Results tagged “riera” from Liverpool Echo - Another Red Letter Day

FIGHT, passion and commitment.
That's the first way to battle out of a crisis of confidence that is seeping through Anfield at present.
When signs of footballing quality are in short supply, one of the initial things fans demand from their players is effort.
And to be fair to the Reds, last night, they gave us that in spades.

LAST night, Liverpool FC surrendered limply to a side struggling at the wrong end of the Championship.
Not only we beaten, at supposed fortress Anfield, but we were outplayed.
The Reds were palpably second best in terms of fight, commitment, ideas, creativity and skill.
Now is not the time for delusional hopes, skewed statements of how we just need our luck to change, but for cold, hard, plain facts.
It's only facing up to the reality that will possibly drag us out of this sorry, sorry mess.

AFTER many of our dismal draws or defeats this season, some fans have been quick to chirp up and say: "What do you expect, when the owners won't financially back the manager?"

A fair point, some would offer.

But dropping points at well-baked Spurs and being held at home to money-bags Man City is one thing. Being outperformed by a side five places from the foot of the Championship is quite another.

AND so the gloom deepens.
We traditionally have too much for The Arsenal at Anfield, our power, physicality and high octane tempo often winning out over pretty passing patterns.
But the way we surrendered in the second half, limping through the last 25 minutes without so much as a whimper, was truly alarming.

ANOTHER game, another lot of huff and puff from Liverpool, but not enough craft to open up a mediocre defence.
The task of grabbing that Champions League spot seemd achievable a couple of weeks ago, but it now seems an increasingly arduous one with every passing fixture.

ANOTHER game, another absence of a win....it seems that we're in for a long hard season boys.

First off, apologies for the silence of late. I've been away for two weeks, so I missed the reverses against Fulham and Arsenal and the frustrating draw at Lyon.
Back to last night's events, it seems the Reds can't buy a win at the moment, even when they put in a fairly good shift.

YOU don't win anything with poor players.
It's as simple as that.

AS IF it wasn't hard enough to play a rejuvenated Sunderland side without our two best players.
Minus Torres and Gerrard, even random beach balls are conspiring to work against us now.

I ALWAYS have a sense of gloom when we get ready to play Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
It's never been a happy hunting round for us, and Liverpool performances at their place often follow that samey path of lots of endeavour, but ultimately, a lack of real class that is necessary to topple the strongest squad in the Premiership.

BECOMING easy this playing at home lark isn't it?
Aston Villa aside, our three Premiership games at Anfield have so far finished 4-0, 4-0 and 6-1.
It's widely acknowledged that drawing games at home to mediocre mid-table sides cost us the title last year.
Now, on current evidence, that troublesome Achilles Heel seems to have been well and truly addressed.

SOMETIMES you feel a blog posted after one Liverpool match, could easily be copied and pasted for an entirely different Reds game and it would still be applicable.
Sloppy defenders being saved their blushes by Liverpool's two talismanic frontmen.
Question is, when are we going to learn from all of this?

So, another mediocre Premiership side put to the sword at Anfield.
It was these sorts of games that Liverpool struggled with last season, and which ultimately, cost us the title.

IT'S A long time since Liverpool last lost their first two out of three league games.
But is talk of a 'mini-crisis' at Anfield an accurate reflection of the state of the club, or an overreation, just a mere heartbeat into the new season?

I'm going to make a case for Voronin.
You'll have to have to bear with me here.

ALL IN ALL, it was a hugely productive season for Liverpool, but one which ultimately ended in frustration.
So near yet so far to that first title in 19 years.
Still, there are many reasons for optimism that will mean we march into the next campaign with hope in our hearts.
Here, Another Red Letter Day presents its End of Season awards.

I THOUGHT we would have a disinterested air for this game, the league title having been sown up the previous day by United drawing with Arsenal.
But all thoughts of any Liverpool apathy was dispelled by the sight of Carragher and Arbeloa coming to blows in front of baying Albion fans.

I HAD this game down as a tricky one in the title challenge run-in.
As it transpired, this was as pleasant a stroll as we've had in many a season down in East London.

WHAT a game.
Tuesday's match against Arsenal will surely go down as one of the greatest in recent Premiership history.
But for Liverpool it was a damaging result.

IT WAS almost the perfect weekend.
Three points at a tough Craven Cottage with a last-gasp winner and Man Utd being held at home by Villa.
Sadly, it wasn't to be.
Hard to complain when we ourselves dragged victory from the jaws of a stalemate, but Sunday's result in Manchester has left us all a little flat.
But there's surely got to be more twists and turns and points dropped by all in this heady title race.