Today (Sunday 25th November), Liverpool faced Swansea in a Premier League clash at the Liberty Stadium. Liverpool created a lot of chances and the hosts had a few decent opportunities, but the game ended 0-0.
In the first 10 minutes of the game, Swansea were playing the better football. Pablo Hernandez looked very bright, and they were creating some decent chances. However, they never really tested Pepe Reina, and after about 15 minutes Liverpool had got into their stride. Jose Enrique was playing brilliantly, threading through some great passes and attacking with real intent, and Suarez and Sterling looked lively. The biggest chance of the first half fell to Sterling, after the ball came back to him from a corner. He took a touch, then smashed the ball ferociously goalwards. It was a wonderful, dipping shot, but somehow stayed out after smashing against the underside of the crossbar. Minutes later, Enrique had a goal disallowed for offside. It was tight, but probably the right decision.
Liverpool continued to dominate the match after the break. Although Swansea were creating some good chances from counter-attacks, LFC looked the most likely to get a goal. However, Steven Gerrard, most unusually for him, was being extremely wasteful in possession. Some of his passes were awful, and had he been more accurate I think Liverpool would have got a goal. After about 60 minutes, the game died down a little, and the teams reached a stalemate, with the two sides playing the passing game that Rodgers introduced to both the clubs. Then, at around the 80 minute mark, Swansea suddenly upped the pace of the game, worrying Liverpool with some penetrating attacks. However, this didn’t last long. After a clearance from a Swansea corner, the ball bounced over a Swansea player’s head, leaving Sterling and Suarez through on goal with only one defender to stop them. This really should have resulted in a goal, but Sterling’s return ball to Suarez was much too heavy, and the huge chance was gone. In the dying moments of the game, substitute Jonjo Shelvey nearly won the game with a great pile-driving shot, which was smartly saved by Tremmel.
It seems that once again I will have to end my article with the same conclusion I keep writing: Liverpool had the majority of the good chances, but weren’t clinical enough. I was impressed with our defending today, and a clean sheet is always a good thing, but I was disappointed not to get the three points. We need to get some wins on the board, and although our long unbeaten run is very respectable, the fact is we still lie 11th in the league. In all fairness to Swansea though, they did play quite well, and maybe a draw was the fairest result.
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