Rodgers made changes a plenty and Aspas, Alberto, Kelly, Cissokho
and Moses had a chance to stake a claim in the absence of Suarez and co. To say that Victor Moses did himself a
disservice is an understatement of the highest order as he can’t have done
himself any favours with a performance that lacked the dynamism and creativity
which he was undoubtedly brought in for.
He also lacked poise in his decision making which was disappointing and
it was no surprise to see him substituted at half-time.
Liverpool enjoyed plenty of possession in the first half, but we
lacked incision and the movement without Coutinho and Suarez at the head of
affairs lacked sharpness. Alberto had
the right ambition, curling a shot just wide of the upright and another punched
away by Oldham keeper Oxley, played a few intricate passes, especially finding
Aspas on a diagonal run who in turn saw his cross whiz across the face of the
goal mouth.
Alberto showed enough in flashes to see he has vision, but all in
all it was half of football where we found it difficult to breakdown a resolute
Oldham defence as we lacked urgency and creativity. He can count himself unlucky to be substituted
at half-time with his attempts on goal, but we needed to quicken the tempo in
the last third and Coutinho certainly did that and Lucas allowed Gerrard to
move further up the pitch to dictate matters and Gerrard almost squeezed in a
near post header from a Coutinho corner.
Ten Minutes into the second-half Gerrard found Sterling out wide
and the winger going outside the defender, cut the ball back and Aspas showing
excellent technique hooked the ball at the top its bounce into the corner of
the net. The same three players were
involved minutes later when Gerrard found Sterling, who stood the ball up for
the Aspas to head against the post.
Coutinho then blazed over from a Sterling cut back when the
youngster would’ve done better to have taken it on his own. Oldham was still in the game and enjoyed a
few attempts on goal. Danny Philliskirk
shot powerfully over from 20 yards with Oldham trying to force the game making
two substitutes on the hour and switching to two strikers.
Petrasso turned on the edge of the area leaving Agger floundering,
beating Toure before seeing Jones palm his shot away.
The second goal couldn’t have come any sooner with Oldham pressing
for an equaliser and having quietened the crowd and seeing the home team’s play
begin to look ragged. The shift in
momentum saw Brendan Rodgers replace Steven Gerrard, but minutes later lose
Daniel Agger and face the last ten minutes with ten minutes.
Oldham’s supremacy was stopped in its tracks in an unfortunate
manner. Coutinho’s shot from Aspas pass
was blocked, Sterling’s shot which was going wide, deflected off Tarkowski to
take us through to the fourth round.
Man
of the Match: Iago Aspas – took him a
while to get into the game with the lack of service, but when he did get into
the game did well to bring in others laying the ball off on a couple of
occasions for strikes on goal.
He showed excellent technique for his goal getting on top of the
bounce and hooking the ball in. Almost
grabbed a second with a header against the post and grew in confidence looking
vibrate and more incisive after his goal.
Both Kelly and Cissokho produced strong performances particularly under
excessive pressure in the second-half and Kelly seemed assured both offensively
and in defensive position and looks to moving in the right direction.
Critical
eye: Worryingly we struggled to assert our authority over a side
languishing in the lower regions of League One.
With Gerrard in the holding position, we had to work hard to utilize our
possession appearing to lack a cutting edge.
Luis Alberto looks lightweight and not up to the physical demands of British
football at the moment.
Victor Moses lack of passion was poor for someone who should be
helping to lead the team given the lack of experience out there and if he doesn’t
improve he could easily be bombed out by a manager who rates him highly and may
take up his option to buy him.
The lack of depth is apparent and will hurt the team going forward
if it not remedied in this window – that Suarez had to be brought on showed the
lack of confidence the manager had in his troops out on the park.
Moment
of the match: The minute’s tribute to
Wayne Harrison who died at the age of 46 on Christmas Day from pancreatic
cancer. Harrison as we all know became
the most expensive teenager in world football in January 1985 for £250,000.
Unfortunately, on the verge of breaking into the side fell-foul of
a devastating knee injury which eventually caused him to retire in 1991.
Wayne Harrison YNWA.
Teams:
Liverpool:
1 Jones, 34 Kelly, 20 Cissokho, 8 Gerrard (Suarez - 76 mins), 4 Kolo Toure, 5
Agger, 12 Moses (Coutinho – 45 mins), 6
Luis Alberto (Lucas – 45 mins), 9 Iago Aspas, 14 Henderson, 31 Sterling
Substitutes:
7 Suarez, 10 Coutinho, 21 Lucas, 22 Mignolet, 26 Ilori, 37 Skrtel, 50 Brannagan
Oldham: 1 Oxley, 5 Kusunga, 12 Mellor (Rodgers – 83 mins), 4 Wesolowski, 6 Tarkowshi, 3 Grounds, 9 Rooney (Harkins – 60 mins), 8 Smith-Harris (Dayton – 60 mins), 27 Philliskirk, 20 Petrasso
Substitutes:
2 Brown, 15 Winchester, 17 Rodgers, 18 Lockwood, 19 Dayton, 29 Rachubka, 30
Harkins
Referee:
Stuart Powell
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