Sunday League

[Liverpool 1 – 1 Spurs].

I don’t even know how to describe what we saw today. Was this premier league football? I happened to watch the ladies play earlier today, and that looked more like a proper game than this did. A somewhat loose exhibit was to be expected in this particular fixture, one that always seems to generate plenty of goals and some silly errors, but this was on a different level of stupid.

There is no stat for it, but if somebody bothered to count the number of times a player just left or passed the ball to the opposition, they would have run out of fingers and toes. Maybe even in the first half.

A lot of folks will blame this on Arne Slot, but I think that’s being way too generous to the squad. These are some of the highest paid pros in world soccer, and they aren’t even doing the basics right. This kind of performance is one I might forgive in the early stages of a season after bringing in multiple signings, when communications are still being sorted out. Not, however, in March, in the final stretch.

Were there any positives? A few, perhaps. Szobo had a reasonable game and scored another direct free-kick, but was nowhere in sight as he should have been when Richarlison struck. Grav did well to deal with the typical Spurs BS. Rio was bright (is he really 17?) Ali was assured in goal. No one otherwise escapes the label of being atrocious. Oh, right, Gakpo hit the post.

Still, in this epic clown show of a match, one player has more share of the responsibility, both by virtue of being horrible, but also by wearing the armband. As much as I hate to type this, Virgil Van Dijk owns this outcome, much more so than Slot. His many mistakes created so many opportunities for Spurs, a better quality team would have made mincemeat of the Reds. That they only converted one was lucky for Liverpool. Beyond playing his role, Virgil is the one who should be rallying the troops – and calming them down – when it’s needed. His terrible performance today was mirrored by the team’s performance.

Ultimately, Richarlison’s scrapper of a late equalizer was well-earned…by Liverpool, and especially its comical central defensive line.

Somehow, this Liverpool is still in the hunt for a Champion’s League spot. That’s not a testament to the team’s quality or consistency of play, though, but rather the Premier League at large. Perhaps this is a good thing; a return to the days of yore, when every result was possible in any given game, is going to make things more interesting and less predictable. That’s probably a good thing?

Then again, if we’re into this sort of thing…there’s always the Sunday League.