I WAS an angry Red.
On Saturday I could barely keep myself from choking on my own rage (ala Moe Szyslak) at the ineptitude of the ‘performance’ against Newcastle. I didn’t think I could get any angrier… and then I saw the starting line-up Brendan Rodgers had picked to take on Real Madrid, Champions of Europe, in the Bernabeu. I was furious.
I was furious, not at the manager, not at the selection or any of the players in it. I was furious with the reaction from the media, from the general Twitterati, and most of all, with my fellow Liverpool FC fans.
“Rodgers has given up already! He’s picking the ressies. We’re gonna get smashed!”
“My God, what’s Toure playin for? We’re gonna lose by double figures here!”
“Rodgers is disrespecting the club, the fans and the captain with that selection #RodgersOut”
Everyone from the most respected journalist to the lowliest United fan was saying the same thing. Brendan Rodgers selection indicated that he had given up before the game had even begun. No he hadn’t, and neither had the players. The only ones who had done that were the fans.
Don’t get me wrong, I saw the line-up and initially thought myself “Oh balls. This might be a bit heavy.”, but then I had already been thinking that our ‘first choice’ team, the one Rodgers was apparently supposed to pick, the one that got outplayed emphatically only two weeks ago at home by the same team, and then got fairly and squarely beaten by *expletive deleted* Newcastle only three days before, that they would be doing rather well to keep Real to three in the Bernabeu.
The problem is that Liverpool are currently playing quite badly on a regular basis, and as is to be expected, the knives are starting to come out and aimed at the manager, the same one who took us to an outrageously improbable second place in the Premier League five months ago. Once questions start circling about the manager, everything he does is scrutinised.
I understand that the default position is that when you’ve fought for so long to get back into the Champions League, and you’re playing Real Madrid in the Bernabeu, by definition you play your strongest team. I understand that it was a surprise that Gerrard, Sterling and Henderson were on the bench (especially Henderson. Bit rich being taken all the way to Madrid, doing the pre-match presser, telling everyone how well we’re going to play, and then not playing), but not one person seemed to be willing to step back, take a deep breath, and try and understand why Rodgers had made the choices he did, so I did it.
Right, this so-called ‘reserve team’ was:
Simon Mignolet – Our first choice keeper
Javi Manquillo – Our best performing right back so far this season
Martin Skrtel – First choice
Kolo Toure – Raised some eyebrows but has never played as badly for Liverpool as Lovren currently is
Alberto Moreno – First choice
Lucas – The only defensive midfielder at the club. We were playing Real Madrid in the Bernabeu. Should also have played at Anfield
Joe Allen – First choice
Emre Can – A fairly expensive summer signing full of promise who has done well in his cameos
Adam Lallana – Our most expensive summer signing at £25m
Lazar Markovic – Our second most expensive summer signing at £20m
Fabio Borini – The only mobile striker we have who isn’t injured. Can you imagine how isolated Lambert or Balotelli would have been?
Of course as a result of picking this team it meant that our bench had Henderson, Gerrard, Coutinho, Sterling and Balotelli on it. Not bad options to bring on if you’re still in the game after an hour.
While I understand the argument that you play your strongest team in the biggest games, who’s to say what our strongest team is at the moment? Is it the one that got battered by Real at home? Is it the one that couldn’t break down Aston Villa or Hull at Anfield? Is it the one that got deservedly beaten by Newcastle on Saturday? Or is it the one that went toe-to-toe with the European Champions in their own back yard, matched them for 93 minutes and came away disappointed they couldn’t grab a draw?
All I heard all summer was how Liverpool needed to invest and buy in numbers. They needed a bigger squad to compete in all competitions. Turns out if you actually use that squad for anything other than the early rounds of the League Cup then you’re a moron who is disrespecting the club.
One thing I will say is that I wouldn’t have picked the team Rodgers did, or not exactly anyway. I’d have started Gerrard and Sterling in place of Allen and Markovic, but the Gerrard selection would have been largely sentimental. Yes he’s still a good player, very good at times, and he is of course a club legend, but why can’t the manager drop/rest him? Just because it’s Real Madrid and Gerrard really really wants to play? I disagree with Rodgers’ decision but would never be so arrogant as to question his right to make it. He is the manager of Liverpool FC and Gerrard is ONE of his players. Rodgers thought Lucas would be better suited, and on the evidence of how the game panned out, I’d suggest he was right. If Gerrard feels hard done by then he can pull up his socks and make damn well sure we beat Ludogorets and Basel so he can have another chance at facing a big team this season.
As for the game itself (Neil Atkinson has already reviewed it rather well so I’ll keep this brief), Liverpool lost. They lost and they failed to score again. It took until the 55th minute for them to have a shot. Madrid had taken 14 shots by that time, and you know what? Liverpool played really fucking well *expletive not deleted*… all things considered.
There was a clear gameplan to keep the shape, frustrate the hosts and limit them to half chances, and they did that with relative ease for almost the entire game. The unmatched quality of the opposition meant that something like Marcelo’s break down the left and perfect ball to Benzema was inevitable at some point, but that aside Liverpool contained Real Madrid almost completely, limiting them to long range shots and half-chances. You know, Liverpool who are shite at defending against the likes of Villa and Middlesbrough, and with their ‘reserve’ team no less. Liverpool were immense at defending in Madrid. Just drink that sentence in.
There was little in the way of dangerous attacking, but the stats didn’t tell the whole story. Liverpool spent quite a lot of time in the Madrid half, but were much less inclined to shoot from ludicrous range (apart from Moreno, once) and came up against Sergio Ramos and Rafa Varane. For those of you not familiar with Spanish football, they’re both rather good.
Mignolet made his saves, including a couple of crackers from Cristiano Ronaldo, who by the way failed to score for the first time in 12 games, but that must have just been because he decided to have an off night right?
The defence was solid, barring the odd hiccup. Manquillo played better than Johnson has all season, though was culpable for letting Marcelo in for the goal. Skrtel made a couple of possession errors but made up for them with tackles and about 50 headed clearances. He finally decided to stop grappling at corners and just attack the ball, and wouldn’t you know, it worked a treat. Has Rodgers finally figured out the way to defend set pieces is to head them away? Toure was very good, especially for an older player with very few recent appearances. The recent form of Dejan Lovren meant that the risk in playing the Ivorian was minimal, and when he went on a run down the left, taking on and beating men, I was up singing the Kolo, Kolo, Kolo song. And then there was Moreno…
I’m starting to love Albi Moreno. The impish little left back has had his critics, especially following the goal he was apparently entirely responsible for at Newcastle. For those who still think that, try and watch Jamie Carragher’s piece on it from Monday Night Football. He explained perfectly why that criticism was incredibly harsh and ill-informed. The £12m lad was electric in the Bernabeu, constantly showing for the ball, getting forward, getting back, breaking through the middle, standing up front, winning back possession from impossible angles and having shots. He has had a couple of issues defensively, but when he’s on it and progresses further, this lad is going to be the business.
Lucas did what Lucas does. He defended. He stood in the midfield and he defended. Remember when we used to do that? Me neither.
Allen was, in my honest opinion, rather poor. He gave the ball away with all the regularity of a Momo Sissoko, and although he sometimes won it back too, it wasn’t really enough to justify why he was on the pitch instead of Gerrard, Henderson or Coutinho. The fact he played the full 90 either shows Rodgers’ incredible and slightly misplaced faith in him, or that he’s not going to be playing on Saturday. Emre Can was good, at times very good, at times sloppy too, but you can absolutely see there is a player in there. He needs games, ideally away from home one would think.
Lallana played well, showed some nice touches, turns and flicks and played some good set pieces in, but was sometimes a tad too isolated (and kept getting blamed for Allen and Borini’s errors by the presumably partially blind Clive Tyldesley). Markovic again didn’t really take his chance to shine, but had little moments including a terrific run to carry the ball 60 yards up the pitch and win a free kick. His defensive work was also good. Borini showed the movement and running that has been lacking so much this season, but didn’t have anything like the skill or technique to make use of it. All he really did was show again what an odd decision it was not to sign a higher calibre striker of that mould in the summer. Worked very hard though and that has to be admired, especially by a Dirk Kuyt enthusiast such as myself.
Sorry, that wasn’t as brief as I’d planned.
Liverpool played well, a hell of a lot better than people gave them a chance of doing beforehand. Sure, a loss is a loss and of course who can forget that “WE ARE LIVERPOOL”, but at the end of the day, at the end of the game and at the end of the anger, if you watched that match and came out of it more upset than when you went into it, then quite frankly you should really start looking at why you bother to follow football at all.
The default position is anger, and it’s not just at Liverpool, it’s at every football club. The Newcastle and West Ham fans who were spitting acid not that long ago are now singing songs of joy. We are currently losing games and until Tuesday night, were playing bad football. I get as angry as anyone, in fact I would venture to guess that I am rather high on the angry-o-meter after bad results/performances (knuckle skin has been broken more than once this season), but I am proud of the lads for their performance in Madrid, and I’m proud of our manager for having the balls to make the selection he did.
There is only one way you succeed at a club like Liverpool. You whack your giant balls on the table and say to the world “Whadya think of them then?”, and that is exactly what Rodgers did, and in spite of the result, it worked.
And finally, don’t anyone dare suggest to me that any other selection could have gotten a result in Madrid, or I’ll get angry (resists temptation to type ‘you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry).
Bring on Chelsea!
@whichdave
Pics: David Rawcliffe-Propaganda
All good points, it’s a crying shame social media has opened up the platform for these muppets outside of the phone-in. The media leapt on this as well just more ammunition for the press who seem to be revelling in the “without Suarez you’re rubbish, we told you so” bullshite.
My main gripe of all of it was by half time it was clear they (madrid) weren’t at their game and perhaps had the subs been earlier we might have got something from it…why do we always wait till around 70mins to change things?
Well said.
The impatience and narrow-mindedness of (most) media voices and (some) fans is an embarrassment. To them. It’s like everyone is a 7-year-old in the playground.
Remember: a season is quite a long period of time, and it’s an organic, ever-changing story.
No one knows for sure who killed the guy until Poirot invites everyone to the drawing room. This crowd would be calling for Hercules’ resignation before the first ad break — maybe even before anyone had been clobbered with a candelabra.
(Er, hope you can all follow that line.)
Like the Poirot line/ analogy. I am going to use this ( with credits)!
Brilliant! Could not agree more with everything that was said. If only the mainstream media didn’t have their heads up their asses they might be able to look at things objectively.
At times I admire people who are just optimistic and positive regardless. Kind of like theists. Not a shred of evidence but it won’t stop them praying. Then again there are people, like political spin doctors, who don’t really believe what they’re writing/saying but put a positive taint to every story.
When ever I have read pieces today like this and Neil’s (there haven’t been many, and virtually none from non LFC supporters, which gives you an idea what those of a completely objective nature think) it makes me wonder what spin would have gone on at 5-0 or a 6-0 defeat. Possibly something along the lines of “it was only the reserves vs the best team in the world so it was to be expected, we go again on Saturday” or “this season isnt about the Champions League, its about qualifying for the Champions League next season”
They are my two best guesses because I couldn’t possibly get in the mindset that resting 7 players in a big UCL match is acceptable for LFC. Utd have never done it. Chelsea have never done it. Arsenal have never done it. Spurs didn’t do it. In fact, I’m struggling to think of any even medium sized club with medium sized ambitions who has done it. Not when the group was still alive anyway.
Don’t think it will ever be mentioned in such stories that Real Madrid played at half pace. Went through the motions. Knew they’d stuffed our first team. Knew a point was needed to qualify. Knew we were content to not take a hiding. Knew we posed zero threat to their goal.
Ah well……
PS: Any chance of getting the podcast up for the post Newcastle performance? You know, so we can hear the guys thoughts on that effort. (We only lost that match 1-0 as well so happy days!)
I don’t get why guys like you and Bob come onto this site and spout your incoherent ramblings. I mean it is not like there are not other platforms if you want to wallow in the misery of our recent defeats or make snide comments about Neil (tip: try twitter, the mirror comments section or RedCafe, I’m sure you would find many like minded people on there).
If you want to discuss tactics or what you think Rodgers is doing wrong (apart from just being Rodgers) and how to fix it then fine but it gets fucking tiring reading all your hysterics and demands of success.
Simple suggestion Tom C – don’t read my posts if they infuriate you so much. And no, I’ll post here as a lifelong LFC fan. I don’t post anywhere else and don’t plan to.
Again, the idea that I can’t post somewhere unless Im positive, tow the party line and/or agree with you is both repulsive and sad.
“Shut up and stop discussing being annoyed at LFC defeats and LFC management decisions on an LFC website.” Embarrassing attitude to life.
There has been nothing incoherent about my “ramblings” – I have been straight to my point in every post. I’ve given my opinion. On a message board. Which is kind of the idea. Just because you don’t agree with them, doesn’t make them “incoherent” nor a ‘ramble.’
There has been nothing “snide” about my comments to Neil. Look up the definition of the word, then see that I’ve posted under his articles the very same things I’ve posted on this non-Neil article. Then come back and admit you used the wrong adjective.
I have discussed tactics. I have discussed what Brendan is doing wrong. That’s EXACTLY what I’ve been commenting on. Unless of course you haven’t read my posts and automatically hate it because it disagrees with you. Given your ‘fuck off and post your criticism elsewhere’ retort above, I’m not ruling that out.
To be fair, I actually have tried to skip over your posts but still find myself skimming through them and getting annoyed, so I didn’t read it all that closely. On closer inspection, ‘incoherent’ might have been too strong as there is a point you are making in there somewhere, which I take to be we shouldn’t have rested 7 of our players.
Despite being inconsistent with your other posts where you despair at how the “first” 11 eleven have been playing as Brownie has pointed out, it is sensationalist BS you would expect to read in the papers not here. Other posters have already done this (not to mention the article itself) but lets break it down a little, the 7 changes, man for man, I think you would be referring to were
Johnson<Manquillo (better defensively)
Coutinho<Allen (better defensively)
Gerrard<Lucas (better defensively)
Balotelli<Borini (way better defensively)
see the same pattern I am seeing? Which only leaves the other more controversial omissions
Lovren<Toure (more European experience… interesting one but considering Lovren's form and how Toure performed was completely vindicated)
Henderson<Can (fresher, more European experience)
Sterling<Markovic (fresher, more European experience)
So despite Rodgers' talk of "resting" players, I think this was actually close to the best team he had at his disposal to go to an intimidating ground and try to shut them down by pressing and maintaining possession to try to snatch a 0-0. Exactly what Benitez would have done in my opinion.
As PaulofFinland pointed out, Benitez often "rested" Gerrard for big European aways like the last time we went to the Bernabeu. However, given that it is still such a big deal in the press to rest Gerrard for games like these, Rodger's tried to be cute and change the story from Gerrard being dropped to Gerrard being rested. Especially, given that there is an element of truth to it with the game coming up on the weekend and where the pragmatic priorities of the club lie at the minute.
Forgot to reply to the “(apart from just being Rodgers).”
When he was appointed I was supportive. As long as it wasn’t Martinez who never impressed me with just about escaping relegation constantly and one cup run. (He’s since done ok but the jury is still out)
Then I decided as long as he righted a lot of Kenny’s wrongs and we saw improvement towards to back end of his first season I’d be more than happy. Anywhere north of 6th would be excellent. Finished 7th after going 7 wins, 4 draws and 1 defeat playing some nice football. That’ll do me. Good start. Not only that he got the wage bill down big and offloaded some dead wood. Very good start. Didn’t get the credit he deserved I thought.
Then his second season. I wanted 4th. I expected death by football. Thats what he said. Tiki Taka. Non stop possession. 4-3-3. That never transpired. We know what happened. He changed his philosophy. Id never seen Ferguson or Mourinho or Guardiola or Simeone or Benitez do it. I didn’t know what to make of it. Whether it was a strength or a weakness. But look where it took us. Happy days.
This is the manager. Not the man, but the manager. See, it’s clear what sort of person Brendan is. From oil paintings of himself in his own house, to his use of Latin, to doing the dirty on his wife as soon as he hit the big time, to all his PR/business speak nonsense and after match interview David Brent-esque bullshit that he comes off with, to always talking too much, to always making himself the star/life guru. Call that a character assassination if you want, but it’s just what I see. And I won’t not say it because I support Liverpool and/or it might upset a lot of our fans.
Thing is, I’d happily put up with it all if he was as good as he and some others made out. If he took us to where we want to be.
But in this his third season, he has got as many things wrong as he has right over the last two years, and what makes these errors worse is the opportunity we had to kick on from a great starting position that he himself played a major role in.
He said himself he’d challenge for the title in his third season. He’s done so poorly in the opening 16 games it’s very unlikely we’ll even finish 4th. Im simply measuring him against what he said. I reckon that’s pretty fair.
Hopefully that clarifies my position on him. As a man, no thanks. As a manager, maybe but he has to change things.
Wow, that was a classic “I don’t care what he does in private, but…”.
I couldn’t give a shit how he decorates his home, Spanish (not Latin) is actually a very practical thing for him to know in his line of work, and I would never judge someone on a divorce as what the fuck do you know? As for the Brent comparisons, away from the bubble of the press and being Liverpool, he mustn’t come across like that because you notice how everyone who interacts with guys like Brent think they are a complete tool, whereas Rodgers oversaw (generated) the best team atmosphere the club has seen since they all used to go out and get blind together (which even preceded us going on our great run).
At the end of all that, what do I know? I have never met him, so he could be a wanker (maybe the boys could shed some more light on it if you get the chance to speak to them) but I wouldn’t presume that I could make that call from my computer at work.
I forgot to respond to this
“Thing is, I’d happily put up with it all if he was as good as he and some others made out. If he took us to where we want to be.”
What more could you possibly ask for from last season except to go back to before half-time against Chelsea and tell Sakho to ignore his captain dropping alongside him and just play it back to the keeper. We are exactly where we wanted to be for the last 5 seasons. Many of us would have killed for it 3-5 years ago. This season was always going to be a tough learning curve, with the age of our squad and the extra responsibilities. Losing Sturridge and losing on the Balotelli gamble has made it look bad but I don’t see how it changes our long term outlook.
Here you are again, with your counter-factual “I wonder what X woud have said/written/done if it had been 5” shite. I mean I get there’s a part of you – the part that yearns for vindication of your ultra-pessimist world view – that kinda wishes we’d taken a tonking, but we didn’t, Chris. Man up and deal with that and spare us this “what if” crock.
I’ll also bet a penny to a pound that the Mancs at least have done something similar in the past. It may be in circumstances where their qualification was assured, but if you’re going to play this sentimental “we are a proud club with a rich heritage and should respect games against Europe’s elite” card then that shouldn’t matter.
The point is that this was a very specfiic set of circumstances. Once we lost at home to Madrid, it was pretty much a nailed on certainty that our fate would be decided in our last two games. Only victory in Madrid would alter that equation. Given we were gubbed by them at home, lost to a shite Newcastle side at the weekend and that Real had scored 46 goals in their previous 11 games before Tuesday, that was about as likely as you winning Mr Happy-Go-Lucky 2014. Moreover, this game that every pundit was convinced we would lose whatever team we put out was happening in the midst of a 7 games in 21 days stretch and a mere 4 days before we play one of our biggest league games of the season. I think there’s every possibility that given these almost unique circumstances, Fergie, Mourinho and Wegner would give every consideration to doing something similar. In fact I’m convinced of it.
Brownie – I want to be proven wrong. Of course I do. I want us to get out of the group and qualify for next seasons competition. But I can’t see it happening unless big changes happen. I was given a similar amount of abuse in September when I worried about our transfer activity and if we’d finish top 4, when most LFC fans, or at least the ones on here, still thought we could challenge for the title, or at least top 4 was nailed on. I was accused of being a troll. Of supporting Utd. Unsurprisingly such accusations stopped – although the same people never admitted I was right to worry.
I am pessimistic about the fortunes of LFC in the 2014/2015 season, unless things change. That is not the same thing as having a pessimistic world view.
On your last few sentences….why have we never, and I mean never, seen Fergie, Wenger and Mourinho do what Brendan did then? I mean, there’s a combined 60 odd years of managerial experience there, so surely you’ll have multiple times they surrendered 3 points before kick off in a game which meant something?
The only examples I know of it happening were with much lower ranked and smaller clubs in domestic competition, after which the manager in question was question for a week and accused of breaking rules.
You’ve got a short memory. Mourinho did exactly the same last season. Remember: Chelsea were still in the race when he sent out his reserves at Anfield. Sadly for us, they still won. Doesn’t alter the facts though: he prioritised one competition over another. As for Ferguson: ask the average United fan about the side he sent out against City three years ago.
Do you really think non-Liverpool fans are objective? Please….
I see no reason why someone who supports Hartlepool FC or Ipswich or Macclesfield or East Thurrock United would not be objective……however I see every reason why LFC fans may not be objective. Logic, how does it work?
Not like that, mate.
Who’s these 7 players that would have made such a difference??? Johnson?? He’s been terrible for 2 seasons now and should be our 3rd choice right back. Lovren?? At the moment he’s our worst centreback. Kolo has never been as bad for us as Lovren is regularly. Balotelli?? He’s shown tiny glimpses of what he can do, when he can be arsed to do it. He’s not a mobile centre forward, neither is Lambert so that leaves Borini to chase those balls into the channels.
I could go on with the others but you get my point.
I think (hamstring scan aside) that Lucas was probably a better option than Gerrard for that match. We were obviously gonna be defending a lot. Also, one could argue Henderson needed a rest. He hasn’t hit the heights of last season and in the last few has been poor. Don’t get me wrong, Coutinho has been one of our best players last season and the latter part of this season to date but whereas in the past I used to go to Anfield and watch the man with the ball, since the Anfield Wrap started I’ve begun to watch players off the ball, like a player cam, and tried to work out the formation before I learn what it actually was by reading it on here. I wanted to know what ‘he does really well off the ball’ meant. Call me thick, but I still don’t know. Anyway, I’ve watched Coutinho closely a few times. Recently, I’ve been struck by how little he suits Rodgers pressing game. He often does that thing where he runs alongside a player or just behind to make it look like he’s trying but he looks knackered after about 25 mins. That’s being hyper critical (although in comparison to the comments on TAW lately, it’s probably closer to a compliment) and I wouldn’t swap him for anyone but against Madrid at Anfield his appearance reminded me of how Peter Stringer’s does in the Ireland rugby team. He was dwarfed. I mean, I accept physicality isn’t his game but maybe Can was a better option and so one of Henderson or Coutinho would have to be sacrificed.
Maybe Rodgers thought all this through and picked exactly the right team for the match. Maybe the reason they were average was because we nullified them. P.s Michael, I don’t think that’s the case myself, but if it makes a few angry heads a bit more angry then it’s a laugh if nothing else.
Absolutely spot on.
was saying at the weekend LFC should play squad players at Real.
If it had been LvG or Mourinho picking squad players then the pundits would be lauding it as a pragmatic selection and looking at the bigger picture etc
Will be interesting to se how the players respond against Chelsea.
Pefect! hard to sift through all the nonsense bing written and tweeted…we’ll just have to rise above it,I’m afraid..its either that or get more and more angry,and we dont want that now ,do we ?
No mention of the luck of the cross bar or a misfiring Madrid.Very flattering piece, tell me what happened when you woke up.
Well if you go don’t that road, let’s mention the fact we should have been playing against 9 men on Saturday. That little nugget appears to have been completely forgotten by all the doom merchants who are only to happy to point out these little pieces of luck when they go in our favour but seem blind to them when they work against us.
And all this “Madrid took it easy/misfired” nonsense. They were all out for the point that would mean they could coast the last couple of games in the group. Our keeper played bloody well and our defence make some chance-denying last ditch challenges. None of that is luck or illustrative of a “misfiring Madrid”; that’s our team playing well.
Ah c’mon KyKy – pleeeeeaase have a little perspective, just a little. Note this sentence from the article: “…… if you watched that match and came out of it more upset than when you went into it, then quite frankly you should really start looking at why you bother to follow football at all….”
I’m putting “Dirk Kuyt enthusiast” on my CV.
So Chris, What our your strengths and why do you think you’d be suitable for this position?
“Well, let me tell you, I LOVE Dirk Kuyt. What a man eh?…… eh??”
Put your hands up, put your hands up, put your hands up for Dirk Kuyt. He’ in our city
This isn’t me by the way, it’s the tosser pretending to be me from a few weeks ago.
NB: not trying to stalk you just trying to be helpful
You can create a gravatar linked to your email and it will show up here if you are worried about being impersonated (as I found out when I made one for my work profile). Alternatively, you could pick a slightly less common name (or extend it)…
I am angry because we are not at the top, above Chelsea, because I really wanted to believe Brendan Rodgers when he suggested last season that a team like spurs should be challenging top after spending 100m.
I am angry because we look to be weaker than last year even after spending so much.
I am angry we have mediocre players bought so expensively.
I am angry because I don’t see evidence of the manager taking us forward.
I am angry that the defence is still poor.
I am angry we don’t have good strikers.
I am angry we plan to not lose a game rather than fight to win it.
I am angry that it is okay to lose 0-1 because we could have lost 0-5.
I am angry with all the excuses given by Brendan Rodgers.
I am angry at Brendan Rodgers’s insistence of blaming others when things go wrong, which is quite often, yet takes the credit so conveniently.
I am angry that we play so pathetically in Europe.
I am angry of the heartaches I get after a match this season.
I am angry that I see less and less chances of us winning a match as we progress.
I am angry we have not improved after finishing second last season.
I am angry we did not replace Suarez.
I am angry Brendan Rodgers’ insistence of playing ineffective players.
I am angry I don’t see the tiki taka we were promised.
I am angry we cannot beat teams weaker than us and we are so predictable.
I am angry that some quarters still bring up Benitez to further destroy the reputation of the manager who brought us number 5.
I am angry at fans who vilify me for criticising the team, accusing me of being a moron and a united fan (fuck you, I have been supporting pool since the 70s, you bloody fucktards).
Then I get angrier after reading a horseshit of an article on TAW.
I’m angry I didn’t get to fuck Sally Anderson in the fifth year. You’ll get over it. I did*.
(*I didn’t)
That reply cracked me up,
Cheers Brownie.
Counselling.
I’m angry at people who come on sites like this and Twitter to vent their bitter frustration and make it all about their pathetic little hurt egos, instead of seeing an excellent truth-laden article like this one and saying ‘thank you, well done’.
(I’m not really angry. I reserve my anger for things that really matter in the world. As much as I dearly love the game of football, it doesn’t have a 70% mortality rate; doesn’t leave millions of war-ravaged refugees displaced and homeless; doesn’t tolerate a government that refuses to negotiate in good faith with its nation’s firefighters and is systematically destroying its health care system through greedy privatisation; doesn’t tolerate a police force that looks the other way FOR YEARS while thousands of young girls are sexually abused and 96 people die in the Leppings Lane end, etc. etc. etc.)
Dave, thanks for a great ‘ball’sy article that tells the truth.
Quite right Ellie!
I left the country to get away from our venal, destructive government. I’m still furious reading about them in Finland. Can’t understand how/why people aren’t more angry!
Jesus mate! How angry do you want people? Have you read some of the comments on here?
It’s a vicious circle Paul. We see the things happening around us and feel ever more powerless to do anything about it. We spend our lives working with very little to show for it and so we put all our hopes and dreams on LFC and the weekend when 3 points for the reds will make it all worthwhile. When they lose there’s a definite feeling of being let down by them. Liverpool fc is the only thing left outside of ourselves, that can empower us. If the club as an entity becomes fallible as it is at the minute, then we lose our heads. We come on here and take it out on the authors, contributors and each other. It’s great. The other good thing is there’s freedom of speech on here. You can say what you want without getting nicked. That in itself is becoming a rarity in this country. I’m looking forward to the defeat in Ludogorets and Basle’s draw against Madrid the same night. Tuesday’s game will take on a whole new level of anger then. :)
Your expectations are what is making you so angry. Rodgers has to more or less start all over again from scratch – and we know given time he is good at that. We spent €100 million but a lot if not all of the players we signed are young imports – consider that please.
Great piece, David. Great name, too.
One quibble: I’m a big fan of Moreno (another great name) but he is most assuredly at fault for the Madrid goal and, as much as I love the guy, Carra’s as wrong about that as he was to agree with Gary Neville that Mignolet should have stopped Jagielka’s piledriver.
Moreno is as one-footed as I am and the goal is purely down to his lack of confidence in taking a monumental swing at ball with his right foot to clear the danger. Instead he tries a touch with the intention of getting it onto his left, and the rest is history.
Newcastle goal, obviously.
Thanks Brownie (and others) for the kind words.
Sorry I should clarify re: the Moreno mistake v Newcastle, there was definitely an element of fault, but as Carra pointed out, Moreno had to get something on the ball to stop it from reaching, I think it was Cabella, at the back post, but he was really on the stretch. He barely got his foot to it, so I think to expect him to have been able to put his foot through it is a tad ambitious. If he’d tried to do that I’d say there would have been a very high chance of him putting it in the net himself. The only thing I blame him for is not being more aware of Perez’s presence, and that a faster thinker might have prodded it behind for a corner.
I see what you are saying Dave, but I have to agree with Brownie that if he had any confidence on his right foot he would have found a way to put that ball in a less dangerous area such as put it out for a corner as you suggested or, as I expect most remotely two-footed players would have done and take a touch the way he was running (i.e. into a space he could see and know was clear) and hoofing it clear with his right.
I really like Moreno by the way but he can’t get away with only kicking it with his left and be a good player for us. Players will work out ways to target him, especially when playing out from the back, if he can’t at least play a 5 yard pass with his right. Really hope he can sort it out, but it seems with some lefties that they really struggle, probably some left/right-brain dominance thing I imagine.
Thought they did well. At least they looked like they belonged. My only worries are that picking ‘that’ team left a classic escape route; they get beat 5-0? Well, look at who I picked! They were second choice, I was saving players for Saturday. They come away with a creditable (in these days) 1-0 defeat? Well, look at how strong the squad is!
I have no issue at all about the team Brendan picked – in light of recent performances, why not pick them? But my second worry is that it came about only so that all the underperforming players left on the bench could be rested so that they’ll be fresh and raring to go and underperform brilliantly again on Saturday.
Toure, Lucas, Manquillo, Can and possibly even Borini (with some help) did enough to merit a start in the next game. Will they get it? Wellll…..
I was happy to see the team that Rodgers put out. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, when all the players seem to be shit.
It’s like being stuck in a middle-eastern airport with no money, waiting 8 hours for the second leg of a long-haul flight. Out of sheer boredom, you end up visiting all of the shops several times.
The one that sells overpriced brown and gold luggage is no more or less depressing than the others, but if you haven’t sloped around it for a couple of hours, you can almost get excited about going in.
In a few weeks, I hope we will be out of the airport and on the way to a better place. There is no logic behind this optimism, however.
Good post. Rafa, lest we forget (and how could we?) often ‘rested’ Gerrard in important CL games.
spot on, the judging on the performance of every player … but no mention on the keeper, who I tot was poor again with his kicking. madrid’s goal started from the moment Migs kicked the ball up the field where there wasnt a red shirt around, straight at their defender (ramos i think) and from there they broke from the left eventually to marcelo where he assisted on their goal.
and I’ll add in ‘Liverpool’ for your splendid sentence, “but at the end of the day, at the end of the game and at the end of the anger, if you watched that match and came out of it more upset than when you went into it, then quite frankly you should really start looking at why you bother to follow football / LIVERPOOL at all.”
Excellent piece Dave, agree 98% (I wouldn’t have changed the lineup)
guys I agree alot with this artical , but I wouldlike to expand .
I veiwed the game after the result [work] my veiwing lead me to the belife that his selection employed youth and also enthuasiam to wear them down and then the intro of experiance and youth and legs might find a way past a fantasic team so well balanced with ability , guile and confidence..
it was as liverpool has alwasys played noting was left, everythig was used. no disrepect to the media that has no truth to respect.
Before I start, I love Kolo Toure. Love em. What a man.
Really good article in so much that after getting only a few hours sleep last night I wasn’t sure if I was reading this off the Anfield Wrap website or projecting my own thoughts onto the screen.
Liverpool have been shit this season. All season really. Played well against Tottenham and got the win and good scoreline their performance deserved. Played quite well against Everton considering the team they were last season, although they too look a shadow of themselves, and were unlucky with a worldie in the last minute. But they should have been out of sight and that stage and really only have themselves to blame. But you dont always get what you deserve and moving on the Everton game was slightly frustrating rather than a major issue.
EVERY OTHER GAME THIS SEASON WE DESERVED TO LOSE.
Lumping crosses in because we have guys who can attack the ball is all well and good but its not what brought us success last season or the half season before that and its not what we’re good at. The team seems to have lost it’s identity and is obviously low on confidence so I’m not going to slate it, there’s more than enough of that going on by the internet’s famed keyboard warriors (See stereotypical anger enthusiast post above,we all want success now and expect better, copying and pasting “I am angry because……….” as if one were staying back after school to write lines on the blackboard like a bold child doesn’t help or educate anybody)
The main point is that we lost to a good team on Tuesday.No shame in that. We are a good team too,who are not playing well this season. I firmly believe had last seasons Reds played this seasons Madrid it would have been a titanic battle and I would back us, both unplayable teams on their day undoubtedly.
On Tuesday we played as well as we have in quite a long time actually. Last minute wins over Swansea and QPR and Ludogrets are great for their respective tables and cup progression but were merely papering over the cracks. Resilience is a very useful trait but they were all poor performances which weren’t fully deserving of victory. We had the unfortunate tag of playing very well and creating lots of chances but coming up against inspired goalkeepers and not taking our chances a few years ago, but lately goalkeepers haven’t had to be too inspired.
They haven’t had to be much more awake than I was when I started typing this response.
Madrid on Tuesday was a good night for Liverpool football club because it showed a progression in our game play (keeping the ball,passing the ball and taking men on,substitutes making an impact,relying on mobile frontmen as static frontmen are very detrimental to the way in which we setup,the necessity of playing a defensive midfielder when long balls to pacy strikers with great movement is not available or working, the list goes on and on) and has left me looking forward to our next game even though it is Chelsea.
Out with the old and in with the new. Sport is ruthless and when somethings not working, change it till it does. Make seven changes and change your philosophy? Fine, try anything that breeds progression. Try anything which moves away from what we’ve seen this season so far.
Great article Dave and keep them coming
We are Liverpool. And we’ll be fine lads
I didn’t watch the game TBH. Newcastle was the final straw. I just cannot sit through these inept displays any more,it has been almost like watching the re runs of Houlier’s final months. Last season it didn’t matter to me if we won lost or drew , the football was just exhilarating to watch.
I am pleased for the lads who played their hearts out at the Bernabeau but let’s face it there reward will probably be another spot on the bench on Saturday ( prove me wrong Brendan).
The question is did Brendan stumble upon a successful formation last year ? Because he seems unwilling to do away with the lone striker formation which is clearly not working.
I think that was a very good piece with great perspective. Thank God for The Anfield Wrap!
Excellent piece and mostly mirrors my thoughts on the game/current situation. The thing that’s doing my head in with all the doom and gloomers is their inability to reset their mind, they’ve obviously decided that Rodgers isn’t the right man and so cannot give any credit anywhere along the line. My position with Brendan is that the guy has potential, we over achieved last season and with that Rodgers got too much praise.
Last season the team was probably perceived, by many, to be better than it actually was (me included). The wheels have fallen off in the last few weeks for a combination of reasons, and the season so far has been shite……….when we were finishing 7th, and 8th did anyone really believe that any journey back to the top was going to be one nice, straight, newly tarmacked road with absolutely no hiccups along the way??? A fairy tale journey of endless famous triumphs, unicorns and griffins skipping – flying – hand in hand to number 19, no set backs what-so-ever? With any manager? With no sugar daddy to fund 50m transfer after 50m transfer with no look at the balance sheet? If you did, you’re a fucking idiot!
There was always going to be set backs along the way, granted, the current set back we’re in is atrocious but if anyone truly believes that last season was purely down to one Uruguayan, again, you’re a fucking idiot. Rodgers had a hand, a massive hand in it, and the only people that are a disgrace to Liverpool FC traditions are the morons who, 6 months after hailing him as the new messiah, are now back to labeling him a fraud.
If we’d have battered all teams that had gone before us for the last 2 months and then he rested 7 of our first teamers then, yes, I’d understand the criticism and the view that we went there and bent over. But anyone that witnessed Hull and particularly Newcastle last week surely knows that there absolutely had to be ramifications for that disgraceful display. Letting the players get off with the last few weeks would be weak and I’d genuinely argue that if he persisted with our ‘star’ players against Madrid we’d have got battered, on what recent evidence could you suggest otherwise? Rodgers certainly isn’t above criticism, (is any manager?) but I’m certainly not willing to write him off yet. Have a moan about mistakes and the infuriating persistence of playing Balo up front on his own when there is zero sign that it will eventually come good. But write him off? Not after potential has been shown and proven. From January 2013 to September 2014 there were enough signs of progress for me to give much more slack than 2 fucking months!!
Good article Dave, enjoyable, articulate and intresting. unlike all that stuff from Henry Winter and Paul Hayward that decided this week to be custodians of our heritage. Talking of dickheads, the personal comments about the authors of TAW are very tedious, if you are going to take the piss out Neil and co then at least try and make it funny, giving someone that wears spectacles the put down of glasses lacks so much wit that even Keys and Gray would not of used it in their pomp and they came up with fat Spanish waiter.
A lot of recent comments on TAW have been Hodgesonesque; turgid and unpalatable, there are plenty of social media outlets overflowing with mediocrity, the BBC and Telegraph being classic examples.
TAW has been great from day one and tackles most LFC issues with analysis and opinion that reflects a broad church of views, good work lads and keep it going.
P.S
I would like to add the name of Paula Britton to Brownies Sally Anderson
Haha.
Great article.
As soon as I saw the teamsheet, I thought about it for a few seconds, and then I rang my mate up and said ‘genius!’
If we’d battered Newcastle a few days earlier then I’d have been saying the opposite.
But that ‘effort’ v the Geordies was so atrocious that it ruined my weekend. It ranks among the five worst performances – not results – I’ve ever seen from LFC.
So for BR to have the balls to do what he did was commendable.
And guess what? All the boys played from fair to excellent – we may even have found a centre back pairing by mistake. Mignolet has grown in stature the last three games (though his passing needs improving) and Lucas has shown there’s life in the old dog yet.
And for Chris to say his view represents ‘the majority’ of LFC fans is utter bollocks. It’s his view and we can respect it but all my mates agreed with what BR did, although most wanted the bigger guns on a bit earlier like others.
Dave, today’s world is breakneck byte-size fast-food trash, by and large. Everything’s black and white. There are no greys. Either “Gerrard is old and crap and should be dropped, Rodgers is his poodle” – or when he’s benched it’s the polar opposite “what does the boss think he’s doing dropping Gerrard, club legend” etc etc. Add into the mix every man and his dog is a keyboard warrior with an opinion (look at us!) and the media companies’ commercial need to engage with the morass through their Twitter feeds / instant comments on commentary sites, and we’re left with a melange of dross, by and large. Thanks for rising above it.
Anyhow let’s see who’s in v Chelski. If Lovren displaces Skrtel or Allen keeps his place instead of Lucas then maybe I’ll start ranting…but I reckon Saturday will see a rejuvenated team that’ll achieve a tasty victory.
Hello Alistair Campbell ? The boys have done well to get you on board and that’s great spin on behalf of Rodgers ! The only honest appraisal I have seen this week has been from Jim boardman…The reality is we have played 16 matches so far this season and have lost 7 of them
Haha, poor Jim! He’s becoming the champion of the negative fans.
On that subject, I felt his comments were slightly agenda driven (can’t comment anymore without using the word ‘agenda’) but I listened to All in the Game on CityTalk on Monday and it’s difficult to argue with any of the points he made. I think he’s becoming the James Dean of Anfield in that he’s just a bit misunderstood in 140 characters. I’d recommend anyone reading this listens to it on CityTalk Player (make up for having no podcast).
From what I have been told, Sally Anderson wasn’t that good anyway!
I’m a bit late to this party, but I had to comment simply because it was so nice to find an article supporting the manager in his decision to drop/rest a number of players – Gerrard, Henderson, Lovren, Sterling, Balotelli – who have been under-performing of late. However the team selection has been dressed up, or down, there is no doubt in my mind that all of those players deserved to be dropped: if they had set their hearts on playing at Real, maybe they would have been wiser to make sure they were pulling up trees against Newcastle.
I have an opinion (not a very complimentary one) about Rodgers’ insistence on playing one up front and about the way it seems, to me at least, that he has deliberately instructed the players to give up the helter skelter approach that worked so well last season in favour of a ‘measured, deliberate’ approach, but I don’t think my opinions give me the right to carry on like a spoilt brat and slag off the manager when the team is going through a lean spell.
Thanks for a pragmatic article that acknowledges the shortcomings, but looks for the positives.