Stevie saved us, but …

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Yes, I am frustrated.  It was a quite frustrating match, wasn’t it? I’m disappointed with our bad performance and Reading’s good performance, our spoiled chances and the lack of luck, Emiliano Insua and the fact that Yossi came on so late … Thank God we have Pepe!

It was a thrilling match. Oh yes, it was. But that’s it. There wasn’t nothing more of what you would and could except from a match between Liverpool and a second league team like Reading. It wasn’t a high-level game, there was no quality and, for me, no full-time team spirit. The Reds once again didn’t play at they level.

“And once again Liverpool were bailed out by Steven Gerrard.” *

I took a quite long time till the Reds woke up from the unexplainable passivity and played forward. After Stevie’s goal the dikes seemed to be broken … Yes, Stevie was fantastic … in the first half. He saved us once again. The Liverpool captain’s cross from the left intended to pick out Dirk Kuyt, but the Dutchman failed to get a touch. His diagonal run, however, had served as a distraction and Adam Federici, the Reading goalkeeper, was flummoxed as the ball drifted into the far corner.

I don’t know what happened in the break, but Gerrard didn’t seem the same, unconcentrated as he was. And the whole team … there seemed to be a lack of cohesion about the players in red, there were only a few sparks of aggresivity which extinguished very fast.

For me, the only man who showed a real spirit was Fernando Torres. This was not a match that will live long in the Spaniard’s memory, even if he led the line and was aggressive and courageously, fighting for the ball and trying to score. Alas, it didn’t work but El Nino created the most chances and showed concentration, passion and resolution as the only one on the pitch.

And then there was Emiliano Insua who was simply terrible today. He wasn’t able to win any of his duels, nothing worked for him today …

Strange to think that four months ago Liverpool were favoured by many to win the league. Now their season has been reduced to a frantic attempt to cling onto a Champions League place and a hopeful tilt at the FA Cup. Strange to think that one year ago Liverpool was on the top of the table and was seven points ahead on the arch-rival Manchester United. Now Liverpool is on the seventh position in the league and is struggling to reach the fourth place.

Now we have a replay. “I think we deserved a draw”, said Reading’s boss, Brian McDermott. But did WE deserve it?

Amanda

amanda@empireofthekop.com

*guardian.co.uk

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6 Comments

  1. Agree with you there. It will take an extremely biased fan to stay blind to the harsh reality faced by our beloved club and insist that we still have the right man to do the job. We are fans of the club, not to a single (or two) man.

  2. Our game is predictable and we are terribly weak at the back. If everyone is using zonal marking, we are making the worse use of it. Teams, even lowly Reading, have come to know that if they attack us, they reap rewards. There have been instances where we have been very unlucky this year. Yesterday’s game had the tide pulling in our favour. It’s that kind of season. We are too ordinary this season. We have seen single games of brilliance, commitment and passion, but that approach has been far from consistent. Hope I won’t get clobbered for having said that too! :-)

  3. I agree with Tonio, we seem to have lost our way. Reminds me of when we finished 2nd to Arsenal under Houllier and the following season(s) struggled to make any impact on the league … case of History repeating itself ??

  4. “It will take an extremely biased fan to stay blind to the harsh reality faced by our beloved club and insist that we still have the right man to do the job.” Are you talking about rafa Femacca?? If so then i pressume you thought the same last year when we were as close to winning the league as we have been in the last decade and more, i also pressume you thought the same when we won CL in his 1st yr? or did rafa turn into a pile of crap overnight???

  5. I agree with you Toni. You wont get clobbered for your opinion. :-) We’ve had a very unluck season but that’s no longer an excus for the bad performance on teh pitch. This season there’s no spirit, no passion, no brilliance … nada. Our “enemys” can look trough our play like trough glass.

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