IT was only Norwich, writes SIMON ALKIN. They’ve got basically the worst defence in league — worse than ours, worse than Aston Villa’s. But Saturday afternoon’s chaotic, exhilarating victory felt significant. Maybe not Steven Gerrard-ripping-his-shirt-off-against-Fulham significant, but perhaps an altogether smaller flag planted in the ground nonetheless.
Jürgen Klopp’s squad has been portrayed in recent times as either lacking character — rolling over to take an easy beating — or maybe even having an abundance of it: trying too hard, agonising mentally over every mistake or issue.
The past two games have been an illustration of how possibly both are correct and both are wrong.
One very relieving thing that Saturday did show us was that, unlike last season, a heart-breaking home defeat to Manchester United doesn’t necessarily mean these players will collectively drop heads and coast through the rest of the league season.
There was fight in this performance, through bleak moments and right to the dying seconds.
Fight at 3-1 down after that infuriating foul by Alberto Moreno.
Fight when Sebastien Bassong swings his boot at it and scores (probably) his only ever non-headed goal for 4-4.
Even a bit of fight in the riotous, spectacle-smashing celebrations of the winner.
We still can’t defend a set piece to save our lives. We’re still painfully lacking in top-end quality (though Roberto Firmino is starting to look the part), but you get the feeling that no matter how unlikely a top-four place gets, these boys won’t be allowed — and won’t allow themselves — to simply slip and slide towards faceless mid-table obscurity.
At full time against Manchester United, the rest of the league season felt like a real worry.
Inevitably the mind cast back to the final two months of the previous campaign, when a defeat in the same fixture was followed by an insipid eight points from the final eight games.
The depressing thing was United themselves only chalked up 11 points over the same stretch — meaning that if Liverpool had just kept picking up points at the same rate since the late December, the Reds still could have given them something to think about for fourth place.
The same applies now. Another Dele Alli worldie might have helped restore Tottenham’s eight-point advantage over Liverpool, but there remains much to play for — and not just in the cups.
Spurs still have to come to Anfield and are perhaps due some injuries, having mostly avoided them all season. United continue to look a shambles even after their fortuitous win against us. West Ham have had a good season but are easily surmountable and while Leicester are probably out of our reach, they are likely (surely?) to have a big dip in form at some point.
Maybe all of that is just wishful thinking. But the point is every week is fine margins with the potential for twists and turns. And there are nearly four months of this left.
While many say we should just focus on the cups, there are too many potential opportunities for catching up to simply stop caring about the league.
For better or worse, too much character or too little, Liverpool reassuringly played the second half against Norwich like a team that realises this.
There might be a mountain to climb, but the players need to keep fighting like they did on Saturday if there’s to be any chance.
And if they do that week after exhausting, injury-ravaged week, then who knows what might happen.
Fight for every set piece, fight for every loose ball, fight with each other if you have to.
Give out, but don’t give up.
Mathematically, yes.
Realistically no.
No club which is so wasteful as us in front of goal and can’t defend, finishes top 4.
Yeah, this is the top and the bottom of it. Completely agree, Michael. If we’d have had a par (to use that really shit word to excuse last season’s utter failure) run of form from December till now we’d be in near a shake up for you know what going into the business end of the season. We’ve left ourselves so much to do; if this league was half-decent this season we’d be consigned to nailed on mid-table already.
It’s late January and our goal difference is -2. There’s been a load of injuries but with the money spent on this squad the last few years that’s humiliating garbage imho, looking specifically at who’s in goal and who we’ve got as a reliable goal scorers up the other end.
“Conceding four goals is in general not good, after second balls after set plays is the biggest rubbish… Ever.” Behind the charisma and late-winner induced charm is a manager who gets it and isn’t accepting an appalling lack of intensity in far too many vital moments this season when we start from minute 1 next August. We’ve been subjected to some incredible mediocrity too often in recent times. If Klopp can’t put an end to it, I don’t reckon anyone can. As always, no pressure…
Plus who’s dropping out of top 4?
Arsenal or City??
Leicester who are 13 points clear of us??
Spurs who are scoring goals and are 8 points ahead of us??
It’s just not happening, not while we’re performing like we are.
No freaking way. We can wish as much as we want.
I really hope so, i have no doubt we’ll overhaul Utd, but can’t see us finishing above Spurs at the moment. But you never know. Every time we win a game i get all giddy and start thinking ‘what if..’. But i think the realist in me is winning this battle, so i’ll just settle for the three cups this year.
They could, but I wouldn’t expect it. I don’t think it’s a target – I’d prioritise the Europa League over Top 4.
The PL is a dogfight now and it will get worse. We still have a young squad and a new manager. It would be of greater benefit to coach through the PL and look to challenge the league next year. It’s a Euro year – which means signings, poor starts and injuries.
Having said that, from now until the end of the season every game in the PL we should consider ourselves “favourites” – but maybe we rotate Caulker and youth to keep everyone fit.
We’ve one foot in the League cup final, the winners of which qualify for the Europa so by the end of Feb it’s very possible we could have Europa qualification sorted.
I wouldn’t exactly forget about the league but would concentrate and motivate the players towards winning the cups. I think we could do well in the Europa this year, perhaps with Texeira firing us far into the comp.
I don’t think it’s fair to compare last Spring’s loss to United against our recent one with regard to how the squad reacted to it. Last season Stevie came on as a sub and probably every fan had the hope that he would once again pull some miracle to lift the team and help pull off a win. Instead, he behaved like a petulant, churlish 2-year old throwing a tantrum, and within less than 45 seconds he destroyed every glimmer of hope by brutally stamping on Ander Herrera’s ankle. Every bit of life left in the squad evaporated when he was sent off, and his lame apology did nothing to ease the funk and lift the fog that descended. It culminated in the catastrophe at Stoke.
This season the inconsistency, lack of goals and goals conceded, and poor defending can’t be denied by anyone, but there’s yet some passion and life in this squad. The negativity and defeatism is still rampant in our fan base after every disappointing result, especially on social media, but anything can happen. There are still 15 league games left — 39% of the season still to be battled out. Anything can happen. Despite all the depressing nonsense that went on last season with Sterling and Stevie’s announcement and no hope of Sturridge playing at all, we had a good 12-game run. This year we’ll have players returning from injury and the chance that Sturridge might play (I admit it’s a not a hopeful ‘might’). But still, anything can happen.
Jürgen is giving his all to instill fight and desire in his players. How about not letting our great manager down by counteracting his passionate effort with giving in too soon to ‘woe-is-us-Top-4-is-gone’ gloom and doom. Anything can happen.
I agree. Gerrard bears a huge amount of responsibility for how the team collapsed, after his very public ‘This does not slip’ speech in the huddle. Rodgers was even more culpable, for continuing to indulge a player who had become such a self-deluded liability.
For us to get a top-4 spot would probably require Leicester to plunge like most teams of their size do, when they find themselves at the business-end of the table so late into the season. I almost hope they succeed at our expense, as they deserve Champions League football so much more than the shower of spineless lads we have playing for us at the moment.
Also, if (very unlikely) Leicester do somehow manage to hold on and win the league, what would that say about us? How could we continue to make the argument about lack of resources holding us back? I guess Spurs and Everton would also need to do a bit of shoe-gazing?
Oh me oh my the Top 4. Or the Top Top 4 as this season barrels further down the rabbit hole. I know this. It pains me and I know this and there Daniel Sturridge sits. There the top 4 sits. Look, the defending is… Bipolar without the lithium. Borderline narcolepsy. It’s medically bad. It’s so sickly and weak that it ironically cannot continue to be this Jose Enriquish. There’s only one Jose Enrique, don’t be daft. It will come round to the cusp of mediocre. Praise be in Jesus if that happens by tomorrow. Praise be in Klopp if Sturridge gets fit. Praise be in FSG since they already went and hired the bloke. Praise be in Rafa’s zonal marking system, as stubborn as Van Gaal was he. Baffling, that uncompromising heart that is Rafa Benetiz is, he still managed to be stubborn in ways that lent more to mirth than whatever the hell van Gaal is doing. Or eating. Oh but Top of the 4 (and a noisy salute aimed at, well usually Spurs, ain’t that a stone cold b@stard) and the grace of a fit and finishing Daniel Sturridge and I look at our injury list and fixture list and God mignolet is rubbish. But in the end, I’ll have at it. Flanno is back, he likes to get stuck in. Can wants it, he’s ready to explode and he’s going to take us on a smooth and luxurious ride. And Firmino is the real deal, and God bless you Lallana the love child of Joe Allen and Lucas. Bring it on ffs, look at the table, Chelsea are relegation fodder! We need confidence, need to replace it. If past holds future Sturridge will chasing shadows of what should have been. You can’t build a Daniel Sturridge, we sure as hell can’t buy one. We can’t buy his touch or pace or sheer lethality. But confidence is free. There’s a confidence to Liverpool when Sturridge leads the line, a swagger an arrogance an acceptance of the possibly impossible occurring in the blink of an eye, that is not a trait possessed by Daniel alone. Lads got it in spades but if we can grab ahold of some of that belief we have when our attacks flow surgical surging swarming pace. City saw us do it. They know this isn’t a squad of average players. This is Liverpool 2016 and now is the winter to end our discontent. Top Top 4.
Pass the lithium.
Pass the revolver.
And a paragraph or two. Bloody hell..
“IT was only Norwich, writes SIMON ALKIN. They’ve got basically the worst defence in league — worse than ours,…”
Ignorance or sheer incompetence? How can LFC’s defence be anything, if the same CB pair never played together for more than 2 games?
How important is the 4th spot (ok, CL attracts new signings for the next saison) over a longterm perspective and working towards it?
I just laugh at people deducing so much out of a handful of games. This is by no means exclusive to TAW (to the contrary, TAW is not always the first to jump onto the bandwagon).
Lewandowski took both at Dortmund and Bayern a whole season to flourish, yet it was common sense until recently, that Bobby F. “is shite” after just a third of the season. The defence is also shite and they always do the same mistakes. Though being different players. There is no further depth into the analysis.
Same goes for match ratings given, just moments after the final whistle: Is it impossible to sleep over it for one night, watch the game again in the morning and then rate players? Again, this counts mostly for the major publishers, but seems to be a general culture over here in England.
Take the well respected German “Kicker” for example: They never ever do player ratings on the same day, but the whole staff sits together and discusses the players and rates them around noon the next day.
The next thing that is bemusing, why do players’ price tags get mentioned every time they are being talked about: Apart from them being human beings and no merchandise, a Benteke or Martial for example have nothing to do with their respective transfer fees.
Don’t blame Benteke or Martial, but blame either the cleverness of the club giving away the player or the managers purchasing them.
At the end, blame your TV money, because it doesn’t get you more value: The same mediocre players will just cost tenfold and nothing is gained except for more “moneyball” and games being postponed on short notice.
While I am at it, to finally counter another point, I have been reading time and again on these EPL threads concerning ticket prices and here, the new main stand: According to Uli Hoeness himself, who spoke some 15 years ago during a university lecture of mine, ticket prices accounted of only 10 percent of the total revenue of Bayern Munich. Now given a club like LFC with a far bigger international fan base, ticket prices should be around 5 percent of LFC’s revenues at best. So, even all these “business boxes” at the new main stand are more or less irrelevant to LFC’s abilities to go for “high value targets”.
Having said (rather written) that, I know Scousers don’t wanna see yet another false dawn after what they have been through the last couple of years. I do understand that, but patience is still a virtue. Awfully facile, but true.
Wait a day to rate the players? That would make for a great match day experience…
…Liverpool just beat Man United at Anfield, two fans walking out the stadium.
One: “Great game that. I thought Coutinho was quality, he was my MOM. What did you think?”
Two: “I’ll wait til noon tomorrow thanks”
One: “No, but I mean, what a game. That tackle by Skrtel was crucial, best game he’s had for ages wasn’t it?”
Two: “Let me watch it again tonight and then twice in the morning, then i’ll give you my feedback”
Takes the fun out of it a bit doesn’t it?
Player ratings don’t stick with the players through their careers. It doesn’t remain on their CV for future employers to look at: “oh, he got a 5/10 vs. Exeter in January 2016, I think we’ll pass on this player”.
It’s a bit of fun. It’s an opinion. It’s part of the match day experience, to have a chat with mates about the game.
That result and performance on Saturday showed we’re closer to losing our next two games in a row than we are to winning them. Our inconsistency is what we’re most consistent at.
Top 4 is about goals and ambition, if we sign Texy boy then we have a good chance, because scoring goals is our main problem, it also sends out the message we want top 4 and FSG want top 4 instead of the usual (well we want top 4 but we want it on the cheap attitude). At this stage of the season it is all about momentum, you sign someone boss and you win and you go forward, and then players come back from injury and 3 wins later you are back in the mix. You dont sign Tex and everyone is down and you are going to have the season without a focal point upfront and it all feels like hard work again. The Lallana goal could be the Garry moment or it could be like Kenny in 2012 after winning the cup and then battering Aresnal and losing. This is a very poor PL probably the worst ever regarding quality of teams and Liverpool have been poor in front of goal and we have been for two years, if Liverpool start to score the defense is less of a worry, where there are goals there is hope, this was the point of Saturday, at 3-1 down Liverpool felt they could score in a way they did not feel at Newcastle, Watford or West Ham.
Any ‘hope’ has been well and truly extinguished by tonight’s shambles. What a disgrace of a performance. It would take a transformation of staggering proportions to get this team above Leicester and Spurs. Even United. A goal head start, at home, in a Cup semi-final. Even if we win on pens this is fucking appalling