Balotelli inspires last gasp win

Brendan Rodgers finally succumbed to outside pressures, dropping Mario Balotelli to the bench and ending the will he, won’t he saga by bringing in Rickie Lambert for a start alongside Fabio Borini.  Making nine changes from the disappointing draw with Hull with only Lovren and Johnson remaining and Lucas starting for the rested Gerrard.

Liverpool started on the front food and looked as good as they had since beating Spurs with Coutinho at the head of affairs, conducting the tempo.   The ball was being popped around quicker than it had been for some time, with good movement, switching play from side to side.

Henderson was just wide from a free-kick and Lucas, after being found well by Coutinho shot straight at veteran keeper Tremmel.   Coutinho, showing all his tricks of the trade shimmied past Fulton before dragging his shot wide.

The best chance of the half fell to Markovic after Lucas broke up a Swansea attack and fed Coutinho.   The Brazilian changed the direction of the attack to feed Henderson, who in turn found Markovic running in on the left.  The ex-Benfica man exhibited little composure slashed his shot wide.

In the space of two minutes Fabio Borini fashioned out two changes.  The first, stunning in its impudence as he spun on a sixpence leaving the defender behind before curling the ball just past the far post.  He then drove forward at speed before unleashing a shot which Tremmel did well to push round the post.

The Swansea game plan had been to drop off to the edge of the area and let Liverpool have the ball quite comfortable in the knowledge that we were shooting from distance and our possession lacked the quality in the final third.   The away team been prompted by Jonjo Shelvey began to get more into the game and Jones had to be at sharp to palm away a stinging Shelvey free-kick low down.

Swansea eased through the gears taking control of the game early in the second half with Coutinho looking frustrated gesticulating to his colleagues with the lack of movement ahead of him and the inability to read his passes, some of which would have needed built-it rader being far off its intended target.

With 25 minutes to go Jonjo Shelvey attempted a pass which bounced up to Montero.  His pass deflected off Jordan Henderson’s block looping to the unmarked Emnes who struck a gorgeous left footed volley into the corner of the net, leaving Jones with no chance.   Swansea were in such control that there seem no way back.

Swansea fans now in full voice bellowing what a “waste of money”.  Were the chants for Balotelli warming up on the side lines or Brendan Rodgers after his massive outlay?

Rodgers with time ebbing away looked to change the dynamic by bringing on Balotelli for the ineffectual Lambert who to be fair suffered more than anyone from the lack of quality service

Six minutes later, Borini produced the kind of cross which must have had Rickie Lambert cursing his luck on the bench.  He whipped in a cross in for Balotelli to attack allowing the striker time to sluice between both central defenders to prod home.  Cometh the hour…

As extra time again beckoned in a Capital One tie Fernandez was sent off for what looked an innocuous tackle on Coutinho.

The Kop exploded in relief 5 minutes into injury time as Lovern stole in to head home Coutinho’s free-kick to send Liverpool through to the quarter-final.

Man of the Match:  Fabio Borini – Looked sharp throughout and although Coutinho was the instigator of many of Liverpool’s attacks,  Borini carried the threat and looked most likely to score.

Rickie Lambert disappointed struggled to break away from Williams’ attention throughout.  The ‘Big Man’ also suffered from  the lack of quality service in the final third, but he looks very stagnant in the middle with his of lack of pace making him look one dimensional.  Rodgers needs to fathom a way to work to the striker’s strengths or his stay at Anfield even as a third or fourth striker will be short.

Coutinho looked what he is, a class act on the ball, twisting and turning as if a reincarnation of Messi.  Unfortunately, his shooting and final ball leaves a lot to be desired at times and he has to improve because he is a big part of the Liverpool's game plan with his intricate skills.

Mamquillo had a strong game showing himself capable of playing in a wing-back role producing searing raids on the overlap, although he like his colleagues will be disappointed with his final ball.  Brad Jones, didn’t have much to do, although he showed good concentration to pull off a smart save low down from a Shelvey free-kick.

Liverpool:

1 Jones, 19 Manquillo, 4 K Toure, 6 Lovren, 2 Johnson, 21 Lucas, 14 Henderson, 50 Markovic (Lallana – 70 mins), 10 Coutinho, 29 Borini, 9 Lambert (Balotelli – 79 mins)

Subs:

18 Moreno, 20 Lallana, 22 Mignolet, 23 Can, 37 Skrtel, 45 Balotelli, 46 Rossiter

Referee: Keith Stroud

Attendance: 42,582