I missed the game, heard the result, heard the negative reports and downloaded the game and watched it. I was expecting a big period of Wolves pressure but instead saw a comfortable victory, with some sloppy defending for the goal being the most obvious negative. Wolves had some good possession for ten, fifteen minutes but did little with it other than horse it in the mixer. Besides that there were some very clear, open chances (Suarez volley saved, Carroll against the post, Downing 1 on 1 saved etc.) So, likely 4 or 5 goal chances wasted and still a comfortable win. I think when you watch it back, minus the nerves, its a much clearer cut victory. But, as a number of posters have noted, not all is rosy in the camp.
Starting with the defense, yes we are sitting too deep. However, I don't really blame the back four. The midfield is so open in front of them, they are almost forced to drop deep. If any of you have ever played a game in defense you will know what I'm talking about. If you are looking up and all you see are opposition midfielders pouring forward, then your reaction will be to drop deep and protect your goal. That's not to say the back four are blameless. Carragher is clearly labouring. However, Johnny Giles had an interesting point to make on that, on Irish radio. He said Carragher takes on a lot of responsibility and therefore is more subject to scrutiny. I feel he is right, that in many ways Skrtel is hiding behind the personality of Carragher. As Jamie screams, organises and attacks every ball, Skrtel is a much meeker presence, more inclined to sit back and let Carragher do the talking. That would be fine if Skrtel was in the same mold as Agger, but he's not. At the minute his is a liability, rash tackles, high feet, weak headers. He's really started poorly this year. The saving grace for both has been the excellence of the FBs; Kelly, despite being continuously exposed has done well and Enrique is a fine acquisition. These two have done a lot of covering for the flakiness of the CBs.
The real problem as I see it stems from midfield. Downing is a flyer going forward and a real combination with Enrique. Going backwards, largely anonymous. that in itself would not be so problematic if it weren't for the inferior performances of Adam and Henderson. Adam worries me. Yesterday the commentator described him as 'tugging a caravan' and he's not far wrong. Honestly, he is Poulsen with a better range of passing. Too many times yesterday he was just coming in to view, trailing behind the rest of the side, as the back four were desperately trying to fend off a whole host of attacking midfielders. He was particularly poor for the goal, not reacting to the man snaffling up the loose ball and being in the wrong position to cut out the pullback. He just seemed to be standing in no mans land as the striker had a free shot from 6 yards. Besides this hos overall performance was just low in quality. He does not deserve his spot on this form and in my opinion offers less than Spearing right now.
Similarly Henderson is not nearly playing well enough to warrant his place. He was all over the place yesterday and left Kelly enormously exposed. Going forward he offered even less. He is not a RM; if you don't believe me, look what he does when he gets the ball on the wing. His first reaction is to pass backwards, a cautious approach. That's not what wingers do, they attack the outside. That wouldn't be so bad if he was tough in defense, but too often he is nowhere to be seen. He gets pulled into the middle leaving the flank (and the FB) fatally exposed. He is clearly a midfielder playing out of position, like Meireles was last year.
The difference yesterday was the forward line. Carroll was excellent showing a range of passing I never suspected he had. He doesn't have anything like the movement of Torres, but he was far more mobile and powerful yesterday. Once he faded, the problems in the middle became far more obvious. Suarez was terrific again yesterday and his rage at being subbed warmed the cockles of my heart. Too fucking right, I would never want to be taken off either.
What stayed with me yesterday though was how average that side looked. They were no different from a whole host of premier sides. They are miles off a United, a Chelsea or a city. Then again, that's not really our measuring stick this year, but of the second tier sides I would say Liverpool are currently fielding the weakest midfiedl and that's where all our current travails are stemming from. The solution (to me) is obvious. Kuyt must be brought in and Adam and Henderson must be taken out (for either Spearing or Gerrard). The other solution is a five man midfield (with Adam at its apex) and that might be the most sensible for Everton away and United at home. Those are killer games at this stage of the season and I can see us getting torn apart by their respective midfields unless we pack them. That might seem a bit harsh on Carroll (the obvious loser) but needs must at this stage.
This might seem a little negative, but I think we are going to get thumped in the next two games. I can't see Dalglish dropping either Adam or Henderson, two players I (currently) regard as liabilities. If you offered me two points now for the next two games, i would take your hand off. The fact is if we get through those two games relatively undamaged, we have about 6 straightforward games that can be used to gel the side and iron out the current kinks in the side. That gets us to January when we can have another go at squad building.
So, to sum up, midfield is the problem area that is exacerbating problems elsewhere. Everton away and United at home (I believe) will not end well, but that should be the end of a bad period and the start of a good run of potentially positive games that will allow the team to gel as a unit.
