The game against West Bromwich Albion last night was a chance for Liverpool to continue on from all the positives taken from the two recent and impressive away games at Arsenal and Man City. So much was said about how Liverpool had performed maturely and in a disciplined manner at two of the toughest away grounds in the Premier League. Disappointingly, they failed to capitalise on what was a great opportunity to close the gap on Everton to 3 points and give Tottenham a worried look over their shoulder as we move into the last few months of the league.
I’d go as far to say that the chase for fourth is now over and a struggle for sixth is now on the cards. As hard as that is to accept, when games like this aren’t finished off, that is the underlining fact.
The momentum for Liverpool going into this game was brilliant. A feel good factor has been up and down around Anfield this season with our inconsistent results but it was growing again due to the week previous.
The game itself was dominated by Liverpool, but all credit must go to West Brom for their smash and grab performance which their pocketful of fans based in the Lower Anfield end delightfully took back to the midlands with those hardened Brummy smiles.
Mulumbu and Yacob for me were the pick of the bunch. They guarded the defence with great composure and used the ball well when they won it back, with the possession game of Liverpool not being as successful of late thanks to those two as well as third middle man, James Morrison.
Brendan Rodgers said after the game of the ‘setback’ this has caused and how the ‘effort was terrific, but the ball never fell for us’. I’m not one to look to criticise the major specificities on a regular basis but when that ball fell for Borini, you hit that with you left, not kick it away from goal with your right.
The chances came, there’s no doubting that and many raised the issue of Sturridge being injured as a reason for Liverpool not taking the points. Correct me if I’m wrong but prior to this 26th game of the season Liverpool were playing, we had played another 25 right? Sturridge’s impact has been fantastic and the new system with him up top and Suarez behind in the free role is beginning to have an impact but when one player gets injured that doesn’t mean we can’t play the other systems that have gotten the reds within touching distance of the Champions League places.
This wasn’t a result because one player was missing, this was the score line it was because the players who are expected to deliver the quality expected for a game like this, did not do that. Jonjo Shelvey has found himself out of the frame since a couple of disappointing performances over the Christmas period and he had his chance last night. He almost looked like he wasn’t sure where he was playing and his touch seemed a little jaded in the early stages which set the tone for the rest of his night.
Furthermore, Johnson and Enrique produced their most disappointing showing all season. The flowing pass and move sequences they have created down their sides of the field, particularly Johnson, seemed to stutter last night. This was partly due to West Brom’s resolute defending but with Enrique’s strength and speed as well as Johnson’s persistence in going forward, I would have expected more from them last night.
Without Sturridge, Liverpool were previously successful at winning at home, with wins against Fulham and Sunderland respectively in the past few weeks. You’d go as far to argue that at the time Sunderland arrived at Anfield they were on the up, and after a tough Christmas. They’d beaten Man City at home, came out of a tricky test away at Southampton with a 1-0 victory thanks in part to in form Steven Fletcher and been narrowly beaten by a top quality Tottenham display at the Stadium of Light.
West Brom’s visit to Anfield came with their current record standing at six games without a win, five of which they has lost. They walked onto a pitch which so often in games like this has a hill, rolling steeply down towards the Kop end (metaphorically, not literally), and no matter how many teams played with 10 or 11 men behind the ball, Liverpool would always find a way through. Last night that hill made an appearance but for some reason the ball rolled the other way into Pepe Reina’s net and the red men were left to stand to rue the copious amounts of chances they potentially could have put away but never.
At the moment it feels like 2 steps forward and 2 steps back, jiggling in between that mediocre 8th and 9th position nobody wants to be in. Games like last night were once the reason Rafa Benitez’s 2008/09 Liverpool team lost the Premier League that season. They feel just as disappointing, if not more disappointing than results against Chelsea, Arsenal or Tottenham and often leave our heads scratching more.
It’s a tough result to take, particularly because it’s the result that almost certainly rules us out of challenging for the coveted 4th spot and it also leaves us questioning future games at home against teams like West Brom, games were a win should be the outcome.
Swansea are up next, a team arguably better than the Albion and with one of the in form strikers of the Premier League in Michu . Let’s hope Brendan Rodgers can do to his old team what Steve Clarke did to his old team last night. I’d take that smash and grab right about now, wouldn’t you?
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