We still having this debate?
Some of the alternative names suggested are laughable.
Saturday was a perfect storm for us.
International break (we seem to struggle 1st game back)
Mane red card (knocked the stuffing out of the players and seemed unbelievable at the time)
Players' thoughts affected by a supposedly seriously-injured opponent (Man City players knew he was fine, I reckon, at least at half-time)
Weak full back situation exploited by an intelligent and tactically-adaptable opponent with good wing-play
Lack of solidity in our midfield after the sending -off, not addressed by JK, led to our 3 being overrun
Lack of Dejan at CB after a reasonably-improved recent partnership with Matip
TAA at full back for once having to cope with traditional full-back defending - and struggling - as he does
Klavan having a bad game and making a series of slips and mistakes, positionally (I couldn't believe DL was benched)
A substandard referee who doesn't use common sense and is apparently easily swayed by a home crowd and simple gamesmanship
Salah's propensity for messing up his final ball costing us at least two great first half chances
Wijnaldum, Hendo and Can having a poor game all round
A general sense of not knowing what the hell to do when we go down to 10 men (carried on trying to commit to attack rather than absorb)
Bobby having one of his all too-frequent poor games
Lack of other individuals with the mental strength to cope with a setback (Hendo was herding cats at times)
And of course it's all Jordan Henderson's fault!
Default: In the absence of Dejan, blame Henderson. If he does ok, blame Simon. We'll let Bertie Moreno off the hook because JK rates him now. Apparently.
Just don't criticise the boss or the thought police will come after you.
Jordan is the captain. He had a bad game. Jürgen is the manager. He had a bad game too.
But he was right to say it would be a mistake to get too down about this defeat. So lets not.
We go again.
Logged