Liverpool slumped to defeat again at St Andrews as this topsy turvy season took another turn for the worse. But once again Houllier came out with excuses rather than accept we are just not good enough and he got his tactics wrong.
This was Liverpool’s first league visit to St Andrews for 17 years, although we did play there 3 times in the 1990s in FA Cup and friendly games. All away trips of late seem to have been in London or the North East so it was refreshing to
have a relatively short 90 mile journey down the M6. However the Department of
Transport ensured a lot of this was spent in queues due to roadworks, meaning it took me as long to get there as it did to reach Sunderland.
St Andrews is a funny place, with each entrance almost being cut off from the other. This means if you unsuspectingly approach the ground from the wrong direction you can be sent off on a 10 minute walk to find the right turnstile.
The organisation inside the ground is a bit bizarre too, with two player’s tunnels. The Reds players came out of one to warm up but for the game itself they had to come out of one in another corner. St Andrews must be the only ground in the country with changing rooms behind the goal.
Although only 75% of the way to becoming another faceless bowl, it is 100% complete in terms of annoying hyped up atmosphere. The teams come out to a rendition of ELO’s Mr Blue Sky, with a mascot called Beau doing a lap of honour.
Birmingham have exploited their presence in the top flight to maximum effect, charging away fans £6 more than home fans for an equivalent seat and even getting the Accident Group to sponsor stoppage time.
Houllier refrained from using the phrase ‘turned the corner’ after the Auxerre win, but he did say it could be a springboard for a final push for a Champions League place. Before this game he said we needed to go the rest of the season
unbeaten and challenged his squad to draw on their experience of previous years to do this.
But he would have to make changes for Birmingham, with Henchoz injured and Gerrard and Diouf suspended. This led to recalls for Diao, Cheyrou and Hamman, with Baros preferred to Owen up front.
Birmingham were in desperate need of points themselves, having slipped to within three points of the relegation zone. In the first minute they took the game to Liverpool and Lazaridis headed over when he should have done better. Then Baros
showed just what the Reds have been lacking lately when he went on a great run towards goal. He only ended up with a corner when some support from his team mates may have produced more.
From the resultant corner Carragher went close with a good shot then a few minutes later Baros won a free kick on the edge of the box, which Murphy hit way over the bar.
Liverpool continued the pressure and Cheyrou headed wide, Murphy was denied by a good challenge after being set up by Heskey and Riise had a free kick blocked.
Despite this early Reds pressure Birmingham had still created chances, with perhaps the best of the match so far falling for Dugarry, who fired over the bar from close range. The home side perhaps sensed that Liverpool's defence could be
breached and on 33 minutes Stephen Clemence headed past Dudek to put us 1-0 behind.
The initial response was quite good with Murphy shooting across the face of goal within a minute, but as the half fizzled out it became clear that we had problems. Heskey fluffed a chance when clean through and Riise floated in a free
kick too close to the keeper. Like so many times before, we seemed to have no ideas and despite the pressure we’d put on Birmingham, we still hadn’t had a shot on target.
As the teams came out for the second half, perhaps the reaction of the travelling Reds fans was the most worrying. Our support has been excellent all season, but this time there was an air of despondency and resignation. It’s as if the patience of many has finally snapped. One good result, followed by one or two bad ones has happened far too often.
We haven’t come from behind to win for about 30 games and there was nothing to give us reason to believe we would this time. In contrast, Birmingham’s fans were having a whale of a time, singing their favourite song ‘Shit on the Villa’ and making lot’s of calm down gestures to us.
Cheyrou made a rare incursion into the box soon after the restart and went down for what Houllier would later say was a clear penalty. What was strange though was that very few of the Reds fans directly behind the goal called for it or slagged the referee off when it wasn’t given.
To me Cheyrou seemed to take a dive as soon as he knew he’d lost the ball. One again he had an ineffectual game, hardly contributing anything. He did a few nice touches, but he wasn’t looking for the ball as a playmaker should and he quite clearly isn’t confident about being on the pitch.
10 minutes into the half Liverpool had a first shot on target when a low Hamman free keeper. At the other end we still looked vulnerable, with Dudek having to race out to clear after an underhit Hyypia backpass and the Big Pole himself slicing a clearance straight to one of their players, who was luckily far enough out for us to re-group.
With just under half an hour left Houllier sent on Owen for Carragher. It seemed a decent enough substitution at 1-0 down, but the tactical change that he made backfired within 5 minutes. Rather than be bold and try three at the back,
midfielder Diao was sent to right back and was left exposed as Lazaridis crossed in for Morrison to make the score 2-0.
To make matters worse the goal had come about after we had messed up a free kick at the other end. Once again Houllier
has turned a game with a substitution, but the habit of his changes having a negative effect is an alarming one.
Five minutes later Owen tapped past the keeper following a good ball from Murphy, but there never seemed to be any chance of getting an equaliser. Houllier’s unswerving philosophy of ‘7 men behind the ball’ meant that all
Birmingham had to do was get everyone back and we had no way through.
The away end was less than half full by the time the final whistle came as fans were left wondering just where we go from here. All six sides above us in the league have been to St Andrews this season and none of them have lost. If there was ever a clearer indication that we have lost our way then this is it.
Forget the Champions League, we are scrapping for 6th place and no higher. But the ever upbeat Houllier refused to accept that things are all that bad. He uttered the tedious line of ‘we deserved a draw’ once more and claimed we should have had two penalties. I’m not going to call for his head just yet, but as Dave said in the fanzine if we finish below Everton his position is untenable, a quote he borrowed from me.
With away games to come against Spurs, United, Everton and Chelsea, and Anfield anything but a fortress, the unthinkable is fast becoming the probable.
