The Paul Tomkins Column

[Kathy]

Tomkins: Derby Day Delight

One thing really bothered me earlier in the season: accusations from some quarters that Liverpool lacked character.

This didn't tally with what I believed to be the case. Last season, time and time again, the Reds showed incredible character to rescue lost causes, and lose so few games.

But a confidence crisis can mask effort; it's not that the players weren't trying, but it's harder to want to the ball, and do something special with it, when your touch is awry.

The fact that Liverpool have dug their way out of a slump with a mixture of gutsy performances and tactical know-how, in the face of some of the most incredibly hyperbolic football reporting I've ever seen, goes some way to reassure me that I hadn't got it wrong after all.

Flair is certainly present in the squad, but 2010 has been about battling for the points, often against long-ball or overtly physical teams, with 6ft 4"+ midfielders and strikers.

When Torres, Benayoun and Johnson return, and when Aquilani and Maxi are more acclimatised (the last few games will have been like nothing they'd experienced in Italy and Spain!), the play can become more expansive - but the new year to date has been about character, first and foremost. Dig in, grind out.

The fact that Steven Gerrard appears to be getting back to his best is another major factor that will help in the improvement of the aesthetic side of the game, and an increase in confidence - and a lessening of the hysteria (and the insane pressure it brings, not to mention Anfield edginess) - should help free the players to express themselves.

I hate to say it, but yet again we've just seen another shocking refereeing display, with the number of inexplicable decisions against the Reds rising and rising. Thankfully, Liverpool are now playing well enough to override this misfortune. But it shouldn't have to be this way.

Even in victory, and even if Kyrgiakos' sending off was technically correct, the incidents involving Pienaar on Mascherano (straight red card, no debate), Fellaini kicking a prone Kuyt in the face (straight red card, no debate) and Fellaini going for Kyrgiakos' shin instead of the ball (straight red card, no debate) need to be highlighted as yet further examples of more going against the Reds than for them - this season at least.

A couple of years back, Kuyt could easily have seen red at Goodison, and that's the way it goes; the Reds were very lucky that day, especially as he stayed on and scored the winner, and an Everton penalty was denied soon after.

But this season, time and time again, it's been letter-of-the-law stuff that hasn't been applied correctly, from beach balls to double-touch penalties to studs just below a player's knee so that his shinpad ends up around his ankle.

Even so, the Reds are starting to rise above the worst season for injuries and refereeing decisions I can remember. So the guts, the character, is there.

This campaign has been a testing time for everyone with an interest in Liverpool FC, from fans to players to management, but the media's intoning of the team's last rites has (yet again) proved premature. The ailing patient is up and fighting.

Fourth place is still far from a formality - lots can happen yet - but suddenly even third isn't beyond contemplation.

I got hugely frustrated a few weeks ago when people were going on about Birmingham, at that point above the Reds, being better than Liverpool; teams like this almost always fall away sooner or later. But some people cannot see beyond the league table at such points in a season. I guess that they panic. I had people talking to me as if it was May already.

Some teams don't have the quality and consistency to stay up there; or the stamina; or, when the going gets tough, the bottle. Time and time again under Benítez, Liverpool have proved that they have all three.

In little over a month, an eight-point deficit for fourth place has become a one-point comfort zone. And while Manchester City have games in hand, their defeat at Hull puts a different complexion on their challenge.

Long-term, you have to worry about what their spending policy will mean to rivals, but even with a squad that costs over £100m more than the Reds', they still haven't really taken advantage of the absence of Torres and others.

The good news for Liverpool is that, bar any dramatic changes, these key men can be slowly introduced back into a side in form, rather than thrown into the fray in desperation.

I could talk all day about the qualities of players like Torres, Gerrard, Carragher, Agger, Reina, Johnson, Mascherano, Benayoun, et al, but I often gain more pleasure from highlighting the successes of the unsung and the overly criticised.

No player is perfect. And obviously, in any team, some players are better than others. But everyone contributes something. And if the less-heralded players are doing a great job, then someone needs to redress that balance.

Half of Liverpool's team of late - Kyrgiakos, Lucas, Kuyt, Insua and N'Gog - have been rubbished at some point this season, if not for most of it. Not good enough for the Premiership? Not good enough for Liverpool? On recent evidence, they are. It's not about everyone being 'world-class', it's about the team as a whole.

A microcosm of Kuyt's worth could be seen in a couple of second-half derby minutes. Aside from that moment at Goodison, I don't think I've ever seen him lose his head (even if he could have literally lost it yesterday, when it was treated like a football).

You could see how fired up he was after scoring the goal, his face flushed with anger and visibly scarred by Fellaini's stud marks. And anyone who knows football is aware that scoring goals can lead to 'switching off', when the excitement takes over and the brain goes into hiding.

And yet there was the Dutchman, so shortly after that big adrenaline burst, in the right-back position, to make a goal-saving interception. It'll never make a YouTube compilation, but it was a spell of football that won Liverpool the game. That's why he kept being selected even when not at his best; he has the heart of a lion, and he will always turn things around.

Ditto Lucas. The Brazilian doesn't score goals, and suffers the daft fate of being compared to the stereotype of his fellow countrymen (as if every single Brazilian international was a showboat king).

Yet I'd take the heart and guts of this young player over a work-shy trickster like Robinho, who has failed to contribute at Manchester City to the point where the £32m man has been loaned back to Santos. Some players are great when their team is playing well and having a stroll. Lucas rolls his sleeves up and puts in every last ounce of energy, whatever the situation.

To me, Lucas has looked the more worthy of a place in the Brazil team based on his form this season. He can't do the really exciting things like Robinho (although he has shown some nifty footwork in tight situations), but it only takes one big-name player to not look bothered to drag the rest down to walking pace.

Indeed, that's why Fernando Torres has been such a success: he matches ability with effort. In the latest edition of FourFourTwo, he talks about his incessant desire to get better, and places his massive improvement since arriving at Liverpool at the door of Benitez, whose perfectionism and advice helps him find that little extra in the penalty box. (Not that the manager gets such credit when others talk about Torres.)

But such players need those like Kuyt and Lucas doing the legwork behind them - but also showing the tactical nous that goes unnoticed by a lot of people.

Just as Kuyt had earlier got back to deny an almost certain goal, when Anichebe finally got past Insua, Lucas was the one back making a last-ditch intervention that, by denying the Everton striker a clear last-minute shot, could well have been worth two points.

Insua and Ngog are two others - both 20 when the season started - who get some quite baffling criticism as they learn the game. Ngog hasn't scored for a few weeks, but his hold-up play is superb for one so young (and when he's filled out a bit, he'll be able to use strength as well as control), and Insua has come through the blip all youngsters experience to once again show his ability.

Many fans (of all clubs) are quick to call for youngsters to be thrown in, then get instantly dismayed when they're not the finished article, and angry over every mistake they make. As Opta recently noted, Liverpool's average age this season is the second-lowest in the Premier League, behind Arsenal. So the side is young enough already.

It's been tough at times, but the adversity will have helped Ngog and Insua - not mention the five others to feature in major games when aged 20 or under.

On another note, I thought it was brilliant to see Rafa standing up to Sky's questioning of zonal marking before the derby, retorting with the example of how Tim Cahill scores most of his goals against teams deploying man-marking.

And how did Liverpool end up winning the game? From a corner in which Phil Neville was so intent on grappling with Dirk Kuyt (as was Tim Howard), he totally forgot to bother about the ball.

Last week I Tweeted about Chelsea conceding another set-piece goal, and I had a reply saying that they only sometimes concede them, but 'we concede MOST goals this way'. The fan also accused me of misrepresenting facts in general.

So I checked with Opta; Liverpool have conceded 13 of their 26 league goals from set-pieces: 50 per cent.

Chelsea (a physically imposing side who man-mark) had conceded 15 of their 20 league goals from set-pieces: 75 per cent.

Yet someone felt assured enough, even though he was quite, quite wrong, to tell me I was talking rubbish. But that's football for you.

[Pomme de Sang]

I read this via his twitter account. I love him to pieces.

[Kathy]

So do I. No matter what is happening, good or bad, he is always the voice of reason and sanity.

[Pomme de Sang]

Exactly. There have been times when I was actually in tears and I'd read his column or statements and feel so much better. I love following him on twitter. He tweets a lot. Amazing insight.

[Kathy]

Tomkins: Cutting edge

Some of the criticism of Liverpool this season has been valid. But ever since the poor start to the campaign, every dropped point has been dialed up to disaster.


Take the City game. If you go to a club that is in the top four; that has an unbeaten home record (including victories in various competitions against Man United, Chelsea and Arsenal - twice); that has had an extra 48 hours rest; and that has a starting XI that cost twice as much to assemble, and get a draw, then that, by any stretch of the imagination, is a good result.

When losing at the Eastlands, Man United and Chelsea each conceded two goals. Arsenal conceded seven in their two visits. Yet people tell me it was not a good result.

If there'd been just four or five games left, then it might have been imperative for Liverpool to go all-out to win. But with 11 remaining, the key was not to get beat; especially as City have to play United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Villa and Spurs, while all but four of the Reds' remaining matches are against teams in the bottom half, and only two are against teams above 8th.

And even though City have done well against the big clubs at home, it's hard to see them winning a lot of those matches.

(And yes, Liverpool could end up dropping points to lesser sides; but I'd rather have to face them than the top seven. And if Liverpool drop too many points against the likes of Portsmouth, West Ham, Sunderland, Wigan, Hull and Burnley, and City win all their ultra-tough games, then fair play, they'll deserve their place in the Champions League; but a league table is not balanced if you've played your trickiest games before your rivals have endured theirs.)

If you saw the City game as a do-or-die cup final, then a 0-0 will disappoint. But any away game against a good side in which you don't lose is to be commended. I don't expect people to be punching the air in jubilation, especially as it was a stalemate of a game where defences cancelled each other out, but I do expect some understanding of how gambling for a win can lead to defeat; and how defeat simply had to be avoided. This was their home game, not Liverpool's.

Liverpool's football has lacked cutting edge of late, but the results are actually better than in the early months, when the Reds were winning heavily one week by playing some great expansive football, but then losing the next.

Liverpool conceded two on the opening day, then put four past Stoke; a few days later, the Reds conceded three at home to Villa, followed by two more at Bolton - but in that game they scored three, and put four past Burnley the next fixture.

The Reds shipped two more at West Ham, but won 3-2; then thrashed Hull 6-1, to conclude a hat-trick of thumping victories over teams who came to park the bus - notably with both Johnson and Benayoun heavily involved, and with Torres scoring freely.

Indeed, look at the comparisons. In the first nine games (one quarter of a league season), the Reds scored 18 goals. This was roughly proportionate with the total bagged last season, when the Reds were the league's top scorers.

In the most recent nine Premier League games - criticised by many for being dour - the Reds have scored just nine; down from an average of precisely two a game to just one.

However, in the first nine games, the Reds conceded a whopping 13, with just two clean sheets. In the most recent nine games, a paltry two goals have been shipped, with seven shutouts.

In each of those nine game sequences, the Reds won five times. But the more open games in the autumn led to four defeats; this winter's run of nine matches has seen just one reversal, the unjust defeat at Arsenal (the goal coming shortly after Carragher hobbled off, in a game which a draw would have been a fair result).

All in all, it means that the latest nine-game sequence equates to three extra points: 18 to 15. What's more, clean sheets were kept against Spurs, Villa and Man City, who each scored at least two against the Reds in the first fixtures.

It's worth noting that 18 points from nine games, while not sensational, is only a fraction below what Manchester United, in 2nd place with 57 points as I write, have averaged all season. It's 'good' form. If the Reds can take 22 points from the final eleven games, then a top-four finish is highly likely.

The most recent run of fixtures also included more away games than at home. Admittedly the Reds struggled at Anfield earlier in the season, but they've won the last five Premier League games at home (plus one in the Europa League), against a mixed calibre of opposition.

Even Rinus Michels, the Dutch legend who is credited with the invention of Total Football, said that teams must get things right at the back before they can look to attack properly.

At the start of the season I argued that once the defenders were fit again, Liverpool would improve. That has certainly been the case when it comes to defending. Weekly changes due to injuries causes chaos.
Now we're seeing players like Carragher, Skrtel, Agger and Mascherano back to their very best.

Of course, now that the defence has returned to exceptional form, the problem has switched to the other end of the pitch - which is also the area where the Reds, of late, have been shorn of several key men.

Part of the lack of all-out attack has been down to a need to better protect the back four - which becomes essential during any perceived 'crisis' (when every defeat gets blown up to hysterical proportions). And you have to demoralise your opponents before the game even starts by being hard to beat.

In the first two-thirds of last season, Liverpool weren't as free-scoring as they were in the run-in, but were incredibly hard to beat. So the 27-games-or-so up to that point took the hope away from opponents. By the final eleven games, this foundation was the springboard to really tear teams apart. It wasn't a change in attacking intent, just a natural progression in terms of confidence.

This year, there's been no such luxury. Too much ground was lost early in the season, and too much psychological damage was done by conceding too many goals, and by being caught on the break (not least in the final minutes of games).

Liverpool's season has been "in crisis" since the opening day, and even more so since the autumn set-backs, and that is not conducive to free-flowing football.

The priority was always to get back to the steady defending, even if, for a while, it comes at the expense of exciting football; because that can follow later. When you've been struggling, the need is to scrap and battle for every last point. Personally, I don't care if we see another exciting game or not in 2009/10, so long as 4th is secured - because the next season always starts with a clean slate and a fresh air.

And it will help players like Aquilani and Maxi, who are having to bed into a side, and a whole new style of football, from the midway point having not played much beforehand, which is never easy. Arsene Wenger never expects his continental signings to settle until their second season, and for good reason.

Of course, there have been personnel issues of late, in terms of getting the kind of breakthrough that you want to go with the doggedness; players who can get you the lead in games, in order to relax you so that better football is possible, or strike late in tighter games, to snatch the points.

To effectively break down packed defences - and even Man City at home kept most men back - Liverpool have been missing three key elements.

First of all, you want someone with aerial presence; if there isn't much space in behind to use a striker's pace, then you need to be able to challenge on crosses, on account of the opposition playing so deep (which is what allows you to get close to their area).

Next, you need a will-o'-the-wisp conjurer; someone who can go past a man or thread a killer ball.

Finally, you want someone in the wide areas who can go on the outside of the opposing full-back and deliver the crosses for the main with aerial presence, or with the skill to cut inside and cause panic.
Liverpool have some players who can do each of these things. But for me, the best in each are Torres, Benayoun and Johnson (indeed, arguably the Reds' best wing-play in years has come from the right-back.)

And of course, Torres is someone who can feed off mistakes in the box, and turn a defender inside-out in a tight area to increase one point into three more often than not.

Having said all this, sometimes you just need one great result. Liverpool actually started 2009 with worse results than in 2010, but that victory against Real Madrid was like the Reds being granted the ability to field 13 players for the rest of the season.

But at least if such a dramatic turning point doesn't come, the Reds should be seriously boosted by the return to fitness of Torres, Johnson and Benayoun, who, providing they suffer no ill effects, can end the season fully refreshed, and help provide that cutting edge.