Anfield – Fortress or Mattress?

By dedlfc

The biggest problem we’ve faced this season has been our lack of a cutting edge especially at home so we went into the FA Cup game which was unusually arranged for a Friday evening looking to bounce back from the 3-0 loss against title favourites Man City.

Before the game there was a fitting tribute of a minutes silence with a rousing rendition of “There’s only one Gary Ablett!” which I felt should have been recognised by Man City at the Etihad Stadium.

Massive credit must be given to Oldham for their performance at our ground and it was a valiant attempt to threaten one of the biggest FA shocks in the tournament’s history.

In the end the quality of our captain Stevie Gerrard and the effervescent Craig Bellamy was the main difference between the sides.

Oldham created countless chances at the beginning of the game with the man mountain, Kuqi giving Coates and Carragher kittens.

 As early as the 10th minute, Kuqi smashed his way through challenges with Coates and Carragher to find himself in front of goal, but he blazed his shot wide when he probably should have scored.

Shortly afterwards, on-loan Norwich defender Tom Adeyemi found himself flying into the box unchallenged to get on the end of Robbie Simpson's corner.

Oldham will be able to take with them the glorious moment of taking the lead at Anfield through a stunning left footed long range effort from Robbie Simpson – which left Reina with no chance.

The vital thing is that we equalised within 2 minutes to give us the impetus to take back control of the game. Our equaliser came via a deflected shot from Jonjo Shelvey which Craig Bellamy was again in the right place at the right time.

In football the minutes just before and after half-time are influential to the way a game pans out and the vital moment of this game was on 45 minutes when a cross was played through from Gerrard for Maxi who was bowled over with the referee pointing to the spot.

Liverpool’s recurring problem of missed penalties was remedied (with Gerrard himself previously being one of the culprits). But this time our captain Stevie G stepped up and planted the ball into the top corner to give us a 2-1 lead at half-time.

Fantastic to have him back as our leader on the pitch – he improves the team by another 40% and when he plays Andy Carroll looks more of a threat in the side.  Some more excellent work by Bellamy set up Shelvey’s first goal since his return to us from his loan spell at Blackpool.  A very cool finish from a young player who has seemingly flourished having spent the first half of the season on loan.

It is such a massive shame for Bellamy, let alone us, that he has to be protected and can’t play two games in a week due to poor knees because he has been a wonderful free transfer signing and always makes things happen for us – he was outstanding and up to the point he was substituted by Downing and left the pitch to rapturous applause from the LFC fans.

Liverpool's dynamic duo (Image from Liverpool Daily Post)

When Andy Carroll came on with 4 minutes left I thought it was just a kind gesture by our manager on Carroll’s 23^rd birthday but Carroll was determined to make an impression and he did just that with a soon to become trademark left foot strike from about 25 yards which he hit on the sweet point of his boot with aplomb for his first goal in front of the Kop to make it 4-1.

Stewart Downing has many critics, me included, due to his lack of goals and assists since swapping the Villa shirt for a LFC shirt, but he showed determination in being in the right place at the right time by reacting quickest to a save from a John Flanagan’s shot which was parried into his path, to score from an acute angle placed the ball home to make it a very flattering 5-1.

The other major talking point apart from the match was the unsavoury incident late in the game where Tom Adeyemi went to take a throw in near the Kop and was deeply hurt by an alleged comment by a section of the LFC fans sitting near the Kop. Since the game it has come to light that Adeyemi has given a statement to the Police stating that he was a victim of a racist attack.

Tom Adeyemi points out alleged abuser (Image from Daily Telegraph)

This time unlike the Suarez case LFC has taken the correct steps to make a statement saying: - “We will continue to work with the Police to establish the details of what actually happened and will make a further statement in due course.”

If the person/people who have made the alleged comment are found guilty I would like the club to take the appropriate action and give a lifetime ban to the people involved.

Hopefully this situation can be resolved in the best possible way to appease first the upset player Tom Adeyemi, Oldham, LFC, our fans and the police.  On a night when Liverpool FC remembered one of its favourite sons, to have what should’ve been a night to remember, end with a potentially embarrassing and disgraceful incident was disappointing to say the least.

Back to the game the encouraging thing was that for a change we kept going until the 90^th minute and got the extra goals that we wouldn’t normally get.  A 5-1 score line may have flattered us but throughout this season we have moaned about not being clinical but in this game we put the ball in the net with confidence and calmness and I hope this is the way we mean to carry on this year.

dedlfc Man of the Match: Craig Bellamy – pace, awareness and the ability to cross from either wing – was a constant threat until he came off.