A fourth Premier League defeat in a row was marked out as the worst under Arne Slot as Brentford’s approach seemed to surprise Liverpool…
I MEAN…
There are some defeats I can forgive. I can forgive losing to a last minute goal as you can be prone to them as well as scoring them. I can forgive being unable to get back into a game when the referee inexplicably forgets the standard health and safety directive around head injuries and I can forgive losing a European away game with a hostile crowd that gets in your head.
But I can’t and can never forgive a Liverpool side failing to show any aggression, purpose, pride and hurt in the face of a well-drilled and front-foot side.
That performance was disgraceful. There’s no other word.
The best teams come out flying and show their opponents who they are and what they can do. The first fifteen minutes should be physically and mentally exhausting for the opposition. The league champions are here and we’re going to give you hell. That sort of thing.
On Saturday, the first half an hour looked more like a photo shoot than a statement of intent. The sense of entitlement was staggering.
Even the basic tactics were ignored.
Brentford like a long throw-in and though a return to those days destroys the aesthetic joy of the game (some of us lived through the Wimbledon days and this is not progress), it’s no surprise that they were going to utilise it.
Surely, we knew that. Surely, we’ve prepared for that.
And yet Liverpool looked surprised mere minutes into the game when they threw one in. One missed front post header later followed by not being good enough for the second ball and it’s 1-0. Straight from the playbook.
It’s annoying and typical these days but, at the time, I could live with it. Just don’t feel sorry for yourselves. There was plenty of time left and, in any case, we briefly improved. It’s just what happens next that baffles and angers me still.
That second goal.
It should be in coaching manuals for years to come under the heading ‘Never ever do this.’
Ibou Konate, who admittedly can’t make a tackle without receiving a red card, offers no pressure of any sort and gives up — actually gives up. Then the goalkeeper stays on his line to give Kevin Schade as bigger view of his goal as possible. Every keeper in the world at any level comes out to narrow the angle, that’s Goalkeeping 101, but this man stays on his line. I doubt he’s ever done that before.
I thought the whistle had gone for some infringement or other. We just let it go. Liverpool, the Champions, just let it go and accept a second goal.
I hate this. I hate slagging our lads off and this must seem harsh, but the one thing this side doesn’t need is empty slogans of ‘We Go Again’ and vapid social media promises to make things better. They get a chance to do that every three or four days and yet…
The last five minutes though! Brilliant. We chased everything down, fought for second balls and steamrolled through defenders to get a point. Lovely stuff. The thing is, we’re supposed to start games like that too. We start games like we’ve got somewhere better to be.
That’s not good enough. The most basic of Liverpool templates state that we start aggressively and set a tone.
You can look at the silver lining of Mo’s first goal for a while and remember that he’s a genius and that he plays for us, but it’s the determination of Dominik Szoboszlai to chase down a loose ball that created it. So often you need one to do the other.
The manager was right to call this the worst of the four defeats. He was also right to say it was the lack of fight which caused the biggest issues and it’s not as if he can go out there and play himself, but he’s certainly due some criticism.
We seldom look in control of a game and there’s rarely a structure in place in which to build a strategy. We’ve gone from high pressing to a policy of apologetic fragility.
Can we at least have some anger on the pitch? Some fury that we’ve let things slide so much so quickly?
No one likes calling individuals out so let’s just say that there are players on the bench who must roll their eyes when they see the teamsheet.
Look, we love this club and these are the days when they need us the most, but by extension, they have to give us something back. Dom and maybe Curtis aside, they gave us nothing in West London and that’s not on.
Effort and desire is the least we can expect. The title was last season.
It’s time they stopped feeling sorry for themselves and it’s time they show the league that there’s still a team in here.
This has to be better.
