Things went horribly, horribly wrong on Sunday, but we've already covered that. Perhaps it doesn't come as a huge surprise, though, that a lot of the places that talk Liverpool have gone a touch quiet following their obligatory (and rather depressed) match reviews in the wake of Sunday's sad showing at Spurs. Still, a little quiet isn't completely silent, with a few tidbits still floating about to help get you through the hours until we move on to worrying about Brighton and Hove Albion…
*Speaking of that delightful match against Spurs on Sunday and looking to the future, after picking up red cards at White Hart Lane, Charlie Adam and Martin Skrtel will both be forced to sit out when Liverpool visits Brighton in the fourth round of the League Cup on Wednesday. They will both, however, be available to take on Wolves come Saturday when league action kicks off again. Whether or not this is in fact a good thing is not entirely certain in light of said match at White Hart Lane on Sunday.
*Meanwhile, everybody seems to be trumpeting Steven Gerrard's imminent return to action against Brighton on Wednesday, which sounds like just the sort of thing the club needs after a crushing 4-0 defeat at the hands of fellow top for aspirants. Except that nothing that Kenny Dalglish or anybody else has said actually suggests he's anything like certain to see his first action of the season in the League Cup this week:
I've said all along, he's done fantastically well to get where he is. We'll just monitor him and pick the right moment for him and us before we get him back.
It's natural everyone wants to chase for Stevie, especially after you have lost 4-0. But we'll monitor it, take it how it goes and when both parties agree he'll play.
So, after maybe or maybe not being ready for the bench against Tottenham—the match most media reports said he was targeting for his return—he now may or may not be ready for the bench against Brighton in the match that most media reports are now saying he's targeting for his return. Even though there's nothing on record to actually support such proclamations. But still, he could be ready for Brighton, since he was supposed to maybe be ready for Tottenham. So now you're up to date on your non-update update of the day on Steven Gerrard's groin.
* While we were busy drinking heavily and declaring Liverpool's performance against Spurs just too big a mess to profitably break down with the use of visual aids, Zonal Marking was busy carrying the day for chalkboard fans everywhere. Of course, those chalkboards really only help to set out what Spurs did well, since Liverpool's look just about as big as mess as their performance on the day. But still, it's something.
Or you could skip that and stick with the depressed Liverpool fan theme of the week by focusing on a brief statistical revelation dropped into the tale of Tottenham dominance:
Charlie Adam, in particular, was given no time on the ball to spray passes across the pitch – as a result, he ended with his second-lowest pass completion rate in his Premier League career, according to Opta. Perhaps this frustration also contributed towards his red card midway through the first half.
So at least he wasn't quite as bad as last year against Blackburn before he got sent off. That's nice.
Ed will be around in a little while to get you in the mood for the League Cup, but in the meantime, get to know some monkeys that drink like Liverpool fans who just got done watching the Tottenham match…