Wigan 1 Liverpool 1 - Match Reaction
November 11th, 2010 | Author: Dave U
Talk about back down to earth with a frigging bump. The warm afterglow of the Chelsea game and the recent good run has disappeared after this. Not because we didn’t win, but because of how we approached this one. It wasn’t a defeat, but it felt like one. The first 15-20 minutes were great, we scored a stunning goal and could have had more. The football we played was great to watch, and we looked set for a big night. And then it all went to ****. The question is why.
I don’t know what happened, or what was supposed to happen. Roy Hodgson is the only one who can answer that. All I can do is comment on what I saw, and to me it looked like we turned into Fulham. Two banks of four, retreating back into their positions as soon as we lost the ball, and allowing Wigan to pass their way around and through us. It was ****ing soul destroying. It also affected us when we had the ball. Suddenly we could no longer string more than two passes together, the gap between our midfield and forwards became huge, it became pitiful and that second half was a disgrace. No point trying to sugarcoat it, it was proper **** and we were lucky to come away with a point as Wigan played us off the park.
What pisses me off more than anything, is that everyone knows who Wigan are and what they are about. I even wrote it in my preview, they have some talented players going forward but they can’t defend for ****. The way to beat them, is don’t let them play to their strengths and make sure you play to their weaknesses. If that happens, you can ****ing destroy Wigan. We’ve seen them take some fearful beatings from teams who’ve attacked them (in the last couple of seasons Chelsea, Spurs and Blackpool spring to mind). So what do we do? We go all ****ing negative and play right into their hands.
Why? Was it tactical? Were we tired? Was it just a bad night at the office? Maybe a combination of all of the above, but I hated the tactics, it was inexcusable. Hodgson said afterwards that we sat back too much and invited them onto us, which suggests it wasn’t his intention. I’m not convinced, as like I said, this was like watching Fulham. When Fulham came to Anfield under Hodgson, this was what they did, and they did it well. Even if we could do it as well as Fulham did, I wouldn’t want us to as we aren’t Fulham. I had no problem with us digging in and getting people behind the ball in the second half on Sunday, as it was Chelsea and they are good enough to pen any team back for long periods. But Wigan? **** that, it’s unacceptable. I’m sure it wasn’t Roy’s intention for us to sit back as deep as we did, and to completely stop playing, but this retreating into position and letting the other team have the ball is certainly due to his instructions.
In the second half, the difference between the sides was that Wigan pressured us when we had the ball and forced us into mistakes, whereas we just sat off in our two banks of four and tried to prevent them playing through us. Except we didn’t do a good job of it, as all their players were doing was moving into the gaps between our positions. N’Zogbia especially, he kept drifting in off the wings and finding space to run at us. They were able to pick their passes and play in little triangles, because we didn’t close them down. We couldn’t find a red shirt with a pass because they put us under pressure and we got into this negative rut where we couldn’t do anything right.
What makes it so hard to fathom is how well we started. The opening goal was a thing of beauty. Gerrard split the defence with as incisive a through ball as you’ll see anywhere. Torres took it perfectly into his stride with a majestic first touch, and before the keeper could set himself Torres had fired off an early shot that nestled in the bottom corner. Ruthless, clinical, brilliant. We were flying at that point, and should have had a second after another exhilarating attack involving Gerrard, Kuyt, Maxi and Torres. Gerrard couldn’t get over the ball though and blazed it over the bar. At that point I was expecting a rout, we were playing some great stuff.
And then it all stopped. Wigan took over the game and apart from a late flurry that saw Gerrard and Torres come alive again, the home side completely bossed the majority of the game. We weren’t helped by Meireles going off at half time through illness, but he wasn’t having the best of games anyway. Still, he was much better than Shelvey, who looked completely out of his depth I felt sorry for him, he came into a side that had gone completely onto the back foot, he was being pressurised every time he had the ball and he didn’t have too many passing options due to the static nature of our performance. He doesn’t look comfortable out wide either. He’s clearly a central player, and although you get some players who can move out wide and look fairly comfortable (Gerrard, Murphy, Meireles spring to mind), Shelvey looks more like a Jamie Redknapp type who needs to be central.
We started the second half really badly. They took just seven minutes or so to score, and the only surprising thing was it didn’t come sooner. We were all at sea, they were swarming all over us. It was only a matter of time before they scored, and we’re fortunate that they only managed the one. We had no answer to it, we seemed to drop deeper and deeper, and Torres became an isolated and frustrated figure again. There are a number of reasons for that, the back four and midfield playing so deep, our inability to keep the ball and the total failure of Kuyt to contribute anything in support of Torres.
Roy’s next change didn’t go down well. Kuyt going off was fair enough, he’d been wretched. But Poulsen? Depressing. In fairness, the much maligned Dane did pretty well and we actually got better following that change as it allowed Gerrard to get involved higher up the pitch. He almost won us the game when he rattled the underside of the bar late on, but that would have been seriously undeserved. I just felt the change screamed out ’settling for a point” and I don’t like it. On the flip side, Wigan were playing through our midfield largely uncontested, so I can see why the manager wanted to try and get a foothold in there. Most (me included) would have brought Ngog on, but given the way we were being over-run in midfield and the lack of possession we were having, there’s no guarantee it would have made a difference.
Hodgson also introduced Eccleston for Maxi late on, and made the point afterwards that “We have five injuries at the moment. We finished the game with Martin Kelly, Jonjo Shelvey and Nathan Eccleston. That’s what we have at the moment. Hopefully we will get some players back soon.” Well Martin Kelly was arguably our best player, and Shelvey and Eccleston were only on the field because Roy chose them ahead of Jovanovic and Ngog. Strange comment I thought.
I’m just really depressed after this. I thought we’d found some form and with a run of very winnable games coming and I expected us to climb the table. We still might, we could win at Stoke and should beat West Ham at home. But still, this performance and the lack of attacking intent shown has really taken the wind out of my sails. I really want to give Hodgson the benefit of the doubt, but when I see how we approached this game I can’t help but think that this is the reason his away record is so bad. His approach might work if we had better players, or more specifically more pace. Put two pacey wingers in the side and maybe we can get away with playing like this, but it won’t work with any combination of Maxi, Cole, Shelvey, Meireles etc on the flanks.
I’m so sick of seeing Liverpool manager’s adopt this caution first approach to games that we should be winning easily. Is it too much to expect a Liverpool side to go to Wigan and try to attack them for ninety minutes? I’m not expecting us to win every game, but I don’t think it’s too much to ask to see us try and put these teams to the sword. Sadly that’s not Hodgson’s style, and it’s a safe bet this won’t be the last time we see a performance like this on our travels this season.
November 11th, 2010 | Author: Dave U
Talk about back down to earth with a frigging bump. The warm afterglow of the Chelsea game and the recent good run has disappeared after this. Not because we didn’t win, but because of how we approached this one. It wasn’t a defeat, but it felt like one. The first 15-20 minutes were great, we scored a stunning goal and could have had more. The football we played was great to watch, and we looked set for a big night. And then it all went to ****. The question is why.
I don’t know what happened, or what was supposed to happen. Roy Hodgson is the only one who can answer that. All I can do is comment on what I saw, and to me it looked like we turned into Fulham. Two banks of four, retreating back into their positions as soon as we lost the ball, and allowing Wigan to pass their way around and through us. It was ****ing soul destroying. It also affected us when we had the ball. Suddenly we could no longer string more than two passes together, the gap between our midfield and forwards became huge, it became pitiful and that second half was a disgrace. No point trying to sugarcoat it, it was proper **** and we were lucky to come away with a point as Wigan played us off the park.
What pisses me off more than anything, is that everyone knows who Wigan are and what they are about. I even wrote it in my preview, they have some talented players going forward but they can’t defend for ****. The way to beat them, is don’t let them play to their strengths and make sure you play to their weaknesses. If that happens, you can ****ing destroy Wigan. We’ve seen them take some fearful beatings from teams who’ve attacked them (in the last couple of seasons Chelsea, Spurs and Blackpool spring to mind). So what do we do? We go all ****ing negative and play right into their hands.
Why? Was it tactical? Were we tired? Was it just a bad night at the office? Maybe a combination of all of the above, but I hated the tactics, it was inexcusable. Hodgson said afterwards that we sat back too much and invited them onto us, which suggests it wasn’t his intention. I’m not convinced, as like I said, this was like watching Fulham. When Fulham came to Anfield under Hodgson, this was what they did, and they did it well. Even if we could do it as well as Fulham did, I wouldn’t want us to as we aren’t Fulham. I had no problem with us digging in and getting people behind the ball in the second half on Sunday, as it was Chelsea and they are good enough to pen any team back for long periods. But Wigan? **** that, it’s unacceptable. I’m sure it wasn’t Roy’s intention for us to sit back as deep as we did, and to completely stop playing, but this retreating into position and letting the other team have the ball is certainly due to his instructions.
In the second half, the difference between the sides was that Wigan pressured us when we had the ball and forced us into mistakes, whereas we just sat off in our two banks of four and tried to prevent them playing through us. Except we didn’t do a good job of it, as all their players were doing was moving into the gaps between our positions. N’Zogbia especially, he kept drifting in off the wings and finding space to run at us. They were able to pick their passes and play in little triangles, because we didn’t close them down. We couldn’t find a red shirt with a pass because they put us under pressure and we got into this negative rut where we couldn’t do anything right.
What makes it so hard to fathom is how well we started. The opening goal was a thing of beauty. Gerrard split the defence with as incisive a through ball as you’ll see anywhere. Torres took it perfectly into his stride with a majestic first touch, and before the keeper could set himself Torres had fired off an early shot that nestled in the bottom corner. Ruthless, clinical, brilliant. We were flying at that point, and should have had a second after another exhilarating attack involving Gerrard, Kuyt, Maxi and Torres. Gerrard couldn’t get over the ball though and blazed it over the bar. At that point I was expecting a rout, we were playing some great stuff.
And then it all stopped. Wigan took over the game and apart from a late flurry that saw Gerrard and Torres come alive again, the home side completely bossed the majority of the game. We weren’t helped by Meireles going off at half time through illness, but he wasn’t having the best of games anyway. Still, he was much better than Shelvey, who looked completely out of his depth I felt sorry for him, he came into a side that had gone completely onto the back foot, he was being pressurised every time he had the ball and he didn’t have too many passing options due to the static nature of our performance. He doesn’t look comfortable out wide either. He’s clearly a central player, and although you get some players who can move out wide and look fairly comfortable (Gerrard, Murphy, Meireles spring to mind), Shelvey looks more like a Jamie Redknapp type who needs to be central.
We started the second half really badly. They took just seven minutes or so to score, and the only surprising thing was it didn’t come sooner. We were all at sea, they were swarming all over us. It was only a matter of time before they scored, and we’re fortunate that they only managed the one. We had no answer to it, we seemed to drop deeper and deeper, and Torres became an isolated and frustrated figure again. There are a number of reasons for that, the back four and midfield playing so deep, our inability to keep the ball and the total failure of Kuyt to contribute anything in support of Torres.
Roy’s next change didn’t go down well. Kuyt going off was fair enough, he’d been wretched. But Poulsen? Depressing. In fairness, the much maligned Dane did pretty well and we actually got better following that change as it allowed Gerrard to get involved higher up the pitch. He almost won us the game when he rattled the underside of the bar late on, but that would have been seriously undeserved. I just felt the change screamed out ’settling for a point” and I don’t like it. On the flip side, Wigan were playing through our midfield largely uncontested, so I can see why the manager wanted to try and get a foothold in there. Most (me included) would have brought Ngog on, but given the way we were being over-run in midfield and the lack of possession we were having, there’s no guarantee it would have made a difference.
Hodgson also introduced Eccleston for Maxi late on, and made the point afterwards that “We have five injuries at the moment. We finished the game with Martin Kelly, Jonjo Shelvey and Nathan Eccleston. That’s what we have at the moment. Hopefully we will get some players back soon.” Well Martin Kelly was arguably our best player, and Shelvey and Eccleston were only on the field because Roy chose them ahead of Jovanovic and Ngog. Strange comment I thought.
I’m just really depressed after this. I thought we’d found some form and with a run of very winnable games coming and I expected us to climb the table. We still might, we could win at Stoke and should beat West Ham at home. But still, this performance and the lack of attacking intent shown has really taken the wind out of my sails. I really want to give Hodgson the benefit of the doubt, but when I see how we approached this game I can’t help but think that this is the reason his away record is so bad. His approach might work if we had better players, or more specifically more pace. Put two pacey wingers in the side and maybe we can get away with playing like this, but it won’t work with any combination of Maxi, Cole, Shelvey, Meireles etc on the flanks.
I’m so sick of seeing Liverpool manager’s adopt this caution first approach to games that we should be winning easily. Is it too much to expect a Liverpool side to go to Wigan and try to attack them for ninety minutes? I’m not expecting us to win every game, but I don’t think it’s too much to ask to see us try and put these teams to the sword. Sadly that’s not Hodgson’s style, and it’s a safe bet this won’t be the last time we see a performance like this on our travels this season.
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