Half way through the season and this is what we're reduced to; scrabbling around to pull out a solitary point against piss poor sides already broken by the man supposed to lead us upwards. And all the while the team falls further and further apart.
Like so many recent games this could have been different, and like so many it was never going to be. We are singularly incapable of even looking like we can defend a lead, even when we do somehow manage to take it twice. It's quite some surprise that we manage to cling onto draws so many times (and the ensuring slide which occurs when those draws turn into defeats doesn't bare thinking about). Restored to the starting line up almost by default of being available Robert at least spent the first half applying himself. The display was capped by one of those unstoppable free kicks that sometimes seems to be all he ever produces these days (does anyone quite understand how Robert came to find he had such a shot---he wasn't doing this a few seasons ago). There is some argument that a goal is worth an awful lot but something more must come to the party. At times in this game Robert showed what we know, that he is capable of something more, but at others, especially after the break, he showed what we also know---sometimes he just doesn't produce.
Talking of not producing, Kluivert (perpetually "unfit" it seems) had to be withdrawn at half time. Such an occasion is exactly why the stadium announcers tell the crowd substitutions. Otherwise it's possible no one would have noticed. As his replacement Ameobi did more lumbering around but not much else. To be fair to Kluivert he wasn't the only player one had to check the team sheet to be sure he was playing. With a midfield anonymous (particularly second period) the ball kept coming back towards a defence being switched around even as we played, as if there were some magic combination of inadequate players to save the day. Woodgate may not have kicked a ball in anger for the white clad Spaniards but at least his waiting presence would have offered us some hope rather than bewilderment at selling the only player this club has had in the last ten, fifteen years who really knew how to defend.
We have one more humiliation (surely we can't expect anything better) at Arsenal to come before that mysterious window opens and we perhaps find some solutions. The worry is the man supposed to find them is the man who produced the very poor side we're so upset with drawing with. It can't be that hard though. Take fifteen million that we started to chase Rooney with and buy a true world class defender. Then do it again. Until then, we'll be struggling for midtable superiority even if the players up front remember how to play.
(@13:12)
If this can't be defined as slipping towards crises then it is hard to imagine what can. We were beaten by a better team, simple. And we're now as close to relegation as we are Liverpool. Sure, we can point to the depleted squad and claim we're hampered by injuries -- Bellamy's warm-up injury resulting in us only having enough players to field four subs -- but take another look at that injury list. Now, who is going to come automatically into the team and weave a magic wand. Shearer may be a talisman but he isn't exactly the youngest player on the block any more. Besides, it hardly matters if he's there or not when the players behind him can't retain the ball long enough to move it forward. Butt might steady a and somehow help out a woeful defence midfield but he's hardly going to provide the skill and invention which seems to have vanished. And those missing from the back line are hardly better than those present in it -- and completely inadequate -- today. It's obvious to the blind we need the transfer window for the defence but one really must begin to ask just how much more we need help with. Can Souness find something (personally I doubt it---now is his test. Almost any new face would have resulted in a steadying of the ship; it's now that things are reverting back to dreadful play we'll see). This has gone on long enough. A football team with the sort of ambition we are meant to have ought to at least be able to pass the ball.
While the game started brightly really neither side were creating chances (though in Liverpool's case it was tricky to figure out exactly why not). Then we took the lead through Kluivert (who might on another day have been given off side---anyone believing that rule isn't at best grey should study this goal). To Liverpool's credit they were quicker than others at taking away that advantage (and how many times will we throw away a lead). And once Liverpool scored there was never any real danger of another four-three thriller. They worked harder, passed better and create more incisive chances. We did a lot of huffing and puffing and demonstrated exactly what a team desperately out of form (but who's players still seem to believe themselves better than they are) looks like. This needs to turn around and it needs to turn around now, or we really will be in a dog fight and teams at the bottom will (rightly) be thinking they can get something from us.
To compound it Bowyer, who had actually probably been our best player with industrious work, showed the side which just drives you mad to gain a second yellow card. Game over, as if it wasn't already. What's to be done? A defence please, and a couple less prima donas in midfield to be replaced with players who actually do something rather than look pretty. And still lurking in the distance is the fact that you know we'll need a striker (perhaps the chase for Rooney wasn't quite so crazy actually).
This is a turning point of the season. It has to get right come January or european ambitions can wave goodbye to relegation avoidance (the league form has finally filtered through to europe too sadly). There are many very good teams in this league and at the moment we are certainly not one of them. There may be a blend of players here who, with a couple of additions and changes, can become one---they have been known to show it in flashes---but it needs a leadership to get them there. Hope we've bloody got one, it's depressing to see the top half of the table, without us.
(@23:12)
Job done, don't ask for much more than that. That pretty much sums up this performance. Another promising early goal start degenerated into another scrap for a point. Having gained an advantage via Bellamy sneaking in to produce a looping header we actually began to look comfortable -- while never really having great invention or producing huge amounts of threat. The comfort came mainly from looking vaguely like a solid defence---though ball retention was another matter---until of course that changed and a normal lack of defensive service was resumed to allow Sporting back in.
From that point it was all out defending to achieve the result needed to leave us top of the group. Any resemblance of solidity was now gained by essentially converting the midfield into a second defensive unit, with the result that Ameobi and Bellamy were left entirely ineffectual mainly through lack of service.
In the end we were hanging on but the job was done, which is about all that could be asked given the injury list and form. A pity the european record was spoiled but we're through as group winners and it's a little unfair to go looking for more than that. We have every chance of progressing now. If we can somewhere along the line learn how to defend then we might at least dream.
(@23:12)
So another promising start descended into pallid play with a familiar sinking of the spirit. What had hinted at a new found inventive vigour became a trudging dross against a hardly inspiring opposition. The equaliser came via a deflection as if to confirm the cosmic pattern and we almost waited for the losing goal. That Portsmouth's second didn't come is a small mercy, for defeat to the likes of that team (and I say that with due note of their current superior league position) would really start to see us in trouble. As it is we're still more likely to be caught taking increasingly worried glances over the shoulder and down the table towards the unthinkable bottom three than we are looking up to europe. That is where this slide is taking us.
That the misfiring is most of the team has to be hugely concerning. Not too long ago it was felt that we could get away with a dodgy defence, at least against the not so top opponents, thanks to our attacking prowess. Now, admittedly without Shearer (and the not so missed Kluivert) we wonder if we're going to get lucky enough to secure a goal---two is something of a rarity. The transfer window was seen as off loading the make weights and deadwood while crafting some form of back line. Now one is left wondering just what is to be done. We are a better team than we are playing as -- and should be able to refind some sort of ability in most areas -- but that knowledge doesn't get any points.
Europe approaches and it begins to seem like avoiding Champion's League drop outs might be a really good idea---the only way of actually having a european adventure next year is looking like it's to win it this. Then the seasonal joy of Liverpool. A 4-3 would be welcome there, either way, as it would at least represent an ability to produce goals at a high level. The race to the transfer lifeboat doesn't get any easier either. Souness will return to the only club with which he achieved before meeting a possibly reviving Arsenal. Ah, the new year can't come quick enough. A passion wouldn't go amiss in the meantime. Let's hope the only christmas spirit isn't the one used to drown our sorrows.
(@15:12)
Better teams than us will fall at the leading team in the country, and to be honest most won't even put up as good a display. Four was a bit harsh, but be honest---are you really surprised? At a ground we simply don't win on, against a team who's bench might have a decent shot at the title (and is making a fist of the cups), for an hour or so it looked like we might just about hold our own and come away with a point we'd snap their hands off for. Nah, not with our "defence".
Bramble and Johnsen restored to central defence with young Taylor continuing at left back. And for that first 60 minutes we did look alright. OK we didn't really threaten too much but hey, miracles not expected. But you just knew, knew, that it couldn't last. The warning signs had been there as Bramble and Johnsen conspired in a ridiculous passage of non-passing to gift Chelsea a golden chance only for the ball to power inexplicably wide. No such problems from the second chance. The entire midfield forgot that they should be doing something when they don't have the ball and allowed possibly the most dangerous midfielder in the control to stroll into the box and collect the ball. Lampard of course did finish.
That seemed to be the signal for a quick collapse of any pretence at being able to defend. Bramble, improved in recent weeks, again belied his apparent ability and strength to allow himself to be easily shrugged off for the second. The third and the fourth followed inevitably as, with some credit, we at least tried to look forward more. Weren't getting anywhere though. Kluivert again was completely ineffectual, touching the ball only when somewhere near the centre circle (in fairness, there wasn't a lot of service further up the pitch). Bellamy buzzed but again lacked much to really feed off. Dyer seemed sparked into life, probably by the thought he might impress someone---hopefully he will and can become someone else's post-christmas turkey. A nod to Bowyer who I thought actually had a good game stuck out on the right.
So, we lose to the best side in the country and one of the very best in Europe. Not a huge disaster it must be said. Move on, get over it. It is at least one of those games that most teams are going to lose. At least it's out the way. Nothing's changed. We still need defence from somewhere in the January sales. We still have to struggle on until then. The trouble with this league is the fixture list never gets that much easier for too long but hey, maybe we can be a tricky tie ourselves.
(@01:12)
It was our night off from the UEFA league stage as the other four teams in our group faced each other. While Tbilisi crashed and burned as Panionios kept their hopes of qualification alive, Sochaux did us a favour by defeating Sporting. That means that we just have to avoid defeat at home against Sporting to win the group :-)
In related news, the draw for the next round will take place on December 17th.
(@00:12)
