From Comic Relief To Three Points For Liverpool!
Article by Red Phil
The e-Football Podcast
What on Earth was that? During the first half especially Liverpool looked as if they wore their boots on the wrong feet – or boots a couple of sizes too big or too small – as player after player gave the ball away. Surely it was for Comic Relief but when we should have had Red Noses we almost had red faces the number of times we gave the ball away to a Swansea team that were almost as bad as us.
We improved a bit in the second half but this won’t go down in the annals of Liverpool’s history as anything other than three points gained from a fluke goal and a performance that we mustn’t repeat against United in a few days . . . or Heaven help us!
It is hard to blame anybody in particular as all of the players looked as if they were a bit unsure as to what colours we played in but Emre Can, for the first time, looked like a midfield player playing in defence and when the home fans got excited – and began extracting the Michael, as they say – from the guy I call “Coronary” or “Train Crash” it isn’t good. They can see that one of our back three is an accident waiting to happen but when they want him to get the ball, as an attacking option for them, I think it says it all more succinctly than I ever could.
With “Coronary” in the team my wife keeps the defibrillator handy and charged-up, just in case!
Our work-rate was good, our second-half control was bordering on being acceptable but this was the worst performance for a while even though taking three points from Swansea isn’t the easiest thing in the world.
Luckily for us our keeper played well and Martin Skrtel was sound at the back as well although the number of times we played ourselves into trouble with our insistence on rolling the ball out to players who seem to have attackers within spitting range is getting me down. A better team than Swansea could have punished us once or twice as we seemingly played ourselves deeper and deeper into the self-inflicted mire on several occasions. The way our back three played, Skrtel apart, makes me wonder if a back seven might be the best option.
Still, they reckon that winning games when you aren’t playing well is the way to win the league and, whilst that might be a fantasy or seven too far, it does keep us two points behind United with a win on Sunday potentially taking us above them. I still worry about our physical presence sometimes, with us having probably the smallest, most lightweight team in the league and one or two of them did look a bit jaded. Moreno seemed to be trying to get himself sent-off as he did a few fouls after getting booked so his substitution was well-timed.
I don’t have any major problems with our midfield but, if Lovren isn’t going to get into the team (replacing you-know-who) we must get TWO more top-notch central defenders and somebody with a bit more physical presences and height up front to give us a few more options. I keep reading that the Holland forward player Memphis Depay is keen to move to LFC and, by all accounts, he is one Hell of a young player. I’ve seen bits of that young Inter Villarreal striker, whose name I can’t remember, and he looks very mobile, speedy and capable of taking players on. He looks as if he’d fit nicely into our current pattern of playing.
Other than the blemishes mentioned this is perhaps a game that, hopefully, won’t stay long in the mind and, again hopefully, I might get to sleep without having recurring nightmares . .
Off to clamber into my LFC onesie now, nerves shot to pieces but with three points in the bag! Could have been worse, I suppose . . .
RED PHIL
© e-Football 2015 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football
The e-Football Podcast
What on Earth was that? During the first half especially Liverpool looked as if they wore their boots on the wrong feet – or boots a couple of sizes too big or too small – as player after player gave the ball away. Surely it was for Comic Relief but when we should have had Red Noses we almost had red faces the number of times we gave the ball away to a Swansea team that were almost as bad as us.
We improved a bit in the second half but this won’t go down in the annals of Liverpool’s history as anything other than three points gained from a fluke goal and a performance that we mustn’t repeat against United in a few days . . . or Heaven help us!
It is hard to blame anybody in particular as all of the players looked as if they were a bit unsure as to what colours we played in but Emre Can, for the first time, looked like a midfield player playing in defence and when the home fans got excited – and began extracting the Michael, as they say – from the guy I call “Coronary” or “Train Crash” it isn’t good. They can see that one of our back three is an accident waiting to happen but when they want him to get the ball, as an attacking option for them, I think it says it all more succinctly than I ever could.
With “Coronary” in the team my wife keeps the defibrillator handy and charged-up, just in case!
Our work-rate was good, our second-half control was bordering on being acceptable but this was the worst performance for a while even though taking three points from Swansea isn’t the easiest thing in the world.
Luckily for us our keeper played well and Martin Skrtel was sound at the back as well although the number of times we played ourselves into trouble with our insistence on rolling the ball out to players who seem to have attackers within spitting range is getting me down. A better team than Swansea could have punished us once or twice as we seemingly played ourselves deeper and deeper into the self-inflicted mire on several occasions. The way our back three played, Skrtel apart, makes me wonder if a back seven might be the best option.
Still, they reckon that winning games when you aren’t playing well is the way to win the league and, whilst that might be a fantasy or seven too far, it does keep us two points behind United with a win on Sunday potentially taking us above them. I still worry about our physical presence sometimes, with us having probably the smallest, most lightweight team in the league and one or two of them did look a bit jaded. Moreno seemed to be trying to get himself sent-off as he did a few fouls after getting booked so his substitution was well-timed.
I don’t have any major problems with our midfield but, if Lovren isn’t going to get into the team (replacing you-know-who) we must get TWO more top-notch central defenders and somebody with a bit more physical presences and height up front to give us a few more options. I keep reading that the Holland forward player Memphis Depay is keen to move to LFC and, by all accounts, he is one Hell of a young player. I’ve seen bits of that young Inter Villarreal striker, whose name I can’t remember, and he looks very mobile, speedy and capable of taking players on. He looks as if he’d fit nicely into our current pattern of playing.
Other than the blemishes mentioned this is perhaps a game that, hopefully, won’t stay long in the mind and, again hopefully, I might get to sleep without having recurring nightmares . .
Off to clamber into my LFC onesie now, nerves shot to pieces but with three points in the bag! Could have been worse, I suppose . . .
RED PHIL
© e-Football 2015 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football
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