By Mark Vincent Lincir
Could it get any worse for Liverpool? I don’t think so. But maybe we are all just expecting too much from them. Steve Gerrard (photo) seems to have lost all his magic and partnered with Lucas in the middle isn’t doing him any favors. Carragher seems more interested in arguing with the referee or other team than he is in keeping goals out and Torres…well, let’s just say that if he asked for the rest of the year off, it might not be a bad idea to grant him such.
Everton took it took to their across-Stanley-Park-rivals at Goodison Park on Sunday 2-0, but it wasn’t even that close. Liverpool never really threatened American keeper Tim Howard and the Everton goal. In fact, Liverpool looked so ordinary that its faithful might have to start dreaming of simply finishing in the top half.
Until Wayne Rooney gets his mojo back, Manchester United is in a world of hurt. It’s painfully obvious that how goes Rooney, so goes United and so far things haven’t gone to well for Wayne. Without Rooney in top form Man Utd has no spark up front , no consistent finishing touch. Berbatov and Hernandez are doing what they can, but neither comes close to offering the type of impact that an in-form Wayne Rooney does.
Manchester United will be forced to go shopping come January and open the checkbook big time if they expect to compete for the EPL title.
In Major League Soccer, Landon Donovan played his infamous no-show game while he played all 90 minutes in his club’s 3-1 home drubbing at the hands of playoff bound for the first time in a long time Colorado Rapids. The Rapids should make the playoffs, on paper that’s a good team…Mastroeni, Casey, Cummings, Mullan, these are all legit players and it is about time that they came through and got into the post season…with a little help from the Wizards.
The Galaxy no longer look like the best team in MLS and the playoffs will certainly be wide open. Houston looked like the old Dynamo in their road win at San Jose and Real Salt Lake dismantled FC Dallas at Rio Tinto Stadium.
Back to Liverpool…things are certainly going to get hotter now with the new owners in place and certainly a new sense of urgency. Does Roy bring in American Clint Dempsey from Fulham to push Joe Cole for his spot. The former Chelsea winger has hardly been convincing. Whatever is going to happen at Anfield, it needs to happen fast and in a big way, because Liverpool look bad and at this point nobody is going to fear a date with them at all.
