Beaten at Bloomfield Road

There’s no use in denying it. Last night, I was saddened by Liverpool’s lost at Bloomfield Road. I know I’m clutching at straws with this but that’s actually a good thing. Not the losing bit which meant that the ship called Liverpool has now steadied – near the bottom of the ocean floor!

No, not that bit. I meant the saddened bit which is good only because I haven’t felt that way since the start of the season, every time a bad result comes Liverpool’s way. It actually means that I had hoped for something better. A 1-1 draw would be a good start although to be honest, before the game itself, I would have deemed that scoreline to be the bare minimum I would have personally accepted.

Well, we got the “1” alright via a rejuvenated Fernando Torres but then, except for sporadic glimpses of acceptable football, everything else went horribly wrong. Torres looked more like his former self again with good touches around the 18-yard box and a couple of shots on goal that would have only come after such a confidence-boosting goal. But, without any decent service from the midfield and the wings, there was nothing more he could have done.

The same could be said about Reina. At one stage, he must’ve made a total of six saves in the same amount of seconds but even that wasn’t enough. Both teams’ defences lacked any form of decent protection from its midfield but Liverpool’s was made even worse by Poulsen’s glaring lack of pace. It’s obvious Poulsen wouldn’t be a candidate for Sky’s Player Cam but if one were to focus their attention on him for the whole of his 85-minute appearance, all you would have seen was a player that appeared to have spent the whole match chasing opposing players, trying to stop them by desperately holding on to their sleeves.

Both Meireles and Jovanovic had a couple of tricks up their own sleeves but if both players hadn’t felt that they’ve received a proper welcome to the Premier League’s brand of “blood and thunder” football, the Tangerines made sure of that last night. The two of them and worryingly, Dirk Kuyt (age catching-up on him?) just couldn’t cope with Blackpool’s pressing and harrying. It didn’t come as a surprise when Dalglish substituted the Dutchman on 76 minutes for the young (and eager to impress) Jonjo Shelvey.

The substitution seemed nothing more than a reactive move to counter Ian Holloway’s own impact substitution 10 minutes earlier. Playing at leftback for the night, up to that stage Glen Johnson looked relatively comfortable in his unfamiliar role and contributed greatly to Liverpool’s attacking moves. Holloway obviously had other ideas and pinned Johnson back by introducing Matt Phillips who proved too much for the England international. Blackpool’s second and winning goal came soon after.

Next up: Everton’s visit to Anfield. Nice.