Friday 18 February 2011

Bore Draw In Prague

OK so lets be honest, it wasn't a classic, and i don't think that too many people predicted a goalless, lifeless draw. Performances like this have become commonplace away from home in the Europa League, and you have to go back to August for the last time we won away from home in the competition. In fact since beating Trabzonspor 1-2 in August the reds have played 4 away games and scored only 1 goal, OK so it's only 1 conceded as well but that's besides the point, all of those game have been played out pretty much the same as this one - poorly.

It isn't all doom and gloom, a draw away from home in Europe, with the second leg to come at Anfield is never really a bad result, an away goal would have been nice, but at this moment in time - not essential. The 'gloom' comes from the fact that once again we have been subjected to a poor performance in a competition in which we are regarded as one of the favourites to win it. And a Steven Gerrard hat-trick aside, this Europa League run has been a pretty drab and uneventful affair.

Before the game, much was made of the inclusion of some of the younger players, our stars of the future if all goes well, but to be honest, I never really thought any of them would get any game time at all unless with 15/20 mins to go the game was pretty much over as a contest, and i don't think they would have made too much difference. They were taken to get some experience of what it is like to travel abroad and to get in some more training with the first teamers, their time will come soon, but not yet.

One youngster who was included was Danny Wilson who had a fine game at left back and was easily one of our best players on the pitch. He looked to be a strong and very capable player and never looked out of his depth, something made all the more impressive as he was played out of position at left back. He gave probably the best performance at left back that we have seen this season, not too eager to get forward and run down the wing but hardly surprising seen as how he is used to playing as a central defender. All in all he gave a great account of himself and I'm sure he will do well in the future.

Something that i find a Little bit worrying though is that our best left back is a young central defender playing out of position, and our best right back is also a young central defender playing out of position. OK so Wilson has only played a game at left back, but he performed better in the role than Johnson has done, and Martin Kelly is a much better right back than Johnson is. And that is a problem. Glen Johnson is not a bad player, I've said this before, on the whole he is an average defender at best, in fact it would be truer to say that he is not a defender full stop. His attacking qualities far outweigh his defensive ones. Attacking wise he is generally quite good, sometimes a little hesitant to play the ball but on the whole he is a threat going forward - defending is another matter entirely. His positional awareness in defence is not what it should be, you only have to look at Kuyt's reaction last night after he showed the attacker down the wing, preventing him from cutting inside, he was beaten for pace but he turned expecting Johnson to be in position to prevent the cross, Johnson however had drifted into the box and the fact that he was the one who cut the cross out inside the box is irrelevant, he should have been there to stop the cross ever being made. I think the time surely must have come to give Johnson a go on the right of midfield - he isn't being utilised properly in defence, he could add an extra cutting edge to our attack.

Krygiakos came back into the starting line up and was a rock once again. He has his critics but his no nonesense approach is great, nothing fancy just do the job, pretty much the same mentality as Carragher and he is a real threat going forwards. And last night even the kit man was more of a threat going forwards that Ngog was. He is too lightweight, and is not a player who can lead the line alone. With the ball at his feet he is generally quite good, and he is capable of scoring goals, but he is way down the pecking order now, the only reason he played was because Suarez is cup tied and Carroll is injured and Kuyt was needed on the right. Maybe in a 4-4-2 with Kuyt alongside him he might have had more joy, but playing alone he wasn't in the game at all, and he didn't try to get in the game either. With our new arrivals and more strengthening to come, coupled with the great young talent that we have coming through i can't see him having too long a future at Liverpool unless he starts to show that he deserves to be here.

Attacking was the main problem last night, no creativity, zero shots on target in 90mins is unacceptable at any level, it is unacceptable full stop for Liverpool FC. This lack of any real attack almost cost us the game. Sparta are in the middle of a winter break and before last night hadn't played a competitive game since December, match fitness for them was probably not at a high, and they probably would have preferred other opposition for their first game in 3 months but they looked the more dangerous and the more likely to score as the game went on. Liverpool had been in good form recently, even after stuttering against Wigan, many expected the reds to raise their game, but we lowered it.

One puzzling thing, is Dani Pacheco. He got game time last season, never more than 15/20 mins, he looked good, he had a great summer with Spain in the U19 championships - finishing top scorer, yet this season he is very much a bench warmer and most games he doesn't even get to do that. There are a few younger players have been given a go this season, but Pacheco has been largely overlooked. He has hinted that he wants to play more, that he may have to consider his options, and if the club want him to stay then they are certainly doing a great job trying to convince him that his future lies at Anfield. Now I'm not saying he's the next Messi or anything like that, only what most people are saying - we have a very talented youngster, 20years old, it's round about now that he should be getting game time, starting to make the step up, showing us what he can do, and we all want to see him get a decent chance that lasts longer than 10mins at the end of a game. There are players allot younger who are getting more game time, he has been excellent in the reserves and he must be doing alright in training because his performances in the reserves are consistently good, he must be wondering what he has to do to get a chance. Puzzling.

OK, so not the greatest of performances, probably up there with out worst for the season, but we do have a second leg to play at Anfield. I did try not to get too depressed over the performance and i do realise that it is still a good result and we do have an excellent chance of progressing but when the team plays so badly it really brings the negatives to the front - and lets face it, there where a few last night. Based on last nights performance, next Thursdays performance can only get better.

Hopefully we wont start with Ngog alone upfront, Hopefully Gerrard will be back, I would let Wilson keep his place, and if Kelly is fit he should get the nod ahead of Johnson at right back, Pacheco will probably be on the bench, Cole will get another chance - not too sure how many more he will get, needs to improve fast. It should be a better game, i think we will go through, but the performances in the Europa League simply must improve - our only chance of success this season, we should be going for it with everything - Hopefully from now on we will.

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