Liverpool 4-3 Swansea: Post-Match Thoughts

One day, I’ll sit back after a Liverpool game feeling relaxed and calm. Yesterday was not that day. As per usual the reds produced a goal fest, eventually coming out 4-3 victors over Swansea City.

As usual, Liverpool came out of the traps very quickly. Swansea were overwhelmed by the speed and precision of our attacks, and consequently we were 2-0 up after just 20 minutes courtesy of goals from Daniel Sturridge and Jordan Henderson. The first, coming in the 3^rd minute, was the result of an exquisite pass by Raheem Sterling. He curled it with the outside of his right foot, and it fell beautifully into the path of Daniel Sturridge. He never looked like missing- indeed, Suarez was celebrating before the shot had even been taken! Sturridge rounded the keeper and slotted the ball home. For the second, Sturridge turned provider. He showed some nice skill out wide and then passed the ball to the feet of Henderson. The 23-year old then placed the ball perfectly into the top corner; Vorm could only watch on in despair.

So far, so typical of Liverpool. Sadly, the turning of the tide was also horribly predictable. The selling of Shelvey to Swansea was clearly a good bit of business on our part (see my views from the time here: http://jamesmartinblogs.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/shelvey-to-swansea-good-deal.html) , but he was always going to come back to haunt us. So it proved, as he started the Swans’ comeback with a one-touch curler into the top corner from outside the box. It was a spectacular goal, and he showed some class by not celebrating it. This class was matched by the Kop, who applauded him. In an ever more cynical game, it was extremely nice to see from both Jonjo and the fans. The next goal was nowhere near as classy, but just as predictable. A defensive error from (you guessed it) Martin Skrtel left Mignolet helpless to stop Bony’s shot.

All of this took place within the first half an hour, so fans were left trying to catch their breath! However, Sturridge wasn’t letting us take a breather for long. After a beautiful chipped ball into the box from Suarez, he headed home emphatically from close range to give Liverpool their lead back. They took this lead into the break, but once the game got back underway it didn’t stay intact for long! Skrtel has been making us anxious all season by wrestling with attackers, and on this occasion he was penalised. It was a little harsh, but within the rules of the game Liverpool didn’t have too much cause for complaint. Bony took the penalty, and though Mignolet went the right way he couldn’t quite get a hand to it. This made it 3-3. Shortly after this, Brendan Rodgers opted to take off attacking threat Raheem Sterling for midfielder Joe Allen. As we needed a goal and Sterling has been in such fine form of late it did seem a little odd, but after the Texeira switch when we were at 2-2 against Fulham and needed a goal I have resolved never to doubt Rodgers’ wisdom in substitutions again! He once again proved why he is the Liverpool manager and I’m not, as Allen brought us a lot more midfield control, which in turn led to creation of more attacks. In the 74^th minute this brought us the goal we needed. Suarez scuffed his shot and it deflected into the path of Henderson. He saw his first shot saved, but made no mistake on the rebound.

After this, in quite un-Liverpool style, the reds had little trouble holding on to the lead. This hard-fought win is very important- after the game had finished Tottenham suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Norwich, leaving us 6 points clear of 5^th place. Our Champions League place is consequently looking pretty secure, so now we can switch our focus more to the teams above us. With 11 games still to go the title is by no means out of reach for us, though it will have to be a close to perfect run-in. Still, if we can keep grinding out results such as these, then anything is possible!

-James Martin

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013

Swansea 2-2 Liverpool: Post-Match Analysis

Yesterday, Liverpool travelled to the Liberty Stadium in Wales to face Swansea City. Before the match they were 3^rd, level on points with Arsenal and Tottenham. Any result better than a loss would put them back on top of the league. After Swansea’s poor start to the season and our strong one, most Liverpool fans were hoping for a 4^th successive win, but it wasn’t to be. After a match jam-packed with action, the game finished 2-2.

It was the worst start Liverpool could have hoped for. After less than 2 minutes, Swansea managed to get in front. After completely mis-kicking the ball, ex-Liverpool player Jonjo Shelvey kept ploughing through the defence, unchallenged by anyone. Eventually, having run deep into the penalty area, he curled the ball past Simon Mignolet. Debutant Mamadou Sakho was the nearest to Shelvey just before he placed the ball in the net, but did not make a challenge, looking fearful of conceding a penalty. This is a problem the team as a whole need to work on- if the alternative is conceding and the ball is there to be won, you have to try and dispossess your opponent. It was a very scrappy goal to concede from Liverpool’s point of view; not a nice way to end the run of zero goals conceded in the season.

Liverpool were not behind for long though. Just 2 minutes later, they equalised! It doesn’t take a genius to guess who got Liverpool back on level terms- the man who has scored a goal in every Premier League game this season, Daniel Sturridge. Jonjo Shelvey was once again instrumental; though this time he wasn’t celebrating. He played a wayward pass which Sturridge picked off with ease. It was then a simple matter of slotting the ball past Vorm, which the Premier League joint top goal scorer was able to do with ease. Jokes about Shelvey forgetting that he’d left Liverpool have been hugely overused, so I won’t bore you with them, but it has to be said that it was an absolute gift of a goal. Still, it took a cool head from Sturridge to finish it off, and his ability to do so with apparent ease sums up why he is such an asset to us- we lacked a clinical, reliable finisher for a long time.

Liverpool pushed on from this, and were soon all over Swansea. They were dominating possession, and more importantly were creating some good chances. Debutant Victor Moses was playing especially well, showing some great skill and putting good balls into the box. Liverpool eventually got their reward, though it would be untrue to say that it came through pretty build-up play! It was, once again, put on a plate for Liverpool courtesy of Jonjo Shelvey. Another poor pass was picked off, this time by Moses, who fired it into the bottom corner, well beyond Vorm’s reach. The half ended without further incident, and Liverpool went into the break with a deserved 2-1 lead. It could well have been more, but Swansea had defended well (with the exception of Shelvey) and Vorm had made some great stops, including blocking a point-blank header from Sturridge.

In the second half, everything went downhill. Swansea came out on the front foot, and stayed there. The situation was not helped by the forced departure of Philippe Coutinho on 52 minutes, due to an injury caused by a foul challenge from Ashley Williams. The little Brazilian had been playing well, and his replacement, Aspas, never really got into the game. This raises more questions as to whether the Spaniard can cut it in the Premier League, but that’s another story (see my article on that here: http://jamesmartinblogs.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/iago-aspas-early-impressions.html). Swansea looked a constant threat and, almost inevitably, they managed to equalise with just under 30 minutes to go. Shelvey was key in the scoring of the goal (surprise, surprise), heading it down perfectly for Michu to tuck home. Liverpool made no attempt to get back in front, and in all honesty were quite lucky not to concede again. Based on the game as a whole a draw was probably the fairest result, but Liverpool were simply outplayed in the 2^nd half.

To sum up, the result in itself is nothing to complain about, but Liverpool’s second half performance is worrying. They have looked weaker in the second period than the first in all of the games so far this season, and it leaves us vulnerable. At the moment nobody has read too much into it, as the results are going our way and we are top of the league, but if we want to maintain a genuine challenge for 4^th or higher then we will have to start sustaining performance for the full 90 minutes. If our team had better stamina then they would have beaten Swansea, and come the end of the season 2 points may be all that separates us and the Champions League. Even though this result is acceptable in isolation, its wider implications are not good. We cannot have many more games like this. The harsh truth is, if we want to become one of the ‘big’ Premier League teams again, we’re going to have to start playing like one for the full 90 minutes.

-James Martin

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013

Swansea vs Liverpool- Another Day, Another Draw

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.