West Ham 3 Liverpool 1 - "Three thoughts" by Paul Natton

[tlw content]

1. We're in trouble. Seriously.

 

Last season is such old news now, it's been used to wrap chips, chucked in the bin, taken to the tip and rotted down to a pulp. We are a mess all over the pitch: we're struggling to score consistently, look a million miles away from anything approaching defensive cohesion and seem about as fluid as a million year old glacier.

 

I am genuinely terrified about the wheels coming off this week because Boro will smell blood at an Anfield that will be nervy to say the least and Everton... well, it doesn't bear thinking about, does it? What I would say right now though is that the top four is looking like a very, very tough ask having lost three of our opening five league games and we can forget about cup competitions too with the shambles that's currently taking to the field in Liverpool shirts. As I've said, Boro will be right up for it after watching this and I wouldn't fancy facing Basel in Europe never mind Real Madrid with their frightening array of attacking talent. Can you imagine these clowns up against Bale, James and Ronaldo? *Shudders*

 

Rodgers has a genuine crisis on his hands now and, as I said the other day, he's got his work cut out to put it right because we've got no time at Melwood to get them drilled properly: it's all just matches and rest days for weeks to come. The only hope is that we can get our best player fit and firing again as soon as possible and hope he can get us out of jail with his goals because looking at this lot, Sterling aside, there's nothing else to build on right now.

 

2. Add the midfield to the list

 

There's been so much focus on the paucity of the defence this season that it's gone under the radar how poor we've been in the middle too. We currently seem unable to link defence to attack and Stevie's controlling midfielder role appears to have been badly found out by opponents who press him relentlessly and leave the ball at the incapable feet of Dejan Lovren or Mamadou Sakho. If I see Lovren hit yet another speculative long diagonal ball that falls to opposition feet, I'll puke.

 

I'm well aware of how tough it is for new players coming to Liverpool but the lad looks unrecognisable to the player I saw bits of last season, never mind the uber-warrior BR has been trying to sell us. And as for Sakho, he's just as bad. The two of them aren't at the point of no return just yet, but they really do both need to have a huge mental shift and realise where they are and what's expected of them because what they're serving up is simply not acceptable from Liverpool centre halves.

 

But as I was saying before I got side-tracked by the shambles that is our back line, Stevie looks utterly peripheral right now: neither midfield lynchpin nor attacking threat - and that is horrible to see. Furthermore, the usually ever-reliable Jordan Henderson has too much do and also seems a little bit confused to boot. Remember when he first signed and Kenny played him wide right leaving him looking like a little boy lost? He's not quite been like that, but he certainly looks confused as he's asked to keep changing his position and role while Rodgers fire-fights tactically in order to plug the gaps all over the pitch.

 

With Can and Allen injured, Lucas utterly useless and Coutinho horribly out of form, that leaves us almost as shambollic in the middle as we are at the back - and that is really saying something after the debacle we saw this evening.

 

3. Rodgers is under real pressure now and he needs to respond

 

I am a massive fan of our manager: he has instigated a revolution at Liverpool and it almost won us the league from a starting position way back down the grid last season with only one previous campaign under his belt in order to set it up. He is tactically innovative, a brilliant man manager and has a commitment to the twin joys of youth and goals that is beyond rare in modern football. But all that counts for nothing right now because the team he's built (and this is most definitely his team right now; they're his players and his system) is a mess.

 

Now of course I recognise that there's plenty of mitigation for where we are this evening (injuries, new boys, departed talisman, etc), but the fact of the matter is that we've lost 60% of our league matches so far this season, have problems all over the pitch and the games are coming thick and fast. He quite simply has to prove that he's Liverpool quality by finding a way to win - and if that means compromising his principles a little and playing something a bit more prosaic and pragmatic, so be it because we cannot keep going into games wide open at the back and toothless up front. We'll be in free fall if we do.

 

This is a time for the players to stand up and be counted, but if they're struggling to get off their knees after these losses and poor performances (because let's not pretend we were impressive on Tuesday night either, never mind last weekend for the Villa horror show) then the manager has to make some tough decisions. By hook or by crook, we have to tighten up at the back because there is no "get out of jail" card flying round in a number seven shirt any more. That said, conceding as weakly and easily as we are right now, we'd struggle to win points even if he was here.

 

No, for me, this is the time for Brendan Rodgers to show his true quality and start pulling some rabbits out of hats. Relatively speaking, it's easy to look great when no-one expects anything and you can keep catching opponents by surprise. However, when people have had time to adjust to your style and you've almost completely changed your entire first team in one summer, you're going to have your work cut out to turn things around.

 

So come on Brendan lad: show us what you've got. I think you have the potential to be a true Liverpool great, but potential means nothing. In this club we've always had a saying that sums up your worth: show us yer trophies. Not that I'm expecting us to win anything mind; the implicit point though is that you have to prove your quality every day by delivering results and right now I'd snatch your hand off for a scruffy 1-0 at home against a championship club. I'm not sure if I can hold my breath though.

 

However: come on you Reds!!!

 

Paul Natton

@OxtonSoulBoy

 

Click here to view the article

[an tha]

Reads like an aggregation of the match thread.

[ratcatcher]

Genuine crisis? Fuck off.

[stringvest]

This season was always going to be the defining one for Rodgers; was last year one in which his stars aligned, or is he capable of performing well consistently?  

 

Paisley or Pardew?  We'll know be the end of the season.

[lifetime fan]

This season was always going to be the defining one for Rodgers; was last year one in which his stars aligned, or is he capable of performing well consistently?  

 

Paisley or Pardew?  We'll know be the end of the season.

 

Seriously?

[stringvest]

You know I put the bollock in hyperbolic.

[lifetime fan]

That's a good piece Paul.

 

I'd actually argue our problems run deeper than you suggest but if Rodgers wants to be manager here next season he needs to sort it and sort it fucking quickly.

[lifetime fan]

You know I put the bollock in hyperbolic.

 

Ran out of rep mate.

 

It's been a long 2 days without sleep.

[stringvest]

Ran out of rep mate.

 

It's been a long 2 days without sleep.

 

Tell her to leave you alone for 5 minutes, the randy wench.  

[index1000]

This season was always going to be the defining one for Rodgers; was last year one in which his stars aligned, or is he capable of performing well consistently?  

 

Paisley or Pardew?  We'll know be the end of the season.

Fucking hell! i know today was bad but this is cuntery worthy of C***72 or Danny Crane or whatever he is calling himself these days.

[stringvest]

Fucking hell! i know today was bad but this is cuntery worthy of C***72 or Danny Crane or whatever he is calling himself these days.

 

I did explain above that I might have been exaggerating for effect.  

 

Having said that, I was always reticent to get too fulsome in my praise for Brendan, as for me, this season was always going to be the season that proved his mettle and his ability.

[Son of L8]

My three thoughts after West Ham:

 

1) Shit.

 

2) Cunting.

 

3) Fuck.

[stringvest]

The note of panic in your piece is quite surprising; you have gone from having complete faith in the manager to hoping that he can pull us out of what looks like a fatal nosedive. Its amazing what a few bad performances can do, and it betrays the fragility of our confidence and belief that we are once more amongst the big hitters in our league.

 

Ive never had the unshakeable (until now at least) faith that you have had, because im of the belief that even mongrels have their day in the sun if things go their way, and the key for me is for managers to deliver consistently, with a clear objective and a clear roadmap. The last time i had that faith was in my 20s, which was a long long time ago.

 

Huge test for Rodgers, this, and for me our chances of success over the next 5 years are resting on whether Rodgers can retrieve the situation over the next half dozen games.

[s(k)aturation]

From 2nd to perhaps 12th in 6 games... it would be a genuine crisis at any other "Top 4" club.

So, if like me you were harbouring delusions of a return to this club being great, I think those of us with that delusion are entitled to call it a genuine crisis.

Unless, we've suddenly decided that we're just a mediocre side again that has simply done a bit of one-season-wonder overachieving.

Perhaps that's the reality.

We'll see.

[Hades]

Three thoughts:

 

Our attacking play is shit.

Our defensive play is shit.

Our midfield play is shit.

 

Hope this helps.

[skend04]

We. Bought. Too. Many. Players. We didn't need both Lallana and Markovic when what we needed was a defensive midfielder. We needed a better keeper rather than buying another centre back in Lovren. And I seriously do not get the signing of Lambert. Our Plan B should have been to defend better as a team not lump it up to the centre forward.

[Gnasher]

Brendan needed to play his hand and be ruthless this summer, he had the club at his mercy after the good work of the past two years, he held all the cards.

 

Ayre should've been taken up on his promise that Liverpool could now buy players they couldn't previously because of lack of champions league, all the players we signed would have come to Anfield regardless.

 

Note how ruthless Mourinio was his summer in moving aside Lampard, Cech, Torres and Cole for better players. Players of proven Champions league/Title winning quality. It seems hard to believe we finished above them only a few weeks ago.

[PatiencePending]

Oh dear - it's bad. That was abysmal last night. 2 down in ten minutes - some 'response' from the goalie and defenders in the side who've already been criticised this season for lack of focus and concentration. If only Sakho's defending was as intricate and carefully crafted as the patterns woven into his blooming haircut...

 

And I fear you're right about the rest too. It's a mess all over the pitch. Their midfield looked quicker, stronger and more dangerous than ours (especially first half), just the same as the other night in the European Cup League. Stuart flippin Downing looked more threatening than our lot! FFS...

 

First thing to do for the manager now is to focus priority on doing whatever it takes to stop the side conceding goals (he spent time learning from that negative shit bag Mourinho didn't he?). The side needs to be focused on that for the time being. Only once they can demonstrate they can defend as a team can they build on the attacking side of things. 

 

Also a draw away from home and a solid defensive performance is surely acceptable from time to time in order to get some momentum and confidence back into things? 

[RedKnight]

The way the team is playing, and the way individual players are completely devoid of form, makes me feel like this is a tailspin that we might not be able to pull out of until it's too late.

[Babb'sBurstNad]

Last year the stars aligned to give us a tilt at the title; this year the constellations are arranging into a big troll face.

 

Injuries and poor form have left us playing Gerrard and Lucas in the centre; one's not a fast starter to the season, and the other's not a fast anything. Add in Sturridge's now annual England injury, which has forced us to rely on a new striker who requires support and service, and it's a recipe for turning our sparkling attacking play from last season into something decidedly more Moyesian in appearance.

 

The worrying aspect is that we don't seem to have any answers as to how we cope with the situation other than carry on regardless, hoping we somehow click, or just waiting for our better players to return from injury / poor form.

 

The point about opposition midfields figuring us out is very true. Who wouldn't commit players forward to run at Lucas and Gerrard? It was hardly Fat Sam out-tacticing us. Rodgers has evolved the side a couple of times already, I have faith he can do it again. The question is, will it be in time to catch the sides we're competing with for a top four finish, and will Gerrard still be as integral a figure?

[Paul]

I definitely believe Brendan can get this sorted; in fact I'll state plainly that I'm convinced he will. What worries me is how long it will take to do so. I certainly don't see any of the summer signings as failures or write offs at the moment - that would be ridiculous. However, Brendan has got a multitude of problems to sort out whilst being simultaneously denied many of the tools he requires to do so (injured players and time on the training pitch, mainly). Clearly those are the challenges of the job, but Brendan is adjusting to those challenges whilst facing massively heightened expectations of our season and demands of our resources.

 

I'm just concerned that by the time he's got to grips with the problems we're seeing right now and assimilated these new players, the top four could be, if not out of sight, well on the way to being so. He needs to respond to what's happening and respond quickly - starting on Tuesday night. The last thing we need now is another poor result, no matter how "lowly" the competition.  

[Faustus]

Exactly, Paul, I don't know how people can be so dismissive towards the game during the week. Fair enough, but confidence and morale is shot to pieces and a defeat to a lower league team at Anfield would hardly make things better.

 

Don't get me wrong, there's a couple I wouldn't chance because of the derby on Saturday, but what I wouldn't give for a good performance, a good win and a clean sheet v Middlesbrough to at least begin improving the mood at the club.

[Jairzinho]

From 2nd to perhaps 12th in 6 games... it would be a genuine crisis at any other "Top 4" club.

So, if like me you were harbouring delusions of a return to this club being great, I think those of us with that delusion are entitled to call it a genuine crisis.

Unless, we've suddenly decided that we're just a mediocre side again that has simply done a bit of one-season-wonder overachieving.

Perhaps that's the reality.

We'll see.

 

I thought City and Chelsea would most likely finish above us this season, and with their budget/squad there is no shame in that. After our summer's business, which I didn't think was great, I thought our slim chance of finishing above either of them turned into "nonewhatsofuckingever". Five games in and I've lost hope of us finishing above Arsenal. I also think United are more than likely going to finish above us. Their midfield is still a bit "meh", and there isn't much depth in defence, but Di Maria, van Persie, and Falcao will destroy all the shit teams. They chucked loads of money to fix their problems by essentially doing what lead to the problems they had, but it'll work again in the short term. 

 

I think we're battling Tottenham and Everton for 5th/6th/7th. That is assuming that Southampton fuck off. We bought too many players, and if the excuse of bedding them all in is valid, not that it seems to apply to any other teams, then we've written off a season, because you can't sacrifice a quarter/third of the league campaign and expect to catch up.

 

I would absolutely love to be more positive, but I can't pretend. I think we're in a for a long, ultimately disappointing, season where we end up finishing 5th or 6th and everyone scratches their heads next summer thinking of a new plan. Hopefully one that doesn't involve signing 10 squad players.

[Gym Beglin]

I wouldn't worry too much, wenger has spells like this every season.

 

I think 3 centre backs and fucking off the Gerrard coming deep thing is the way out of this mess.

 

3511 please, with coutinho or sterling takin turns at being the number 10.

 

When can is back we can look at a return to a diamond midfield but just leave it until then eh Brendan.

[Gym Beglin]

Just to clarify I don't think the CBS have forgotten he to defend overnight, but this deep midfielder splitting them is a factor in this mess.

 

Hendo Lallana and another in the middle of the park. I'm tempted by Suso at this point until Allen and Can return.

 

Then chuck £30m at a rangy class act this winter, likely schneiderlin or perhaps kondogbia.