Oh, dear. What a travesty. I tend to joke at times in pre-match predictions with friends that our boys will win 4-0 or 5-0; when I woke up Sunday morning, I would have never thought it would actually happen that way against us. To be quite frank, it simply looked like our players had already written this game off as an easy win before the match started, and when it started to go wrong, they reacted as though they had no idea what was going wrong, and didn't really believe it was happening. Bad passes, bad tackles/challenges, and a lack of a sense of urgency (even after conceding the early first goal) doomed us from the start; and when the bad challenges got Adam and Skrtel sent off, it only made the job that much easier for Spurs. I really hope this served as a wake-up call for the rest of the season for our boys in not taking any matches for granted, as a team that finished 7th last year (however improved they may be now being set aside) should never think any one game will be an easy three points. That is the last I will speak of that game for now, and I hope to never have to reference it again (unless in a positive post).
To be honest, the Brighton match had me perplexed: how can a team that has dominated all but one of their games this year concede more than 50% posession to a lower-level club? Granted, players such as Spearing, Robinson, and even Flanagan who got starts in the Brighton match haven't really played a part in the aforementioned performances, but one would still hope to see a little more control of that game from the Liverpool side. With that said, I really liked the fact that we were able to capitalize when it counted most: getting ahead early and effectively finishing it late; a clean sheet would have been nice, but a win is a win, and that's what matters. I also really liked what Craig Bellamy brought in his first opportunity to play a full 90 minutes in a Red shirt. The free kick he took that almost shattered the crossbar was probably the most exciting free kick we've seen yet from the club, and the fact that he was able to get on the score sheet made it that much better. I also liked seeing Steven Gerrard on the pitch: although it was only for about 15 minutes, and he didn't really do much in that time, seeing him actually playing again for the first time in 6 months was a sight for sore eyes. I also was excited to see Coates make his first start, and although he seemed a little nervous and unused to the speed of play at times, I saw some signs from him at both ends of the pitch that had me excited for his future here at the club. Overall, I liked what I saw, and hope we can carry that momentum into this weekend's game vs. Wolves. Pre-match analysis will come in my next post!
Going forward, I like what we have ahead: our first derby match of the season at Everton (helping them on to relegation perhaps? One can dream...), and the match right after that at home vs. scum. Let's hope history repeats itself after last year's 3-1 victory at Anfield.
On a side note, I am very excited to see FIFA 12 come out September 27th! Having to get rid of Torres at the beginning of every new started club campaign in FIFA 11 was getting annoying, and hopefully they have Suarez rated more justly this time around. Also, a parting shot from Orlando: on one of my last days there, I saw a small English child with his mother at Universal Studios, who apparenty was experiencing American flies for the first time:
Child: "Mummy! You have flies in your hair!"
Mother: "Oh really? Do you see them?"
Child: "Yes! We have flies in Englund! Are we in America?"
Mother: "Yes, we are."
Child: "Really? They have flies in America? Let's eat them for breakfast!"
I wish I had a camera, because I would have made countless theoretical internet dollars with that bit of youtube gold.
Looking forward to my next post!
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