The only place to be

There are easier villains for yesterday's performance. Azpi could've gotten stick for slipping and giving away the penalty. Oscar got a bit for what was a pretty uninspired performance. Schwarzer probably should've done better for their goal. But Rami should've been sent off for the most stupid, irresponsible lashing out when his teammates needed him. Then throw in the typical workmanlike performance and it's not exactly surprising to see him getting stick. To be fair it's nothing new and he was getting criticism when he was playing alongside Mikel. Anytime a player gets criticism some seem to think that we're looking for a scapegoat. That might be true but no-one thinks that getting rid of Ramires is going to solve all of our problems.

It really isn't. We're in the title race with 3 games to go and a CL semi-final with an incomplete squad that we can all see the holes in. Liverpool have taken 25 years to finally mount a decent challenge despite being amongst the top spenders in that time, whereas we're going from making shit decisions (the Torres signing and allowing the squad to age) to getting on a new path in the space of one season under Jose. This was always a transition season and Jose said quite honestly that we weren't ready to win. That's evident from the lack of character shown by the players in the last few weeks but it's EXACTLY those types of disappointments that build character. Fighters learn more from a defeat than they do from an easy knockout and that's hopefully what young men like Oscar, Hazard and Matic will take from this season. Lamps, JT etc. had to lose before they knew how to win. Everyone at the club has to breathe in this feeling and start again fresh next season. It's very easy to post stupid instagram snaps when you win but I hope they all took responsibility for yesterday.

Norwich actually played ok in their last game but it's a tough ask to beat a team with this type of momentum and belief. They've come into form at exactly the right time, whereas we're having to focus on Champions League football as well whilst losing our best player to injury. If we're not in the CL then Hazard probably doesn't get injured and we don't rest players like Luiz for the game against Atletico. When we've already got a thin squad, these things matter but in a manager's first season in charge that's the way things tend to go. Jose has looked at the squad he had and decided that certain players (Essien, Mata, De Bruyne) don't fit and he'll chop off more dead wood in the summer too.

He's capable of making simple passes but actually look at his passes. Does he put players into better positions? Does he do what Matic does and pass through the lines and get us attacking? Half the time he does that annoying fucking crabbing run, across the pitch and then passes it to someone like Ivanovic. So he actually drags a defender with him and closes off the space. I'd rather have a midfielder who lets the ball do the work rather than a guy whose main attribute is running with the ball. He's a glorified Wilson Palacios and a massive liability despite him being one of the older heads in the squad now. He's possibly the stupidest player I've seen at this club as well and he's become a dirty player too. The challenges on Gotze, the Villa player and Larsson have all (or should have all) seen us down to ten men in crunch situations. He's a massive bottler.

There's still a chance we can win the league and Liverpool winning their last FOURTEEN league games in a row is an unlikely (although amazing) feat, but we have to look at ourselves in this run in. We've lost to Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Sunderland. The squad simply isn't ready yet but we are most definitely moving in the right direction. The core is coming together, but we have players like Mikel, Ba, Torres, Cole and Luiz (as a defender) who Jose simply doesn't want or trust to play in this team. This isn't his team yet but teams aren't built in the first season usually.

He had a tough game but he's still in his first few months back at the club. Would've preferred Frank or Luiz alongside him yesterday because the game looked so disjointed at times.

When you watched us chasing the game, who in their half was putting their foot on the ball and taking responsibility? Who was the guy that YOU looked to when the chips were down? Who was the Drogba or Lampard? Because I looked and I didn't see anyone. That's not to say that these players can't become those guys because a lot of them are young, but at the moment there's a distinct lack of character just like there was away to Villa. Hazard stepped up against Fulham and showed some real mettle against City but he wasn't there today, so who was the guy we needed today? Ramires? Matic? Ba? Willian? Schurrle? A lack of character, but character is forged in moments like this.

That's the thing. I'm not asking for magic from our strikers, but just regular striker play. You ever heard the phrase 'the striker made his mind up for him'? Well our's don't do that. They simply stand there. They don't make the runs a proper striker should so where's the option for our attacking midfielders? Where's the space from the strikers dragging defenders out of position (Torres actually did that away to Fulham....pretty much the last example I can think of)? Or am I wrong? Are our strikers actually doing this? Are they making these runs?

Oscar was awful, but I do wonder what it's like for him when Eto'o fails to make a simple run across the box to take a defender away. It's a basic movement that any striker should make but he simply doesn't. Are you talking about shots on target or off target? We were talking about shots on target so lets not move the goalposts now, ok?

So our 0-0 draw away to United wasn't anything to do with the lack of a striker? OK. A striker should help to create chances by dragging players out of position and creating space. Eto'o doesn't do that. Ba doesn't do that. Torres doesn't do that. Nor do they provide a rough ride for defenders through their physicality. Nor do they provide a decent aerial threat for crosses. We do struggle against teams that defend deep against us, but I think the problem lies with our clearly inadequate strike-force. I've explained this to you time and time again. I can't explain it any more clearly so I think I'll just stop bothering.

Actually it was a poor attacking performance in terms of what our striker was doing. Eto'o's lack of movement and off the ball running is actually quite surprising. What Costa does is constantly make these runs. When we have players do this then we'll have more from our attacking midfielders. You also have to give Sunderland credit. They put in a fantastic display and we had no-one to provide that spark of magic today.

He's always had a reputation amongst rival fans as a no-talent, dirty cunt. That goal against Barca might have blinded us to his obvious deficiencies but I'd rather he left and we went with other options. At least Mikel is a fairly inert form of useless.

Funny that if you put professional footballers in front of the goal then it's harder to score. We've scored two goals away from home against the big teams as well. Again I love the narrative you've bought into, but I just don't agree with it when I compare it with what actually happens in the matches. Shame really. And what was the movement of the strikers like when players were advancing with the ball? I agree Eto'o should at some point be immortalised as a statue, I just don't think it should be when Azpi is looking to cross the ball to him.

6 were from outside the area. 30 chances. Same against West Ham and that's with the non-existent movement of our fraudulently-named strikers. You have your opinion, I have mine. Let's just agree to disagree (unless you want to suggest you've actually been wrong at which point you'll find my full agreement winging it's way towards you).

Didn't you say you'd given up with English football.

I'm sure the myth of us not being able to break down teams will come up, but we had 15 shots on target today, 4 more than we had against Arsenal. Did we struggle to break Arsenal down when we beat them 6-0? The problem was a lack of quality finishers up top. It's been that way all season. We have Torres, Ba and Eto'o as our strikers. When you hear hooves, think horses not zebras.

Why is anyone surprised? Away to Villa last season he lost his head when we were pushing for a CL spot. He's an absolute liability, a bottle-job, he's technically flawed, he's a fool, an idiot and a disgrace. Almost outclassed by Lee Cattermole today.

We put in 33 crosses as a team. 10 were completed. Ivanovic put in 6 crosses. 3 were completed. Azpilicueta put in 4 crosses. 0 found a target.

Underhits passes, looks tentative on the ball, plays with his head down, balloons shots over the bar.... If he's focusing on the World Cup then fuck him. This club is more important than some shitehouse tournament.

Then you're a very lucky little boy. And yet he didn't reduce us to ten men when he absolutely should've. People wanting to blame Dean or The FA might want to give them a big wet slobbery kiss for not sending off Ramires.

People blaming the ref or the FA need to have a word with themselves. Jose wasn't lying, he wasn't playing mind games, he wasn't looking for column inches - this team isn't ready to win the league. Thank fuck that record has gone because you know what....we get to start fresh from next season with a proper team with PROPER players in all the right positions.

Just lost for words with this guy. The only thing more bemusing than the ref not sending him off was Jose not taking him off.

Lack of quality and character going forward and devastated for Azpi because he's deserved more than that for the season he's had. But too many players disappeared or simply didn't do enough. The strikers simply aren't good enough and the midfielders simply aren't in-form. Oscar was terrible, Willian wasn't much better and Ramires was an utter embarrassment to us. Could blame the ref but when you put in a performance like that then you leave yourself open to those types of incidents. Make no mistake - we threw the league away through lack of quality and lack of character. Too much dead wood.

Sunderland deserved that. We weren't good enough. But let's all blame the ref.

Then go.