by RED BEERGOGGLES » Mon Sep 27, 2010 4:52 pm
This from Tonight's Liverpool Echo by Dominic King
SAME final score, different mood and appraisal.
If Roy Hodgson entered Anfield’s Press room on Wednesday night sodden and angry, he left it on Saturday calm and cautiously optimistic.
While a 2-2 draw with Northampton Town was a precursor to one of the most wretched moments in Liverpool’s modern history, another 2-2 – this time with Sunderland – has given Hodgson hope that all might not be lost.
Some supporters will be puzzled by Hodgson’s optimism. Having had chance to reflect on what can only be described as a lively 90 minutes, they will be concerned about a number of issues surrounding their team and what this performance means for the future.
For starters: how could a side that burst out of the blocks with the impetus of a 100 metre sprinter lose its way so badly?
Why have all Liverpool’s first half displays this season been so laboured?
Is this a signal of the level that Hodgson’s men are really at?
It is hard to analyse Liverpool without worrying, particularly when you cast a glance at the Premier League table and see them stuck in the lower reaches with fewer points than all the promoted teams and just one win to their credit from their opening six matches.
When you consider on Saturday that Fernando Torres led the attack, Steven Gerrard, Raul Meireles, Joe Cole and Dirk Kuyt offered attacking options and the back four was perhaps as strong as it can be, it was alarming to see them so totally dominated by Sunderland at times.
Here’s where it gets worrying; if talent of that level cannot brush aside a team that, in truth, can be expected to finisher no higher than between eighth and tenth, what does that signify for Liverpool’s prospects?
Bleak, would be the obvious answer and listening to Steve Bruce talk afterwards, you were able to draw a clear impression of what the rest of the Premier League make of events going on inside Anfield’s corridors of power right now.
“It’s very difficult to judge anyone after six games – even 15 months,” said Bruce. “I think Liverpool have the right man in charge – he’s got vast experience in a difficult time. Always in my experience if it’s unstable above you, with those who employ you, then it filters down.
“It’s unbelievable about this club because it’s never had that. It’s always been stable at the top and run properly. It’s always been an institution. At the moment it’s not got that and it filters down. So for Roy – and everyone concerned – it’s going to be a difficult time ahead until it gets resolved.”
You could easily dismiss those words as the mischievous offering of a former Manchester United player, eager to highlight the misery of one of his greatest rivals but it would be wrong to do so; Bruce is not someone who indulges in malevolence and his appraisal was offered with genuine sincerity.
Everyone knows Liverpool will be in dire straits until, at the very least, Tom Hicks and George Gillett disappear and, amid the vitriol, there was an element of poignancy to the sit-in demonstration which followed the game.
Just before the near 3,000-strong throng headed home, a sombre rendition of “All we are saying, is sell up and go” was sung, the weary tone making it clear that the torment and suffering has gone on far too long.
Enough is enough.
So when you throw into the equation a struggling team to go along with absent owners, you have the recipe for a calamity – which is why Hodgson’s post-match comments were all the more out of keeping with the scene.
“Some of the players we believe can lift the team are beginning to find their legs – like Torres and Gerrard as prime examples,” Hodgson offered. “It was only (Raul) Meireles’ second start, another start for Joe Cole. There are moments giving me satisfaction.”
For those moments to become much more consistent, then, surely it is time for Hodgson to play this line-up regularly and allow them to build up a rapport. Chopping and changing does no good and, if anything, only makes things more difficult.
Take Torres. His every move is being scrutinised at the moment; every time he fails to smile it is seen as a signal that he is ready to hand in a transfer request, every time he misses a chance it is said that he is out of form and not the force of old.
Absolute nonsense. Two assists here – one for Dirk Kuyt, the other for Steven Gerrard – mean Torres is now responsible for five of the six goals Liverpool have scored this season and his work rate was impeccable; another 90 minutes in Utrecht on Thursday would do him no harm at all.
Bruce might have grumbled that Torres was “unsporting” in the build up to Liverpool’s bizarre opening goal but he would do well to turn his ire on Sunderland defender Michael Turner, who was far too lackadaisical when taking a fifth minute free kick.
That should have been the springboard for Liverpool to push for a morale boosting win but, worryingly, Sunderland took a grip of the game and fully deserved the lead that Darren Bent’s double either side of half-time gave them.
Only a late rally, which resulted in Gerrard’s bullet header, enabled Liverpool to avoid the “black” day Hodgson had feared was about to unfold but that rally – which should, in all honesty, have achieved a win but for Daniel Agger’s dreadful last minute miss – lifted the manager’s spirits.
This might be Liverpool’s worst start to a Premier League campaign since 1992 and Hodgson has collected fewer points from his first six games than Rafa Benitez, Gerard Houllier, Roy Evans, Graeme Souness and Kenny Dalglish, but none of that matters.
What is important is for Liverpool to find the form that will carry them into a position with which they are more accustomed – and the only way that will happen is if the ‘A’ team gets on the same wavelength.
Play them every week? Play them every four days more like.
Totally agree with this piece especially on the part which suggests Roys insistence on being economical with the truth in regards to our recent performances is doing us no favours ....Liverpool fans are for the most part intelligent and would sooner hear the truth after an abysmal performance rather than excuses ......However on the other side of the coin its high time we gave the tabloids no ammunition to mock us with ...time to engage ourselves in the siege mentality we used to use to our advantage so well ,and turn what should be a collection of very angry players into the menace they should be displaying to all who play them ...........
