Liverpool Rocket Past West Bromwich Albion in Cruise Control

Having to sit in amongst the WBA fans made the victory all the more sweeter. To say we coasted to victory would be to underestimate our complete dominance from first minute to last. Once again we missed enough chances enough to have buried the game by half time, with Glen Johnson and Jose Enrique offering support and interchanging with Henderson and Downing respectively. Carroll had his best game since the home game against Man City last season and encouragingly looking stronger as the game went on.

Lucas on his returned bolstered the midfield defensively, nipping in and destroying attacks time and again. He engineered swift counter attacks allowing Adam the time and space to play a few range finder cross-field balls finding Suarez or Carroll. Suarez nimble feet drew the penalty which Adam dispatched with aplomb. As said, Downing linked well with Enrique, but his final ball was disappointing and he wasn't fully convincing in attacking the right back and was lucky to stay on as long he did.

It will be interesting to see if King Kenny decides to stick with the Skrtel and Agger combination as they handled the aerial threat of Somen Tchoyi and the pace of Odemwingie allowing Pepe Reina to have his first shut-out since beating Everton.

A final word on the performance of our Man of the Match Andy Carroll. His goal was well taken after a glorious build-up. He led the line well and held the ball up linking well with Suarez and the midfield. His work rate was prodigious and he was given massive ovation from the Liverpool fans when he continued defend from the front and put pressure on the defence.

Ps As an aside we met Lee, an AFC Wimbledon fan on the way back. He made this comment about Ryan Babel, "Babel, he couldn't beat an egg!" Funny man is Lee!

Bloggers RedAlert and Dedlfc outside The Hawthorns

Luis Suarez A Class Above

After twenty minutes it went through my mind and I'm sure all of you, that after yet another great start and a glut of missed chances, the possibility of throwing a way another winning opportunity was more than a possibility. Missed chances from our twin striking combo caused consternation as we all knew that Stoke would come back at some stage.
 
Coates made the mistake which led to the Stoke goal, but we saw enough of his ability on the ball to know that we may just have a rough diamond in our midst. We rode our luck with Stoke's disallowed goal and Pepe having a severe off night, but what was obvious from the moment Suarez pulled on the red number seven shirt for the first time, coincidentally against Stoke scoring on his debut in a 2-0 win, Liverpool possess a force of nature capable of deciding matches of his volition.

Stoke's luck may just have run out from our first meeting this season when a rear-guard action was just about all they had.  We showed character and strength to come back from 1-0 against a team who are among the most difficult to beat at home despite Dalglish making eight changes from the team he fielded against Norwich.
 
Suarez equalizer was pure and simple world class. He turned on a six pence, nut-megged Shotton and curled the ball inside the far post. The great thing about Suarez is his ability to not become inhibited by missed chances. He still offers himself and is becoming a go to man in the Gerrard vain. Apart from his all-round football ability, he also scores great goals and scruffy goals which is a talent in itself.
 
Carroll's showed signs of picking up the pace, but with service lacking from both sides of the pitch with Henderson and Maxi starting wide and the lack of creativity in the middle with Lucas and Spearing, he faded somewhat in the second-half as Stoke dominated for long periods. It wasn't until Dalglish brought on Bellamy that Liverpool upped their threat levels with Bellamy hitting the post with a drive just outside the box after an interchange with Carroll.

The decisive moment came when Henderson delivered sumptuous volleyed cross from a defensive header to leave the unmarked Suarez to plant a header into the back of the net.
 
Kop Post Man of the Match: Luis Suarez. A simply stunning performance and the level of his performances this season have to place him alongside David Silva as the early front runners for Player of the Season.

Opportunities Go A Begging Yet Again

That Liverpool missed enough chances to have won a number of games conclusively was disappointing. That Luis Suarez missed enough chances to pull himself well clear as the Premiership's top scorer was disappointing.

Not for the first time this season the Liverpool team that came out in the second-half at Anfield was unrecognisable from that of the first half and not for the first time this season the substitutions called into question the tactical decisions made from the side-line.

The dichotomy within Liverpool's performance was that the first twenty minutes was as good as anything seen at home and away in the last two seasons. The free-flowing football was superb with Gerrard playing within himself controlling the tempo of the game with Able Lieutenant Adam interchanging nicely with Liverpool were exerting pressure at will. But as we've found out time and time again football has a habit of kicking you in the teeth if chances are not taken from a position of dominance.

Bellamy's inclusion added to the number of match winners in Suarez, Gerrard, Adam, Downing and Kuyt which made all the more disappointed that we couldn't find a way to kill off a Norwich who deserved nothing more than a train ticket home. Suarez time and time again showed he is a class above, but these are the games, especially at home that we need win and the sub-standard nature of our finishing was made all the more galling, given how many of the chances were glaring opportunities inside the penalty area.

Having shown encouraging signs in his cameo from centre-midfield last week, it was disappointing to see Henderson come on to play on the right when it was patently apparent that Adam was flagging from the hour. Bellamy's substitution didn't seem to make any sense when he was offering quality in the final third and was tracking back when needed in addition to scoring the goal from his only decent opportunity.

Pepe was patently at fault for the goal, but two or free times Norwich got headers in beating Carragher and Skrtel comfortably in the air and twice early on in the second half Glen Johnson's personal satnav seem to go on the blink as he was palpably out of position.

All that being said, Gerrard and Adam were positives playing together, although Gerrard still looks someway short of match fitness. Pieces of skill from Suarez will live long in the memory, but players like Downing must stamp their own personality on the game and not be overawed by Suarez personality.

Downing on occasions will try to thread impossible balls through to Suarez instead of taking on the shot even when if he is better positioned. Recently, he has been unfairly chastised for not providing no assists this season, but as with yesterday is it his fault if those on the end of his crosses fail to hit the target?

Conclusion: The game should have been dead and buried after twenty minutes, but not for the first time this season we tailed off after a good start whether it's because of lack of concentration or disappointment or both, but it has to be stamped out. We closed positively with chances which on another day would have seen us home and hosed. It brings into question whether we are missing a clinical striker we can bring off the bench.

Instead of sitting quite comfortably among the elite we have thrown away an opportunity knowing that the race for fourth place will be as competitive as it has ever been we need to be winning matches we are expected to.

Man of The Match: Luis Suarez should have had a hat-trick and looked up occasionally to find better place teammates in the area, but that's all part of his make-up. Once again his all-round performance leading the line was at times sensational.

A Tale of Missed Chances

The disbelief we all felt was there for all to see upon leaving Anfield. We could and should have won a game in which Man Utd came for a draw and scored from a disappointing lapse in concentration where Skrtel was left gasping for air unable to cope with the movement of Hernandez.

In a disjointed first half Liverpool could conceivably have gone in one-up with Suarez, living on scraps, producing his usual flourish, to turn Evans inside and out unfortunately hit the ball straight at keeper when either side would have seen the net bulging. He also missed a close header from a glorious Gerrard cross to the near post.

I have commented previously on the blog that it is my belief that the combination of Lucas and Adam in the central areas doesn't lend itself to controlling the game. An impartial observation was difficult to make as Lucas produced an indeterminate performance in which he regularly lost possession and the vibrancy which his game is now all about was missing. Charlie Adam seemed ponderous on the ball, where Liverpool seemed to want him to dictate affairs in a more controlled way, rather than in the more destructive fashion of last season.

The injury to Lucas proved to be a pivotal moment as the addition of Henderson freed Adam of defensive responsibilities allowing Gerrard to move into a more central position and control the tempo of the game alongside Henderson who added drive from the centre which we don't see from Lucas and Adam.
Not to go overboard with Henderson's cameo role, who on another day could easily have won the game for Liverpool, but with the future in mind it was nice to see a centre-midfielder other than Steven Gerrard making tackles and driving forward to link up with Suarez.

Making Steve Gerrard Man of the Match is understandable given his goal and strong all round performance, but it could just have easily been Enrique who whether in defence or attack is extremely capable. In defence he is a great reader of the game intercepting and covering and often turning defence into attack, where he dovetails with Downing who enjoyed a fine last quarter to the match, recognising that the early cross was the order of the day, producing a peach of cross where by Dirk Kuyt almost won the game.

Gerrard's quality has been remarked upon a multitude of times over the last decade, but even with the promise of Liverpool's showing since Dalglish's return, he offers the team qualities which no other Liverpool player even comes close too, enabling him to lead by example rather than force of personality. Welcome back Stevie G.

Kop Post Man of the Match: Jose Enrique, yet another quality assured performance from a clever footballer.

Bellamy and Gerrard Help Suarez Extinguish The Everton Flame

A controversial decision by referee Martin Atkinson virtually killed the game as a contest, which up to that point had been too close to call. Harsh or not it helped and that's all that matters in a Derby match.

Suarez, undoubtedly the best player on the pitch, could and should have put Liverpool ahead after some glorious work from our very own 'Duracell Bunny' Kuyt controlling a mis-kick from Jagielka to produce a glorious lobbed cross to the ubiquitous Uruguayan, who from close range inexplicably headed straight into the arms Tim Johnson.Liverpool's failure to capitalise was not for the want of trying with Suarez intelligently turning Jagielka on the corner of the area coercing him into an impulsive tackle with Kuyt's resultant penalty saved. Charlie Adam, not having one of his most stellar games, unleashed a spectacular drive against the bar as the half came to a close.

Rodwell's sending off instead of giving Liverpool total dominance, the game became more stretched and brought Everton gaining more of a foothold. Lucas and Adam failed to influence the game from the middle and the question needs to be asked whether this pairing can develop into a formidable pairing in the future. Adam, I believe, is better suited to a role free of the defensive responsibility which so restricts his game at Liverpool compared to Blackpool. Some have suggested Adam needs to build-up his stamina levels, but playing him in a two in the centre highlights his lack of speed of the mark as he not the type of player who will surge past an opponent. Can we afford to give him a free role with two strikers and winger on the pitch? That is the question.

The answer to the question is for another time, as the removal of Adam and the ineffective Downing, led to game changing substitutes. Gerrard added an assemblance of control in the middle with short prompting passing, but it was the inclusion of Bellamy with his pace and incisive driving runs which led to our first goal, when he released the ever impressive Enrique overlapping down the left to cut back for Andy Carroll to dispatch impressively.

Carroll has been hammered unmercilessly, but as we have always stated on this blog he made his name scoring goals from great delivery in the right areas and we should judge him after he starts regularly and he has quality service. Yesterday he has could quite easily have scored a hat-trick and after a decent display Wolves he deserves some encouragement rather than the continuing knocks, after all his Liverpool career up to know has been stop start.The killer goal was all about the tenacity of Suarez and was well deserved for his selfless running and drive off the ball and his imposing play on it.

Going into the Man Utd game on the back of a win against Everton will help confidence. With Gerrard putting another twenty-five or so minutes into his legs there must be more than an even chance of him starting. Everyone knows Craig Bellamy's qualities which I mentioned in the Brighton blog and I believe any team starting with Gerrard, Bellamy, Suarez, Downing and an increasingly confident Andy Carroll will cause consternation in any opposition.

Let's hope that Fabio Capello see's sense and leaves Gerrard out of the next England squad.

Man of Match: Luis Suarez in danger of carrying the Liverpool team.