Anfield humiliation for the Kop

It was not going to be an easy game.  Footballing pundits had already given their opinion on how detrimental a failure in this particular game at Anfield could prove to be for the Kop. And none of them believed Liverpool could get a victory here without the inspirational Steven Gerrard and marksman Fernando Torres. How right they were!!!

Liverpool tried to start in aggressive fashion and keep the ball against a fluent Lyon side. However, it was the visitors who would almost go ahead courtesy Brazilian striker Lisandro. It was only the athleticism of Pepe Reina that saved Liverpool from an early embarrassment. This failed attempt by Lyon seemed to have injected some life into Liverpool. From here on in the first half, the Reds kept most of the possession and dominated proceedings. This did not mean that Lyon did not pose a challenge. They always looked threatening when coming ahead and one was particularly noticeable, Sidney Govou. I would say that what Steven Gerrard is to Liverpool, Sidney Govou is to Lyon.

Liverpool managed to go ahead on 41 minutes courtesy Yossi Benayoun who was the man trying to guide a very scrappy Liverpool midfield. Credit has to be given to Fabio Aurelio for the excellent cross into the box which caused numerous problems to the Lyon defence and resulted in the only goal for Liverpool in the match. Liverpool went into the break 1-0 ahead. The home fans expected a much better performance from their team in the second half, but it was Lyon who stole the show. A goal on 72 minutes and another one deep in injury time from the Lyon super subs meant that Liverpool now have to win the remaining three games in the Champions league convincingly to go past the league stages.

Several things were clearly seen in this game. For instance, Liverpool no longer have the free flowing game of football that we were seeing last season. Surely this has not been caused by the absence of just one man Xabi Alonso. No, there is more to this than meets the eye.  There seems to be an absolute lack of awareness about where the other team members are. Most players look up to see where their nearest teammate stands before passing on the ball. Also, there seems to be no anticipation amongst the players that the ball is going to be played to him and no runs across.  In my opinion, this is nothing but the lack of teamwork. Yes, individual skills have to be improved, but football is a team game and if the players in a team cannot read each other’s minds, there will be no success for that team.

In comparison, the Lyon players were so well aware of each other placement that when they had the ball, Liverpool almost never managed to get it back cleanly. Another surprise was the team selection. You can see from the teams Rafa has been putting there, that he is trying to build a young team. What with players like Lucas and Insua getting regular first team appearances, and Ngog getting the look in once in a while. But, the question we must ask here is; is this being done at the expense of losing out in the top four slots in the league and an early exit out of the Champions league?

Rafa has been saying a number of things to defend himself and his team selection. He has been trying to mould Lucas to place in the place of Xabi Alonso. Lucas though seems to be following in the footsteps of Nani i.e. contributing nothing in every game. To be very frank, he only showed one good bit of skill till date, and that too in this game against Lyon, when cornered near the left corner of the field. He is weak in possession and needs to improve his tackling and defence capabilities on a whole. Maybe it is a little too early to be giving him a regular place on the team.

Also, considering that Liverpool now have a few strikers, namely Torres, Voronin, Babel and Ngog; its a wonder why Rafa never plays 2 of them up front. Its always better to have 2 up ahead who can score than one. Dirk Kuyt has been working as the makeshift striker during El Nino’s absence, but the guy is not really a striker. Mind you, he works like a horse in the field, but Liverpool could do with someone having a little more imagination up front.

Rafa – as everyone knows –  is a defensive minded manager. If he plays 2 strikers, he can put defensive midfielders out there and shore up his defence to take care of a counter attack from the opposition.

That said, Rafa knows the team better and the strengths and weaknesses of each player better than anyone else. Lets hope that he does some out-of-the-box thinking and starts getting those results that the fans always expect from the Reds.

***If I were Rafa, i would consider the following lineup against ManUtd on Sunday.

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Torres             Voronin

Aurelio                Benayoun                 Kuyt

Mascherano

Insua             Agger          Carragher         Kelly

Reina

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I would prefer Kelly to Johnson since Kelly has shown very good defensive qualities as well as looking good while moving forward.

And Voronin might seem to be a waste of money to many, but he has shown glimpses of his abilities during his time on the field. I would definitely put my money on him to score at least once every two games provided he plays regularly.

Nani vs Babel

I remember having this discussion with my friend Munish (check out his blog here). We were debating about who was worse, Nani or Babel. First of its kind debate? You tell me. This debate started about 7 weeks back, at the start of the new Premier League season. For the first couple of weeks, I was able to make my point considering the performances going around, but; about four weeks into the season and I am dead beat. How? Read on….

Ryan Babel, the Dutch striker/winger started the season in the most horrific of fashions. He was given his first start in the first game of the season for Liverpool; and he made his first worthless appearance there. Too many “firsts” there, isn’t it. Well, to be truthful I have not followed Nani’s progress (or decline as my friend likes to state it) as closely as Babel, but I have seen glimpses of him. I make it clear in no uncertain terms, that being a Red for life I hate ManUtd as hell, but I do respect their attitude towards the game and their fighting spirit.

This prompted me to watch a couple of games of ManU and also Nani’s performance. The latest game I watched was the one today against Bolton at Old Trafford. Now, OT is the hunting ground for the current Champions. However, their performance never made it look like it is their home ground. I was keeping an eye out for Nani in particular, and he was disappointing to say the least. One wonders, how a manager as experienced as Sir Alex is still holding him in his squad. And, come to think of it, Nani had spoken out to the media saying that he will replace CR7 (now CR9).

Babel has not done much better either. He has not been given the opportunities Nani has been given (in terms of minutes on the field), but he has been playing 20+ minutes in almost all his substitute appearances. Add to the fact that he has 2 goals to show (although one of them was freaky), both against Hull. Ryan Babel did show flashes of brilliance with his control and speed, but these were really far and few in between the chances he has wasted.

The time’s ripe for both Nani and Babel to show where they stand. One can only hope that both of them starting paying back the trust and monetary investments made by their respective managers. I will reserve my judgement on who will make it through this season for now. But, as I understand it; for either team to win this season of the Barclay’s Premier League, these two players will be quite critical in their battle plans.