Excellent Sterling drags "lucky" Liverpool to victory

After ‘SterlingGate’ Liverpool arrived at Loftus Road with the England manager on hand to watch Sterling who after traumatic week played out in the media must have been hoping to put in all behind him.  Glen Johnson and Adam Lallana made a start as did Emre Can  returning from long-term injury for his first Premier League start which Rodgers used as the conduit to give his captain a more attacking role behind Balotelli.

Liverpool were dreadful from start to finish with Martin Skrtel and Dejan Lovren made to second rate by 33 year-old Bobby Zamora who terrorised the international pair for most of the afternoon.  The standard of Liverpool’s defending is in such a state that opponents must be licking their lips in anticipation with our inability to defend from dead ball or long ball situations.

QPR should have two up in the first half hour.  First, Glen Johnson’s half-hearted tackle allowed Charlie Austin to waltz through and Skrtel the second line of defence could do little better missing the ball completely before Mignolet saved well from the striker.   Zamora leading the line expertly then found Leroy Fer who inexplicably clipped the bar from close range.

Liverpool were rocking and Zamora again found his partner who climbed well to head against the bar with Mignolet left floundering.

Balotelli struggling to be the focal point Liverpool require upfront found Gerrard with a delightful flick.  Gerrard manoeuvred himself past Caulker before curling his shot just beyond the post.

Rodgers moved his captain back into his deep lying role after half-time. QPR were still on the ascendancy as Sandro crashed in a shot which Mignolet did brilliantly to save having seen it late.

As QPR tired, Liverpool led by our most incisive player Raheem Sterling, grabbed the lead in fortunate circumstances. 

After being brought down, Sterling sized up the situation quickly taking a quick free-kick to play Johnson in on the overlap.  The right-back crossed in front of the goal only for Richard Dunne to slice the ball in.

With Liverpool’s very own ‘Chuckle Brothers’ at the centre of defence there was no chance of resting on our laurels, particular with the inability to control and dictate the midfield.

Every Liverpool fan now knows the scenario having seen it played out over the last ten minutes in matches where we defend deeper trying to hold on to a lead.  Not for the first time a Liverpool defender was beaten to a header as Austin knocked the ball down for substitute Vargas to equalise with Enrique who was at fault on three occasions during the move, left for dead.

Steven Caulker throws his hands up in despair

The last few minutes of the match were a comedy of errors.  Sterling, who worked hard all day in both halves of the pitch, picked the ball up in the middle of the pitch, before spinning away from Henry to find Gerrard who in turn found Coutinho.  The Brazilian cut in before firing in a slightly deflected shot to leave the diving McCarthy with little chance.

Within two minutes QPR were back level with Liverpool’s achilles heel raring it’s ugly head from a kick-off resulting in corner.  Unable to deal with Leroy Fer’s cross following the corner, Vargas equalised for the second time heading home.

Unbelievably, Liverpool won the game in the fourth minute of injury time.  Maybe for the first time Liverpool headed out from a free-kick with Coutinho picking up the loose ball before threading through a superb pass to Sterling running in behind the defence.  His square pass found the retreating Caulker who could only inadvertantly knock the ball in give Liverpool an underserved victory.

Man of Match:  Raheem Sterling - showed courage and strength of character in abundance following a stressful week.  He showed for the ball throughout and put in a shift helping in defensive areas and was the prime instigator having a hand in all three goals, showing his value in a side misfiring in defence, midfield and upfront.

Critical eye:  Brendan Rodgers has to start taking the blame and curing his teams ills for the lack of defensive cohesiveness as he is now in his third season in charge and we have struggled again.  In the last two seasons the club has spent almost £50 million on Illori, Lovren and Sakho with no improvements.

The midfield looks bare barring Henderson with its inability to control the centre.  Time again we watch the opposition drive 50 yards up field without so much as a tackle. Gerrard struggled in a more attacking role as the midfield were unable to buy him the time and space to operate in.

Mario Balotelli is struggling to lead the line on his own and readily admits to being more comfortable in a two.  His lack of movement in and out of the box is hurting us offensively and Brendan must, in the absence of Sturridge, get the Italian to play on the last man, using his strength and pace (which he may have been attempting to do playing Gerrard further upfront).

Team:

QPR: 12 McCarthy, 15 Onuoha (Phillips – 45 mins), 22 Dunne, 4 Caulker, 13 Yun Suk-young, 14 Isla, 20 Henry, 30 Sandro (Traore – 60 mins), 10 Fer, 25 Zamora (Vargas -79 mins), 9 Austin

Substitutes: 3 Traore, 5 Ferdinand, 7 Phillips, 19 Kranjcar, 21 Murphy, 23 Hoilett, 24 Vargas

Liverpool: 22 Mignolet, 2 Johnson, 37 Skrtel, 6 Lovren, 3 Jose Enrique, 14 Henderson, 23 Can (Allen – 66 mins), 31 Sterling (K Toure – 96 mins), 8 Gerrard, 20 Lallana (Coutinho – 66 mins), 45 Balotelli

Substitutes: 1 Jones, 4 K Toure, 9 Lambert, 10 Coutinho, 19 Manquillo, 24 Allen, 50 Markovic

Referee: Phil Dowd

Attendance: 18,069