Source: Liverpool_Echo
Portsmouth 2, Liverpool FC 0: Reds reach new nadir in desperate season
HOW fitting. On the day when Rafa Benitez reached the lowest point of his Anfield reign, it was darkly appropriate a man named 'Nadir' should end up on the scoresheet.[LNB]There have been some wretched days during this abomination of a season but at Fratton Park on Saturday, Liverpool plummeted to a new depressing depth, one that has left many supporters asking the question: where do we go from here?[LNB]The answer, if this sort of woeful form continues, can only be backwards; lifeless and abject from start to finish, the Reds were stripped bare by a Portsmouth side that has spent the campaign propping up the Premier League. It made for harrowing viewing.[LNB]But, in all honesty, were you actually surprised? Did it come as a shock that a team which can play as regally as princes in certain games were made to look like paupers in a contest they should have won in a stroll?[LNB]Sadly, the vast majority will reply 'no' - since losing to Fiorentina on September 29, there has always been the feeling that Liverpool were on the brink of a truly abysmal performance and so it proved. That they should produce it on the south coast during a lunchtime kick-off, when supporters were up at an ungodly hour to make a 550-mile round trip six days before Christmas, was perhaps the biggest affront of all.[LNB]Of course you can point a finger at referee Lee Mason for his erratic efforts, sending off Javier Mascherano and making any number of puzzling decisions, yet there would be no credence in that.[LNB]Liverpool, quite simply, were desperate and the big concern going into the festive period is that the rot which has set in - there is no other way to describe a sequence of four victories in 17 games - is now terminal.[LNB]Never mind trying to work out how far Liverpool are off the top of the table, the only deficit that should be looked at is the gap between themselves and fourth place; today it stands at eight yawning points.[LNB]Problem is, however, by the time 2010 is upon us, it could be considerably more and not even their ardent supporters would back Liverpool to get maximum points from their next two games, especially as one test comes against an Aston Villa side in rampant form.[LNB]Confidence, clearly, is shot to pieces and that goes some way to explaining how they have stopped passing the ball with any conviction or why they are failing to regularly make opposition goalkeepers earn their match fees.[LNB]Daniel Agger fluffed one clear headed opportunity, while David James' deputy Asmir Begovic made an acrobatic stop to keep out a deflected Steven Gerrard shot but, other than that, Portsmouth barely had to break sweat.[LNB]What alarms most of all, however, is that the Reds appear to have lost their fighting spirit and no longer look capable of retrieving bleak situations; not once after Nadir Belhadj smashed a volley past Pepe Reina did Liverpool convince they would storm back.
