Plymouth Argyle’s poor start to the season continued with a draw against Dagenham & Redbridge away in London and a another loss to Oxford United at the Kassam Stadium, one point from three games is not good; leaving the Pilgrims in 23rd place in the league. Liverpool took a victory and a draw in the last seven days, narrowly and fortuitously beating Hearts in the Europa Cup first leg while being held to a 2 – 2 draw at Anfield against current Premiership champions Manchester City.
Let’s work in chronological order, Plymouth’s scoreless draw with Dagenham and Redbridge at the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Stadium. The Pilgrims only managed to come away with a point because of keeper Jake Cole making two point blank saves from Dwight Gayle while Matt Lecointe had Argyle’s only real chance; saw his shot from 18 yards whistle past the left post.
Moving onto Liverpool’s first leg Europa Cup clash with Hearts at the Tynecastle Stadium. The Reds were matched play for play by the Scottish Premiership side, with both teams being wasteful in front of goal; something that continues from last season for Liverpool, lots of shots but nothing to show for it! Let’s be clear, Liverpool were poor and hugely fortunate to come away with a narrow 0 – 1 lead in the first leg, Martin Kelly’s cross being deflected into the Hearts net by Andy Webster.
Back to Plymouth Argyle and their game against Oxford United at the Kassam. Frankly Argyle were embarrassed by the home side in the first half, going into the half time break 2 – 0 down. Deane Smalley scored twice in a three minute period of play half way through the first half for Oxford. Plymouth played better in the second half but it was too little, too late with a breakthrough being made with 16 minutes remaining, Robbie Williams scoring from a long range free kick to pull one back but Argyle couldn’t find the net a second time to walk away with something from Oxford.
Now we come to the biggest WTF? game, Liverpool Vs Manchester City at Anfield. The Reds were the better team and should have won the game but some poor last minute defending lost the Reds two points. Martin Skrtel fired the reds into the lead in the 34th minute with a close range header from Gerrard’s corner kick after Carlos Tevez saw his shot across goal bounce out off the left post. Yaya Toure leveled the scores in the 63rd minute from inside the nine yard box after some more loose defending from the Reds. Luis Suarez put the Reds ahead again just three minutes later with a 25 yard low drive from a free kick. Then scorer of the first goal Skrtel turned into “Calamity” Skrtel with a poor back pass straight to the feet of Tevez, who calmly rounded Pepe Reina to claim a point for the visitors, it’s a case of two points lost, not one gained for Liverpool!
With only one point on the board for both Liverpool and Plymouth, it’s definitely a case of must try harder! I expected more, especially from Liverpool but I am still disappointed with Argyle, one point out of nine is poor. One point from six is only slightly better, Liverpool should have had six points given today’s game and should’ve beaten West Ham, Liverpool, on paper are a different class.