More West London Delight

Brendan Rodgers cried off having picked up a Christmas flu bug as did no2 goalkeeper Brad Jones and your author, all possibly taking a bite from the same turkey.

Still smarting from the humiliating loss to Stoke, Joe Allen and Jordan Henderson returned to the starting line-up for Shelvey and Lucas. Gerrard and Allen started at the base of the midfield with Henderson given the marauding role.

The opening minutes set the tone for the rest of the match. Luis Suarez, the games standout player, was found in acres of space and allowed to run yards before producing a powerful shot comfortably palmed away by Cesar out to Allen who mis-kicked his volley with the chance of his first Liverpool goal there for the taking.

We wouldn’t have to wait too long to turn our superiority into goals. Henderson, utilising the space and lack of pressure passed to Suarez in a central position 10 yards outside the area where he easily ghosted by Clint Hill and guided the ball into the corner of the net past Caesar.

Minutes later Liverpool scored again and to say it was easy would be a perfect description. Suarez with a flick header out wide to Downing, scooted by to pick up the return before continuing down the byline before his low cross was brilliantly defended by Onuoha with a sliding tackle. Unfortunately for Onuoha, the ball went straight back to the perpetual motion Uruguayan, who passed the ball left-footed into the unguarded net.

Liverpool were now so rampant the midfield must have felt it was deja vu and QPR’s West London neighbours Fulham were again on the receiving end. Johnson on the end of Skrtel’s glorious long ball inside the full-back should’ve signed off on the match, but scuffed his shot allowing Nelson to clear in front of the goal. Gerrard then whipped over a devastating cross from the right which was met on the move by Agger heading down into the corner of the net. to seal the match.

A comedy of errors saw the ball squirm to an onrushing Gerrard, after Suarez had caused more havoc, but the Liverpool captain may hindsight have wished he’d smashed the ball home rather than guide the ball home as his shot was easily blocked.

The second-half was always going to be different with QPR looking to salvage some pride replacing the ineffective Cisse with Derry to bolster the defence and pressing further forward to stop Liverpool building from the back with impunity. It didn’t stop Sterling cutting in from the left to feed Suarez who rode the defender to produce a left footed shot which Cesar did well to touch over.

Jordan Henderson missed a glaring opportunity from a short Downing corner , clipping over on the run under very little pressure.

Apart from Taarabt who was whole hearted throughout the match QPR had very little to offer being reduced to speculative shots from long range.


Kop-Post Man of The Match: Luis Suarez - Head and shoulders above any player on the pitch. Was the cutting edge and the creativity (joint second with David Silva in creating changes in the league. Both goals were typical Suarez. The first, brought about through his brilliance and the second, through his never say die attitude.

It’s to his credit that he gives the impression of loving the game even though he’s plainly carrying the Liverpool team and one can only hope that he is repaid with backup through the next two transfer windows. Assistant manager Colin Pascoe said, "Luis Suarez is superb. He's a maverick. He creates chances for himself, finishes them and is a great lad.

Comment: QPR. as were there West London neighbours Fulham, were poor in the extreme, but you can only beat wants in front of you and that we did. Liverpool were ruthless as they needed to be having the game sown up in the first-hour and showing character to bounce back in an away match having been taking apart by Stoke so completely only a week earlier.

Critical eye: Although manfully up for the job, Joe Allen struggled to contain Taarabt and one wonders whether physically he can cope or will it be a case of getting used to the style he’s been asked to play. As I’ve said previously, I think he is a technically gifted player, but whether he has the mindset to play a more attacking role when Lucas is on the pitch is open to debate. He seems often to fluff his lines when his found in the last third of the pitch and not wanting to be to critical in his first season, one feels he hasn’t shown enough which suggests that he will be one of the leaders of this team in the future.

Manager’s Comment: "That's probably the best we have played for a long time with the display in the first half. The way we took our chances was pleasing.

"It was great result from the lads and the way we performed in the first half secured the win. We were disappointed with the defeat by Stoke on Boxing Day and the response from the players was terrific."

Team: 23 Reina, 2 Johnson, 3 Enrique (Suso, - 71 min), Agger, 37 Skrtel, 8 Gerrard, 19 Downing, 14 Henderson ( Lucas 64 min) 24 Allen - 7(Carragher - 83 min), 7 Suarez, 31 Sterling

Subs: 42 Gulacsi , 23 Carragher, 16 Coates, 21 Lucas, 33 Shelvey, 11 Assaidi, 30 Suso

Ref: Taylor

Att: 18,304