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!
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Bloggers RedAlert and Dedlfc outside The Hawthorns |
Sitting amongst the WBA, was a bit strange, as on my left hand side the Reds made more noise then the whole of the WBA fans, singing away to the beat of the drums.
ReplyDeleteAgree we could have buried the game early in the first half, but chances went on chances.
Skrtel and Agger combination seemed under control, and they bother were whipping the passes from left to right, and keeping the ball away from Pepe Reina. At times, we did have threats, some very close to the goal line, but we mentioned to scramble the ball out.
I thought Lucas stood out, played well and controlled the midfield with great touches and passing to break up play.
We had a great view of Downing linking interchange the play with Class Enrique, but Downing final ball was disappointing, but saying that we cannot keep whipping the ball to Carroll and hoping he puts his head to it, hardly anyone else attacked the ball, a waste of play.
Agree Man of the Match. Not only did he score, also his work rate helping defence to break up play was great.
It was a pleasure to see the boys live on Saturday evening – they had a comfortable 2-0 win and should have again been more clinical.
ReplyDeletededlfc
this is coming from a WBA season ticket holder.
ReplyDelete" At the game on saturday, no complaints from me, as a WBA season ticket holder I can honestly say it WAS a penalty and we got exactly what we deserved out of the game, nothing!! Credit to Liverpool, a deserved win "
RedAlert
Nice to see an opoosition fan taklng sense. We should have had 3 pens, one for a fairly blatant hand ball and one when Carroll got absolutely emtied for a set piece delivery. West Brom have bothing to moan about.
ReplyDeleteThought the lads played well and nice to see a clean sheet for a change.
We were excellent. Dominated the match from start to finish. I thought Agger and Skrtel were excellent and as I said in the blog, will be interesting to see if Carragher is available for the Swansea game whether he pops straight back into the line-up. Glen Johnson had his best game for a long time defensively, not vacating his defensive responsibilities and Enrique, put in another stellar performance.
ReplyDeleteThought Lucas as he does, brought back some solidity and also created a few attacks with some positive passes, especially the one to Suarez which he turn played a glorious first time pass to Carroll who did well to score. Carroll was superb. Never stopped running from the 1st minute to the 90th and held the ball up well and some of his first time touches were great. Adam had a decent rather strong match.
Pepe still a tad suspect under the high ball and Downing final ball was non-existent in this match and Henderson as is his wont ran his heart out and I get the feeling he will play in that narrow wide position especially when we play away from home for the majority of the season.
Probably the most convincing victory we've had in a long while, especially without G&C, as WBA were just not at the races. They seemed more concerned with the referee's decisions rather than concentrating on the game.
The following is from Matt Grainger a life long WBA season ticket holder who kindly obtained a ticket for myself:
ReplyDelete"yeah we just didn't turn up on saturday, you completely dominated, though for all that I don't remember Foster having to save too mnay
no complaints with the penalty, it was clear, it was just frustrating that the ref who is 5 yards from it says no and is then (rightly) over ruled by his linesman who's 15 yards away.
still not convinced about your prospects for this season, without gerrard i think your midfield lacks creativity and pace, downing is solid but hasn't replicated his form from last year, adam is good from corners and set pieces but he's no xabi alonso, and am waiting to see what jordan henderson does apart from run around for 90 mins, doesn't tackle, doesn't score doesn't create
after watching spurs yday i'd say that they're the team to catch in the race for 4th"
Matt Grainger
Don't disagree with your comments about Adam . As I've been saying all season, I don't believe that Adam can play in a two in the centre and is a bigger threat playing further uo the field, although I think its a tad unfair on and Henderson who is a centre-midfielder being asked to play as a wide man and is doing a relatively decent job.
ReplyDeleteI thought when Cox came on it added more impetus and incisiveness to your play and Tchoyi up front was a handful, just needed more help with people running off him, but our defence was pretty robust all match in subdueing the threat.
Actually talking about Henderson, Steve Clarke's being pretty fulsome in his praise.
I hear he is the last one to leave training, working really hard on his finishing and getting into goal scoring positions. He is certainly improving but if he is to play, it should be in a central position. We need crosses from the right as well as the left.
ReplyDelete