19 Sept 2011

Thankfully, Liverpool have lost 4-0 only nine times in the last 52 years...

Liverpool's embarrassing 4-0 defeat at Spurs was hard to watch, and equally hard to take. Luckily, the club very rarely suffers 4-0 defeats, so the probability of the same result happening again any time soon is - thankfully - very low.

Liverpool has lost 4-0 only nine times since Bill Shankly took over in 1959, which is quite an impressive record:

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There's just something horrible about losing 4-0; it really is a bona-fide hammering, and there's no escaping the severity of the result. Worst of all, it gives the media a chance to use the word 'thrashed' (or variations thereof), in headlines, which makes things sound even worse. Just look at the headlines today - 'Liverpool thrashed by Spurs' is all over the place.

I refuse to accept that Liverpool were 'thrashed' by Spurs - when you're down to 9 men, it's practically inevitable that the team will ship goals, so that tawdry description just doesn't apply.

The Spurs result is far less depressing that the 4-0 away defeat at Stamford Bridge in 2001, which could definitely be labelled a 'thrashing'. Liverpool kept 11 players on the pitch that day and were simply annihilated by Chelsea. I still cringe at the memory of that game.

Thankfully, Liverpool very rarely lose heavily. Indeed, I can't recall the club losing a game 5-0 in my lifetime, though there was that depressing 6-3 defeat to Arsenal a few years back.

4-0 hammerings happen to the best of managers; Bill Shankly suffered the result 4 times; Joe Fagan's team lost 4-0 to Coventry City in 1983 but went on to win the league and the European Cup that season.

The last time Liverpool suffered a similar result under Kenny Dalglish was a 4-1 defeat by Southampton at The Dell in 1989, with Matthew Le Tissier running the show:



Despite that setback, Liverpool went on to win the league that season, so let's hope Dalglish's current team responds in a similarly positive manner.

Jaimie Kanwar





19 comments:

  1. Hey Jaimie

    We cannot argue about the fact that Spurs took the game to us when it started and our players just did not know which way to look. This is a lesson learnt though and I hate to admit it but pesronally feel Dalglish got his tactics and selection wrong and when the crap hit the fan no action was taken to change the situation we found ourselves in.

    Fair enough we ended with 9 men but Spurs deserved the 3 points. I went onto our official website and read comments after the match from supposed fans ripping into Kenny? WTF is up with that? These are the same fans who were diving into Roy, it is a case of utter disgrace.

    I have no doubt that Dalglish will give every player a right kick up the bum and that we will bounce back from this. I just can't wait for Gerrard to be back on a regular basis in the starting eleven. If there is one player who can change things around it would be none other than Stevie G.  

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  2. Hi Jaimie, I agree with your comment that with only nine men on the pitch that we 'got thrashed'.  Now, Arsenal with eleven on the pitch at United, now that WAS a thrashing. The biggest disappointment yesterday was the number of our players who failed to turn up! I saw the names of Henderson and Downing on the team sheet, but don't recollect seeing them on the pitch! Adam and Carroll continue to underwhelm, and it becomes more and more obvious that Carroll and Suarez do not play well together. Why Kuypt, who has a far better work ethic than Carroll, is left to warm the bench is beyond me. Suarez and Kuypt offer more movement and threat up front, and it is easy to see why Suarez is getting so frustrated with the lack of support from Carroll. Changes will have to be made for Wednesday night, and bearing in mind the debacle in this competition last year, I just hope that Dalglish will pick some of our exciting reserve players who will at least show some passion and pride in the shirt.

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  3. Hey mate - totally agree with all your comments.  Spurs were quicker to every ball and much sharper and imaginative.  The lack of pace in the team is a real problem - have we ever fielder a slower team in recent times? 

    Tactics and selection were both lacking, I agree.  The failure to react quickly enough to what was going on was also a problem.  It was obvious after 20 minutes that Liverpool were getting raped down the right - Skrtel should've been moved/replaced with someone who could handle the job.  Then after the sendings off, why persist with Carroll on the left when we have Kuyt on the bench, a player who specialises in running, defending and harrying?

    You're probably right about those idiots on the LFC site - same fools calling for Hodgson's head after 5 minutes last season. 

    I also can't wait for the return of Gerrard but I fear there may be too much pressure on him.  once again, we're in a situation where everything seemingly rests on his shoulders, and this is despite the fact we've spent big bucks over the last 9 months.

    He's been out for so long that I don't think we'll see the best of him until the new year at the earliest, when he's built up proper match fitness (and that's if he doesn't get injured again).

    I'm sure we'll bounce back - if we'd kept 11 players on the pitch we might have been able to salvage the game. 

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  4. Hi Brian - Agree about Kuyt, it's a mystery why he didn't play any part in the game.  Carroll and Suarez is a total mismatch, and I can't see any kind of telepathic understanding developing between them at any point.  I feel sorry for Carroll in a way, it's not his fault that Liverpool splashed out such a ridiculous fee for his services; now, he appears to be buckling under the weight of expectation.

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  5. Brian

    To be fair to Carroll, if nobody is going to supply him with tha ball then he ain't going to have any joy from him. Bellamy would have been the right player to start with instead of Henderson and playing Skrtel at RB was our undoing, why not Skrtel at Cb and Carra at Rb? Thankfully after this match Skrtel will never be seen at RB ever again. Back to Henderson, looking at the way things are going for him it shows that there is way too much pressure on him to make an immidiate impact. He is still young and maybe he should be used as a sub to work his way up the ladder as a regular later on. The way our fans are turning on the young lad is appalling. What would any of those labbling him as one of the "paying over the odds for British players" do in his situation?   

     

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  6. Hmm LPool thrashed us for decades. We get one back and its only because you had 9 men? I am honest to say that we deserved many of the Anfield thrashings and I was at the 0-7. What gives you lot the divine right to not deserve a hiding occasionally?
    The whining from you lot has done loads of damage to the Kop as a fair bunch as now you are simply on  a par with Chelsea & MU when they lose:it was the referee, we had players sent off, they used roughouse tactics etc.

    Stand up like Carragher and take it like men not pansies: you coulkd have been 0-4 with 11 men.

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  7. Why don't you jog on pal back to your own Spurs websites, as I recall it was 1-0 the entire time Liverpool had 10 men and only when reduced to 9 were you able to 'thrash' us.

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  8. Yes 11 men might have seen us salvage something from the match but Bale was making Skrtel look more than just average from the start and if our coaching staff heard the alarm bells ringing from the start then we would not have been humiliated in such a manner.

    Lessons learnt, we walk on.  

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  9. It was because Spurs were thrashing the eleven men that you went down to nine men. Adam and Skrtl couldn't take it and tried to foul their opponents. At least Carragher and Reina showed some class. When the Spurs get beat it's because the other side are better. When The Spurs win it's because of the ref/bad luck/etc, etc. Tottenham, like Liverpool is a proper club. Take it on the chin.

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  10. Dalglish is a joke 85,000,000 spent after he broke Blackburn king my arse.21 points behind UTD last year lost to a nobody in Europe and yet we think the signings he made will make up UTD ,for fuck sake wake up ,Dalglish is a total joke. 

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  11. Is there a purpose to this article?
    "so the probability of the same result happening again any time soon is - thankfully" - how often do top clubs get beat 4-0?

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  12. This is a mini crisis at Liverpool our run of results including pre-season prove that maybe Kenny is struggling a little bit:
    Tottenham (L)
    Aston Villa (L)
    Guandong (W)
    Malaysia (W)
    Hull (L)
    Galatasary (L)
    Valerenga (D)
    Valencia (W)
    Sunderland (D)
    Arsenal (W)
    Exeter (W)
    Bolton (W)
    Stoke (L)
    Tottenham (L)

    P14 W6 L6 D2

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  13. Arsenal are having the worst time imaginable and yet are only 3 points away from us.....strange.....wenger sold over 60million worth and bought under 30million whilst our King Kenny has spent over 130million in 9months and we are only 3 points ahead. even WOY could have managed us with a spending spree of 130million .....bring back the good old days.....RAFA lfc needs you

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  14. Arsenal lost to manure with a depleted squad ..what was our excuse ....only gerrard missing. full strength arsenal manure..spurs ...chelsea ...man city would wipe the floor with us .

    Yet we have spent 130million and against spurs we bring spearing on ...when 11 vs 11 spurs were murdering us

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  15. Ahh fuck off will you? And that's from the heart.

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  16. Red4Life

    I want Carroll to succeed as well, but all his first touches last Sunday were terrible. He gave up possession at least 10 times during the game due to heavy touches. In fact, most of the boys had horrific first touches under pressure. They had the composure of baby rabbits on fire.

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  17. Tottenham played well and they deserved the win. the red cards probalby came due to a bit of frustration and the fact we where slow to react. I do believe liverpool are missing leadership in the middle of the team. over the years countles liverpool players have looked to gerrard not only for his footballing abilities but for his leadership on the field. When gerrard is playing and we are on the back foot he will lead by example and start to close down, moving up a gear to get the others to do the same. he has a mentality of "dont get mad, get even". This is not the case for the new signings, they are all very good players but I do think they need leadership in this bedding in period. I have seen statistics suggest that the team does beeter without gerrard, however when i have ever watched a game where we are playing a good team and our back is against the wall, it has been gerrard that has been the one player who starts the fight back, either with a goal from nowhere or with his direct leadership of how to turn it around.

    As for people already slating KK, I think it is very harsh, We have played 5 games,  we are still in contention for aour target of 4th, people need to stop panicking. As for RAFA, he had his chance but ultimately was replaced for a poor league season. The people who are saying Hodgson would do better then i must remind you he is bottom of the league with west brom and would you really rather hodgson spend 130 mil?? KK last season achieved a great deal and gave us our pride back and stability. He has earned the right to have this season as a transitional one where he builds a team around the liverpool way and pushes for 4th spot. We are 5 games in and people are already calling for his head, you should be ashamed of yourselves. If you understand liverpool then you will see that KK has achieved as much off the field as he has on it by changing the whole ideaology and bringing back the ethos that enabled us to dominate for years!

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  18. I agree that Carroll isn't getting the service, but do you not think that he is far to static ? Peter Crouch used to move all around the box looking for space, but Carroll just doesn't create anything. OK, he is young and still learning but at the moment his tuition is costing us points ! Start with the 'old brigade' and bring the newcomers on 15 - 20 minutes from the end. 

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  19. Christ, 4-0 against 9 men, hardly anything for the reds to worry about, and three goals when we were down to 9 men, come on..

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