The first half was terrible and the team selection was the main cause of that. Rodgers seemed to have created a coccoon to protect Gerrard, with Henderson, Sterling, Allen and Lucas surrounding him. The idea seemed to be they would win the ball and Gerrard would recieve it from them. This would provide the platform for the attack. Unfortunately this fell apart because, goal aside (though it was a fantastic goal), Gerrard had a pretty terrible game.
It didn't help that Lambert was in front of him on his own and Gerrard kept trying to slide balls through for him to run on to. Still, Lambert's contribution was minimal and he was rightly withdrawn at the start of the second half. Markovic and Moreno came on and offered a lot of pace, which opened up the game. Prior to that, with no outlet up fron Liverpool were pinned back and the defence was under incredible pressure. From the off in the second half the running of Markovic, Srerling and Moreno forced Basel back and Liverpool looked like scoring. Then came the red card.
I digress amoment here, because Iread the OPs appraisal of that. For me, that's not even a free. A yelow for simulation when play stops in fact. A hand off gone awry? How the hell is that red card. Intent? Intent to what? Brush his cheek? Fucking hell. No, the ref saw the player go down and went for the card beause that is reflex action these days. Balls was that a red. However, fixating on that only serves to deflect from the problems with the team. More on that in a moment.
After the red card Liverpool actually looked a lot more spirited. In fact they pushed and pushed hard for an equalizer. They got the equalizer (great free kick) and then pushed for a winner. They were unlucky and I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed the second half, red card aside. However, it was all a bit harum scarum. It's not a blueprint for future success, it's a one off frenzy. More worryingly it will have worn the team out. Will Gerrard be rested for United away? Of course not. He will be huffing and puffing away in the middle, probably to no avail. I fear for the weekend.
Were their positives? Well, Markovic was good for 15 minutes, he's starting to look the part. I thought Moreno did well when he came on. Sterling is still our brightest spark. The fightback was also impressive. Besides that there are a lot of concerns though.
I keep reading about the failed transfers of the summer and yes, Lambert, Balotelli and Lovren have so far been udnerwhelming. But Manquilo, Moreno, Lallana, Markovic and Can have all shown promise on many occassions throughout the season. Their continued under deployment makes less and less sense the more you see the team underperforming. And that is the crux of the problem for me.
So many established players are playing poorly. Last night Henderson was deployed on the left of the midfield. He was atrocious, has been for a while. His touch, passing, speed were all off. He kept having top use his right leg, I have never seena more uncomfortable winger. SUre, he runs around a lot, but I could do that. Allen added nothing last night, liek a staging post between point A and point B. Himself and Lucas spent the game getting in each others way. Johnson kept switching off last night, allowing players to run off his shoulder and in behind. We complain about Lovren (who actually had a decent second half I feel) but when a FB stands and allows a player to run diagonally in front of him and in behind the CB, then only one person is to blame. Johnson did that on several occassions last night, letting Basel's forward get through ona a 1-on-1 that Enrique had to snuff out. And Enrique hardly covered himself in glory either.
I am increasingly finding Rodger's decision-making difficult to understand. Yes, it's clear that if he had to he would stick Gerrard in goals just to get him on the pitch. That decison can be argued. But there are others being made I am struggling to understand. Did he catch Manquilo shitting in his coffee? Johnson is out of contract soon and there is no sign of it being renewed, he has done nothing to suggest he is significantly better than Manquilo, so why keep him out the side. Similalrly I can only assume that when Rodgers stared into his defiled coffee mug, he spied a coiled turd belonging to Borini in there as well. Othewise how do you explain starting a must win game with one 34 year old striker in your entire match day squad. For that matter why start a must win game with three tacklers in an unbalanced 4-2-3-1? Surely more technical players that can open up a side like Lallana and Coutinho should have started?
His selection to start was all wrong, far too cautious, dogs of war against technicians. Liverpool got beaten in teh first half when it counted, the second was pure adrenaline. It was all very depressing, not in the context of this game alone, but in the experience of the season as whole. It feels like teh side is on autopilot until Sturiidge-the-saviour returns.
In case you can't guess I am still slightly miffed, but mostly more depressed than ususal. Normally I am annoyed after a game but calm down and reflect more positively. This time I was excited by the second half, but on reflection realise it was once again largely a frustrating game.