After last weeks disappointments in the league, Liverpool continued the disappointment with a 0 – 2 loss to Arsenal on Sunday, still nothing much to cheer about at Anfield, although despite being held to a 1 – 1 draw in Merseyside, Liverpool overcame Hearts by virtue of an away goal scored at the Tynecastle Stadium a week earlier in the Europa Cup. Plymouth Argyle however were much better, despite being knocked out of the League Cup by Championship side Burnley midweek, the Pilgrims bounced back with a 3 – 2 win over Northampton Town at Home Park in the league at the weekend.
I’m not going to talk about the cup competitions as I don’t consider the League Cup and Europa Cup very important, the league is all important for both Argyle and Liverpool. So first I’ll write about Argyle’s 3 – 2 victory over Northampton Town on Saturday which pushes the Pilgrims upto 15th place and within striking distance of the top six. Plymouth had to come from behind after the half time break, Northampton’s Alex Nicholls scoring the only goal of the half from Ben Tozer’s cross.
Argyle came out firing in the second half, Warren Feeney leveled the scores a minute after the restart with a close range header. Then new signing Rhys Griffiths put the Pilgrims into the lead in the 59th minute with a low drive from inside the box. Curtis Nelson made it 3 – 1 in the 74th minute heading Onismor Bhasera cross into the back of the visitors net. But Northampton were not done; they piled on the pressure in the final ten minutes and grabbed a late goal with a close range header in the 94th minute of the game. Overall, a much better performance from the Pilgrims, just a shame that they conceded that very late goal because Argyle were better than that scoreline!
What can I say about Liverpool; Brendan Rogers seems no better than his predecessor at the helm of Liverpool Football Club, the Reds suffering their second defeat of the season; this time at the hands of Arsenal in front of the Kop. Bottom line is that Liverpool weren’t good enough, Arsenal outplayed the Reds on their own turf, Liverpool had plenty of shots but the quality of those shots were poor, Arsenal made the most of their 11 opportunities on goal. I have no idea why Rogers elected to send Andy Carroll out on loan when he didn’t have an incoming striker to replace him.
This start is the worst since 1962/63; I think appointing Rogers is a mistake; I’d rather have kept Kenny Dalglish! For all the talk, Rogers hasn’t lived upto his own hype; the question now is how long before he is replaced? After three games in the league, Liverpool are in the bottom three with just one point while Chelsea sit on top with a maximum nine points followed by Swansea, West Brom and Manchester City, all with seven points from nine. The Irony is that the club Rogers’ left to come to Anfield are flying high in second place. I know that it’s early in the season but improvement must come immediately if Rogers intends to lead the Reds into the Champions League next season!