Carsley blasts ‘cheat’ Ngog
Ngog scored a wonderful opener in the 2-2 draw at Anfield, but his role in the Reds’ second-half equaliser will draw most attention.
Ngog went to ground in the penalty area with Carsley nowhere near making contact with his sliding challenge.
The referee nevertheless awarded a penalty, which substitute Steven Gerrard stroked home to restore parity after goals from Christian Benitez and Cameron Jerome had put Birmingham on course for the three points.
Carsley was in no doubt that Ngog was guilty of diving.
He said: “I was absolutely nowhere near him. It’s a joke.
“I’m sure he (Ngog) has got a family, well if I went home having done that I’d be embarrassed.
“You’re supposed to be teaching your kids an example and that is just an embarrassing case of cheating.’’
Blues boss Alex McLeish added: “This is a shame for the game. He conned the referee and got his team a penalty.’’
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez conceded it may have been a questionable decision but preferred to talk about his team’s dominance in possession.
“We had so many chances and plenty of possessions, at the end we can talk about the penalty – whether it was or was not – but we deserved to win because we had so many opportunities,” said the Spaniard.
“I was talking to him (Ngog) and he said maybe it wasn’t a penalty.
“But we’ve had a lot of situations against us this year and after a game like this when we deserved more, I think it’s something that you can’t change but it was positive for us.”
While the penalty was undoubtedly the night’s big talking point the result means six defeats in eight matches stretches to one win in nine games for Liverpool who are now 11 points behind leaders Chelsea.
On the implications of last night’s result, Benitez added: “We have to be disappointed because it’s a draw at home but again the performance of the team was pretty good. I won’t talk about the table or positions.”
No Gerrard in the starting line-up and no Fernando Torres in the squad but Liverpool began with a real intensity and wave after wave of one-touch passing looked like it would sweep its way through Birmingham.
And despite Joe Hart’s fine double save from Ngog and Dirk Kuyt Liverpool’s pressure finally told when Albert Riera lobbed back in for Ngog to volley in.
But midway through the first half, the home team showed their ever-worrying problems at the back to allow Birmingham back into the game and ease the pressure on Benitez – Christian, that is.
A lobbed free-kick into the area from James McFadden was headed on by Roger Johnson and then Scott Dann before Ecuador forward Benitez, an £8.5 million (€9.4m) summer signing, crept in to head past Pepe Reina for his first goal in English football. Gerrard’s introduction for the injured Riera ay half-time made little difference as Liverpool’s talisman was out-jumped by Dann as the Birmingham defender rose highest to meet Martin Skrtel’s lob forward with a thumping header that sent Jerome away and the former Cardiff forward thumped a shot from more than 30 yards that flew over Reina’s head.
Gerrard did finally threaten his rescue act, meeting Johnson’s whipped cross from the right with a header that glanced the outside of the post and flew wide of goal.
But when a better opportunity came along a couple of minutes later, he made no mistake.
The way Alex McLeish repeatedly screamed ‘Joke’ on the touchline after Ngog went down under Carsley’s challenge was reminiscent of his mentor Alex Ferguson here a few weeks back but you could understand his frustration.
Not that Gerrard was too bothered by all the fuss and he calmly sent Hart the wrong way to haul Liverpool level much to Carsley and Birmingham’s frustration.
Subs for Liverpool: Gerrard for Riera h/t, Babel for Benayoun 77, Aquilani for Lucas 82.
Subs for Birmingham: Carsley for Tainio 15, Vignal for McFadden 67, McSheffrey for Benitez 86.
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