Liverpool Bite Back For Crushing Win

After 'Biter Gate' Liverpool found themselves without our player of the season casting Daniel Sturridge in his favourite leading role and a supporting cast headed by Philippe Coutinho moving into a central berth to dictate the play.

Starting on the front we deservedly took the lead. Newcastle succumbed to a Daniel Agger goal from Jordan Henderson's floated half-volleyed cross. The centre-half found himself in acres of space and guided his header into the net, to the dismay of the home supporters looking for a pick-me up following their thrashing from their North East neighbours Sunderland in the last home game.

The home side looked woefully short on confidence and were soon two down. Reina's punt was met with stunning expertise by Sturridge cushioning his pass back to Coutinho who with the outside of his mercurial right boot released Sturridge, when the easier ball would've been to release Henderson on the outside. Not that it mattered. Sturridge motoring into the area rolled the ball across for the ever willing Henderson to tap home.

At this point everything good about Liverpool was been conducted by the little Brazilian Coutinho, who prompted and probed from his central position with the whole field at the mercy of the talented midfielder's visionary powers. That being said, Newcastle should've scored with Perch heading wide, with no defensive challenge in sight.

Newcastle brought on Ben Arfa and Gouffran for Perch and Gutierrez for the second-half with more attacking intent with relegation not yet a forgone conclusion. The substitutions added more drive and incision to the Newcastle play. But Jordan Henderson hounding Ben Arfa back to halfway, allowed Coutinho to run on to the ball and deliver a killer through ball for the frontman to dispatch the finish with clinical disdain.

The three soon turned into four with the Newcastle midfield allowing Gerrard enough time to phone home before releasing Henderson to square to Sturridge to roll into the empty net. Henderson, soon after released Sturridge to run on to the ball just inside the Newcastle half, but instead of passing to the waiting Coutinho the chance went begging.

Newcastle, if they weren't a shambles before were now. Downing cutting in from the right laid it back to Borini, on for Gerrard, who with the instinct of a natural striker toe poked the ball home. Coutinho, a man on a mission, with a drop of the shoulder drew a foul from Debuchy to see the French man see a second yellow. The resultant free-kick saw Henderson in the absence of Suarez and the substituted captain, whip over a free-kick in the bottom corner of the net for his second of the afternoon.

Coutinho exhibited a master-class that his fellow South American Suarez would've been proud showing an incisiveness to his passing that Steven Gerrard looking on would have recognised.  His close control was stunning and his passing on the run with either foot is par excellence.  He almost got himself on the score sweet with a sparkling run late on seeing his drive brilliantly pushed against the bar by Elliot.

Kop-Post Man of the Match: Philippe Coutinho -  Totally on a different plain and seemed to have an extra dimension in his play starting in a more central starting position.  He pace allows him to drift past midfield opponents, committed defenders before succinctly producing pinpoint accurate passes on the move.  He has the ability to make passes with a high degree of difficulty look ridiculously easy as in the pass to release Sturridge for the second goal, where the better option was seemingly Henderson.  Given time and space he has the ability to cut open top grade defences.

Critical Eye:  On another day Jordan Henderson would’ve been the Man of the Match with two goals and two assists and the appetite to run all day.  He is unselfish and is what is known in the trade as a players’ player operating in a few positions for the good of the team.  A valued squad player.

Manager’s comments: "It’s a very good day on the back of a very difficult week, and the team showed their character by winning in the way they did,” said the Liverpool boss.

“It’s been a testing week for us all, certainly me as a young manager coming into a football club with the word’s spotlight on us.

“Luis did wrong, he got his punishment and we’ll accept that and move on now.

“We worked hard this week, we knew this would be a very tough game for us, but our concentration and offensive play was very, very good.”

 “It was very much in the media and everybody was thinking that we were a one-man team, but I think what we have is a special talent in our group,” added the Northern Irishman.

“But I’ve always set up the team to never rely on one man. One man can win you games, but he can’t win you titles.

“That’s what we’re striving for, the consistency, and for that you need a whole group of players.

“We’re up to 67 goals in the league this year now, second only to Man United, and we’ll continue to get better.”

Team:  25 Reina, 2 Johnson, 3 Jose Enrique, 5 Agger, 23 Carragher, 8 Gerrard (Borini – 72 mins), 10 Coutinho (Suso – 84 mins), 14 Henderson, 19 Downing, 21 Lucas, 15 Sturridge (Shelvey – 84 mins)

Substitutes:  1 Jones, 16 Coates, 37 Skrtel, 47 Wisdom, 33 Shelvey, Borini, 30 Suso

Ref: Andre Marriner

Attendance: 52,351

Once bitten twice shy - Sorcerer strikes again but leaves a sour taste- Liverpool 2 Chelsea 2

With our club just having faced the 24th Hillsborough memorial this week, the sad loss of lives at the Boston marathon and the sad news of the passing of one of the bravest inspirations Anne Williams, who fought desperately for justice for her son Kevin Williams.

It was fantastic to see our club fans give a minutes applause to the sad loss of Anne. RIP Anne -the campaign to get complete justice for your son and the other 95 lives lost will continue on.

With Benitez given a standing ovation from his former fans and derided by his own fans Chelsea he must have felt like he had made a terrible choice by joining Chelsea but that was his choice!

Liverpool had made one change from the disappointing draw vs Reading last weekend with Downing playing instead of Sturridge, who had now reverted to the subs bench.

We started the game on the front foot but without creating much chances until a chance fell to our former Chelsea player Glen Johnson, who toe-poked a shot just wide after some excellent play from the sorcerer Suarez.

An excellent diving interception by our left back Enrique stopped the masked marauder Torres from getting his first goal versus his old team who gave him the expected rough reception for his false statement on loyalty to our club.

Apart from those incidents the game was quite laboured until from Chelsea's first corner, poor keystone calamity kop defending allowed Chelsea's Oscar to have a free header to head the visitors ahead after 26 minutes through the palms of a diving Reina.

Chelsea nearly doubled their lead, a couple of minutes later when a foul on Hazard which earned Jordan Henderson a yellow card - David Luiz stepped up to smash a swerving free-kick at Reina. The Spaniard spilt the shot but tidied up before those in blue could take advantage.

Torres then earned a booking for elbowing Carragher in an incident which with both players leaping for the ball could have seen him sent off on another day.

The last action of the tepid first half was a powerful shot from an angle by Suarez which Cech saved very well.

The second half substitution of Coutinho (who had his poorest game for us) was to enable Sturridge to come on and take the field against his former employers. His impact was instant and changed the whole attitude of our team.

Within 30 seconds he'd threaded a ball into the run of Gerrard, who looked up inside the box and aimed for the bottom corner only to be thwarted by the legs of Cech.

A minute later Sturridge launched great shot from 25 yards before watching it clatter the post - but he wasn't to be denied for long.

There were 52 minutes on the clock when Suarez completed a curled cross which Sturridge met to convert at the far post. The Kop went wild, but four minutes later the game took another turn when referee Kevin Friend spotted a handball inside the Liverpool box - Suarez the culprit - it seemed he
had lost his concentration in his own area!

Hazard took the resulting penalty and sent Reina the wrong way. 2-1.

It had seemed that Liverpool's best chance to equalise had fallen to substitute Jonjo Shelvey after a wonderful touch from Sturridge, but the England U21 international dragged wide with just Cech to beat.

It looked like Benitez was on his way to a famous victory versus his old club and then a major controversial incident occurred where Luis Suarez bit Chelsea defender Ivanovic on the arm in the Chelsea penalty area in a repeat of a biting incident he had previously attempted in his last game for Ajax - only time will tell what action Suarez will face but a lengthy ban looks highly likely.

He is a genius of a player but a loose cannon at the same time, the club has a massive decision to now make this summer as he has again tarnished the reputation of our club! How many more times will we let him get away with it?

Just to rub salt in the wounds he then came up with the late as possible equaliser right in front of the Kop who adore him. Sturridge was the provider, aiding his strike partner with a cross. Suarez met the ball with his head and though Cech got his hand to the ball, he could not keep it out.

The final whistle went immediately after the goal went in and we had got away with a draw from a game we were on the verge of losing.

Man of the match - Daniel Sturridge - made such a great impact - he seemed totally determined to prove that he deserved to play against his old club and produced an excellent 2nd half cameo. He
needs to show the same fire against the rest of the league and he will not be dropped again.

Talking Points to consider:

Coutinho - Under performed for the first time since joining us in the January transfer window, he seemed to try too many fancy flicks when keeping it simple was what was needed today.

Downing- I just do not understand the justification for playing this player as he has not done anything  to repay the trust of his manager Rodgers.

Suarez - The correct thing for Suarez to do would be to apologise publicly, accept the expected ban and try and repay the fans back by committing to the club with a better cleaner image.

Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Jose Enrique, Gerrard, Lucas, Downing (Shelvey 80), Henderson, Coutinho (Sturridge 46), Suarez.

Subs Not Used: Jones, Assaidi, Coates, Coady, Skrtel.

Booked: Henderson, Lucas, Suarez, Carragher, Shelvey.

Goals: Sturridge 52, Suarez 90.

Chelsea: Cech, Azpilicueta, Ivanovic, Luiz, Bertrand, Ramires, Mikel, Mata (Lampard 90), Oscar (Moses 83), Hazard (Benayoun 78), Torres.

Subs Not Used: Turnbull, Ferreira, Terry, Ba.

Booked: Torres, Azpilicueta.

Goals: Oscar 26, Hazard (pen) 57.

Att: 45,009.

Ref: Kevin Friend (Leicestershire).

Post match comment by our boss:-

Brendan Rodgers admitted his disappointment that football was not the topic of discussion following the 2-2 draw.

He stated that he will go away and review the Suarez biting incident and then comment in due course. He also said "This is a club with incredible values and ethics here. We'll review it as a club, because there's certainly no one bigger than this football club, a player or manager.

"As football managers and staff and players, we're representing this club, off the field and in particular on the field. "But its not the time to comment on it now".

He added "I'll always speak openly and honestly about the players and protect them when I can, but withall due respect I'll make an honest appraisal of it (first).

"I'll always defend people if I think they're right - if I think they're wrong I'll tell them, and that's already happened with Luis this year. And then we move on from it. If that's what the case is, they've got to accept the consequences accordingly.

"Its disappointing that we're not talking about the football, because the character and personality we showed in the game was absolutely fantastic."

Since this discussion with Rodgers - Chief Executive Ian Ayre has cancelled his trip to Australia to deal with the Suarez issue and it has now been agreed that Luis Suarez and the club will be making an apology for the incident.

Here is Suarez's apology on Twitter:-

I'm sad for what happened this afternoon, I apologize Ivanovic and all football world for my inexcusable behaviour. I'm so sorry about it!!

From the official Liverpool website:-

Liverpool Football Club has the following response to the incident that occurred during today's game at Anfield:

Luis Suarez said: "I am deeply sorry for my inexcusable behaviour earlier today during our match against Chelsea. 

"I have issued an apology and have tried to contact Branislav Ivanović to speak to him personally. I apologise also to my manager, playing colleagues and everyone at Liverpool Football Club for letting them down."

The club's managing directory Ian Ayre commented: "Luis has made an unreserved apology for his actions today.  

"His behaviour is not befitting of any player wearing a Liverpool shirt and Luis is aware that he has let himself and everyone associated with the club down. We will deal with the matter internally and await any action from the FA."

Brendan Rodgers added: "Having reviewed the video footage and spoken to Luis, his behaviour is unacceptable and I have made him aware of this."

Reading 0 Liverpool 0

On the 24th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, Iain Ayre and his Reading counterpart carried out a floral tribute to the 96 fans killed in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster.   There was a minutes silence.

Monday 15 April marks one-year since the independent inquiry broke the news of how far the South Yorkshire police went to in pointing the finger at Liverpool fans for the disaster.   The Hillsborough Independent Panel report showed former Prime Minister Lady Thatcher's unwillingness to criticise the police even though her Government were fully aware of their complicity.

Her death hasn't softened the fans feelings towards her and the chants against before the match showed that after almost quarter century every Liverpool knows that the families of the 96 will NEVER WALK ALONE!

In terms of the match, like so many others this season, we had a host of chances which came and went.  Twenty-six attempts on goal to be exact.  Our dominance was so prominent that in the final four minutes of injury-time Suarez and then Gerrard had shots turned away by the magnificent Alex McCarthy, who performance was simply stunning.

McCarthy was a match for everything we could throw at him.  Whether from close range or shots outside of the box he was in irresistible form, producing the best performance by any goalkeeper this season.  

Two saves will live in the memory.  The first, in the first-half from point-blank range was hit with power by Sturridge from six yards and his reflexes saving with his legs were mind numbing.  The second, in the second half from Suarez was equally remarkable.  The striker caught for ball sweetly around the penalty spot and unbelievably McCarthy didn't just dive and save the shot, he caught it!  All this from a goalkeeper, out since October.  

Even when he was beaten, a defensive header off the line or the post came to his rescue.  But, his performance warranted the prevailing luck.

Liverpool's finishing was lamentable.  Too many times this season the report reads lacking a cutting-edge and it was no different here.  Not just missed chances, but wastrels, failing to concentrate at the moment of truth.  The dominance was so total that Jamie Carragher must be thinking this evening about his headed chance.  Remember, this was against a team with the worst defensive record this season with 63 goals conceded and just 3 clean sheets.

Once again without Suarez scoring we struggled and it must be a source of constant worry for the manager with Sturridge having gone of the boil and not two goalless draws in succession.  We need to familiarise ourselves with the art oscillations scoring.
  
With the prospect of no European football to entice players what will Brendan Rodgers do if he loses Luis Suarez in the close season? 

Kop-Post Man of The Match:  Alex McCarthy - We don't normally give this to opposing players, but McCarthy was exceptional. A simply masterful performance.

Critical Eye: Suarez and Gerrard once again the stand out players.  Gerrard given the time and space simply ran the game in the first-half with a string of quality passes.  Suarez with intelligent running between the lines and excellent link up play was a joy to watch and on another day could have had a hat-trick.

Philippe Coutinho, pleased with his attacking thrust and his willingness to get back and help in defence and as his won't, produced some telling passes.

In games when we struggle to break the deadlock, we need others to step up to the plate and it's disappointing that too many times this season we've fallen down.  We have plenty of good players, but we are short of the very top class to help the big two.

On a day when Andy Carroll scored again and is beginning to warm to the task of leading the West Ham line, the folly of the one dimensional Liverpool attacking method that adapt to a plan B, has long since bolted. 

Team: 25 Reina, 2 Johnson, 3 Jose Enrique, 5 Agger, 23 Carragher, 8 Gerrard, 10 Coutinho, 14 Henderson (Downing - 57mins),  21 Lucas, 7 Suarez, 15 Sturridge

Substitutes:  1 Jones, 16 Coates, 37 Skrtel, 19 Downing, 33 Shelvey, 11 Assaidi, 30 Suso

Ref: Mark Clattenburg

Attendance: 24, 139

Liverpool Flatter To Deceive

With Spurs at home to Everton the opportunity was there to close on someone, but once again we fluffed our lines. Time and again, daft flicks or a casual ball in the final third disrupted the flow. It's patently not good enough and it came as no surprise to anyone watching the match that it ended scoreless. It was poor, with even the redoubtable Suarez unable to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse.

Not for the first time this season possession and cutting edge couldn't be used in the sentence and one sense the crowd felt this was not going to be our day early on with the lack of invention and creativity on display.
Diame as he had been in the first match was by far the best midfield on show, waltzing past four defenders after a short corner before firing over. Soon after, Daniel Sturridge replaced the injured Downing.

Suarez and Coutinho linked up after a Sturridge run and pass, before the Premiership's leading marksman saw his shot saved by Jaaskelalinen. A Lucas loose piece of play was almost costly with Carlton Cole's shot brilliantly blocked by Agger.

Liverpool stepped up the intensity in the second-half with Gerrard at the forefront. Bursting through to the byline his cutback just failed to find Suarez. Agger, was again excellent in defence covering the back peddling Carragher struggling against the pacey Jarvis.

Soon after Gerrard almost broke the deadlock, his shot blocked in front of goal by Tompkins. A seemingly good goal by Sturridge was chalked off for offside, the striker appearing level with the last defender.
West Ham almost snatched a late winner as Collison's header was cleared off the line by Lucas.

Man of the Match: Daniel Agger - Back to his best defensively with two expertly tIme blocks on goal bound attempts. On a day where our attcking prowess was sadly lacking, he shot twice just past the post.
Critical Eye: If we didn't know it before we know it now that our 2013-14 season maybe one without European football. And without European football can we seriously be in a position to keep Luis Suarez let alone bring in top quality.

Right now, the board's plans look seriously flawed.

Team: 25 Reina, 2 Johnson, 3 Enrique, 5 Agger, 23 Carragher, 8 Gerrard, 10 Coutinho, 14 Henderson (Assaidi - 71 min), Downing (Sturridge - 25 min), 21 Lucas, 7 Suarez

Substitutes: 1 Jones, 16 Coates, 37 Skrtel, 33 Shelvey, 11 Assaidi, 15 Sturridge, 30 Suso

Ref: Taylor

Attendance: 45,007