THE cusp. The abyss. The tightrope.
All modern Liverpool seasons end up there at some stage. It’s what they do when they reach it that counts.
Almost every football season when you watch Liverpool is death or glory. Sometimes that’s the case because good quality makes it so. Players play very well and glory becomes possible. It being in your grasp means it can fall from your grasp. There are very few 12-13s. Some seasons get it out the way early. Some string you along. Some find ways to deliver.
Acknowledging that all plots lead to death is important. It makes you want to be able to choose or experience your sort of death. Last season the journey went to the last game and while the manner of the final act stung it lead to a feeling of promise. Football does this, for all the talk about the river that never stops moving, washing you, it never washes you clean. It never lets you forget. It means you know when the river starts to pull your from your feet. When the detritus will follow. When the dam might break.
This, here, now is what the cusp feels like. What it feels like to stare into the abyss. To gasp at the wobble on the tightrope. There’s a safety net — the fight for fourth, that most mundane of battles which the grey-bearded will rightly tell you matters. But, once the highwire act has fallen into the safety net it is so very hard to care. The thrill is in watching the walking from one side to the other. Mitigation, consolation — these are no longer our concerns. They aren’t relevant to our interests. Unless you think the river can be controlled as it ebbs into the following season. I don’t. I think we start again but that bit more eroded, that bit more worn.
This evening Liverpool looked into the abyss and Southampton winked back. The South Coast side worked hard for their progression and across the two legs they deserve it. They should have taken the tie away from Liverpool at St. Mary’s. They should have been two ahead tonight but for Liverpool’s goalkeeper who currently has the same unenviable run as Liverpool’s other goalkeeper — making big saves in games Liverpool don’t go on and win. No-one remembers those saves, not a couple of days later.
Liverpool were frustrated, though they should possibly take the game away from Southampton in one 20-minute second half spell. There, then, they are the better side, prompting, creating, patient. The strange anxiety and over-commitment of the first half had dissipated. Liverpool probed and started again and found one more. They pulled them left and right, got in and were Daniel Sturridge not further cementing the seemingly endless sense of Greek or Shakespearean tragedy that surrounds him, and instead just sticking it into the net, then Liverpool could well have stolen something they didn’t deserve.
It wasn’t to be for Sturridge tonight and may not be for him in general. Tonight he looked the most he ever has like a lad who everyone knows used to be really rather brilliant at football. Regardless, Liverpool didn’t fail to win the game simply because of him. Instead, it’s because they have become a football team not sufficiently convinced by Plan A but not quite in possession of a Plan B. They neither surrender nor stick to their guns in the face of defending like Southampton’s.
By Wednesday morning we may well know. It may well be over. Death or glory. That place we always end up. By Wednesday morning we may well move into a new chapter, keep death at bay, reach out towards glory however it may well all be in vain in the end. All plots lead to death. I keep writing it down here.
But I’ll have glory, please. If not, the most glorious death. Going meekly into the night should not be an option. Rage instead against it, don’t let it grab you and overpower you, rage in its face. Rage as an 11. Rage on the touchline. Rage 55,000 times over. Palpable rage.
Rage, Reds, rage. It’s later than you think.
Recent Posts:
[rpfc_recent_posts_from_category meta=”true”]
Pics: David Rawcliffe-Propaganda Photo
Liverpool manager should forgive Sakho rather than strict punishment. To err is human
Last season played Liverpool 2 finals despite crack defensive errors. Considering how the back four were gaining good communication before the fallout between manager and player, Mama S, especially towards the end their Europe league cup matches to the final.
Accross the two legs they deserved it? I think if you add up the sum of our endevours over two legs and measure it against southamptons over either of the single legs it shows southampton deserved it – they totally deserved it.
Superb, Neil. Said to my arl fella after the game we have no plan B. Teams seem to have sussed us out. We need something quick to change this. I don’t want us to do an Arsenal and have our season over within a week. Saturday is big. Next Tuesday is massive.
Disappointed with the manager and for the team, for the first time. At the start of the season he talked about having different options, different shapes, but we plough on with a 4-3-3 regardless of personnel or opposition. Not good enough.
As for poor Daniel Sturridge: what’s he done to deserve such flack? He’s playing every minute knowing that he could be hooked at any time, knowing that the manager doesn’t trust him. How’s he supposed get his confidence back under such circumstances?
That we’ve fallen apart as a result of one player doing something we knew about when we signed him is pitiful. Still can’t work out why he played Can in front of Gini either. All our best performances have come with Gini, Hendo and Lallana (could be a defensive solidity issue if Hendo’s labouring with injury, I guess).
Very disappointed at the moment; let’s hope the manager learns from this as I want him to stay at Liverpool forever.
I suppose you’re a football genius?
An Einstein, obviously.
So the comment section isn’t the place to voice an opinion? Get over yourself lad.
Just no fucking need for that comment. He’s made his point and explained why. Anyone can throw a one liner in
Brilliant piece, Neil.
Hope JK reads it. Average Joe Red is pig sick of the disappointments, the nearly moments. The Attack can have an off day but the Defense has been brittle for years.
JK’s trying to whip up Anfield at 60-70mins but he’s battling that fact every time and it’ll start getting very tiresome for him soon enough.
“Tonight he looked the most he ever has like a lad who everyone knows used to be really rather brilliant at football”
I say this in very much not an “I was right” kind of way…but for much of this season, many TAW contributors continue to bemoan Daniel’s lack of playing time, and I don’t see it. Yes, I know they’re not given talking points and it’s everyone’s opinions and all of that. But even injuries aside, he hasn’t been very good this year. I’m not even talking work rate and laziness and whatever subtly racial things some people have to say about him. His pace is gone, and now he’s not finishing. When he has played, how many Pinks has someone said “he should have scored 2-3 today”? I think the lack of buying a Mane replacement was that he’d carry us through this spell, and he just hasn’t been that good this month.
Say what you want about our squad depth, but I think the plan for this season was for him to be it, and he hasn’t delivered.
There was a moment early in the second half were he was chasing after a ball down near me by the corner of the centenary.
At first everyone would’ve sworn he would’ve reached it. Instead it seemed like he had lead in his boots and it resembled a jog. Deffo seemed to have post pace there in just that one moment.
*lost pace
Saw that, it was like “it’s gone”…. “oh fuck it hasn’t, ahh shit, too late now better make an effort”
I like Danny Sturbridge, but that bothered me
The Mane thing is overplayed.
Look at who we have played. Plymouth, Sunderland, Swansea, Southampton (x2), United.
We cant get at least 5 wins and a draw minimum out of that lot without Mane? That’s a bigger problem than one lad missing.
I don’t think we have been sussed out, so much. We have a first team that largely picks itself and which suffers dramatically if we lose any of them. That team is capable of running just about any team ragged for 65 minutes and for about the first 17 games of a season. Without back-up, of equal quality, they are done for after that as we can’t afford to properly rest any key players. Don’t forget how unplayable we were, just a couple of months ago, but our players outrun the opposition by miles and something has to give eventually.
Sturridge, Origi, Can and Lucas are never going to suit a team that plays this way. Like for like signings are required to compete for starting places with Firmino, Coutinho, Lallana and Henderson. Then we would have the manpower to play our game for almost an entire match and for hopefully a whole season. Wijnaldum and (obviously) Mane are clearly good enough. There’s very little wrong with this team, we just need about 120-150 million quid more of it.
It’s also worth remembering that, whenever we play Southampton now, all of their players are basically auditioning for a dream move to Anfield. They know Southampton are Liverpool’s main feeder club these days and I doubt it’s just coincidence that we struggle against them. Redmond has been mediocre, all season, yet he looked the business last night and right up for it.
This defeat is squarely on the manager. Sturrridge missed two he should have scored but he’s not getting enough gametime to be sharp. Now with a couple of mins to go he should have retrieved a ball near the touchline when having a head start on the defender and didn’t try a jot so has he given up or is he having a strop or does he know his body is knackered?
It’s on the manager that Sturridge missed two open goals and failed to put in much effort? You must be a genius to work that one out. Maybe you’d like Rodgers back? Or Hodgson?
You can’t really blame Klopp for Sturridge missing two glaring opportunities. Something is not right with Sturridge. Did anyone see early in the first half when Can swept a pass over the right-back and into Sturridge’s path? The ball ran and ran and ran until it became clear that Sturridge just couldn’t open up enough to catch up with it. It wasn’t even particularly far ahead of him.
Nice piece, thanks. I think the longest honeymoon in history is over.
To start with the positives:
Karius again showing why he will be such an asset for us long-term. That was a brilliant save from Tadic to go along with the string of interventions he pulled off at St Mary’s. His kicking was crisp too. Good on the lad. He can’t be number one at the moment with Mignolet playing so well, but it’s great to start seeing what he is going to turn into.
TAA, whilst being caught out of position a few times thanks to having zero defensive cover down the right and basically being our only wide outlet, is clearly going to be a midfielder. Some of those touches and passes were delicious.
Nice to have Matip back. Some classy interceptions and his general assurance was calming. A few too many forays forward where he lost the ball, but it’s not like we were creating loads through the middle. Fair play for forcing the issue.
Firmino showed why he must, must, must play through the middle. Once Mane returns we will see the best of him.
It was an awful night really. I didn’t react when they scored because you could see it coming a mile off. Their backline was so disciplined – I am sooooooooooooo bored of saying that about every team that comes to Anfield – that it caused us to overcommit in the hope of getting a breakthrough, leaving us hopelessly exposed at the back.
We have no excuse in relation to Mane’s absence. Southampton were missing Van Dijk, Fonte (sold) and Austin. Let’s not forget they were also missing Mane. Just a bad night, a real kick in the bollocks after Saturday. I don’t actually care for tactical team selecitons anymore, put the first team out against Wolves.
We rely so much on speed – quick passes, quick thinking, quick movement up front – that when it slows down, the fluid football that other teams can’t live with just disappears. The last few games have looked laboured.
Obviously Mane’s pace is a big miss, but I reckon the players are just knackered. That crazy schedule over Xmas has taken the edge off, and now we’re suffering for it. I don’t think we’ve been “found out”, I think we’re playing at 80%, and full-throttle football doesn’t work at 80%.
All these backwards and sideways passes are because there isn’t a forward pass on, because there’s no space, because teams are not being pulled around by constant movement. They are not being turned inside out and pulled wide, so it becomes easy to tuck in and stay compact.
I’m not sure what the answer is. I’d like to see the youngsters given a chance though, they’re fresh and full of energy. Why not?
Angry
The comments from Not3bad seem on the money. We were playing absolutely brilliantly but, without wishing to sound anything like an embittered Dutch coach, without the benefits of either a winter break OR a squad deep in quality, a dip was always likely, especially with Afcon and injury absences.
I don’t think we’ve been “found out” – show me a way of playing that can’t be negated or nullified one way or the other? Yes, it would be nice to mix it up when we have to, but Brendan was pilloried for too much tinkering. So which is it? Chelsea were dire last year but the same bunch of players won the league the season before that. It’s no surprise a clever manager has quickly redefined that squad of players and they’re on top. JK has a lot more to do. And while I’m definitely with Neil and Karl – we should always, always expect to be challenging and fighting to win the league – we can’t metaphorically lob ourselves off the cliff edge after a bad month either. It’s never helped in the past has it?
Dunno about anyone else but it appears someone has taken a massive dump upstream and me washing my budgie smugglers in the river is now feeling the effects of that dump.
Sturridge holds his run 1/2 second when the keeper flaps it and nods it in. His boot connects 2 inches lower and it goes in, instead of over the bar. Those are the margins between shite and genius
Studger simply doesn’t deserve all the flak. I was the first to criticise in other matches when he didn’t put a shift in but that’s not what happened last night. He’s still not sharp, knows he’s on a knife-edge and has to take every opportunity and so snatches at his two efforts. Glad to hear a Pinker say he and his mates ain the stands saw the amount of good runs into space – that if one of our guys had the vision / balls / or both to try and pick out the pass, he’d have been in. Buit all his runs were wasted.
Lallana was dreadful all night, tripping over the ball, misplacing passes – and worst of all, when he was in twice, he abdicated responsibility rather than shoot when he had a clear sight of goal. That’s not acceptable. But I hear no real complaints about him. Why? Because everyone is entitled to a poor match now and again and instead of draining the guy’s confidence and getting on his case let’s hope he has a stormer v Chelski. Sturridge deserves the same treatment (even though I don’t think he played badly overall).
Let’s take a deep breath and examine this objectively:
PhilCo sings a 5 year deal. That’s a big deal, and I don’t see a Suarez situation developing with him as he’s a completely different character.
We are 14 pojnts better off than this time last year in the Prem.
We have a manager who is the best fit for this club and who has raised our level despite not having the strongest squad.
Karius just might be the keeper-in-waiting Klopp wanted him to be – two big performances in the spotlight recently.
So let’s get behind these guys, Sturridge included. Let’s give them the courage and belief from the stands that will give them the head of steam they so badly need right now. We’re not playing brilliantly but we could still have won. More moaning and negativity will simply self-fulfil, just as it did last night.
All of the above.
Full throttle football. Trouble is, it would appear our shit owners have only given the manager one engine for the season. The Bi-Polar reaction to the post new year demise in form is down to baseless “We’re gonna win the league” hysteria. Instead of taking one game at a time, and realistic expectations of this team finishing 5th or 6th with a half decent cup run. Looking for someone to blame? It ain’t the refs, it’s FSG.
I keep going on about lack of plan B. Wolves saw what Plymouth did and I’m expecting them to do the same and get a replay. I do begin to worry that we have not been able to handle these type of defences recently. I would keep Studge on for the next 2 games, he seems fit, if not well motivated, so lets hope he can rediscover his goal scoring touch.
Chelski will be interesting. After we beat them down there Conte, who is a very clever guy, changed his defence and they have been on a roll ever since. Hopefully we can get a few real chances to make it a night where we go home with a smile
John I don’t think you can have a plan B, when you play like we do. We are the equivalent of African persistence-hunters – tribesmen who chase an animal on foot until it collapses from exhaustion. For us, that should result in a victory in 3 games out of 4. Resorting to plan B is like abandoning the pursuit when the prey is reaching the point it is most vulnerable – the last quarter of the game. This is when opposition players are gasping for oxygen and hoping that we change our tactics. It’s a huge psychological lift for them, if the pressing stops.
Other Premier League sides are better at playing conventional football than us. If they have it in mind that we will take our feet off their throats, if they can just get to 65-70 minutes, they will drag themselves to that point. If we get this right, we can dominate this league for years and not just snatch a single title while more powerful clubs get their acts together.
If there’s any blame to level at Klopp, it’s that he didn’t see this collective fatigue coming back in the Summer. Perhaps he did and was unable to convince the owners that more recruits were needed?
If not, that doesn’t reflect well upon his foresight, as he had almost all of last season to see how demanding games are – even against the weaker Premier League teams. It’s not the same as the Bundesliga and that’s probably the 2nd most intense league in the world.
Our training and playing-style are both so full-on that an international break probably does us good. I don’t really get the call for our exhausted first team to be sent out against Wolves. If we face a long cup run, we’ll get hammered in the league matches. The end of the season can’t come quickly enough. Our best players are knackered, they are not out of form.
Coutinho, at least, should be 100% in a fortnight so that’s something. Mane’s African adventures will probably take less out of him than if he was grinding top-flight fixtures with us at the moment, as well.
Given how we play, I would suggest that players who are 100% fit and 80% as skillful are more important to us than those who are 80% fit and top-class. You have to hope that our various youth teams are coached to play the same way as the first team, otherwise what’s the point of them?
If they are, it’s time to give the best young attacking players a chance. Even if we lose a few more games, we will still have a shot at top-4 and our best players can come back refreshed.
Let’s look on the bright side. We usually get to this point in the season and decide that the first team is just crap. We are on the right path. The manager just needs more inmates for the labour-camp.
Thanks for the article Neil.
I don’t agree with you about Rage this and that. Fine if you are in a rage and need to get some out go kick bag or something. The team and Jurgen from last night’s match seem tired and lack energy to channel any kind of rage – me as well. :)
We need to think with a level head about how to move forward.
Red Fans did a great job last night and so did Soton. Jurgen’s main criticism is that he may have underestimated the amount of players needed to cover for injuries, absences, dip in form and discipline. Flip side to it is that Jurgen gets to see and learn how badly his system and approach can hamper players’ ability over the season in the PL without a winter break.
I don’t know if Sturridge has something else going on, but he may benefit from moving to a new club without the kind of unnecessary scrutiny from fans and media alike. He (for me at least) is a wonderful player and when the team plays bad his deficiencies are highlighted by default even when he is not playing.
As for the Mane absence excuse – didn’t Mane play in the first leg? So what happened then?
The players are tired, and mentally drained (have been for a while now), which is why I think they revert to type with the Brendan Rodgers tiki-taka of yesteryear. How many of those players did Klopp buy who still play sideways and backwards when devoid of ideas?
Klopp took many of those players and helped them to play a different way, but old habits are hard to break or maybe some of these players just aren’t good enough on their own, and need that back up cover to give them a chance to help them further improve.
As much as I care about winning cups, etc, I think putting the players’ health first is priority over the FA Cup. Throwing the kids to the Wolves (no pun intended) might be in order. Maybe it will give Gerrard a chance to assess as well what might be the problems and positives.
Seeing as how important the game against Chelsea is due to our league position and the precious time needed for the players to recover, one has to be a moron to not realize that Gegenpressing and fitness go hand in hand.
Chelsea are the perfect team right now as outlined by a previous TAW article. Unless Brentford mysteriously injure Eden Hazard and Costa simultaneously they will come to Anfield and are going to raze it to the ground.
So yeah we better have energy left for that rage you mentioned then.
As for winning the league (instigated by expectations set and over-achievement) I think Klopp and the team can still defeat Chelsea. This is wishful thinking, but it might be the catalyst to a mental problem for Chelsea, just enough for Arsenal and other teams to inflict further damage to their league position. They may not give a damn about losing to Brentford but they might against the Reds.
Chelsea cannot be taken out by one team at this point, but how I wish we return the favor they did us back in 2014.
So I will give them, Jurgen and myself time to recoup, as you should probably Neil from what you said in your last review, so we can bring the RAGE AGAINST CHELSEA! :)
Up the Reds!!!
As a post above correctly states, rage is required. There are certain elements of our play that need more nastiness. Romeu’s performance last night illustrates what I’m trying to say. What a rock-solid, infuriating nasty bastard he was. He’d haul you down in the last minute if you threatened to go through on goal for sure. We need that.
Is the tightrope over the river? If so, probably overkill to have a safety net.
This was a match that we needed to win, ideally by 2 goals so we didn’t have to go to xtra time.
The opposition didn’t need to score but another goal would be mighty handy so it should have come to no surprise to anyone that they were prepared to sit back and hit us on the break. Like a few teams recently.
Other teams have set up with 2 banks of 4 or even 4 and a 5. Clearly that’s gonna be mighty difficult to break down. To break down any team you need to go thru them, over them or round them.
Going over isn’t an option as they sit so deep.
Going thru is very very difficult as these teams have their 4 defenders across the width of the box with another protecting shield of 4/5 players in front of them generally covering the central column.
So that leaves going round them.
Unfortunately recently, especially since Mane has gone, we have been persistently trying to go thru them. Trying to break them down centrally.
The few times we have went wide and attacked that way we have either created good chances or scored, think of Firminos 2 goals at the weekend.
However we have been doing this very infrequently even when it’s obvious that it’s working and that going thru the middle isn’t. That’s down to Klopp, his team selection and his instructions.
We have very poor options for out wide. We have Mane who is very good at it and Coutinho who can do a job on the other side but really likes to float inside and doesn’t have the pace to drive down the wing. That’s it! Nothing else unless you go down to the reserves and they are young, inexperienced and unproven.
Coutinho has always missed at least a few weeks of every season thru injury and we knew for sure Mane would be away for the month of Jan at least. So why the hell did we not have a replacement lined up to sign in the first week of Jan. It was imperative we brought someone in but nothing.
We either offer big big money and ensure we get our first or second target or we buy a “make do” player who can play wide and has pace to fill in when needed. If we had signed someone like this on Jan 1st he could have been involved in 7 games by now. Who knows, he might have scored a goal or 2 by now and we wouldn’t be out of the league challenge or league cup?
I looked at our bench last night before kick off and we had Lucas, Klavan, Moreno and Wij. Not one of them strikes me as the type of player that’s gonna grab us a goal in a must win game. Our 2 attacking options were a woefully out of form Origi and the teenage Woodburn. That’s it!
It’s not like we have loads out injured. Manes away but that’s it.
Is that where we’re at right now?
It just highlights even further how important it was to bring in another attacker early this window.
We need to learn from our mistakes from this season and previous seasons. It’s infuriating.
Brilliant review Neil. I agree with the sentiment. Its my birthday Feb 1st and I don’t want to wake up with our season in ruins. Not because it means we won’t win the title but because it means its over too early. This season has been great because it feels like every game is more important than the previous game and i don’t want that to end. The way I approach supporting Liverpool (for my own sanity) is that the longer the wait for the title the greater the feeling will be when it finally happens. When i was at University i had the pleasure of sharing a house with 3 Man Utd fans. I remember being sat next to them on the couch once when United clinched the league one year and they barely even celebrated. A glance up from their phones then carried on like normal. I don’t want that. I want pure and wild euphoria and I’m confident Jurgen is our man.
Its coming lads. Maybe not this year. Maybe not next year but its coming.