The title of this article was almost 'From Heroes to Zeroes', but that would have been harsh, after all we didn't lose to Wigan. After the performance against Chelsea on Sunday, the one on Wednesday was a real shame, for every wonderful pass and move against Chelsea, there was just as many poor passes and misplaced clearances against Wigan. We have played poorly at times this season but I can't recall us passing the ball so poorly in any other previous game as we were doing at the D.W Stadium.
The game started brightly, with some nice passing and energy. Lucas hit a brilliant shot that needed the Wigan keeper Al Habsi to make a great save to turn the ball over the bar. Minutes later we were provided with some memories of golden times when Gerrard produced a magnificent through ball for Torres to run onto. Nando produced a brilliant first touch before poking the ball into the corner of the next from just outside the box. It was a wonderful goal and after the way we started the game it appeared that it would be the first of many goals.
That was not to be however as we started to make sloppy mistakes, giving the ball away far to easily and allowing Wigan to attack us constantly. Konchesky was constantly caught out and N'Zogbia looked like a world beater with the amount of space he was afforded to get crosses in. We were lucky to go into half time still in the lead but it was surely only a matter of time before Wigan equalized. The moment came just seven minutes into the second half when Rodallega fired home after Reina had dived and pushed away a low cross into the Columbian's feet. We were then lucky not to fall behind when Rodallega (who was a constant threat) almost took the ball around Reina. We had two moments later in the game when Kuyt had an offside goal disallowed and Gerrard hit the bar with a chance he may have done better with. Overall after the way we played we have to be pleased to have come away with a point while frustrated we couldn't keep our winning run going.
I have to say that I was starting to warm to Roy Hodgson in recent weeks as he seemed to have stopped making stupid insensitive comments in his press conferences and the team were playing a lot more positive football for longer periods. However I thought he made mistakes in the Wigan game with not only his tactics but also the substitutions. I know that he had to make the changes due to tiredness, and illness on the part of Meireles. I was fine with Shelvey coming on for the second half but I was absolutely fuming when Poulsen came on for Kuyt. This reminded me of the Houllier era when we would try and hold on for draws too often. When Eccleston came on as the third sub I was really upset too as surely Ngog should have been on the pitch. I would have brought on Ngog for Kuyt as we needed to keep going and provide Torres with support up front. When the young Frenchman came on at Bolton I think it changed the game in our favour, so there was no reason to think it couldn't have had the same effect at Wigan. After the game Roy was quite correct in things he was saying about how we have injuries and illness in the squad and we don't have a lot of players to choose from right now which is causing tiredness in the squad. However he could still have rotated a bit and brought in maybe Jovanovic who is available. Roy was complaining a few months ago that we had too many players and Insua and Aquilani were shipped out on loan. Maybe they should be brought back if possible if we are struggling to rotate the team?
The most frustrating aspect of the result for me wasn't the performance, as tiredness was obvious, it was that we blew the chance to go fifth in the league. Other results midweek went in our favour but it was perhaps a game too far after the efforts on Sunday for us to capitalize. However looking on the positive side we have still come along way in just a few weeks having been second from bottom in the table just three weeks ago. We are only one point off the teams above us now and as we know things can change really fast. Let's hope that we have a fit and positive team out there against Stoke on Saturday and who knows where will be on Saturday night. A top four position by the end of November is not out of the question with the games we have coming up so let's be positive and keep on cheering the Reds to victory.
Liverpool FC | Supporters Club | Vancouver, BC, Canada
