Real Madrid 1-0 Liverpool: Post-Match Thoughts

Having predicted a scoreline of 5-1 Real Madrid prior to the match, I’m coming out of this game feeling extremely positive. We played very well for the majority of the game, made hardly any defensive errors (yep, you read that correctly) and managed to prevent Madrid from scoring two goals or more in a match for the first time since mid-September. We even managed to create a few promising attacks of our own, and although Casillas wasn’t tested very much at all we were at least working good chances. The only real negative is the fairly major one that we lost the game, but the performance was certainly encouraging.

The headline news in the lead-up to the game was that Brendan Rodgers had selected a second string team to face the reigning European champions. Balotelli, Coutinho, Sterling, Gerrard and Henderson all found themselves on the bench, with Lovren not even making the matchday squad. Many fans were up in arms about this, with the ‘Rodgers Out’ crowd on Twitter becoming more vociferous than ever before. However, Brendan had the last laugh. All of the players he selected were hungry to prove themselves and earn a permanent place in the first team, and consequently they worked exceptionally hard. Borini chased down every ball, Emre Can and Lucas seemed to be in the right place to make a tackle whenever Real came at us and Kolo Toure had the game of his life. Lazar Markovic also showed some promising signs, and even Skrtel looked more solid than usual. Despite going behind after 26 minutes through a Benzema goal, there was no point where the game looked beyond us. This is a testament to our performance; we arguably deserved a draw against one of the best teams in the world.

The statistics, predictably, were very much in favour of Real. They had more possession and lots more shots – a team of their calibre playing at home nearly always dominate the game, so this was unsurprising. Mignolet was called into action a lot, and he rose to the challenge magnificently. He had one of his best games in a Liverpool shirt, showing confidence when coming for the ball and making some excellent saves. Our chances came through playing Madrid at their own game: we staged multiple rapid counter-attacks, with Markovic utilising the frequency with which Marcelo was out of position. The final ball was never quite there, but there were definitely dangerous moments. There were two instances where decent crosses would surely have resulted in a goal, and Lallana fashioned a decent chance for himself which he put just wide of the far post. The pattern of absorbing pressure well then springing counter attacks continued right until the end of the match; we never looked totally out of it.

Whilst this stellar performance certainly vindicated Rodgers, it has also caused him some problems for Saturday’s game against Chelsea. If he plays the same team that he fielded against Madrid, questions will have to be asked if we get anything other than a victory. Obviously playing Chelsea is an extremely tough game, but it is winnable; as such, if Rodgers benches his star players again then fails to get a result, he will have to take some blame. On the other hand, the so-called reserves made such a good account of themselves that it seems harsh to drop them – the Real game was one of our best performances of the season. Personally, I would go for a happy medium. Toure should definitely retain his spot in defence, as he was solid throughout and arguably our man of the match. Can should also start – he was excellent, and deserves a run in the starting eleven. However, I would start Borini, Markovic and Lucas on the bench: whilst they all had fairly good games, none of them were good enough to keep Balotelli, Sterling and Henderson out of the team for such a big game. That said, if Rodgers did name an unchanged side then he couldn’t be blamed.

In conclusion, this is the most positive I’ve ever felt after a Liverpool defeat. We played with pride, and Real didn’t completely outclass us. We retained our goal threat until the final whistle, and never let the Spanish giants relax. Our defence was also uncharacteristically good, aside from an error apiece for Skrtel and Lucas. If we can maintain that level of performance against Chelsea at the weekend, we have a good chance of getting a result.

-James Martin

West Brom 1-1 Liverpool: Post-Match Analysis

Yesterday, Liverpool were hosted by West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns. Despite looking in control for large periods of the match, Liverpool were unable to hold their 1-0 lead, and ended up taking just one point away from the game after drawing1-1.

Liverpool didn’t start quite as brightly as usual. West Brom were clearly fearful of getting hit on the counter-attack, so didn’t commit many men forward. This made it tough for either side to create any chances, leading to a cagey opening 20 minutes. Eventually though, Liverpool’s supreme attack was able to break the deadlock- Luis Suarez produced a lovely cross after some great trickery on the edge of the box, resulting in a simple tap-in for Daniel Sturridge.

This opened the game up a little. Our failure to strengthen in defence in January means that our back line is still very vulnerable, and the Baggies proved this. They produced multiple half-chances, and though they didn’t really test Mignolet in the first half it wasn’t for a lack of trying. The trend continued after the break, with both sides looking like they had the potential to score. Suarez came close to the doubling LFC’s lead, denied only by a good 1-on-1 save by Ben Foster. Gareth McAuley also came very close for Albion; his headed effort was kept out thanks to one of the saves of the season from Simon Mignolet. Just as Liverpool seemed to be getting into their rhythm and shutting West Brom out of the game, disaster struck.  Kolo Toure, who was only in the team due to an injury to Mamadou Sakho, attempted a ridiculous pass across his own back line. Presumably he didn’t see Anichibe lurking nearby, as his pass went straight to him. Anichibe was then left with the task of smashing the ball emphatically past Mignolet, which, to be fair to him, he did very well.

This defensive error is by no means an isolated incident. Throughout the season, the defence has looked very shaky, and it has undeniably been costing us points. We were all gutted when Liverpool failed to sign Konoplyanka on deadline day, but the more worrying issue is this: why were we trying to sign a winger? Other than Sakho, all of our centre-backs are sub-standard. Flanagan has proved himself to be better than we first thought this season, but he is by no means a player one would associate with a Champions League club. Cissokho has been dire all season, although to be fair to him he actually performed quite well against West Brom. In short, we need an overhaul of the defence, and whether it is the fault of FSG, Rodgers or Ayre, we aren’t getting it. The current squad is by no means beyond finishing in the top 4, but our lack of defensive signings has certainly made it harder. If we can still reach it, hopefully a positive multiplier effect will ensue- better players will want to join us as we have Champions League football, so our team will improve, resulting in us doing even better. On the other hand, if we don’t manage to get in the top 4, we risk losing our key player, Suarez, without whom we will really struggle.

Anyway, back to the match. After the shambolic concession of the equaliser, Liverpool, as one would have expected, pushed harder in attack. Sadly though, they lacked their usual attacking potency. Sturridge was operating in a wider role than usual, which made him quite a lot less effective, and by his standards Suarez was having a bad game. Sterling was our best attacking player, but even his pace and quick feet weren’t really able to create anything threatening. Matters weren’t helped by the amount of times West Brom fouled our players to prevent a promising attack. In spite of our efforts to force the issue and get a winner, the game finished 1-1.

Overall, the result is a really disappointing one. Fortunately Tottenham also dropped points at Hull and Manchester United were beaten by Stoke, so the loss didn’t allow our rivals for 4^th place (other than Everton) to gain on us too much. We are also still only 3 points adrift of Chelsea, who today go to City. It is clearly by no means a season-ruining result, but the players will need to be at their best even in the ‘smaller’ games if we want to maintain a proper challenge for 4^th place or higher with the squad we have.

-James Martin

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