In isolation, the game was as expected. We were beaten by the best side in the league at present. I think it more useful to reflect on the season to date, for which this game represents a useful measure.
I’m strongly of the opinion that the concerns about our transfers and by extension, trying to apportion blame elsewhere than our manager is simply an expression of the current disappointments. We don’t like to blame our manager for failures and so seek some other target. I see no evidence that Brendan is not largely or entirely responsible for the players we have chosen. He has not indicated otherwise at any stage despite the immense pressure now on him, nor does anyone seriously doubt that core transfer targets such as Lallana and Lovren were his first choices (or at least, when the transfer window was open, few doubted this, whatever the current revisionism).
My view is that I am entirely supportive of the manager’s choices. I would argue that most are showing promise or actively doing well - individually, at least, and when played. Only Lovren and Balotelli can be considered suspect of the additions (in my view) and one can make an argument that both have their potential upsides. Lovren I will address later, and I must disclose that I have a personal bias against Mario and his way of behaving, but one can see he is not comfortable in the lone striker role and should surely only be judged once he has a consistent partner up front.
Moreno has been good and will certainly improve the weaknesses he occasionally shows. Can has been good and improves each match. Manquillo too. Markovic has been patchy but showed some of his possibilities against Madrid and is young yet. Lambert I can honestly offer little opinion on, as he has played so little. He has made a difference however, when coming on late in a number of matches.
No, for me the problem is not the personnel brought in, but the players we already have and more so: the way Brendan is setting up the team and his apparently inexplicable choices - including the apparent refusal to play certain players. No transfer committee, nor FSG, or any other scapegoats de jour choose the way we play and the players we chose to execute that plan. This is the manager’s choice.
So, I have spent some time to reflect on what Brendan is trying to do. It is a sadness of the game (as with politics) that a manager cannot spend some time talking reasonably to the fans about what his vision is, how he is trying to implement that plan and why he makes the choices he does. This invites the vacuum to be filled with speculation, blame-mongering and general panic. Or more usefully, support and faith. Football shares much with religion in this regard.
In regard to last season, it is widely accepted that we lost the title because of our defence. What is less often referenced is that we significantly over-achieved and this has created unprecedented pressures for what was probably a five year plan. I consider that the expected milestone was for us to improve in the second half of that season and have a strong run into fifth place. No-one could have foreseen United having quite that level of catastrophe. Additionally, no-one could have foreseen the victorious run we had and its shape. If we had lost or drawn a couple of the games in January or February (i.e. Chelsea and Palace had happened then) we would have had a fabulous, uplifting drive to fifth or fourth even, an accomplishment with which our fans would have been very satisfied. Getting second was always going to be a millstone, because we were and are a long way from being experienced enough to fulfil the expectations of doing it again or one better.
Getting back into the UEFA Cup would have given us European experience (both players and manager) and we would have built a squad to gain from that experience of playing several times a week. Since I believe that scouting is a long term investment of time and analysis rather than a swift punt decided the night before over a fag and a beer, I think that our targets over the summer reflected exactly this preparation. Most balanced commentators could see what we were trying to do in building the squad and enhancing depth and positions.
Getting the Champions League so soon put a lot of pressure on our decision making. We reacted well by trying to sign Sanchez but most of the manager’s targets were/are evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Fans also seem to think (at least from what I read here and elsewhere) that CL automatically brings vast wealth and a queue of world class talent demanding to be signed. The reality is that unless a club is perceived as being a permanent presence, few players will be tempted. (United rather demonstrates this, as most players and their agents will have viewed last year as a blip, just as they viewed our success as the same. That’s why United has massively over-paid on wages - to ensure it was a blip, otherwise they are screwed). People get disgruntled that we are not buying ‘world class’ even though that is simply not going to happen with just the one season qualification.
So, Brendan rightly chooses to continue with the plan and develop the experience needed whilst in the Champions League. Unfortunately, the expectation of LFC fans in that competition is so massively higher than even the Premier League. Look at the reaction to an eminently sensible and pragmatic decision for the game at the Bernabeu.
Back to the defence. I think Brendan has reacted to the poor defending we saw last season by going back to his beliefs and original plan - owning the ball as the best defence. From my observations, he strongly believes that competent possession of the ball and strong pressure, allied to a fluid and dangerous attack (which by its nature, keeps opposition teams honest and nervous) is a surer plan that also provides an attacking platform. He also believes in playing from the back so as to control the game.
With the SAS, this game plan went by the board by and large, although we tried to implement it a fair number of games. We got away with a lot last season because during our run, teams got mesmerised and then terrified of our pace. However, it actually only took three months for the better managers to get wise to what we were doing and where our weaknesses lay. By the end, we were being found out (we all remember Chelsea and Palace, but do you remember the squeaky bum-fest that was the Norwich game?)
Without Suarez, we were not going to replicate last season, and it was not going to be sustainable to play that way even with him. That meant that Brendan has had to try and coach a more measured approach to try and develop a defensive capability commensurate with a league campaign - let alone the Champions League, where away goals are so crucial and teams so much more lethal - as well as preserving the fluid attack. Playing like last season in the CL would have seen us badly mauled, in my opinion. We might have scored, but in that competition, opponents would have scored more and we would have scored less.
I can therefore see why he would have bought Lovren and expected him to play alongside Sakho as our first choice defence. What scouting analysis cannot tell you is how the individual pieces, once combined, will react to the plan and the coaching in the real world. It is clear to me that one or other of those two has simply failed to adjust to Brendan’s coaching - in my view, more Lovren than Sakho. He seems to be suffering a serious crisis of confidence. In the light of this, Brendan has erred on the side of caution and kept Skrtel in the team. He has also stayed with using Gerrard as the defensive midfielder - perhaps through loyalty, more probably because after last season, virtually no manager could drop Gerrard. That time and decision is looming large however, as the centre backs are now so exposed, their confidence is plummeting or gone. I was struck by how Lucas brought not only composure against Madrid, but that his presence shored up Mignolet’s performance too - he came off his line, punched well and looked a different keeper. Toure too, brought the leadership needed and which Lovren was reputed to deliver. For this reason, I consider Lovren to be our only serious transfer mistake, and yet experience tells me that we should give a man a lot longer than 11 games to prove himself. In my view, Lovren’s confidence is shot and he would be best served being taken out of the firing line and coached to fulfil the partnership with Sakho that I believe was originally planned before returning.
The very poor and deeply frustrating playing of passes deep at the back is both symptomatic and diagnostic of our defence’s lack of belief. Brendan has to take responsibility for this - it is his plan. Yet Toure showed against Madrid that confident, forward driving play is possible. It is relatively high risk, but much less than the panicky messing around that pressure inevitably brings. Unfortunately, with Gerrard and Balotelli in the side we tend to give away possession too cheaply in the midfield - this just brings the ball straight back at us, which is not Brendan’s defensive plan at all. Most of our experienced players from last year are tending to lose possession easily. To compound this, they are also taking too long on the ball and not moving fluidly off the ball. This strikes me as both adjustment to new demands (i.e. less sure than they were that someone would be available and demanding the ball) and a conflict in the mind - high risk one touch pass or safety first possession? This takes time to coach and I see an improvement developing in both new and experienced players.
The one genuine omission from the transfer window was finding a player to add to our strike force. Sanchez was a good attempt, frustrated by the player’s desire to go to Arsenal. Remy showed good thinking, and Origi may well prove to be a good answer next year. As I noted earlier, Balotelli bemuses me as I don’t see how he fits anywhere, but I can see that as a partner to Sturridge, there may have been a strong argument. We’ll see shortly. Yet the interesting thing for me is that the self-professed experts have not suggested any names that we could have reasonable had a chance of signing. That probably means that there weren’t any, that Balotelli became a gamble worth taking and that we have may have some ideas in January when some teams are no longer in the CL and thus more willing to deal.
No, I’m generally comfortable with our signings and what I think Brendan is trying to do. What thoroughly baffled me was why he sticks with a clearly malfunctioning unit, despite clear evidence from games as to what will work and what will not. My reflection is that he may well believe (as many do) that stability is absolutely key to developing good habits and embedding his methods. There is some merit in that, as in trusting players to come good when they are being challenged by having to learn new methods. However, I think there has been enough time for players to step up, and some have been over-played in this attempt to preserve stability. Other members of the team have shown the ability to implement the plan and deserve a chance to keep their place.
I think Brendan is greatly in need of our support and understanding. His methods are not about instantaneous success, but embedded, long term thinking. Van Gaal’s United are showing that spending stupid money on transfers and wages is not a guarantee of anything. Pellegrini’s City are wobbling despite having spent a billion pounds and paying their players the GDP of several countries each week. Wenger’s Arsenal are inconsistent and missing key pieces despite strong revenues and 16 years continuous Champion’s League. None of them are that far ahead of us. Yet Koeman’s Southampton are showing excellence whilst their players are paid in shiny beads and conch shells so it’s clearly not about money alone as some maintain.
Brendan looked really dispirited in his post match interview after Chelsea. Hearing boos at Anfield may well have hit him hard. I believe he is working really hard to address the concerns we all feel - it’s just not quite coming together and he knows he has hugely difficult decisions to make. I am absolutely sure the players and him are not taking this lightly as some here like to suggest. This is when he truly becomes a Liverpool manager, forged in the fire of expectation and history. He’s got all the tools, all the self-belief needed. he needs, as we do, this time of hard knocks. Nothing of worth is gained easily or without pain. We sometimes forget how little experience he has of the very highest level. It will come, but can only do so through trial.
I used to have this quote by Thomas Paine in my signature and I think it still provides wisdom for this season:
“These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.”
The real test for Brendan comes this next couple of weeks as he ponders the challenges ahead. Will players be chosen on merit? Will he address Gerrard’s decline? Will he adapt his formation and approach to the strengths we show with Daniel in the team?
I’m looking forward to finding out.