A headstart gained from a fine goal by Torres.. only to be negated by mistakes and losing control of the middle of the park.
The trust that Roy had in Jonjo Shelvey at the start of the second half was miss-placed as the teenager was a bundle of nerves with many bad passes. Credit though to our senior players like Reina, Kuyt and Gerrard who gave him encouragement.
In the end, the team that was hungrier reaped their rewards and it was not the team in Red this time. Although Gerrard had his chances to win us the game, yet you can say the same also of Wigan with their industry and the application they put in.
I must mention that the players who excelled for us would be Maxi and Lucas who showed endeavour and zeal in their work. The rest were not too far off, but maybe they had instructions to “not lose”.. and perhaps this curtailed their desire to advance forward and go for the kill..
So Roy, it’s back to the drawing board.. we will be wondering why you withdrew Meireles at the end of the first half and brought on Jonjo. And we feel for Jovanovic and Ngog sitting on the bench when either of them could have given us the edge upfront and allowed Torres more space and service.
We wonder Roy.. we will still wonder.