The Postmortem: Liverpool FC’s Lost to Wigan

Not many saw that coming, did we? A loss to Wigan Athletic is simply unacceptable and has ruined any realistic hope of Liverpool FC qualifying for the Champions League next season. So, where do we go from here?

I’ll start off with our debut boy from the game, Raheem Sterling. To me, he showed me everything that he needed to show. He showed me that he had the ability to get past his man with a dribble, the stamina to burst forward with lots of attacking runs and the drive to close down opponents when the reds were pressing. To me, Sterling’s performance deserves more minutes this season, and I realistically don’t mind the reds taking a gamble and giving the young lad more minutes with the current state of affairs at Liverpool.

My next topic of interest is Andy Carroll. I need to show you guys this.

Carroll starts: P22 W13 D5 L4, Win%=59, Points Per Game = 2.00
Carroll doesn’t start: P18 W7 D6 L5, Win%=39, Points Per Game = 1.50

Stats from Tomkins Times

Now that’s a very interesting statistic. My understanding of that statistic is that he takes attention away from the likes of Luis Suarez, Steven Gerrard and co, being the lone target man up front, allowing for his teammates to exploit the space somewhere in between, hence he may actually be more effective as sometimes suggested. He truly can be a great Liverpool FC player. Having 2 points per game is perfectly testament to that statement, but I think that he just needs to come up with more goals. He cost Liverpool FC the points against Wigan, but I am confident he can return even stronger and better.

And now I’m going to talk about the flops from that game. I shall start with our Dutchman Dirk Kuyt. He disappointed yesterday with a very poor performance. Highly ineffective and was irrelevant in a match where Liverpool FC should have gone to and gotten a (convincing win from). The second man I would like to point my finger at is Englishman Jordan Henderson.

Let’s not lie to ourselves. He is desperately poor. I don’t believe he has had a single game where he has actually stood out (positive way) in a Liverpool FC shirt. He has simply been really average. Square passes and the lack of key passes have been the story of his season. His poor 69% passing rate goes to show how poor his performance was yesterday.

And for all those people believing that we should sack King Kenny, I think you guys are psychotic. We are on the verge of something (very) big with Dalglish here. Our performances in the cup indeed shows us that we have the ability to succeed, just missing a few ingredients to success. We can win the big teams, and next season, I honestly believe that we can get third place with a couple of good signings.

Success is near, it just needs patience.