LIVERPOOL were fucking crap tonight.
Immediately after typing that the realisation hits that this is exactly the sort of writing which means that yours truly isn’t about to be offered Barney Ronay’s column at The Guardian. We could find a wry way around the whole notion. Clever words. But the reality won’t shift — Liverpool were fucking crap.
It’s absolutely soul destroying. In more than one sense this is Liverpool’s worst performance/result of the season. The facts are these — you can play perfectly well against Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur and lose. That’s football. You can also play reasonably well against West Brom and draw. But to be so lacking in spark, inspiration, brio and sheer excitement is not being good enough.
Ben Foster has not had a game he tells his grandchildren about. Instead Liverpool have limped towards his goal and if anything Ahmed Hegazi goes to bed wondering why he didn’t make it 0-1 rather than priding himself on his performance. His tackles weren’t death defying; they were mundane.
Mundane covers much of the game. Liverpool were drab, Liverpool were ordinary, Liverpool were one paced. Liverpool showed nothing upfront which is fine because they offered less than nothing from centre midfield. Watching the speed the ball failed to move at was the biggest issue of the evening. Christ alive did Liverpool dwell on the ball.
There’s a train of thought knocking about that Jordan Henderson isn’t in Liverpool’s best midfield. Tonight should simply derail that train though it obviously won’t. The reality is that Liverpool have four centre mids who are all failing to make a proper, unarguable case for themselves in the grand scheme of things. This is partially due to what the manager is asking, partially due to shortcomings.
There’s no point in this review where there is a shaft of brightness, a moment of “well, you know what happens next”. Whatever happens next, happens next. What is now four dropped points in two home games does not get alleviated.
Instead we get to shrug and remember if Liverpool fail to meet their objectives. This is the issue with the manager’s highwire act; if there are mitigating factors come the end of the season — your footballers being fucking crap — well no one cares. Everyone remembers you on the wire with the balance beam.
For the second successive game a marginal (at best) refereeing call has led to Liverpool being denied the points. We can tell this story walking. For me, it’s a goal. That doesn’t matter, not in the slightest. It’s understandable if it isn’t, and no one walks out of Anfield feeling hard done to, not really. Instead we stride out of Anfield frustrated.
Last week the manager stressed that his “Fab Four” were nothing out of the ordinary against their own teammates and being fair to them they were at pains to be ordinary tonight. Sadio Mane is simply not playing very well. Philippe Coutinho stank the gaff out this evening. The other two were alright if nothing special. Liverpool have taken their own momentum and sacrificed it. They’ve given themselves a slog.
Watching that tonight was a slog. It was turgid. It was porridge. Being fair it was exactly the sort of performance we’ve grown used to in the last 20-odd years at this stage of the season. Jürgen Klopp and his men aren’t unique. Their shortcomings aren’t there for the first time. These are the shortcomings. And, being fair, these things happen. All our rivals have looked mediocre and dropped points like this recently. They’ve all stank gaffs out. It’s football in an English winter.
But all this doesn’t make it pleasant or acceptable or worthwhile. The facts are these — every point counts, Liverpool have dropped four in two at home and when we’re dragging the carcass up the hill in April towards 80 points with the rest of our rivals this will matter, this will weigh the body down. We’ve seen enough of this thing to know this.
Sort it out, Liverpool. It’s two draws. It’s no defeats but by Christ it has felt like two defeats. Do this the hard way by all means but the hard way cannot be lethargic because that simply doesn’t make sense. It’s time to come alive. Now till Burnley, just come alive. If not then it may well be too much to bear.
Not being good enough is one thing. Being dead from the waist down is another thing entirely. Time to dance.
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Fuck me. It’s the hope that kills you. How can we mentally adjust from Spartak to that shite. There is surely no ther side in the League that has this kind of delta on literally every aspect of the game. I might just take Xmas off and pick this up in Porto.
As always Neil, effortlessly analysed and to the point, unlike that shower tonight. Simply put, there aren’t enough Alpha dominants in our central midfield with massive balls. I’ll reference him once again. Sounded like players who will pis over anyone who gets in their way and are gnarly to a T. Chamberlain showed more guile in the short time he was on the pitch than Can and Van was his fuckin name did from the start. That said the set up and balance of the team was totally thrown out of kilter by the entire CM.
And you’re dead right about Henderson, he may not be everyone’s ideal main CM king pin but right now he’s the best we have by a country mile. Admittedly his passing reportoir is not the broadest however his drum-beat rhythm in demanding and moving the ball on to our play makers was greatly missed tonight.
Oh well…..back to the drawing table yet again. FFS!!!!
Thanks for the write-up Neil but you’ve wasted your time.
Crap match, crap referee, crap Pardew team and crap effort from the Reds.
Crap comment!
On to the next match…
Up the Reds!!!
Bastard predictive txt; Souness like players
West Brom did a job and did it well baring in mind their new management circumstances and lowly position. Whilst on this topic of referencing the lack of quality of the opposition, ditto goes for Everton and Alladyce, yes they were crap…….but the snatched a point, ran like fuck. Job done !!
How does this effect our performance, it doesn’t in the slightest. The whole focus should be on FSG and the manager in terms of bringing in and improving the personnel.
Good article, Neil. Another blip? Have we lost our form again after five weeks of being boss-ish or was that the inverted blip? Thought we dealt with this shite at the beginning of the season. Now all of a sudden we have to beat Arsenal and win at whatever happens around Arsenal.
Do you think mane’s dip is due to playing on left? He looks like someone who is getting fed up to me.
If we ain’t three up in half an hour then you start to worry the longer the game goes on with this side.
We can be a joy to watch at times as good as anyone but unlike City who can win ugly we can’t, we lack the players to grind out a drab 1-0 win.
Yeah people will go on about the disallowed goal but to be honest if it was given against us I’d be fucking fuming.
Thanks Neil. I think you’ve got it spot on as have most of the posts I’ve read on this so far – Liverpool nowhere near good enough on the night.
Few things to add …
1) For the guys who were “certain” that playing our 4 front men against Everton results in a victory … think again. No guarantees with human beings.
2) West Brom – thought they were good and carried a (small) threat as well as parking the bus
3) Time Wasting – the ref gave their keeper a stern talking to (after about 37 mins) and booked their sub for time wasting in the 87th min. Every team does it at some stage but this is an area that the authorities can look at to make the game more interesting.
4) Disallowed goal. Loads of people saying that the goal was correctly disallowed. This from Mike Henson on the BBC site …
“referee Paul Tierney rightly blew up for an accidental handball”
As far as I am aware, handball is the only rule where intent plays a part (i.e. you have to intend to handle the ball for it to be a foul). There is no way on earth that Solanke meant to handle that. It’s a shite decision after the ref had originally given the goal.
Like Neil said after the last game, it’s ok/allowed to play shite and still win a game 1-0. Need to play better but also need to get the rub of the green soon.
Handball is rarely intentional in this day and age. If the ball is guided into the net by the arm then it has to be ruled out. We need to stop the excuses.
Ps. On your ‘last match’ provocation’ maybe we’ve lost momentum. Maybe we’ve lost our rhythm. Certainly seemed like that. I said on Sunday we should have been ecstatic. Closed the gap on our rivals. A favourable draw in the CL and everyone over the moon gloating to Everton fans. As it was we’ve got division among the fans. Players being abused for not doing this or sort of doing that. We’ve got a manager losing the plot on national tv. Don’t underestimate momentum and rhythm.
Hi Robin
If it sounded like I was trying to make excuses then I wasn’t careful enough with my original post. Liverpool (and West Brom) got what they deserved – a draw.
I understand your view that “if the ball is guided into the net by the arm then it has to be ruled out” – I would certainly feel aggrieved/unlucky if that was against us – but that’s not what the rules of the game say. A number of posts/pundits dismiss the soft penalty claims against Lovren saying that his hands were in the back of the striker and it’s a penalty even if they often don’t usually get given/there’s not enough contact for the guy to go down. It’s odd/frustrating that with that incident it seems to be fine to apply the letter of the law where against West Brom we should accept the spirit of the law. Again none of this says that we deserved more than we got – just that two different interpretations of the same incidents could easily lead to 4 more points even if 2 of them would have been lucky.
Regarding your last point, I wasn’t trying to be provocative – just trying to point out that as fans we tend to be think things as being certain when they really aren’t (e.g. if we’d subbed that guy earlier this would/wouldn’t have happened, if we’d played that midfield we would/wouldn’t have won the game etc). The failure to score for the first time in ages despite playing our best attackers reminds us that these things are rarely that simple. As you point out other factors have an impact – momentum, rhythm, fitness, form, how the other team play etc.
Sorry mate, I was still annoyed over the result this morning. Where I’m coming from is I’m sick of excuses. We’ve not been good enough. We still have the same problem against teams that defend deep. Newcastle, Burnley, Spartak, Utd, Chelsea, Everton and West Brom. The reason is our midfield isn’t good enough. With what we have now Coutinho is good when on form but that dips quite often. Ox seems good and Lallana is sorely missed. Behind them we have nothing. Milner, Can, Gini and Henderson don’t have the ceiling required to match our forwards and where we want to be. Too slow and too predictable. Henderson is the only one of them that has any hope. The others are rubbish. No creativity what’s so ever.
@Paddy whether accidental or not it was a handball. But that happens in football.
What’s frustrating is that we still don’t have a consistent response to the parked buses approach, as I get the impression that we get into the habit of playing one dimensional football often dictated by the opposition.
Why is that Chelsea, City for example grind out their wins or are able to break these buses down, almost at will especially during their title winning runs?
I know hes already chopping and changing but we havent even started the busy xmas period and the lads look leggy. Bring Lallana and Hendo into the midfield asap and I’d like to see Ings get a start too.
Is there not a discussion to be had about the amount of rotating Liverpool are doing?
I mean, i get that it’s part of the game now and klopp has previous but, all those sides above us are playing there best players week in week out with one or 2 changes made and they’re all still fresh and firing!!!
How often has de bruyne been rested?
Why is david silva (32) playing nearly every game and in boss form???
The other big boys are doing it too, the best players play, week in week out with tweaks only when needed. As mentioned many times by neil a few times, our rotation seems all pre planned and arranged and i think it’s killing players form and rythm.
So frustrating!!!
To those debating Solanke’s disallowed goal, look at it this way. Do you think a defender would have had a penalty given against him after the ball bounced up from his body onto his arm?? Of course he wouldn’t!
Yes, if he was trying to control it.
Better yet, if the same scenario happened with a West Brom forward, would you/Red supporters have accepted the goal or disallowed it?
So when applying the laws of the game, the refs should always ask “how would the other team feel if it was them instead”? I don’t understand this point at all. The laws only talk about deliberate handball, and Solanke’s was completely accidental. The question is what law did the ref use to disallow the goal, and a lot of us still don’t have an answer to that.
Depends on how you see it and the ref sees it.
If you see it as accidental then it is.
Since there is no VAR or law/rule for this VAR type setup, then the Ref saw it as deliberate, (and I am guessing that is what he saw) and disallowed it, irrespective of the current law/rule.
I don’t know if Jim was being sarcastic or not with his question about the defender bit, but again depends on whether the Ref sees it as deliberate or not and if the defender was trying to control it.
Since the rule changed the question is not was it deliberate handball, the question is was his arm in an unnatural position. Well, to answer that we need to know what is natural and what isn’t. In the case of Solanke his arm would have had to be by his side (when chesting a ball). If arms are out then it’s likely to be given. But, it’s one of the greyist area’s of football. Actually, there is no clear rule on it. Just the refs interpretation of whether the arm was in an unnatural decision. The truth of the matter is it’s both unlucky and an acceptable decision in that it bounced of his foot. There was nothing he could do. But, it was his arm that guided it into the net. His arm was outstretched.
I’m feeling resigned more than frustrated today if I’m honest, if only because I don’t think it was as unexpected a result or performance as it seemed. The problem with comparing it to last Wednesday’s game is that Spartak needed to win and conceded a pen after 4 minutes. We’ve also had one or two home games lately when we’ve been more patient and waited for our class up front to tell (Sarah v Southampton, for example). When that doesn’t happen though, you’re relying on a team that’s built to counter-attack to do something very different. That lot parked the bus last year when they were actually stronger than now, but our interplay cut them open. It just goes to show how badly we miss Lallana in midfield. Maybe in hindsight last night was one where Klopp should have asked Milner to play left back and thrown Oxo Chambo the chance to show what he can do in Lallana’s role.
HAHA Sarah…Please stop thinking about your mistress when commenting on here. ;)
*Salah!
Spot on Neil. Shit results happen in the course of the season.
Loss of momentum is concerning but the real worry for me is that after those last two results, the default setup for opposing teams is going to be a self fulfilling prophecy of deep lying, low block, anti-football shite. Causing us to be even more frustrated, Anfield more fractious and having the players more anxious in a downward spiral. FFS. Klopp will have to use his vaunted persuasive, psychological powers to full effect in the coming weeks.
Just a breather…a mid week game against a Pardew side was never going to be entertaining. Still competing for top 4 so results like this are to be expected.
We are not title contenders and being second is nothing. 4th is worse than nothing.
Just to set a hare running …
In terms of scale only, were either of Lovren’s mistakes against Spurs worse that the mistake from Mane against Everton or Salah’s two missed headers in the last two games?
This from a former defender.
@Paddy There are all equal in measure in my opinion.
If you only see it as Lovren’s and not the whole team defending when they needed to to prevent those passes, then for me it’s
– Two mistakes by Lovren = we lost momentum or any kind of build up from that one goal we scored to mount a come back (this includes Jurgen giving up before the match)
– Mane not passing the ball (which looked easier to do since two Reds had an open goal versus the probability against the keeper directly preparing to save his shot) = we took the foot off Everton’s throat at that point seeing as it was just before half time.
– Salah’s two missed headers (argue that it was tough/cold/too much hair gel/perms) = two goals and further added momentum by the looks of the subs that came on late that would have put more pressure and maybe scored a goal or two
Just a suspicion that JK is beginning to feel the weight of the Club baring down. He needs to wake up smell the coffee and realise his clock is well and truly ticking, and further more if the fans begin to turn then FSG will eventually abandon him. He is now being too patient and weak. The sub standard players in this squad and now and will continue to repeat catastrophic errors and it’s about time he did what Guardiola did and seperate the good from the bad.
I am a believer however I need more proof of why I’m a believer, for the sake of hope in the foreseeable future. We are beginning to see the hairline cracks widen slightly. He’s not seeing something and I don’t know why coz the Savy fans can see it a mile off. Let’s have no more excuses, FSG need to make it a fruitful January transfer window to maybe salvage the season with a trophy. As in 2005 this team can be victorious against the better Euro teams in a 2 legged tie, if all the players are at it. This I believe is critical for Jurgen whether he believes it or not.
Don’t you think it’s more likely he can see exactly what others see, but knows he has to work with what he’s got for now? You can’t throw people under the proverbial in public if you’re relying on them. If he was really blind enough to miss the obvious, he wouldn’t have won anything, let alone created one of the best teams to have come out of the Bundesliga in the last 30 years. In the Premier League, any manager inheriting the squad he did is going to need serious time to become competitive, unless they find an Arab country to bankroll them. Nobody likes it, but that’s where we’re at.
@JC and @Martin
I think Klopp is idealistic and a romantic. So he may have bought into his own approach and mindset, to the point now that he has gone out on a limb to back these boys.
By not doing so all of a sudden would diminish the respect not only by the team but many supporters who are also romantic and idealistic. He might have painted himself into a corner, and with all this rotation stuff going, means he may not to be buying anyone in Jan.
The fairy tale ending of modern David against Goliath sounds very romantic indeed. It happens but it’s once in a life-time I think. Some supporters think that’s enough so they can go die later since they’ve already waited a quarter century now, but may have to wait another because Klopp may not be able to repeat the romantic version of football every year with so much competition from money-laden powerhouse clubs.
The reality if you are looking for it, as much as I detest it, is going on more at City with Guardiola, at least it looks like it so far.
I still hope Klopp can carry on till next season with this group of players, and that these past two games are just kinks he will work out. It is important to win without money being the focus, for me it is, but it is also wise as you both allude to, to consider the alternatives as well and mix it up.
Of course you’re right, the guy is a self-confessed romantic in terms of putting development before the cheque book. In that sense, he’s probably been too honest about his approach, as it could be held against him when results dip. That said, he went out of his way as soon as he joined to say how highly he rated Liverpool’s squad…before binning 10 or so of them 8 months later. He has form for saying one thing very publicly (to keep morale up) before doing another. If Guardiola has made improvements so quickly, to a large extent it’s surely because he has infinite resources to do so and had less surgery to perform in the first place.
Yeah Martin he has been very protective of his team which as a leader is what I expect from him despite the stuff we see and think.
And agree that City’s surge is largely due to their spending and not really having to change too much, though we could have done with that CB and DM in the summer like Klopp needed.
Let’s see what happens over the course of the season. Still lots to play for, though just not interested in any excuses.
Coutinho didn’t have a good game at all but he did more than Can and Wjnaldum did put together. I doubt I’ve seen such statuesque performances since Poulsen wore a red shirt – utterly abysmal.
Sometimes as an exercise, when I get bored in a game or I’m not completely up for it, I try to pretend I’m supporting the opposition. It not as easy as it sounds.
And I have to say, that was a defensive masterclass from WBA. It hurts to say it. We weren’t THAT bad. They were amazing defensively. Perfect lines, distances, ‘passing-on’. Especially Hagazi/Hegazi. No wonder we were linked with him. Anyone out
there share these views? D.