09th May2012

Liverpool 4 Chelsea 1: Farewells and New Entrances

by backofthenet

Yesterday, the Kop stood up to give Argentinian winger a standing ovation in what looked to be his farewell match in front of the Anfield faithful. Yesterday also saw the coming of Andy Carroll, as the Englishman provided a man of the match performance to win over the Kop.

Another Unhappy Homecoming for Mr Torres

First of all, I do understand the importance of not getting too excited after this result. I will admit that although they had the likes of Ramires, Terry and Lampard in the team, they indeed missed the core of the team in Petr Cech, Ashley Cole, Didier Drogba and especially their creative midfielder/winger Juan Mata. Ross Turnbull absolutely gifted Jonjo Shelvey his goal, although he did indeed take it very well.

Although it was a performance that saw neither of Liverpool’s strikers go on the scoresheet, it was a performance that will certainly provide Liverpool FC season ticket holders with a performance to remember, and potentially what could become the most potent strikeforce in the Premier League.

Andy Carroll won most of his aerial battles against John Terry, who was made to have a dismal game by Liverpool’s attacking duo. Luis Suarez provided his usual magic, and even managed to nutmeg the now ex-English International Captain on numerous (yes, more than one) occasions).

I’ve talked about Jordan Henderson needing to move forward and think about the forward passing instead of the square passes recently and I think he’s gaining confidence by the week. His goal will certainly do him a world of good, and can only be something to build on for next season.

As you guys know, I’m also a big fan of our English youngster in Raheem Sterling. I was happy to see him get those short minutes out there, and he almost made an immediate impact after pouncing on to a header and then just snatching it at the finish after out-pacing his marker. He also showed that he indeed was a bit of a showboat, a type of player of which Liverpool haven’t had in a while. A few stepovers before completing the move with a through pass. I honestly think that he is the real deal, and is ready to make his breakthrough season next season.

Yesterday we also said goodbye to Argentinian midfielder/winger/second striker Maxi Rodriguez. A fantastic servant to the club and really deserves more games in my opinion. Salvaged Liverpool’s second half of the season last year with a few inspiring hat-tricks to help Liverpool recover from their awful start to the season under now England manager Roy Hodgson.

Category : Liverpool FC, Match Reports
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06th May2012

Chelsea 2 Liverpool 1: Leaving it too Late

by backofthenet

Dejection and disappointment. That just about sums up the feelings of the Liverpool fans, players and coaches around the world. So close yet so far, and Liverpool will have to settle with the Carling Cup after an otherwise dismal 2011/12 campaign.

Chelsea scored the two opening goals of the game, with Liverpool swept away by the Blues in the opening proceedings as Ramires and Didier Drogba put their respective goals past Pepe Reina, whom returned following being rested in Liverpool’s mid-week defeat to London side Fulham.

Liverpool FC were struggling to cope against the now-FA Cup Champions. Chelsea had more imagination, they created more, and Liverpool were genuinely wandering to defeat with no conviction in the performance whatsoever until Andy Carroll showed up. It was the 55th minute, where a substitution changed the complexion of the game completely. Andy Carroll brought on for Jay Spearing, and it’s not the type of player who would directly strike fear into the hearts of Chelsea defenders given his recent form. But give them an absolutely torrid time he did.

His first goal was just a splendid striker’s goal. Control in his touch, cool in his turn and absolute power in his finish to fire it past a helpless Petr Cech to inject much needed life to a struggling Liverpool side. Maybe that was one key mistake that Kenny Dalglish made – not picking the lanky Englishman for the final. But even more than Carroll, I question the decision to put Maxi Rodriguez on the bench. This would have been the game that he would have done so well in. We’ve even seen that twice this season, where Kenny Dalglish has taken a gamble and played the Argentine against Chelsea, and he rewarded his manager on both occasions with well taken goals at Stamford Bridge.

I thought there was an equalizer on the 82 minute mark. Andy Carroll managed to beat his marker in the air, and he seemed to put his header just past the line. I think it should have been a goal. Liverpool were unlucky in that respect, and the fact that that’s another one hitting it against the crossbar perhaps makes it worse for the Reds. Just a bit unlucky. But it has to be said that Liverpool left it way too late, and they paid the price by losing the FA Cup.

But that sets up quite nicely for the next Chelsea-Liverpool clash in just a few days time. Both teams with nothing to play for in the Premier League, although Liverpool will most certainly want to put one over the Londoners when they visit Anfield. Should make for a good game.

Category : Liverpool FC, Match Reports
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02nd May2012

Liverpool 0 Fulham 1: Does Noone Want to Play At Wembley?

by backofthenet

Liverpool’s home trouble continued, although Kenny Dalglish will have an excuse in using his second stringers for this one, ahead of the FA Cup final this weekend.

The Formation

(4-4-2) Doni, Kelly, Skrtel, Coates, Aurelio, Rodriguez, Henderson, Spearing, Shelvey, Kuyt, Carroll

3 Interesting Things About the Match

The Introduction of Raheem Sterling

Raheem Sterling looks well and truly ready to become a household name among the Liverpool faithful, as he lit up the crowd with his arrival from the bench in the second half. Brought more spark to a very lackluster Liverpool performance and the crowd buoyed him on with some cheers.

Was limited due to time constraints and provided a cross that should have been put into the back of the net by his Liverpool counterparts. Forget Stewart Downing, Raheem Sterling has a huge future ahead of him. A fantastic prospect for the future.

A Reliable Second Choice Keeper

Today saw the first time Alexander Doni returning between the posts for Liverpool FC. He showed that he was a reliable second choice for Liverpool, and that he was worthy of keeping beyond this season should any doubts arise about his future come the transfer window in summer.

Produced a couple of smart saves to prevent the Cottagers from doubling their lead in the second half and couldn’t be blamed for Fulham’s opener through Skrtel’s own goal.

Jay Spearing Shouldn’t Play on Saturday

Although Spearing has come out and said that he deserves to be in that Liverpool starting XI, I disagree with that statement following a shocking performance from the English defensive midfielder. His passing was sloppy at best throughout the course of the game.

Moreover, his tackling was poor in terms of timing, giving away fairly needless fouls and giving Fulham the upper hand in this one. I would be surprised if he even comes on in the FA Cup final come the weekend.

Category : Liverpool FC, Match Reports
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29th Apr2012

Norwich City 0 Liverpool FC 3: A Classy Performance

by backofthenet

Liverpool FC’s Luis Suarez produced a masterclass of a performance to help Liverpool to a 3-0 victory over mid-table side Norwich City, scoring 3 goals en route to claiming the match ball for this matchup. 

The Lineup

Andy Carroll was left out of the match squad for this encounter, with the Englishman not even making the bench for this one. Suarez played as lone striker up top whilst Slovakian defender Martin Skrtel was left on the bench for this match.

Liverpool: Reina; Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Enrique; Bellamy, Henderson, Gerrard, Shelvey, Downing; Suarez

Subs: Doni, Maxi, Coates, Kuyt, Spearing, Kelly, Skrtel

Luis Suarez’s Hat-Trick

What a player. What a player. There are just times when it’s frustrating to watch the Uruguayan, where he hits his shots off target and tries to do too much. Yesterday just wasn’t one of those days. Suarez took his chances as he got them and even capped off his hat-trick on the 81st minute mark with a splendid shot from 45 yards. His shots were clinical, and they did the job against a Norwich that the Reds failed to dispose off in their previous meeting.

Suarez opened the scoring after taking a Steven Gerrard through pass in his stride, before finishing off neatly into the far corner. The next oppourtunity for the Uruguayan was well taken as well, with Suarez found himself in space after beating a defender before powering it past a helpless John Ruddy into the bottom left hand corner. And he capped off his hat-trick late on in the second half.

The Possession Game

Liverpool’s performances this season tell the same story of Barcelona in their last 3 games. (not counting the one later on today against Rayo Vallecano) It’s been possession, possession and more possession with out the goals to show for the domination. It has always been that one shot on goal against us that has meant for our downfall. Today we saw a lot of the ball once again, but we only saw that after Luis Suarez had scored twice. He used his quick feet to get past defenders and you could even say that both of those goals were counter-attacking goals, something that we have struggled to do over the course of this season.

We take too much time on the ball and it allows the opposition team to reshuffle and organize their defence. Plus, this is very repetitive, and the teams we have been playing against have all recognized this weakness. Luckily for today, Suarez was on fire, as he put most of his chances to bed.

Category : Liverpool FC, Match Reports
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23rd Apr2012

Liverpool 0 WBA 1: Predictably Unpredictable

by backofthenet

If there were two words that summed up Liverpool FC’s season, they would be ‘predictably unpredictable’. That’s simply the case with so many games with Liverpool. They just can’t seem to get a winning run going, hence languishing in 8th place at the moment.

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Steven Gerrard was rested, as Liverpool crashed to a 1-0 defeat to West Bromwich Albion.

It was a game that Liverpool dominated, although in all honesty, West Brom still came up with the better chances. Despite us knocking on the post on several occasions, it was West Brom that tested the opposing goalkeeper more. Pepe Reina had to come up with a few superb saves to stop West Brom from taking the lead before they did, and West Brom scored the type of goal that they wanted to score, whilst Liverpool conceded the type they didn’t want to concede.

So, what to make of that game? Well, I can say that defensive lapses are still in the plenty in this Liverpool side, despite being strong at the back for 89 minutes, with Glen Johnson’s almost catastrophic mistake assisting West Brom as they climbed up 3 places in the league table thanks to overcoming the Reds.

Liverpool, and Dirk Kuyt and Luis Suarez in particular didn’t manage to take their chances. For Luis Suarez’s case, he tried all he could, and he just got unlucky on a few occasions, although one must feel that the Uruguayan should pass slightly more, with there being a better oppourtunity should he have passed instead of shot on a few occasions over the course of the game. Dirk Kuyt, on the other hand, had chances served to him on a plate, and he squandered a number of fantastic plays which left him yards open on that vulnerable left flank of West Brom.

Andy Carroll struggled to make an impact in this game, although he did win a couple of headers and provided a lot of presence with his closing down from behind defenders to steal the ball.

One other thing I can’t help but notice was the overwhelming number of corners, especially in the first half of the game. West Brom seemed happy to clear it out for a corner, and we failed to take the chances, with both Jordan Henderson and Luis Suarez producing underwhelming crosses in light of Gerrard’s absence and Craig Bellamy and Stewart Downing’s non-starts.

We just need to get a good run going. The focus is still always going to be on next season, if not the FA Cup.

Category : Liverpool FC, Match Reports
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14th Apr2012

Liverpool FC 2 Everton 1: The Strikers Do Their Job

by backofthenet

Relief and joy. The two most jointly felt emotions amongst the Liverpool faithful right now. The strikers did their job, grabbing a goal each for their undying efforts and we dumped our Merseyside rivals Everton out of the FA Cup.

Andy Carroll celebrated yet another joyous start for the Reds after he managed to score the crucial goal late on in the game at Wembley to see Liverpool through to their second cup final during this 2011/12 campaign. The win gives Liverpool another chance for silverware this season with only Chelsea or Tottenham (their semi-final is to be played tomorrow) standing in their way of us and our second piece of silverware this term.

So, to the game. I personally think that this game will be the game where our strikers performed. They worked well as a team and looked eager to score goals. Andy Carroll was doing his best to pounce on every loose ball, although firing the ball at Tim Howard’s goal at almost random fashion. Luis Suarez was in and around that penalty box and tried to sniff out every oppourtunity that could be found. Could perhaps be criticized slightly for being a little to show-offy due to the nature of his dribbling – finding ‘pannas’ everytime he had the chance. Although some indeed did come off and worked fantastically in his favour.

Errors seemed to be the order of the day for this one. Liverpool FC went 1-0 down in a rather closely contested 1st half, with both Carragher and Agger being caught with a defensive mix-up. Carragher failing to clear his lines and Jelavic having Carragher’s clearance rebound to him for an easy goal.

Liverpool lacked innovation in the first half. As so often seen this season, this Liverpool side was disappointing. It showed little flashes of brilliance in the first half, with noone taking the real risks in the midfield to really help dominate the game, and more importantly at that point, score the equalizer. Liverpool went into the break 1-0 down and distraught at the thought of being behind their fierce rivals after a closely contested first half.

But Liverpool came back in the second half with a vengeance. As early as the 47th minute, Stewart Downing produced an inch perfect cross that seemed destined for the back of the net with the guidance of Andy Carroll’s header. Somehow, beyond at least 15 laws of physics, the ball didn’t go in.

Liverpool still lacked the spark. But another mistake, this time from Everton defender Sylvain Distin, as the defender, in the heat of the moment, played a pass that gave Luis Suarez a clear path between him and the goal. There never seemed a doubt as to whether the Uruguayan would put it into the back of the net, as the striker used the outside of his foot to put the ball into the back of the net into Tim Howard’s far post.

Kenny Dalglish brought fresh legs on, Rodriguez and Bellamy being decisive in the closing moments. On the 87th minute mark, Liverpool had a free kick on the left wing. Craig Bellamy then put in a beautiful ball for Andy Carroll to make it 2-1. Surely game over. A game that produced lots of end-to-end football. A fantastic spectacle to watch.

Two Liverpool Fans’ Man of the Match: Luis Suarez

Who else?

Category : Liverpool FC, Match Reports
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11th Apr2012

Blackburn Rovers 2 Liverpool FC 3: Drama to the Death

by backofthenet

With 6 key players clearly rested as Kenny Dalglish and his men looked towards the FA Cup semi-final clash with Everton this upcoming weekend, it was clear what the intentions were.

But a night that should have stuck to plan went horribly wrong.

Liverpool had a game plan, to reach the FA Cup tie without injuries or suspensions, but it was in the goalkeeping department, where it had been so secure for so long thanks to the safe hands of Pepe Reina, went horribly wrong. Pepe Reina’s sending off to Newcastle United a week or so back meant that Doni made his long-awaited Premier League debut, and Liverpool can even count themselves lucky to finish with an adequate goalkeeper in Brad Jones still in the available squad for Wembley.

So let’s just get to the main details of the game. The first goal came courtesy of a bit of brilliance from Slovakian defender Martin Skrtel, as the defender produced a 65 yard first time pass from his own area, one that even Xavi would have been proud of to the pacy Craig Bellamy, who crossed the ball into the box for Argentinian winger/second striker Maxi Rodriguez to put into the back of the net. 1-0 lead for Liverpool.

Shelvey was the main catalyst behind the second goal. The Englishman charged forward and gained 30 yards on the dribble before launching a shot that Paul Robinson could only parry straight to Andy Carroll, who’s shot was blocked, but luckily for Liverpool, Rodriguez was there to put his follow-up past the ex-English international.

But it was only until the 25th minute before drama unfolded. Jon Flanagan placed a backpass that left Doni with a lot of ground to cover, before the Brazilian brought down Blackburn’s Junior Hoilett inside his own penalty box. Red card, and a dejected Doni walked out of Ewood Park.

Brad Jones was then brought on for the shaky Flanagan with the task of stopping Yakubu’s penalty from going in. Did that he did, and he tried to reorganize that Liverpool back 4 that seemed all so unfamiliar. Henderson at rightback, Coates and Skrtel in the center and Glen Johnson out left.

But the floodgates could only keep the water out for so long.

David Dunn found Yakubu with the dead ball and put it into the back of the net to make amends for his penalty that was saved just earlier on in the first half. But it was what happened next in the second half that really provided all the drama.

Jones brought down Yakubu in his box as the supporters from Merseyside held their breath. Thankfully, it was only a yellow for the Liverpool 3rd choice goalkeeper. The Nigerian duly to his second invitation to score from the spot and Liverpool were left to wonder what could have been once again, as they looked destined to drop another 2 points.

But Carroll provided the decider. Daniel Agger helped the ball into the path of Andy Carroll before the lanky Englishman provided a bit of brilliance with a diving header to win it right at the death for Liverpool. A 3-2 win for Liverpool.

What a game.

Category : Liverpool FC, Match Reports
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