Courageous Liverpool lack cutting edge

No Gerrard, no Balotelli, no Sterling, no Henderson and no Johnson.  Certainly a huge call by Brendan Rodgers, especially with the club’s talisman on the bench.

Pre-match, text messages were flying left right and centre with friends incredulous at Brendan Rodgers decision and feeling seemed to be that he had set the club up for a fall, expecting the worse.

That it didn’t happen was mainly down to much maligned Kolo Toure, who led from the front and Lucas Leiva with Joe Allen and Emre Can dropping back to restrict space for Ronaldo.

As in the first game we were impressive in the first twenty minutes enjoying good possession without much threat in the final third.  Mignolet, impressive behind a more stable defence, saved well early on from Rodriguez after Skrtel’s heavy touch.

Ten minutes later, almost a mirror image only this time it was Lucas casually caught out by Rodriguez nipping in to supply Cristiano Ronaldo whose shot was well saved by the alert Mignolet.

Increasingly confident, Liverpool were beginning to press Real looking to build their own pressure, but were constantly let down with Markovic and moreover the hardworking Borini’s inability to hold on to the ball in the last third.   A long ball up the field to relieve Madrid pressure was quickly moved to the left finding the game’s most impressive player, Marcelo, who delivered a sensational whipped ball across Toure for Benzama to turn in on the half-volley.

In hindsight Liverpool may see the game as a missed opportunity with Madrid certainly not at their best.  The second-half saw Liverpool with more intent and looking to create with Moreno down the left.  The ex-Seville left-back produced a sumptuous swinging cross in the first –half which begged to be headed in to no avail.

In the second period he was looked to launch forward at every opportunity linking up with Lallana down the left.  He had Liverpool’s first shot of note with a long range drive which Casillas comfortably fielded and then driving in the left found Lallana who characteristically span away from his defender before shooting just wide of the far post.

The substitutions of Gerrard, Sterling and Coutinho for Lucas, Can and Markovic imparted more control in possession with Gerrard’s range of passing threatening to finally set Borini free.

Marcelo linking up for a one-two with Ronaldo, put in another delicious ball which Gareth Bale coming on for James Rodriguez swept against the crossbar.

Man of the Match:  Kolo Toure – The much maligned defender particularly by this writer, enjoyed almost certainly his best performance in a red shirt.  Intercepting and blocking time and again, even running the ball out of the defence he certainly made a claim to hang on to the shirt with a committed performance.

Critical eye: Alberto Moreno was certainly one of the games standout performers, matching Marcelo in his ability to get forward, unfortunately suffered as did his team with the lack of potency upfront.  He bounced back manfully from his mistake over the weekend.

Emre Can’s strength in possession was there for all to see and for a big man he certainly possesses a good touch and hopefully a run of games will see him build-up his sharpness and stamina.  Lucas Leiva was very effective and while the team certainly lost out in the creative stakes, alongside Can and Allen the spine of team was a lot more combative. 

Borini a willing work horse without ever threatening in the final third and escape the clutches of Varane, did enough to warrant being a member of Brendan’s squad going forward until January.  But what of Rickie Lambert who failed to make the bench?

The positives are that Brendan Rodgers knows he has players outside of those considered to be first team performers who he can rely on and some of those first teamers may just be wondering whether their stay on the bench will be longer than they had envisaged. 

The end game is that we lost and although there were many positives the lack of a cutting-edge upfront without Sturridge continues to be worry.

Teams:

Liverpool: 22 Mignolet, 19 Manquillo, 37 Skrtel, 4 K Toure, 18 Moreno, 23 Can (Coutinho – 75 mins), 21 Lucas (Gerrard – 69 mins), 24 Allen, 50 Markovic (Sterling -69 mins), 29 Borini, 20 Lallana

Substitutes: 1 Jones, 2 Johnson, 8 Gerarrd, 10 Coutinho, 14 Henderson, 31 Sterling, 45 Balotelli

Real Madrid: 1 Casillas, 17 Arbeloa (Nacho – 83 mins), 2 Varane, 4 Ramos, 12 Marcelo, 10 Rodriguez (Bale – 62 mins), 19 Modric, 8 Kroos, 23 Isco, 9 Benzema (Hernandez – 87 mins), 7 Ronaldo

Substitutes: 3 Pepe, 11 Bale, 13 Navas, 14 Hernandez, 18 Nacho, 26 Medran, 35 Torro

Referee: Viktor Kassai

Attendance: 79,283