We shouldn't really be too surprised about this defeat. After all, Leicester nearly always turn us over, and as this was our first match since the cup final it was always going to be a case of after the "Lord Major's Show." Filbert Street is an absolute toilet, and this has to go down as one of the least enjoyable away trips of the season. We arrived in Leicester at about 12.30, and there was absolutely no sign of life anywhere. We even had to ask a steward if the game was still on, as there was not a soul anywhere near the ground. I realise it was early, but Anfield is always a hive of activity at this time on a matchday.
Anyway, we decided to try and find a boozer to watch the end of the Leeds/Mancs game. We wandered around for a while, until we stumbled upon this extremely rough looking gaff. We later found out it was called the "Turnstile", although we couldn't tell that at the time, as half the letters were missing from the sign outside. Not a good omen.
We didn't really want to go in, but there were no other pubs about, so we decided to take a chance. As we approached the door though, there was a sign outside saying "locals only on matchdays.' Not exactly a warm welcome, but we decided that as long as we disguised our scouse accents we'd be okay. Upon setting foot in the place though, it immediately seemed like a bad idea, as it was like a scene from an old west movie, with everyone in there stopping what they were doing and focusing on the 'strangers.' The only thing missing was a toothless old cowboy standing at the bar chewing tobacco and saying "you ain't from around here is yer" and "we dont take ter strangers in these parts."
There was a really bad vibe about the place so we turned around and walked straight out. A wise move as it turns out, as we bumped into JJP (editor of RAOTL) further on up the road, and he informed us of the notorious reputation of said establishment. Bloody tales of fights with pool cues and bottles seem to be the order of the day as far as "the Turnstile" is concerned. I mentioned this experience to a mate later on, and his response was "yeah, I went in there once before a youth cup game, and two women just started fighting on the pool table for no apparent reason!" A lucky escape indeed then it would seem.
The fact that I'm mentioning this tells you a lot about the game itself. Frankly, there's very little to say about it other than:
1) We were dire, and deserved to lose,
2) They weren't much better, but they have an excuse - they ARE actually crap,
3) Robbie Savage is a cheating, diving, nasty little tosspot. He spat at McAllister too, the dirty, scarecrow looking bastard.
4) We should definitely have had a penalty,
5) Only Steven Gerrard played anywhere near decent, the rest were way below par,
6) Christian Ziege has to be the laziest player EVER to pull on the red shirt.
Obviously Robbie's mistake led to the first goal, but I wasn't happy with Houllier reaction to it afterwards. Yes, it was a mistake, but it was not as bad as the one by Ziege at Leeds, or Henchoz at Spurs, yet I don't remember GH blaming them so publicly afterwards. The other thing is that Robbie shouldn't have even been back there anyway, but Houllier for some unknown reason insists on bringing everyone back to defend corners. I'd leave at least two, possibly even three players up front, as the opposition have to leave men back to cover them, and this in turn means less people in the box to get in the goalkeepers way.
But back to Ziege. This guy annoys me so much it's untrue. He can't play left back because he likes to go walkabout too much. He can't play left midfield either because he just doesn't track back and always leaves Carra exposed. His workrate is non-existant, and the only thing he has going for him are his truly wonderful set pieces. Such is the quality on his delivery from wide areas that he is almost worth a place in the side on the strength of that alone. Almost, but not quite.
What irritates me even more, is the fact that many of the fans can't see this. Why is his name chanted whenever he comes over to take a throw in? Someone like Jamie Carragher works his nuts off for the side, and gives everything for the cause every single game, yet hardly ever sees his efforts rewarded in the form of recognition from the fans. Yet this lazy, good for nothing, over priced, over paid prima donna gets his name chanted all the time. Most knowledgeable fans in the game? Not any more it would seem.
My fear is that this type of defeat could become a regular occurence in the league for the remainder of this season. If we continue to progress in the cups, we will be playing a hell of a lot of games, and something will have to give. I fear it will be the Premiership. I'm not saying the players will deliberately ease off, but I do think they may raise their games more for the big cup ties. Personally, if that is the case I think I can live with it, as we should still have enough to clinch a top three spot given the lack of qulaity teams around us.
What today showed though, was that if you take Smicer and Litmanen out of the side, we have very little creativity. Perhaps that is an area we should be looking to strengthen in the summer. Joe Cole perhaps?
TEAM: Sander Westerveld; Markus Babbel, Sami Hyypia, Stephane Henchoz (Michael Owen), Jamie Carragher; Nick Barmby (Danny Murphy), Gary McAllister (Dietmar Hamann), Steven Gerrard, Christian Ziege; Emile Heskey, Robbie Fowler:
