Birmingham 0 – Liverpool 0

24th of July 2010, the date that the Blues last kept a clean sheet in a game, prior to this league match, and that too was against Chinese outfit, Lioning Haoyun.

During that period till last weekend, even the likes of MK Dons and Rochdale manage to ship 2goals each into the back of their net, and it’s quite surprising isn’t it that an attacking force that consists of Torres, Gerrard, Jovanovic and Maxi Rodriguez were left huffing and puffing and yet failing to register any threats at all?

In truth, it’s not that surprising at all, and I’m not really bothered..

1) The fact that Birmingham have not lost at home in the league for nearly a year, which speaks highly of their tightly orchestrated defensive unit that Alex Mcleish have honed to near perfection.

2) The fact that Birmingham have not lost at home to Liverpool, not since 2004, meant that the 1 point collected at St Andrews is a fortunate point gained, rather than 2 points lost, the way I look at it.

3) The fact that Reina penned a new 6year deal in April this year isn’t reason to paint the town red yet, cos he’s going to be a terribly busy man if his front defensive pairing continuously allow his opponents free shots at his goal. With respect to the men involved, I’d much rather have Agger, instead of Skrtel, in the middle. Agger has a better read of the game, is more composed and plays generally well, when partnered with the experienced Carragher.

Meanwhile, I’m terribly bothered by..

1) The fact that, yet again, it was a central pairing of Lucas and Poulsen which implied a nearly non-existent creative engine, thus all the playmaking juices was going to be coming from the captain himself, who literally bled himself (form the ear) playing for his beloved club, whom were left isolated upfront with Torres for much too long.

2) The fact that Raul Meireles wasn’t given an earlier introduction to replace the lumbering Lucas, because minutes upon entering the battlefield, the visiting Anfield crowd was shown glimpses of the money spent by Hodgson on a central midfielder who loves getting onto the end of crosses, as he sprang to forward into the box a couple of time, like a leprechaun in search of the pot of gold, at the end of the rainbow, I mean the cross from the flanks.

3) The fact that Meireles’ performance was in stark contrast to the other Reds debutant, Paul Konchesky, who had a rather quiet game, before allowing a few nearly converted crosses from his flanks, before limping off towards the end of the game. It left me with the lingering question of ‘why didn’t Agger come into the game earlier’ if he’s fit enough to be included in the squad?

Let’s not hide from the fact that Liverpool’s performance needs drastic improvements as a team and after 8 games in charge, Hodgson has yet to find his preferred midfielders, that spinal chord of a team that puts to rest any lingering doubts that a manager might have of whether his team will be able to perform or not.

The midfield is the engine room, and, like a vehicle, when your engine room fail to drive the team forward (especially with countless backtracking and stray passes), simple maths for now, displacement is nil.

Maybe it’s a little premature of me to say this, but Meireles does look like he have the lungs to brust forward aka Gerrard, whilst from a central midfield position, and this bodes well indeed, meaning Hodgson won’t have anymore dilemma of whether to play Gerrard upfront and sacrifice his engine room, or play Gerrard in the middle and sacrifice his offensive threats.

I wonder, if Hodgson makes an inquiry on a certain Spaniard and ex-Liverpool anchorman that’s in Madrid right now, would an option of a return ever be considered?

Just saying..

Similar Blogpost Entered @ MySoccerPlace.Net.