First time I've watched us properly in a while (for one reason or another) and right from the off I almost didn't recognise this team as Liverpool FC. Almost.
I'm not even talking about the almost pathological mental weakness - more of that later - but the complete absence of any sort of fluidity expected of a top level professional football team, never mind one that is repeatedly (ad nauseam) touted as aspiring to a Catalan-flavoured passing machine. Death by football? There's two sides to that coin, Brendan. We saw the folly of that claim against Swansea, who are ever-increasingly looking like the real deal of that model (and at a fraction of the cost, Mr Henry) as they then repeated again 4 days later in Spain.
A surprisingly good start to the season has been set back but as a few posters have already mentioned, this defeat was about much more than the mere loss of 3 points. It's one thing for a certain section of support to get carried away prematurely by the league table, but when the previous 4 final whistles are greeted more with relief, it's criminal that the same complacent attitude is adopted by the manager and players.
I'm not going to dwell on Rodgers but he has to carry a lot of the blame. Right from the off, we all knew it. It was a bizarre and indefensible (literally as it turned out) lineup that would have even given cold sweats to Claudio Ranieri. To me, it suggested his judgment was clouded with the taste of his Barclays Manager of the Month champagne. Complacency and almost certainly ego. Both attributes he's likely picked up from his mentor, the one currently publicly bemoaning that his £200m-side is made up of pub players in need of therapy.
With the manager having hamstrung the side before a ball was kicked, the players (bar a couple of exceptions) then did their utmost to show just how bad an afternoon it could get. Skrtel's mistake was pure Skrtel. Agger's lapse was pure Agger, except without the lung busting byline run and assist response we've almost come to expect of our vice-captain. But as often with CB mistakes, the core symptoms lie about 30 yards in front of them.
Talking of captaincy, the Huyton elephant in the room took another John Noakes-sized dump in the studio. A captain has to do at least one of two things on the pitch, either provide leadership, organise and motivate performances, or lead by example. Gerrard did neither and let's be brutally honest, hasn't done so for some time now. He therefore really has no business being on the pitch currently, least of all in CM. A couple of weeks off minimum is called for, with Allen (who has a lot of faith to restore in his signing) coming back in. Of course that requires serious balls from our manager to avoid the accusation that Gerrard picks himself and his position. It's not a criticism as such, there's a few predecessors that could be levelled at but at least Rodgers has the rationale to do it now and if he wants to be taken really seriously as a manager, then this is what he is paid the big bucks for.
A brief mention of our FB problems. Enrique has had a lobotomy, no doubt about it. He didn't have much grey matter to begin with. So I can't say I miss him from the starting lineup. Cissokho's injury is a real setback no doubt, particularly in tandem with Johnson's. And seriously, where the fuck was Martin Kelly? Southampton at home? Was there a more ideal opportunity to reintegrate such a quality young player at RB? Putting Toure and Sakho at FB is like having Gisele and Candice round your place one evening, and asking them to do the dishes and sort the laundry.
I've been quietly impressed with Henderson over the past 6 months. Ok ok, impressed is overegging it a bit. Reassured is a better description. But here yet again, I see those unmistakeable Kuytish qualities. Sadly not the freakishly fortunate goal-poaching ones. So much pained effort for so little output or indeed quality. A player that needs everyone else to be on top form for him to be dragged up to that level. We should aspire to better, as per Shelvey.
With Coutinho recovering from GBH at the hands of a Brummie thug (one who Rodgers was overruled from signing), and Sturridge clearly as fit as a butcher's wife as opposed to his dog, the need for Suarez' return was almost palpable. That said, we're still a one-man team on this evidence. Our Brazilian playmaker has no cover. Alberto is very talented by all accounts but is not ready at this level yet. Passing up Eriksen was stupid, let's be honest, particularly when Rodgers loaned out Suso and spent £8m on Aspas, a player who even on early evidence looks to be as useful and effective as an unfortunate hybrid of Nabil El Zhar and David Ngog.
So where does that leave us? Passing this off as a "temporary glitch" would be a big mistake. There are fundamental problems still to be fixed, and those expecting our bitey Uruguyan to instantly reintroduce himself as a badge-kissing goal machine may be disappointed. Rodgers has shown some nous in seeing Kolo as a relatively cheap voice of vast experience and example. But he sorely needs to repeat that in January with Xabi, before Juve turn his head. Three more years of an older but smarter Alonso pulling strings in our midfield should not even need thinking about, less so in our current midfield predicament. For one, Lucas would break out his capoeira routine if it came to pass.
All of which leads us back to mentality. That was supposed to have been addressed. No evidence for that so far after over a year. It appears weaker than ever. Never mind the Chimp Complex, Dr Steve "Supposed Miracle Worker" Peters could easily put his one-day-a-week Melwood experience to some actual use and write a follow-up called the Deer Reflex. And never mind the players, by the looks of it the manager could do with regular one-on-one sessions himself.
