If we'd lost that 3-2 having been 3 down and fighting back (like the home cup defeat in 2013) then it would be far easier to take, I remember feeling after that cup defeat it almost felt like a moral win, pummelling them for 45 minutes with only 10 men. Yesterday though was like going back in time 15-20 years in terms of hurting. I said it to my son after about 50 minutes, we are pissing about at the back, only going half heartedly into 50/50s and basically playing like the game was over.
At one point, just before they got their 1st goal we had the ball on the edge of our box with a chance to break upfield and it was passed to Sane and, without looking, he attempted some stupid flick back towards our box, they win the ball back and shortly after they score...just summed up the slackness that we started the 2nd half with. After their 1st goal we should have killed the game for a period but carried on like we were 1 down with 10 minutes to go, sheer folly and the collapses we have had in the last 2 big matches against the better sides are very annoying.
Pep should have been more pragmatic last Wednesday at Anfield, we didn't have to go there and show we are a better side, the table is there for all to see. If we'd bored the arse of their crowd and a watching TV audience by scraping a 0-0 draw, would we care too much? Personally, I'd be feeling far better right now.
Starting yesterday with no recognised striker may have ended up contributing to our own downfall, it put added pressure on players like Raz and Bernando, in what is already a high pressure match, to suddenly turn into Aguero and finish off moves. Not excusing Sterling here for his bad misses, yes he has won us points with late goals but he has also lost us points (Burnley miss & yesterday)...I'm not sure Pep thinks he is the real deal anymore.
The last 5 halves of football we have played, we have only scored in one of them. In the last 2 months we have lost 4 games including defeats to utter pish like Wigan, have drawn with Burnley, have lost to a pretty average European team at home and then capitulated under the slightest amount of pressure to two of the better teams in our league.
Clearly, we are nowhere near (at the moment) the level of hyperbole that many on here have attributed to us and there is a long way to go.
A nice wee home demolition of Liverpool on Tuesday would go a long way to making up for this week. Oh, as for that utter pillock of a referee Atkinson...when these feckers cock up like he did yesterday, they should be made to apologise to the club concerned and be taken off the referee list for a couple of weeks, this should be announced publicly by the Ref Association (or whatever it is called)
