Hapless Liverpool's poor start to the season has gone from bad to serious after yet another shock defeat for them this season.
Two weeks ago they were sensationally knocked out of the Carling Cup by minnows Northampton Town, who hail from League Two, the lowest division in the English League.
Today in the Premier League they must have thought that, despite the fact that they had won just one of their opening six games of this season, a win over newly promoted little Blackpool - who are in England's top flight for the first time since the 1970s and who started the season as the favourites to be relegated back down to the Championship - is a certainty.
But the Scousers obviously underestimated their opponents. Blackpool, on England's northwest coast, is Britain's favourite holiday resort, famous for its beaches, Tower, rollercoasters, casinos and amusements. And the famous old resort was victorious today against their hapless opponents.
Two first half goals by Charlie Adam (from the penalty spot) and Luke Varney (in injury time) gave the Seasiders a famous victory.
Kyrgiakos pulled a goal back for Liverpool in the second half, smashing in a Steven Gerrard free kick, but it was too little, too late.
To make matters worse for Liverpool, striker Fernando Torres was taken off after just ten minutes with a groin injury.
This was all too much for the Kop to take. Hodgson may be Liverpool's brand new manager but the fans were chanting for the return of Kenny Dalglish.
It was Blackpool's first victory at Anfield since 1967, and has left Liverpool - who have won just one of their opening seven matches in the Premier League this season - in the relegation zone for the first time since 1986, third bottom in the table and just a point above Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Ham United.
Next up for Liverpool just happens to be...........Everton.
Liverpool fans chant for Kenny Daglish as side are marooned in relegation zone for first time in 24 years.
By Rory Smith
3 Oct 2010
Rory's Twitter
The Telegraph
VS
Liverpool 1-2 Blackpool (At Anfield)
Kyrgiakos 53.....................................Adam (pen) 29
..........................................................Varney (45+1)
Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Kyrgiakos, Carragher, Skrtel, Meireles, Gerrard, Cole, Poulsen (Jovanovic 60), Torres (Ngog 10), Kuyt
Blackpool: Gilks, Crainey, Eardley (Phillips 46), Evatt, Cathcart (Keinan 20), Vaughan, Grandin (Southern 63), Adam, Taylor-Fletcher, Varney, Campbell
On the spot: Charlie Adam puts Blackpool 1-0 up from the penalty spot Photo: GETTY IMAGES
It has been coming. Ever since defeat at Manchester City, it has been coming. Liverpool’s fans did not buckle when Northampton dumped their side out of the Carling Cup. Being beaten at home by Blackpool was too much. The Kop let its guise of devout fidelity slip, chanting for change. Chanting for Kenny Dalglish.
Roy Hodgson cannot be surprised. His opening seven games have garnered just six points and, for the first time in 24 years, Liverpool find themselves marooned in the relegation zone after Charlie Adam and Luke Varney assured a famous win for Ian Holloway’s team.
Dejected: Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson
Their lead was no fluke, no plucky underdog taking their chances and then hanging on for dear life. Blackpool attacked from the first whistle, sending five men into Liverpool’s half from kick off, a clear statement of intent from a side which has learned that sitting back against the Premier League’s established powers leads only to defeat.
So Charlie Adam, imperious for an hour, stung Pepe Reina’s palms with a fierce free-kick, DJ Campbell skewed a simple finish from Neal Eardley’s cross and Luke Varney, in menacing form, saw one effort saved and one blocked by Martin Skrtel.
All the hosts could muster was a Torres cross which just evaded Joe Cole and a Steven Gerrard corner nodded on by Kyrgiakos which Matthew Gilks was forced to scramble from his line. Other than that, nothing. No ideas, no intent.
Why us? Striker David N'Gog can't hide his frustration at Liverpool's plight
Their cause was not helped by Torres’s departure after just 10 minutes with an apparent groin strain, but to see a side with delusions of featuring in the Champions League dominated so easily at home by newly-promoted opponents cannot be blamed on one slice of ill-fortune. This was a collective failure. It was no accident.
And so it was hard even for a stunned Kop to begrudge Blackpool their lead, secured when Glen Johnson tripped Varney in the area and Adam narrowly converted the penalty. There may have been cries for offside when Varney doubled the advantage on half-time, capping an excellent move by clipping Gary Taylor-Fletcher’s through ball past Reina, but they were half-hearted.
Justice was being meted out.
What's going on: Liverpool stars Dirk Kuyt and Steven Gerrard are bewildered during the defeat to Blackpool
That is not to suggest Liverpool’s fans are willing to go quietly into the fading light. Some 3,000 protested before the game at the club’s American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, marching into the stadium under the banner of Spirit of Shankly, the supporters’ union, and a similar demonstration took place against on-pitch mismanagement as Mike Jones signalled the interval.
The boos rained down as Liverpool trudged off.
The shock treatment seemed to work, Kyrgiakos thundering home a Gerrard free kick after 53 minutes to set up what should have been a stirring comeback.
Get in: Luke Varney scored Blackpool's second in the shock win
Blackpool creaked and crumbled, the hosts swarmed forward. Raul Meireles called Gilks into action immediately after, then fizzed another effort just past the post. Cole clipped an effort past the goalkeeper and the post.
The ideas, though, soon ran short, the momentum died. Blackpool may even have extended their lead, killed their hosts off, DJ Campbell denied only by a brilliant last-ditch tackle by Glen Johnson.
By the end, Liverpool had resorted to throwing DEFENDER Kyrgiakos up front - the Greek twice going close - and playing Meireles at left-back. It is hardly the way Liverpool go about winning games. The Kop, applauding Blackpool from the pitch, expect better. They have lost their belief that Hodgson is the man to deliver it.
Uh oh! Fernando Torres came off with a groin injury and was replaced by David Ngog
telegraph.co.uk
Two weeks ago they were sensationally knocked out of the Carling Cup by minnows Northampton Town, who hail from League Two, the lowest division in the English League.
Today in the Premier League they must have thought that, despite the fact that they had won just one of their opening six games of this season, a win over newly promoted little Blackpool - who are in England's top flight for the first time since the 1970s and who started the season as the favourites to be relegated back down to the Championship - is a certainty.
But the Scousers obviously underestimated their opponents. Blackpool, on England's northwest coast, is Britain's favourite holiday resort, famous for its beaches, Tower, rollercoasters, casinos and amusements. And the famous old resort was victorious today against their hapless opponents.
Two first half goals by Charlie Adam (from the penalty spot) and Luke Varney (in injury time) gave the Seasiders a famous victory.
Kyrgiakos pulled a goal back for Liverpool in the second half, smashing in a Steven Gerrard free kick, but it was too little, too late.
To make matters worse for Liverpool, striker Fernando Torres was taken off after just ten minutes with a groin injury.
This was all too much for the Kop to take. Hodgson may be Liverpool's brand new manager but the fans were chanting for the return of Kenny Dalglish.
It was Blackpool's first victory at Anfield since 1967, and has left Liverpool - who have won just one of their opening seven matches in the Premier League this season - in the relegation zone for the first time since 1986, third bottom in the table and just a point above Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Ham United.
Next up for Liverpool just happens to be...........Everton.
Liverpool fans chant for Kenny Daglish as side are marooned in relegation zone for first time in 24 years.
By Rory Smith
3 Oct 2010
Rory's Twitter
The Telegraph
Liverpool 1-2 Blackpool (At Anfield)
Kyrgiakos 53.....................................Adam (pen) 29
..........................................................Varney (45+1)
Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Kyrgiakos, Carragher, Skrtel, Meireles, Gerrard, Cole, Poulsen (Jovanovic 60), Torres (Ngog 10), Kuyt
Blackpool: Gilks, Crainey, Eardley (Phillips 46), Evatt, Cathcart (Keinan 20), Vaughan, Grandin (Southern 63), Adam, Taylor-Fletcher, Varney, Campbell
On the spot: Charlie Adam puts Blackpool 1-0 up from the penalty spot Photo: GETTY IMAGES
It has been coming. Ever since defeat at Manchester City, it has been coming. Liverpool’s fans did not buckle when Northampton dumped their side out of the Carling Cup. Being beaten at home by Blackpool was too much. The Kop let its guise of devout fidelity slip, chanting for change. Chanting for Kenny Dalglish.
Roy Hodgson cannot be surprised. His opening seven games have garnered just six points and, for the first time in 24 years, Liverpool find themselves marooned in the relegation zone after Charlie Adam and Luke Varney assured a famous win for Ian Holloway’s team.
Dejected: Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson
Their lead was no fluke, no plucky underdog taking their chances and then hanging on for dear life. Blackpool attacked from the first whistle, sending five men into Liverpool’s half from kick off, a clear statement of intent from a side which has learned that sitting back against the Premier League’s established powers leads only to defeat.
So Charlie Adam, imperious for an hour, stung Pepe Reina’s palms with a fierce free-kick, DJ Campbell skewed a simple finish from Neal Eardley’s cross and Luke Varney, in menacing form, saw one effort saved and one blocked by Martin Skrtel.
All the hosts could muster was a Torres cross which just evaded Joe Cole and a Steven Gerrard corner nodded on by Kyrgiakos which Matthew Gilks was forced to scramble from his line. Other than that, nothing. No ideas, no intent.
Why us? Striker David N'Gog can't hide his frustration at Liverpool's plight
Their cause was not helped by Torres’s departure after just 10 minutes with an apparent groin strain, but to see a side with delusions of featuring in the Champions League dominated so easily at home by newly-promoted opponents cannot be blamed on one slice of ill-fortune. This was a collective failure. It was no accident.
And so it was hard even for a stunned Kop to begrudge Blackpool their lead, secured when Glen Johnson tripped Varney in the area and Adam narrowly converted the penalty. There may have been cries for offside when Varney doubled the advantage on half-time, capping an excellent move by clipping Gary Taylor-Fletcher’s through ball past Reina, but they were half-hearted.
Justice was being meted out.
What's going on: Liverpool stars Dirk Kuyt and Steven Gerrard are bewildered during the defeat to Blackpool
That is not to suggest Liverpool’s fans are willing to go quietly into the fading light. Some 3,000 protested before the game at the club’s American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, marching into the stadium under the banner of Spirit of Shankly, the supporters’ union, and a similar demonstration took place against on-pitch mismanagement as Mike Jones signalled the interval.
The boos rained down as Liverpool trudged off.
The shock treatment seemed to work, Kyrgiakos thundering home a Gerrard free kick after 53 minutes to set up what should have been a stirring comeback.
Get in: Luke Varney scored Blackpool's second in the shock win
Blackpool creaked and crumbled, the hosts swarmed forward. Raul Meireles called Gilks into action immediately after, then fizzed another effort just past the post. Cole clipped an effort past the goalkeeper and the post.
The ideas, though, soon ran short, the momentum died. Blackpool may even have extended their lead, killed their hosts off, DJ Campbell denied only by a brilliant last-ditch tackle by Glen Johnson.
By the end, Liverpool had resorted to throwing DEFENDER Kyrgiakos up front - the Greek twice going close - and playing Meireles at left-back. It is hardly the way Liverpool go about winning games. The Kop, applauding Blackpool from the pitch, expect better. They have lost their belief that Hodgson is the man to deliver it.
Uh oh! Fernando Torres came off with a groin injury and was replaced by David Ngog
telegraph.co.uk
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