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Realistically we would need Man city to get a dose of food poisoning for Sunday. What's the chances of that happening though to scupper a team's chances?

Even if that did happen, only a complete shower of whining losers would use it as an excuse.

Look Big Andy and Downing should win it for Liverpool without the need for food poisoning, have faith and beat Newcastle first

They owe us one.

Realistically we would need Man city to get a dose of food poisoning for Sunday. What's the chances of that happening though to scupper a team's chances?

Its been a blast.

Throwing away a 3 goal lead in the last 15 minutes, who knows maybe City will drop points tonight not that it will make a difference with superior goal difference.. Beaten at home by Chelsea when a draw was enough.. How is that  not bottling it?

I'm sure it's tempting for non-Liverpool fans to say they bottled it but I don't think they did. You could accuse them of being naive and maybe inexperienced though. Bottling it for me is getting tight, getting negative and trying to hold onto what you have and getting caught. This Liverpool team didn't play any differently over the past 2 games than they did over the previous 11 which they all won. They went out to attack and score goals. A glaring mistake and Chelsea's excellent defending cost them (otherwise that game probably ends 0-0) and probably an over-eagerness to chase goals last night cost them against Palace. 3-1 up and they still had 7 or 8 players up ahead of the ball just before Palace scored their 2nd. The goal difference was never going to be made up so the priority should have been take the 3 points and see what happens after that.

Liverpool were brilliant during their 11 game winning run but they walked the tightrope in some of those wins. Walk the tightrope often enough and you will fall off eventually.

Ultimately though I find it hard to criticise a team who most were predicting would finish 6th or 7th and who are top of the table going into the last week of the season. Unfortunately though it looks like they will finish 2nd rather than 1st. No doubt Rodgers has to find a better balance between attack and defence going forward and he's already said he expects to bring in 6 new players in the Summer so I'm sure he knows himself what has to be done.

I agree with that GBB, but I do think the last 20 minutes last night were unadulterated panic, and are the closest you can get to 'bottling' a lead in a game like that. Overall, they cannot be accused of bottling it, because they did everything they had to do, until they were unable to break down a good Chelsea defense. That's just sport.

The last 15 minutes of the Norwich game had a similar feel to last night's though we rode our luck against Norwich and they weren't able to get the equaliser.  A similar feeling though of a loss of control and panic, and the two central defenders retreating into their shells and sitting way too deep (as Carragher pointed out). 

Any Man u supporters here remember 1992 and how they felt that year?

I do and I remember the going over I got from Liverpool supporters at the time! United lost at Anfield and Leeds got a few fortuitos goals against Sheffield United and that was that. That was a complete throwaway by United but they came back the next year and did it and the rest is history.

As for Gerrard I think he is completely overrated (2nd in FWA POTY?) and gets way too much kudos from the press and Liverpool supporters. An experienced player like him should have taken control of the situation last night at 1-3 and just got out of dodge with the 3 points. live to fight another day. Trouble is he is an indiciplined maverick and the team under his leadership is like that too. That's grand when you're chasing a dream, fighting against the odds. However, when you have to stand up and be counted it's when this style falls down and repeatedly we have seen this over his career.

Remember a few weeks ago his big huddle and team talk on the pitch? I thought at the time he was a knob for doing it and it would look foolish if they did not win. That stuff should all be done behind closed doors.

Gerard's been very good this season and age has tempered his urge to act the maverick. I think previous managers struggled with how to accomodate him in the team.  Like other English players he has been overpraised at times over the years or immune to criticism (like Rooney for instance).  But he has struggled for composure the past few games or at least has struggled to transmit the need for composure to his teammates on the pitch.  I really thought he could have done a lot more last night to settle things down a bit in that last 20 minutes.  Have a word with a few players, go down injured, slow down the pace, not bomb forward for set pieces at 3.1 up and get caught on the counter.  He couldn't be responsible for the mistakes of others but i just thought he needed to take more of a grip on the proceedings.

Any Man u supporters here remember 1992 and how they felt that year?

Gutted.

PS. Utd fans are seriously hard to listen to.

Absolutely right Supersub. Most of what they have to say isn't remotely funny.

I think most of them have forgetten how understanding Liverpool supporters were during this season when Utd were seriously sh1te!

i dont really understand their hatred directed towards Gerrard to be honest, most of them seemed delighted that he slipped to gift chelsea the goal.
While i am usually happy enough for united to lose, i cant ever recall taking delight in one of their players making an error like that.

Wouldn't come close to Gary Neville on the scale of obnoxiousness! At least Neville did something to wind up Liverpool supporters.

The Toure howler against WBA springs to mind.  Two points chucked away there.

That was Coutinho I thought. Nice that he wasn't cynical enough to do it, but at the same time I was roaring to bring him down If it was Suarez it would make more sense as he was booked.

AZ -  he had to be pulled back, end of.  Can't let a team counter in those circumstances.  Gerard could have led by example at the corner too - someone had to sit back and cover against the counter attack and he should have had the nous to do that, especially knowing the pace that Palace had to break out with.

Johnson was too lazy, slow, cowardly (delete as applicable) to get out and make a block. Skrtel was too rash to hold his position and mind his man for the third goal. If by some fluke you had reversed the players in each incident, Skrtel would have blocked Deleany and Johnson would have been sitting waiting for the knockdown at the end.

I though johnson was at fault for the second too as he let the palace player into the box far too easily instead of showing him wide.

Should have cleaned him out as should Suarez before that, to stop the counter attack. A yellow for Johnson or a second yellow for Suarez wouldn't have been the end of the world at that stage. Lack of football smartness.

Flanagan's a great little player - with more experience he should develop into a top player.  Johnson and Skrytl were culpable yes. Too passive and reactive. 

I see the official Spurs Twitter feed was a wee bit naughty last night. Funny stuff - although not necessarily in the way they intended.

Can't imagine why Spurs would have a gripe with Liverpool?

He has won 7 League titles with 4 Clubs. Not sure why you are including Az Alkmaar as a club who was supose to have won the Champions League.  They weren't expected to win the Dutch title, ahead of Ajaxm PSV, Feyenoord in the 08/09 season . They are a small club in comparison.

Kluivert won't be part of the management,  seems like Giggs will be assistant.

He should be a good appointment, though as a Liverpool supporter i was fearing that Ancelloti would get it.

Did Glen Johnston get out of that changing room alive last night? WTF was he thinking??

A good boot up the hole for that one.

He has been poor all season, especially defensively.  He could get the odd roasting at the world cup.

But whenever it's in your hands it's a clean slate. Like Arsenal in 98. All those wins mean nothing with 4 games to go and knowing you just need a draw and then 3 wins. Something went wrong v Chelsea that should not have.

A lack of football intelligence.  Knowing when you need to take the game to the opposition or when just to keep it tight and let the other side chase the ball for a few minutes.  It's no disgrace losing points to a Mourinho coached side that sits so deep, but Liverpool should not have lost that game. A draw yes, but not a defeat.  At 3-1 this evening someone needed to take responsibility and kill that game off.  Get on the ball, play a simple pass, go down injured or whatever it took, to slow the game down. A Didi Hamann type of character would have settled it but we didn't have a player on the pitch with that brainpower or mentality.  Gerard didn't cover himself in glory - as a deep lying midfielder i didn't see him do any covering for the 2 centre halves in the last 10 minutes.  He should have realised they were going to get exposed in that final period and swept in and around that area.  Play like that in the CL next year and smart tactically aware sides will just pick Liverpool off.

Liverpool need City to get beat now. Not impossible but improbable.