I usually don't mind writing match reports after poor results, I take some perverse pleasure in spending that night reflecting on the display which has caused me such displeasure and frustration only hours earlier. The therapeutic effect is however absent tonight as I take no pleasure whatsoever in writing this report. I've spent the last six weeks whining, bitching and moaning about the lack ofÊ.Oh enough already. I really thought that things would be different today. And for the first ten minutes they certainly were. The reaction we all wanted. Attacking, quality football, plenty of width and urgency, creating chance after chance and thenÊÊÊ after eight minutes disaster struckÊWe scored. Paul Jones spilled a Hamann shot and in true fashion Michael Owen gobbled up the scraps - because thatŽs all he's fed on these day's. More fool me for thinking that this could end up being a rout and that we'd continue to go about the remaining 82 minutes in the same vain of the aforementioned brand of free-flowing football. More fool me for assuming that we would actually create another clear cut chance for the rest of the whole game.
I'm so frustrated by our tactics now that I feel like throwing up. Manchester United would have won 6-0 today given that kind of start. Instead, we decide to sit on a 1-0 lead after just 8 minutes damn it! This hands the initiative to the opposition. In the early part of the season teams failed to grab it, in the last six weeks they have. I look back at games like Derby (away), Tottenham (home), and Charlton (away), in which we came under massive second half pressure but survived somewhat fortuitously - our luck has run out.
Houllier's team selection was Shite! (and don't tell me he's not picking the team) Our worst three performers against Arsenal, Murphy and Berger and Heskey (even though only a sub) were all rewarded with starts. Emile put in his best performance in a while, but taking into account the difference he made as a sub, with Anelka playing from the start who knows?
I'm sick of defending Danny Murphy. He was by no means the worst player on the pitch today and the cheering when he was substituted was nothing short of disgraceful, I was ashamed to be a Liverpool fan at 4:30 today. I'm so pissed off with going to Anfield at the moment. Nil entertainment value, no atmosphere, a huge amount of knobheads, shit-loads of day trippers asking me for programmes and horrible filthy touts on every corner. Fuck it!
Just think how Danny must have felt leaving the field? He must have wished the ground would open up and swallow him? I know everyone reading this won't have booed him, because these people only go to the 'official' site and The S*n for their match reports. This has to stop.
If these 'fans' are to single out players, then at least look at the ones who aren't earning their money. I've been a big fan of Paddy Berger's throughout the years and don't want to turn my back on him as soon as the milk starts to turn. But on the other hand "If the milk starts to go sour, I'm not the kind of pussy to drink it" (© Lock Stock...) and Berger has been Shite all season. He's been allowed more than enough time to recover from injury and no longer can he use this as an excuse. I just can't figure out what the problem is, but what I can figure out is, if he plays that badly on Tuesday then we're even less likely to cause an upset.
Southampton's equaliser came as a real sucker punch, but again it served us right as we should have wrapped the game up in the first half. The Saints are shit and were ALLOWED to come back into the game by our own ineptitude and lack of testicular fortitude. It was a real Babb and Ruddock goal to give away and I thought those day's were long gone. Thommo did get one thing right when he mentioned the lack of confidence is affecting our solidarity at the back and although none of the back four had particularly bad games, they looked dodgy as a unit. Southampton were without their Owen in James Beattie and still did enough to win the game, Jesus Christ.
From the equaliser onwards, Strachan's side more than matched us and had the best of the chances which in itself is a sorry state of affairs. The shot from Tessem which hit the bar deserved to win the match and Kevin Davies (Why can't I keep my big mouth shut? "Kevin Davies? He's playing? ha ha ha") Should have netted from the follow up, our only decent chance came from Gary McAllister but he fluffed the shot.
We all know what the problems are so I'm not going to insult your intelligence by spelling them out again. What I do believe is that the current squad is not good enough to take us where we need to be. The chequebook needs to come out and not with the un-ambitious signing of Trevor Sinclair who is not good enough for Liverpool football club, especially at the price they're quoting. Even £6m is way over the odds. Multiply that number by three and go out and buy Kily Gonzales, Valencia will sell at the right price they always do.
As the late great Owen Hart once said; "Enough is enough and it's time for a change"
Starting on Tuesday.
TEAM: Jerzy Dudek; Jamie Carragher, Stephane Henchoz, Sami Hyypia, John Arne Riise; Danny Murphy (Gary McAllister), Steven Gerrard, (Vladimir Smicer, Nicolas Anelka), Patrik Berger, Michael Owen, Emile Heskey:
