It is a testament to how well Liverpool are playing this season that their fans
have moved already from dreaming of the return of the Champions League… to
dreams of the Holy Grail itself. Liverpool have been indifferent away from
Anfield so far, but dismantled Spurs yesterday in possibly the most brutal
slaughter of a “big team” in Premier League history. The scoreline was harsh
enough, but this felt different to other away day horror shows. City’s 6-1 away
at Utd turned on a sending off and a foolish United still pouring forward at
4-1 down. The same team’s dismantling of Spurs earlier that season was one of
those games when every shot went in. There was nothing lucky about this. There
were no mitigating circumstances. Liverpool had 60% possession, 20 shots on
goal, 9 corners and completely dominated a Spurs team who failed to muster a single…
shot… on… target. It was impossible to believe that at the start of the season
these two were probably on an even keel. There is an irony to all of this of
course. And that in many ways Liverpool have become what Spurs were last
season. Which is the ultimate one man team. Sure they were winning games
without Suarez, but not like this. Plus Suarez was still at the club, which
makes a huge difference. All the players would have seen him in training,
chomping at the bit and would have known they have to perform each and every
week or one of them would be moving aside as soon as he was back again. In
fairness to Liverpool they are a good team anyway, even if their squad remains
thin. Jordan Henderson can hardly be described as “a bargain” like one over enthusiastic
fan stated on 606, but he is completely reborn and can play in a variety of
roles. The defence is solid enough and Coutinho moves the ball with such casual
grace that the midfields of Spurs and Man Utd must look on in whimsical envy.
But despite this, there is no denying that Suarez towers about this team like a
colossus. Since his return from suspension he has scored 17 goals and created a
further 10. He has scored or assisted 13 in his last 3 games and has been involved,
in some way or another… in 85% of all
goals since he returned. That is dominance of an astonishing level. This is
a team that plays through one man, and keeping him fit and happy remains the
only chance this club have of lifting the big prize again come May.
2. Can AVB recover from this?
As I’ve already mentioned, this was not just a lucky or freak away win, this was a total embarrassment from start to finish that asked every question that could be asked about the managerial ability of AVB. Everybody gets stuffed at the Etihad, there is no shame in that, but getting torn apart in front of your own fans by a team who spent considerably less than you in the summer is something else. Four of Spurs summer signings started here, at a collective cost of £60m. They were made to look like school children by the likes of Joe Allen and Raheem Sterling. AVB has stuck rigidly to his 4-2-3-1 formation and seems physically unable to accept that it isn’t working. He does not have the personal to pull it off and would be far more suited to a 3-5-2 or a 4-3-3. For starters Spurs only have one real winger in Aaron Lennon. All their other wide players cut in and shoot rather than providing genuine width. This limits the supply to the front man and also crowds the midfield, leaving them vulnerable down the flanks. 4-3-3 is fine with inverted wingers, as Jose perfected during his first spell at Chelsea. It would enable them to get an extra body in midfield without compromising the attack. Soldado is not a bad player, but he is being made to look bad by a system that woefully fails to play to his strengths. Spurs formation looks like a lopsided 4-5-1 when teams attack them and the only way to get around this would be to play a false 9 and flood the midfield to control the game. Soldado is not a false 9. He is a proper, genuine number 9 who needs balls played into the box to thrive. Systems aside though, the most damning thing about Spurs yesterday was that some of the players completely gave up. The last three Liverpool goals all featured the unforgivable sight of Spurs players walking. Walking? I don’t care if you’re 20 nil down. If you’re getting paid as much money as this lot are you should be giving 100% in every minute of every match. You cannot protect your players when they do that, and the best thing AVB could have done was come out and say he was fining everyone involved in the match two weeks wages. They let him down and they let their club and fans down. As the final whistle blew Spurs had been humiliated, destroyed and absolutely disgraced. A lot of soul searching is in order and unless they respond and quick, this could be the final nail in AVB’s Premier League career.
*AVB was sacked 2 minutes upon completion of this blog. So I could just have written "no" - and moved on...
As I’ve already mentioned, this was not just a lucky or freak away win, this was a total embarrassment from start to finish that asked every question that could be asked about the managerial ability of AVB. Everybody gets stuffed at the Etihad, there is no shame in that, but getting torn apart in front of your own fans by a team who spent considerably less than you in the summer is something else. Four of Spurs summer signings started here, at a collective cost of £60m. They were made to look like school children by the likes of Joe Allen and Raheem Sterling. AVB has stuck rigidly to his 4-2-3-1 formation and seems physically unable to accept that it isn’t working. He does not have the personal to pull it off and would be far more suited to a 3-5-2 or a 4-3-3. For starters Spurs only have one real winger in Aaron Lennon. All their other wide players cut in and shoot rather than providing genuine width. This limits the supply to the front man and also crowds the midfield, leaving them vulnerable down the flanks. 4-3-3 is fine with inverted wingers, as Jose perfected during his first spell at Chelsea. It would enable them to get an extra body in midfield without compromising the attack. Soldado is not a bad player, but he is being made to look bad by a system that woefully fails to play to his strengths. Spurs formation looks like a lopsided 4-5-1 when teams attack them and the only way to get around this would be to play a false 9 and flood the midfield to control the game. Soldado is not a false 9. He is a proper, genuine number 9 who needs balls played into the box to thrive. Systems aside though, the most damning thing about Spurs yesterday was that some of the players completely gave up. The last three Liverpool goals all featured the unforgivable sight of Spurs players walking. Walking? I don’t care if you’re 20 nil down. If you’re getting paid as much money as this lot are you should be giving 100% in every minute of every match. You cannot protect your players when they do that, and the best thing AVB could have done was come out and say he was fining everyone involved in the match two weeks wages. They let him down and they let their club and fans down. As the final whistle blew Spurs had been humiliated, destroyed and absolutely disgraced. A lot of soul searching is in order and unless they respond and quick, this could be the final nail in AVB’s Premier League career.
*AVB was sacked 2 minutes upon completion of this blog. So I could just have written "no" - and moved on...
3. Man City are now the team to beat.
If anyone finishes about Man City this year they will win the title. City are now so good at home that even with such indifferent away form they will probably collect enough points to get over the line. Would anyone bet against them getting 57 from their 19 home games? They have already played five of the seven clubs around them there and they have scored an astonishing 35 goals at an average of 4.4 per match. They still have to play the bottom six clubs at the Etihad… who must be all looking at that date in the fixture calendar with something amounting to total fear. Arsenal were always likely to lose the game off the back of a tough midweek fixture, but in truth the scoreline flattered them. They were brutally dismantled by a team who, in full flow, are attacking as a collective unit better than any club I’ve witnessed on these shores since the Man Utd team of 1998-2000. At their current rate they will score 112 goals and have netted more times than Sunderland, Palace, Cardiff and West Ham combined. Sometimes all you can do is sit back and enjoy the ride. Unless, like me, you’re a Man Utd fan and a terrible fantasy football player who has elected to not include a single City attacker in his line up all season…
If anyone finishes about Man City this year they will win the title. City are now so good at home that even with such indifferent away form they will probably collect enough points to get over the line. Would anyone bet against them getting 57 from their 19 home games? They have already played five of the seven clubs around them there and they have scored an astonishing 35 goals at an average of 4.4 per match. They still have to play the bottom six clubs at the Etihad… who must be all looking at that date in the fixture calendar with something amounting to total fear. Arsenal were always likely to lose the game off the back of a tough midweek fixture, but in truth the scoreline flattered them. They were brutally dismantled by a team who, in full flow, are attacking as a collective unit better than any club I’ve witnessed on these shores since the Man Utd team of 1998-2000. At their current rate they will score 112 goals and have netted more times than Sunderland, Palace, Cardiff and West Ham combined. Sometimes all you can do is sit back and enjoy the ride. Unless, like me, you’re a Man Utd fan and a terrible fantasy football player who has elected to not include a single City attacker in his line up all season…
4. Steve Clarke can consider himself a little unlucky.
If Jol’s sacking was about as expected as Christmas, Steve Clarke getting the boot this weekend was a little more out of left field. West Brom had been on a poor run, and anyone who pays money for Victor Anichebe probably has to answer a few hard questions. Losing Lukaku was always going to unsettle the team given they played through him so often last season, but replacing him with someone who averages a goal every 7 games wasn’t the answer. That said West Brom have been a little unlucky this season, most notably against Chelsea when they deserved to win and break the most detestable home record in football. They have never been in the relegation zone and it was hard to make a case for Clarke’s team finishing below three of Sunderland, Palace, Fulham, Cardiff, West Ham and Norwich. No, ultimately Clarke was a victim of his own success and can consider himself very unfortunate to have been relieved of his job. Especially when the favourite to take over is Mike Phelan. Who despite claims that he “ran Man Utd” for the last two years has no experience as the main man whatsoever and represents a clear gamble.
If Jol’s sacking was about as expected as Christmas, Steve Clarke getting the boot this weekend was a little more out of left field. West Brom had been on a poor run, and anyone who pays money for Victor Anichebe probably has to answer a few hard questions. Losing Lukaku was always going to unsettle the team given they played through him so often last season, but replacing him with someone who averages a goal every 7 games wasn’t the answer. That said West Brom have been a little unlucky this season, most notably against Chelsea when they deserved to win and break the most detestable home record in football. They have never been in the relegation zone and it was hard to make a case for Clarke’s team finishing below three of Sunderland, Palace, Fulham, Cardiff, West Ham and Norwich. No, ultimately Clarke was a victim of his own success and can consider himself very unfortunate to have been relieved of his job. Especially when the favourite to take over is Mike Phelan. Who despite claims that he “ran Man Utd” for the last two years has no experience as the main man whatsoever and represents a clear gamble.
5. What is wrong with Garth Crookes?
There is probably no short answer to that question, but even compared to himself Crookes has managed to become every stranger in his aggression this year. His team of the week feature for the BBC regularly include bizarre rants, questionable choices and needlessly confrontational comments. Following on from a terrible Rooney anecdote, Crookes last week implied that Jose’s decision to take off an injured Schurrle was “laughable.” Despite him being… er… injured. This week however Crookes plumped new depths. His keeper choice was Pantilimon… who conceded 3 goals? Crookes defended his choice by saying he “could have taken the easy option with Mignolet” – who didn’t make a single save?? Had he not watched the game at Hull? Where Asmir Begovic once again grinded out a nil nil draw for his side? Could he not even have bothered checking some stats at the least? Seemingly not. Crookes then went on to select Phil Jones at centre back, who could probably have slept through the Villa game and kept a clean sheet. But the thing that really irks with Crookes, other than the chip the size of the titanic on his shoulder, is that he never picks real formations for his weekly column. He included four strikers this week and his graphic implies that Danny Welbeck played as an inside right? When he played the entire match as the number 9? Garth mate, you can only pick two strikers each week… that’s kind of the point. You don’t have to pick Wayne Rooney every single week without fail… especially when he didn’t even play that well. Was Leon Osman not worth a mention? Or Peter Whittingham? Did he only watch 3 games all weekend?
There is probably no short answer to that question, but even compared to himself Crookes has managed to become every stranger in his aggression this year. His team of the week feature for the BBC regularly include bizarre rants, questionable choices and needlessly confrontational comments. Following on from a terrible Rooney anecdote, Crookes last week implied that Jose’s decision to take off an injured Schurrle was “laughable.” Despite him being… er… injured. This week however Crookes plumped new depths. His keeper choice was Pantilimon… who conceded 3 goals? Crookes defended his choice by saying he “could have taken the easy option with Mignolet” – who didn’t make a single save?? Had he not watched the game at Hull? Where Asmir Begovic once again grinded out a nil nil draw for his side? Could he not even have bothered checking some stats at the least? Seemingly not. Crookes then went on to select Phil Jones at centre back, who could probably have slept through the Villa game and kept a clean sheet. But the thing that really irks with Crookes, other than the chip the size of the titanic on his shoulder, is that he never picks real formations for his weekly column. He included four strikers this week and his graphic implies that Danny Welbeck played as an inside right? When he played the entire match as the number 9? Garth mate, you can only pick two strikers each week… that’s kind of the point. You don’t have to pick Wayne Rooney every single week without fail… especially when he didn’t even play that well. Was Leon Osman not worth a mention? Or Peter Whittingham? Did he only watch 3 games all weekend?
Sometimes one word says more than hundreds ever could.
Wanker.
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