The Jury: Liverpool fans on the Carling Cup defeat to Tottenham Hotspur
Chris Lalley, Huyton
PATHETIC. Embarrassing. Disgraceful. Humiliating.
Not since Houllier's Liverpool sides graced us with such performances have I felt this disheartened in what we witnessed at White Hart Lane last night.
Lets get something right. When any player steps onto the field of play wearing the red shirt, they should do so willing to die for the cause and to uphold the traditions of what Liverpool Football Club stands for. They must understand the privilege they have and how much any fan would give to be in their boots!
Last night on reflection looked like nothing more than a training session.
Anyone who saw Arsenal's under 9's take apart an experienced Premier League side on Tuesday evening must surely be brimming with envy in the sheer gulf between that and our woeful display.
Robert Gillies, Aigburth
LESSONS in defeat can be valuable and last night crystallised certain facts.
The team tends to play too slowly in the first half, and then not have enough time to react if they fall behind. Dossena and Degen are not good or fit enough to play full back and need to be moved on quickly. This would allow both Darby and Insua to press for a first team place. Both look comfortable on the ball.
Babel remains the conundrum. This is no callow youth, but a full Dutch international. Does anyone know his best position?
The extent of the rotation and the use of the game to give Torres and Agger match practice showed that the Premiership is the real priority. Remember that a lunchtime win at Bolton on Saturday will take us top.
Ian Richardson, Rock Ferry
THE Carling Cup is not high on my list of priorities.
Some of the players on view last night seemed to be similarly disinterested. Despite a valiant second half showing the damage had been done in a first half which saw some woeful defending. Attention now focuses on Saturday's vital clash at Bolton - and some important decisions for Rafa to make with his team sheet.
Firstly, Alvaro Arbeloa, our only decent full back, will be suspended and, with Jamie Carragher the only realistic contender for his position, it will be interesting to see how Rafa reshuffles his defence. Then Fernando Torres will be pushing for a league recall, but at the expense of whom?
Some excellent displays should see Robbie Keane and Dirk Kuyt have their places cemented. Rafa may go with Torres, backed up by Keane, Gerrard and Kuyt?
ANDY COLLINSON, Aigburth
AND the crazy old League Cup returns! Once again Benitez blooded a few young guns against Spurs in a competition he obviously despises.
It just happened to be a slight disgrace that none of those "guns" were provided with "encouragement", "ammunition" or "motivation" by our eccentric Spanish boss. The defence looked as though it would struggle against Tottenham Ladies, the midfield couldn't have been detected by CSI Miami, and even Torres would be hard-pressed to describe himself as an "attacker" last night.
A word also about Benitez's insistence upon playing Dossena. No man since Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump has ever run so far, and so pointlessly, as our Italian make-weight.
Whereas also, it's surely time to check Lucas' passport to confirm that he is actually a Brazilian, rather than simply a Zingari League player who once did the Samba at the Grafton!
The message to Liverpool fans after this 4-2 shambles has to be: if the Reds are away in the League Cup in future, save your money and go and see a proper Christmas pantomime instead!
Older/Newer
« Red alert: Dean Saunders excited to turn out for Liverpool legends | Red alert: Dean Saunders excited to turn out for Liverpool legends »
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: The Jury: Liverpool fans on the Carling Cup defeat to Tottenham Hotspur. TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.liverpoolbanter.co.uk/cgi-bin/mt421/mt-tb.cgi/93397
I was wondering whether Sami Hyypia has now eventually been retired by Frazier Campbell. Any thoughts?
you were poor, but dont you think that the fact we took you apart in the first half had something to do with it?
we could have had 5 by half time
As soon as I saw the line up I knew we would lose. Central midfield is the most important area of the pitch, it's the engine room, with Plessis and Lucas it was more like a horse & cart.
Lucas is so over rated by Benitez, is he really a Brazilian? Plessis has been very good for the reserves but he needed a quality midfield partner not a lightweight.
However despite the inept midfield, yet again Dossena was garbage, we didn't really pay £7 million for him did we?
As with all the top EPL squads .when you put the shirt on for your club it is a chance to show what you can do and improve the choice for the manager in the league campaign etc.....
we played well but liverpool did not look the same team as the one a couple of weeks ago when we were lucky to not be 3 down at half time ......
Gerrard was missed and others and torres is still recovering
Spurs are flying at the moment and played well.....
Lets just put things into perspective here...Liverpool didnt play well at all last night but after 30 odd minutes it was 0-0, then a mad 10 minutes cumulated in us conceding 3 quick goals out the blue and in the process losing the game. It was very disappointing the way it went but the positives we can take out of the game are that we actually did win the 2nd half 2-1, as the game was pretty much over by half time anyway, there was no chance of another Istanbul occurring due to the limited personnel we had out on the pitch, no Steven Gerrard's amongst that lot. Although its never nice to lose any game of football, we have bigger fish to fry for the remainder of this season, lets put the domestic cup competitions to bed and concentrate on more important matters of the Premier League and the European Cup, i know which i sooner we genuinely competing for, leave the domestic cups to your lesser teams, they aren't that valuable anymore, lets move on.
Lets just put things into perspective here...Liverpool didnt play well at all last night but after 30 odd minutes it was 0-0, then a mad 10 minutes cumulated in us conceding 3 quick goals out the blue and in the process losing the game. It was very disappointing the way it went but the positives we can take out of the game are that we actually did win the 2nd half 2-1, as the game was pretty much over by half time anyway, there was no chance of another Istanbul occurring due to the limited personnel we had out on the pitch, no Steven Gerrard's amongst that lot. Although its never nice to lose any game of football, we have bigger fish to fry for the remainder of this season, lets put the domestic cup competitions to bed and concentrate on more important matters of the Premier League and the European Cup, i know which i sooner we genuinely competing for, leave the domestic cups to your lesser teams, they aren't that valuable anymore, lets move on.