Friday, February 1, 2013

No Country for Young Men: Oldham 3 - Liverpool 2

No Country For Old Men
Photo by Dreamsjung on Flickr

We don't want to say "We told you" to Correspondent Scott, but it is tempting....

No sooner did I proclaim a return to steady form for Liverpool, than a squad laden with youngsters trips over League One bottom-dwellers, Oldham Athletic. Brendan Rodgers rightly criticized his players for their performance on Sunday, going on to say that the younger ones had wasted the opportunity to impress.

The only thing that was impressive on the day was Oldham's desire to win. Their incessant hustle, nearly suicidal blocks on defense, committed tackling and physical play all over the field, quite simply, knocked the Reds off their game just enough to slay the giant. That is not to say they weren't aided and abetted by some truly awful goalkeeping along the way. But even the 60th minute insertion of Steven Gerrard and Stewart Downing, although sparking a Liverpool seige, could not derail Oldham's destiny on Sunday.

Were it not against my team, I would combine Liverpool's loss with the near elimination of Chelsea and the exit of Tottenham to wax poetically about the ephemeral power of the proletariat. But I'm just plain pissed, so I won't.


What I will do is call on Raheem Sterling to regain some of the form that had me swooning earlier in the season. He lost more balls on Sunday than Andrea Bocelli at a driving range. And, while I'm at it, Jack Robinson and Sebastian Coates might not be getting much playing time lately, but they certainly did not help their chances with flaccid defending and suspect ball handling.

Let's just hope that this was a one-time let down. Arsenal will be even less forgiving than Oldham.

This is farlieonfootie saying "Rabbit Rabbit" on February 1.

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