I'm writing this immediately after the match and as such I may be more emotional than rational.
With Torres and Benayoun back in the starting line up and Johnson on the bench, finally there was reason for optimism. What happens? The team were shocking. To a man. The only players I can exempt from criticism are Reina and Mascherano.
In the case of Torres, his finishing was shite but in fairness he is short of match practice after his long lay off. However, he had about five decent scoring chances and failed to work the keeper. That was more chances than the entire Wigan team had in the game and it therefore was a key factor in our defeat.
Just as he looked like he was turning the corner, Gerrard was absolutely shocking yet again. It seemed as if virtually every pass he played in the first half went straight to a Wigan player or straight off the pitch altogether. The stats would surely show he completed more passes than not but this was a dreadful performance from the man who has undeservedly worn the captain's armband this season.
Jamie Carragher was also a big disappointment tonight. Clearly struggling on a shocking pitch, Jamie experienced mixed fortunes in his passing and his reading of the game. That I can forgive but his pedestrian and negative passing when on the ball was inexcusable. Not for the first time, I feel Carra's safety first approach and inability to contribute anything tangible to the team's attack undermined the team.
Maxi Rodriguez contributed nothing of value yet somehow evaded being substituted - presumably because Rafa forgot he was on the pitch.
Insua rarely looked comfortable and, while I felt Kyrgiakos did OK (excellent when clearing off his goal-line after Carra's fuck up), I felt the back four as a unit looked totally disorganised. That's not unexpected given its makeshift nature but still it is hard to credit a player when all around him is chaos.
I've tried to avoid being critical of Lucas because I feel he gets an unfair press from Liverpool fans looking for an easy scapegoat but tonight he was poor. As a midfield unit, he and Gerrard both played far too deep - especially in the first half - and left the attack too isolated.
Yossi Benayoun tried his best but given he had to start any mazy run at the defence from inside his own half, he was onto a loser from the beginning. Not his best game. Clearly rusty. One to forget.
Dirk Kuyt... Wigan's best player. Constantly won back possession for Wigan and played a crucial role in setting up their goal. If only Liverpool had a player like that on their side! Kuyt has increasingly divided my opinions this season. In some performances (Everton and Spurs at home spring to mind) he has been outstanding but in others he has been shocking and at least twice (tonight and at Fulham) he has actually cost us points by setting up the opposition to score.
When the end of season inquest into why we have been so much poorer than last season takes place, key reasons will be the dip in form of Kuyt as well as Gerrard, Carragher, Riera and Skrtel.
As for the subs, Johnson looked like he couldn't run and probably shouldn't have been risked; Aquilani looked better than Lucas but not much, and Babel was pretty ineffective but should have been given much longer and should have replaced Rodriguez who was useless.
I now believe that the race for fourth place is over from our perspective. I don't blame Rafa. I blame the Americans. I still think that with the failure of Spurs, City and Villa to really stake a convincing claim for the fourth Champions League spot that it was ours for the taking but in the cold light of day, our players and our squad have not been good enough.
Too many key players have been injured and off-form too often this season and with insufficient quality in depth, we were never able to cope. Despite that, we should have had several more points that we were robbed of by bent referees but ultimately I feel that would have papered over some serious cracks.
I'm now more convinced than ever that we need to win the Europa Cup as it may be the last competition we have any chance of winning for a long time.
After this season, barring the miraculous sale of the club to a mega-rich Arab, we need to recoup as much money on assets like Gerrard as we can and stock the squad full of tall physically imposing Hondurans and Ecuadorians to aid us in the long-ball game that the Premiership has become.
It won't be pretty but for the love of the Liverbird, I'll still be drawn to watch it and suffer through it.
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