Scorer(s) – Daniel Agger, Lucas
Half Time - 0-0
Venue - Anfield
Date - Sat 20 September 2008
Star Man – Sami Hyypia
We won. That’s about the only good thing I can say after this. Next year when the auto-cup scheme form comes through the post, I may well just leave the ‘League Cup’ box blank. I’ve been in two minds over going to these games anyway, as I’d rather not give the leeches that own our club any more money than I have to, but against my better judgement I ticked that box that said ‘League Cup’ so I’m stuck with it for this season.
Given the performance I witnessed last night I can’t see me having to fork out too much more, as the first decent side we get will beat us if Rafa keeps picking that team.
The performance was poor, but in all honesty I expected no less when I saw the line up that had been picked. It looked unbalanced, and lacking in goalscoring options. Daniel Agger opened the scoring, and a look through that side tells you that he was always likely to be one of our best hopes for a goal. He might be a centre half, but he does get goals. Apart from Babel, Agger and Sami would have been our most likely goalscorers when you look at that starting eleven.
I reckon Rafa had the same concerns I did, which was why he made sure he had Alonso, Keane and Torres on the bench in case things went wrong. He knew there was a good chance they wouldn’t get the job done so he made sure he had his insurance policy on the bench. The fact we had to put Torres on with 25 minutes left says it all. Keane would have had 20 minutes as well had Degen not gotten injured, and the only surprise for me is that Gerrard wasn’t on the bench as well.
I know some people view it as a cardinal sin to mention Arsenal and their youngsters, but I look at what they did last night, and I compare it to the fucking dross that I saw at Anfield, and it depresses the fuck out of me. I had a quick look on the forum and saw some people getting tetchy because others were asking how come Arsenal can not only give their kids a run out, but they can go on to put six goals past a Championship team.
It’s a valid question though. Rafa has spent a fortune on bringing in youngsters from all over the globe. In addition to that, we have a group of players who won the youth cup back to back, and who last year won the national reserve title. Yet the sum total of all that is that only Insua, N’Gog, Plessis and the oldest ‘youngster’ in town Nabil El Zhar were involved last night.
Jay Spearing and Stephen Darby should go in today and ask to be put on the transfer list. That’s not being knee jerk or melodramatic, they really should do. Having done so well in pre-season, the reality of their situation must surely have hit home now. If they can’t get in an 18 man squad when we’re playing a League One side at Anfield in the League Cup, then they are never going to chance here and they should stop kidding themselves that they might do. Get out lads, get out while you still can as you deserve better than this.
I remember Rafa campaigning to be allowed seven subs, his argument being that it would allow him the opportunity to put a couple of youngsters on the bench. I said at the time that even if he was allowed seven subs the young lads wouldn’t feature and it’s been proved right, as apart from the Liege game when Spearing was named on the bench (due to the absence of Lucas and Mascherano and serious doubts about whether Gerrard would be able to get through the game before he underwent surgery), none of the reserve squad have even had a sniff of a Premiership or Champions League squad.
However, Rafa outdid himself last night. Crewe at home, League Cup, seven subs named and the likes of Spearing, Pacheco, Darby, Kelly and San Jose still miss out. Seriously, what’s the point of them being here? At Arsenal, 16 and 17 year olds get their chance. At Liverpool, even 19 and 20 year olds are still deemed too young. I can see the logic behind the starting eleven, and a case can be made to justify every one of them getting a start ahead of any of the youngsters.
I’d like to have seen more of the kids in the side, but I understand that people like Hyypia, Agger, Pennant, Lucas and Babel needed a game. So as much as I’d have loved to see some of the lads get a game I’m not criticising Rafa for the team he picked. It’s the subs bench that really angered me.
Selecting Keane, Torres and Alonso on the bench was definitely an insurance policy in case we needed a cavalry charge late on, but having Carragher, Skrtel and Dossena on the bench smacked of just wanting to avoid giving any of the reserve squad a chance. It’s an absolute fucking joke. Did we really need to have Carragher AND Skrtel? There was no way in a million years Skrtel was ever going to get on that pitch unless two of the back four were injured. Could Darby and San Jose not have taken Skrtel or Dossena’s place on the bench?
Surely Jay Spearing was worth at least a place on the bench? A strong case could even be made for him starting, as based on what he showed in pre-season he would probably have given us more than either of Plessis and Lucas did. Plessis is a completely defensive type of player. He doesn’t have any attacking qualities whatsoever. He’s good at what he does, which is keep it simple and protect the defence, but did we really need that against Crewe? Damian looks to have gone backwards to me since making such an impressive debut at Arsenal. Hanging around town with Charles Itandje doesn’t seem to be doing him any good.
As for Lucas, don’t let that winning goal mask how mediocre he was. Those at the game will know, but with this match not being televised it’s easy for people to think he must have done ok seeing as how he scored. He didn’t. He was hardly involved, and contributed very little of note other than a few decent tackles (some of which were him winning it back after he’d lost it through poor play) and the goal.
Credit where it’s due, he made a good run into the box for the goal even if he did get a bit lucky with the header, which appeared to hit a defender and loop over the keeper. But come on, this lad is the former Brazilian player of the year, he’s a current Brazil international and he’s meant to be a potentially great player. You’d think he’d have shown us something by now. He really hasn’t though.
If he didn’t have such an impressive pedigree, everyone would be wondering just what the fuck he does and why the hell we spent £6m on him. As it is, there are plenty who do think that but there are still others giving him the benefit of the doubt. There comes a point where the argument ‘he was the best player in Brazil and he’s in their national squad, he must have something’ starts to sound a little hollow. The word ‘Kleberson’ springs to mind.
Lucas really needs to up his game and show us exactly why he was so highly regarded, because up to now he just hasn’t done it, and last night he didn’t look any better than the two lads who were in the middle of the park for Crewe.
The other big disappointment for me was Babel. He says he’s a striker, but whenever he’s played up front he’s been woeful. Had he performed, then we would have won this game at a canter because he could have destroyed Crewe on his own. The game would have been easier for N’Gog too had Babel offered more of a threat. I felt sorry for N’Gog, as he got no service whatsoever and struggled to get into the game.
He looked promising in pre-season and scored a couple of very good goals, but since then he’s shown very little. I’m struggling to think of anything he actually did against Crewe, I can barely remember him having a kick.
As for Babel, he may well be the most frustrating player we’ve ever had. I can’t work out if he’s a potential superstar, or just a Ronny Rosenthal type supersub. The evidence so far points to the latter, I just hope he can prove otherwise.
The only players to come out of it with any credit were Hyypia and Agger at the back, the returning Pennant on the wing, and the keeper who did nothing wrong. Actually you can add Degen to that, as I liked some of the things I saw from him and I feel extremely sorry for him after that horrible injury he suffered.
Given his track record, I expected the Swiss full back to spend a fair proportion of this season on the sidelines with various injuries, and when he picked up a groin injury in pre-season I thought ‘here we go, another Aurelio’. It would be really harsh however, to use this latest injury as a stick to beat him with, as it could have happened to anybody.
He had a few unconvincing moments defensively, but what I liked about him was how keen he was to go on the overlap. Any time Pennant was running forward with the ball, Degen would run flat out to try and overtake him and make an overlapping run. Arbeloa for example would be hanging back in support, and only when the winger stops would he then make an overlapping run. Degen was like a fucking madman though trying to get ahead of the ball, not always with the best of results but that is to be expected as his team-mates need to get used to how he plays and vice versa.
I liked his enthusiasm, and it’s a shame he’s picked up what looks like a serious injury that will keep him out for a while. It may open the door for Darby to play in the next round, but I take no pleasure in that and feel genuinely sorry for Degen as he showed enough against Crewe to make me think he might have been an asset in those games at Anfield when teams park the bus.
Pennant was excellent in the first half, and was clearly determined to take his chance with both hands. He was direct, he got some good crosses in and he even managed a shot, which isn’t like him. I’m a fan of Pennant’s, and I still think he’s the best option we have the right wing, especially in a 4-4-2. I’d like to think he’s played his way back into contention, but time will tell. He faded a bit in the second half, understandable given the lack of football he’s had in the last couple of months, but he still managed to create the winning goal and almost had another assist when Torres met his cross with a header that was well saved by the keeper.
Cavalieri had very little to do, and had no chance with the goal he conceded. In fact, he’d made a brilliant save to keep out the initial header from Zola – unmarked from the corner kick – and was very unlucky that the ball fell at the feet of O’Connor. The goal was against the run of play, but you always get the feeling we can let one in from a set-piece, no matter who we are playing.
Crewe never looked like scoring in open play, at least not until the last five minutes when they began to throw some men forward and had two great chances to equalise. By and large, we controlled possession and were comfortable at the back, but their keeper had very little to do and that is unacceptable. It was a poor performance, and it’s a good job we weren’t playing stronger opposition.
Hyypia was my star man due to Pennant fading a bit late on. Sami was just imperious, and won everything all night. Agger was flawless too, and scored a brilliant goal. He’s got a fantastic shot on him has Daniel, and if he’s in the side I’d let him have first crack at any free-kick we have on the edge of the box. The problem of course is getting into the side, as that’s proving to be difficult at the moment. His chance will come though, and when he gets in he’ll take some shifting.
Team: Cavalieri; Degen (Carragher), Hyypia, Agger, Insua; Pennant, Plessis, Lucas, El Zhar (Keane); Babel, N’Gog (Torres):
GUP
