[theo_luddite]

My two penn'orth for what it's worth.

1. We played a lot better last night than we did against Stoke, Liverpool at theirs and all the other games we've lost in January even though we tried to park the bus and hit them on the break occassionally. It didn't work and at time it wasn't pretty, but don't try to convince me we played like Brazil last seaon either because I know we didn't ever come close.
2. Wagbo tried something different and it didn't come off - had Depoitre's shot gone in, who knows? We could have lost 1-3. It's worth sticking with but the front two need to be closer to each other. On the few occassions they were things looked like they might happen.
3. The Liverpool that turned up last night was more like the Liverpool that played Manc City, not the Liverpool that thought they just had to turn up against Swansea and West Brom. I doubt many Baggies fans on here could believe what they saw that night. I know my mates in the pub couldn't. It also seems Arsenal probably had the same idea last night too. By the way, despite being below us for a chunk of the season, they've both got more quality and seasoned Prima Donna League players than us, so it shouldn't be a surprise thay are now getting their act together.
4. I haven't watched any replays or highlights from last night, I got home at midnight and was off to work this morning bleary eyed and anything but bushy tailed so I can only go on what I saw, which was the same ref giving them another soft penalty and a handful of other soft decisions. A pity Lössl didn't dive the same way as Anfield to make another save and redeem himself for getting beaten at the near post when we were starting to get some momentum, but again we didn't look like shooting let alone scoring. I also saw us continue to knock the ball out of play in our half to regroup when with no other outlet we should have been knocking it 50 yards further down the touchline and regrouping on halfway if that is what we were going to do.
5. Liverpool didn't give Mooy a second to think what to do, two manning him most of the night, 3 manning him if they had to. They knew where the problems from us would come from if they let him play. The rest of the side needs to give him options that Liverpool closed down pretty damned quickly last night.
6. The idea of playing in triangles is that one of you has to move after passing it, we didn't do it often enough but we were also surrounded by 6 men in no time. There's a reason why their lads are fitter, faster and better paid than ours and it's not because they train harder. They are born that way and eventually they get to earn the big bucks. They play the same game as us to some extent but they are better at it for at least 17 reasons that had their boots and kit on last night.
7. Liverpool are not an average Championship team. 7 of last years average Championship teams plus the 3 that came down are throwing more money at trying to come up than we are at trying to stay here. I don't propose for one minute we try to match their spending but it's not going to help us stay up in the long run.
8. Our "good" start was never really that good by the time we'd played for a couple of months. We were already carrying a negative goal difference and a midfield that couldn't string enough passes together to make chances for the lads up front. That was a continuation from last seasn. The piss poor start by others that made us look better than some thought we were have now been addressed with new managers and a few new and/or injured players returning to fitness that has seen their quality start to come to the fore. Their bubbles can burst just as quickly again though, they are only a couple of bad results from being fragile again.
9. We need to average 2 points a game over the next few weeks, after Saturday, to have a prayer, which isn't going to be easy against a lot of sides we've struggled against once and we've only been managing 1.something a match, even in our good runs.
10. I don't give a damn where we finish.
I'm having a blast going to grounds and seeing teams and players that I've normally got to watch on the box, down the pub, on my laptop or my phone or wherever I can and I'm going to support the club and the team as much as I can while it continues. I'll still be there next season wherever we are. Having been in the lowest crowds at Leeds Road in the 4th Division, seen more than my fare share of games in Carlisle, Workington, Hartlepool, Torquay, Portsmouth, Colchester, Gillingham and everywhere in between do you think I'm going to stop now?

More like 10 bob's worth but that's my rant for the day.

Dry January's over, thank fook I gave that a miss this season.