Excellent Liverpool dismantle Swansea

Brendan Rodgers side went into the game relatively confident in the knowledge of being unbeaten in their last five matches against Swansea and coming off the back of the scruffy win against Burnley.

Captain Steven Gerrard was rested on the bench alongside Markovic and Toure with Emre Can starting in the back three.  Moreno and Manquillo returned in wing-back positions and Mignolet started in place of the injured Brad Jones with Welsh under-21 goalkeeper taking up the vacant spot on the bench.

Rodgers starting with Sterling leading the line and three strikers on the bench said a lot about his confidence in his frontmen.

Liverpool ended the match conclusive winners with Rodgers pressing game being the conduit for both of the impressive Lallana’s goals.  Lallana now playing in a more central berth, looks to have finally overcome his injury and the expectation levels from such a large price tag.  Swansea may have secured 56 per cent of the possession, but as Liverpool know only too well it’s the cutting edge and potency that matters.

Liverppol’s high tempo was exhibited in a searing early move as Sterling fed Moreno out on the left with the left-back firing in a low cross for Sterling to hit instantly only for Fabianski to pull off a stunning reaction save and Lallana to fire over close in.

Apart from a small spell Liverpool continued to enjoy possession in the last third and finally got their just rewards.  Sakho, who impressed with his short forward short passing found Moreno moving in from the left to find Lallana, who in turn located the marauding Jordan Henderson to exquisitely place his cross for Moreno to stab home from close range.

Coutinho affecting the game in the final third ended the half with a stinging drive palmed away by Fabianski.

Martin Skrtel got himself booked rugby tackling Wayne Routledge early in the second-half putting himself out of the contention for the next home game against Leicester.

A minute later Lallana’s perseverance was rewarded after Fabianski’s attempted clearance ricochet off him and floated into the net.  Liverpool’s two-nil lead lasted barely two minutes as straight from the kick-off Sigurdsson scored after some pretty tepid and ineffectual defending.

The game was now open from end to end.  Liverpool counter-attacked from a corner with Lucas finding the surging Henderson, the midfielder enjoying more of a central role played a glorious cross for Sterling ghosting in to volley against the post.

Liverpool are playing with more freedom and intensity in the final third than at any time during the season barring the Spurs game.  The link between Lallana, Coutinho and Sterling could not have been better illustrated than the move for Lallana’s second goal.

Lallana played the ball into Coutinho and the mercurial Brazilian delivered a mesmeric flick back to Lallana to drift past two defenders as Sterling took the attention of the remaining defenders running in the opposite direction to dispatch his shot beyond Fabianski.  The telepathy was on view again with Lallana finding Sterling only for Liverpool’s temporary striker to overrun the ball as he rounded Fabianski.

Any hope Swansea maintained of getting back was dashed when Jonjo Shelvey, lucky to be still on the pitch after his stray arm found its way into Can’s face, saw his attempted defensive header skim of his head and in the net from Henderson’s corner.

With the game secured, Balotelli and Borini were afforded a run out.   Gomis displayed some excellent footwork striking the bar with Liverpool coasting to victory.

Man of the Match:  Adam Lallana – Worked his socks off being the modus operandi for Brendan Rodgers pressing method and his first goal was deserved for his hard work.  He was coolest personified in the way he clinically dispatched his second goal displaying the confidence and coolness which he was renowned for at Southampton.  He looks now to be taking on the mantle of a senior player in the side and his link up play with Coutinho and Sterling is the team’s attacking weapon.

Critical eye:  Emre Can demonstrated a calmness on the ball which shows he could develop into a very important player in the club’s future.  He is a multi-faceted player capable of playing in a variety of roles (hopefully graduating in a central or holding midfield role).

Sakho confidence levels are rising by the game shown by his flicks out of defence, but it was his short passing forward which caught the eye.  It was his initial pass which launched the move for the first goal and he tried unsuccessful to cover as Jordan Henderson left a whole in the defence after vacating his defensive duties.

Swansea is only one victory, but the question is whether Liverpool unremitting pressure throughout the match was enabled because without Steven Gerrard the younger legs were able to force pressure in all areas, rather than the team being built around a player allowing him to play.  There is no doubt Gerrard is still a key player, but it shows that Liverpool can win games without him and they have and will have to find players who can step up to the plate.

Teams:

Liverpool: 22 Mignolet, 23 Can, 37 Skrtel, 17 Sakho, 19 Manquillo, 21 Lucas, 14 Henderson, 18 Moreno, 20 (Lallana (Markovic – 77 mins), 31 Sterling (Balotelli – 83 mins), 10 Coutinho (Borini – 90 mins)

Subs: K Toure, 8 Gerrard, 9 Lambert, 29 Borini, 45 Balotelli, 50 Markovic, 52 Ward

Swansea: 1 Fabianski, 29 Richards (Rangel – 45 mins), 33 Fernandez, 6 Williams, 3 Taylor, 7 Britton (Ki Sung-yeung – 67 mins), 8 Shelvey, 12 Dyer, 23 Sigurdsson, 15 Routledge, 10 Bony (Gomis – 62 mins)

Subs: Ki Sung-yeung, 11 Emnes, 14 Carroll, 18 Gomis, 22 Rangel, 25 Tremmel, 27 Bartley

Referee: Andre Marriner

Attendance: 44,714

Sterling the hero again as Liverpool hang tough and win vs the Clarets on Boxing Day

By dedlfc

With West Ham losing earlier in the day against leaders Chelsea it was imperative that we capitalised on their slip up and that we did despite not playing well coming away with a vital away win.

There was an early Christmas present for 17 year old winger Sheyi Ojo who had finally been called up to the first team bench after some very encouraging displays for both the under 18s and 21s. There was also a return to the subs bench for Mario Balotelli after his one match ban after the controversy surrounding his retweeting on social media.

Sterling seems to have now been entrusted with the task of leading the line for us with Ballotelli, now seemingly having lost our manager's patience and Sturridge still out injured.

It was in fact Sterling who started brightly with the first shot of the game screwing his  shot wide of the far post after a promising counter-attack. 

Burnley's best attacker Ings then saw his shot cannon off the post coinciding with the last piece of action for Brad Jones with a thigh injury which meant an early reprieve from the "out indefinitely" Simon Mignolet.

Burnley clearly dominated the first half, although creating two clear opportunities to score with the Ings effort off the post and Lucas excellently diverting a volley from Arfield wide when it looked destined to sneak inside the near post.  Burnley had the drive and determination to create pressure on our team all over the pitch. 

In comparison, we looked lethargic and resembled a team who had had one too many turkey dinners despite the whole squad training on Christmas Day.  In attempt to break the lethargy our manager decided to make another change at the break with Emre Can replacing Kolo Toure in defence.

The awareness and quick thinking of Coutinho enabled him to magnificently hook a ball over his own shoulder into the path of Sterling to coolly round Burnley keeper Heaton before dispatching his shot into the net with great composure in front of the travelling Kop.

Liverpool's saviour

The Kop fans started singing Coutinho's name even more when he went on a further mazy run which resulted in a shot from the Brazilian being deflected wide.  Shortly afterwards Coutinho was replaced by Lambert to move the tiring Sterling out wide rather than continuing through the middle.

An exquisite through ball by Gerrard for Lambert was finished well by the centre forward only for his effort to be ruled out for offside.  There were no other further scares for us and we returned back to Merseyside with the points. The sole strike by Sterling had made the all-important difference.  Now that's what I call a nice Xmas present.

Man of the match: Raheem Sterling - very cool finish, practising his finishing skills after those vital misses versus Man Utd is starting to show.

Liverpool team v Burnley: Jones, Skrtel, Toure, Sakho, Markovic, Gerrard, Lucas, Henderson, Lallana, Coutinho, Sterling

Subs:  Mignolet, Can, Moreno, Manquillo, Ojo, Balotelli, Lambert.

Ref: Anthony Taylor

Att:21,335

Positives: 

Winning these games over the festive period could provide us with the momentum required going into the second half of the season.   A win today was vital even if the performance was under par.

Sterling showing his great potential as a striker long-term with his pace and movement even though most people prefer him out wide and the lack of service.

Lallana showing such quick feet and is developing into a player that has to be one of the first names on the team sheet.  Coutinho was once again was the main creative catalyst.

Clean sheet despite both keepers playing (Jones 15 mins, Mignolet 75 plus 6 mins injury time in total).  Only our second clean sheet in the last thirteen PL away matches.

Negatives:

Mignolet seems to still be very low on confidence, this was proven by a simple back pass from Sakho being allowed to roll back to the under pressure keeper and a corner being conceded rather than Mignolet clearing his area.

Lucas and Gerrard - both seemed to be over run by the Burnley midfield, it should have been the older Gerrard being replaced by Can in this game as Lucas and Gerrard had got through a lot of work over the last two games and maybe this game was one game too far.

Not getting the very best out of Henderson playing as a wing back, he is a vital part of our engine room but needs to be played where he can have more influence on the side.

Manager's comments:-

"We had to show a different side to us, different types of qualities to what we showed against Arsenal and Bournemouth.

"We didn't play too well in the first half but we defended well, got our blocks in, stopped crosses and it didn't come into the box.

"I thought in terms of our character and resilience in the game we showed outstanding qualities when needed.

"There weren't many chances but the one clear one that came to us we put it away. We deserved three points for the character we showed."

Same old faults at front and back negate positives

It was a match we needed to win coming off the back of two positive performances against Man United and Bournemouth with very different outcomes.   

Again, Sterling moved in from the flanks to start in a striking role after his brace in the Capital One Cup with Markovic, Coutinho and Lallana ear marked as the creative options in support.

The start was Liverpool of old.  Quick tempo, sharp and good interchange in the final third with Coutinho on the tiller.  In only the second minute a direct run from him earned Liverpool a free-kick just outside the area which Gerrard curled wide of the post.

Swarming all over Arsenal in midfield, Liverpool were pressing high and dominating as Arsene Wenger’s team found it increasingly difficult to find and answer to the 3-4-3 formation.  Gerrard intercepted a breaking ball, succinctly dabbed the ball over the right back for Markovic to run on too before seeing his shot saved by Szczesny holding his ground at the near post.

Sterling found Markovic with excellent ball moving right to left which the Serbian midfielder could only curl high over the bar.  Through all Liverpool’s great football the poignancy of their crushing victory over Arsenal in last year’s fixture was laid even more to bare as the dominance was not being translated into goals.

Finally, a minute before half-time Liverpool struck.  Jordan Henderson, again playing away from his more familiar central berth, picked the ball up on the right and heading centrally delivered a quick pass into Coutinho who controlled beautifully with a cushion touch before making space with a drop of and shoulder before shooting home off the post.  It was nothing more than Liverpool deserved.

The fact they the lead was wiped put in less than a minute with half-time beckoning should come as no surprise to anyone watching Liverpool’s mishaps from dead-ball situations over the last two seasons.  After failing to clear Sanchez initial free-kick with any authority, Flamini headed back for Debuchy to get the better of Skrtel at the far post and equalise.  It was a crushing blow to lose the lead to a piece of rank defending.

Buoyed by their equaliser Arsenal started the second-half with more urgency although Liverpool were still on the front foot.   Skrtel’s head injury, after being inadvertently stomped on by Giroud, seemed to temporarily throw Rodgers side off kilter with the defender struggling to regain his equilibrium.

Arsenal capitalised in thrilling style breaking down the left with Gibbs playing the ball into Giroud who exquisitely found Cazorla who in turn return the compliment for the striker to sweep home in clinical fashion.  In effect Arsenal had shown the difference between the sides.  Both teams remain poor defensively, but even living off crumbs Arsenal were still able to snatch the lead.

Liverpool were in the game with Coutinho probing and came close with Lucas arriving late to just screw his shot wide of the post.

Brendan Rodgers looked to add incision in the final third introducing both Borini and Lambert.   Borini came close seeing his header pushed over by Szczesny.

The forward revved up with his lack of minutes this season was sent off after a high tackle on Cazorla after an earlier yellow card for chucking the ball down after seeing a throw-in incorrectly awarded against him.  His chances in a red shirt are disappearing faster than our Champions League chances.

The saving grace was the nine minutes of injury time and Gerrard’s long range drive saw a scrabbling diving stop from Szczesny.  Then with very little time remaining Lallana produced a flat trajectory from his corner as requested by Skrtel and the central defender looking for atonement generated a stunning header to rescue a point.

Man of the match: Philippe Coutinho – At the head of affairs, twisting, turning, prompting and probing at every opportunity.  If he could only become a more insightful player in the final third Brendan Rodgers will have the architect he craves and with Lallana now beginning to look the player of old supported by Markovic, an effective creative pool of talent is beginning to emerge.

Both goals could have been avoided.  Skrtel’s defending for the first was shocking in allowing the relatively diminuitive Debuchy to outmuscle and out jump him.

The second, admittedly a stunning move was inept in the sense that Giroud was the one Arsenal player in the box up against the three Liverpool defenders.  In a game where we effectively shut down Welbeck and Sanchez is was disappointing in the extreme to lose two goals.

A word for Brad Jones who I thought handled himself well, especially using the ball well on the ground and claiming the ball well on one occasion.  He is obviously not the answer in the long run, but such is the position we are in between the sticks that there is very little choice until changes can be made in January.

Teams:

Liverpool: 1 Jones, 4 K Toure (Lambert – 81 mins), 37 Skrtel, 17 Sakho, 14 Henderson, 21 Lucas, 8 Gerrard, 50 Markovic (Borini – 74 mins (sent off), 10 Coutinho, 31 Sterling, 20 Lallana

Substitutes: 3 Jose Enrique, 9 Lambert, 18 Moreno, 19 Maquillo, 22 Mignolet, 23 Can, 29 Borini

Brendan Rodgers comments: "Slowly we are getting back to where we want to be. Our performance was outstanding," he said.

"Our passing was crisp. When you add that to the pressing and intensity that was back in our game, and then hopefully bring Daniel Sturridge back in January, then we can get back to being the team we were last season.

"He's gone to Boston to pick up the next stage, then he'll move on again to a specialist facility out there and hopefully in the early part of the New Year he'll be back and be somewhere close to being fit and playing."

"We played better and dominated more than we did last year when we won 5-1.

"We had that intensity and pressing in our game but we are very disappointed with the goals we conceded.

"We were brilliant but we need to make better decisions defensively.

"We lost three one-on-one headers in the box for Arsenal's first goal. That is not about defensive organisation; that's about winning your duel."

Arsenal: 1 Szczesny, 21 Chambers, 2 Debuchy, 4 Mertesacker, 3 Gibbs, 15 Oxlade-Chamberlain (Campbell – 90 mins), 20 Flamini, 19 Cazorla, 17 Sanchez (Monreal – 94 mins), 12 Giroud (Coquelin – 82 mins), 23 Welbeck

Substitutes: 9 Podolski, 14 Walcott, 18 Monreal, 26 Martinez, 28 Campbell, 34 Coquelin, 70 Maitland-Niles

Referee: Michael Oliver

Attendance: 44, 703

Bournemouth 1 Liverpool 3: Sterling cherry picks Cherries

By dedlfc

With the pressure mounting on our manager by the hour, it was imperative that we produced a good result and secondly a performance versus currently the top side in the Championship.

After the chances created and missed against Man Utd at the weekend our Brendan Rodgers decided to again start Raheem Sterling as the main attacker with Lazar Markovic and Henderson as wing backs.  Lallana and Coutinho also started with Lucas providing defensive cover to a back three of Lovren, Skrtel and Toure.

I thought Sterling would have been given a break before the Arsenal game at the weekend, but a loss to Bournemouth would have been catastrophic for the club and moreover for Rodgers future.

Prior to the game our manager stated “I looked at the game at the weekend and that was probably the most chances we created for a long time.  I was pleased with certain aspects of the weekend... The players look comfortable in this system so hopefully we’ll get a result here.”

We started the game with a very steady composed, but slightly increased tempo, even so it was Bournemouth who had the first chance with Bournemouth midfielder Wilson knocking the ball wide from five yards.  Excellent interplay between Sterling, Coutinho and Lallana resulted in a powerful shot from Lallana being tipped over by Bournemouth keeper Boruc.

At this point we were very much in control of the game with our possession game full of lots of relentless probing.  After putting on so much pressure and keeping possession for a highly impressive 52 passes the inevitable happened with chance falling to Sterling.  Markovic lofted a splendid ball to the back post for Henderson to nod back across goal for Sterling to dive in front of his marker to guide an excellent header into the corner of the net. 

Continuing to control the game through comfortable possession we then proceeded to double our lead with a first senior goal from our exciting Serb Markovic.  He started the move with a pass from the left to Coutinho with Elphick pausing to appeal for offside, (it transpired that a Bournemouth fan blew a whistle and which Elphick too) when Coutinho’s pull-back fell to Markovic 16 yards from goal, the Serb tucked away a tasty side-footer into the net.

Almost straight from the restart the gulf in Premiership and Championship finishing was proved again when Bournemouth spurned a great chance to pull a goal back. Kermorgant blasting over from 10 yards after a pull-back from the right! 

After our second goal our intensity and control of the game eased allowing Bournemouth into the game as the first half developed, but we managed to get to half time with a clean sheet despite a late poor back pass by Lovren causing our number two keeper Jones to clear hurriedly.

Halftime analysis - A good half from us, playing with confidence and style and most of all capitalising on good play with two fine goals.  A little luck finally went our way as Bournemouth squandered two decent chances.  The hosts came back into the game, but looked susceptible to the counter-attacks led by Sterling.  The next goal would be vital wither way.

Sakho replaced the injured Lovren at half-time which I was delighted with as Lovren has performed poorely all season and needs a break from the first team.

We started the second half still in control and the the vital third goal arrived 5 minutes after the restart with Sterling at the end of another fine Liverpool move.

Toure broke up a Bournemouth attack and then pinged a long and low ball forward to Lallana.  The former Southampton player (and Bournemouth youth) helped it on to Sterling, who took it in his stride, slalomed past the last defender and fired beneath the keeper and into the net. Goals breed confidence and Sterling’s was certainly rising. 

Let’s hope he can maintain this confidence until Sturridge’s return.

As always when Liverpool get into a comfy lead anxiety sets in and they stop playing their game and this game was no different with Bournemouth pushing for an opportunity to get a look in for a major comeback.

The first stage of their attempted comeback began with a goal from the old “Blue Nose” Gosling who had history of scoring a winning goal against us - this time a good move down the right by Bournemouth and Ritchie pulled the ball back towards the edge of the area. Gosling ran on to meet it, commendably decided not to go down in the box despite being clipped and then fired beneath the hapless Jones.

At this point our manager needed to grab back control by bringing on Can for Coutinho, but waited another 15 minutes during which time Gosling hit the post.  Liverpool fans at the stadium and watching at home must have been screaming for him to do something to bolster our midfield.

Once Can was on we regained control of the midfield and comfortably saw the game out for a deserved win but just as importantly an excellent team performance against a team full of confidence.

Positives 

Excellent team performance with the majority of the team making major cases for starts against Arsenal.

Markovic despite not playing the role much put in a strong shift as a left wing back with Henderson having a steady game as a right wing back – although Arsenal Sanchez and co will be a different level of threat.  Sakho and Toure were both very impressive as two of a three man centre back formation. Lucas was his ever steady reliable self.

Negatives

The manager waited too long to make the vital substitution to kill off the game and that's a side of his tactical reading of the game which has to improve for him to eventually be seen as a great manager.

Man of the match:  Raheem Sterling - despite disappointing me immensely at the weekend with four spurned chances versus our deepest rivals Man Utd, he was in the right place to make the runs again tonight and took both his goals very well. Maybe the change of hairstyle has meant a change of luck for him and a change of luck for us for the rest of the season.

Brendan Rodgers comments: ""I thought we were excellent,"

"We've come away from home, we controlled the game and created many chances.

"Credit to Bournemouth as they kept going, even at 3-0.

"But overall for us it was a wonderful performance and we thoroughly deserved it.

"I saw enough at Old Trafford to suggest we were heading in the right direction, and tonight we proved that further."

The draw for the Capital One semi-final pits us against our old rivals Chelsea again. We need to hope that our manager is ready for the two legged semi-finals versus his old master and can finally show that he is ready to graduate by beating his footballing mentor.  He has so far never beaten him so it would be fantastic to finally break that hoodoo and get us to another final.

Teams:

Bournemouth: Boruc, Francis, Elphick, Cargill, Smith, Ritchie, Gosling, Stanislas, Kermorgant, Wilson

Subs: Camp, Cook, Daniels, Arter, MacDonald, Fraser, Pitman

Liverpool: Jones, Toure, Skrtel, Lovren, Henderson, Gerrard, Lucas, Coutinho, Lallana, Sterling, Markovic

Subs: Mignolet, Lambert, Sakho, Moreno, Manquillo, Can, Borini

Referee: M Clattenburg
Attendance: 11,347

Missed chances cost Liverpool as United turntables in North West Clasico

It was day which saw any flickering hopes of Champions League qualification through the Premiership unceremoniously exposed and extinguished through top class finishing, Liverpool’s profligacy in front of goal and our embarrassingly hopeless defence.

The three-nil score-line may seem lopsided given the measure of Liverpool’s dominance, but chances were squandered with Sterling and Balotelli the main culprits.  The performance was immeasurably better attacking wise, but in basic terms it was no different to last season, but without the devastating finishing.   This was the type of game with a finisher of some description we may have won 6-3.

The decision to remove Adam Lallana at the break seemed incomprehensible with the England International one of the few creative outlets.  Glen Johnson also left the field before half-time with a groin injury to be replaced by Kolo Toure.   Liverpool’s high pressing game all but disappeared as soon as Wayne Rooney gave Man United the lead against the run of the play.

The goal said everything that is wrong about Liverpool.  Areas of quality negated by total ineptness around the pitch.  Lallana played a superb reverse ball to Sterling who on the turn shot meekly at De Gea with the goal at his mercy and within 25 seconds the ball was nestling in the back of the Liverpool net.

Valencia literally sauntered by after nutmegging Allen in the left back position with Moreno close by failing to cover.  The winger playing at wing-back pulled the ball back to the unchallenged Rooney, left by Coutinho to pass the ball into the net with Brad Jones, having come in for Mignolet, inexplicably diving the wrong way.

Millions spent and the defence is if anything less secure which is going some.  Lucas in front of the defence provided some assemblance of security which is why his absence from the starting line-up appeared a risky ploy with Brendan Rodgers aching to get back to the technical essence and brilliance of last season.

A clinical striker would have propelled Liverpool to victory, which only makes it difficult to work out why with Liverpool’s well documented problems in front of goal, Borini has fallen out of favour and why a youngster has yet to be promoted to the first team bench especially with Brendan looking to increase the tempo and fluidity into upfront.

The second goal was blatantly off-side, but Mata’s run was criminally untracked by Moreno.  The young Spaniard has been lax in his defensive duties and is more concerned with going forward rather being a left-back first and foremost.

De Gea was excellent and his man of the match award shows just how dominant Liverpool were, but it also highlighted the disappointing nature of our finishing.   The shots (9 on target) were all close or straight at De Gea lacking procession and Sterling’s lamentable tame finish one on one with the goalkeeper hints at a lack of confidence even having rounded the keeper.

Dejan Lovren’s season of mediocrity hit new heights.  The defender miscued his clearance into the path of Mata, who calmly found Van Persie to close out the game.

The difference between the sides was finishing.  One side can and one cannot.

Liverpool player ratings:

Jones 5 His diving the wrong way for the first goal seemed almost farcical

Johnson 5 Played in a back three, didn’t seem comfortable. Ricked a groin before half-time

Sktrel 4 Struggled to deal with the movement of Van Persie and Wilson

Lovren 3 It’s time he was taken out of the firing line.  The comical nature of his attempted clearance shows just how far he has fallen

Henderson 5 The wider role he is being asked to play has impacted on his effectiveness

Gerrard 5 A couple of excellent passes, otherwise the game bypassed him

Allen 3 Was lucky not to have been hooked at half-time having been asked to play a role which saw him up against Valencia

Moreno 3 Very little added value going forward or back

Coutinho 4 Started well and then disappeared after the first goal and his failure to track Rooney’s run is something he has to improve on

Sterling 7 Best player by a country mile and will be disappointed not to have at least bagged a brace

Lallana 6 Disappointingly substituted at the break after looking one of the most effective creative options

Toure 4 Was part of a very poor defensive unit in the second-half

Markovic 5 Unlucky not to start, but the game was lost by the time he entered the fray

Balotelli 5 Like Sterling could and should have had at least two goals

Liverpool face Europa League after crashing out of Champions League with a wimper

We were hoping for one of those nights, but from the off Rodgers gave the impression of wanting to nick a victory by sending out an experience eleven with Allen and Lucas on guard patrol in front of a defence containing the returning Lovren, back for the injured Kolo Toure and surprisingly Jose Enrique ahead of Moreno.

Rodgers seems to have lost, for the moment at least, that boldness which made his coaching so exciting.  Knowing his side needed to win he erred on the side of caution leaving Coutinho and Lallana on the bench and may have decided our fate before kick-off leaving so much invention and skill languishing on the bench.

The lack of pace clearly evident in his chosen formation, meant Liverpool would need to be precise in their play.  Basle, though started well, technical and quick, spurred on by two thousand Swiss fans audible above the nervous home masses.  They were crisp, concise and potent often yards ahead in thought and play with the Liverpool midfield and defence struggling to get a handle on the invention in front, beside and often beyond them.

When Basle struck they struck in glorious fashion.  Pinching the ball with great movement and interplay between Frei and Zuffi at the edge of the area before Frei’s stunning shot left Mignolet flailing.   Paulo Sauso, a truly gifted player himself, must have been purring.  Brendan Rodgers, must have looked at Marco Strellar with envy.  So in need of a striker, Strellar led the line adroitly, aided by Gashi who had he timed his run more succinctly would have sent Basle in two-nil having been adjudged off-side.

Liverpool was struggling to get Gerrard into the game and Rickie Lambert fought hard, but with the lack of service even his pugnacious running upfront without the pace and movement which Liverpool’s game so heavily relies on, he like the besieged Enrique would not to see beyond half-time.

It is a mystery how Moreno is not a permanent fixture and seeing Jose Enrique struggled one wonders how Brendan Rodgers can keep getting it so wrong.  Moreno entered the fray replacing Enrique with Markovic coming on for workhorse Lambert.

Markovic introduction saw Sterling move into a central role.   The Serbian appeared desperate to make up for lost time driving at the heart of the Basle defence committing tacklers, so much so that he looked as if give Liverpool the edge we craved.  Unfortunately, 15 minutes into the second-half it was all to end as he impetuously flicked his arm back as much as to brush off the attentions of Safari.  Whether he grazed Safari or not, the red card was brandished, although one wondered if there was a sniper posted somewhere in the ground given the dramatic nature of Safari’s slump to the ground.

Bolstered by the injustice, Gerrard pushed further forward with the body language of “lead, follow or get the hell out of the way”.   The Liverpool captain, like the Gerrard of old, stormed into the penalty area after being put through by Sterling, getting there a fraction after the goalkeeper Vaclik, leading to desperate penalty cries from the faithful.

These are now desperate times for Liverpool.  Ten years on from the magical night at Anfield which saw Gerrard writing his name into Liverpool folklore against Olympiakos, to say Liverpool still depend on thirty-four year old would be an understatement.   The team sheet yesterday showed Liverpool without a back-up striker on the bench and the finger points directly at a manager who seemingly has lost confidence in parts of his squad.

Sterling who looks to be coming back to form was tripped on the edge of the area.  Cometh of the hour, up steps Stevie Gerrard.  Captain fantastic placed a curling free-kick into the top corner of the net with all the precision of the diamond cutter.

Two minutes later Henderson saw his header deflect of a defender wrong footing Vaclik only to see the goalkeeper change direction and save on the line.

The ten men of Liverpool desperately strode forward in remaining four minutes of injury and the last chance fell to Skrtel, now playing upfront.  The defender displayed excellent movement to beat his defender to a near post cross, but saw his flick fall the wrong side of the post.  It was Liverpool’s last hoorah and with it, possible Steven Gerrard’s in the Champions League.

Man of the Match: Steven Gerrard – with Sterling, the only starting Liverpool player capable of inflicting damage on a more than capable Basel side, but unfortunately surrounded by average colleagues.  In the dying embers of Liverpool’s Champions League journey, he picked himself up for one last drive.

It’s a damning indictment that with almost £120 million spent in the close season, Liverpool cannot produce good enough support for their captain.

Critical eye:  Brendan Rodgers disappeared down the tunnel as soon as the whistle blew.   He had thrown away any initiative by leaving Lallana and Coutinho on the bench, sending out a team which lacked pace and creativity.  He has gone from being a manager full of boldness and invention to one who looks as if he is set in panic mode.

He waited until half-time to make changes when it was patently obvious we in trouble after 10 minutes.  Enrique looked woefully off the pace and you wondered how Rodgers could miscalculate his readiness to such a degree.  Moreno looked a threat from the minute he stepped on the pitch and Rodgers has got to settle on a core of players of eight or nine players to get us out of the mess we are now in.

Top teams do rotate, but generally they have a core of players who start top matches and right now players like Lallana, Markovic and Can cannot build any continuity with his stop start philosophy.

Sadly and I think we all knew this, Liverpool are currently just not good enough.

Steven Gerrard’s comments: ‘We haven't gone out of the competition because of our performance tonight, we've gone out because away at Basle we weren't good enough, in our last game we conceded a stupid goal towards injury time.

‘You always qualify over the six games and unfortunately we haven't been good enough. We need to get our main striker Daniel Sturridge back and get some more goals in the side. We need to get Mario Balotelli back and firing.

‘That is not to take away anything from the lads who have played tonight and have slogged their guts out. Rickie Lambert has ran himself into the ground tonight, but it has just been a game too far tonight and that has been because of a lack of numbers.’

Player ratings:

Mignolet 5 – He is as poor a goalkeeper as we’ve seen at Anfield.  With time running out and Skrtel upfront he didn’t possess the brain-power to launch the ball upfront

Glen Johnson 6 – Flattered to deceive coming forward.  Competent defensively, especially with one coverage interception and a block tackle in front of goal

Lovren 4 – Offered very little in terms of leadership and his confidence is obviously at a low ebb

Skrtel 5 – The biggest indictment on his play is he looked more at home playing upfront

Enrique 3 – Abysmal. A liability and one doubts whether he has a future

Sterling 6 – The free-kick came from his driving run and had Markovic stayed on the pitch we may just have seen more from him playing centrally

Allen 4 – Seemed overawed, offered very little in both directions and is another whose future must be in doubt

Lucas 5 – Got around the pitch and did what Lucas does making tackles and putting out fires

Henderson 5 – Huffed and puffed without exhibiting any real quality

Gerrard 7 – The first half past him by, but came to life after the sending-off and almost brought Anfield to a crescendo 

Rickie Lambert 5 – Looked a journeyman with no service and a lack of pace

Subs:

Markovic 6 – Lively, just a shame that a moment of daftness was so harshly penalised

Moreno 6 – Got forward offering himself as an outlet and delivered the ball in dangerous areas. Deserves a chance to make the position his own

Coutinho NA – Couldn’t get into the game in the time available

Liverpool 0 Sunderland 0: Gerrard fails to ignite mediocre Reds

Workmanlike is a good description of Liverpool right now.  Without Gerrard, rested for the club’s most important game of the season against Basle next Tuesday, Sterling and to a lesser degree Lallana and Coutinho provided patches of quality without the killer touch in the final third.

Liverpool now laid out not to concede with Lucas studiously protecting Toure and Skrtel shorn of the explosive front line of last season.   Lambert, manfully holding the frontline together, was starved of any decent supply, but for one cross his ex-Southampton team mate which he headed wide.

The lack of intensity which has so marked Liverpool season was again there from the start as Sunderland settled down to a comfortable rhythm, looking easy on the eye and dominating possession to such a level that they swallowed up 62 per cent of the ball in the first 20 minutes dominating the midfield with some slick interchange and movement and may have felt hard done by with a penalty claim as Wickham clashed with the ungainly Skrtel.

Sunderland’s game plan was to get amongst Liverpool doubling up on Sterling leading to a battle royal between the youngster and Virgini.  Liverpool struggled to break through the two banks of a well organised Sunderland defence.

If anything, the away team should have gone into the break one up with Liverpool once again ill at ease defending corners.  Brown stole in unchallenged to header over with the goal at his mercy.

If the Anfield faithful thought the second period would be a different story, Gus Poyet’s team had other ideas and had Conor Wickham not sliced his volley from Skrtel’s miscued headed clearance Sunderland would have taken a well-deserved lead.

Liverpool looked like a team devoid of confidence, belief and more importantly passion and it was no surprise to see Steven Gerrard warming up on the hour.   Sterling, cutting in from the left fed Lucas with an inviting chance from 20 yards, but the Brazilian’s shot was gathered far too easily low down by Pantilimon.  Given the time and space it was the type of chance which should been arrowing into the corner, but unfortunately Gerrard had yet to enter the fray.

Gerrard’s introduction saw a sudden induced level of performance which has been lacking throughout from the home team.   He stunning volleyed passed with check side spun inside the defender and into the path of Coutinho was from the Gerrard school of genius and no other player of the pitch could have thought let alone played the pass.

Sterling winning the ball in the left back position ran to the edge of the area taking on all comers before finding Coutinho whose shot was well saved by Pantilimon.

Sunderland were not finished with Gomez letting loose on a severe drive which Mignolet palmed away at full stretch.

Gerrard controlling the tempo mounted one last chance, spraying an inimitable cross field ball out to Sterling on the left, who in turn found Lambert on the far post to nod back to Markovic who saw his shot blocked, but unfortunately for Liverpool Gerrard just failed to connect with the loose ball to sweep it home.

Man of the Match:  Steven Gerrard – Quite simply Liverpool didn’t turn up until the skipper replaced Lallana and while another clean sheet cannot be sniffed at the lack of players in the home team capable of taking the game by the scruff of the neck is worrying.  Gerrard in his 23 minutes on the pitch played with guile, intensity and it seemed to me anger looking to run and take on defenders down the flanks.  Let’s hope that intensity runs into Tuesday.

The positive is another clean sheet, but under close scrutiny there is still a huge problem at corners and we were lucky not to concede.

The creative element leaves a lot to be desired with Lambert seeing very little quality providing him with scoring opportunities.  We failed to get a shot on target until Lucas shot in the 62 minute which says a lot about our cutting edge and to be fair Sunderland’s defensive resilience.

Brendan Rodgers post-match comments: "I thought the players gave everything and in the second half. They needed a wee bit of luck and it didn't come.

"If you can't win it's important you don't lose. We've taken seven points from nine this week which is a good return for us.

"Stevie coming on gave everyone a lift.  I thought him and Raheem were outstanding."

Teams: 

Liverpool: 22 Mignolet, 2 Johnson, 37 Skrtel, 4 K Toure, 18 Moreno, 14 Henderson, 21 Lucas, 20 Lallana (Gerrard – 67 mins), 10 Coutinho (Markovic – 78 mins), 31 Sterling, 9 Lambert

Subs: 1 Jones, 3 Jose Enrique, 6 Lovren, 8 Gerrard, 23 Can, 24 Allen, 50 Markovic

Sunderland: 1 Pantilimon, 27 Vergini, 16 O’Shea, 5 Brown, 15 Reveillere, 4 Bridcutt, 11 Johnson (Buckley – 79 mins), 7 Larsson (Cattermole – 70 mins), 14 Gomez, 10 Wickham, 17 Altidore (Alvarez – 70 mins)

Subs: 6 Cattermole, 8 Rodwell, 9 Fletcher, 20 Alvarez, 25 Mannone, 30 Buckley, 34 Robson

Referee: Neil Swarbuck

Attendance: 44, 716

Determined Gerrard tames the Foxes – Leicester 1 Liverpool 3

By dedlfc

The offer of a new contract on the table for our captain – he returned to the side in place of Joe Allen after being rested versus Stoke at the weekend. Rickie Lambert started his fourth game in a row in the continued absence of Mario Balotelli and Daniel Sturridge with Manquillo coming in for the injured Enrique (swollen knee) and Lallana coming in for Coutinho (slight injury).

The first 20 minutes were uneventful, but again we made a major mistake in our defence conceding the first goal of the game when our keeper initially kicked the ball from a goal kick straight to experienced midfielder Cambiasso on his favoured left boot inexplicably screwed his shot wide.

From the ensuing series of plays Mignolet was picking the ball out of his own net after striker Ulloa's shot from a tight angle hit the post before rebounding in off the back of Mignolet's head after Jamie Vardy's initial shot had been cleared off the line by Martin Skrtel.

 

One down off the back of Mignolet's head

The really important thing about going behind in a game is response in a good manner and respond we did.  Gerrard’s free kick was cleared only as far as Lucas on the right-hand side, who floated it back in the danger area where Morgan could only head into the path of  Lallana.  The midfielder connected sweetly with a lovely footed half volley past Schmeical. Illustrating why we paid big money for him.

Lallana celebrates his equaliser

Back in the game at 1-1, Liverpool went close with a Skrtel header and Sterling with a long range run and shot. The score remained 1-1 at the break.

Leicester came out with the serious intention to cause us the maximum damage, but we have missed the experience of having Lucas in our side to provide a shield for our weak defence.  Despite the pressure we were showing the capability to resist Leicester’s attempts. 

Then the moment we all privately knew was going destined to happen in this game happened.  It was always going to happen, wasn't it?  Gerrard found Sterling on the left, who squared the ball across the face of the box, Leicester only half-cleared inviting Gerrard to latch on to the loose ball.  Needing little invitation he side footed a low, firm shot for his first goal from open play since last season.

 

How hard? Gerrard rolls back the years

Being 2-1 up last season would have meant we went for a third goal to kill off our opposition, but this is not last season and it means going back into our shell and trying to hold the lead.

This is exactly what we decided to do until we had a slice of luck when poor defending by defender Wes Morgan allowed Lambert through on goal until the defender unceremoniously tussled back by Morgan leaving referee Lee Mason little choice to issue the defender a straight red despite our striker lacking the pace to get away from Premiership defences.

 

Clunsy Morgan sees red

Leicester going down to ten men seemed to give them even more confidence, driving us even further into our shell and it was the pattern for the remainder of the game. 

Gerrard was brought down for a blatant penalty by Schmeichel, but referee Mason bottled the decision to send off two Leicester players in one game.  Leicester midfielder Cambiasso went close before we finally put the game to bed with the third goal.   Gerrard whipped in a superb cross causing consternation in the Leicester defence,  allowing Sterling to deliver an impudent back heel for Henderson to dispatch from eight yards.  Shades of Sturridge and Suarez at Cardiff last season.

The Henderson roar!

 

Very interesting stat is that when Henderson scores for us we have never lost – this run now stands at 11 wins, 2 draws, no defeats. 

Leicester continued to press creating one final chance with striker Ulloa producing a headed effort which was saved by the under-fire Mignolet.

We finally saw the game out despite six minutes of injury time due to Skrtel blocking a Leicester shot from outside the box with his face and being slightly concussed.

Positives

The back to back wins which despite the scrappy way they have both come, will no doubt begin to breed confidence in the squad.

The steady performance of Lucas is just what we required, nothing spectacular, just doing his job effectively.  Exactly what we needed.

Negatives

Our keeper continues to cost us goals and doesn’t provide the defence with any confidence at all – he needs to be rested for his own benefit or he will never ever get out of this current downturn in form.  At this moment in time Brad Jones seems like a better option.

Man of the match – Stevie G

Good to see that our manager finally listened to Kop Post and I after our rant on moving Gerrard further forward.  As a team we benefit by using our best midfielder where he can have a positive impact rather than playing him in the defensive half of the pitch where his influence is more easily negated.  The ex-England captain was heavily involved in all three goals and was all over the pitch enjoying his free role and showing that he still has a lot to offer us despite having a big decision to make on whether to sign the new contract on offer.

It was especially nice to see him score a goal from open play – when you see him striding forward to finish you know that he will put the chance away with aplomb!!! How harrrd? Gerrarrrrrrd!!!

After match comments:-

Our manager stated ""I think you saw the energy in his legs tonight and his influence in the game, especially as [the match] wore on. It was an outstanding performance from Steven and an excellent goal.

"At this stage of his career, it's about the level of the game. He's a very important player for us. Like you saw tonight, he's not 24 anymore.

"You have to do that with players at this part of their career. So for me it's about mapping out the rest of the season for him and looking at the games to play him in. That's what you have to do as a manager - plan forward."

He said: "People talk about being fair with every player. As a manager and managing certain players, it's unfair to treat everyone the same, especially someone of Steven Gerrard's stature.

"I had a great respect for Steven watching him from the outside - and an even greater one from the inside working with him.

"I've shown in my time at Liverpool and anywhere else I've ever been, but particularly here, the sentiment doesn't come into it for me, it really doesn't. I pick Steven Gerrard because I still think he can really influence a game of football for us.

"When I first came in, people were talking about whether he was going to be able to play with how I work, but last year he was absolutely magnificent - he scored 14 goals in all competitions.

"Irrespective of the player or his status, for me it's what is best for the team. I know at this moment in time, if I can manage Steven Gerrard, his training and his games, he can still have a real impact for this team.

"Even though he's approaching 35 at the end of this season, he's still got fantastic qualities. Like every other player, no matter how good they are, there comes a time in their career when the wheels are out and they're ready to land - but he's not ready to land yet. You can see from tonight, he's still got lots of energy there."

Stevie G stated “"We didn't get off to the start we wanted, but over the last couple of weeks we have shown great resilience and great character.

"We showed it again tonight. It could have been more than 3-1. I think all of us deserve a lot of credit. The last three performances have been superb and we need to keep trying to improve on that. It was a great team performance and a great three points."

The midfielder added: "I'm happy with the goal but even more pleased with the win. It has been well documented this season that we haven't been good enough.

"But we are on our way up; we're defending better, sticking together and we're a lot harder to beat. We need to keep moving in that direction."

Leicester (4-4-2): Schmeichel, De Laet, Morgan, Wasilewski, Konchesky; Mahrez, Cambiasso, James, Schlupp   (Moore 67), Vardy, Ulloa.

Subs not used: Hamer, Drinkwater, King, Albrighton, Knockaert, Wood.

Booked: Schluup, Morgan (red card)

Liverpool (4-2-3-1): Mignolet ; Johnson , Toure , Skrtel, Manquillo  (Moreno ); Lucas , Henderson ; Sterling (Lovren), Gerrard, Lallana,  (Allen ); Lambert.

Subs not used: Jones, Coutinho, Can, Markovic.

Booked: Lallana, Gerrard

Referee: Lee Mason 
Attendance: 32,000