WBA 3 Liverpool FC 0: Musings from the opening-day defeat

Oh dear. We’ve got another script thief.

Liverpool FC stumbled to a 3-0 defeat to West Bromwich Albion as Danish defender Daniel Agger was sent off in the second half.

Thoughts before the Match

Opening game of the season. Fairly straightforward fixture against West Bromwich, albeit an away game at the Hawthornes. Brendan Rodgers fielded a side identical to my predicted starting XI, bar the decision to position Glen Johnson on the left and Martin Kelly on the right, as I predicted Enrique would get the nod for this one.

The Match

Matches are won and lost by goals. Quite simply, we lacked that spark and finishing. If last season was meant to teach us something about our finishing, we haven’t learnt from it yet, and it is something that must be fixed if we’re to get anything at all out of our next 3 challenging fixtures in Manchester City, Arsenal and Manchester United. West Brom looked far more effective on the break – they broke us down easily with pace and craft that our defence could not deal with.

I’ll open by talking about the first half. Fiercely contested half which saw both sides have their share of the chances.

97% – Joe Allen completed 97% of his passes (34/35) for Liverpool in the first half vs WBA. Precise.

— Opta Sports (@OptaJoe) August 18, 2012

Luis Suarez was busy in the first half. He managed to show some trickery whilst on the ball. 2 cheeky nutmegs amidst the football, and he was the only genuine attacking threat that Liverpool had over the course of the 90 minutes. Stewart Downing lacked penetration and delivery, whilst Borini’s touches were heavy and decisions up for debate.

Joe Allen did nothing special, but was that glue of the midfield. Steven Gerrard was having one of those off-games, with it being really noticeable when it comes from a man who delivers so often for the Reds, whilst Lucas was slightly off the pace against a hard-working West Brom midfield.

The defence was solid, but I can’t help but feel that Martin Kelly was not the man we needed out at rightback. Made some terrible clearances-cum-problems for the Liverpool FC defence and he wasn’t necessarily comfortable with the ball at his feet either.

Liverpool lacked that moment of magic, which unfortunately came for West Brom, with a fantastic Zoltan Gera shot which went straight into the top corner from outside of the box. A great effort, and one that Pepe Reina would have found impossible to keep out.

Few could have possibly predicted the outcome of the second half.

Liverpool returned from the break with purpose and intent, without any proper ideas or inspiration. The high line that Liverpool were fielding at the back was all good – that is, until Shane Long came about and beat Martin Skrtel following some absolutely ridiculous defending, before Daniel Agger was forced to come in with an intervention in his penalty box. A slight shove and last man, so I agree with the referee’s decision. It was quite simply a golden oppourtunity for Long. Off goes Agger.

Then came what should have been a gamechanger. Reina managed to stop a weak penalty. Psychological advantage to Liverpool. However, West Brom made use of their man advantage and earned a penalty out of Martin Skrtel, who seemed to be completely unaware of his surroundings.

Up steps Odemwingie. Reina guesses the right way, but it’s a good penalty, the Spanish goalkeeper having no chance of stopping that. 2-0 to West Brom.

Lukaku in, Shane Long out, and the worse seems to be over for Liverpool. But Lukaku proves to be a menace himself, with him ending the game with a goal and a fantastic pass which Morrison should have scored from.

On the Liverpool side of changes, Andy Carroll made barely touched the ball but from a block, Joe Cole was brought off following a strain and Jamie Carragher remains a worrying first choice with 3 games against Man City, Arsenal and Man United to come over Agger’s suspension.

That’s basically my summary of the game.

What went wrong for Liverpool?

Martin Kelly

The problems start with rightback, and as I say, Jose Enrique should be on the left, Johnson on the right, Kelly looked vulnerable and uncomfortable, looking more like a centerback rather than a rightback to provide the runs down the right flank.

Poor crossing

Bar one or two good crosses, Liverpool’s delivery into the box was terrible. Stewart Downing and Glen Johnson were both at fault for crosses which just sailed past an almost relaxed West Brom keeper in Ben Foster. What’s up with that? Poor crosses were in the plenties, and Liverpool should have made more out of their attacks on the wings.

Vulnerable on the Break

Speaks for itself, really.

What are we really trying to do?

If you’ve watched Spain or Barcelona play, you would probably know that those 90 minutes didn’t showcase Liverpool playing Tiki-taka football. It showed Liverpool FC playing essentially identical to how they played when they were under Kenny Dalglish.

Tiki-taka requires, first of all, more patience. It needs Liverpool to be more passive rather than active in finding the chances. Find the gaps and slowly move further up the pitch. The second thing it requires is awareness. You’ve got to know who’s moving, who’s creating the space, and where that space is. Liverpool did not exploit the empty spaces, as more often than not, players ran into West Brom players in that central just outside the box area.

This makes me question: what are we really trying to do? Are we really trying to Tiki-taka, or are we just going to do what the players feel like doing.

Staying Positive

It must be remembered that Rodgers is still learning more about his team, and if mistakes are going to be made, it is best made this time of year, when transfers can still be done to fix them. Tottenham started off last season and managed to get 4th place, despite being unlucky to make the Champions League due to Chelsea winning the Champions League. Let’s remain upbeat and focus on the next game.

Please, do leave your thoughts in the comments section below and what you guys thought of the game. Hope to see you guys this time next week with better news.