Like many here, I sat through 90 minutes of turgid football yesterday as Liverpool and Bolton served up a sorrow excuse for Premiership football.
Both teams struggled to control the ball, the passing was terrible and both looked clueless in attack.
Hell, the dozens of plastic bags and crisp bags that blew onto the pitch provided sharper movement as the wind caught them!
I thought Liverpool deserved a draw and thought Sam Allerdyce was a bit cheeky in saying his side deserved the win.
However, in other ways, we deserved and got nothing for the pitiful and incompetent way we played the game.
We were ok in defence, despite Hyppia's injury, and I though some fans have unfairly picked on Djimi Traore, who I thought had a reasonable game.
Josemi was beaten by Pederson on the wing in a move that led to the goal, but overall I though Josemi played well and although it is early stages yet, it would appear that he will solve our right back problem.
Dudek made a decision to attack the low cross but was foiled by Stelios legitimate lunge and the rest of the defence stood flatfooted as Davies picked up the ball and whipped it home. Aside from that our defence was ok.
The real problem was in midfield and attack. We had no shape and Benitez made his first real mistake in playing Gerrard on the flanks. He is not alone in making this, as both Houllier and Erickson have done this in the past. I think these managers have erred doing this, however. Just because Gerrard can do a fairly decent job out wide doesn’t necessarily mean that we take him out the place where he does most damage, i.e. the engine room. I’m sure Patrick Vieira could do an ok job on the flanks as well but you don’t see Arsene Wenger playing him there when the Gunners have injury problems. Gerrard also has a problem in that he attacks ball in the box from the left hand side with his right foot, meaning that he often hits his volleys into the ground, volleys he would be better off trying with his left. That’s a minor problem though compared with his passing. When he is out on the left he tries to send long searching balls with the outside of his right boot towards the attacker coming in from the right flank. These balls are very easy to defend and countless of times Campo and others headed them to safety.
I think Gerrard is a great player but I have said this before and I will stand by it, he is very far from the finished article. He lacks savvy and is too eager to hit a killer ball with almost every touch. Benitez has identified this problem and has said that Gerrard has to be more economical and smarter with his use of the ball. Stevie has a lot more talent than Roy Keane but Keane’s possession game is still superior to Gerrard’s long racking passes. These passes are great when they work out and look good on Match of the Day but nine times of ten Gerrard unnecessarily yields possession. A lot of people here blamed Danny Murphy for wasting possession last year but the number one culprit is Gerrard, and that is the one area of his game that he really needs to work on.
Didi Hamman had a game to forget yesterday as well as he looked unsure when in possession and hit too many long and straight forward passes to the front men which simply ran on to the goalkeeper. Alonso had an ok debut but it was clear he lacked understanding with Gerrard and Hamman. Garcia got a shock in the first half as he was denied space to show his skills, space he invariably got in Spain. I almost felt sorry for the guy as every time he got possession you could see he had something smart in mind but was instantly crowded out by two or three Bolton players. Welcome to the Premiership Garcia! In truth Garcia improved as the game wore on and got into the pace of it, and towards the end showed flashed of genuine ability. He was denied a perfectly valid goal but at least he has shown that he is capable of getting into scoring positions, which is encouraging.
Baros had a frustrating game, often being selfish in possession, but in fairness to him and also to Cisse, the service was terrible.
It was a bad game and a bad performance, but the reaction from many fans has me flabbergasted.
Benitez has only been here a few months and already some are suggesting we made a mistake. Its funny, because last week on this very website many people were saying that Benitez would win us the league this year and that in Alonso, Gerrard, Nunez and Garcia, we would have the best midfield in the Premiership!
Two bad results (one of which was ultimately meaningless) in a week and suddenly we have made a mistake!
It just confirms my opinion that many people really don’t understand football at all.
We have changed manager and coaching staff, and are trying to rebuild a side in a short period of time. New players have come in to crucial positions. It won’t happen over night.
THERE WILL BE ANOTHER FEW BAD DEFEATS BEFORE THE ONSET OF WINTER. GET USED TO IT. WE WON’T WIN THE LEAGUE THIS YEAR EITHER, GET USED TO THAT ALSO.
Benitez needs and deserves time. Alonso, Garcia and Nunez will at least require 4 or 5 months to settle into England. There is no guarantee that Benitez is our messiah, but two defeats doesn’t make him a flop either.
You can’t judge Benitez on a middling start to the season. He must deliver real progress this season, we all agree on that, but he needs to be judged late next spring, not this August.