Not content with finally putting to bed our chances of winning the title last season, Crystal Palace are now trying to consign the rest of this season to us being also rans with nothing to play for.
We went into our first game after the international break looking for a win to pick up our confidence and get back to winning ways we ended the afternoon with more questions to put to our manager.
After much discussion within the LFC camp the much forgotten striker Ricky Lambert was given only his second start in a Liverpool shirt and repaid the gamble with an well taken goal after two minutes which had the Southampton of last season all over it, with Adam Lallana playing a beautiful ball over the Palace defence which Lambert took in his stride and finished with aplomb.
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| Stone cold Rickie off the mark |
At 1-1 at the break we had the majority of the possession but did not look like threatening again apart from one headed chance from Lambert which went well over. Palace on the other hand were a constant threat on the break with their more direct approach and pace causing all our defensive players and midfielders a major headache throughout.
Our manager tried to change things by taking off our two most effective players on the afternoon Lallana and Allen. Can and Borini failed to make much of an impact on proceedings.
Palace's second goal 12 minutes from time was a total disaster for us starting with Mignolet inexplicably kicking the ball straight out for a Palace throw in from a goal kick. Palace made him pay. Bolasie left Lovren on his backside and crossed for the unmarked Ledley to score.
Sterling saw his pleas for a penalty ignored after tangling with Joel Ward and then all hope disappeared when Mile Jedinak made it 3-1 by bending a stunning 25-yard free-kick into the top corner after Skrtel had stupidly given away a free kick on the edge of our area for pulling at a shirt.
Gerrard had a late free kick go just over the bar but we had been beaten convincingly and had gone down without any fight and again. Seven months have passed and the weakness and frailty which we had hoped that our manager would have addressed in the summer is still glaringly there for all to see.
Crystal Palace (4-2-3-1): Speroni, Kelly, Dann, Delaney, (Hangeland 36),Ward, Jedinak, Ledley, Puncheon, (McArthur 75), Chamakh, Bolasie, (Bannan), Gayle
Subs (not used): Hennessey, Bannan, Johnson, Zaha, Campbell
Bookings: Hangland
Goals: Gayle (17), Ledley (78), Jedinak (81)
Liverpool (4-3-2-1): Mignolet, Manquillo, Skrtel, Lovren, Johnson, Lallana, (Borini 70), Gerrard, Allen, (Can 72), Coutinho, Sterling, Lambert
Subs (not used): Jones, Toure, Moreno, Leiva, Markovic
Bookings: Skrtel, Manquillo
Referee: Jon Moss
Attendance:24,862
Liverpool man of the match: Ricky Lambert took his goal very well and showed why he deserves a run as our main striker at least until January.
Positives
The link up play of Lallana and Lambert was the only encouraging thing to take from this game as nothing else seemed to go right for us.
Negatives
These are bleak times for Liverpool. It’s the first time we have lost four in a row since October 2009.
Brendan Rodgers has some big questions to answer!
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| Even Joe couldn't turn it around |
Just awaiting Queen’s theme tune "Under Pressure" to be played at his press conferences.
There's no getting away from this, the pressure is really on Brendan Rodgers now to come up with the answers to Liverpool's terrible form as we currently look clueless and spineless.
Chances of winning the Premier League title are long gone, fourth place is now looking like Mission Impossible.
Rodgers is facing big issues with his squad and will have to make some difficult decisions over the coming weeks which will define his managerial reign or bring about the search for a new manager.
What on earth does he do with Dejan Lovren? He shelled out £20m for a player who has been a massive disappointment to LFC fans. Is Alberto Moreno simply too attacking or not trusted? And if so is Glen Johnson really the answer at left back when we have the forgotten man Enrique on the sidelines. Can he continue with Steven Gerrard in a holding midfield role as he continues to not grasp the concept of this role by not providing a defensive shield for our defence – or is too old for a role that which vitality?
This Liverpool side is not solid, doesn’t control games. They look too top heavy with attacking midfielders today. Too many similar players up in attacking positions or jostling to be involved. Adam Lallana was bright on a bleak day. But once again Philippe Coutinho and Raheem Sterling flattered to deceive with latter struggling for form. Emre Can, a dominant presence against Chelsea, had to come off the bench and Lucas hasn't kicked a ball in anger since a good display in Madrid and must be thinking why have I not been given a chance to show what I can do?
Joe Allen legged around, bandage ridiculously wrapped around his head, admirably trying to fill the gaps like a fire fighter working by himself. Gerrard looked totally off the pace and is a shadow of his former self this season.
Stats today showed both Gerrard and Skrtel won 0% of their tackles which is frankly totally unacceptable at this or any level.
Martin Skrtel is one of Liverpool's more senior players, but he isn't showing any signs of leading a defence that is in terrible need of inspiration and organisation. He was a goal scoring threat last season, but he was still a part of a defence which struggled. He is having an even tougher time this year alongside Lovren.
Rodgers now needs to make some big decisions. Perhaps it is time to bring Lucas back into his natural position and play Gerrard further forward with the likes of Can and Allen to allow the Reds to dominate the ball in midfield and stop the constant turning over of possession.
Kolo Toure, watching from the bench today, could also come back into the side to allow Lovren to come out of the firing line. Toure showing more signs of leadership in his minimal appearances so far this season.
There's no excuse for this defeat. With respect this was Crystal Palace, a side who hadn't won a game since September. It wasn't top of the league Chelsea or the mighty Real Madrid.
Rodgers admitted recently that this is the toughest time of his Liverpool reign. It might be about time he gets tough and makes those big decisions to ensure a few brighter days return or the owners will take the tough decisions very swiftly out of his hands.
Liverpool’s six defeats from 12 games, this is more than just a poor start, there’s something wrong. Mentally weak, no leadership on the pitch, week in week out being turned over buy average teams and pretty much bullied across the field by confidence, belief, enthusiasm.
ReplyDeleteBR should have been more critical in our recruitment, the departure of Luis Suarez, basically meant we needed to bring in another player of that calibre or near too, just two quality players would have been good.
We needed a player who would play the same high level quality of play and keep the team stable, then build from here.
Doing what we done last season, can’t be repeated if you don’t buy the same level of player/s. But the results just show the poor quality we have in our team.
No excuses of Daniel Sturridge, No excuses for players yet to settle
We have only managed eight shots on target in their last three league matches; we will be fighting for relegation if that continues…
All,
DeleteWe will never win the title under Biffa (BRoger is now officially the new Biffa). He does not have a solution to LFC’s strikers problem. He or whoever is responsible has not bought wisely.
This is relegation form. The most troubling part is that despite spending 120 million in the Summer to improve the squad we don’t seem to have the obvious changes that would improve things. We have no strikers, we have a defence where Skrtel and Johnson are still first choices supplemented by the truly woeful Lovren (what was he doing in the build up to their second goal?), it’s a circus shielded by a rapidly declining Gerrard with Mignolet freaking out behind it! how do you improve that? Sakho???
DeleteCan’t score, can’t defend, vulnerable to the same long balls as last season but now also terrified of any kind of pace. It’s a shambles and I really don’t see how Rodgers can fix it, people including myself are left suggesting Toure? Maybe Lucas in midfield? 120 million spent and Kolo and Lucas are being seen as the saviours of our season. Jesus wept!
Just received an sms from a Palace season ticket holder saying “Oh dear your team is poor!” He knows Karl and myself attended the game and for second time in 6 months had to stomach watching a collapse of epic proportions.
DeleteI’ve often used the word physicality or to be precise the lack of it. I still cannot believe that after all this time an experienced dominant central midfielder was never brought in. How are we supposed to win matches with Coutino, Allen, Lallana and Sterling in the team? A team of 5 foot nothings. They struggled woefully in midfield and Coutinho magical as he is on the ball there was absolutely no end product. Emre Chan has to start week in week out, if only because we have no other like him. Joe Allen is a good player, but for me he is the icing on the cake, rather than a key ingredient.
Why spend 12 million on a left back to have him play now again. As far as I’m concerned Moreno is another who should be playing every week and I felt sorry for Manquillo with the lack of cover. Where is Flanagan, I hear the cry! At least you know he is there. Glend Johnson flatters to decieve time and again.
Skrtel… just cannot defend full-stop and the conviction behind the defensive headers is a joke, the ball barely makes it out the box and when it did it invariably found a Palace player. Steven Gerrard… yesterday was his nadir in terms of performance levels. It was abysmal and I take no joy in saying that as Karl, Jan and David will tell you he is my all-time favourite player. Minutes before the end of the game, Palace counter-attacked for the umpteenth time and I pointed Gerrard out to Karl. It was sad. He could barely raise a trot to keep up with the play. The lack of leadership in defence and midfield was there for all to see. Our fans appreciated, Lambert because you could see he was busting a gut out there and the ball was sticking when it was played up to him. He took his goal well. Their goals… I have no words.
It was like watching a re-run of the game 6 months ago and with strains of “can we play you every week” echoing run the game, it hurt! After about 5 minutes of the second half with the score still 1-1, I said to Karl’ “They are not good enough,” he said who Palace, I said no, us. Fifteen minutes or so later the game was all but over.
I said, weeks ago he had to show his development as a coach by stopping us from leaking goals, but it’s even worse. It takes him too long to make/take important decisions – spoke to Karl and David in the week saying it was obvious Rickie had to play upfront because he is now the only Liverpool player with a consistent record of scoring goals in the Premiership.
Didn’t watch highlights when I got home, preferred to watch Lewis Hamilton… a winner!
I think watching the light really get one more offset about the whole thing.
DeleteIf we are not careful we might end up in the (old) 2nd division.
DeleteAlso, a Newcastle support has just emailed me asking “What’s the weather like down there?”
DeleteI have not heard from a CP season ticket holder yet, he has been very quiet.
Mo
From F365 – Part One
ReplyDeleteLiverpool's return to Crystal Palace, the scene of Crystanbul, was always likely to draw inevitable comparisons to their meltdown of last season. However, whilst supporters may have cried and cursed their club on that May Monday night, at least it was exciting. Liverpool's entire season had been a startling surge of shock and awe. The worst aspect of their recent performances is that it's all becoming so sadly predictable.
This was a new low in a season of deterioration. Goals should inspire a side, but from the moment that Liverpool took the lead they appeared devoid of leadership, belief and determination. These are the characteristics on which Brendan Rodgers has founded his reputation. When these fail, he fails. Rodgers' defenders will preach stability, but the reality is that Liverpool's regression of this season has been as startling as their rise of last. Patience has a very short shelf life - this is Liverpool's worst start to a season in 20 years.
It all started so brightly for Rodgers' side, Rickie Lambert marking his first league start for the club with a goal after just 90 seconds. A fabulous clipped ball from Adam Lallana found the feet of Lambert, who cut inside former Liverpool full-back Martin Kelly and finish cutely. It was to be Liverpool's only shot on target of the match.
Sunday morning had seen newspaper rumours of unrest amongst Liverpool's senior players at the perceived favouritism afforded to Mario Balotelli by their manager. The emphatic congratulations offered to Lambert told its own story. They'd rather have effort than volatility.
From that moment on, however, familiar flaws were laid bare, Liverpool's defensive uncertainty exposed. In a contemptuous attack on Chelsea's approach at Anfield last season, Rodgers claimed that it is "not difficult to coach to play defensive". "You train dogs, I like to educate players," is another of Rodgers' faux-philosophical declarations. They are beginning to look more foolish as games go by.
From F365 – Part Two
DeleteRodgers had chosen to tweak his options at full-back, moving Glen Johnson over to the left and choosing Javier Manquillo at right-back. Alberto Moreno dropped to the bench. Johnson looked clumsy whenever venturing forward, forced to turn back. There are few more one-footed players in the Premier League.
If it was a measure to deal with the threat of Yannick Bolasie, it didn't work. Bolasie ran the show, consistently beating Manquillo, who was regularly caught upfield. It was his shot that struck Simon Mignolet's far post and allowed Dwight Gayle to finish the rebound. Four of Gayle's nine Premier League goals have been against Liverpool, scoring in all three games against Rodgers' side. Time to buy him for an inflated price?
In the second-half, Liverpool became a parody of their own shortcomings. Steven Gerrard unable to drive his side forward. Philippe Coutinho tiring after 60 minutes and Raheem Sterling drifting out of matches. Full-backs left exposed and central defenders making mistakes. There was even time for Simon Mignolet to assist the second goal with a weak kick. These have become Liverpool's new commandments.
Having fallen behind, there never felt like any hope for Liverpool to respond. They have failed to gain a single point from a losing position this season - only Aston Villa can 'boast' that record. Rodgers praised the spirit and effort of his side in defeat at the Bernabeu, but his has been sadly missing domestically. That must change.
"I don't think there is pressure on ourselves, only what we have from within," Rodgers famously said in April. "Look at Tottenham, when you spend over £100m you'd expect to be challenging for the league." Ouch.
"People talk about pressure but it's absolutely wonderful," Liverpool's manager continued that afternoon. Well, Brendan, you've got your wish. After four consecutive defeats in all competitions and eight points in nine Premier League games, the pressure is now piling up.
"I'm not so arrogant to believe I will be in a job through anything," said a despondent Rodgers in his post-match interview. I'm happy to admit that I doubt he'll be in a job come May.
Daniel Storey
From The Anfield Wrap - Part one
DeleteFOR more than 20 years, the scenario has been the same. As soon as Liverpool encounter problems, they look to the transfer market for a solution only to end up creating new ones. If the definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, an army of psychiatrists should head to Anfield in January for football’s biannual outbreak of lunacy.
Having spent £120 million on players in the summer but turned the second best team in the country into the kind of uninspiring mid-table fodder that they were sweeping aside with contemptuous ease last season, Liverpool have conspired to put themselves in a position in which new signings are seen as the panacea to all their ills. Demands for further spending are inevitable given what is at stake but they also fly in the face of prevailing logic. The last thing Liverpool should do in six weeks’ time is get involved in the January sales.
At some point, someone at the club has to call a halt to one of the most ill-advised sprees since pools winner Viv Nicholson famously vowed to “Spend, spend, spend” and order an audit of the signings that Liverpool have made since Brendan Rodgers became manager in 2012. The review should begin with an appraisal of every recruit and their impact on the team but it should not stop there. Before Liverpool shell out another penny, their entire transfer strategy and its implementation by committee needs to be assessed because the risks of allowing the situation to continue are far too great.
The best that can be said of the nine signings that Liverpool made last summer is that it is still to early to judge them, even if the early signs are not positive. It is damning that only Alberto Moreno could be regarded as a qualified success. The argument that the others will improve in time is all well and good but Liverpool cannot claim that they were not expecting an encouraging impact from at least some of them. Nor can they hide behind the claim that it is a period of transition given that other clubs, Southampton being the most obvious example, are flourishing despite profound change.
By common consensus, out of the 23 signings that Liverpool have made over the past two-and-a-half years, only Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho have been a resounding success. Given that Sturridge is now a long- term absentee as a result of the latest injury to blight his career and Coutinho is, like most at Liverpool, becoming an increasingly fitful and less effective presence without Luis Suárez, even their success stories are not without blemish. It is an appalling record.
Clearly, something is not working. Depending on personal choice, responsibility for Liverpool’s failings in the transfer market lies at the feet of Rodgers, the club’s scouts or the committee. But if there are any fingers to be pointed, they should first be aimed in the direction of the club’s owner, Fenway Sports Group (FSG), which not only determined Liverpool’s transfer strategy but also put in place the young, up-and-coming manager, committee and scouting system that they wanted.
From The Anfield Wrap - Part two
DeleteIf FSG is given credit for signing the cheques, as should be the case, then it should also be questioned if the structure it implemented fails to provide value for money.
The complex, almost clandestine, way that Liverpool go about their transfer business makes it almost impossible to attribute each signing to the manager or the committee, even if the set-up isn’t as great a departure from the traditional model as some would have us believe. The reality is that, as Rodgers himself freely admits, with the possible exception of Oussama Assaidi, not a single player has been signed against his wishes. He might have had to have his arm twisted on a few, Sturridge, Mario Balotelli and Mamadou Sakho being the most obvious examples, but, one way or another, they have all arrived with his blessing.
Many questions remain unanswered. What exactly does Rodgers have the final say on? How much choice does Liverpool’s strict wages policy afford him and his scouting team when they are competing for talent with some of the highest payers in world football? If, as Rodgers has claimed, the “calculated gamble” on Balotelli was forced by a lack of options, what does that say about Liverpool’s strategy? Why, when Suárez signed a contract that guaranteed his departure if a club met his release clause, did their list of attacking options have a Plan A in Alexis Sánchez with the only Plan B being Loïc Remy, a player with well-documented medical issues, and little else? You could go on and on.
All of these issues would not be such a mounting concern if so many of the first-choice signings that Liverpool have made had not been so counterintuitive. After Rodgers said that, whereas other teams play with ten men and a goalkeeper his philosophy was “to play with eleven”, Liverpool signed Simon Mignolet who has shown no signs of being a sweeper-keeper since his arrival. After he said last summer that he “would rather have one or two world-class players than seven or eight who might not be able to help us”, Liverpool did the opposite.
After paying £17million for Sakho — described by Ian Ayre at the time as a “marquee signing” — Liverpool spent £20million on another left-sided centre back, Dejan Lovren, just 12 months later. Neither the departure of Suárez nor longstanding concerns about Sturridge’s durability prompted moves for players of their ilk, instead two of the most mobile forwards around have been replaced by two of the most immobile with Balotelli and Rickie Lambert being asked to fill a considerable void.
None of this adds up. In the fullness of time, we might come back to look at Liverpool’s transfer strategy as an object lesson in proving people wrong, as a case study in spotting, nurturing and fulfilling talent for the long-term betterment of a team that critics had claimed were destined to fail. Alternatively, the status quo could continue and the failings that by now appear all too obvious will continue to undermine their chances of success.
While the latter remains a genuine concern, Liverpool should examine what is going wrong and endeavour to put it right before even considering throwing good money after bad.
It is very obvious that Roger is having one eye on the nearest job centre to sign on because I have never seen a Manager so devoid of idea of how to fix a defensive calamity for so long. Sunderland went to Crystal Palace and went a way with 3 points. I should be happy because Crystal Palace is my local team but I am not because this whole thing is beginning to look more of a dream than reality. So where will our next win in a game of football come from? Wednesday night? We can as well prepare our selves to dropping down to Europa League that is if we are lucky. Why does this man like to stick on with punch losers. Drop SG and bring on the new guys, SG knows he no longer got the legs to redeem us. Thanks to him he has been pillar for years, bailing us out in the past game after game, but those days are now behind. He should accept that because time has decreed.
DeleteThree points from that game things would have been looking up Spurs is now posting 2 shy of Champion League spot, some sort of encouragement. The pool concluded this morning says we have only 32% chance of finishing top, of course the table does not lie.
FSG should sign the cheque, signing the cheque and getting us out of the situation we find our selves are two different propositions. As I understand it the net spent last Summer give and take was around £20m. On that note it is not as alarming as it first appear in gross term. That said, I do not see how Liverpool ignore completely the selection that effectively compete against arguable one of the best team in Europe –RM and find it so hard to have faith in them to play in EPL. Until BR wake up get the liver to drop SG, GJ and Ming, we are certainly going to continue this free fall. Southampton have no stand out name, yet they are doing pretty well. Give the same players stock at Anfield to Mr Pullis, we will stop leaking goals.
DeleteThey've been chasing after him for a good while. We blocked a move at the end of last season.
DeleteFSG came out yesterday and said that Rodgers isn’t going anywhere, then again I remember that Ian Ayre was on Sky telling everyone how the club were right behind Kenny about 3 weeks before they sacked him. A vote of confidence essentially means nothing but FSG have been pretty unequivocal in their support of Rodgers, you can read the full story in the Echo.
DeleteLiverpool Echo is painting a different picture – that is BR job is not at risk despite the poor result. Well that can change very sharply especially if we get knock out of CL tonight. I am sure Bournemouth will be licking their lips playing LFC in Carling Cup at this time.
DeleteIf we play Lovren tonight then Rodgers needs his head looking at. The most worrying thing about this whole mess of a season has been Rodgers refusal to drop players who are clearly not worth their place. If we want to win tonight we need to get Lovren on the bench and Stevie either further up the pitch or preferably benched and used as an attacking impact sub late on.
DeleteWhy change a winning team – oops sorry I meant losing team when it is not their fault that the ref did not see this & that.
DeleteAfter that gallant show by Kola in Spain he has gone missing from BR radar!!
DeleteMay be if he plays worse than Lover then he would be in the team.
DeleteI’m not exactly Sakho’s biggest fan but Lovren has received ten times the backing from his manager that the Frenchman ever got. It really is time to start picking people on Merit and put an emphasis on building from the back because you can bet your boots we won’t be breaking any goalscoring records this season. If he has an ounce of sense he’ll line up tonight something like we did against Madrid.
DeleteWell, you've got your wish Toure starts and so does Lucas.
DeleteStarting XI: Mignolet, Manquillo, Skrtel, Toure, Johnson, Lucas, Allen, Henderson, Gerrard, Sterling, Lambert
Subs: Jones, Lovren, Coutinho, Moreno, Lallana, Borini, Can
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ReplyDeleteReal Madrid step up interest in Liverpool teenager Pedro Chirivella who has been billed as the next Xabi Alonso.
ReplyDeleteIf he is that good then they should not sell him but with Biffa you never know.
They've been chasing after him for a good while. We blocked a move at the end of last season.
DeleteIf Biffa were to go who would we like to have in charge?
ReplyDeleteI know BR is still learning his trade - that's the problem. But it's perhaps a tad too early to be showing him the door. If we're in this position come February I think he may well be in trouble.
DeleteNo matter what I think FSG will hold fire until the summer even if it looks like a top 4 finish is beyond our reach early next week and work towards enticing Jurgen Klopp to begin yet another rebuild next summer.
Delete