Embarrassing.
Disgusting.
Pathetic.
Appalling.
An utter disgrace on every possible level.
Do you really want me to do this? It's hours since the match ended and I'm not even close to calming down yet.
If Arsenal away was a lesson in how good we really are and that we're not really where we want to be yet, if Everton away was an example of how good we can be, how we can show the resilience to come back from conceding a lead, then Hull away was a salient example of just how poor we are still more than capable of being.
No disrespect but....Hull. Hull. Four points above the drop zone, nine goals scored all season, no threat of any note. Liverpool, second in the league at kick off with the chance of reducing the gap between ourselves and Arsenal back to the four points that it had been until 5pm on Saturday. Liverpool who thrash the smaller teams, Liverpool with the chance to show their true credentials.
Is this what happens when your manager thinks too much? When he feels that he needs to show that he can confuse the opposition? When the loss of one player means that he refuses to trade as close to like for like as possible and instead changes his entire system?
Sturridge out for six to eight weeks. And we can't even blame pointless England friendlies this time as he turned his ankle in training. Coutinho on the bench and only there by virtue of a painkilling injection having missed training all week with an ankle injury of his own.
And without those two, no creativity whatsoever, no shape, no cutting edge. In their absence Moses and Sterling were given the chance to stake their clams for regular first team action. Both failed in a fairly dismal manner.
Moses has pleaded for first team action with the promise of goals, talked about the fact that he feels that he can win the league with Liverpool. On this evidence he will need to be the longest loan signing in the history of football because there's no way it's happening this season and he's shown nothing to indicate that he will be at Anfield for a second season; the latest in a long line if wingers to hit L4 only to flatter to deceive.
Sterling? The golden boy a year ago. Up until a year ago to be precise. In the late days of Kenny's reign and the early days of Brendan's Raheem Sterling was the great Anfield hope, put in a position where he could make inflated demands purely on the basis that he was more necessary than Stewart Downing. We believed that he could be great; unfortunately so did he. Sterling has been suffering second season syndrome for an entire calendar year now. He has been potential so far but very little more, today he wasn't even that. A player who fell for his own hype and is currently threatening to fade from view.
These weren't alone of course and I have no intention if turning them into whipping boys simply because they were two of the three worst players on the pitch. The third was Glenn Johnson who was having possibly his worst game in a red shirt. Gerrard and Lucas too deep, I'm assuming that Henderson was unsure as to where he was supposed to be playing as I was completely unable to work it out myself.
Suarez is always our get out clause though, there is always a touch of genius that will turn a match. Today there wasn't and, in this form, if Luis isn't going to affect a match then who will?
There are very few who escaped with no blame today but of those our best man was (by quite some distance) Martin Skrtel. That's right, our man of the match was a central defender who put the ball in his own net twice, the victim of a wicked deflection and an own goal caused by a desperate attempt to clear a shot that was drifting wide anyway. Faultless for both and immaculate all day, along with Flanagan and Mignolet the only players that didn't deserve to end on the losing side.
As to our manager; he seemed to have the better of Steve Bruce prior to kick off with the Hull boss having set his stall out to deal with both Sturridge and Suarez only to find that he'd overloaded his back line leaving his defence to deal with what seemed to be Suarez playing a false nine role. The five of them did so gladly and built a base for Hull City (we need to show some solidarity with the lads from the Humber, history and tradition are vital in football) to expand from.
Rodgers had the chance to change at half time; Gerrard's stunning free kick had levelled the match after Hull's unexpected, deflected opener but the system clearly wasn't working. The removal of one of our ineffective wingers and a move to a more traditional 4-4-2 was needed. It didn't happen.
Now, I'm not the greatest fan of Iago Aspas - he's yet to prove anything - but it appears that our manager rates his own signing even less; with a game to chase and the need for a win he still refused to use him needing instead to field an injured Coutinho. Notably he was the only individual on the pitch attempting to affect play but risking the player should never have been a necessity.
I've praised Rodgers' in game management in the past, today his ability failed him in the most spectacular manner. Luckily there are only three days before his team can prove that what was seen at the KC stadium isn't the real Liverpool; Norwich at home on Wednesday, West Ham on Saturday, two eminently winnable games but then so was Sunday's
The best team won in Kingston upon Hull and that team was Hull. Think about that for a second.
Unacceptable.
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