Wigan 1-0 Liverpool: Post Match Nuclear Fall Out

babel deserves starting 11

torres seriously needs to find touch

the gerrard and torres gameplan doesn't work when they're both rusty/uninspired

torres seriously needs to find touch

Crikey fella give him a chance, he has only just gotten back from about 6 weeks out.

Didn't see trhe match and frankly i have no wish to watch the 'highlights' either.

This season has been an utter disappoinment and i really want to wipe the slate clean and start afresh next August.

It's getting tougher to stay positive that's for sure.

I've never been depressed like that watching Liverpool. That was not a performance fitting of any Liverpool team. It was a disgrace frankly. Just keep hold of the ball. Pass it to someone in the same colour shirt as you. And not just backwards all the time. Don't go missing. Don't hide from the ball. Stand up and be counted.

Must admit that my gran looked more alive than some out there tonight. And she's been dead these past eight years.

Still I do believe, hope and pray for an injury free run in. Then anything can happen.

Oh, and in Rafa I trust.

Im not buying this... If Torres would have been fit he would have took his chances... Other players should have stepped it up... I must say the amount of times we give the F***ing ball away... Gerrard was piss poor... Masch should have never played RB... Lucas did well at times i say... we are lacking width... We dont look a team.. they dont trust each other, lack of motivation, lack of belief... i do beleive we are jinxed...this season has been so fu**ed up... even this game how unlucky was it when Torres played that ball to Kuyt and see how fast that ball moved... that ball didnt move that fast in throughout the game.. it was a strange game...

But still a long time to go, we have seen many turns and twists.. others will drop points but we have to starting scoring goals n winning games... Saying that we have the dodgy Pompey next...

Hull 6-1 and Stoke 4-1.

Both games that I went to.  I was in high spirits back then!

Let's have a whip around for Ross to go to the rest of our games.

Didn't see trhe match and frankly I have no wish to watch the 'highlights' either.

The final whistle was good mate. And some of Aquilani's passes.

Someone mentioned before the game we have a very attacking team, yes indeed, but there's no link-up play between the defence, midfield and attack judging by the performance and movement on the pitch and it looks as if players operated as individual departments. Not to mention there's no urgency to attack, players' passing and movement is shocking. What's happening to our training and tactics, do we have tactics and train to win games or we hope that things will fall in place during the game, looks as if so from what I can see. Even if we had Shriek and Tevez on the pitch we will still struggle because our tactics is simply one that is tailored not to win games but stroking the ball around in a safety first approach and no link-up play at all. At one point during the game Maxi was near the edge of the box and there was a big void in front of him he just had to keep moving the ball forward into the box and gets into a scoring position or pass to someone inside the box, but no, he chose to stop momentarily and pass the ball backwards, perhaps again under instruction on safety first.

I'm still with the opinion that we have very quality players but we're not playing to their strength while someone mentioned earlier that many players have played out of position, true, this gives the players no joy and motivation, is this contributing to the their lackadaisical attitude? Torres did alright tonight and i won't start hammering him for those misses, he just had an off day after a long lay-off, but what happened to the rest? They should be there to shoulder the responsibility to score, but no, not enough effort and aggression to bring the ball  into the box or into scoring positions or taking some shots outside the box.

Rafa's verdict on Wigan loss

Rafael Benitez couldn't hide his disappointment after Liverpool crashed to a 1-0 defeat to Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/latest-news/rafa-s-verdict-on-wigan-loss

A solitary strike from Hugo Rodallega was enough to give Roberto Martinez's side all three points - and the Reds boss cited a below par first-half display as the main catalyst behind the loss.

"I have to be really disappointed and I can't be happy after losing a game like that," the boss told his post-match press conference.

"In the first half we didn't do anything and we kept giving the ball away. We didn't win any first or second balls and it was difficult to explain.

"We talked about our first-half performance during the break and in the second half our attitude was much better, but it still wasn't enough.

"We had some chances but we didn't play well enough. Everybody is really low after the game.

"It was a question of our attitude in the first half. The players showed their character in the second half. Sometimes we were in too much of a hurry with our play in the second half, but at least we showed character.

"Wigan worked very hard from the beginning until the end but we expected this.

"You have some good games and bad games, but especially at this time, at a crucial moment, we could have done better.

"It's a question of analysing why we didn't show the character we had to show in the first half."

The Reds will now turn their attentions to the Europa League and the first leg of their last 16 clash with French outfit Lille on Thursday.

"We have another important game on Thursday and we have to be ready," added the boss.

"We have to keep going and try to win games."

On the positive side, Glen Johnson made his first appearance of the calendar year after coming on as a second-half substitute.

"It was good to have Glen back, but it's no good getting players back if you don't win games."

I'm sorry Cas, I can't let that go. I know more than most, you know your football. And I know I've said that I don't think players should be singled out, but Carragher and Insua were really poor. Insua got skinned like a rat in I'm a Celebrity. Carragher was properly calamity.

Big hugs. I know exactly how you feel. x

I particularly watched Carragher tonight, as he's been getting a lot of stick recently, and I wanted to focus on him, in the first 20 mins he made some very good tackles and won the ball well, there were times when we looked a bit at sixes and sevens but that was running through the whole team, how difficult can it be to pass the ball to someone else in the same colour shirt as you 

Normally I hate it when the season is coming to a close, but for the first time in a long time I'll be glad to see the back of this one.

Very honest evaluation from Rafa.

The players need telling. They were F***ing woeful tonight. Desperately need a kick up the arse.

The only good to come out of this season will be if we take the Europa League.

How things will seem better then. Just want something to celebrate really.

Let's have a whip around for Ross to go to the rest of our games.

The final whistle was good mate. And some of Aquilani's passes.

did i completely miss aquilani brightening up the proceedings? i dont think i did as my eyes were glued to the screen in a sort of any minute now there has to be something good happen but it never came. I did think about the money spent on aquilani and maxi and briefly wondered if that money could have been put towards david villa if we had just realised that despite being promising they wouldnt actually add a single thing to this season whatsoever

I'm surprised he didn't use his magic words:"We were controlling the game"!!!We control sh*t the whole F***ing season

I cant even be f***ing bothered tonight.
FFS

I cant even be f***ing bothered tonight.
FFS

tell me about it mate.

Fourth place is ours if we want it...
Why don't we want it

I've juts got back from the pub, I'll talk more about this game tomorrow.

To many players not good enough simple as that it isn't rocket science ,  players getting targeted as weak links by other teams , how long can we leave  Insua in to get ripped apart by any decent right sided player oh I forgot he's the only player we have got to fill the left back position , Warnock binned off for buttons , Riise dumped , Drossena in and out before the ink dried on his whopper contract , Aurallio in for half a game out for four , tonights another of many lows in a pitiful season not long to go before a much needed change in leadership on and off the pitch at Liverpool Football Club.

Very astute post mate,leave to the end of the season,and you're bang on.

did I completely miss aquilani brightening up the proceedings? I dont think I did as my eyes were glued to the screen in a sort of any minute now there has to be something good happen but it never came. I did think about the money spent on aquilani and maxi and briefly wondered if that money could have been put towards david villa if we had just realised that despite being promising they wouldnt actually add a single thing to this season whatsoever

Maxi was free and £5m - £17m (depending which paper you quote) for Aquilani wouldn't buy David Villa's right leg.

Aquilani's cameo was just about the only positive I can percieve from tonight game. And that's only because he, on the whole, found a man in a red shirt with some of his passes and actually looked like offering us the creative spark we so desperately craved tonight.

Such a shame all this. Really is.

Will we get in the Europa League will soon be a talking point.... It was the first and hopefully only time that I wouldn't blame people if they left the stadium, could just about watch it myself

I'm waiting for the season to end soon to go for a stress release programme and hope that next season we start with fresh leadership, tactics and backroom staff. I don't really  see much wrong in the players but we must tailor our tactics to suite their strength while keep trying to improve their weaknesses.

We lost because we didn't turn up and Wigan wanted the points more. They got their tactics spot on and proved that there's a lot more to football than just turning up and having the points handed to you on a plate. They fought, we crumbled.

Reina was alright - hardly exceptional though.
Masch looked lost at right back.
Carra started the game alright and won quite a few headers but once they scored he seemed to go to pot.
Sotis was similar to Carra, looked decent while it was goalless but once we went behind he seemed a bit lost.
Insua had his worst game in a Liverpool shirt.
Maxi was invisible like he has been for 99% of his Liverpool career.
Lucas was poor and gave away a few silly free kicks.
Gerrard was a disgrace and showed nothing to be proud of.
Yossi didn't do a great deal, in fact I'm struggling to recall where he actually touched the ball other than that drag back for Stevie.
Torres wasn't actually bad and the only one who got into the positions to shoot.
Johnson didn't do anything when he came on except that one challenge on the edge of the box and make a F**k up to allow Moses in towards the end.
Aquilani to be honest I don't know where people are getting off saying he did ok, he didn't. Certainly didn't do anything offensively.
Babel again don't know where people thought he did well, must of jumped under the ball every F***ing time it went in the air.

All in all it was a disgrace to watch and I can quite safely say it's the worst passing performance I've seen from my club. This club invented pass and move, maybe it's about time they reverted back to it. The passing was hard to watch, probably see better passing down Prinny Park than you did from our lads tonight.

The heart and passion wasn't there tonight, with a chance to get back into fourth we should of been scrapping for everything. Instead we wanted Wigan to hand it to us on a plate. I'm sorry lads but football doesn't work like that, you have to earn everything. What annoys me most is the fight we showed against Blackburn compared to tonight. There was no chance we were gonna let Blackburn get a point the other day, but tonight we didn't look like we knew how to fight which obviously isn't the case. Maybe the Blackburn game took it out of us? Did it F**k, they just didn't want to tonight.

But despite us being so F***ing poor, I will say well done to Wigan and Roberto Martinez. They took advantage of us playing so poorly and fought for everything. They, like us, needed the points and made sure they got them. They didn't have too many clear cut chances but the one they did get they took.

We were a disgrace but onwards and upwards I suppose and into Europe we go.

We were hopeless tonight. We have been hopeless all season. I really dont like where we are headed. We were playing one of the most out of form teams tonight and we looked a shambles. We wont get fourth, we will lose our best players. And this is no knee jerk reaction either. We went from last season finishing second and this season we have fallen way back. Whatever about City but now Villa and Spurs have much better squads then us, i mean , how the F**k did this happen.