THERE’S not much fancy about Oldham Athletic. A pothole-ridden car park leads to a three-sided ground made up of dilapidated stands and limited facilities that have long since seen better days.
The club would be the first to admit they’ve fallen a long way since they were founder members of the Premier League.
Administration, relegation and penny-pinching are fresher in the memories at Boundary Park than FA Cup finals and a match-day note to ‘members of the press’ said it all: “As you can see the facilities are not what you are used to in the Premier League or even the Championship. Welcome to Real Football!”
The attitude off the pitch was matched on it. Oldham knew what they could and couldn’t do and opted for the methods most likely to glean a result.
Manager Paul Dickov – another from the no-nonsense mould – confirmed the plan after the game: press hard, get physical – predictable yet highly effective for players earning a few hundred pounds a week and battling to improve upon 19th place in League One.
The challenge facing Liverpool was simple and embodied by the 6ft 6ins frame of Matt Smith, a player plucked from non-league football on a free transfer 18 months ago. The threat he would pose was as obvious to the eye as Oldham’s financial woe.
Yet with just two minutes gone he bullied his way past Sebastian Coates to head the Latics in front after Youssouf M’Changama had crossed from the left.
At 6ft 5ins, Coates looked on paper to be the perfect choice to go head to head with Smith. But on the snow-scarred pitch of Boundary Park the lack of minutes in his legs told.
Before Oldham, the last match the defender had started was at Field Mill three weeks earlier in the FA Cup clash with Mansfield. Before that it was away to Anzhi in November.
Coates was nervy from the off – an unconvincing clearance minutes before the opening goal betraying his mindset. From then it was all downhill for the Uruguayan. His performance was error-strewn and erratic and it was soon clear that Oldham were targeting him as the weak point in an unfamiliar back five.
For the opening quarter of an hour, it was all Oldham with Lee Croft firing in a shot spilled by Brad Jones and Smith trying his luck from distance. Raheem Sterling went into the book for a tackle from behind on M’Changama and was later lucky not to see red for a tug on Jean-Yves M’Voto.
Sterling’s exuberance aside, the pointers that have echoed around football changing rooms for eternity were simply being ignored – Liverpool did not, or could not, match aggression with aggression.
Fortunately, Luis Suarez, captaining the side for the first time, cares little for the pattern of a game. And the first opportunity he had to run at the Oldham defence led to an unlikely equaliser on 17 minutes.
Picking the ball up in his own half, Suarez ran virtually unchallenged before attempting to find Daniel Sturridge with a pass on the edge of the area. Instead the ball bounced back off Cliff Byrne and Suarez coolly finished for his 21st goal of the season sparking smokebombs and fireworks from the 2,700 fans in the away end.
The goal stirred Liverpool and briefly Oldham lost sight of the battle plan. Suarez again had the ball in the net but was ruled offside when he headed in Henderson’s free kick, while a slick move that saw Borini, Suarez and Sterling combine ended with the teenager placing his shot too close to Dean Bouzanis in the Oldham goal.
But Liverpool’s susceptibility at the back soon remerged as Oldham began to again snap into tackles and press the ball with eagerness. Smith poached his second just before half-time after Brad Jones – unconvincing throughout – spilled a cross from Wabara.
With Liverpool staring at the humiliation of crashing out of the FA Cup to third-tier opposition for the first time since losing to Bolton in 1993, it was baffling that Rodgers did not opt to shake things up at half time.
And the break clearly did nothing for Liverpool’s fragile mentality as Oldham simply picked up where they left off.
After the disappointing Borini fluffed a great chance to level things from inside the area, Jones was soon picking the ball out of the net again after Carl Winchester was allowed too much time to cross from the left and Wabara out-jumped Robinson to loop in Oldham’s third.
Rodgers reacted by introducing Gerrard and Stewart Downing and while that provided some much-needed impetus, Liverpool then faced exactly the determined and dogged defending that had been so lacking at the other end of the pitch.
Joe Allen’s deflected shot with 11 minutes remaining brought with it hopes of an unlikely replay and Gerrard was an inch away from again pulling off his Superman act as his 30-yard thunderbolt cannoned off the bar.
But even six minutes of stoppage time couldn’t save Liverpool and so began a post-mortem that will be plastered across every back page come Monday morning.
A stern-faced Rodgers later pointed the finger at the younger players.
“I was bitterly disappointed with the young players as they had a chance to compete for a club that has to challenge for trophies,” he said.
The manager also questioned the intensity of Liverpool’s play and the lack of pressing.
While it was true that few players could count their performance as one of their best, Rodgers must also face criticism.
It was the manager that made six changes, selected two teenage full backs and a centre back lacking game time. Given the physical nature of the game, Joe Allen’s selection also puzzled.
Rodgers must also face scrutiny over his reticence to change the approach despite the obvious problems posed by Oldham from the first minute.
Now Liverpool will again endure crisis talk. That the hashtag #rodgersout trended in Liverpool on Twitter after the match is probably more indicative of the modern football fan than any serious mass revolt against the manager.
But it’s also a sign that while the FA Cup might not matter to the bean-counters, it matters to supporters. Just ask Oldham.
I agree completely. Rogers was naive to expect this lineup to cope with what he should have known was coming. There was no steel or leadership in the middle of the park to anchor the side. With the big league games at Arsenal & City upcoming, leaving Gerrard out was understandable but to pair Skrtel & Coates together coupled with relying on Henderson & Allen to command the midfield on their own was folly. Brendan may have learnt that a few of the youngsters don’t have the mental strength (Coates, Robinson in particular) but I would hope that he is intelligent enough to learn the lesson of games like this himself.
Perfect summary!
Karma… there was me having a bit of a gloat over Spurs exit and Chelsea draw, and for a moment I thought I’d better touch wood, but then I thought – oh no.. to hell with superstitions.. we can’t possibly be beaten by Oldham, can we? We surely have learnt the lesson of Mansfield where we got away with a handball goal advantage…
I was naive. Rodgers wasn’t. Rodgers once again proved that he is either too arrogant, or too stubborn, or a bit thick, or all of the above.
Once again he blamed the players’ mentality. Once again the question that I want to ask: who is it up to to set the players for the match? Why is it that Paul Dickov who expects to be sacked for poor league results, was able to set his players to come and get a sound victory over this “fallen giant” that is Liverpool FC? Who is it up to to change the approach when to the game when things don’t go our way? Etc., Etc.
I am not from the Rodgers Out brigade. But there are things that definitely need improving. And if I feel it’s Rodgers’s fault, I’ll say that. If I feel people are overreacting and being too hysterical about him, I’ll point that out to them too.. although it’s more likely I’ll just get some abuse in return from some overzealous fans.
Anyway, few general things:
For example, our corners. We probably have the lowest stats on goals scored from corners in the league. We get like 10-15 corners a game, and we score only a very odd one. We are more likely to concede a goal from OUR unsuccessful corner that leads to a counter attack..
The defence that used to be one of the best in the league last season, is simply below par this season. Why? We have the same defenders. Does that mean they have become worse players? Certainly not! All it means is that there is something wrong with the coaching!
Also, a psychological moment: we all were over the moon from a couple of good link-up plays in the previous games between Suarez and Sturridge… and our players spent their week giving interviews about how happy they are to have this attacking pair. There is too much hype on the LFC website and from LFC-linked pundits on how great we are. While all we need is do our talking on the pitch, not off it.
The last thing we need is for Sturridge to believe that he is our fucking saviour and grow head, and take his playing time for granted, and sulk whenever he is subbed, etc…
Karen, I agree with all you’ve said but I’d like to point one thing out. I’ve been complaining about our goals from corners for a long time and is something I’ve followed over the years. It’s been that way for at least 5 years. One time I decided to research it and we went 40 odd games without a goal from a corner, under Rafa. I read an article at the start of the season and goals from corners are fairly rare. Again, I can’t back this up but I believe it’s around 1 in 50 throughout the Premiership. Less physical side like Barca don’t even bother to cross the ball in. Anyway, I agree with what you’re saying.
We’ve been wasting corners since the early 80S, and our free kicks from, say, 40 or 50 years out are no different. We often go short only to wind up trying to play the ball high into the box anyway. Going short if you’re planning to do something different is one thing, but going short only to then do what you would have done by going long in the first place makes no frickin’ sense whatsoever.
This LFC practice has had me tearing my hair out for decades.
Great read. Nice one Robbo.
As its rightly pointed out in this article, on paper Coates and Skrtel are the most physical defenders in the squad and BR started them both. The lack of depth and variety in the squad is exposed again.. Its the best team that BR could have started considering we are playing Arsenal and Manchester City in the next seven days.. Nobody expexcted Suarez-sturridge-Borini to start together, but they all started. IMO its the players who are to blame rather than BR, we clearly lack leadership in the team, until Gerrard came on from the bench, we were outfought by Oldham, this again reminds me of the fact that we lack experience in the team.. Had Carragher been started instead of Coates he would have organised the defence and would have helped the two teenage full backs massively..
And then we need to add a bit of steel in the midfield.. we had the same problem in this match as those we had against Mansfield and Stoke, we were bullied by them physically…
Hope we learn from the mistakes and concentrate on whatever is left in this season..
I’m reminded of days of old playing in the infamous Bootle JOC and the Crosby and District. Amateur football leagues represented by some great Pub teams of dubious footballing skills.
Many footballing lads who had been on “somebodies books” at one time playing against no nonsense hard cases who had rudimentary respect for the laws of the game. Fellas who liked a scrap on or off the pitch.
The “footballers” would show up Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning at a wind swept and wet Buckly Hill. Fresh faced and keen.
On the other side of the pitch was a rogues gallery of ex bouncers, nutters and boozers nursing hangovers. Their manager, flask of brew in one hand, would look over at the “footballers” and utter that great motivational line “Lads, get stuck into these gobshites, gang of tarts these”….Game Over…Hardcases 4 Footballers 0.
I can just imagine Dickov saying those same words to the Oldham players when he saw our team sheet on Sunday.
Owen Serjeant,
People should read that again….and again! Nothing changes.It’s always been the same battle cry.
I’ve been on the end of some embarrasing results like that where “The Manager” tried to tell us that we were much better and some of our players decided to show how good they were.
Result? We lost!
It’s “Horses for courses” in every game .You can forget about who plays where most of the time.It’s about committment and desire.
But that’s Rodgers’ job!
Brilliant summary Robbo, and so good observations from others. When it comes down to it we are just not as tough as we need to be.
The irony of having Carra as the image for Friday’s podcast, eh?
One of the best things about the norwich game was being taken back a few years by hearing Carra screaming at ‘his’ defense, marshalling them in his own vocal style. I swear I heard him scream ‘Riise, get back!’ at one point. Skrtel aside, and certainly seeing as we were without Reina, that back four was fragile on paper before the match – leaving him out was suicidal. Seeing him on the bench agitated and vocal made me even more frustrated at the team selection.
The Europa League becomes even more important then, otherwise some of the squad/bit-part players are long-gone.
I think the blame should go to the manager. Honestly some of our youngsters are getting way too much praise. At the moment Sterling has nothing of a wonderkid. For me he don’t even deserves to be on the bench. Same goes to Wisdom and Robinson.
Nice summary Robbo. Basic problem we have in any game where physicality is a challenge is lack of ANY midfielders apart from Stevie G to do the battling bit with any physical chance of success. See Stoke away, Spurs away (Dembele, Demspey, Sandro). While we’ve got rid of Sahin, and Suso is not being used, it is clear that the new (potential) Coutinho is another physically lightweight player.
I am the biggest fan of the Barca way of playing, but a) you need all players to have superb first touches (and none with the first touch of some of our British players); and b) I am unconvinced that the Premier League, with its main English fan base craving the physical battle, is ever going to be won by a side that doesn’t have physically strong players – not big necessarily, but strong.
Us? Suso, Allen, Sterling, Borini, Assaidi – all clever ball players, no physicality at all. Where is the balance from BR? At what stage is he going to mix his options? It’s not the fight (although its part of the make-up of smaller players that they will inevitably come off second best in most challenges), its the physical strength that is missing in games like Oldham.
My one consolation from yesterday is that we have NO excuses for not fielding our best possible team in both Zenit games; after West Brom on 11th, the next game after the Zenit matches on 14 and 21st is now on Saturday 2nd March. No excuses for not giving us at least another Europa round, because after this weeks two away games, we will not be looking at any Top 6 finish…… I genuinely think the squad knows its not good enough to play the way BR demands.
As one of Statler and Waldorf (as christened by my optimistic son), whereas I’m nearly always watching from the stands, I don’t always appreciate the show going on in front of me!
Andy
;-))
Dalglish was heavily criticised for playing full strength teams in the cup games to the detriment of the league showing last season – more so after Lucas got injured – even though it ultimatley led to two finals. Now Rodgers is getting criticised for playing a second string defence and giving game time to a few of the kids with a view for Wednesdays important game at the Emirates. Damned if you do………..!
Whist it hurts like hell to lose and to lose in the manner we did we had a bit of form before yesterday and grounds for optimism. That, I feel, remains the case despite the Oldham game – giant killings happen and it is somewhat reassuring we are still considered a giant!
We got our bollocks kicked in by the yeomen cloggers of Oldham. So what. I would rather lose that game than see us stoop to the level that was required to compete. Yeah, let’s see Real or Barca go elbow to elbow with that shower. You don’t drive a Ferrari round a demolition derby track, so if you are disappointed that we lost, get over it. Stoke would have won.
Ferd
You’d rather lose than win? I wouldn’t.
You’d rather Suarez got stuck in, or that Skrtl got injured in some pointless 50/50? Maybe it would have been better for Hendo to be sent off for putting a reducer on some adrenaline-fuelled podgy has-been, or Sturridge to go over the top and show he has some British spirit? I’d rather lose that game than lose any of our best players for 3 or 6 games. Call me old fashioned, but the team and the manager will be judged on where they end up at the end of the season in the league, not for some Northern aberration.
I can only assume that Rodgers has big plans for Carra playing in the league games. This is the only reason he would have been left out surely? It was a perfect Jamie game and I think we’d have stood a much better chance with him captaining the side and screaming orders at everyone else.
Rodgers has got Arsenal and Man City (both away) to deal with over the next 6 days so he would’ve been nuts to play anyone but the fringe players and Suarez who appears unbreakable (hope I didn’t just jinx him).
Reading various forums lately people have been banging on about Coates, how he shouldn’t be sold, he needs games blah blah…sorry, I hate to point the finger but he’s been awful in his last few games. He’s just not taking the chances he’s given. His lack of pace is well documented, and that’s fine, if you’re a good reader of the game and can position yourself well. What’s compounding his lack of pace is his apparent attrocious reaction time, his lethargic attempts to get with the program and a complete lack of passion and commitment in one-on-ones. It’s not like me to be so critical of anyone but I’d be lying if I said I’d observed or thought differently.
I think Sterling and Wisdom both fought as best they could but it was boys vs men. Robinson disappointed and needed some leadership on the pitch. Allen again got bossed around trying to do too much in too little space. Borini was anonymous, not sure why he played so narrow when there was acres of space out wide.
No excuses for Suarez and Sturidge either, they gave the ball away repeatedly and I think they’d be the first to acknowledge it just wasn’t their day.
All in all a good lessons learned. To keep the first team fresh I don’t think Rodger’s had much choice but to play the youngsters. If they’re going to have a long career with Liverpool then they’ll need to have the cotton wool wrapping removed from time to time like this and gain the experience – that’s the only way they’re going to learn how to cope with physical teams and players who are willing to take much more risk physically then they are.
The one positive; Gerrard. It’s games like this which make you realise what a very special player he is. One player and he changed everything.
While he did have a bit of a shocker, I don’t think it’s fair to single out Coates, he’s simply not played enough. The game was lost in midfield, Allen is certainly too lightweight for a game like Oldham. Generally speaking, we have struggled this season against sides that are either physical or counter at speed. That’s a lot of teams.
Personally, I find the main problem over the past few years is how to deal with players in the twilight zone between the U21s and the first team. The lack of direction in the boardroom and the constant changes in the coaching staff certainly don’t help, but someone needs to take a long hard look at why the loan system isn’t properly used. Spurs, for instance, seem to be quite adept at using it to their advantage.
Look at Shawcross and Pique, United let them both go and they could certainly do with the pair of them now (not that I’m complaining). Defenders in particular need games to develop their positional sense.
Just listening to the podcast. You can’t have everything, you can’t complain that we don’t play football against the top teams, then complain when we play football against aggressive physical teams. Somewhere you have to make a decision. Sure, let’s elbow our way to a win yesterday, but ffs don’t complain when that doesn’t work against Tottenham or city or arsenal.
I usually like most of your posts, Ferd.. but this time I just don’t get you.
Following your logic, a team like Barcelona should just say – we ain’t playing teams like Deportivo, Osasuna, etc, coz we are that purists. We can’t stoop that low. They kick us about, they are too physical for us, so we better lose than fight and win. We are that cool. Ridiculous, isn’t it?
If you actually watch some La Liga games, you will see that some teams there mostly rely on their physicality and dirty play than skill, too. And nobody gets more kicks in the ankles like Messi or Xavi. Mascherano, or Piqué will get sent off if that is what required to stop a sudden counter attack. But they keep fighting for every ball like it’s the end of the world, and they can’t stop winning.
Karen, can you see Barcelona playing Messi against Oldham? I know the Spanish game can be physical, but it’s not as physical as that game. I would honestly not want to see Sturridge or Suarez or Skrtl injured or banned because they competed at that level. It’s ok for the guy who was in non league football 18 months ago to go battering Skrtl for 90 mins with his elbows, is it OK to expect Skrtl to do the same? Did you see the injustice on his face every time he got battered? He’s held to a higher standard week in week out…so he should risk a red card to put the big lad in his place? This was going on all over the field, Oldham played like they had nothing to lose, we played like we had nothing to gain.
Over here we have a game called Gaelic Football, and there are league and cup games, and from time to time, a good team will come up against a team like Oldham. It’s easy for the good team to roll up their sleeves and get stuck in and give as good as they get, but ultimately, like the pitch, this is a leveller. The poorer team will want to get the good team into a fight and hopefully get a couple sent off. Honestly, I don’t want that from LFC. Either we play football, or we fight, either our role model is Barcelona, or Stoke. Otherwise we should just call Big Sam and admit we’re mid-table. It’s just my opinion that we should be going another way, I’m sorry.
But that is the reality, and we are either winners of soft losers. The fact that the ref “never noticed” their dirty tackles, however was happy to give a yellow to Raheem, probably played its role in the players’ attitude.
But the ultimate buck stops at Rodgers who failed to do anything to correct things during or after the half time.
This kind of stuff has been going on for years.
I’m the Manager of a lowly team against some fancy dan big boys.
Dressing room before kick-off: “Hey boys,these guys get £100k a week!Want to show how you are as good as them?”
“Yes Boss!”
“Are they better than you!”
“No Boss!”
“They’ve got big flash cars,do you want that?”
“Yes Boss!”
“Get out there and show them.Get into their faces.Prove that you’re as good as them.Let’s make history,remember last year!”
“Yes Boss!”
Meanwhile in the other dressing-room:”Jack,you’re on today,Stevie;you’re on the bench.Jamie;stay behind,don’t get changed.Lucas.don’t bother with your boots.Glenn,stay at home.”
“I’m putting a young inexperienced team out today to prove that I’m right………………wait a minute……..I blame this young inexperienced team for everything that went wrong.”
If it wasn’t for the 10 minute after-match interview explaining how it was everybody else’s fault he might have got away with it.But no.The ego is breathtaking!
Manager blaming players for poor performance – god forbid!
Sir Harry “Diamond Geezer” Redknapp has been at it since he went to QPR. Even so much that during final score Mark Chapman asked whether QPR capitulation against MK Dons was players or managers fault. Both Crooks and Savage 100% said it was down to the players (not that they speakers of all that is right and true btw).
BR gave a few kids a go (as alot said should have been the way after last season) to keep team fresh for the league. They let themselves down, he let them know. They either now fight to prove they are good enough next time or admit defeat and play teams like Oldham every week. Cannot see the problem BR letting them know they weren’t good enough.
If he played full strength and Lucas or Gerrard or Johnson etc got put out for the rest of the season then he would also have been lambasted – regardless of winning or losing. KK went through it last year – some people weren’t happy he focused on the cups despite the two finals!
And despite the doom and gloom around the place, we were 2 inches away from drawing and having a replay at ours. Rodgers was right to have a go at Coates and Robinson, and Sterling. If these guys want to make it in the senior squad he has every right to expect them to do better. We’ve been down this road often enough, maybe it’s time to say that maybe the guy who is getting paid to do this job is actually better at it than us?
“maybe it’s time to say that maybe the guy who is getting paid to do this job is actually better at it than us”
100% spot on.
They out fought us – won more of the duels – and defended superbly – they blocked 10 of our shots and we didn’t block any of theirs.
A good summary of a bad day, cheers Gareth.