While match official Mike Jones shouldn’t expect too many holiday cards from Merseyside, the truth of the matter is that the Reds looked unprepared and bizarrely flat from the start and failed to alter their game plan as the match excruciatingly slipped away one card/goal/injury at a time. For these reasons, the manager should shoulder some of the blame in what was Dalglish’s first subpar managerial performance since revitalizing a truly depressed side last January.
Following Luka Modric‘s seventh-minute screamer, Charlie Adam‘s decision to tattoo Scott Parker in the 28th minute put the Reds in a very difficult, but not insurmountable position. Down both a goal and a man on the road, the Reds possessed the firepower necessary to get back into the game, but needed to reorganize following a damaging blow to the spine of the team. Surprisingly, the dismissal drew no discernible tactical adjustment from Dalglish, and the Reds, playing something of a 4-3-2, were totally dominated in the center of the park. Strikers Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll were left isolated up top, and the defense, already having to cope with Daniel Agger‘s injury substitution, were unfairly left to deal with wave after wave of Tottenham pressure.
After holding out until halftime without conceding further, one expected the interval to serve as the perfect opportunity for Dalglish to rally the troops and alter the plan of attack. The introduction of either Craig Bellamy or Dirk Kuyt would have infused the squad with a useful package of experience, versatility, and work rate — perfect attributes when playing with 10 men on the road. Meanwhile, Jay Spearing‘s energy and dogged determination could have helped shore up the middle of the pitch, as Lucas spent the entire match desperately trying to plug holes in a rapidly sinking ship.
Disappointingly, the Reds made no changes whatsoever at the break and the decision to leave Martin Skrtel, sitting on a yellow card from the 37th minute, at right back was a disaster waiting to happen. Spurs winger Gareth Bale ran directly at Skrtel at every opportunity, and with Jones handing out yellow cards like he was trying to ditch Greek treasury bonds, the Slovakian center half stood very little chance of completing the full 90.
Skrtel’s dismissal in the 63rd was still not enough to rouse Dalglish into making a change, and instead the Reds soldiered on in a 4-3-1 formation, with Jordan Henderson vaguely operating as a right wing back and the lumbering Carroll unsurely wandering between midfield and attack on the right hand side.
With Tottenham keeper Brad Friedel engrossed in a game of solitaire, Spurs broke the match open soon after Liverpool were reduced to nine men. In rapid fire succession, Jermaine Defoe and Emmanuel Adebayor took advantage of the wide open pitch to put Spurs up 3-0, squashing Liverpool’s last flickers of hope in the process. The game over early, Dalglish lifted Suarez and Stewart Downing ahead of a midweek Carling Cup fixture against Brighton, in which several first-team players will need to prove their worth if they are to hang on to a starting spot.
Although it was much easier to criticize his bumbling predecessor, the reality of the situation is that Dalglish’s players came out unprepared and ill-disciplined in an important fixture. The resiliency and belief that Dalglish infected the entire club with last year disappeared on Sunday, as bad luck and questionable officiating caused the squad to lose its cool and turn in a performance unbefitting of its tremendous ability.
Fortunately for the Anfield faithful, the manager earned his title of “King Kenny” by unflinchingly making the right choices, not just the easy ones. Sunday was a dark day, but, if history is anything to go by, Dalglish will not hesitate to rock the boat and get the squad back on course.
Photo courtesy of Flick.r/lewiswilliams182
