We did have dreams and songs to sing. Only two seasons ago we were right at the top flight of English football, we were the team to beat. This time in 2008 we were leading the English Premier league. Now, less than a season and a half later, we are slumped in the bottom half of the table wallowing amongst the likes of teams who have recently been in the Championship.
How many of the players that were playing in the starting eleven today actually deserved to wear that Liverpool shirt with the way they played.
Reina- Does look like he plays with desire but still lacks confidence. Looked very shaky when he came to close down at the goal they scored. Such a top keeper shouldn’t be this unconfident.
Glen Johnson- looked woeful at the back. Never looked like he wanted to have the ball and gave very panicky passes at the back.
Konchesky- The reaction when he was substituted said it all. He is too slow and doesnt add anything to the team. Must go in January to hopefully free up some transfer funds (if he is worth anything)
Skrtel- Just wasnt strong enough today. Unfortunately just offside for the dissalowed goal. You would have thought that we might have studied their tactics at defensive free kicks a bit better, surely we must have known they would have played for the offside.
Meireles- Should have scored early on in the game. Didnt make an impact so was rightfully substituted
Gerrard- I feel really sorry for Stevie, no one else willing around him to play. Had just come back from injury and was expected to do everything. Lacks confidence
Lucas- Showed a bit more desire than many other players on the pitch. Still, could do plenty more. Lacks confidence
Torres- His body language is awful. Has no confidence and he needs some badly.
Kuyt- Kept running but unfortunately didnt get himself into the game enough. Lacks confidence
Ngog- Was not good at all, again just no desire
Subs used:
Aurelio- looked much better than Konchesky, would really like to see him start.
Cole- I didnt really get a feel of him doing anything and think he could have done with more time on the pitch
Babel- Looked a bit threatening at first but didnt do anything really after. Unlucky to be given offside at one point.
Now onto Mr Hodgson:
Things are going wrong everywhere. Firstly, I disagree with his selection. Konchesky shouldnt be starting, Aurelio should. Agger should be starting instead of Skrtel and when Carragher is fully fit the Centre backs will be much stronger. Very strange putting Meireles on the wing and it showed that he was clearly out of position. These are basic selection issues that he should easily be able to change but still hasnt. He has insisted to play Konchesky when all he has done is consistently performed badly.
Secondly, it is obvious that there is something going wrong in training. Roy says that they have been sharp in training and that the 18 day rest has been fine because they have been able to train the whole time. As Andy Gray said, they do look like they havn’t played for 18 days. They certainly don’t look like they are a side that have been sharp in training. This is possibly because there is no real insentive. There is no real competition for places and this links in with people not being fit to wear the Liverpool shirt. They don’t look as if they have any desire or will to win. We need to change the way that we are training to get some belief back into the team.
I have never seen such a bad performance from a Liverpool team. Things have to change otherwise we are going to struggle to bring any decent players in and to win any games.
This so called ‘corner’ we are turning is extremely long, or just non existent.
Your time is up Roy Hodgson, take Christian Poulsen and Paul Konchesky with you as well.
YNWA, Hugh
hugh@empireofthekop.com