Last night’s defeat against Blackpool FC at Bloomfield Road gave Kenny Dalglsih a glimpse of how much work needs to be done at the club and how the road ahead may be a tortuous one.
Liverpool FC got off to a great start with favoured right-back, Martin Kelly, striding out into open space and playing in Fernando Torres. Torres took the ball deep into the right side of the Blackpool box and from an acute angle fired a shot hard into the roof of the net after only 3 minutes. The finish was something akin to Torres of old – gone was the hesitancy or self doubt and in its place a striker that looked more confident. It also proved that given the right kind of service Torres can be still be deadly in front of goal. His performance for the rest of the game was also encouraging, creating for himself a number of chances and looked like a player eager to impress. But this time, Torres was let down by many of his supporting cast.
Liverpool could not be faltered for endeavor or effort, but they failed in executing the simple tasks, as once again their confidence ebbed away after Blackpool went level. Liverpool gifted the ball to the opposition that lead to Blackpool’s first of the night. Raul Meireles on this occasion giving the ball away to David Vaughan who slipped in Taylor-Fletcher. The striker sold Daniel Agger all too easily with a dummy before placing his shot past keeper Pepe Reina to get Blackpool level on 12 minutes.
Meireles’s errors were too common an occurrence last night. On previous occasions, during the absence of Gerrard, Meireles showed glimpses of his international pedigree but last night too many of his passes failed to meet their target on too many occasions and he failed to control the midfield as one would expect of him. But to single out Meireles for his performance would be unfair. Dirk Kuyt and Milan Jovanovic, getting a rare premier league start, also failed to impress. Glen Johnson, playing at left back, looked uncomfortable and alien in the position and his final ball rarely found its mark. The fact that he was playing in such an unnatural position could be an indication of what Kenny’s opinions of Paul Konchesky are and how light the squad are in areas. The surprise inclusion of Poulsen raised eyebrows prior to kick-off but in fairness to the player, he did what he was put into the side to do – sit on front of the back 4 and help move the ball from defence to further advanced midfield players. He did fail to find targets on occasion but overall his passing game and distribution were better than that of past.
Blackpool’s second came on 69 minutes and was scored by Campbell, who took advantage of some poor defending. A diagonal ball from the right was nodded into the six-yard area by Evatt and was easily finished off by an unmarked Campbell. In fairness, Blackpool deserved their lead but Liverpool made it all too easy for them.
Reina was in good form last night making a number of decent saves and it was only thanks to him that the score remained at 2-1.
Liverpool pressed for an equaliser and were denied what appeared to be a strong case for a penalty after the ball struck Cathcart's arm. Dalglish introduced Shelvey and N’Gog late in the second half (for Kuyt and Poulsen) but neither failed to change the outcome of the game.
The return of Dalglish brought a sense of optimism to supporters that had been absent for a long time and after the defeat this should not be completely disregarded. What’s also needed at this time is patience, as the recovery was never going to happen overnight. As well as the current crop of players needing to improve their game and gain confidence, last night made it clear that Liverpool need to invest in players in certain areas. But with new signings comes the potential of problems too. There’s no guarantee that anyone joining the side will immediately settle into the team or football in the premier league.
After the game Kenny admitted he was under no illusions of the size of the task ahead of him and we, the supporters, should be aware of this too.
Video highlights:
Video highlights:
Torres scores a decent opener but Blackpool battle to eventually win 2-1
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