ROBBIE FOWLER
the moment – go through matches without conceding.
The top teams let in goals all the time, but back themselves to score again. Liverpool seem to think one goal against them spells trouble. I can only assume it’s a mentality thing.
They had conceded only three goals in their last eight games – two were dodgy penalties and the third was a fluke. So confidence should have been higher than the Emirates roof.
Maybe because people have been having such a go about them – that they are fragile, that they make too many mistakes (and yeah, the keeper should have done much better for the second goal) – it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, even after such an impressive defensive run.
Didn’t Liverpool have the best defensive record of all the top teams over the past two months, even City? You’d never have guessed it, and I think it’s because it always lurks there deep in the mindset once something has been exposed.
I’ve been there myself. When I was at Liverpool in the 90s, we had a team that was a match for anyone, anywhere. We could always beat the top teams, we were so attractive to watch and at times we scored goals for fun.
But we seemed to always throw a performance in where we were cruising, just as Liverpool were on Friday, and then blow it.
I remember a game at Chelsea in the FA Cup in 1997. Honestly, we were so much in control I had my slippers on. I scored early, Stan Collymore netted before half-time, and we should have been six up by the break. Sound familiar?
They brought on Mark Hughes at half-time, we conceded one, started to panic and eventually lost 4-2.
It was one of the most frustrating afternoons of my life... just stood there up front watching the carnage, knowing there was nothing you could do as a forward to change it unless they gave me the ball. So it’s been going on for 20 years or more. It was similar at times in the Brendan Rodgers era. I don’t know why. I would say this. Liverpool should have smashed Arsenal by half-time, and it was always a problem they were only one up at the interval. You kind of sensed they’d pay for those misses. But I will never moan at players for missed chances. Two of the best opportunities fell to Mo Salah, and who can criticise him this season? He’s been awesome. Reminds me of me sometimes (especially that pace!). Klopp (below) said recently that his sides will always play fair, that he wants to win in the right way. He said he would never resort to gamesmanship, or even ‘game management’ as it’s called these days. But maybe he should now reconsider that. Liverpool should not only have won at the Emirates, they should have recorded one of the great victories. Instead they dropped two more points, and they’re so far behind in the title race they need snookers. Perhaps it’s time to start changing the tempo after they get leads, not changing their mentality.