A lot of you seemed happy with that performance. Well fair do's to you, because I wasn't. Yet again under Roy, we were a 1 half team. I don't think he's gotten a 90 minutes performance out of the team yet. Tottenham were there for the taking yesterday, we needed that second goal and although we had chances and missed, for the majority of that second half, we were second best.
How Konchesky lasted the full 90 is a mystery, he was a disaster the whole game - if Gentleman Roy should have been able to see that. We had a few options too. Aurelio should have replaced him and I would have brought Jovanovic on for Ngog, moving Maxi into the hole. Jovanovic would have had orders to protect Aurelio, much like Kuyt did on the RHS.
And for those that just think I'm being a negative Nelly, we bossed the centre of midfield yesterday using the much derided Lucas and that (ahem) right midfielder (or so Roy seems to think) Miereles & both distributed the ball really well.
As for some of Roy's tactics, they were amateurish at times, Spurs have some very good passers of the ball and so we let them come into our half before pressuring them? Daft as a brush, because they were then hitting balls over our back line or into the feet of Bale & Lennon whose pace we were vunerable to and it was just a matter of time before it paid off.
Yes we missed chances, so did Spurs, yes we were denied a good penalty shout from Kuyt, but we also got away from some awful defending in our own box, twice Carragher illegally charged Crouch while he was in the air, taking the man out, not even looking at the ball and both for me were stonewall penalties and Skrtel was pulling and pushing at every corner, only a matter of time before he is called on it.
As for the ref, as I've seen him get some unfair stick on some sites, he was OK, a bit of a homer, but then we've had refs like that at Anfield. He called the biggest decision, when Hutton went down, correctly & for me it was Hutton's own momentum, so not a dive. Every one of our back lines bookings were deserved, though Skrtel needs to be fined for his, no need for it, should have kept his trap shut. Miereles was unlucky though, but when you see the refs position, it does look like a tackle from behind & the linesman should have assisted with the Kuyt penalty claim. And yes, a couple of Spurs players should have been booked, but as I said the ref was a little bit of a homer & made far less mistakes than some of the players.
All in all, the best 90 minutes under Roy, but nothing to be happy about & Roy's substitute policy & lack of tactical nous was exposed again.
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