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."