Yet again we have to experience these under par performances, probably quite hopefully i thought that the days of these matches in which we just can’t seem to find the cutting edge were gone with the Roy era. Unfortunately for us the lack of pace and creativity in our side comes back to haunt us for not the first time this season. Too many times there were backwards passes and a lack of desire to take a man on. Of course we did not have our share of luck in this match many soft free kicks for Braga and some strange linesman decisions the height of it, and of course the incredibly unlucky header from Andy Carroll who was denied what looked to be a goal by who of all people, Dirk Kuyt.
The performance itself as uninspiring as it was will give Kenny, Comolli and John Henry alot of food for thought:
1. The already too obvious problem of our poor wing play showed tonight, in order to properly utilise Carroll we need wingers with pace and a good end product. This doesn’t even really need to be said as I am almost certain plans are being put in place for the summer to solve this problem
2. At even this early stage in his Anfield career Luis Suarez already seems to be one of the linchpins of our best eleven. The amazing trickery and creativity which he showed against Man United was missed tonight. Although he was obviously cup tied, I think it tonight showed us how important a player he is
3. Even though there have been some poor performances from our Captain Fantastic this season we still could have used his drive and influence in midfield, which tonight showed a frustratingly large amount of negativity.
4. An obvious lack of motivation in the Europa League has been a problem this season. We seem to be watching two different teams when we watch performances like 3-1 against Man United and tonight’s result.
So where do we go from here? Obviously all glimmer of some silverware has been diminished with tonight’s performance. I have no doubt that we will see a much better performance on Sunday away to Sunderland. Hopefully the disappointment of this season will serve as motivation to add some updated silverware to our illustrious Trophy room next season.