Liverpool 2-1 Sunderland: Post-Match Analysis

Yesterday, Liverpool extended their win streak to an impressive 7 games with a narrow victory over a plucky Sunderland side. The win, like all of them are at this crucial stage of the season, was extremely important, as it kept us right in the mix for the coveted Premier League title. Though City are still mathematically the favourites, it’s hard to rule us out in the impressive run of form we are in.

Right from the kick-off, it was easy for all to see exactly what Sunderland’s game plan was. They were throwing nearly all of their players behind the ball, and sitting extremely deep. In fairness to them they were doing a good job of it; most teams collapse within minutes if they aren’t positive against Liverpool, especially at Anfield! Still, they couldn’t keep it up forever. It’s a mark of how consistently excellent Liverpool’s form in front of goal has been that, even after close to 40 minutes of being frustrated by the Sunderland defence, I was never once concerned that we wouldn’t get a goal past them. So it proved: after Suarez, seemingly through on goal, was taken out from behind by Vergini, Gerrard stepped up and curled the ball perfectly into the corner. Mannone could perhaps have done better, but it was still an excellent free-kick. As to the initial tackle, it was undoubtedly a red card offence. Kevin Friend, who made poor decisions throughout the match, somehow reached the conclusion that it was only worthy of a yellow card. Minutes later Vergini committed another clear foul worthy of a yellow, but, to the amazement of pretty much everybody, he stayed on the pitch.

Unperturbed by this blatant miscarriage of justice and buoyed by taking the lead, Liverpool moved from strength to strength. After the half-time interval, it looked as if they might totally dismantle Sunderland. Again, I must give credit to the visitors. After conceding a second just three minutes into the half (a lovely strike by Daniel Sturridge), they sorted things out defensively. Liverpool still made some chances, with Suarez and Sturridge both looking dangerous, but the Black Cats kept the SAS at bay. Gus Poyet brought on Ki Sung Yeung and Adam Johnson just after the hour mark- at this point Sunderland started to show some potential going forward, something they had been completely lacking all game. This is where things got a little nervy for Liverpool! With 13 minutes still to play, Ki managed to unlock Liverpool’s defence (sorry) and reduce the deficit to just 1. Liverpool haven’t built a reputation for defensive solidity this season, and there were times when Sunderland looked certain to destroy our lead, and with it our realistic hopes of the title. Somehow, despite a huge chance for Jozy Altidore with two minutes to play, we managed to hold on for the win.

My man of the match was definitely Philippe Coutinho. He had an absolutely terrific game; it’s the first time this season where we’ve seen the sublime form he showed immediately after we’d signed him last season. His vision has never deteriorated, but for a while he did seem to have some trouble picking the passes he envisaged so well. Today he had no such problems- on multiple occasions he set Suarez or Sturridge free with gloriously timed and weighted passes. He also showed his dribbling abilities, on one occasion taking the ball past two or three players then ending the run with a typically superb pass. If he can stay at the top of his game, I feel it will be invaluable to our title challenge. His contributions sometimes get overlooked- on his day, I truly believe he is one of the most influential players in our team.

To sum up, it would have been hugely unlucky if Liverpool had failed to take all three points, seeing as Vergini should have seen red not once but twice, however that didn’t stop Sunderland from giving it a very good go. In the end, we were lucky to hold on to the win, but it doesn’t really matter how we get the points on the board as long as we’re getting them. As we still aren’t the favourites for the title the pressure is much more on City than us, and this win will do nothing to alleviate said pressure. We just need to keep pumping out these results- eventually something’s got to give at City’s end.

-James Martin

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013

Cardiff 3-6 Liverpool: Post-match Analysis

Yesterday, Liverpool extended their hugely impressive win streak to six games, further aiding their push for the Premier League title. They had to come from behind twice against a plucky Cardiff side, but after an excellent second half performance Liverpool came out comfortable 6-3 victors.

It says something about the side that Brendan Rodgers has created that the score-line of 6-3 doesn't come as much of a shock to us anymore. Our defensive shortcomings have been well documented over the course of the season, but they have been largely compensated for by our phenomenally high goal output. The fact that we let in 3 against 19^th place Cardiff is, of course, an indicator that we will have to strengthen defensively come the summer, but in the short-term push for 1^st place it’s actually essentially inconsequential. Why bother worrying about letting in three when we can guarantee the win by scoring double that?

That said, some of the defending we exhibited was truly woeful. Cardiff’s second goal in particular was painfully easy for them. Agger kept backing off Fraizer Campbell, who then simply stepped inside him and, unchallenged, fired the ball past Mignolet, who could only stand and watch. This theme was one that ran throughout the first half; in truth, Cardiff were the better side. It was Liverpool at close to their worst, and Cardiff punching above their weight. All in all, Liverpool were quite lucky to go into the half time break at 2-2. In fairness the lead-up to our first goal was vintage Liverpool, but other than that we were, at best, uninspiring.

We came out rejuvenated in the second half. Our new-found ability to do this is very valuable- in the first half of the season, where we continually failed to perform to our best in the second half of games, this is a match where we might have failed to take all three points. The contrast between our first and second half performances was amazing- we went from playing at close to our worst to close to our best. Admittedly the goal that put us in front for the first time was scored in slightly lucky circumstances, as Cardiff had only 9 men on the pitch to defend the corner that Skrtel scored his second goal from, but after this we never looked back. Sturridge finally seemed to click into gear, and consequently the SAS partnership returned to its usual, lethal self. As such, the fourth goal was hardly surprising- Sturridge produced a great piece of improvisation with a sumptuous back-heel across the box, which Suarez then latched on to and hit home.

At this point we were pretty much home and dry, but the Liverpool which Rodgers has put together never just sit back. They just love scoring goals, and that’s exactly what they continued to do. Our fifth came on 75 minutes, Suarez turning provider for Sturridge who was left with the simplest of finishes. In the 88^th minute however, Cardiff, rather against the run of play, pulled one back. That looked to be it, but something didn’t seem right. Surely Liverpool couldn’t fail to win by a margin of three or more goals? That just wouldn’t be right! Suarez didn’t fail us- he got clean through on goal after a long ball up the pitch from Skrtel, and, much to the consternation of Raheem Sterling, fired it home himself after a series of fake shots rather than squaring it to Sterling for an easy goal.

This passion and determination of Suarez, and the temporary annoyance of Sterling at not being able to score himself, characterises the attitude of the entire Liverpool team. They are just extremely driven and yearning to succeed, and it is this quality that means that, despite the odds being seemingly stacked against us in the not-so-distant past, we now surely have to be classed as one of the front runners in this thrilling race for the top spot.

-James Martin

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013