November 22, 1909
Neither the Liverpool nor the Everton forwards scored a goal last week, a result which clearly demonstrates where the weakness of the respective teams lies. Unlike their neighbours, the Anfielders are well placed with two clever and efficient outside wingers, who have proved themselves the most consistent forwards in the eleven this season. During the past three weeks, the inside men, Ronald Orr and James Stewart, have been especially feeble, and the former capped a poor afternoon’s work at Tottenham by failing to convert a penalty kick in the last minute of the game.
We should imagine that the Anfield people will promptly see to it, that an effective penalty kicker be coached forthwith. Two were missed in the Bury match also, and in each case it meant the loss of a point to Liverpool. We are not going to defend the statement of those persons that a professional footballer ought to be able to score every time from a penalty kick, but when three are missed on consecutive Saturday’s, we do consider that it is time some definite arrangements should be made for dealing with these cases.
Surely there is one player in the team who with constant practice and the exerice of intelligence would be able to utilise say ninety per cent of the penalty kicks he might be required to take. There seems to be no provision made for this purpose and valuable goals are lost simply because there is not a specially qualified penalty kick taker in the team.
This is not the only frailty which the Liverpool team has developed during the last month. The tactics adopted by the inside forwards have directly contributed to the falling away of form shown in the recent League matches by the eleven generally. Simply because Jack Parkinson has advanced into a most successful pivot, the tendency of the half backs has been to confine the plat to the centre of the field.
One result has been to minimise the efficiency of the centre forward by attracting the defence to this particular spot. Even this might have been commended had the extreme wingers been thereupon furnished with more frequent opportunities, seeing that they were less zealously watched, but no, the policy was to play in the middle of the patch and continue thus, despite the non-success attending the process. What intelligence can there possibly be in such methods, and what advantage is likely to arise there from?
In the earlier games of the campaign we were impressed by the mode of procedure adopted by the Anfield forwards, which was to swing the ball about from wing to wing, or wing to centre or vice versa, and then suddenly and without warning to the opposition, set Parkinson a-going. We can not understand the change of tactics, but one thing is perfectly clear, that the inside right and the inside left will need to again alter their style if they are to remain in the premier eleven. The wing half backs also require attention, and we hope to see better football this afternoon than has resulted from the last three League games.
(Joint Everton & Liverpool Programme: November 22, 1909)
"Play Up, Liverpool" 