We were second best from the kick-off and worse still it seemed we left our intensity and verve back at the Brittania Stadium.
That we were hindered by the manager having an off day in sending the midfield out to contain rather to create and trying to get away with playing Skrtel again at right-back up against Bale, the eventual sending off was like a car crash waiting to happen without the air bag protection of Dirk Kuyt in front of him. With Flanagan watching on from the sidelines, his exclusion just did not make any sense.
If ever an early change in either personnel or formation should have been made early on this was it. The defence found it difficult to cope with the movement of Adebayor and Defoe, with Bale and Kyle Walker making hay down the flanks. Jamie Carragher was virtually not existent and while he is a key member of the squad, his lack of pace has been there for all to see in the last two games.
Modric and Parker dominated Adam and Lucas in every way and it only added to Adam’s frustration with not having the time on the ball to build Liverpool’s forward momentum.
This blog has tried to give Andy Carroll the benefit of the doubt and while today’s result was not down to him as he was hindered by a lack of quality service with Downing seemingly playing in a supportive midfield role, his lack of menace was poor in the extreme. He was beaten to virtually every header and his biggest contribution was a defensive tackle. The concern for most supporters is that when Carroll starts Liverpool’s play looses fluidity and becomes one dimensional with long balls knocked up to the ‘big man’.
In addition, Daniel Agger’s fragility is becoming a concern. He seems susceptible to knocks against his hip and his injury record must be close to rivalling that of Aurelio’s.
What was really dispiriting as a supporter was that Suarez and Enrique apart, there appeared nothing we could do to change the result. There was a stage in the first fifteen minutes of the second-half where Spurs seemed to be running out of ideas and Liverpool needed to inject some inspiration and pace with Kuyt (unlucky not to start) and Bellamy warming-up ‘King Kenny’ and Clarke seemed to have got the message. Instead, for some reason they waited when we were offering nothing creatively, but still in the game and paid a heavy price with the sending off of Skrtel.
It is not the fact that we are already eight points behind Man United (although that’s no consolation), it’s the fact that we lost the game in such a tame fashion on the pitch and on the sidelines.
I totally agree. Henderson was not at the races and Carroll really messes up our game..Not an ounce of passion...
ReplyDeleteSince kick off we were second best at all times, Modric and Parker dominated the midfield, while Adebayor and Defoe took advantage of our sloppy defence.
ReplyDeleteThey were a much more superior team, we could not control the tempo of play from Spurs, and got paid the price.
Yesterday was embarrassing but please say something.
ReplyDeleteValerie G
Let's put things into perspective. We were awful second half against a below average Sunderland and couldn't beat them at home. We beat a struggling Arsenal side away, pretty good performance. We beat Bolton convincingly, which was a good. Lost to Stoke, poor in front of goal then lost to Spurs, played off the park. Overall, pretty average really.
ReplyDeleteListening to the embarrassing 'King Kenny' brigade going on about how the messiah has come back to save us is becoming more embarrassing than yesterdays game. The fact is, he's spent a lot of money on average players - Carroll, most expensive British signing has been useless......Henderson - the amount paid for him, is beyond a joke, way out of his depth at the higher level.....Adam - a journeyman, will always give his all but not got the class to make a difference.......Downing - probably the best of an average bunch but has no right foot and already looks found out.
Let's not get started with defence and why Skyrtel marked Bale !!
Is kenny just a fans favourite or an astute tactician and manager for the modern game........I know my answer.
I said we wont get in the top four and unless there's a huge turnaround in the ability of some of these so called big stars then we can forget playing Champions League football next year.
I said before the match that playing Carroll and Henderson would be a big mistake. We allowed Raul to go because of Henderson, and then left a tried and tested workholic Dirk on the bench for yesterday match, why, why Kenny??????????????
ReplyDeleteI am sure Brighton will by now robbing their hands in readiness to knock us out of Carling Cup come Wednesday. I think Flanagan would have done a better of job of Bale than Skirtel.
I agree we need to put things in perspective but disagree on what that means....
ReplyDeleteOne awful performance and four promising performances in 5 games after a massive overhaul doesn't seem like a massive crisis to be. Think very few liverpool fans actually think kenny is the messiah who is going to lead us to the title straight away but rather the right man for the job at the current time - someone who understands the clubs and can unite the fans after years of fractures off the pitch....
I got bit carried away after the bolton performance and yesterday's horror show has made me a bit more realistic about what our expectations should be but I'm still confident that we'll have more ups and downs this season and that we'll qualify for champions league.
I agree that kenny should of changed things at the break but all managers make tactical errors. As Vic predicted on Friday Skrtel was always going to struggle against bale, you only have to cast your mind back a couple of years to when downing absolutely terrorised him at right back playing for middlesborough. i prob would of went with flanagan too though I can see why he didn't as he had a bit of a mare in second half against sunderland and you don't really want to run the risk of his confidence getting shattered by being run ragged by one of best left sided players in the prem in his next appearance.
Carroll remains a big concern for me and have question marks over adam's defensive capabilities but on the whole i think yesterday was just one of those days when terrible performances all over the park were compounded by every thing going wrong that could. Sometimes you just come up against a team totally up for it and can't recover from a really slow start, like united did against us at anfield....
I'm still confident that we are heading in the right direction, it's just going to need bit of time and patience.....
Luke
We are on the right track but we all have to accept there will be setbacks along the way – we need to all support the team through thick and thin and not be hasty in thinking that after one bad result/performance we are not capable of bouncing back.
ReplyDeleteThere will be performances this season where we will look like we can compete at the highest level and like yesterday performances where we will look like we are struggling to beat any side. As the saying goes “Rome wasn’t built in a day!”
We need to all be patient and realise long-term we are on the road to recovery.
We also need to realise that King Kenny can also make tactical mistakes from time to time which will cost us games but he can also make decisions that will win them like bringing on Meireles and Suarez away to Arsenal.
So lets support the team – if we don’t get 4th place I will be the first to put my hand up and say we were wrong but for now back the team and the management.
As Kop-post has stated in the blog on the game – Andy Carroll is still not producing for the team and for me now has to show more determination and desire to start justifying the faith that Kenny has shown in him.
dedlfc
A lot of what is being espoused is because it’s no fun watching your team being get mullered. The last 25 minutes was gut wrenching, because after the second goal if was always going to be case of how many and who likes to hear ole with 20-odd minutes to go. Received a text after the game from a Spurs season ticket holder which read “not saying anything about the result, but you lot play ugly football’ and went on to say we were dirty and desperate… when you’re in a crap mood not the kind of thing you want to hear! Any way, I reminded her about their Man City result, haven’t heard from her since! :)
ReplyDeleteI never expected to win the League, but neither do you expect to be vying with the Newcastle’s and Everton’s who have spent relatively nothing. We got caught out trying to play Skrtel again at right back, having Henderson tucking in and leaving Bale gallop on towards the right back. Know one saying that Kenny is suddenly a bad manager, but yesterday’s decisions were like watching Bentitez in the bad old days when we produce a good performance and either loose or draw and then he would be quite negative in the next game. Still can’t get over watching Carroll playing a whole half on the left-side of midfield…!
Watching Carroll yesterday reminded me of the WBA game at the Hawthorns last season with Carroll flicking on headers from 20 yards in front of the opposing penalty area, because we had no width and decent supply was not existent. If we are going to play Carroll, especially at home, started with Bellamy and Downing would be an option and while I mention Bellamy, he is too good a player to sit on the bench consistently. It’s easy to crab Henderson, but the guy is still playing out of position and Edet made the observation before the game that Maxi would be a better option especially for that role, where the full-back needs protection. But for me, it would be Bellamy or Kuyt with Carroll coming on for shock value until he gets up to speed and starts adapting to the play rather than the other way round..
It’s hard to write and think that I can’t wait till Stevie G returns, because if that what we are hoping for then nothing’s changed and again it’s not fair on the player. It may well be that without Carroll starting for a while, we’ll go back to a more fluent style of play, but I would say don’t give up on the guy just yet.
I think with 1.0 down, 1 man short at half time the King should have brought in both Dirt and Bellamy. The first 25 minutes of the game Henderson was no where to be found, he hardly had a kick of the ball. The ref refused to stay strong and bowed to the home supporters pressure by showing a belated second yellow card to Adam. On another day the Suarez's goals should have stood given that Adebayor's 2nd which to me look more off side than the Suarez's goal.
ReplyDeleteYesterday was a very bad in the office for everyone connected to Liverpool Club. My Group Manager is Spurs supporter, she phoned me shortly after the final whistle. My Chief Accountant is Man U supporter, there is just no hidding place for me. This is how one Man U supporter summed it up "Liverpool thrashed by Spurs, Man City failed to win at Fulham and Man U beat Chelsea 3.0, what a glorious day for Man U?" Sorry that was like robbing salt on injury! Thank God Wednesday couldn't come soon enough for us to see how best we mitigate this damage if only we can beat Brighton.