Sell Owen, Sack GH, Buy Yorke!
Well, after walls had taken a beating all over Merseyside, it’s a shame that such a fine season has been all but ended by game with so little commitment. Tackles were half hearted, passes were astray and the game was played with no urgency. This is where Stevie Gerrard is needed, but we’ve been without him for many games this year and won.
Abel Xavier came back in, and criticism has been fierce for him recently. I would rather Stephen Wright be played there in all honesty, but the criticism of him seems to be that he has been made into a bit of a scapegoat. If it wasn’t for him it could’ve been worse, as his last ditch tackle on Poyet showed.
Smicer went from being Man Of The Match last Saturday to, well whatever the opposite of that is. He seemed to bottle challenges and never got into the game. It was a surprise when Man Of The Match Danny Murphy was brought off instead of Smicer.
The game got off to a great start too, after an eighth minute Emile Heskey header was cleared off the line by Tarrico with Keller beaten, and John Arne Riise saw his glanced header crash against the post. It was a dangerous start by the Reds, and looked likely to be yet another three away points.
Murphy had an amazing period in the first half, showing great vision, and being the heart of the Liverpool moves. Unfortunately, no one else wanted to carry that on.
Jamie Carragher on the left looked a shadow of his normally solid self, letting Simon Davies get past him too much. Carragher still had a decent game, but once or twice he let Davies get in too much. When John Arne Riise pulled back, Carra seemed better.
After their goal, Liverpool seemed to not know what they were doing. The passing was astray, there was no urgency. It looked like Tottenham were the title contenders, and Liverpool were the ones with nothing to play for.
If, at the start of the season, you were told that we wouldn’t win the title, you’d be disappointed. If you were then told the full story, of GH’s illness, Michael and Stevie’s injuries, you’d be proud that we did what we did. We should go out fully for second, and the lads should get their heads up. Next year we will improve, and some of the points dropped at Southampton, Everton, Fulham and Bolton won’t be lost.
Today, the back four had a very, very rare off day. They looked like four individuals and not the unit that we know. It wasn’t the opposition, as a defence that has kept Batistuta, Kluivert and Rivaldo out are hardly likely to be troubled by fucking Teddy Sheringham are they? An off day for the unit, but Hyypia and Henchoz came out of this with their reputation still high. Henchoz was his usual self, tackling, passing and keeping things safe. Sami kept to the ‘SH’ tradition with another great display.
Danny Murphy did his World Cup hopes no harm with a great display. Spud has recently shown his real talent, and his creativity and vision today was great. Obviously, now he’ll be going to the World Cup and end up breaking his leg or something. Be just our luck that..
Vladimir Smicer looked like he wanted to be on a beach somewhere, and was bottling tackles everywhere. He ended up getting injured, but it’s no surprise when you go in like that. We saw odd glimpses of pace and skill, but not enough.
To keep Litmanen on the bench until about 10 minutes were remaining was weird, especially when Smicer was on. It’s very rare that I criticise a player badly, but the lack of effort today really got to me.
So, it’s another case of ‘next years the one’. But, this time it will be. I can honestly say, I believe next year we will be champions. GH will strengthen the squad in the summer and we will sell some of the deadwood. Some fans are under the illusion that we are miles behind United and Arsenal, but were not. A few more players and we’ll have it.
Team: Dudek; Xavier (Berger), Hyypia, Henchoz, Carragher; Murphy* (Litmanen), Smicer, Riise, Hamann; Owen, Heskey (Anelka)
