Liverpool's ongoing profligacy in front of goal continued apace as the reds somehow managed to give away all 3 points to West Brom at Anfield.
View from the Kop before kick off
The reds went in to the game on the back of two victories, Steven Gerrard failed to make the team as a precautionary measure - the club captain was last seen on the Wembley turf taking painkillers.
Dirk Kuyt and Maxi Rodriguez got the nod on the Liverpool wings as Henderson and Spearing were named in the midfield. Jamie Carragher also returned to the bench - as the partnership of Agger and Skrtel was reunited in the centre of defence.
Pepe Reina also returned after his 3 match suspension.
Roy Hodgson was afforded a warm reception from the Liverpool fans before kick off as the reds sought to overtake Everton in the Premier League table.
Straight from the off the reds had glorious chances. Suarez found Kuyt, but the Dutchman shot was wide - the warning sign of a poor display from one of Liverpool's more reliable players over the past few years.
Shortly after Maxi Rodriguez was tripped in the penalty area - but the referee waved away strong appeals for the penalty.
West Brom had a chance in the 28th minute but Pepe dived low to save the shot from Chris Brunt.
The second half saw two appearances from one of Liverpool's deadliest enemies this season - the woodwork. First Jordan Henderson saw his shot returned from the crossbar on to Ben Foster's back. The ball could have gone anywhere - but as is typical at Anfield this season - it didn't go in the net.
Suarez then powered himself in to the area before firing over the bar - it may have been wiser to lay the ball to the waiting Carroll at the edge of the 6 yard box.
An angled Dirk Kuyt drive then beat Foster, but hit the post and came back out, Carroll saw a shot go over the bar and Spearing had a chance cleared from just in front of the goalline. With 15 minutes left, West Brom, unbelievably took the lead.
Glen Johnson made a real mess of what should have been a ball easily dealt with and Odemwingie found himself one on one with Reina, before firing in the winner.
Liverpool had a couple more chances but the goal had taken the wind out of their sails.
The reds have been unlucky at Anfield this season - no question - but far too many midfielders and strikers have been wasteful in front of goal. As good as Liverpool have been in the cups - they have not delivered in the league.
The reds stay two points behind Everton with four games left.
For me it seems that you can’t keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result? At home we dominate possession and try to break teams down by carving chances based on the majority of the possession. Teams that have lots of the ball and employ a patient build up must have great movement if they want to penetrate ‘parked buses’. Unfortunately our movement off the ball and the fluidity of our play isn’t strong enough for us to create the space necessary to penetrate teams that sit with two banks of four and ‘park the bus’ For the whole of the second half we played in front of West Brom. Anybody that has played the game knows that defending is easy if the ball is constantly being played in front of you. Consequently, every time the ball was tossed into the area, Carroll was trying to win it against two men from a standing start, which means he had no chance. This sort of play only produces half chances and scrambled attempts, but nothing clear cut. This way of playing is fine against teams that want to come out and play against us.Although we lost, the Arsenal performance must be one of the best we’ve seen from a Liverpool side in decades. Arsenal contributed to our quality that day by coming out and trying to play against us. Unfortunately the West Broms of this world don’t so against these teams we need a plan B.
The solution? Perhaps we need to let the opposition have more of the ball when we’re at home, particularly the teams that park the bus. For me we have the personel to launch quick direct attacks a la vintage chelsea (I know we hate them, but they never struggled to beat teams at home). We have a strong central target man that provides a great outlet for a direct ball downfield. we could play anyone from Suarez, Maxi, Downing, Bellamy, Sterling even Joe cole if he came back alongside in a 4-3-3. We haven’t seen the best of Adam, but his best career moments were at Blackpool in a 4-3-3. we have lots of players that can shield the ball and break up the oppositon attacks in front of our back 4 – Lucas, Shelvey, Spearing, we have several guys capable of running beyond the strikers in midfield and getting into the box and scoring (Gerrard, Hendo). surely it’s got to be worth a try?
i love LFC
LOSE OR WIN
you know its odd…the team is somehow capable of scoring one week and making glaring mistakes the next. And they’re not even in europe so there’s no question of fatigue.
You’d think Kenny would have resolved the woodwork issue by now seeing as this seems to have been a major bugbear all season
And how exactly does Kenny go about solving the “woodwork” issue? Apply for the woodwork to be thinner? Or the goal to be bigger?