Y'know, our tag of "cup-team" is becoming a bit disconcerting, with results like this...
Let's be honest, we didn't deserve to go far in this competition. Not because we were outplayed today - 'cause we weren't, we dominated and had the majority of the chances. But because we've been generally shocking throughout the whole of this tournament, slugging our way through past lower league mediocrity. With two games against Luton, a game against Havant & Waterlooville and one versus Barnsley, we should not have claimed two victories, a draw and a defeat. That's terribly poor and warrants our exit.
The annoying thing here was that, whilst we weren't overly convincing, we actually played, created the chances and were in relative control. Against Luton and Havant that wasn't the case. But, as it were - as it always is - we stuttered and were not ruthless, eventually throwing our Quarter-Finals place away.
You can go on all day about rotation and team selection, but it's [beep!]. What was wrong with the team today? We had a 'keeper who was superb against a pretty full-strength
Chelsea team in the Carling Cup; yet he concedes two and is made to look like a
Tottenham Hotspur 'keeper for the crucial second. We had a solid defence in Finnan, Carra, Hyypia and Riise, one that in past seasons has matched the best attacks in the world; yet we concede two goals and are made to look very fragile at times. We had a midfield full of players who've more than succeeded in the top flights of England, Brazil, Spain and Holland; yet we never controlled the game in any
convincing way, nor adequately assisted our attack in the required way. We had a strike-force of players who've played numerously for the English and Dutch national teams; yet we could only score once in 31 attempts, and they were particularly made to look clueless, being largely non-existent.
His selection isn't a problem here - unless he changes the system (i.e. formation), or plays personnel in unusual positions, then there is no issues. Any side we put out, in there natural positions, should be capable of winning. But it's a classic case of lack of confidence. Choosing who to put in or out of our side isn't Benitez's problem, nor is tactics or any of that lark, but motivating our players is.
That's what it all comes down to. Our players are stricken of any confidence, through accumulated bad performances and increasing pressure. Unfortunately, the bleak reality is that not only can Rafa not cope with the pressure himself (to the great extent that it is now), but he can't - and more importantly - relieve the players of that pressure and return some faith to them. It's so badly missing it's painful to watch.
It's painfully obvious that Kuyt and Crouch aren't firing to their proper standard, and haven't been for a long time. What frustrates me about the likes of Kuyt is he sort of hesitates when going to shoot, that's how little confidence he has - so when he does actually swing, it's a half-hearted swing and you know he doesn't believe he's going to score. There's no power, nor any conviction within the shots and it's just painful really. If you don't give Kuyt any space he's buggered - the slightest pressure cripples him. As for Crouch, his lack of movement is ... well. Non-existent shall we say? I actually forget he's playing half the time because he basically finds a few metre radii of grass and stands there for 90 minutes. Not really down to confidence, but in terms of general shitness deserves a mention.
Our midfield though, therein lies a big problem. I don't know whether it's complacency or merely fear, but our players seem inept in doing the things players of their quality should be able to do. Babel for example, he's so unbelievably frustrating... This is a man who's natural position is as a wing-forward, and he won't even take on players and run - despite having incredible pace. He either pulls inside or cuts back and plays it to another player. That's something we see all too often, our lack of ruthlessness - how often do you see our players dithering, passing it around so to give everyone a touch and no-one will [beeping!] shoot, it's ridiculous. No-one has the confidence to be assertive and take the game by the scruff of the neck and do something - they only seem content in gifting it to Gerrard (or Torres) and letting them do it. To be fair, Babel wasn't too bad here, but that's a general comment accurate for his whole season. Benayoun and Alonso weren't bad either, although Lucas looked swamped in a generally [beep!] performance from ourselves. He was just lost. A thing i hate about Yossi is that he won't shoot either, coming back to the above point - he dribbles and dribbles and will do nice little passes but at the edge of the area in space just have a bloody shot and see what happens.
I don't know what to say about our defence. It just panics like mad, as though we're afraid of the opposition. We saw it very early on when they crossed into the box, and Finnan absentmindedly just let it hit his foot into a dangerous area. It's just sloppy and really reflective of how disorganised our defence is of late. And it's because they have no confidence, dwindled from games such as Luton, Havant, Villa etc. and you can feel the pressure getting to them.
I've sort of rushed all that by the way (lack of time). And to be fair to our team, we only didn't win because of a certain possessed goalkeeper.
Though i wonder if Inter were watching.
But don't panic, we are actually close to the craved Premier League title. We only need:
- A new owner
- A new manager
- A new stadium
- A new set of players
- A new set of fans (that sing)
...
