Allen The Pass Master Helps Aid Liverpool Recovery

The cauldron that is Anfield has over the last decade lent it itself to bolstering our displays against the top teams.  The positivity drawn from the game was that Liverpool didn't start like a house on fire, like a team raising its game from the getgo, but gradually after the initial quarter hour we imposed our passing game on Man City.

The key moment in the game as far as we were concerned may seem like an anomaly, as Lucas has been the fulcrum over the last couple of seasons went off with a thigh injury, but it allowed Joe Allen to move from a advanced position back into a pivotal deep lying position and as such knitting the defence to the attacking forces of the team with his precise passing.  Jonjo Shelvey also added thrust to the midfield with his running power and neatness on the ball. He is blossoming under the guidance of Rodgers coaching methods.

The midfield three of Gerrard, Shelvey and Allen bgean dominating, allowing Raheem Sterling, starting his first Premiership game to see plenty of the ball and the young man showing maturity beyond his years, playing with head and showing awareness of his colleagues, gave Kolo Toure a vastly experience defender a torrid time throughout the afternoon.  Gerrard’s early laser-guided cross field ball to Sterling was a sign of things to come and with Suarez looking sprightly Liverpool’s intent was there for all to see.

Just after the quarter hour, Streling fasten on to a short pass and cutting back on to his right foot delivered a most inviting cross to the near post which Borini met with a side foot and should have put the home side one up.  Almost immediately, Tevez sprung the offside trap and gliding past Reina clipped the ball across the goal from the most acute angle against the far post.

Liverpool adopting Rodgers philosophy to the eight degree stepped up the pressure, by hunting in packs high up the pitch to pressurise City and with midfield coming to the fore led by Allen acting as the conductor supreme, intercepting, prompting and probing giving his colleagues the time and space to operate in.  Gerrard as he has so often delivered a peach of a cross from the right channel which Kompany sliding in, could do no more than slice over his own goal.  Yet another glorious delivery from the resultant corner by the captain led to the opening goal, where Skrtel beating his marker all ends up delivered a typically robust header which tore into the red Anfield net to give Liverpool a deserved the lead.

Footballing guidance from the Governor

Liverpool came close to going adding to their lead when Suarez read a superb Allen reverse ball and curled the ball just past the upright.

The continued pressing in the second-half allowed Borini to intercept a loose pass early in the second-half and driving forward played an inviting pass through to Suarez on the run only for the forward to fluff his lines in the clinical zone.  Liverpool’s domination forced Mancini to bolster his midfield bringing on Rodwell and Dzeko for Balotelli and Nasri, which allowed Yaya Toure to move closer to the City engine room and get Tevez on the ball.  Immediately, Tevez drifted to the right channel and clipped over a across which the flailing Reina missed, and Kolo Toure tapped home after picking up the rebound off the unsuspecting Kelly.

Liverpool showed tremendous resilience and conviction to keep pressing forward and were rewarded when a Gerrard drive was handballed just outside the area by Rodwell.  With Gerrard and Suarez standing behind the ball, the betting considering Suarez previous efforts were on the club captain, but for once the Uruguyuan delivered a stunning free-kick from 25 yards bent round the wall and in the bottom corner of the net.  The stadium took off Star Trek Enterprise style while the scorer and his cohorts headed for the corner.

City responded bringing on David Silva for the ineffective Milner.  We continued to look comfortable until the impressive Skrtel, who had had erstwhile been a defensive rock, inexplicably turned blind playing ball back to the roving Tevez who rounded Reina to score his 100th top class goal in English football.

Andy Carroll, coming on for Borini,almost put Liverpool back ahead with a looped header which was cleared off off the line.  It was the last chance of match where a win was there for the taking, but in retrospect has shown the Liverpool faithful the potential is there even if there is a long way to go.
Allen showed that he could become the pass master than Liverpool have craved since Xabi Alonso’s exit and while Raheem Sterling is still a work in progress, he has shown just what pace, skill and conviction can do.  In one game he reached a level where Stewart Downing must look at himself and do some soul searching.

Rodgers said about Allen,  "I think the Liverpool supporters will enjoy watching this kid play football," Rodgers added. "He is 5ft 6ins but in terms of being a footballer he is 7ft 6ins.
"He's absolutely immense. His courage in getting on the ball, how he reads the game and his football intelligence is outstanding.  "We paid £15m for him and I said that very quickly that price would double and people probably laughed at me. "He will play here for many years and the supporters will love this kid." What should not be overlooked is Coates contribution, he looked composed on the ball and his distribution showed within a footballing environment he could develop into a very good footballing defender.

Rodgers comments suggest that reputations cut short shrift with him and players like Downing and Adam’s know that attitude and producing on the pitch is all the matters.  Rodgers comments about Sterling hints at this.

"I said when I first came in I wouldn't pick players on status or what they've done but on what I saw in front of me," Rodgers said. "He is a young player who has improved every single day I have been here.  "He was fighting for the team, showed real tactical understanding playing against a really experienced player in Kolo Toure." 

This was a promising performance from a Liverpool side who at times outplayed the Champions.  As good a performance as this was, the next three league games against Arsenal (home), Sunderland (away) and Manchester United (home) will give us a feel as to whether we are going in the right direction.
 
Man of The Match: Raheem Sterling – In only his first Premiership start, he showed a level of composure beyond his years which allied with his pace and skill made him a threat at every turn.  He showed awareness is a key part of game and gave Liverpool a thrust from wide which they haven’t had for good while.  His manager said, "For a 17-year-old lad coming in to play against the champions, I thought his performance was fantastic. “It was an easy decision to pick him.”
 
He still has some way to go, but is another that hopefully the Rodgers school of footballing science will aid in his development.

In any other game Joe Allen would have been the Man of The Match.  He controlled the tempo of the game and filled in for Lucas adding an extra dimension to the position in such a way that Rodgers may have further food for thought regarding the position in the future.