Liverpool suffered a demoralising defeat away at Wigan after an abysmal lack of fight from the red men. Liverpool showed very little fight or quality in what should have been an important game as the reds began their 10 game countdown to the Premier League season.
Before the game the reds received a boost with Johnson named on the bench, but Agger still hadn’t recovered sufficiently and was replaced in the side with the returning Kyrgiakos (arguably one of the only players who looked to care about the result of this fixture).
Steven Gerrard kept his place in the middle of the park, and Carragher also was preferred at centre-back.
The reds opened brightly, Torres hitting the post in one of his four chances that he would usually get something from.
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However N’Zogbia’s pace was far too much for Insua, a player who after a promising start to his Liverpool career, is now looking like a major weakness in the reds side.
Gerrard and Lucas offered some dismal passing, on numerous occasions handing possession away far too cheaply.
Dirk Kuyt decided to join in the party games, which eventually led to Rodallega putting Wigan 1 up.
Liverpool dominated possession in the second half, the two former Atletico men – Rodriguez and Torres behind the reds better chances. However N’Zogbia continued to be a thorn in the reds side and could have made it two.
Aquilani, Johnson and Babel were all sent on to try to change the direction of the game, but Wigan got the three points they deserved.
Liverpool’s European hopes took a severe dent today. At the end of the storm – it looks like there is another one on the way.
Post Match Comments
Rafa Benitez
“I have to be really disappointed and I can’t be happy after losing a game like that.
“In the first half we didn’t do anything and we kept giving the ball away. We didn’t win any first or second balls and it was difficult to explain.
“We talked about our first-half performance during the break and in the second half our attitude was much better, but it still wasn’t enough.
“We had some chances but we didn’t play well enough. Everybody is really low after the game.
“It was a question of our attitude in the first half. The players showed their character in the second half. Sometimes we were in too much of a hurry with our play in the second half, but at least we showed character.
“Wigan worked very hard from the beginning until the end but we expected this.
“You have some good games and bad games, but especially at this time, at a crucial moment, we could have done better.
“It’s a question of analysing why we didn’t show the character we had to show in the first half.
“It was good to have Glen back, but it’s no good getting players back if you don’t win games.”
this is like being in a bad relationship, you travel far to see them, you have good days and bad days, you give them all your money, all your time but like all men we keep coming back for more…..more punishment, more misery, more humilitation from your friends, you even still sleep with them, hoping things will get better but……can anyone tell me how to get a divorce??? . Still where am i ever going to find a love like this. 42 years and still here
Yes it’s all Rafa’s fault – you idiots. Yes the players who bang on about what they are going to do, talk talk talk in the media, get paid bucket load of cash, goaway on international duty then come back and play like millwall, yes its all rafa’s fault is it! What a total load of crap. Yes he is having a bad season, but the buttom line is that after nearly 3 years of selling to buy – the owners strategy are starting to kill this club, hello …….er wake up fans their are huge problems at the club….. and we are starting to feel it now. It is bad, very bad and some fans what to blame Rafa for eveything that goes wrong, get real and live in the real world. I will ask you why we haven’t had more quality buys since torres. USA out.
I agree with you but he dosen’t help himself by playing defensive football at places like wigan , PORTSMOUTH ( our worst performance of the season) ,wolves and other games to boot !. Sometimes you get the feeling that he still thinks he is playing in europe when you have to go at teams in the EPL . Like Brucie always says “what do points win ?, PRIZES !”
Pressure is inevitable when you get paid a kings ransom like today’s football managers do!!.If Rafa can’t handle the expectation level’s at Anfield then he should resign ASAP!
Lets also acknowledge that this is now Rafa’s team including many expensive flops whilst he’s released players like Crouch who were doing very well!.It also seems that Rafa is not a motivator and unable to change tactics,he’s one dimensional in his approach depending 90% on Torres and Gerard combination!
If it’s not Rafa’s responsibilty then can someone tell me what exactly is his job!!!?.LFC must then be the only club where the manager is not responsible for team affairs and results yet is guaranteed ££££ thousnads per week!!.Where do i send my CV!!!!!
Sad sad sad , this is so sad !!!!!!!!!!
hmmm wat to say.. my liverpool is in utter trouble… someone plz help…
after 10 minutes it was clear to see the players did not know the system,
Max and kuyt were banging into each other, masca was in midfield and stevy and lucas were back passing,
The system was wrong and Rafa must go if he can’t see it,
These are his players his choices his team,
He must go,
we are to predictable,
My 5 year old I hid from the taped game.his mates generally support CFC, AFC and others and now expects the pool to either loose or draw, i do hopee that Rafa says his goodbyes for alll our sakes, the sooner the better. If he leaves it till the end of tthe season it WILL be bad for his CV.
Too many good players who can defeat the best when needed but struggle to be motivated for the rest. M O’Neill’s teams would not fall into that category often.
We simply don’t deserve fourth let alone a europa place next season. The effort levels went rite back down last night and the players didn’t seem bothered to be there.
It annoys me that so little effort comes from these lads and it’s not just the pay it’s the simple lack of having enough respect for themselves to put in a good performance ( i mean cum on lads don’t you care that your laughed at when you perform like that ??) Were is any speck of pride or passion in that plate of shit that was served up last night ?.
In my opinion not getting fourth would be good for the club because non of them could hide next season ( especially that so called captain of ours ) and there would be no room for excuse anywhere Y.N.W.A.
I am training an under 7 team at the moment – they seem to listen and try when I tell them not to pass the ball to the guys in blue (we pay in red) and not to kick the ball out of play for no reason. I’d like to invite the first team to our training so my kids can remind them of the basics. This is all down to the players.
ths is another reason to bring young players in ther reserves like pacheo,kelly. they should get paid on performance. these players are not accountable so why should they care.playing soccer is just a side show. liverpool football. the soacil life and what new cars and house are more important
Total and utter rubbish. Useless. Pathetic. Oh and Boring.
Rafa has a meeting with God to ask for advice.
God says “come forth my son”
Rafa says “Come forth, we’ll be lucky to finish in the top 10”
On performances like these will anyone want to buy Torres and Gerrard let alone them wanting to leave.
Rafa, you’ve got to take ALL the responsibility.
GOOD LUCK ON THURSDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yet another shockingly poor performance by most of Rafa’s flop signings!.No creativity,no passion,no determination and no pace means that this is amogst the worst Liverppol teams in recent historyA group of highly paid and overrated players who Rafa has assembled but can’t even create one decent chance against relegation candidates.
The silver lining could be that if as promised we don’t finish in the top four Benitez will have no other choice but to leave together with the owners who will then find it near impossible to manage the financial side.The players look disinterested and confused not wanting to play for a negative coach like Rafa anymore.No matter what team we put out Wigan should have been easily defeated.Stop the excuses!
The game is up for Benitez
The directors at Liverpool are in a horrible position as they should have taken the brave decision to remove Benitez at Christmas time. Would of been a tough decision but the club and the players needed a major kick to stay ahead of the new order of Spurs, Man city and Aston Villa.
The reality is that we have another 12 months in the Europa League on the horizon. The thought of watching these games as well as the dire Europa group stages fills me with dread. Despite being a lifelong fan I can’t see myself rushing home from work on a Thursday to watch these fixtures with a couple of Carlings.
The performance tonight against Wigan was poor and lacked quality and was negative. Torres had a few chances. However I never really felt the team was in control of their opposition or in control of the game. Some of the passes I saw should only be seen on a Sunday League game. The balance of the team is very poor but what is frustrating is that Rafa is setting up the team to stifle his opponent against poorer lower grade clubs in a negative manner so as not to lose games rather than going for the jugular.
You never see Manchester United or CFC or Arsenal adopt this approach against teams in the bottom half.
Rafa is not the man to lead us to the title. Rafa is a glorified cup specialist. Even if we analyse last year’s results we were very lucky to finish 2nd as CFC had a poor manager without the tools or the ideas to tackle a gruelling premiership. If CFC had Gus or Carlo in charge last season Liverpool would have finished 3rd.
I am now suggesting that Rafa at least goes down in a blaze of glory and gets the team to play in a balanced manner with specialists playing in their best roles so that we look balanced and we give the fans some pleasure. More importantly it will give us the ability to put our opponents on the back foot. I have to be brutally honest Liverpool have been shocking to watch this season and have for long periods this season have been playing like a glorified Bolton this season.
Despite a number of poor signing and the failure to replace Alonso with an immediately available fit replacement. I feel with the players we have in this squad the team should play in a more expansive entertaining manner most of all feel we had enough quality to play 10-15% better this season.
It’s acceptable to win playing badly but to play poorly and lose as we have done on a number of occasions this season is completely unacceptable.
I was one of the RAFA we trust brigade but have lost complete faith in him. I reckon we will do well in the Europa and think we will make the Semis but this will not be acceptable I feel based on our recent form we will finish 5th or 6th in the league.
The look of the Rafa in the press conference was that of a broken man. Rafa’s time is up and despite the constraints of the board. We should not be in such a bad situation with all the signings and talent at his disposal.