Real Madrid 1 Liverpool 0 "Three thoughts" by Paul Natton

[tlw content]

1. At last - a modicum of positivity!

 

I know that sounds bizarre after a 1-0 defeat, but I even haven't felt able to put hand to keyboard for the last month, so abject have we been. At least now I feel like there is something vaguely positive to cling to. In fielding a "white flag 11" (There are some proper drama queens writing for the national press, aren't there? Yes, Henry Winter - I'm looking at you!) that actually put in a disciplined and composed performance, we finally have a bit of food for thought about who should play and who shouldn't. For me, the fact that the so called fringe players could come in at the Bernabeu and acquit themselves well showed all is not as gloomy as I'd previously thought.

 

I'm certainly not having all this "embarrassed a great club" nonsense the media are throwing around in relation to Brendan's team selection. I actually thought it was incredibly brave as the potential for utter humiliation was immense. Clearly, it wasn't a wild success either - we lost, after all - but I have to say that those harping on about leaving our best players out have clearly not been watching Liverpool this season: those "best players" have been almost entirely abject and Brendan was right to shake things up.

 

Whether that was his actual motivation remains to be seen in his team selection for Chelsea at the weekend, but I'd be amazed if he didn't stick with quite a few of these players on Saturday.

 

2. Ironic defending...

 

It seemed sadly apposite that what was arguably the best defensive performance of Brendan Rodgers' tenure came in a 1-0 defeat. However, when you look at the composure, disciplined shape and controlled aggression on display from virtually the entire team, it was actually reminiscent of the best of Gerard Houllier's time as manager when clean sheets were a constant and recurring source of pride. Unlike the previous game where no-one seemed even remotely clear about his position or role in the team, we set up as a compact unit and made Madrid try and play through us.

 

Clearly tactics such as those are highly risky when you're facing arguably the best side in the world, but we were only breached in the end by a truly magnificent goal from two top class players and, when you're clutching to find positives in a season, I'm all over this particular straw. It wasn't all bodies on the line stuff either, although the magnificent Kolo Toure in what was easily his best ever performance for Liverpool, threw himself around. No, there was lots of composed positioning and great interceptions as well as good pressure on the ball and nicked tackles. Furthermore, when we did win it back, it wasn't all launched aimlessly away; Lucas was instrumental in playing out through Madrid and I was delighted to see players want and indeed accept the ball under pressure for the first time this season. All in all, it was heartening after the shambollic rubbish we've seen for too long.

 

The absence of the aerial bombardment that we've endured in the league was probably a factor in our relative parsimony, as was Madrid's lack of an imperative to go all out to beat us. However, this was no first gear display from the Spaniards: we definitely frustrated them. The key now, of course is to learn from that and take it into the matches ahead.

 

3. The lack of goals in the squad remains troubling

 

The reason last night's performance can't be celebrated, no matter how improved the defending, is that we lost. And for me, therein lies the biggest worry going forward. I have now seen that we can defend stoutly as a unit and I would be very loathe to watch the back five from last night broken up in the aftermath of such a display. Certainly, I'd expect the players to see it as a platform to build on and seek to go one better by shutting out Chelsea entirely on Saturday.

 

However, ultimately even a draw is not ambitious enough a target for a club of our stature and tradition, no matter who the opposition. And yet that must surely remain the height of our expectations in the complete absence of a goal threat. Yes we've lost Suarez and of course that's been horribly compounded by the never-ending injury Daniel Sturridge is suffering from. However, it is just not right that we find ourselves in this position after last season: we knew Luis was off and we should have got a deal done for Alexis Sanchez, the very best of the Luis-lite players there are out there right now.

 

I'm not having this whole "the missus wants London" rubbish though; it was more a case of "Arsenal will give me an extra million pounds a season to play for them, so I'm going there" if truth be told. I'm all for our prudent approach to transfers and I certainly like the idea of developing/improving young talent. However, I'd love someone to tell me how it's financially imprudent to buy a top class goal scorer on lesser wages than the one we let go. It's not of course; it's the complete opposite - and I'm as certain as I can be that Alexis Sanchez in a Liverpool shirt this season would have seen us comfortably on Chelsea's heels, defensive mess and missing Sturridge or not.

 

So, whilst it's great to see some semblance of obduracy on the rise (let's not get carried away though - we need to see much more), goals are even more pressing for me. English football is all about the three points and if you can't have both, a great attack will carry you further than a great defence simply because one favours wins and the other favours draws - as the evidence of the Houllier/Benitez years shows when set next to last season.

 

In short, those scouts and that ridiculous committee had better have some serious targets in their sights for January or no amount of defensive improvement will see us back into the CL next season when the money goes even more stratospheric.

 

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[PeterB]

Superb reflections and observations Paul. I avoid the press these days and only seek to read reasoned writing with a spark of optimism! YNWA

[bossy]

Not replacing, or rather even properly trying to replace, Suarez has undermined us. I'd go as far as treachery by FSG.

[Section_31]

Not replacing, or rather even properly trying to replace, Suarez has undermined us. I'd go as far as treachery by FSG.

To be fair we could have spent the 20 million we wasted on Lovren, the 20 million on Markevich, and the 15 million on Balloteli and bought one hell of a striker, that's not FSG's fault surely?

[bossy]

We needed a new CB anyway and midfield reinforcement is normal. Balotelli was a knee jerk panic. Our striker cost 20% of the fee we got for his predecessor.

[RobbieOR]

To be fair we could have spent the 20 million we wasted on Lovren, the 20 million on Markevich, and the 15 million on Balloteli and bought one hell of a striker, that's not FSG's fault surely?

 

Depends on whether they were willing to pay the wages on one player.

[Section_31]

Maybe, but the money was there, it wasn't syphoned off or pocketed or spent on interest payments, it was simply squandered. That's not their fault.

[bossy]

That might be true to an extent. But we should have had 50 mill to spend on one player to replace Luis but that would never be allowed to happen.

[bossy]

Somebody said to me today that we are 200 mill in debt. Anyone know about this?

[Dr. J]

So Rodgers only had a couple of days to work with a makeshift team about to play a CL tie on one of the biggest stages in world football and we turn in our best defensive performances of the year, even though most of the players were never on the pitch together.

 

But we get blanked by Hull and Newcastle because there isn't enough time between matches to prepare the first team properly.

 

Heads I win, tails you lose. Got it.

[xerxes]

It’s difficult to see positives from a game which we lost against a team that had humiliated us at home and did enough to win this time around.

 

The defending was better, but then we didn’t have much in the way of attacking intention. Toure and Lucas were a plus.

 

The attack is a worry, Borini, Lambert and Super Mario were all Brendan signings. Is he just hopeless at signing forwards? Can he not put an attack together? Can he not coach improvement in these players?

 

Is Chelsea really a defining game? Was not winning at Newcastle or beating Villa at home just as important?

 

Looking ahead, in the middle of Decemeber we play Basel at home, Man u away, Bournemouth away and Arsenal at home, a sequence that will either set us up for the new year, or have Brendan with his back to the wall.

[RobbieOR]

Maybe, but the money was there, it wasn't syphoned off or pocketed or spent on interest payments, it was simply squandered. That's not their fault.

 

Well, it was there to be spent on numerous players but I dont think they'd sanction us giving a player £250k a week. 

[TheFridge]

Well, it was there to be spent on numerous players but I dont think they'd sanction us giving a player £250k a week. 

 

It wouldn't have to be that much, i don't think even City or Chelsea have anyone on that much.

 

Even if that is what the player wanted to come and play here the im sure it would be possible to negotiate and sort it out one way or another, people at our club get paid big money to sort that stuff out.

 

When you think of all the wage thief's we have had over the years including the likes of Johnson right now its hard to take serious the opinion that we can't afford to splash out 200k plus per week on a player, if we are in the CL then next summer Johnsons 100k can go straight towards it for a start, don't forget the BT deal kicks in next year for CL too.

[lebron]

The problem isn't having one player on ridiculous wages, it's that the agents of other players will get access to that information, and off the wage carousel starts spinning. It's why Arsenal for a long time were rumoured to have a wage cap, and why (in our financial position), can't afford to let wages spin out of control. We don't have the income (like United, and now it seems, Arsenal) or the owners (City, PSG) to do it, and I'm pleased we're not gambling on CL (hello Leeds!), running this great club to the ground. Our history and global appeal will keep us relevant even if we're not on the gravy train this year or next, and even if it would have been great to just keep rising upwards after last year, that task became a lot harder when Luis left us.

[TheFridge]

The problem isn't having one player on ridiculous wages, it's that the agents of other players will get access to that information, and off the wage carousel starts spinning. It's why Arsenal for a long time were rumoured to have a wage cap, and why (in our financial position), can't afford to let wages spin out of control. We don't have the income (like United, and now it seems, Arsenal) or the owners (City, PSG) to do it, and I'm pleased we're not gambling on CL (hello Leeds!), running this great club to the ground. Our history and global appeal will keep us relevant even if we're not on the gravy train this year or next, and even if it would have been great to just keep rising upwards after last year, that task became a lot harder when Luis left us.

 

The task became much harder after Suarez because we looked to have royally fucked it all up again in the transfer market, we are the only club that spends big money to get worse, it's soul destroying and seriously fucked up.

 

Of course Suarez was very, very special but it should never all come crumbling down because of one player, no matter who that player was, not for a club of our size.

 

Valid point about other players wanting big money if one player was earning a lot, proven top class players should get the top class wage, anyone in our squad has a problem with that then prove your worth like Sturridge has and get an improved contract, same with players that are not in the top class bracket that come here, they shouldn't expect mega wages and if they and their agents do then they should get told to do one.

 

Basically pay what the player is worth and get people into the club behind the scenes that have a grasp of this and how it works, is that asking for or expecting too much? all we seem to do is over pay for average players bar the odd exception, i'd rather the club over paid or just paid the going rate for some top quality and forgot all about signing these one season wonders from mid table clubs.

 

We don't have to take risks like Leeds did, there is so much money in the game right now with the TV deals going up and up and all our sponsorship money, merchandise etc... we shouldn't need to take all these dumb hopeful expensive punts, all it should really take for us to be allright is some competence and sense behind the scenes but we seem totally incapable of this.

 

The whole thing is a wind up, it's a proper piss take, a joke that is way past it's sell by date, i bet we'll be here talking the same old shit about the same old problems in 5 years time.