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View from the Kop

What a Difference a Goal Makes

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I want to start out by joining the masses in simply saying wow! What a cracking hat-trick from our Uruguayan genius!

Each of those goals in its own right was a brilliant finish and although a lot of people will claim the third as his best, and I can see where they are coming from as this showcased his ability to see opportunities others can’t as well as that flash of arrogance all exceptional talents need, but for me his second was world class.

His second fully displayed his technical and mental brilliance from the angle he shot from, the power he hit the ball with and the time he had from gaining possession to hitting the back of the net.

I could continue to lavish praise and talk about Luis Suarez but that’s not what I wanted to talk about here. I want to take this opportunity to step back and view the situation as a whole and discuss what I feel is a problem for Liverpool FC as well as football as a whole in the current climate. It is a subject matter I have written about previously for Live4Liverpool and something I feel strongly about and think that this result against Norwich helps to further emphasise my point.

Let’s not get this wrong, this was an excellent performance in more ways than one. Off the back of a disappointing run of form in the league and growing disillusionment from a certain sections of fans as well as critics combined with a trip to a side overachieving, fully backed by their support, keen to take the scalp of a seemingly wobbling giant and playing in their own backyard, it was setup in the eyes of many to be another failure for the men in red. Yet Liverpool were solid, Liverpool were resolute and Liverpool were confident of caging the Canaries and taking what they wanted.

It was a competitive match throughout but Liverpool offered up little hope to Norwich offensively and were able to carve out the best chances and capitalise on errors to strike three times. But what has changed in a week? Last weekend at Anfield against West Brom was as baffling as it was frustrating. It was a game in which we dominated, more so than we did against Norwich, and despite chance after chance after chance (the tale of our season) we just could not score and with one slip up we lost the game.

If we now look at both games, removing the goals scored, and asked a lay person to tell us in which game we won 3-0 and which game we lost 1-0, I would suggest that a vast majority of people would plum for the West Brom game as being the victory and the Norwich game the defeat. As we have done on a number of occasions this season at Anfield we bossed the game, enjoyed vast amounts of possession and were rarely threatened. Likewise at Carrow Road it was an excellent away performance against a team playing well in which we contained them despite not dominating the possession and were able to break well and build attacks in a different way.
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A similarity in the games, as crazy as this will sound, again falls on our inability to convert chances. Now before the abuse, remember I asked to view these games without the goals! We all know what happened in the West Brom game, so looking specifically at the Norwich game two chances in particular spring to mind as summing up our play this year and they were Shelvey heading against the bar and Suarez attempting the chip when it would have been easier to slide the ball either side of the keeper.

Again we are creating gilt edge chances and not converting which is hurting us and come back to bite us on a number of occasions. Now obviously in the Norwich game we scored three, but on closer inspection all three were opportunist goals rather than as a result of our own build up play. I don’t want to take away from the goals, as each was a result of excellent pressing and commitment followed by a moment of brilliance be it a Gerrard flick or a Suarez finish, but these opportunities in matches at this level are not common practice and this year we have been on the receiving end more often than not, for instance Johnson last week. My point is that in the last 2 weeks the side has put in very accomplished performances but suffered and celebrated as a result of defensive errors rather than the result being indicative of our offensive play.

It is this that really grinds my gears as whenever you turn on a radio, glimpse at Twitter or read an article the phrases you more often than not see concerning Liverpool will include ‘papering over the cracks’ ‘player a is not good enough’ ‘not the team they were’ ‘Newcastle/Everton so much better after spending much less’ and so on, which helps create and support this bandwagon portraying Liverpool FC as a hopeless club going nowhere and in trouble. Yet, as I have tried to show, week in week out the difference has been a person to step up and take the chances we continually create.

I will doff my cap to Spurs away, Man City away and Bolton away as our performances in those games deserved the stuffing we got, but in our other games we continue to make and miss chances! Yes we are a club disappointed with our league form and position, but that is a view in the short term, in the long term I stand resolute we are heading in the right direction. I would be a lot more concerned to be watching a side create nothing for the strikers to miss rather than have the strikers having plenty of opportunities to miss. Again I maintain that we are a couple of players shy of getting back amongst it at the top.

Agree with me disagree with me please comment here and come find me on twitter @timdibs for a chat

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4 comments

  • Flauvio says:

    Spot on! It’s good to read an article by an LFC supporter, which actually supports the club. I completely agree that we are moving in the right direction, which some of the beautiful football we’ve played on many occasions this season is testament to.

  • Sam Wanjere says:

    I love your continued insight, taking a perspective less appreciated. I’ll certainly keep reading. I continue to be disturbed by those who still can’t see a priest standing on a mountain of sugar.

    We defend like few others, create chances with amazing regularity but lack finishers. Yet we are more associated with mediocrity than tweaking – and that from our fans! Disappointing.

    This is a true supporter’s article. No sugarcoating or justifying. Just the plain truth in a take-it-or-leave-it-without-insulting-the-reader-way.

  • Chan says:

    The Norwich gae was our 1 win in how many games? How many loses we had so far? How many draws? What is our current position? How much did KD spent so far? Yes, to the KD fans out there, our league position does not lie.

    Wigan is now on a winning streak, having beaten teams like Newcastle, Manure and us. Are we saying they are a great team just because of these last few games?

    The fact is that is all KD can bring to the club. A cup or two, one or two wins or draw in a long sequence od draws or defeats and wow he is hail as a mesiah. What terrible low standards we had set for our selves these days.

    Fact, if Norwich had beaten us, they would had been level on points with us. Norwich, a newly promoted team, whose whole team maybe cost less than what KD paid for Carroll.

    Anyone willing to bet a finger or two that we would not facing the same situation next season if the clown is still in charge?

    In case some have not notices, points are awarded based on wins and draws in the league, not % of posession or how many times you hit the woodwork, or how many passes you make. The point is you must make your chances count and under KD we don’t.

    SO, SACK THE CLOWN

    • Tim Williams says:

      Do you actually watch any of the games or base your opinion on the results column? if you read through my pieces you will find that I look to evaluate the performance as a whole rather confine my view to the final score as this would make any opinion knee-jerk.

      I dont understand your fixation with the cost of Carroll. he is a player we wanted, we had a lot of money and a need to fill a position and Newcastle held all the cards and got a good deal for them. It is a very sad state of affairs that you choose to judge the young lad purely on price tag. If a player should be given less time and opportunity the more we pay then by your reckoning Degen, voronin and jovanovic would still be playing.

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