It was a moment that encapsulated the shortcoming that is threatening Liverpool’s hopes of silverware this season.
Beating away at the Everton door for almost the entire second half, Rafael Benitez’s side, having found an equaliser through Steven Gerrard, could sense a winner.
Then the moment arrived, the visiting defence for once out of position as Gerrard fed the ball into the path of the unmarked Dirk Kuyt with only Tim Howard to beat.
He missed. And that has been a recurring theme for Liverpool of late, a failure to capitalise when the opportunity has arisen to either kill off a game or open up a gap at the top of the Premier League table.
Now the Anfield side find themselves having to wedge yet another Merseyside derby into an already demanding fixture schedule.
Indeed, having led the table during the Christmas period, successive league draws mean Liverpool will be playing catch-up on champions Manchester United when they travel to Wigan Athletic this evening.
Kuyt, of course, hasn’t been alone with his wayward finishing. And the Dutchman acknowledges Liverpool cannot afford to waste many more presentable opportunities if they are to end a 19-year championship drought.
“We know we have the ability to win every game, but sometimes you are unlucky,” he says. “Against Everton on Sunday we had two good chances late on to kill the game off, one of them fell to me and one came to Fernando.
“Sometimes it happens like this. Last Monday we conceded a goal in the closing minutes, and a few months before we were scoring goals in the last minutes. That’s football. We just have to keep on going. Maybe we need a lucky break, in recent games we have been unlucky and maybe we could be lucky in our next one.
“We’re still in the FA Cup, we’re still up at the top of the league and we’re still in the Champions League, so we have got to remain positive. We’re doing really well this season.
“But yes, we know that the failure to kill off teams is going to have to be addressed if we want to stay in contention for the title.”
Beating away at the Everton door for almost the entire second half, Rafael Benitez’s side, having found an equaliser through Steven Gerrard, could sense a winner.
Then the moment arrived, the visiting defence for once out of position as Gerrard fed the ball into the path of the unmarked Dirk Kuyt with only Tim Howard to beat.
He missed. And that has been a recurring theme for Liverpool of late, a failure to capitalise when the opportunity has arisen to either kill off a game or open up a gap at the top of the Premier League table.
Now the Anfield side find themselves having to wedge yet another Merseyside derby into an already demanding fixture schedule.
Indeed, having led the table during the Christmas period, successive league draws mean Liverpool will be playing catch-up on champions Manchester United when they travel to Wigan Athletic this evening.
Kuyt, of course, hasn’t been alone with his wayward finishing. And the Dutchman acknowledges Liverpool cannot afford to waste many more presentable opportunities if they are to end a 19-year championship drought.
“We know we have the ability to win every game, but sometimes you are unlucky,” he says. “Against Everton on Sunday we had two good chances late on to kill the game off, one of them fell to me and one came to Fernando.
“Sometimes it happens like this. Last Monday we conceded a goal in the closing minutes, and a few months before we were scoring goals in the last minutes. That’s football. We just have to keep on going. Maybe we need a lucky break, in recent games we have been unlucky and maybe we could be lucky in our next one.
“We’re still in the FA Cup, we’re still up at the top of the league and we’re still in the Champions League, so we have got to remain positive. We’re doing really well this season.
“But yes, we know that the failure to kill off teams is going to have to be addressed if we want to stay in contention for the title.”
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