Dire Liverpool Fail To Keep Pace At Bolton

...and Steinsson makes it three...
More points dropped and another head scratching, mind boggling performance from a wholly underwhelming Liverpool side. I was out most of the week, under the weather with a cold and didn’t bother with a match preview since it was only Bolton. Only Bolton? We always win against that lot, don’t we? Now, we can only laugh to hold back the tears as goals from Mark Davies, Nigel Reo-Coker and Gretar Steinsson sees Liverpool fail to capitalize on some favorable results earlier in the day.

With Newcastle being trounced by Fulham and Chelsea being held by the Canaries, the Reds had the perfect opportunity to bounce back from their draw at Fulham and right into fifth place. No perfect place to do it then the Reebok. Bolton have the worst home record of any top-flight side and haven’t beaten us for a dog’s age. Easy pickings? Not quite.

When the final whistle blew, you’d have to say fair play to Bolton. The Trotters put in a complete team performance while Liverpool looked disjointed all over the pitch, and at times, you wondered which side was the one trying to stave off relegation and which one supposedly had Champions League aspirations. Right from the hop, you had to wonder what was going on when Mark Davies was allowed to drift into the box unchallenged and slot home.

Up to this point, there were only 2 clubs who’ve scored more than a pair of goals against us this season, but Bolton isn’t quite on par with either Manchester City or Tottenham are they? Even if our attack this season has been less than satisfactory, we’ve always had our rock solid defense to fall back on yet even that was failing today. Manchester City was the only side to concede less than us so far this season, but you never guess it by the display at the Reebok.

You’d think he had the plague the way the backline were staying away from him and not a challenge was put in until the ball had already hit the back of the net. Less than 4 minutes in and already we’re making a hash of this? Something isn’t right here, is it? Just over 20 minutes and a handful of futile Liverpool attacks later, former Manchester United winger Chris Eagles finds Nigel Reo-Coker, and the Bolton Captain makes no mistake, chesting down and volleying home, crisp as can be.

A wish for knees that work...
Craig Bellamy and Andy Carroll linked up well to pull one back before the break, and even then you would have still had some belief, despite the premium price being charged for it, left in the tank. With the summer signings again looking abhorrent, Charlie Adam completing on 59% of his passes throughout the match and Jordan Henderson shirking like a lily from 50-50 challenges, the Welshman was again the best player on the pitch also, ironically, the least expensive.

Any hope of a second half turn-around would be squashed by Gretar Steinsson with his first goal for Bolton in almost 2 years. Our appalling record of defending corners only got worse when David Wheater was inexplicably the only player to leave the ground on Petrov’s corner kick. The towering defender knocked the ball down unchallenged for Steinsson to slot home and with that, even the most ardent Kopite knew there was no way back.

Months ago you would have seen a late surge with multiple tantalizing chances created and impossible saves from the opposition goalkeeper, but we weren’t even treated to that. Daniel Agger saw his pile driver of shot ping off the crossbar and a few half chances fell by the wayside, landing right beside our belief in a top four finish. Even the introduction of Kuyt and Downing did nothing to spruce up a faltering attack, but by the time they were brought on, it’s fair to say it was way too little and far too late.

Losing to Bolton at any stage in the season isn’t welcome and with one eye on the midweek match with Manchester City, this dip in form couldn’t have come at a worse time. Although the failings of our closest competitors hasn’t weakened our league position all that much, our inability to capitalize and drive momentum is almost as painful as watching Owen Coyle smile at the end of the match. To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if our habit of showing up only for the crucial matches persists and we beat City on Wednesday, but after a performance like that, I wouldn’t be all that surprised if we get on the end of a massive kicking.

-steven.

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Steven McMillan

Can’t find up from down or tell black from white, but doesn't care cause it’s all Red to him. When he's not pissing and moaning about all things Liverpool, he’s chatting nonsense with his multiple personalities — or his “entourage” as he likes to call them.

8 thoughts on “Dire Liverpool Fail To Keep Pace At Bolton

  • January 21, 2012 at 10:52 pm
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    We lost!  Why?
    Carroll – sh*te
    Adam – sh*te
    Henderson – sh*te
    Downing – sh*te
    Whoever signed them, either Comolli or KK, has to go

  • January 21, 2012 at 10:58 pm
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    Lifelong LFC fan in Australia,disgusted with this underwhelming performance…once again…forget about top 4,the players should be paid on performance,on this showing they should all be docked their wages……this team needs to realise who they are playing for,otherwise,as Dalglish says,they should be given the boot…utterly fed up with this mediocre mid table team!!!!!

  • January 21, 2012 at 11:04 pm
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    sorry to say this kenny but what you said about the team after the bolton match you should of said it weeks ago,,please take note henderson never passes forward, carroll is crap ,adam aint no alonso,downing is scared to rough it and hasnt crossed at decent ball yet,gerrards done  and,kuyt is finished, the only players playing with heart week in and out     reina agger skrtal enrique bellamy .this is getting to be worse than hodgsons era, BRING BACK RAFA

  • January 22, 2012 at 10:18 am
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    Fascinating to watch a legend ruin a football team. Poor old Kenny is a complete dinosaur who has bought abysmally, but still the Liverpool fans believe he is doing a great job. He is doing a great job of turning a great club into a middle of the table team. He got lucky by receiving £50m for someone who was shot away. So what did he do? Did he re-build the team by spending it carefully. Of course not. He wasted £35m on a donkey. If a defender is as tall and strong as Carroll, he is pointless. He spends £20m on a non prolific forward who is now banned for racism; another £20m on a journeyman midfield player (Sunderland haven’t stopped laughing); let’s chuck another £15m away and get Downing and play him on the right; and how about £8m for Adam who can’t run. Over £100m on players – none of whom would get in a ‘top 4’ team. And if you think they would, how come they haven’t turned us into a top 4 team. It’s sad, but Kenny was great. Football has moved on, but he hasn’t. We need a new manager desperately, but no one can see it. Look at Keith’s comments – he knocks the same players as me for being rubbish – KENNY BOUGHT THEM ALL!

  • January 22, 2012 at 8:29 pm
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    I think this team has serious problems. We are now truly seeing what the team are like. Suarez has carried the team since his arrival and like most classy players he manages to get not so good players to raise their games. Without him you see how bad these players are. Also not playing a defensive mid-fielder was just stupid. As against Fulham, who like Bolton are a fairly ordinary team (like Liverpool now) we had no cover in front of the back four and Bolton couldn’t believe their luck. Every time they surged forward we looked vulnerable with Charlie Adam sitting on his ass up the pitch or Gerrard puffing his way back from going too far forward. It was a shambles. Even more worrying was the management didn’t know what to do! Drop Adam. Practice corners defending/attacking.
    Adam needs to be dropped and only used as a time wasting sub in future. Give Shelvey a run as we badly need his energy, he’s still a rough diamond but surely his attitude more that makes up for that.
    Corners: for crying out loud! Ask Murihno, set pieces are the most important aspect of the professional game where margins are negible. We can’t take them and can’t defend them.

  • January 24, 2012 at 12:25 pm
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    What’s boring about it Steven? Why waste you time with a one word response? Are you saying it’s boring because we all know it’s true, in which case fair play to you because watching a once great football club field a team of ordinary players and drift towards mid table is sad and embarrassing. If boring means you don’t agree for some reason then say so. Otherwise why bother to comment? So in response to you – ‘pointless’ (much like our club at the moment)

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