Suarez In Irrepressible Form As Liverpool Get Back To Winning Ways

While the £35 million Liverpool paid for Carroll is looking and must feel like a mill around the player's neck, the £22 million the club paid for Suarez is beginning to resemble a bargain and it will come as no surprise if Liverpool are fending of bids for the player in the January transfer window. Suarez is undoubtedly world class, leads by example, and like Steven Gerrard before him he hates to lose and it is these qualities which helped Liverpool finally dispose of a spirited Wolves.

After his man of the match performance against Brighton in midweek, Bellamy must have counted himself unlucky not to have got a start, but King Kenny's decision to back Carroll is not surprising given his support of the striker and a player needing to find his confidence. Carroll's performance was encouraging linking up well with Suarez and almost getting himself on the score sheet with a header against the post. But it was his striker partner, who with some outrageous touches (one back heel past a defender while spinning away to collect the ball was simply glorious) lit the Anfield touch paper. His goal when he twisted the defender inside out before smoking the ball past the onrushing goalkeeper's near post was delightful. Bill Shankly famous quote could almost have been tailored made for him "When he goes at them the way he does, you don't want to be a defender. He gives them twisted blood".

Worryingly again, Liverpool's profligacy in front goal warrants inspection. Three glorious chances inside the box in the second-half went a begging, with the Downing chance being the most glaring miss being one on one with the keeper and having the choice to roll to either Adam or Suarez. That it led to a nervous end was understandable coming on the back of two successive League defeats, but Liverpool's performance lends one to two areas of concern.

First, in eight first class games this term Liverpool have only kept a clean sheet in one game and that was against a ten man Arsenal. Jamie Carragher's performances have been placed under the microscope, any any fair minded person would have to say that his performances have been way below-par to say the least, in fact against Tottenham he was made to look decidedly uncomfortable with the movement and pace of Adebayo and Defoe. With the injury to Agger and the relative inexperience of Coates, Carragher's experience and leadership at the back is intrinsic to our success. He was never the quickest, but his game was based on his physicality and ability to read the game and with our two biggest games of the season in Everton and Man United approaching we need Carra to find that old level of performance of yesteryear.

The second area of concern is in the midfield. Charlie Adam passing ability is well documented, but is he capable of driving on and controlling the tempo of a game? At Blackpool, he invariably had two holding midfielders doing the donkey-work which enabled him to create a lot of damage in the last third of the pitch. In his present role alongside Lucas he has to decide when to empty the midfield, as such his doesn't get forward as much. But, when the Liverpool midfield are pressed the combination of Adam, Henderson and Lucas are not able to dominate. The ease in which Modric and specifically Parker bossed the midfield last week led to Adam's sending off as he cut a frustrated figure beaten time and time again in the tackle and pressed back in possession of the ball because of his lack of pace. With every game that goes by, Jordan Henderson is seemingly playing a more narrow game with Kelly the outlet down the right hand side.

Bellamy's performance in midweek shows what pace can do, but even more than that he is a quality footballer who would add to our goal threat and has great delivery which would help Andy Carroll know-end with quality service available not just from Downing. Also, is there a misnomer with the Liverpool coaching staff believing the team to be more open in defence with Bellamy on the pitch? Anyone, who has watched Craig Bellamy can testify to the amount of work he puts in defensively and if that is the thought then surely, Dirk Kuyt would offer more to the team in that position that having Henderson, a centre-midfield player by trade playing on the right side?

All in all, we are back on the winning trail with yet another awe-inspiring performance by Suarez. He was replaced by Gerrard, who in the remaining ten minutes or so showed his appetite remain undiminished flashing a volley past the post in inimitable Gerrard like fashion and showing that Liverpool as yet do not have a midfield player capable of taking on his mantle – but then again neither does the Premiership…

Man of the Match: Luis Suarez. Great appetite in everything he does and his hunger was shown in being substituted and kicking over a water bottle in frustration. A two footed-player which makes him so dangerous in the penalty box when allied to his brilliant close-control.

Bellamy Pulls Liverpool Through

This was a game where Liverpool weren't just bouncing back from two successive defeats, but questions were suddenly been asked about the manager and team by critics, who have suddenly come out of the woodwork, where before the Bolton result they were know where to be seen, but I guess that's the vagaries of football.

An early move which saw Spearing shoot from around 20 yards showed Liverpool's intent with a quicker sharper build-up involving Kuyt, Suarez and Bellamy. A few moments later that sharp, crisp movement ended with Suarez and Bellamy combining to put us ahead. Not for the first time this season this fluidity of movement is made all the more apparent without the starting presence of Andy Carroll. What Bellamy brings to the equation is incisiveness, class and the added ingredient of raw pace, something we lack throughout the first team.

But then just as in the Stoke game, we missed a plethora of chances which instilled confidence in a very good Brighton side. The sharp and incisive running disappeared and our first half confidence dissipated, to be replaced by heavy touches and passes and as the game wore on indiciveness affected all parts of our game, with Brighton dominating periods of possession.

After a long six months, the return of Steven Gerrard added some much needed composure, but in the end, as he had been from the start in was pure and simple the class of Craig Bellamy which dragged Bolton's brave response. As Kuyt's game clincher proved, there is no substitute for pace and Bellamy has it by the bucket load.

Granted it was Brighton, but Bellamy is class by anyone's standards and he must have made a pitch for a start against Wolves on Saturday. His performance with the return of the 'Great One' gives us something to look forward too after a turbulent start to the week.
Kop-post man of the match: Craig Bellamy

Passion and Quality In Short Supply

 

We were second best from the kick-off and worse still it seemed we left our intensity and verve back at the Brittania Stadium. 

That we were hindered by the manager having an off day in sending the midfield out to contain rather to create and trying to get away with playing Skrtel again at right-back up against Bale, the eventual sending off was like a car crash waiting to happen without the air bag protection of Dirk Kuyt in front of him. With Flanagan watching on from the sidelines, his exclusion just did not make any sense.

If ever an early change in either personnel or formation should have been made early on this was it.  The defence found it difficult to cope with the movement of Adebayor and Defoe, with Bale and Kyle Walker making hay down the flanks.  Jamie Carragher was virtually not existent and while he is a key member of the squad, his lack of pace has been there for all to see in the last two games.

Modric and Parker dominated Adam and Lucas in every way and it only added to Adam’s frustration with not having the time on the ball to build Liverpool’s forward momentum.

This blog has tried to give Andy Carroll the benefit of the doubt and while today’s result was not down to him as he was hindered by a lack of quality service with Downing seemingly playing in a supportive midfield role, his lack of menace was poor in the extreme. He was beaten to virtually every header and his biggest contribution was a defensive tackle.  The concern for most supporters is that when Carroll starts Liverpool’s play looses fluidity and becomes one dimensional with long balls knocked up to the ‘big man’.

In addition, Daniel Agger’s fragility is becoming a concern.  He seems susceptible to knocks against his hip and his injury record must be close to rivalling that of Aurelio’s.

What was really dispiriting as a supporter was that Suarez and Enrique apart, there appeared nothing we could do to change the result.  There was a stage in the first fifteen minutes of the second-half where Spurs seemed to be running out of ideas and Liverpool needed to inject some inspiration and pace with Kuyt (unlucky not to start) and Bellamy warming-up ‘King Kenny’ and Clarke seemed to have got the message.  Instead, for some reason they waited when we were offering nothing creatively, but still in the game and paid a heavy price with the sending off of Skrtel.

It is not the fact that we are already eight points behind Man United (although that’s no consolation), it’s the fact that we lost the game in such a tame fashion on the pitch and on the sidelines.

A Tale of Missed Opportunities

Twenty strikes on goal, a contentious penalty and an inflamed manager. Chances a plenty for Suarez and on another day he could quite easily have bagged a hat-trick. It was one of those days when we could quite easily have racked up a cricket score, but we were too profligate in front of goal.

In one move which resulted in Henderson being put through one on one with the keeper, he had three attempts on goal, with Adam himself having two attempts in an unbelievable segment of play. With late attempts on goal and a penalty attempt in could well have been so different and another day Liverpool would have had two goals before Stoke's penalty.

I would rather not waste space on here commenting on the referee, but talk-up the positives, that Liverpool proved that we can be inventive and creative, but we have to find a way to put away chances as the top teams do. If it's not going to be Suarez then others have to consistently come to the party, as they did against Bolton, especially against teams like Stoke whose style of play is well documented and as such comes as no surprise.

The fact that we missed so many chances only accentuates the pain of not winning a match which we so patently dominated and with all our rivals winning even at such an early stage in the season the five point gap seems a large one, especially when we have another tough game on the horizon against Spurs. But we'll go to White Hart Lane on the back of a strong committed performance which only bodes well for the future. Rome wasn't built in a day, but the foundations are now in place.

Lastly, 'King Kenny' refrained from choosing a purely combative side to play Stoke which has been the Liverpool way over the last few seasons and if anything proved that this side is capable of out battling and out playing very good sides.

Now the trick is to see how we bounce back from our first defeat of the season.