Half-Term Report: Liverpool

Monday 23 December 2002 20:00 EST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

With defeats by Fulham, Charlton and Sunderland, Liverpool have resembled an upmarket version of Leeds lately. The loss of confidence so evident in Sunday's derby draw was triggered by failure in the Champions' League. They must start another winning streak if another championship-free season is to be avoided. When his team led the Premiership in the autumn, Gérard Houllier must have felt things were falling into place. Yet they were never entirely convincing, being essentially a counter-attacking team and also a young one, prone to fluctuating form and over-reliant on Michael Owen. Bruno Cheyrou and El Hadji Diouf have not made the desired impact, Jerzy Dudek briefly turned into Gary Sprake and Stéphane Henchoz's absence showed how under-rated he is. Too soon for panic, but less player-rotation and more attacking width are priorities.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in