As bad as it gets?

FOR an institution that used to offer such highs, Liverpool Football Club now deal in nothing but the lowest of lows.

Liverpool began this match below Blackpool in the Premier League table. That should have said it all.

It might be early days but that statistic alone, however perverse and premature, underlines better than almost any other that Liverpool’s slide away from English football’s top table seems to be becoming ever more terminal. This enthralling and brilliant match merely confirmed that.

The extent to which this fixture mattered to the visiting side was displayed by the way they spent an hour before the game walking around the pitch in the manner of a lower league side granted privileged access to the hallowed turf via the FA Cup.

But Ian Holloway has forged a unit that is so attractive and clinical that they deservedly got promoted from the Championship last year and were at Anfield on league merit, even if some of them perhaps found that hard to believe.

Yet any lingering doubts about Blackpool’s right to be in the top flight evaporated by the time they went into half-time as deserved 2-0 leaders in an encounter in which they had been simply magnificent. To then go on to hold on for a 2-1 win was even more impressive.

From front to back and from left to right, Holloway’s side were sensational and when the Kop stood and applauded them out after the interval and at the end it was a touching indication of how entertaining and gutsy they had been.

“We are in dreamland after that,” Holloway said. “We scored two genuine good goals at Anfield and to be able to say that is like one of the dreams I’ve had for years.

“I’m so proud of the lads and they held on in sensational form. Our fans will remember this for years.”

So will Liverpool’s fans but for all the wrong reasons.

The portents of doom were there from the 10th minute onwards as Fernando Torres limped off with a groin problem and although David Ngog is a player that works admirably hard, he is no replacement for Torres and proved that here.

But it should not all be about the level of Liverpool frailty that sees them remain in the bottom three. The real story should be how Blackpool brilliantly took the game to the home side and were amply rewarded.

When Glen Johnson crashed into Varney and dragged him down in the box it was a crystal clear penalty which Charlie Adam converted and the visitors continued to dominate after taking the lead.

Their bravery, matched by Holloway’s, who insisted they play 4-3-3 to at least go down fighting, were then vindicated just before the interval when Gary Taylor-Fletcher snuck a pass through Liverpool’s static defence and Varney crashed past Reina to silence Anfield.

The place went very quiet – and then very loud as Liverpool were jeered off at the break while Blackpool were simultaneously cheered off. The most famous terrace in football is always quick to applaud and because they had seen nothing in red worthy of their attention, they brilliantly transferred to those clad in tangerine.

“I came here once with QPR and we played so well and they clapped us off then as well,” Holloway grinned.

“I think these supporters have seen some of the best football over the years and there was no better team in the world when I was playing so to get that was amazing.”

After the interval Sotirios Kyrgiakos pulled a goal back for Liverpool who finally turned on the gas and poured forward. It just would not happen though as Stephen Crainey and Ian Evatt were unbelievably brave in repelling every attempt and Matthew Gilks’s late save from Kyrgiakos defied belief. As did the final score and Roy Hodgson was as baffled as the next man as he acknowledged that as long as Liverpool are in the bottom three, they are in the relegation mire.

“You can say that – its 7 games, there are 31 left which is an awful lot of games but the fact is that when you are in the relegation zone you are in a relegation battle,” he said.

“Things look bleak and really, really bad and I can’t put a brave face on it. I can only take heart from the fact that the spirit is still there.

“After 35 years in football I don’t think I have suddenly lost my ability as a manager, and I have faith in my ability to handle this situation.”