Sunday 14 November 2010

Rubbish Reds suffer Stoke setback

Another away match, another example of hapless Hodgson's inadequacy and another dreadful performance from Liverpool as they crashed to a 2-0 defeat at Stoke and to their fourth defeat on the road this season.

Second half goals from Stoke strikers Ricardo Fuller and Kenwyne Jones condemned Liverpool to a disappointing defeat, and piled yet more pressure on Hodgson and his side, who, after two below-par performances and results, have lost all confidence built up by the previous run of three victories in a row.

Liverpool's first half display was simply dreadful as we sat back and absorbed endless pressure from the home side and failed to pose any sort of attacking threat to Stoke.

The midfield was stifled by the absence of width and failed to provide support for the understandably frustrated Torres, who was left isolated up front on his own for the majority of the match.

The home side were hardly on top form themselves, however the pathetic nature of their opposition meant that they controlled the first period as the one-way traffic streamed towards our goal continuously.

Stoke had a good claim for a penalty dismissed after only six minutes when Maxi was all over a Stoke attacker as he tried to reach Delap's long throw. Fortunately, and somewhat surprisingly, the protests were waved away by the referee.

Delap's long-throws continued to cause mayhem in the Liverpool box as the Reds backline struggled to deal with Stoke's main threat. On 10 minutes Meireles managed to clear the ball, but it landed at the feet of Whitehead, who smashed a low strike goalwards from 25-yards out.

It forced Reina into a great save as the Spaniard turned the ball behind for corner. Ex Red Jermaine Pennant whipped the set piece into the danger area, and Jones rose highest to flash a free header wide when he really should have done better. As that corner was contested in the area Liverpool escaped another very good penalty claim when Skrtel clambered all over Jones.

Whitehead went close again three minutes later when he shot narrowly over the bar, before a Delap throw in caused havoc in the Liverpool area once again when Jones missed a great chance to score after Huth had flicked the ball through for the former Sunderland striker.

Both Gerrard and Meireles saw snapshots saved by Begovic as the Liverpool midfield tried to relieve the pressure on our defence, however Liverpool couldn't assert themselves on the game and Stoke remained the more likely to break the deadlock.

Moments after the half hour mark Fuller played Jones through on goal. A poor first touch from Trinidadian stalled the move slightly, but an awesome interception from Carra was required to prevent the ball reaching Etherington, who was lurking ominously.

A decent Liverpool move ended when Gerrard dragged the ball seven yards wide on 42 minutes, but the hosts had the last opening of the first half when a lovely ball from Pennant, who was made to look like Ronaldinho by the frankly awful Konchesky, took the move past the Liverpool left back as well as Maxi Rodriguez.

Gerrard blocked the eventual shot from Stoke, however it provided yet more evidence of the home side's dominance and the haphazard nature of Liverpool's first half performance, which lacked composure and attacking poise as well as defensive solidity.

Manager and supporters alike were not only expecting, but demanding a much-improved second half display from the Merseysiders, however the second period started terribly and, if anything, got progressively worse as the game drew on.

A poor and sloppy back pass from Konchesky forced Reina to hoof into touch four minutes before the hour mark. Ordinarily this mistake would have little consequence however this proved to be a costly error when Rory Delap's throw in caused a mad melee in the penalty area.

The goalmouth scramble that ensued eventually ended when Fuller stabbed the ball home as desperate and dreadful defending from the visitors couldn't prevent Stoke grabbing the first goal and with it the initiative.

After that, Delap connected with the rebound to his own throw in and tested Reina with his strike, before a misjudged header from Skrtel gave Jones the perfect opportunity to double Stoke's lead and double our misery. Fortunately, Jones dragged his shot wide and Liverpool still had a chance of claiming something from the contest.

The Reds' best chance came on 64 minutes when Kuyt cut Gerrard’s superb ball back to Maxi. The anonymous Argentinean shot straight at Begovic from seven yards to squander our only real sight of goal. A minute later Gerrard fired another set piece into the box where Kyrgiakos headed back across the six-yard box to fellow centre back Martin Skrtel, who volleyed disappointingly wide.

Babel was then sent on for Maxi with 15 minutes remaining as Hodgson attempted to inject some pace into our lethargic midfield. The enigmatic Dutch attacker tried to make an immediate impact when he smashed goalwards from 30 yards, however he failed to find the net as our frustration grew.

That frustration almost bubbled over on 80 minutes when there was a scuffle between Jones and Kyrgiakos in the centre circle. Liverpool couldn't use that energy for any positive purpose though as Konchesky summed up our performance when he wasted a free kick in a good position by embarrassingly launching the ball way over the bar.

To add insult to injury Stoke doubled their lead in the dying stages. Gerrard's long pass intended for Babel was easily cut out and the home side counter-attacked rapidly. Pennant raced comfortably past Konchesky before playing Kenwyne Jones through on goal. Stoke's number 9 eased past Skrtel and made no mistake to beat Reina and send the Britannia ballistic.

Lucas was shown a second yellow card after a rash challenge on former Ipswich player Jon Walters as the game ended disastrously for the away side. An angry and despondent section of the travelling support sung for King Kenny to replace Roy Hodgson in the Anfield hot seat as the pressure grows on the Liverpool manager.

I am by no means a fan of Hodgson or his style of football, however the gutless and heartless display from the players yesterday is unacceptable regardless of who is sat in the dugout.

Gerrard and Carragher appeared to be the only players showing any sort of fight or drive to get us back into the match and that, considering their wages and the fact that they are wearing the famous Red shirt of Liverpool, was a damning indictment on the other players.

The comparison of war and sport is often crude and inappropriate, however if the players had shown even half of the commitment to the cause displayed by the soldiers they were commemorating before the match then the outcome would have been significantly different.

As I predicted, the Chelsea win is now but a distant memory because we have failed to build upon that win following the failure to secure anywhere near enough points against Wigan and Stoke.

Liverpool have now dropped points against Birmingham City, Sunderland, Blackpool, Wigan Athletic and Stoke City. That is simply not good enough from any Liverpool side, regardless of any ownership or managerial change, and must be changed quickly if we are to take anything from this season.

If not, we can kiss goodbye to the Champions League for another season.

YNWA

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