Start It All Over

I've sat here all day thinking of a unique way to describe the absolute miscarriage that was today at White Hart Lane. But I can't say anything better than anyone else has. Nevermind about the two sendings-off, because they don't really matter. Liverpool were miles behind Spurs before Charlie Adam's foot went all Magellan and exploring where it shouldn't have been. And some of my biggest worries came to reality. What would Liverpool do when a team can come at them with pace, seeing as how outside of Suarez, Pool is completely bereft of it. The answer was pretty horrifying. I worried what would happen if Kenny got cute and tried to get through a third game with Martin Skrtel at right back. The scorch marks on his skin and my soul will give you that answer. And the fact that he wasn't somewhat protected by Dirk Kuyt is the rubix cube in my mind at the moment. And I consistently worry about Jamie Carragher, and nothing that went on today is going to keep me from doing so.

And now, the early optimism we allowed to seep from our pores in August has been washed away by one tough and undeserved loss and one complete ass-thumping. Seven points from five games isn't an acceptable return in anyone's mind, especially when Spurs can be dodgy on any given day as anyone. But Liverpool were insipid, petulant, dumb, slow, scared, and awful.

Wait, I think Carra just passed back to Reina again.

-Let me say that this will not be a place where the air raid siren on Kenny Dalglish is first sounded. But there are some questions to be asked. And this was a performance as bad as anything we saw under Rafa's collapse or Hodgson's reign in stupidity. And some decisions at the start and during the match are going to demand answers. There was Skrtel going up against an overrated but certainly dangerous Gareth Bale, without any protection from a wide midfielder. Naturally, the first goal came from Bale having most of the countryside to contemplate Proust before crossing for Defoe. So there's that.

Secondly, bringing in Andy Carroll to a side that was humming pretty well without him. That's not to pin anything today on him, that wouldn't be fair. But even in the loss to Stoke, the Reds looked lively with all of Suarez, Downing, Henderson interchanging. That doesn't happen with Carroll on the field, at least not yet. Obviously, these kinks need to be worked out, I'm not sure today was the day to do it.

Thirdly, Charlie Adam was placed ahead of Lucas and Henderson in midfield, in a sort of 4-3-3. But all this did was lead to Adam making a host of bad decisions and wandering around like a mental patient in a hall of mirrors, before he deprived us of his company in the first half. While the second yellow may have been harsh -- he never saw Parker and was only going after the ball and just missed -- when your stud end up buried in thigh muscle you're certainly giving the ref the opportunity to expose some canary paper. Adam is better served playing deeper where he has more time to ping some passes, and Henderson seems better served being closer to the strikers. Why this was changed, I don't know.

After the first sending off, Kenny opted to shift Carroll out to the wing and keep Suarez up top. I get that, I guess, because Suarez has been dangerous leading the line and maybe you want to see if he can do it again. But in between throwing a bitch 67 times, Suarez was off his game. Meanwhile, Carroll didn't provide any pace or creativity out wide and couldn't make an impact up top. The one thing he can do is hold the ball up and win some headers, and seeing as how Liverpool was only ever going create scraps, wouldn't that be the way to go?

And another pass goes back to Reina.

I'm tired of talking about this, just as you are about reading it. Hopefully the captain returns this week, and hopefully a re-introduction to winning ways. But a loss at Brighton, and then we may be awfully close to calling for Battle Stations.