Same Old Story

It was the same old story against Fulham but with different outcome. Many times before this game Liverpool had played like this but somehow, with one or two moments of magic, had won the game for them. Not this time. Many would say it has been a long time coming and I would have to agree. All the last minute wins so far has put a shroud over Liverpool’s shortcomings. 

People talked about the championship quality of a team that plays badly but still wins the games. Liverpool has done that many times this season and fans began to believe this would be the year Liverpool would win the premiership. But really, can a team that performed in that fashion is really a championship material?

Apart from Torres and the defence, the others were pure amateurish. Hell! Torres must be thinking what the heck he is doing amongst the other players on the pitch for Liverpool tonight. He is a few classes above the rest, but there’s so much a fantastic player like him could do when there is no support from the others. Without Gerrard to dictate the engine room, Liverpool’s attack was listless. 

Blame it on the international break, but really, ask yourself whether Liverpool would have won the game with that line-up even without the break. Lucas is clearly not EPL material. And Keane, I am sorry; I don’t see him as a suitable partner for Torres upfront. With the championship at stake, could Liverpool afford to keep on hoping that he will eventually be the Keane of yesteryear one of these days and still continue to partner him with Torres?

Yes, everyone knows the cliché when it says a team doesn’t lose the championship in November. But come December and the new year, if Liverpool is too far off the pace behind the leaders, we can then forget about the whole idea of becoming the champion. Last season it was the many draws that hurt us in the end. This season, we belief we now have a better team that beats the big guns like manure and chelsea. But, again a cliché, we would also have to beat lesser teams like Fulham. But frustratingly we could not. Against a team with the worst away record this season too, mind you. As long as we rely on the hope that other teams around us falter and drop a point or two after we did the similar, we will continue to be frustrated. So what would Benitez do now?