Premier League
Sunday 17th February 2013
Anfield
Football never ceases to surprise. Whether you're talking of evolution or revolution, both take a large amount of time. Right now however we've gone from being on the cusp of getting everything in working order to being completely broken and in need of major surgery again in the space of seven days. Hopefully this will be the start of the rebuilding process.
Our capitulations have cost us dear this year. After having played well enough against Zenit to have something, once again mentality becomes an issue that rears it's head. Things have now reached almost epidemic proportions and for the first time in a long time questions have to be asked right throughout the squad. The last time I felt like this was walking out of Anfield in November last year after having been dumped out of the league cup by Swansea.
The away could be forgiven for looking down on us with a little contempt today. Their previous manager - having left them for greener pastures - going through difficult times while they prepare for Wembley next week. Unfortunately - as far as this game is concerned - that might just work in our favour today. There's every chance even if Laudrup puts out all those that are likely to play next week in the League Cup final that their minds are elsewhere. Whether or not we face a reserve side or not, there will need to be some reaction to events as of late from the men in red. Even if it really is too late to save our season, they still need to fight.
If you asked me to explain it or even suggested the idea to me a short while ago, I wouldn't be able to and would have discarded it. However, Daniel Sturridge has come into this Liverpool team and suddenly made us a vastly superior side. Having had enough time on the sideline to recover and not being under any pressure to play on Thursday, Sturridge can come back into the team and hopefully we'll pick up as a unit where he left off against Norwich.
It's clear now that consistency will elude us for a while yet. Even a win today would prove little on it's own, which is not to say it's not needed or worthwhile. One thing is for sure, going into the must win game with Zenit on Thursday on the back of anything less than a win today will make the confidence around Anfield dip even lower. Despite the performances against City and Arsenal, we need wins and if nothing more, we need to avoid going another game without victory. It's probably not going to be the three points that will get us into the top four at the end of the season, but without them we can forget going anywhere at all, other than backward.
No comments:
Post a Comment