David Douglas (dedlfc)
After the disappointment of a home cup exit to Brendan Rodgers former side Swansea in midweek
Liverpool went into the home game against Newcastle hoping for a morale boosting victory.
We made a very fast start and after ten mins with Sterling in particular very bright and with Newcastle forced onto the back foot, the only thing missing was a goal to assist our hard endeavours.
It took 14 mins for a first shot from Demba Ba to wake up Newcastle. A curling free kick from Suarez after 19 mins was so far the closest we got to breaking the deadlock despite controlling the game. Very good save by Krul with his feet a minute later caused more panic in the Newcastle defence.
There was no more threat to either goal until Ben Arfa broke down the right and crossed with Cabaye scoring a powerful volley with Jones having no chance.
Yet another home game with us dominating a game and not getting the rewards for good play.
The first half ended with Suarez being the main culprit of not looking up and trying to find team mates thinking that he was the only player on the pitch.
The sprinkler system malfunctioned at half time which resulted in soaking our fans wet which summed up the thoughts of our fans with the Newcastle goal dampening their spirits.
The second half started quite evenly until Shelvey on for Sahin came on and provided a more seared cutting edge going forward. We feared one of those days when we would not get any reward for our hard work until after 66 mins a long hopeful ball from Enrique played into the box for Suarez was controlled beautifully on his chest and almost in one movement the miracle worker went around the keeper to equalise for his 7th league goal this season. (His first home league goal of this league campaign) What a player!
Suarez continued in the same vain going around the Newcastle defence a couple of mins later and set up Shelvey who missed an open goal.
After 75 mins danger man Suarez broke away and laid a ball to the right for Sterling who hits a deflected shot wide.
Collocini's red card after 83 mins with a studs high tackle on Suarez was deserved for serious foul play.
Shelvey missed another great chance with a volley straight at Krul, and the same player construed to miss another great chance by heading the ball straight at the keeper a few minutes later.
The last chance arrived with a Suarez free kick missing Shelvey's back header and looping over the bar.
The final whistle went with Liverpool again having to rue missed chances for a 1-1 final score.
Man of the match - Luis Suarez a world class finish from a world class player who tries to do things too much by himself but is a fantastic talent who we would really struggle without.
Negatives - the goal we scored today came from a direct punt up the field rather than the intricate football that Rodgers is hoping for. He needs to realise football is about scoring goals not just possession- we need to get more support to assist Suarez getting goals and even though he missed three gilt edged chances today I feel Shelvey offers more going forward than any of our midfielders including Gerrard and therefore should now be first choice instead of Sahin.
Its always interesting hear everyone talk about the club's need for a striker. Obviously, it would be good to get a top flight striker arrive in January, but I believe the club should be looking for two strikers to improve the depth of the squad.
ReplyDeleteEither that or yo blood Adam Morgan now and he may save the club the need to buy a second striker in the next window as it appears the club is cash strapped at the moment.
At the end of the day, with a decent striker in tow Liverpool could well be six points further up the league and the board has to take its share of the blame.
They must/have to bring someone in during January to at the very least take the burden of Suarez. While yer manager can make noises about Suarez loving his football and his life in the city, he's performing at a level which get Jim noticed by rivals at home and abroad and there is always the spectre of a top class Spanish player ended up in La Liga.
I agree that at the moment Shelvey adds more drive and threat even with his misses yesterday. Because at least he was in the right areas to miss.g
Very happy with our play, again Sterling and Suarez’s brilliant, (world Class GOAL!!) we started off excellently, high tempo , spreading the ball very well, but we need to burst more at the goal and there’s just not enough depth upfront in the striking department.
ReplyDeleteI said this before having possession is one thing, but it’s what you do with that possession, and in our case we don’t score goals, which is everything really…
Enrique played some terrible passing in the game and wasted so many crossing opportunities, not sure what’s going on his mind at the moment.
Ben Arfa should have been closed down earlier on the right flank and Enrique should have done a better job to hold him up and not forcing him to whip a cross in, thus Cabaye scoring the first goal.
We just need to carry on now until January, as I do believe will well get one or two new recruits (striker’s) its too much for Suarez’ to take on alone.