Liverpool FC 1, Arsenal 2: Sound of silence symptomatic of Reds demise

ANDRE MARRINER, the fourth official, strode to the touchline and hoisted aloft the electronic board which shows how much injury time must be played.

Usually, when Liverpool are trailing in games at such moments, Anfield’s crowd will fill its lungs, stand together and scream collectively for one final, desperate push to salvage what appears a hopeless situation.

On many occasions down the years, it is a tactic that has worked a treat. Liverpool, you see, were never beaten until the last whistle and the club’s history is littered with contests that looked to have slipped from their grasp but were somehow turned into victories.

How we yearn for a return to those days.

Yesterday, when Marriner indicated there would be a minimum of four added minutes, the only soundtrack that accompanied the declaration was that of empty seats clattering back into place.

No fight, no anger, no bellowing, no bawling, nothing. Anfield was dead, shocked into silence by a wretched second half display which enabled the Reds to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory against an Arsenal side that could scarcely believe its luck.

How utterly demoralising. Just when you thought that, maybe, Liverpool had found the perfect point to relaunch a campaign which has lurched and lumbered from one low to another, along comes quite possibly the biggest disappointment of all.

Infuriating, exasperating, call it what you will, Liverpool had the perfect opportunity to revive their flagging fortunes but, somehow, contrived to find themselves stuck in an even bigger hole than they were before.

They could not have wished for a greater incentive to make a statement; practically every result went their way on Saturday and victory against Arsene Wenger’s men would have catapulted them into fifth.

Instead, they remain in seventh but, most significantly, have suffered another crushing blow to their brittle belief.

They may be just five points off fourth place, but the fact that numerically they are closer to the relegation zone than to a title fight speaks volumes.

Now this is not suggesting for one moment that Liverpool are in the midst of a battle to keep their heads above water in the Premier League.

But the longer they keep slipping up, the more these weekends pass with their rivals accruing points and the Reds frittering them away, the harder it is going to become to rouse themselves to secure the kind of position that is imperative for the club’s future.

What puzzles most of all about this latest offering is that it should have been so, so different; following a thoroughly encouraging first 45 minutes, everything suggested they were ready to start moving through the gears again.

With the exception of Alberto Aquilani, who dropped down to the bench after making his first start against Fiorentina, the team Rafa Benitez sent into battle was ultimately the strongest he is able to name at this present moment.

Fitting Aquilani into his first XI is clearly going to be a head-scratching conundrum for the manager and, now the Italian is up and running, it is one he is going to have to solve sooner rather than later.

If he sticks with his favoured 4-2-3-1 formation who misses out? Does Dirk Kuyt drop out with Steven Gerrard moving to the right flank to accommodate Aquilani in a central position in front of Lucas and Javier Mascherano?

by Dominic King, Liverpool Echo