Liverpool suffered their eighth away defeat of the season last night as they were swept away by promoted side Blackpool at Bloomfield Road. It was another miserable away day for Liverpool as, although a stunning goal from Fernando Torres set us off to the perfect start, Blackpool dominated the rest of this end-to-end encounter, eventually emerging victorious thanks to goals from boyhood Red Taylor-Fletcher and the diminutive DJ Campbell.
With Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish returning to the dugout for a Premier League match for the first time in 20 years many expected the Reds to be revitalised by his very presence. However, apart from the inspiration Torres clearly derived from the King, the players appeared to lack confidence and belief in their own ability as a Blackpool side costing a fraction of the price of Liverpool's comfortably controlled the match.
Kenny didn't impress with his team selection either as he picked a baffling side that Hodgson would have been absolutely slaughtered for picking. Poulsen and Jovanovic returned to the midfield and did very little of note while Dalglish started Meireles on the right wing, something which Hodgson was regularly criticised for doing.
Johnson returned from the birth of his son and reverted to left back as Kelly continued at right back after impressing against Manchester United. This move backfired though as Johnson not only failed to defend well, but also proved ineffectual going forward on his weaker side. Surely placing Kelly at left back and Johnson right back would have been a more sensible solution.
Despite this Liverpool started the brighter and grabbed the vital first goal with only three minutes on the clock when Torres fired the ball beyond Blackpool keeper Kingson after Kelly had slid the Spanish striker through on goal. It was an awesome finish and a pleasure to see Torres score a world-class goal again, however we failed to build on the momentum gained and Blackpool quickly levelled as sloppy defending cost us dearly yet again.
Only nine minutes after Torres had given us the lead in sensational style he displayed the other side of his game, as his poor lay off on the half way line caused Meireles to misplace his pass, allowing Taylor-Fletcher to steal possession and turn Agger inside and out before slotting the ball into the net.
It was a case of heart in mouth time for the Reds soon after when DJ Campbell headed inches wide from close range after Charlie Adam's short free kick had eventually travelled to the unmarked Englishman at the back post. With defensive lessons still not learnt Liverpool remained on the back foot as their energetic and enthusiastic hosts grew in confidence following their equalising goal and their earlier triumph over the Merseysiders at Anfield.
After half an hour Liverpool almost gifted the home side a second goal when Reina, who is normally flawless with his feet, panicked under pressure and poorly cleared straight to an orange shirt. Thankfully Grandin failed to take advantage of the Spaniard's error as his lob cleared the keeper but slowly curled away from the goal to the relief of Reina. Liverpool meanwhile failed to test the fragile Blackpool backline, with Torres' off-target shot on 37 minutes our only sight of goal before the break.
The second half started in the same vein as the first as Blackpool were still on top and still causing our typically shaky defence numerous problems. Charlie Adam, who has been linked with a move to Anfield, drove a strong strike goalwards 10 minutes in that Reina did well to beat away, before Taylor-Fletcher ripped Johnson to shreds on the right wing and crossed to Vaughan, who forced Reina to brilliantly tip his goalbound effort over.
Thankfully that seemed to spark some sort of reaction from the previously poor Liverpool attack and the match adopted an eventful end-to-end style. Jovanovic and Torres combined after 57 minutes when the Serbian's floated cross found Torres free at the back post, but disappointingly Torres flashed a first time volley over the bar when well positioned.
Torres' shot was then well saved on the hour mark after he had managed to control Kelly's over hit cross before Kuyt tested Kingson with a good shot from 25-yards that the Ghanaian keeper had to sharply turn around the post. Our period of positivity came to an abrupt end with just over 20 minutes to play though as terrible defending allowed DJ Campbell to send the majority of supporters in the stadium crazy with a second goal.
The ball was pumped into the box where Ian Evatt beat Skrtel in the air embarrassingly easily to head across to Campbell, who nodded home remarkably unchallenged from a few yards out. It was another case of nightmare defending from Liverpool as Campbell was afforded far too much time as several surrounding defenders acted as spectators while he condemned us to another de-moralising defeat.
Meireles glanced a header just over the bar immediately after we had fell behind and we could have had a penalty when a blatant handball was ignored due to a supposed push from Torres, however Liverpool failed to show any real desire to get forward and pursue an equaliser.
After one and a half seasons of poor football and lack of creativity on the road it was hardly surprised to see us lack the confidence, poise and invention needed to rescue late points away from home. However, this match doesn't reveal a new problem for Dalglish to deal with, it just demonstrates the magnitude of the daunting task ahead of him.
To instil belief and hope into our confidence-stricken side is an uphill task and will require an influx of new signings to add impetus to the team, however the Merseyside derby on Sunday is the perfect opportunity for the players to prove their worth and to welcome Kenny back in proper style. Although two defeats in two games have burst the bubble of optimism engulfing his comeback, King Kenny is surely the right man to motivate the players and get the best out of what is admittedly a bad bunch.
If he can't then we should really start worrying.
YNWA
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