Thursday, November 13, 2008

So, that happened ...

Was it a psychological mind trick I played on myself? Or did I not really care about beating Spurs in the League Cup until it became fairly obvious Liverpool was going to lose that game just a few minutes before halftime? I was hoping for nothing more than no one important getting injured, but in the end, I feel a little down that they went out to Spurs. Anyway, on to the bullet points:

• Torres was quickly dispirited out there once it became apparent no one knew how to get him the ball. Zhar was a ghost on the right, Plessis and Lucas were trying to ... well, what exactly were they trying to do in the middle? And Babel on the left confused Spurs for the El Segundo, Calif., U-11 All-Stars, repeatedly carrying the ball in among three defenders. It was an embarrassing display.
• No words about the defense. As shocking as I can remember ever seeing a Liverpool unit perform.
• It was funny that when they toyed with a comeback down 4-2 with about 25 minutes left, Benitez brought on Alonso, and suddenly it didn't look like a Liverpool midfielder was violently crapping his shorts every time he got the ball. It's a shame Gomes was hurt, because I think Liverpool would have drawn one more back and had a go at it in the final 10 minutes.

The point is to win the game, no matter which one it is. I'm not too crushed by being out of the League Cup. In fact, I'm secretly satisfied there won't be at least one or possibly three more fixtures thrown into the December and January schedule that advancement Wednesday would have produced. But still, such an abject display from Liverpool disgraces the shirt. There's no satisfaction in losing 4-2 at Spurs but being able to say, "Well, Rafa played the reserves plus Torres." So what? They should expect better of themselves.

No comments: