If The Boss Say's That We Were Terrible Then Yes We Were
Liverpool was in Braga to play the away leg of their next
set of games in the Europa Cup and due to the idiosyncrasies of UEFA around the
fixture times, it was the early kick off.
Why UEFA have done this I simply don't know, because as last night
showed in some countries people simply cannot get to the games, hence the half
empty stadium and total lack of atmosphere.
Last Night was one of those nights that many people
including the journalists that were in Braga to report on the game want to
forget. From the moment the team was
announced you knew that nothing was going to go to plan. Now I trust Kenny
implicitly but for some unknown reason he included Joe Cole and Christian
Poulsen in the team. I know a lot of you
will disagree with me here, but they have both proved time and time again that
they are simply useless and need to be moved on. Stevie G was also missing due, as we now know
to an operation on his injured groin, so although I know Jamie did his best there
was no real leader on the pitch. Andy
Carroll was on the bench though and it became apparent very quickly that he was
needed.
This showed almost from the moment the referee blew his
whistle to start the game. The team
seemed to be all over the place and yet again it appeared that we were playing
the old hoof and kick style. The
football was awful to watch and seventeen minutes in Kyriakos gave away what amounts to a very silly penalty and Braga
were in the lead.
Whether this had an effect on the team I don't know but
suddenly the already terrible football became worse and it was like watching a
horror story unfold. There was no effort
from any of the players, but as usual all fingers were pointed at Christian
Poulsen, who seems to lack any idea of how to play the game.
The end finished though with the Braga Supporters finally
finding their voice and the travelling Kop very muted. I think they were as
shocked as anyone at the style of play in front of them. If the match had been
at Anfield, I suspect they would have been booed off the pitch and deservedly
so.
Knowing how important the away goal is in Europe, I suspect
that Kenny gave them one hell of a talking too.
The question of course was, would they convert his advice into action on
the pitch during the second half?
It started with the same eleven men and for the first twenty
minutes there did not seem to be difference in the style of play, but then
Kenny played his master stroke by bring off Christian Poulsen and replacing him
with Andy Carroll. This had an immediate
effect on the team and with several of the players moving positions, they began
to play better. The elusive away goal though seemed as far away as ever,
although Joe Cole, who had finally woken up, had a couple of good chances. The work horse called Dirk Kuyt also tried to
sneak a goal by poaching but it simply was not meant to be. The match ended with the team knowing that
they have a lot of work today at Anfield next Thursday.
The referee was not one of the best either and I am sure
going by the decisions he made, favoured Braga throughout the game. In the
second half Joe Cole was fouled, which was a definite penalty and then towards
the end of the second half, Andy Carroll was assaulted which of course should
have been a straight red card.
Kenny in his post -match press conference did not try to
shirk away from the matter in hand and said that the team really need to look
at themselves, because they had played extremely badly. He also said that it simply was not good
enough, and I suspect when training resumes tomorrow, they may well be in for a
few shocks.
I get the feeling the team simply do not want to be in the
competiton. The problem with this of
course is that they need to realise winning is possibly the only way that we
will qualify for Europe next season. If
not with the rebuilding that will be taking place, then it could mean a season
in the wilderness.
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