Pity that West Bromwich Albion are being relegated. In the 8 matches we have played them in the Premiership, we have STILL not let up a goal, lost any points, or had any sort of performance that looked like anything other than 3 points in the proverbial baggie.
But then again, there is no wondering why West Brom are being relegated. The amount of space that Gerrard had today was criminal. He could pick out basically anything he wanted to pick out today. Much like the West Ham and Hull City matches as of late, there was no reason or capacity for Liverpool to get out of 2nd or 3rd gear. It was just too simple. Even though we only won 2-0 today at West Brom, and the title race had come to a close (bugger!), Liverpool looked fantastic. The first 30 minutes weren’t, in fairness, but the 60 minutes that followed were a true exhibition on how to use space and pass the ball around. It was an open match that could have had any scoreline… even West Brom should have scored. But it was definitely us who ruled the roost.
The two goals were typical Liverpool goals this season. The first was a moment of luck, but the finish was superb. West Brom’s Martis inexplicably turned into Gerrard from about 30 yards out, and the skipper found himself in a one-on-one with Kiely. Rather than slot it in, though, Gerrard got all chippy and dinked it over the keeper and it was 1-0. The second goal was much more down to good play from Liverpool. After stroking it around for a while, Dirk Kuyt found space from just inside the halfway circle and began to charge. Rather than pick him up, West Brom dropped back, leaving a sizeable gap for Kuyt to run into. He carved himself a nice opening and smacked it in from 20 yards into the lower near post corner, bringing a huge smile to his face. That’s 15 goals on the season now for the Dutchman, his best return yet at the club. It could have been more, but these two goals were pleasant on the eye.
There was a disappointment for me today, though. Last week, Jamie Carragher’s slip up really should have leveled matters between us and West Ham. Nobody went up to him and started shoving him about for being careless on the ball. Why? Because the players respect him and understood it was a mistake. And because they aren’t in the business of screaming at their teammates for something they obviously knew they did wrong. So when Arbeloa mistakenly jumped when he should have stood his ground- elementary mistake that I’m SURE he was well aware of- there should have been a bit of hesitancy and understanding from Carragher about approaching Arby about the error. Rather than think about “the plank in his own eye,” Carragher went for the stone-throwing approach. His aggressive push and shouting match at Arbeloa was bang out of order, despite being right about Arbeloa making a mistake. There is no room for that avenue of taking out your competitive frustration. It doesn’t build up anybody’s character. Yelling would have been just fine. But to shove Arby? Come on, Carra. If you were playing as well this season as you did let’s say, 2 or 3 seasons ago, then you might have a case to play the perfection card. But the amount of goals he has been responsible for conceding this season does not merit that kind of response.
The bust-up between the two will blow over, and I don’t want to over-react about it. My point of view, though, is that Carragher is perhaps slipping up a bit and maybe should take a look at his own dipping form rather than being so quick out to point out the flaws in others.
All of this said, we got yet another win and have been flying since our 2-0 loss at Middlesbrough. It was like we needed a kick to the teeth to get up and running again. We have been brushing aside our opposition with ease, and with this win we have now set a Premiership record for the club with 83 points… and with one more match left!
