Losing your first game of the season is never a good sign. More so if its a club that's desperately seeking to end a 20-year title drought. But that's just the way it happened for Liverpool on the opening weekend of season 2009/10. Rafa Benitez and Liverpool diehard fans may try to play down the significance of the defeat and they've every right to considering that the outcome of the season openers rarely spell the outcome in May the following year.
But one thing was clearly evident from the Reds 1-2 defeat to Tottenhm: the loss of Xabi Alonso has left a huge void in Liverpool's midfield. Its true that Liverpool managed to win several games last season without the Spanish playmaker but all the signs on Sunday pointed to a team that was totally bereft of creativity, organisation and ambition in the middle of the park.
A mediocre outing by Javier Mascherano as well as yet another miserable showing by the blundering Lucas led to one of the most quiet afternoon's Fernando Torres has had since coming to England on one end and a very vulnerable defence on the other end.
But I wonder what Benitez was hoping would happen with the pairing of both Mascherano and Lucas in midfield. Neither one is known for their creativity or playmaking abilities. And while Mascherano generally provides Liverpool's back four with extra cover, the same can't be said of the Brazilian Lucas who somehow seems to be totally void of all the skills and talents his fellow country men are famous for.
In fact, it wasn't until the last quarter of the game when Steven Gerrard moved down into midfield was there some semblance of order and distribution in the most important part of the pitch. I certainly can understand Benitez' decision to field both Lucas and Mascherano considering he has very few other options thanks to the fact that new signing, Alberto Aquilani won't make his debut in a red shirt until October. And even then, who knows how long it will take him to adapt to English football. Lucas has been there for two seasons and still seems perpetually lost on the field.
But if there is one player who can fill in the void left by Alonso, Benitez needs to look no further than his talismanic captain who spent several years being labelled one of the best attacking midfielders in the game. No doubt, Gerrard has excelled in his new role behind Torres but there's no point keeping him up there when the ball's never going to get to them, as was the case on Sunday.
To move Gerrard back into midfield would of course would pose a bigger problem for Benitez as he too, despite what he says in the press, knows very well none of his backup strikers like Ryan Babel, David Ngog and Andrei Voronin will pose a threat to any defense in the Premier League.
So yes, I reckon the Spanish has got some major reshuffling to do to get Liverpool's season back on track. And while he may take some comfort in the fact that both Man Utd and Chelsea were made to slog it out against lesser opponents over the weekend, he should note that both teams at least got 3 points each.
And while I'm on the subject of the so-called Big Four, only one turned up this weekend and it was a team that's been dismissed thoroughly by everyone. Yes, I'm speaking of the Gooners who reminded David Moyes that his team of school girls are indeed a 'small club.' It's been a long time since Arsenal were this dominant and merciless on the pitch. If they can keep this up, who knows how the title race be?
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