Just another of those European nights at Anfield then. After five years out of the Champions League it was too much to expect a routine, comfortable, stress free win. No, that’s not how we do things. It wouldn’t be Liverpool if they didn’t put us through the emotional ringer.
Still, I can’t help but chuckle when thinking of how excited the Blues and Mancs must have gotten - sat in front of their TV sets looking on resentfully - when Ludogorets equalised only to have the smiles wiped off their faces instantly as “Penaltypool” struck again. Looking at it from that perspective it was almost worth conceding that goal! Almost.
I’m just glad we found a way to win as until we re-discover our mojo the only thing that matters is winning. We can talk about how ugly it was afterwards but just get the win.
Thankfully we had our easiest game up first as it’s difficult to envisage us being able to beat Basel in our current state, and the idea of facing Ronaldo, Bale & co at this moment of time puts the fear of God into me. It’s a shame because when we were destroying everyone in our path last season we were all wondering how that team would cope in the Champions League and whether our devastating attack would translate to the big stage.
We’re on that stage now but this is a different team with numerous different players. We’re playing a different system too and it’s beginning to feel like we’re starting from scratch. It’s frustrating, worrying even, but we just have to ride this out and hope it gets better sooner rather than later.
I have to admit that I couldn’t have possibly been any less up for this game beforehand. I don’t know what it was, maybe the Villa game knocked the stuffing out of me or perhaps it was the £59 I’d had to shell out for my ticket, but whatever the reason I really couldn’t be arsed with this at all. After five years absence I expected I'd be buzzing about our first game back, but I wasn't.
As I made my way to my seat the Champions League anthem was blasting out. That’ll get the pulse rating, right? Wrong. All I was thinking was “I hope we don’t shit the bed here”. Thankfully we didn’t, but we were definitely touching cloth until their keeper bailed us out with the rush of blood that gave us the winning penalty.
At the end I was just relieved. I’m still not feeling the Champions League buzz and probably won’t until maybe the Madrid game or possibly if and when we get to the knockouts. Maybe it’s a delayed hangover from how last season ended, but it’s just not the same. I miss the buzz of last year; that feeling that we were going to see something special every time we took to the field. I miss the excitement all week in the build up to games. That’s all gone, with no guarantee it will return.
We’re not in a good place right now. I thought we were after the Spurs game, but losing Sturridge has set us back massively as the team has too much of an unfamiliar look to it at the moment. Balotelli is adjusting to how we play, but we also have to adjust to how he plays if we’re to get the best out of him. There’s no point expecting him to do what Sturridge does as that’s not who he is.
Balotelli and Sturridge have different styles and different strengths, but the positive of that is I can really see them hitting it off as a pair now having watched Mario play. I don’t think he’s suited to the lone striker’s role as he doesn’t run in behind much does he? At least that means he and Sturridge won’t be treading on each others toes.
We’ll be alright when Sturridge is back and the new players are more adjusted and settled, but until then things might be rough. This wasn’t good but at least it was significantly better than Villa. We did put some good moves together and showed some flashes of what we’re capable of, but overall it’s still too disjointed and ineffective.
There was definite improvement though, the build up play to get to the edge of the box was better and we moved the ball a bit quicker than we had at the weekend. What let us down time and again was the final ball. The crossing wasn’t great and the through balls were even worse.
Coutinho bore the brunt of most of the crowd’s frustration and it’s fair to say he’s struggling at the moment. I had some sympathy for him though, because it’s his responsibility to play those defence splitting through balls and be the creator. That carries an element of risk and more often than not those killer passes won’t come off. For the crowd to lose their shit every time an attempted through ball is intercepted is surely counter productive though? Do we want him to stop attempting them? Don’t get me wrong, if he never took another shot in his life no-one would be happier than me, but we need him to keep trying to create as that's his job.
To his credit he never hides and constantly wants the ball, but he’s doing very little with it which is somewhat surprising given how electric he looked in pre-season. With everyone fit does he even get into our best eleven anymore? He’s not in mine; he’s rotating with Joe Allen depending on who the opposition are.
Adam Lallana isn’t in it either, not yet anyway. It’s unfair to make any kind of judgement on him though as he looks to get up to speed after missing pre-season. He was poor in this game and seemed to be taking too many touches on the ball at times and slowing things down, but he did manage two attempts on goal, which is something at least.
Had he been able to convert when picked out by Henderson then we’d be talking about one of the finest team goals of the season. The move was brilliant but Lallana was lacking a little sharpness with the finish, although in his defence the pass was slightly behind him which made it more difficult.
He had another effort that was parried by the keeper but the longer the game went the less of a factor he was and he was eventually replaced (along with Coutinho) when Brendan finally accepted his 4-3-3 wasn’t working and switched to the diamond.
It’s incredible how much more of a threat we look when we have two up front. It’s not even about the identity of the two either, as Borini didn’t do anything spectacular when he came on but his mere presence helped everybody else. Especially Balotelli. We've scored eight goals this season, and seven have come when playing two up front.
Within a minute of the formation switch we almost scored. Balotelli dropped deep to collect the ball and sprayed it wide to Manquillo. The young full back whipped in a first time cross and Borini headed goalwards only for the keeper to tip it over the bar. That chance simply doesn’t happen if we’re playing 4-3-3.
We were starting to get a little bit of momentum going but the danger of being hit on the break was looming large. They’d had a couple of really good chances; first when Lovren conceded a cheap throw in and Gerrard fell asleep and allowed the centre forward to run off the back of him and shoot just over, and then an even closer call when Sakho got megged on the edge of the box and the same striker hit the post.
We’d had a couple of opportunities too. Manquillo poked one over after a great ball by Henderson and the new vice captain himself should have scored when he headed a Moreno cross just wide of the far post.
Having waited so long for any goal we ended up with a flurry of them in the final eight minutes. Mario’s goal was ace, he took it really well and it should give him a lot of confidence now that he’s got that out of the way. The control and finish were brilliant and just what he needed as I’m pretty sure he was about be subbed for Lambert at any moment.
That should have been the winner, although he went close to adding a second soon after with a thunderbolt from 18 yards that the keeper just about beat out. The goal we gave away in the last minute was just inexcusable and poor on so many levels. To start with, Moreno should not have been charging forward like that in the 90th minute of a game when we are protecting a 1-0 lead. He has to be smarter than that, and I’m sure in future he will be.
That’s his natural game and obviously no-one wants to change that, but pick your moments lad. That said, we wouldn’t have been criticising him had that happened in the 60th minute, which it just as easily could have. He’s going to run forward as that’s his job, but when he does the team has to be able to deal with defending the situation much better than this, whether it’s in the first minute or the last.
The midfield was bypassed with one pass. That shouldn’t happen. Sakho had to move over to cover the space left by his awol full back but that in itself shouldn’t be a problem. Lovren then has to deal with the runner and for the third time already this season the opposition have got in behind him far too easily. Aguero scored, Adebayor missed, and now this lad (can’t be arsed looking up his name as no-one cares) buried his.
You also have to ask just what the fuck was Mignolet doing again though? If he stays on his line they don’t score. Or at least it would take something special for them to find the net. But as with the Aguero goal he essentially handed the forward an empty net.
Gerrard had torn a strip off him in the first half for not coming out and collecting a ball, so perhaps that was in his mind when he stupidly raced out when there was no need? The goal wasn’t on any particular individual but a few of them all need to look at their part in it. This kind of shit doesn’t happen to any of the other top sides, just us.
It looked like that was it, two points dropped that could prove to be the difference between qualifying for the knockout stages or having to play in the fucking Europa League. Presumably we’ll be fighting it out with Basel for second spot in the group, so beating Ludogorets home and away is going to be vital. We were on the verge of blowing it but Manquillo’s persistence and their newly signed goalkeeper’s recklessness gave Gerrard the chance to get us out of jail, and he duly obliged.
Alls well that ends well but we’ve got a lot of work to do and the sooner we get our injured players back the better. Sturridge, Skrtel and Allen (and possibly Flanagan, but defo not Johnson!) all need to come straight back in so at least the line up will bear some kind of familiarity to the one that finished second last year. We’ve got the same defensive weaknesses as last year but none of the attacking verve.
Star man is Henderson with honourable mentions to Manquillo and Moreno, and also Balotelli for seizing the moment when it arrived during what must have been a frustrating evening for him. Everyone else? Must do better, including Brendan.
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