Cannot understand Lucas starting, adds very little as an attacking threat, and commits too many fouls making him a defensive liability. The penalty is a prime example of his poor tackling, and its not just today, its everytime he plays. Perhaps Benitez starting with a weakened line up, and his substitutions were influenced by the fact that Wigan had an even more weakened line up after recent events, and he was trying to keep some freshness to key players ahead of some more difficult fixtures.
Yossi Benayoun was the shining light today and cannot understand why he was taken off, I dont think he was injured, the move was planned before he was involved in the incident that found him on the ground.
Then we have the removal of Torres and Gerrard, both of who looked out of sorts, however, similar to previous situations, we are left with no attacking threat to retrieve the situation.
Is it more than a coincidence that Wigan were able to move forward with more ease after their removal?
Walking away with a point seemed like a disaster, and in the end a relief, after the Wigan debut striker rattled the crossbar with an unbelievable strike. But lets be honest about the situation and admit that Babel does not seem to be quite ready, and Benitez has all but decided that Keane has had his chances, and is now well down the pecking order. We need to acquire a finisher, perhaps a "Tim Cahill" type who can threaten at set pieces and provide a threat in the air.
As frustrating as it may seem, the fact remains that with 67% of the possession in the first half 3-0 would have been a more appropriate score, with Torres dreadfully unlucky to be denied by the woodwork. For large parts of the second half, however, Wigan played an open game and that is where you would expect us to be able to punish them, but didnt. Again, I am left feeling that we are still playing too defensively, and wonder how much of this is ingrained in the players by the Benitez style.
Tactically, team selection wise, and substitutions wise I feel he had a poor match. However, players lacking form is not helping the cause, and after today the mountain just got a little bit harder to climb.
As usual, remain positive, and hope for a reversal in form of some key players in the run home. I keep replaying the video of the Newcastle match everytime I get doubtful, and that rekindles the faith.
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