We missed
out on our chance to close the gap at the top of the Premier League as we were
left frustrated at Anfield by a determined Hull City in a goalless draw.
Brendan
Rodgers through blind faith stuck by the troubled Mario Balotelli, starting him
in attack alongside Raheem Sterling and Adam Lallana, while Jordan Henderson
was rested to the bench and Joe Allen starting in midfield. Meanwhile, Steve Bruce handed Hatem ben Arfa a
start in attack as he played just off summer signing Abel Hernandez.
The first
couple of minutes were even between both sides with us almost taking the lead
after 10 minutes as Dejan Lovren’s towering header was cleared off the goal line
by Ahmed Elmohamady, and shortly after, Mario Balotelli tested Hull goalkeeper,
Eldin Jakupovic.
We began to
dominate the ball but the Tigers remained strong and disciplined, in truth,
there was a distinct lack of quality in the final third for Liverpool and
despite Balotelli working hard for us he is no Sturridge.
Emre Can was
showing why Liverpool wanted him so badly with some powerful running through
midfield. Hull’s midfield of Jake Livermore
and Tom Huddlestone struggled to prevent his runs.
.jpg) |
| Emre showing he can |
Hull gave
then had several opportunities just before the half time break as Ben Arfa
drove into the box and pulled the ball back for Livermore whose shot was well
saved by Simon Mignolet. Huddlestone and Diame also hit shots from
long range.
The first 15
minutes of the second half were fairly stagnate, with only Hernandez having a
pot-shot which Mignolet dealt with comfortably. With Rickie Lambert preparing to come off
the bench, Steven Gerrard linked up well with Sterling but his quick-fire shot
from the edge of the penalty area whisked just wide.
On the hour,
Balotelli almost scored his first league goal but his effort just two yards out
was bundled away by the Hull defence. A
minute later, a brilliant cross from the right from Manquillo whizzed just past
him as he stretched to make the header. There
was now a lot more urgency in our play.
As the clock
continued to run down, we pushed incessantly for the opening goal as a penalty
claim from Jordan Henderson – a second-half substitute – was waved away as the
Englishman was booked for diving.
With five
minutes left, Gerrard’s lovely free-kick found Philippe Coutinho at the back
post but he got too much on his header. The
home side’s pressure was telling as Balotelli fell in the penalty box claiming
a push to the ground in front of goal, the front man seeing his appeal dismissively
waved away. Anfield was tense and the
fans baying for a goal. In injury time,
Coutinho hit a strong shot which Jakupovic was equalled to, tipping it over.
With seconds
left on the clock, Balotelli had a glorious chance to win the game and create
back page headlines for the right reasons, but his shot was saved unbelievably by Jakupovic
as Hull gain a hard earned and deserved point at Anfield.
Negatives
Rodgers cannot
continue to keep blind faith in Ballotelli and the player not repaying him with
goals to win us matches. It is positive
that he is getting chances but the ones he has missed are bread and butter to any
striker worth his weight in gold. Why do
we only show urgency in fits and starts or late in a game, why not start with
that tempo?
Positives
Our first
clean sheet since beating Spurs on 31st August 2014. We
need to try and build on this clean sheet. but also go on a run of winning
games. Coutinho again came on and made a
difference to our side's tempo.
Man of the match: The Defence Unit - they took on
board everything that had been said during training and got a clean sheet for
us.
Liverpool
22 Mignolet
19 Manquillo
37 Skrtel
06 Lovren
18 Moreno
24 Allen
(Coutinho - 61' )
08 Gerrard
23 Can
(Henderson - 75' Booked )
31 Sterling
Booked
45 Balotelli
Booked
20 Lallana
(Lambert - 61' )
Substitutes
01 Jones
02 Johnson
04 K Touré
09 Lambert
10 Coutinho
14 Henderson
50 Markovic
Ref: Neil Swarbrick
Att: 44,591
David, I think that was any other striker we'd be saying he was showing the rights signs because he's getting in there and it's only a matter of time.
ReplyDeleteI've said this before but I think BR, who I hasten to add has not become a bad coach overnight, has made mistakes. Under critics pressure threw Balotelli in front of oncoming traffic, in statements about the striker. Yes Balotelli should've scored yesterday, but goals from other sources are rare. His problems in front of goal are obviously accentuated because we are struggling to score and for me it's easier to blame him rather than confront the more glearing issues.
Liverpool let in over 50 goals last season. Those are normally the type of stats which one would see in a relegated side. Granted, BR brought in Lovren to help negate the problems, but he, Skrtel and Mignolet are far from the unit he'd hope for. Mignolet breeds panic in the backline as his decision making is suspect to say the least and Skrtel's defending is suspect as the best of times.
Teams have wised up to the way we play and as such pressurise Gerrard with defenses playing further up the field becuase Liverpool no longer have their triumvirate of Sterling, Suarez and Suarez piling on the pressure by pressing from the front and attacking with searing pace. As such there is less time and space for Gerrard and co to build from as we did so successfullly last season.
Sterling seems to be playing more as an orthodox winger now as opposed to the licence he had to roam last season.
While I'm not saying Balotelli has been perfect, he often operates up front on his own whereas he has spent most of his career alongside another striker or with someone playing in behind, so he is being asked to in essence learn a new role.
There is already a lot of expectation on Emre Can because he is the only player of his type in the first team squad. Is Joe Allen or Lucas Leiva capable of being midfield gerneral in the Liverpool midfield? Gerrard's still a wonderful engineer, but obviusly doesn't have the legs to do so and the other two can only be deployed in particular formations and definitely not in 4-4-2. Most of the midfield including the excellent Jordan Henderson doesn't have a substantial goal record which piles on the pressure for Balotelli, Sterling and Lallana, particulary with Gerrard not getting forward to the extent he once did.
Opposing midfielders often run yards through the Liverpool midfield without so much of a chllenge which means even with Gerrard in front of the defence there is not much protection for the defence. Also, because it is so important for our full-backs to get forward it falls to Gerrard to cover. If Brendan Rodgers requires Stevie G to fulfill that role surely it makes sense to soldify the midfield ahead of him, thus sacrificing some of the teams attacking prowess for defensive stability, especially without Sturridge upfront.
In terms of potentially resting Balotelli, the ex-West Ham and England striker Dean Ashton made an excellent point in midweek about Rickie Lambert requiring games to get up to speed given his size as opposed to a player like Sterling who is explosive which could explain why he looks so off the pace, although I tend to think he hasn't worked out how to use him becuase he was bought to be a bit part player. He obviously has no confidence in Borini, probably seeing them both as sqaud players to be used in domestic cup competitions.
At the moment, the season is being played out as if it an experimental one for us, but to my mind we have to qualify for the Champions League this season or else we may in not see the competition for another five years. The difficulty we had in pulling in top transfers even being in the CPL will be magnified.
Out transfer model left us with us Balotelli and many young and talented, but untried players. Some of those players have to sprout wings or the honeymoon period which Brendan is still enjoying will become more difficult given the money he has spent
These are the games we should be winning
ReplyDeleteOur back four in front of goalkeeper Simon Mignolet continue to look vulnerable, especially when defending set pieces. Despite not putting in particularly impressive performances, points are what count and we are throwing them away.
I know it’s a team effort as always, but Mario Balotelli will make the headlines again after failing to convert a number of chances in the last few games.
I think we are showing signs of last season's intensity, but the same problems continue to frustrate the way we play our game.
We are playing tonight and will BR keep faith in MB?
ReplyDeleteMo
No doubt it would be MB leading the lines tonight….
DeleteWould like to see mario and lambert up top together with coutihno in for sterling and midfield three of can, hendo and Allen...
DeleteThought mario actually did alright on sat aside from finishing which will come with bit of confidence. Interesting to see Steve Bruce saying he was our best player on the day...which admittedly isn't saying much!
One plus is that coutihno seems to be finding a bit of form and even looks as though he may have learnt how to shoot which if so would take his game to another level...
What did you expect Steve Bruce to say. I guess that was his way of saying thank you Mario for giving us a point from the game we defended gallantly. Remember a day or so before the game he did say that Mario was being made a scape goat for Liverpool poor show against Real Madrid game.
DeleteYes he should have scored. but what bothers me about the Balotelli criticism is that even if he plays better from one game to the next, there doesn't appear to the willigness or scope to cut him some latitude, especially when all three areas of the team are not functioning as well as we'd all like.
DeleteI'd be surprised if Rickie doesn't start tonight.