AFC Wimbledon 1 Liverpool 2 - Gerrard saves LFC blushes again

By dedlfc

 

With all the talk of Gerrard's imminent departure at the end of the season capturing the headlines since our last game, it was written in the stars that Steven Gerrard’s long goodbye would begin with him saving our blushes. 

AFC Wimbledon threatened an upset akin to the 1988 FA Cup final, but a home tie with Bolton now awaits after a difficult night at Kingsmeadow, where we missed the creative spark of Lallana out with a thigh injury for a month, but still had the silky skills of Coutinho pulling the strings just Rickie Lambert.

The Dons made their mark straight away when Javier Manquillo was left writhing around in pain in the first minute.
 

The impressive Sean Rigg was not even reprimanded for the challenge and was soon causing constant problems at the other end, latching on to a flick forwards to hit a bobbling effort across the face of goal.

It was a missed chance which was ruthlessly exposed as we scored with our first clear-cut chance of the match.

After neat team play, Gerrard played the ball out to the right and Manquillo’s cross was headed home by the Reds captain with a determined brave header.

Who else but Stevie G to break the deadlock

A Lazar Markovic cross-shot almost doubled Liverpool’s advantage, but while we were dominating possession, the Dons were growing into the tie.

Only a timely Martin Skrtel challenge prevented Matt Tubbs turning home a Francomb cross, with Rigg’s fizzing strike from the resulting corner heading in until Mignolet impressively clawed over.

Akinfenwa – widely considered the strongest player in world football – was, unsurprisingly, proving a handful with his presence seeing a James Shea goal kick through to Tubbs, who hooked an effort across the face of goal.

The 32-year-old was soon back at the heart of the action, heading wide before giving the home side a deserved leveller.

Francomb’s corner to the back post was bundled onto the crossbar by an under-pressure Mamadou Sakho, with Akinfenwa, whose bulk had hampered Mignolet’s pathetic attempt to catch the cross, stabbing home the rebound from close range.

The Beast strikes as promised pre-match

Things almost got even better for the Dons early in the second half, with a poor Gerrard pass allowing Sammy Moore a strike which deflected just wide.

That was a let-off for the Liverpool captain, who made amends from the resulting corner as he cleared Barrett’s header off the line, with Rigg firing wide as the visitors continued to wobble.

It was at this point, though, that the tide began to turn. Jordan Henderson saw a shot accidentally blocked by his own team-mate and Philippe Coutinho fired wide, before penalty appeals for handball against Barry Fuller were waved away.

However, the Wimbledon vice-captain could have no arguments with the free-kick award minutes later. Fuller was booked for his challenge on Coutinho and Gerrard made the home side pay, impressively curling the free-kick past Shea, who would be disappointed that he had got his fingertips to the ball but not quite enough to stop it nestling in the net.

Gerrard shows why he is still a Don

Dannie Bulman lashed one just over as Wimbledon attempted to equalise, while at the other end goalkeeper Shea impressively denied a placed Rickie Lambert shot with his feet.

Coutinho was also denied by the Arsenal academy graduate, who then thwarted Markovic on the break after Adebayo Azeez effort was blocked. The Wimbledon substitute again threatened in stoppage time but there was to be no dream leveller as Mignolet smothered, with Gerrard seeing a hat-trick denied by a goal-line clearance.

Man of the match - none other than our Captain Fantastic who else! Played so well should have walked away with the pink match ball and in all honesty should have had four goals.

Wimbledon: Shea, Fuller, Goodman, Barrett, Kennedy, Francomb (Sutherland 86), Moore (Pell 86), Bulman, Rigg (Azeez 79), Tubbs, Akinfenwa. Subs Not Used: Bennett, Oakley, McDonnell, Harrison.

Liverpool: Mignolet, Can, Skrtel, Sakho, Manquillo (Jose Enrique 71), Henderson, Lucas, Markovic (K Touré 86), Gerrard, Lambert (Balotelli 79), Coutinho. Subs Not Used: Moreno, Borini, Williams, Ward.

Referee: J Moss. Attendance: 4,784

Scorers: AFC Wimbledon - Akinfenwa (36); Liverpool - Gerrard (12, 62)

Positives

The determination of our captain to put all the talk behind him and let his football do the talking and he did so with great aplomb, apart from one misplaced pass which could have cost us dear, his game intelligence and passing and set piece skills are irreplaceable and we should enjoy all these qualities from this great player because once he has gone they are gone from our side.

The attacking drives of Markovic - he is starting to look like a constant threat down the left and has now settled into the LFC way of playing - just needs to work on his finishing as he missed a gilt edged chance which would have won us the game vs Leicester in the league and now also missed a great chance to finish off the Dons. It is hoped that with Lallana out for a month that Markovic will step up.

Sakho's distribution apart from one meaningless punt up field was outstanding and he looks a fixture on the left side of our three centre backs

Can looked so much more comfortable in centre midfield in the last ten minutes of the game rather than playing at centre back.

Negatives

Again our keeper's poor confidence at commanding his area has cost us a goal with him flapping at thin air for the Dons goal, our problem is that there is no other option to take him out of the firing line.

At 1-0 we took our foot off the pedal and let the Dons get back in the game and could have very easily lost the game due to poor defending at set pieces.

Lambert again looks totally out of his depth as our attacking option and has been a major disappointment which has surprised me as he has Premiership experience but just can't perform for us.

Our manager's comments after the game:-

“I think the FA Cup final is on his birthday, so there would be no better way, for him. It would be a wonderful send-off for him,” “There are a lot of games to play in between. If we could do it, it will be really special.

“He was outstanding in the game, a brilliant individual performance from him and the real catalyst for us. It was a tough game overall. In the second half we were much better, he scored two and probably if he was a really selfish player he would have stayed on the ball and got a hat-trick. He was outstanding but he’s still trying to create opportunities for other players.”