Well that was fun. We played well but you don’t know whether to be surprised that the visitors were so poor or astonished that it is only this apparently, that we have to finish above if we are to think about fourth.
We were by far the better team throughout, it didn’t matter whether Liverpool had 11, 10 or 9 men on the pitch. We were stronger, quicker and more determined from the off and might have been well ahead before, after half an hour, Adam got the red card he should’ve received last year when he was a Blackpool player, and even further ahead by half time. As it was we had only Modric’s uncharacteristically clean first time strike to show for our superiority. Adebayor spurned a great chance very early on, our frustrating wastefulness of free kicks around the area continues and various cut backs from Bale and Walker all went to waste.
Bale had been twisting the out of position Skrtel’s blood as the saying goes all game and when the Slovak clattered into him from behind after an hour to get his second yellow and join Adam at the front of the queue for the bus home we knew that another goal would finish them off. Van der Vaart soon put Defoe clear and despite the presence of Enrique the little man buried a low thunderbolt passed Reina. A few minutes later the keeper spilled a Defoe shot and Adebayor showed great skill in tidying up the loose ball to make it three.
Many of the away supporters had seen enough now and large patches of blue seats started appearing in the corner of the Park Lane. Normally the Liverpool following is noisy and supportive but today they were subdued from the beginning. They were at their most passionate in abusing Parker whose apparent crime was being the victim of Adam’s knee high tackle. The indiscipline in their team seemed to be mistakenly viewed as injustice rather than incompetence. There was no defiant support until the very end when the few that remained gave a rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone that was cut short by Adebayor again finishing smartly from Assou-Ekotto’s cross.
There were impressive performances throughout our side with accusations of wastefulness possibly the only valid criticisms that could be levelled. Walker, Kaboul and Adebayor all added speed and mobility. Parker was busy, determined and effective and he and Modric dominated in the middle. King and Assou-Ekotto were classy at the back and Defoe, though clearly not the whippet he once was, still found space and clearly enjoyed playing with Adebayor.
So still in the bottom half but plenty of encouraging signs to take to Wigan next week.
By MF
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