Two thousand Liverpool fans who left home in the early hours and braved icy roads or frozen rails to follow their team delivered a damning silent verdict.
Followers of almost any other club would have booed and chanted for the manager’s head. But they are slow to turn on their own on Merseyside.
So at the start of the second half, with their side a goal down to the league’s bottom team, they sang: “You’ll never walk alone.” It was a defiant show of faith by supporters who know what support means.
But then, long before the finish of a half in which Liverpool were ill-disciplined and wretchedly short of quality, hundreds of those same supporters quietly slouched away.
“Walk o-on, walk o-on” became walk out. There were no angry shouts but the empty seats they left behind were far more eloquent.
Rafa Benitez might have convinced himself Liverpool were in control before Javier Mascherano’s sending off and that the red card was unfair, but should not convince anyone else.
Against a team who have lost six home games, Benitez’s tactics were sterile and cautious, as they often are. A full-back, the bleakly ungifted Andrea Dossena, was stationed on the left of a midfield that had two holding players: Mascherano and Lucas. On the right, Dirk Kuyt toiled earnestly but with no invention.
Ah, but never mind, Fernando Torres was the lone out-and-out striker and good old Stevie G was buzzing around off him, so everything would be all right, wouldn’t it? No. Portsmouth’s Avram Grant had a strategy.
When he was Chelsea manager, Grant did not lose any of his five games against Benitez and engineered a Champions League semi-final victory.
This time, Grant devoted much of the preparation to telling Portsmouth they were good enough to get at Liverpool. He showed them recordings of positive moments in their defeat by Chelsea.
Then he told Michael Brown to nullify Gerrard and leave Torres so outnumbered that he became frustrated.
And although Liverpool had plenty of possession, they looked blunt long before they were torn open by the string of passes which led to the first goal and long before Mascherano was dismissed.
Then in the second half, Glen Johnson’s cavalier enthusiasm for attacking meant Jamie Carragher had to fill in at right-back so often he was not able to properly supplement the flailing Daniel Agger in the middle.
Left-back Emiliano Insua looked worse than Dossena – and there can be no crueller criticism. It was Carragher’s 600th appearance and one felt sorry for him as he looked in vain for forward options.
But above all else, one felt sympathy for those stoic but forlorn Liverpool supporters. They deserve so much better than what Benitez’s assortment of average players were able to produce.
Followers of almost any other club would have booed and chanted for the manager’s head. But they are slow to turn on their own on Merseyside.
So at the start of the second half, with their side a goal down to the league’s bottom team, they sang: “You’ll never walk alone.” It was a defiant show of faith by supporters who know what support means.
But then, long before the finish of a half in which Liverpool were ill-disciplined and wretchedly short of quality, hundreds of those same supporters quietly slouched away.
“Walk o-on, walk o-on” became walk out. There were no angry shouts but the empty seats they left behind were far more eloquent.
Rafa Benitez might have convinced himself Liverpool were in control before Javier Mascherano’s sending off and that the red card was unfair, but should not convince anyone else.
Against a team who have lost six home games, Benitez’s tactics were sterile and cautious, as they often are. A full-back, the bleakly ungifted Andrea Dossena, was stationed on the left of a midfield that had two holding players: Mascherano and Lucas. On the right, Dirk Kuyt toiled earnestly but with no invention.
Ah, but never mind, Fernando Torres was the lone out-and-out striker and good old Stevie G was buzzing around off him, so everything would be all right, wouldn’t it? No. Portsmouth’s Avram Grant had a strategy.
When he was Chelsea manager, Grant did not lose any of his five games against Benitez and engineered a Champions League semi-final victory.
This time, Grant devoted much of the preparation to telling Portsmouth they were good enough to get at Liverpool. He showed them recordings of positive moments in their defeat by Chelsea.
Then he told Michael Brown to nullify Gerrard and leave Torres so outnumbered that he became frustrated.
And although Liverpool had plenty of possession, they looked blunt long before they were torn open by the string of passes which led to the first goal and long before Mascherano was dismissed.
Then in the second half, Glen Johnson’s cavalier enthusiasm for attacking meant Jamie Carragher had to fill in at right-back so often he was not able to properly supplement the flailing Daniel Agger in the middle.
Left-back Emiliano Insua looked worse than Dossena – and there can be no crueller criticism. It was Carragher’s 600th appearance and one felt sorry for him as he looked in vain for forward options.
But above all else, one felt sympathy for those stoic but forlorn Liverpool supporters. They deserve so much better than what Benitez’s assortment of average players were able to produce.
1 comment:
Great analysis...I'm in the states and cant follow the team like I want...it's decisions and tactics like these that seed doubt in my mind about whether Benitez is the right man for the job at Anfield...I believe that the team is positioning to fire the man, the only thing that has kept them from that is the buyout they would have to give Bemitez for a club in debt that is a hard decision to make...also Liverpool want Mourinho and that of course must be a guarantee before they take the risk, Liverpool fans would be hard to support that...
So Rafa must win these games before the new year to keep his job the only question is will he get in his own way?
Post a Comment