Liverpool 0-2 West Brom - Round Table

Posted by Mr Dilkington on February 11, 2013, 10:16:52 pm

West Brom without a win in 8, Liverpool coming to the boil after two impressive away performances to Arsenal and Man City. The script was there, but then, when did football ever care about what the script says?

The first half brought about total domination, but we lacked the composure and structure to make anything of it. Second half, things start to open up and you're thinking, "Aye aye, we'll get chances here." By this point, West Brom have yet to register a single shot on goal. Despite things opening up, we still lacked any kind of clarity and quality. Then with 15 to go the referee grants us the get out of jail card we were looking for by awarding a penalty for a (soft) foul on Suarez. Foster has played a blinder, but it's Gerrard, he'll score. He doesn't. And from that moment on, it unravels.

If we were looking scruffy and disjointed before the penalty miss, we looked a lot worse after it. Panic set in, and with West Brom setting loose their barrel chested beast for the last 20, they were always going to carry a threat. Bad marking from a corner, and they go 1-0 up. It was the only way they were going to score, and after that Lukaku got the space he needed and we got punished again.

Questions...

If Skrtel has been dropped because of poor form, do we start the next game with Carragher and Sama at centre back? In all seriousness, Agger was at fault yet again tonight. Are his mistakes born more from a fault in the system, or is it just pure sloppiness on his part?

What the hell happened to Glen Johnson, and was tonight the real Jose Enrique, or just a bad game?

Gerrard and Lucas looked extremely sluggish tonight - a consequence of the Brazil game on Wednesday perhaps? Lucas still looks off to me too, and you do start to wonder whether he'll ever be the same player again. There was one moment in particular when Brunt just ghosted past him, and despite his best efforts, Lucas couldn't get back in to close him down again.

Was Shelvey's performance due to a lack of game time, or a general problem with his game, or both? You can see the potential in him, but there is so many ragged edges on him still. He often got in the way of others tonight, and he was slack off the ball too.

Downing MOTM. After taking a lot of criticism during his time here, a bit of praise due surely?

Suarez had an off night tonight. Dwelt on the ball and ran down dead ends. Nice rabona though.

Given how much he struggled to get into the game, can we rely on Borini as a replacement for Sturridge when he's not available, or do we have to change things around like we did tonight?

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