In the space of four days, we watched two poor performances from the Reds. Performances that were poor for two different reasons. Against Villa, our players looked very slow. Not only slow in action but slow in thought. And then in our midweek Champions League match, we moved the ball a lot faster. But in this match, it was our decision making that was poor.
I have always believed that the best players in the world are not always the most skilful, or the fastest, or the strongest, but those who make the right decisions at the right time. Decisions as to whether to pass, dribble or whether to shoot the ball. Deciding whether to come short or whether to look to run into space. Whether to come off your line or whether to stay put. Against the Bulgarians, our players made the wrong decisions too often and we were lucky we were not embarrassed again.
I also think we looked better in the Champions League because the opposition tried to play football. Against Villa, they sat back deep and parked the bus. They used the same tactic as Chelsea did last season and they got the same result for it. My concern with our match against the Hammers, is that Sam Allardyce doesn’t need a special reason to park the bus. I do hope the pressure of being at home may mean that he parks his bus further up the field.
I am hoping Skrtel will be back to full fitness and take his place in the back four. If not, perhaps we should give the old man, Kolo Toure a run in place of Sakho, with Lovren as his partner. I could not be happier with our two new fullbacks though. They both assisted with the goals midweek and looked brilliant going forward and defensively. I would like to see our midfield three being Henderson, Gerrard and Lallana, with the former Southampton man playing in the number 10 role. And upfront, I would like to start with Balotelli, Markovic and Sterling. I would have liked to have seen Lambert or Borini start as they need more game time, but now that Super Mario got his first goal, we need him get his confidence up by giving him more chances to score.
I believe Liverpool play much better away than we do at home, and I see a win for us. I will not say by how much, but the three points should be ours.
And our competitors…
Two undefeated sides go head to head when Villa host Arsenal. I think the Gunners will struggle with the physicality, but I also suspect that after watching Senderos’ off the ball antics, the referee may be inclined to flash a red card at the home team. I think this match will end in a draw and with Aston Villa down a player. Spurs host WBA and it should be a comfortable win for the London club. Manchester United has won one game and now their fans are already calling them champions. Go figure. But on Sunday, they travel to Leicester City and it will not be an easy trip. But, the pick of the weekend action (other than our match) is Manchester City hosting Chelsea. Although the London team has a 100% record and look dangerous, I think this clash of the “buy anyone who has ever laced up soccer boots” Giants will fall on the side of the Mancs. We will just have to wait and see.
Follow Kurt on Twitter @kurtellis2
Kurt Ellis is a lifelong Liverpool fan living in South Africa. His first novel, By Any Means, was published by Human & Rousseau Publishers in May 2014. It is a gritty, coming of age crime thriller featuring a young Liverpool FC fan. The novel is available in Kindle form, worldwide. Follow the link below. http://amzn.to/Zj532F