Interesting range of reactions to the match yesterday, and after having finally finished my catch-up viewing last night, I find that I'm in the same camp as many of you.
Unless, of course, you're one of our devout new Spurs-supporting readers, who proved themselves to be just above toddlers and just below pre-schoolers on the "plays well with others" rating scale. Ah, you'll be toilet-trained soon enough, friends.
Anyhow, the general sentiment seemed to be one that was encouraged by the performance yet disappointed with another loss. It was the first time Roy Hodgson's Liverpool really went after the result away from home, there was continued success by the midfield partnership of Lucas and Raul Meireles, some chance creation for Fernando Torres and Maxi Rodriguez (even if the taking of the chances was lacking), and for once a display that didn't send us running for the exclamation points and curse words. The result may have, but the performance, thankfully, not as much.
It's a tricky feeling, though, because I find myself urged to say that "if Liverpool had played this way against Stoke/Wigan/Everton, then I'd be somewhat okay with the result." But if Liverpool had played this way against those sides, I'm tempted to suggest that the results would have been quite different. Hard to come to terms with the fact that yesterday's Liverpool and the one that spent 75 minutes in their own half at Wigan are composed of the same personnel.
This also feels like somewhat of a motherly "you boys tried hard, be proud" sentiment. That's not where I'm headed, and I don't think any of you are, either. But with so much talk about tempered expectations (mostly coming from Hodgson) combined with a number of less than positive displays, I'm having a hard time figuring out what we should be hoping for from this version of Liverpool.
So, then---are good performances enough for right now, or is that too complacent? Is it all about the points? Are Liverpool and Roy Hodgson capable of putting it together? More importantly, why didn't anyone chime in telling us to go stuff a hot dog? All valid questions, and deserving of some answers.
Go ahead and vote below, and elaborate in the comments if you're feeling particularly expansive.