The perfect storm?

[Zoob]

Have alluded to this elsewhere, and just can't get it out of my mind... at the mo I feel as gutted as I can remember feeling about football, and I know there are others here who feel the same way. It's a strange mixture of anger, sadness and frustration. It's almost like the grieving process.

 

I just keep on asking wtf has happened this season? And the more I think about it, the more I think of a perfect storm type scenario:

 

1) The psychological impact of coming so close last season, breaking so many records, playing such good football... and yet still not winning the league.

 

2) Our owners shafting Rafa by not backing him in the transfer market. What team has ever finished 2nd and then gone on to win the title having not just no net spend, but having to make a net profit in the transfer market over a period of a year? It's absolutely scandalous.

 

3) The injuries. From Aquilani being out 2+ months longer than expected, to Spain breaking Torres yet again, Gerrard getting injured while on England duty, and then so many other injuries - Agger's reoccurring back problems (despite an op), Johnson, Benayoun, Riera, Mascherano, Skrtel (and of course Aurelio) all injured / ill at some point. Even squad players like Babel, Dossena, Kelly, El Zhar, N'gog have been injured, which impacts when we have such a thin squad.

 

4) Bad luck, and bad refereeing decisions. I've lumpted them together, because in a way they're related. Having a beach ball score the winning goal against us was very bad luck, but was also due to terrible refereeing. We've had 2 of the most clear cut pens possible not awarded to us - one at Spurs, one against Arsenal. It's frankly obscene that neither were pens. West Ham scored a penalty where the guy clearly touched the ball twice. Thankfully it didn't cost us the win, but it could have...

 

We had 2 players sent off against Fulham, when neither should have been red cards (we were already a goal down, but having 2 sent off ended any chance of getting anything and also impacted on our next game, where Carragher was suspended). 2 freak own goals conceded, both crucial in changing matches. I just feel this season that almost every bounce of the ball that can go against us, does go against us.

 

And to all those who say the luck and ref decisions balance each other out: we've had 1 deflected goal (vs Everton) and 1 very dodgy pen (vs Birmingham). I think there's a long way to go before things balance out...

 

5) Players out of form. I can't remember a time when so many of our players were playing badly, either in individual games (for example, Benayoun had an absolute stinker against Arsenal) or just periods of bad form - Gerrard, Riera, Kuyt, Sktrel, Carragher, Insua, Aurelio, Mascherano... If this happens when other players are on fire, it's not too much of a problem, but none of our players have exactly been on fire this season (Reina, Torres pre injury and Johnson - again pre-injury are about the only ones I can think of) yet so many have had bad games....

 

It just feels like everything that could possibly go wrong, is or has gone wrong. And I fear with the low confidence and anxiety - among players and fans alike, it's gonna take something really special to turn things around...

[Nebraska Red]

it seems like we are stuck in some never ending downward spiral and we are not finding a way to get out from under this mess of a season.

 

does a good win sometime in the next few games get us going?

 

is there a player or 2 in our squad who could drag us up and help?

 

the softly softly, cautious , almost scared, approach to the way we are playing is killing our chances of getting out of the mire.

[abc]

the softly softly, cautious , almost scared, approach to the way we are playing is killing our chances of getting out of the mire.

 

I think this here is the key. Rafa needs to tell the lads to just go out and get the second against teams that have potent attacks 'cause if we sit back they will score anyway, such is the way our season has gone. It really feels like we've already lost as many games this season from being a goal up as we have in the previous three or four combined, so rare has it been (off the top of my head anyway).

 

I also think we're going to be patchy all throughout the season. We've had 2-0 wins against our two biggest rivals we've played so far, and not been able to build on those results. We also strung together 4/5 wins in a row earlier in the season, but we're still in this mess now.

 

FWIW I don't think anyone is doing anything outrageously wrong - I just think we need to accept that some things are out of our control, and that we just need to play our way out of it. And I suspect the manner in which we go about doing that will go some way to showing whether Rafa is ultimately the man who will bring the title home to Anfield.

 

The best quick-fix right now is hammering someone at Anfield, hopefully Wigan in the next game.