Just what the hell is wrong with this team? Time and time again they get themselves into winning positions away from home, only to then throw it away with stupid mistakes and sloppy play. Travelling around the country watching this team is becoming a real pain in the arse, and after games like this I wonder I bother. Actually getting to the game itself was a nightmare, in fact I felt like Steve Martin in Plains, Trains and Automobiles. I half expected to wake up this morning with John Candy's hand stuck between the cheeks of my arse (yes, I know, I need to get a life) such was the similarities of this day to that film. I won't bore you all with the details, so let's just say that between the unreliability of Virgin trains and the ridiculous traffic in London, the journey was a little more complicated (not to mention stressful) than it should have been.
Still, when we started so brightly and took the lead through Fowler, I was happy enough. So much so that I almost forgot about the blatant penalty we should have been awarded. Still, we don't get those decisions away from home, do we? At 1-0, we were in total control. The Spurs fans were subdued, and the only peep coming from them was a half hearted 'Sugar Out" chant. On the pitch they were posing no threat whatsoever, and then Henchoz decides that he is really Alan Hansen in disguise, and suddenly it's 1-1, Spurs have their tails up, and you knew what was coming next.
Westerveld should have cut out the cross before it reached Ferdinand, but Henchoz was the real culprit. Mind you, Babbel should have cut the ball out before it even reached Henchoz, but his reactions were painfully slow and laboured. Much like his whole performance actually. He is not a right back, of that I'm now sure.
The second goal can also be partly put down to Babbel, as he stepped out to play offfside, but then stood there with his arm raised instead of playing to the whistle. Still, the defence pushed out to catch Ferdinand offside, which they did, and the linesman should have raised his flag. Forget all this bullshit about 'active' and 'inactive'. That should only apply when a striker has closed down the goalkeeper and is running back, not when he's been too slow to react when the defence has pushed up. As Shanks always used to say, if he's not interfering with play, he shouldn't be on the pitch. That was a bad decision, and it cost us.
After that, we had our chances, but Owen was pretty wasteful, and still doesn't seem to have recovered from that knock on the head. Robbie looked pretty sharp, but tired badly towards the end. Oh how we missed Heskey. With him in the side, we'd have buried Spurs, I'm sure. Even so, we deserved a point from the game, but no more.
Only Danny Murphy can hold his head up after this one, although his afternoon was ended in agony courtesy of a two footed lunge from the otherwise anonymous Rebrov. Not surprisingly, the referee (who I have never seen before, and hopefully never will again) ignored it. He also ignored Sherwood's late, studs first challenge on Traore, but he managed to spot an imaginary foul by Babbel and yellow carded him for it. Fucking disgraceful, and he played a large part in our downfall today.
However, despite the ref's bias, we still only have ourselves to blame. We made stupid mistakes, and we didn't create enough. Gary Mac had his worst game since coming here, and as for Hamann, well don't get me started on that lazy, lanky string of Bavarian piss. How many crosses did he balloon into the crowd? If it were up to me, I'd have him practising crossing for two hours after training every day until he gets it right. There's no excuse for a professional footballer, under no pressure to be unable to deliver a ball into a space eighteen yards wide, no excuse whatsoever.
And what about Smicer? He occasionally plays well at Anfield, and he's done well away from home when used behind a lone striker, but against Spurs he was nowhere to be seen. It appeared that his job was to stop Steven Carr, but surely it should be the other way around? Vladi can't defend, so he should have been pushing Carr back. He's got ability, we know that, but it's time he started delivering more often. For that to happen though, Houllier needs to use him in a position where he can be effective.
Just what is going wrong with the defence though? If it were the same player making the mistakes, then the olution would be simple, but it isn't. Ziege has shouldered much of the blame of late, but he wasn't even here today. Traore is the most inexperienced, but he did his job and was in no way at fault. Babbel seems to be the biggest problem. I like him in the middle, but as a right back he's shit. Sami hasn't been his usual self this season, although he's still been pretty good. Henchoz has been a bit up and down, but generally he's done okay, and I think a lot of the problem is just a lack of concentration all round.
Westerveld doesn't exactly inspire confidence anymore though does he? We've given away so many goals already this season, and there's no sign of it stopping. I'm worried now, because we can't go on like this. We've got a tough trip to Greece coming up, and I can see a hammering of PSG or Strasbourg proportions coming. Both full back spots are a problem for us. We have NO recognised right back. Gerrard is the best option, but he's also our best midfielder too, which is a problem. I don't know exactly what Song has done wrong, but he's better than Babbel. Carragher is pretty steady, but isn't a natural right back, and unless Gerard is prepared to bring in a youngster such as Stephen Wright, then he'll have to get the cheque book out again.
We've been linked to Steven Carr of late, and on this showing it's easy to see why. For me, he's the best right-back in the country, and is ten times better than Babbel. On the other side we've got problems too, as Ziege isn't a left back, and Djimi is still too raw to play every week.
There's a lot of work to be done on the training ground to sort out the mess we're in at the back, but if the players aren't prepared to concentrate for ninety minutes then there's not much GH and Thommo can do about it except bring in players who will concentrate.
TEAM: Sander Westerveld; Markus Babbel, Stephane Henchoz, Sami Hyypia, Djimi Traore (Nick Barmby); Danny Murphy (Jamie Carragher), Dietmar Hamann, Gary McAllister, Vladimir Smicer (Steven Gerrard); Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen:
