So after all we’ve been through in the Europa League this season, this is how it ends? After comfortably disposing of the Mancs, producing an incredible comeback against Dortmund and then demolishing Villarreal, we have absolutely nothing to show for it when it’s all said and done. Why? Because as soon as they came up against some adversity away from the protection of Anfield, their arses completely went.
Sevilla are the weakest team we’ve faced since Augsburg in the “Round of 32”. They hadn’t won a league game outside of their own stadium all season and do not travel well, yet we made them look like superstars in that second half. Ultimately, without “the Power of Anfield” helping them through, we saw this team for what they really are, and it wasn’t pretty. Let’s face it, Anfield got us this far and although our fans took over the stadium in Basel, it just wasn’t the same.
If you’re looking for something upbeat and defiant to make you feel better and provide hope for next season, you may as well stop reading now as I’m just not in that kind of place. I’m in more of a “moody teenager who’s just been bin bagged by his bird in front of all of his mates and who now hates the entire fucking world” kind of place. I’m not taking this well at all. It’s not because we lost, it’s because of how we lost. The completely inept, cowardly way we lost. That’s what’s floored me.
I really wish I could sit here and give it the whole “we go again” “we are Liverpool” “this will make us stronger” blah blah blah but I’m just not feeling it now, the wound is still seeping and it won’t be healing any time soon. I see Klopp saying those kind of optimistic things - he has to as he doesn’t have the luxury of sulking - but rather than feel inspired I’m just shrugging and saying “yeah whatever, I heard the same crap after we lost at Wembley to City”. The pain of that defeat was supposed to be the ideal preparation for this final. How’d that work out for us then?
This was another corker from Kloppo: “We will use this experience. Someday everybody will say Basel was decisive for the wonderful future of LFC”. Call me defeatist if you like, but I can’t see myself sat around with mates in 20 years reminiscing about the night we embarrassed ourselves in Basel and then went on to win everything in sight because of how we “used that experience”. Success breeds success and losing becomes a habit. Look at Sevilla, a bang average team that just dicked us everywhere because they know how to win as they’ve done it before.
It’s not that I don’t have trust in Klopp or that I don’t believe we’ll be better next season, because I absolutely do. I’m just not ready to be going down that “we’ll come back stronger” road so quickly. All I’m feeling at the moment is angry, pissed off, frustrated, disillusioned… Come pre-season I’ll no doubt feel differently, but this performance was just so spineless and embarrassing it’s going to be hard to forget, and even harder to forgive in some cases. All that was missing were cream suits.
There’s a culture of bottling it that’s becoming prevalent with this group of players now. Since we missed out on the title two years ago look what’s happened. Shit the bed at Wembley in an FA Cup semi against Aston fucking Villa, didn’t show up against City until 83 minutes of the League Cup final when we scored with basically our first shot, and now this fucking absolute horror show. It’s becoming a trend, not being able to handle the big occasions. This club used to find ways to win finals regardless of the circumstances they were in. It was rarely pretty, never comfortable, but in the end it was usually our skipper holding the trophy at the end of it. Not any more, we just can’t get over the line these days and it’s only partially to do with quality.
Don’t tell me Sevilla have better players than us because they don’t. I’d never even heard of half their team, and one of the few I actually knew was only familiar to me because he played for Stoke and fucking Blackburn. If this game had been played at Anfield we’d have murdered them, like we did Villarreal who finished three places above them in La Liga. The difference is Sevilla know how to win finals and our players don’t. They kept their nerve while we completely lost ours. Maybe this group will eventually get over the hump and become winners, but I wouldn’t bet on it. I mean why on earth would I? Any time I’ve put any trust in these players they’ve shown themselves to be totally unworthy of it. Nothing has changed.
Their arses went because it was a final. It’s really that simple. As soon as Sevilla put them under pressure they fell to pieces, lost their shape and as Klopp said “lost faith in our style of play”. I’d suggest it was more a case of them shitting themselves and losing all composure rather than losing faith, and if Klopp was speaking in his native tongue he’d surely have worded it more along those lines. It was a disorganised mess. It’s not a question of effort but it’s about mentality and being strong enough to overcome setbacks. They completely wilted as soon as Sevilla got back into the game. How do you fix that? Can it even be fixed?
Klopp himself has lost his last five finals now and he contributed to this second half capitulation too by not changing it earlier. We’d completely lost all control of the game from the moment “Albert Moron” did his old mates a favour, and after that they were just cutting through our midfield and having a free run at the overworked Lovren and Kolo. That needed shoring up with Allen, or even Lucas, but Klopp did nothing until it was too late. It’s not being wise after the event, as where I watched the game everyone was calling for Allen to be brought on to help out the midfield two who were having rings ran around them.
There’s a lot of blame to go around for this and it feels wrong just laying most of it at Moreno’s door. Hell, I’ve been more scathing of him than most and I’m in no way defending the shit sandwich he served up in that second half, but if you think we lost this game just because of the left back then you’re kidding yourself. He was the worst of a bad bunch but was it down to him that we barely even saw the Sevilla goalkeeper in the entire second half? Moreno is an easy and justified target but he shouldn’t be the only one to carry the can for this.
It’s easier to name those who can hold their heads up than those who can’t. Clyne was ok, Kolo was brilliant and I’ll give Sturridge a pass (which is more than he got from the three ‘creative’ players playing behind him) as I don’t know what else he could have done given the way we played in the second half. Maybe if he hadn’t tried to nick Lovren’s goal and just stood aside with his hands up and not interfered with play things would have been different, but he probably didn’t even think he was offside as there was a defender who was really late in pushing out and it was a close decision. I just felt frustrated for him more than I was with him.
His goal was a moment of world class ability and had we continued to get him the ball in and around their box he’d have probably added to it. Instead we just kept hitting it up to him and asking him to fight for it, which isn’t his strength. It’s a strength of Origi and Benteke of course, but with a ref like this it actually becomes a weakness as the prick just gave free kicks for every aerial challenge made by our forwards. He even booked Origi for a non-existent elbow because one of their cunt defenders feigned injury and then demanded a card.
It reminded me of when Crouchy came on in Athens and the ref just kept blowing for fouls every time he won a header. Same thing happened here with the two Belgians. The Sevilla players milked every bit of contact and the ref was only too happy to oblige. Once they got in front it just felt like the game was stopping every 30 seconds for free kicks to them; they did a complete number on us and we weren’t street wise enough to deal with it. Fuck Sevilla though, their players were fucking rats and the fans seemed like wankers as well. They were more like Italian fans than Spanish.
As shit as we were though, I’m convinced that ref was out to screw us. I’m not blaming him for the defeat because that would be doing our players a kindness they don’t deserve, but he did do everything possible to help Sevilla. He was everything the ref against Villarreal was not. From the opening seconds it was clear what his game was. He was blowing for free kicks any time we got within touching distance of any of their players. He ignored three clear handballs in the area and a blatant shove on Milner as he went up to win a header in the box. He’s been a twat any time he’s reffed our games and I seem to recall Rafa having a major beef with him back in the day..
This one is a blatant penalty. Whether you want to give it for the handball or the foul, take your pick, but it’s stonewall.
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