Aston Villa 0-2 Liverpool: Post-Match Analysis

In a fairly tame affair at Villa Park, a quietly efficient Liverpool eased through to a comfortable 2-0 victory. Although concentration seemed to be lost for a period at the start of the second half, the second lowest scoring team in all of Europe’s top five leagues were unable to convert any of the chances presented to them.

Gritty hard work was the order of the day in yesterday’s match – a solid performance from the defence for the majority of the match ensured that there weren’t many serious scares at the back. Sakho and Can in particular were excellent – Can demonstrated the advantages of having a ball-playing centre back on multiple occasions, frequently cleverly working his way out of tight spots. Sakho’s highlight was a perfectly timed sliding tackle on the edge of the box to deny Villa a clear-cut opportunity which even they might have managed to convert. Going forward, Liverpool showed good signs in the first half. Sterling didn’t quite look at the races, but Coutinho continued his good form of late and Moreno and Markovic posed a threat going forward. Henderson, too, was playing very well; it was his exquisite pass that led to the opening goal on 24 minutes. He clipped it into the middle of the box, just far enough away from Guzan, and Borini was on hand to guide it skilfully into the corner. Sadly, this moment of quality from the Italian was the anomaly of the game – his performance was largely underwhelming.

After this first goal went in, a multitude of half-chances followed for the visitors. The best opportunity fell to Sterling – he capitalised on a defensive error and ran clean through on goal, but he tried a clever chip over Guzan that ended up an easy catch for the keeper. Had he simply blasted it, Liverpool would surely have doubled their lead. As it was, they went into the break with just a one goal advantage. Once the second half got underway, it looked like we may be made to rue all of the missed chances. Villa upped their game; Benteke was only kept out by an excellent double save from Mignolet, and Baker missed a glorious opportunity. On the subject of Mignolet, I feel obliged to once again jump to his defence. Contrary to what many fans would have you believe, he is by no means our biggest problem. In fact, I would rate his overall contribution to the team as neutral; the semi-regular stupid errors he makes are cancelled out by the number of times he’s bailed us out with excellent saves.

He certainly helped us out in this game – had Villa managed to score, it is hard to imagine that the recovering but still frail Liverpool side would have managed to take the lead again. As it was, LFC weathered the storm. By the last 15 minutes Villa had tired themselves out through their efforts to equalise, and Liverpool were able to get on top again. This second period of pressure was marked by a goal from Rickie Lambert. After a poor pass from Delph was cut out by Sterling, Lambert turned smartly and unerringly found the corner with a shot from just outside the box – although he’s much too slow and reliant on crosses to fit into our team, his technique is undoubtedly good.

This goal all but killed the game, and the final few minutes were a formality. It was a performance that Liverpool can be very satisfied with. The defence were, on the whole, respectable – they guided the team to their third consecutive away clean sheet, a feat we haven’t achieved since the 08/09 season. The midfield can also be satisfied with the number of chances they created; once Sturridge and Balotelli are back up top rather than Borini or Lambert, these chances will surely be finished off on a more regular basis. The combination of a passable defence and high chance creation is a very promising one, and, if sustained, may well be enough to see us finish in the top 4.

-James Martin

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013

Sunderland 0-1 Liverpool: Post-Match Analysis

Today, Liverpool went to Sunderland seeking to get back on the right track. The 2-2 draw at home to Leicester last week was disappointing, and right from the outset of this game it was clear that Liverpool were determined to put in a better performance. Lazar Markovic, who was by far and away our stand-out player, managed to convert LFC’s good play into a goal after 10 minutes – the strike proved to be decisive, as despite multiple chances to extend the lead the game ended 1-0.

Although the performance put in by Liverpool was not quite up to the standard of the excellent showing against Swansea a couple of weeks ago, it wasn’t too far off. The first half in particular was impressive; Coutinho continued his run of excellent form, using his exquisite passing to split the Sunderland defence many times. The problem was taking these chances – Borini, though extremely hard-working as always, squandered a fair few decent opportunities. He did, however, record an assist for Markovic’s goal; he should be given credit for managing to divert the ball into the Serb’s path. Markovic himself could well have added to his tally: he was fouled in the box very early on but denied a penalty by the referee, and later came within millimetres of scoring the goal of the season. The ball came back to him after a corner, but was at an extremely awkward height. Showing immense powers of improvisation, he attacked the ball with a scissor-like movement, sending his shot rocketing off the bar. Sunderland didn’t really create anything going forward in the first half, and in truth the game should have been beyond the reach of the Black Cats after the opening 45 minutes.

As it was, the game was still anything but a foregone conclusion as the second half began. The first five minutes were encouraging – Liverpool looked as if they were simply going to carry on where they left off. However, this momentum was halted by an incident which in theory should have helped the reds (who, incidentally, were playing in their yellow change strip today). Liam Bridcutt was shown a second yellow, meaning Sunderland were reduced to 10 men. Rather than going for the jugular and attempting to kill off the game, Liverpool sat off at this point, inviting pressure from the suddenly potent-looking Sunderland players. Adam Johnson in particular appeared to have been given a new lease of life – he came by far the closest to levelling the match, with his swerving shot from outside the box smacking against the underside of the bar. Mignolet was left completely stranded. While the incident did leave him looking rather foolish (comparisons to The Matrix have been made), the extremely strong wind did make the ball move extremely strangely in the air.

After a couple more half decent attacks, Sunderland settled down again. Liverpool began to push forward once more, with the line now being led by Mario Balotelli. He came on for Borini, and looked extremely bright. He used his physicality well, and almost managed to net his first league goal after cleverly turning his defender – he was only denied by a smart stop from Pantilimon. He has come in for a lot of criticism – which, given that he is a striker yet to score in the Premier League is understandable – but he has certainly shown signs of promise. One feels that once he gets his first league goal he might be able to kick on and really succeed at the club; the imminent return of Daniel Sturridge will surely also benefit him.

As it was, Liverpool didn’t manage to score a second. They were forced to withstand some late pressure, but the only late ‘drama’ was a hilarious piece of theatrics from Sunderland stopper Costel Pantilimon. He came up for a very late corner, and having failed to get his head to the ball went down in dramatic fashion, claiming he was pushed. You can’t blame the ref for not booking him; giving yellow cards to keepers for diving sets a dangerous precedent!

So it ended 1-0, and Liverpool came away with a deserved three points. Although they will come away from this match knowing that they need to be more clinical, the excellent attacking play of Coutinho and Markovic (as well as the solid defensive work of Sakho, Can and Lucas) are encouraging. The draw against Leicester last time out had fans worried that we were witnessing another false dawn, but there were enough positive signs in this match to suggest that we are indeed on the road to revival.

-James Martin

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013

Liverpool 2- 2 Leicester: Post-Match Thoughts

Sorry guys, false alarm! After our scintillating performance against Swansea last time out, I made the grievous error of writing that “we’re back”. In the first game of 2015 Liverpool presented us with fairly strong evidence that they are not in fact back in the form of a hugely disappointing 2-2 draw with bottom of the table Leicester. The dropped points leave us a sizeable seven points off 4^th place, and casts huge doubts over our ability to finish in the top 4 this season.

In the understandable flood of emotion following the announcement that Steven Gerrard is to leave the club at the end of the season, nearly everyone seems to have forgotten that he has been extremely poor for (at a generous estimate) the last six months. Of course we should admire what he was in his prime and applaud his great service to our club, but what we should not do is persist in playing him out of sentimentality. His ‘legend’ status is the only thing getting him on the team sheet this season, and I would go as far as to say that it cost us the match yesterday. For the first time this campaign we fielded what I see to be our strongest back three: Sakho, Toure and Can. They all had reasonable games – Sakho in particular was superb – and would surely have been capable of holding on to a two goal lead had they received even a small level of cover from the defensive midfielders. As it was, Gerrard’s total lack of mobility meant that the back three were constantly exposed; essentially, he was a wasted player in the line-up. Had Rodgers opted for the same team that won at Swansea, we’d probably have won.

It wasn’t just the line-up that Rodgers got wrong. His in-game switches were bizarre; Borini came on for the injured Lallana just after half time, when Markovic would surely have been both better suited to the position and more capable of making an impact. At 2-2 he made another odd change. We needed a goal, so he decided to take off Moreno for Lambert. This was nonsensical for multiple reasons. Firstly, and most simply, Lambert is painfully ineffectual and has not once made a notable impact as a substitute. Secondly, the whole point of buying Lambert was a ‘Plan B’ that allowed us to whip crosses into the box – Moreno is our quickest wide player, and would have been the ideal candidate for getting down the flank and putting crosses in towards Lambert. These decisions alone cannot take all off the blame for the failure to get a win, but they certainly played a part.

A very strong case can be made that Liverpool deserved absolutely nothing from the game. Both of their goals were penalties, the first of which was definitely given incorrectly. Jeffrey Schlupp slid in to block Sterling’s cross and the ball struck his face – the referee deemed it to have struck his arm and pointed to the spot. Admittedly Schlupp shouldn’t have gone to ground with his arms spread out, but it wasn’t a handball. The second penalty definitely hit a hand – Simpson’s to be precise – but he had very little time to react and move his hand out of the way. It is clear, therefore, that Liverpool can count themselves lucky to come out of a home fixture against 20^th place Leicester with a point; this is indeed a sorry state of affairs.

To conclude, if Brendan Rodgers wants even a distant chance of guiding Liverpool into the top 4, he has to make the brave call of dropping Gerrard in his final half season. We saw at Swansea what we can achieve without him in the team, and we saw yesterday how little he contributes when he is in the side. The article that celebrates the achievements and service of the legend that is Steven Gerrard will surely be on its way, but this is not the time for sentimentality. This is the time for cold, hard realism, and if Rodgers doesn’t show that same level of realism then we can wave goodbye to our hopes of Champions League football next season.

-James Martin

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013

Liverpool 4-1 Swansea: We’re Back!

Finally. After enduring months of mediocre play and largely poor results, Liverpool look to have turned a corner. They turned it in style, marking a return to their fluid, intricate style of play from last season with an emphatic 4-1 win over Swansea City. The goals came courtesy of Moreno, Lallana (x2) and a Jonjo Shelvey own goal.

The performance today put paid to the saying “it doesn’t matter how you win them”. I came away from the Burnley game with, at best, a grim satisfaction. By contrast, the teams’ showing in this match has left me immensely pleased and has filled me with positivity for the rest of the season. All of our attacking players put in excellent performances, and the presence of Emre Can in our back three brought a new solidity to our defence. Rodgers has been put under a lot of pressure of late, but the clever decision to shift Can into defence and the choice of a formation that looks to fully utilise the attacking potential of our squad will surely earn him plaudits.

 

However, Rodgers can by no means take full credit for the win. There were some truly exquisite individual performances; Henderson managed two assists and Lallana scored twice, but the man of the match for me was Philippe Coutinho. Every flick and trick he tried came off, he beat players with ease and his passing was top quality – the crowning moment was his backheel assist for Lallana’s second goal. Raheem Sterling also played very well. Whilst the stats may suggest he was ineffectual, his runs were crucial in drawing defenders and creating space for others to play in. One of the players who benefited most from this space was Alberto Moreno – his explosively quick runs caused Swansea multiple problems, particularly in the first half. Fellow wing back Javier Manquillo deserves some credit for his solid defensive performance.

Of course the defence hasn’t fixed itself overnight, and some of the weaknesses were shown in this game. Mamadou Sakho made two shocking defensive errors, one of which resulted in the Swansea goal. To be fair to the Frenchman his general play was good and he demonstrated some nice passing to move the team forward, but mistakes such as those at this level are inexcusable. Skrtel was much improved from last game, but that’s not difficult. Mignolet made a couple of decent stops, but his kicking was even more wildly inaccurate than usual. Overall, though, the defensive performance was encouraging. Emre Can must take a lot of the credit for this; his assurance with the ball at his feet brought a calmness to the back line that we’ve rarely seen. Swansea struggled to create any clear cut chances, meaning they were forced to commit men forward and thus leave themselves vulnerable to our extremely potent attacking threat.

Part of the reason that this threat was so strong is the high tempo that Liverpool maintained both on and off the ball. The aforementioned positive passing of Sakho allowed smooth transition between defence and midfield, and the scintillating form of Coutinho ensured that chances were being carved out left, right and centre. The success of our pressing when not in possession was epitomised by the second goal; although it was extremely comical, it was not a total fluke. Lallana saw that the ball was about to be played back to Fabianski, and swiftly began a full-on sprint towards the goalkeeper. This meant he was in a position to put pressure on the Swansea stopper, block his clearance and watch as the ball looped into the net. He showed hunger and desire, and whilst these are clichés they are also necessary attributes for anyone who wants to succeed at Liverpool.

The battle for Liverpool now is consistency. If all of our attackers continue to play as they did today, and the defence can at least remain passable, it seems not only possible but probable that we will end the season in the top four. Our next three games are useful in this respect: Leicester, Sunderland and Villa are all teams we should be beating, and with a bit of luck we will be able to retain this level of performance against them. If we take all 9 points from these games then momentum is on our side, and we have an excellent springboard for the second half of the season.

-James Martin

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013 

Burnley 0-1 Liverpool: Post-Match Thoughts

As hard as they tried, Liverpool were unable to put a dampener on the Christmas spirit this year. The previous two Boxing Day fixtures have brought misery to LFC fans, but yesterday the team managed to grind out a 1-0 victory at Turf Moor despite putting in a wholly uninspiring performance. The result leaves us in 9^th place going into the final game of 2014, an important match against 8^th placed Swansea.

It was immediately clear that Liverpool weren’t going to be treating us to the same level of performance we saw against Arsenal. Most of the players looked like they had Christmas hangovers; they were sluggish in possession and, when they didn’t have the ball, allowed Burnley much too much space. Danny Ings came very close to punishing us within the first 15 minutes – he hit the post, and frankly the goal would have been deserved. Far from provoking a reds response, this great chance seemed to cause Liverpool’s defence to become even shakier. The rest of the first half passed in a blur of near misses from the hosts and abysmal play from the visitors, and being able to go in at half time level pegging was a gift that the Liverpool players had by no means earned.

One of the main problems of the half was the failure of Steven Gerrard to get at all involved. Other than one good ball to Lallana which set up our only chance of the half, he was completely invisible for the full 45 minutes. We might as well have been playing with 10 men; it was genuinely easy to forget that he was on the pitch. The defence also unsurprisingly continued to be an issue – Skrtel was particularly poor in the first half, and Toure was below his usual standard. The goalkeeping farce reached new lows when Brad Jones was subbed off early on through injury, marking the return of Simon “he might never play for us again” Mignolet. This was a good thing, as despite his faults Mignolet is unquestionably better than Jones (who wouldn’t look out of place in a League 2 outfit), but the sight of Jones walking off and Mignolet running on in his place was comical in the extreme. The only positive of the half was the performance of Mamadou Sakho, who showed exactly why many Liverpool fans have been infuriated by his lack of game time. He put in some solid challenges and certainly inspired more confidence than his defensive partners. Admittedly his pass accuracy was quite disappointing – 80% is fairly low considering that passing is supposedly one of his main assets – but this can be attributed largely to rustiness.

The second half saw a slight improvement. This was not difficult: in a season full of “worst half I can remember” claims, the first half of this game was definitely up there. Burnley continued to threaten, but their constant pressure and high work rate was beginning to take its toll and Liverpool were consequently being afforded more and more space as the half progressed. In the 62^nd minute they capitalised on this – it took a moment of magic from Coutinho and a cool head from Sterling, but against the run of play it was Liverpool who got the goal. The Coutinho assist is surely the best goal assist we’ll witness this season; whilst facing the other way, he showed immense awareness to hook the ball cleverly into the path of Raheem Sterling. The 20 year old rounded the keeper well and slotted the ball beyond the desperate lunges of the Burnley defenders who had tracked back and into the net. In the midst of Hodgson-esque badness a moment seemingly plucked right from last season was produced, and in the end this proved enough to win us the game.

It is an old footballing cliché that ‘the three points is all that matters’, and after yesterday’s performance many Liverpool fans will be clinging to that. Whilst this shocking level of performance doesn’t bode well for future games – surely any club who weren’t sitting in the relegation zone would have punished our poor play – the fact that we were able to grind out the win is encouraging. We now only have 1 defeat in our last 9 games; whilst this stat disguises the multiple flaws of the team, it does show that we are slowly but surely improving. If we can force wins in our next 3 matches, all against beatable opponents, the position will be much brighter heading into the second half of the season.

-James Martin

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013

Liverpool 2-2 Arsenal: Reds Gift Arsenal an Underserved Point

Liverpool a goal down after 90 minutes of play. Down to 10 men. Whilst the match facts suggest a heroic late effort from Liverpool to salvage a point from a game they had struggled in, the reality was quite different. It was in fact Liverpool who were on top for the entirety of the match, and the team will surely go into the Christmas period disappointed that they didn’t manage all three points against a very weak Arsenal side.

Right from the off Liverpool were all over Arsenal. They had all the possession, were working the ball nicely and spending a fair bit of time in Arsenal’s final third. The only problem was an admittedly major one; clear cut chances were at a premium, and we had no out and out finisher on the pitch. Throughout the game this was a problem – Coutinho did manage to bag one goal, but most of his efforts were scuffed or dragged wide. Lucas also had a couple of shots from good positions that failed to test Szczesny. However, by dominating the game this much it was only a matter of time before Liverpool got their goal, and it came in the 45^th minute. Coutinho’s aim was true this time, and he guided it in off the post after shimmying wonderfully past his man.

In typical Liverpool fashion, we threw away what looked to be a comfortable position within seconds through poor defending at a set piece. Gerrard tripped up Sanchez, who’s subsequent free kick was kept alive because of Sakho and Toure getting in each other’s way. The ball found it’s way over to the far post, where Skrtel failed to even get off the ground, thus allowing his man Debuchy to get his head to the ball. Brad Jones epitomised his talents by standing and watching as the ball flew into a distinctly saveable area, and thus we somehow went into the break with the scores at 1-1. Although this goal was much more the fault of Skrtel than Jones, it is absolutely ridiculous that the Australian continues to be played ahead of Mignolet. Of course Mignolet isn’t perfect, but he is a good shot stopper, and that has bailed us out more than once this season. Jones would struggle to get into most Championship sides, and if Rodgers continues to play him to prove some sort of point to Mignolet then Liverpool will pay the price.

Twenty minutes into the second half and the situation worsened again. It truly beggared belief; the opening twenty of the second period was all Liverpool once again, yet somehow they found themselves behind on 64 minutes. This time it was Giroud who got the goal, slamming Cazorla’s cross (which somehow found its way between Skrtel and Toure) through the legs of Jones. Rodgers rolled the dice soon after this, bringing on Borini and then Lambert to try and get the equaliser, Lambert had no impact whatsoever, to the point where I forgot he was on the pitch from time to time. Borini certainly had an impact, but not a good one. After not being given a throw-in which admittedy should have gone his way he got booked for dissent, and minutes later he was off after a high foot on Cazorla. The situation looked bleak – the ten men of Liverpool had just 9 minutes (the stoppage time was long due to an earlier head injury for Skrtel) to find a goal to bring them level. Despite having an extra man, Arsenal continued to sit back and absorb the pressure. This cost them dearly, as one of the corners they conceded was finally capitalised on by Liverpool. The goal was very reminiscent of last season: a good ball came in from the corner, and Skrtel charged forward to meet it with his head and rocket it past a helpless Szczesny. 

Whilst it was obviously relieving not to leave this game with nothing, the match will surely be viewed in hindsight as two points dropped. The attack were excellent all game apart from the finishing (Sturridge and Balotelli were both out, so this is understandable), but they were let down by an awful defence. At least the attack are now looking much more like last season than they were; if they can continue to cause opposition as many problems as they caused Arsenal, the top 4 begins to look a much more achievable goal.

-James Martin

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013

Man United 3-0 Liverpool: Post-Match Analysis

Getting knocked out of the Champions League in midweek was bad enough to beat out any of the Christmas cheer Liverpool fans might have been feeling, but today the pain was piled on courtesy of a big defeat from our fierce rivals. A combination of a shambolic defence, poor finishing and an absolute master class from David De Gea resulted in a humiliating final score of 3-0 to United.

The only fact that Liverpool fans can seek solace in is that the scoreline was not at all reflective of the game. For the first 10 minutes the reds (or yellows as they were for this game) were completely dominant, forcing multiple errors from the home sides defence with their high press. They were presented with a big chance to take the lead when Lallana played a lovely ball through to Sterling, but the 20 year-old’s effort wasn’t strong enough to beat De Gea. Almost immediately after this United launched their first real attack of the game, and Liverpool’s defence were instantly exposed. It was almost funny watching everyone floundering; Valencia embarrassed Allen and pulled it back to Rooney, whose run should have been tracked by Coutinho. Gerrard should also have been ensuring that Rooney didn’t get the room to shoot, but instead opted to watch from a safe distance as United’s captain blasted it home past Brad Jones, who was diving the wrong way. The WRONG WAY. If nothing else, playing Jones today may well have served to open fan’s eyes to the fact that Mignolet is the lesser of two evils when it comes to our goalkeeping options.

The contrast between the two keepers couldn’t have been more stark. De Gea was on fire, and rather than doing his utmost to get out of the way of the ball he turned his energies towards thwarting Sterling again to prevent Liverpool pulling level. Still, the signs were promising. We were making some good opportunities, and at just one down it looked likely that we’d be able to pull the game back and get at least a draw. However, with just five minutes to go until the break, Juan Mata doubled United’s lead. It was blatantly offside – Moreno’s step forward left Mata about 2 yards off when he headed in from close range, but the assistant clearly failed to spot the flick-on from Van Persie that carried the ball through to the Spaniard. This made the situation much bleaker, to the extent where it actually prompted Rodgers to make an early change for once. Sadly, the substitution was only half right. Bringing Balotelli on for the second half to partner Sterling was sensible, but Lallana shouldn’t have been replaced. He had been linking up well with Sterling; Coutinho should probably have been the one to make way.

Even so, Liverpool continued to look fairly good into the second half. Balotelli was playing fairly well, although he did isolate himself by needlessly drifting out wide on a couple of occasions. When he was in the middle, chances came his way – De Gea was on hand once again to push his powerful effort on to the woodwork. Sterling too had a huge opportunity to get a goal back; he picked off a weak back pass and looked to have rounded De Gea. However, he took one touch too many, allowing the United keeper to deny him once again. It clearly just wasn’t to be our day – nothing was getting past De Gea, and as usual pretty much everything was getting past our defence. It was no real surprise when United made it three; Lovren’s failure to complete a basic clearance presented the Red Devils with the opportunity, and this was made easier for Van Persie to take by Brad Jones being in a frankly bizarre position. A couple more excellent saves from De Gea meant that a game which Liverpool had dominated from an attacking point of view somehow ended 3-0.

The only man more worried than the fans at the moment is Brendan Rodgers. He must be well aware that his job is in jeopardy; the failure to get to the Champions League group stage followed by this heavy defeat to the Mancs are the latest blows in a series of disappointments this season. Although summer signings Balotelli, Moreno, Markovic and Lallana all looked good today, the continued playing of Gerrard over Can and the abysmal performances of Dejan Lovren have called Rodgers’s judgement into serious question. The league table speaks for itself: 18 points off top and 7 off the top 4 is not even close to good enough. Rodgers has been given enough time to see the weaknesses and fix them; he has instead opted to blindly ignore the flaws in our team in the hope that they will magically fix themselves. Consequently, his job is hanging by a thread – defeat at Arsenal next weekend will surely push him over the edge. For his sake and the team’s, let’s hope he can turn things around quickly.