and Benayoun.

Cardiff ran with a near full strength team with Fowler and Hasselbaink upfront, Rae and McPhail in the middle with Purse and Johnson the two centre backs. Glenn Loovens was on the bench. Kevin McNaughton was fit to play at right back and the team was completed with Oakes in goal, Capaldi at left back, Parry and Ledley on the wings.

We set off from Cardiff early on Wednesday morning and headed to Liverpool by train. Judging by some of the stories of folks taking hours and hours on the M6 I feel we did the right thing. So with kids in tow we arrived just after 2pm and had time to wander to the River Mersey and take a round trip on the ferry over to Birkenhead and back. With the cultural side over it was time for some food and a beer in the Sports Café before heading up to Anfield.

Liverpool's home is located a few miles from the City Centre near Stanley Park so it needed a cab ride to one of the most famous grounds in world football. Toshack, Keegan, Dalglish, Rush, Shankley, Paisley, the list is endless.

Situated in the Anfield Rd Lower stand opposite the Kop were some 5,600 Cardiff City fans. There were several pockets of City supporters dotted around the ground and just to our left in the Liverpool section there must have been a group of 20 or more all close together, causing concern for the stewards when they responded to calls to do the Ayatollah. As the game wore on a couple were ejected by the police.

When they said restricted view on some of the tickets in the away section they weren't wrong. If you were in the back 4 or 5 rows it was like looking through a narrow letterbox with the furthest goal barely visible and completely out of vision if the people in front of you were standing up. Other than that Anfield is an impressive venue, the area it resides in is dodgy at best but the ground itself is very nice.

The Kop unfurled a huge flag that was passed over head making an impressive sight, that was followed by "You'll never Walk Alone" with the home fans swaying their scarves above their heads. The teams entered the pitch but they would have heard just as much noise coming from the away fans who did their best to drown out the traditional start to every Anfield match.

Robbie Fowler received a huge cheer and now looking back on the night it appears to be remembered as Robbie's farewell to the Kop which takes some of the credit away from a decent City performance in which Robbie played a part but Dave Jones needs to look at his striking situation as we can't afford the luxury of two static strikers. Steve Thompson, on as a second half sub, added more power and pace to City's front line. He must start the next game.

Dave Jones must also change City's midfield. Steven Gerrard showed us how it should be done. Moving through the midfield area with pace and intent. McPhail and Rae were made to look far too pedestrian at times and City's build up play can be too predictable. When City did do it right Paul Parry, especially in the second half was a right pain in Liverpool's side. It was his free kick that Darren Purse headed home and Parry was responsible from some good wing play, at one time leaving Gerrard on his arse.

For much of the game City were on the back foot and it was poor Liverpool finishing that kept the score at 0 - 0 at half time. That said Robbie Fowler tested the Liverpool keeper in the opening minutes from a free kick and the ball found it's way towards the Liverpool goal on a number of occasions.

Liverpool took the lead early in the second half. Gerrard laid the ball off for El Zhar and his 25 yards rasping drive beat Oakes and hit the back of the net via the inside of the post.

City's heads did not drop and they looked to push forward. Chances were coming, Carragher and Hobbs in the Liverpool defence put their bodies on the line to block City efforts and the increasing pressure paid off when Darren Purse rose above Carragher to head down into the goal from a Parry free kick and trigger pandemonium in the City end. And in the rest of the stands as well where City supporters jumped up to celebrate.

The celebrations only last for a minute before Gerrard stormed through to make it 2 - 1 to Liverpool but for that minute the joy was amazing. In fairness Gerrard is Liverpool. His drive, pace, power and ability make him a superb footballer and too much at times for our players to handle. No shame in that as he rips through many Premiership teams as well.

Again though City did not give up. More chances came, Ledley was through on goal and the keeper saved well. Fowler turned and shot but a stray leg blocked his effort. Dave Jones took off Hasselbaink and put Thompson upfront. All of a sudden we had an outlet that could hold the ball up, run and cause the defenders problems. It was a nervy end for Liverpool who's best other effort was a Crouch header that was superbly turned around the post by Oakes.

Gunter came on for the impressive McNaughton and Whittingham got a few minutes at the expense of McPhail. The final whistle went and still the Cardiff fans sang. All through the game the noise was incessant and the home fans were put to shame on the singing front.

There were over 41,700 in the ground, just a couple of thousand less than watched Liverpool play Arsenal on Sunday and less than 4,000 short of capacity. A great turnout from both sets of fans.

Now this "carnival" is over. It was good while it lasted but it's back to a potential relegation struggle for City. Cardiff are not playing this weekend because of the postponed Blackpool game so we could be even closer to the bottom three than we are now when we play Crystal Palace at Ninian Park this coming Tuesday.

Dave Jones is still under pressure and he must start to act to change this situation by making changes. If he continues to keep plodding the same system when obvious changes can be made then he's going to find himself in an impossible situation. He's close to losing the fans now, lose another home game and the clamour for his head will turn into a stampede.

Well done City at Liverpool, fans and players. Now lets move on and hopefully move up.