With the Reds up by one at the Hawthorns yesterday, defender Kolo Toure made one of those mistakes that has defenders waking up in cold sweats in the middle of the night years and years later.
Upon receiving the ball from his ‘keeper Simon Mignolet, a momentary lapse of reason saw the big man play a lazy pass across the face of goal — right onto the toe of Baggies striker Victor Anichebe. The former Everton wasn’t going to miss that opportunity, and with the Reds unable to find the go-ahead goal in the remaining 23 minutes, Liverpool’s chance to open a four point gap on Everton went begging — something Kolo is man enough to shoulder the blame for.
“It was a terrible pass by me,” the experienced defender told the Liverpool ECHO following the match. “You have to make the right decisions and today I took a bad decision. It was my call. I should have passed to one of our players but instead I passed it straight to the striker.”
Despite the fact that the Reds just weren’t good enough over the 90-minutes to deserve three points, the Ivorian has taken the brunt of the criticism for what was, in actuality, a poor team performance. “I made a very bad pass. I don’t know why I passed the ball into the middle of the pitch, it was crazy,” he continued. “It’s difficult to say what we have been talking about in the dressing room but the manager knows how disappointed I am. My pass put the team in a difficult situation.”
With the likes of Daniel Agger and Mamadou Sakho still out injured and not likely to recover in time for Arsenal’s visit to Anfield next weekend, Toure will be handed a great chance to make amends against his former team — a chance we’re all hoping he takes.
